Re Thomas’ details on one of the various manifests the Wanata arriving September 1864 …..
Looking at the image (41 of 44) and the entire column “Relations in the Colony. Giving Names & Addresses” I would suggest the scribe was endeavouring to follow the conventions. So, for example the list of single men is in fairly strict alphabetical order, by surname then keeping siblings together, by given name…. So, looking down through the first column (Name) consider letting your eyes land on any entry with more than one person with that same surname
O’BRIEN, and without even moving across to any column to the right….. You can see the scribe striving to follow conventions…..
Martin, then Patrick and then John. Just looking at that sequence your eyes should be saying “John is not connected to Martin and Patrick” …… J is alphabetically before M. So, John likely had NO other siblings on board.
M then P ….. well that’s in alpha order, and BOTH are listed ahead of J. ummmm….. the convention on these single female or single male lists is that family units are listed ahead of passengers without any other relatives onboard. J was not listed first, so M and P must be related…..
Then look across to the several columns ….yes, plenty of information showing Martin’s native place and his parents names and status and Mum’s then current location, and then under the column “Relations in the Colony” ……. Sister, Mary JOHNSON, and her location in NSW. Johnson ….. that’s obviously her married name.
So, the scribe recording the manifest seems to be following the conventions.
Thomas Nelson PARSONS entry shows that both his parents are living, and that he is Church of England, and he can read and write, and that he has “Sisters, Sarah and Emma PARSONS living at Newcastle New South Wales”.
So, to me, either Thomas did not know his sister Emma was married and had been married for years and had children of that marriage, OR Emma who married Ninian was NOT Thomas’ sister. With both his parents noted as alive at the time Thomas emigrated, and with Thomas being literate, surely he had the full details for locating his sisters, including their full names, not just their birth names?
I was hoping that the marriage certificate would give you the information that Emma provided when she being interviewed for her marriage…. This is first hand info that she provides to the clergy…. I see that NSW BDM reconciled their civil register to the Fullerton register in 1915. It is unlikely that you will be able to find the rest of the first hand information that that Emma provided about her own parents when she was marrying, as at one time the NSW Registrar General noted that Rev Fullerton was running a ‘marriage shop’.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fullerton-james-3582 I realise of course that you are searching for Sarah PARSONS, so I hope I have not diverted your attention away from that quest. I should also add that re NSW, NOT ALL passenger lists are extant, and NOT ALL extant passenger lists have been transcribed. And of course, transcribed lists are only as good as the transcribing teams’ weakest link – ie the quality/condition of the document being transcribed and the knowledge of the transcribers.
Thomas Nelson PARSONS certainly believed two of his sisters were in Newcastle NSW in 1864, and that they were Sarah and Emma PARSONS. I cannot find a likely arrival for Sarah assuming that is her in the UK in 1861 census.
Sorry I have not helped you find Sarah, but if you are sure that Thomas Nelson PARSONS is your ancestor, then I can only confirm with you that he believed two of his sisters were in Newcastle NSW in 1864.
ADD ..... there's just a slight concern in my thoughts.....
Emma on arrival list was Wesleyan
Emma on marriage was Presbyterian
Thomas was Church of England
Cheers, JM
