Gordon Blair - Mystery? or Not!

[Rosinish]

DOD = Date Of Death
DOB = Date Of Burial

Their record to me [sic]

It's not alway me. I do get a few things correct.

My apologies, I took DOB as date of birth.

Annie

[Rosinish]

Thanks Annie and Looby, now I get it
Sue

Maybe jumping to conclusions but it does make you wonder if Jane & Gordon had already parted company by the time of the newspaper clip & certainly Thomas William's death as it does seem odd for a married couple that the mother was the informant of the death rather than the father which in most cases would have been the case?

Annie

[OZScot]

Not a problem Annie. I had to look twice myself.

Then I checked it about 30+ times after you posted in case I got it wrong.

People are pretty sharp and quick off the mark around here. 

Great Information coming in from everyone.
Thanks.

[loobylooayr]

Thanks Annie and Looby, now I get it
Sue

Maybe jumping to conclusions but it does make you wonder if Jane & Gordon had already parted company by the time of the newspaper clip & certainly Thomas William's death as it does seem odd for a married couple that the mother was the informant of the death rather than the father which in most cases would have been the case?

Annie

Funny you should say that Annie, because I wondered about that too. I would've expected the father to be the informant .
Actually, on closer reading, the death was registered on 5th Oct but the child actually died on 27th September. Cause of death -tabes mesenterica.

Looby

[Rosinish]

"People are pretty sharp and quick off the mark around here"

I think it's possibly because we always tend to double check dates/ages etc. so things like that jump out but of course, I wasn't paying enough attention to realise it was a burial date probably because I don't tend to use DOB other than for births & for Burials I use exactly that, Burial, to save any confusion.

Annie

[OZScot]

I think it's possibly because we always tend to double check dates/ages etc. so things like that jump out but of course, I wasn't paying enough attention to realise it was a burial date probably because I don't tend to use DOB other than for births & for Burials I use exactly that, Burial, to save any confusion.

Annie

Yes I know Annie and don't apologise ... These people at cemeteries aren't dealing with Birth dates.
Only Death & Burial dates. 

Threw me too.
Sometimes they put it all in. I think only in modern era maybe or depended on Council.?
I asked them also could I get a picture of the headstone as it usually has, as you know,
a stack of sometimes missing information. Sir James William Blair has a grand monster
one with a 'lot of information' on it. I thought at least he & children would honour their
parents with a stone. I think they could afford to do that.

I asked for one in Sydney North Shore the other day and these ancestor's were very wealthy.
No Headstone !!!???

Thanks.

[Ruskie]

Probably not very helpful and possibly an impossible task, but I have seen headstones (especially in Scotland) which commemorate other family members even if they died and were buried elsewhere or even abroad. Commemorations often made at a later date to the person buried in the plot.

I wonder if it is worth looking to see if any of these children have headstones which mention their father, especially if he made something of himself in his new country .....

[majm]

What information is on Isabella Dun BLAIR's 1864 Qld Birth Certificate?  This lass is on the direct line for OzScot's friend.   

Qld BDM reference #C659  The historic image is available to download, via plastic card Au$20.70 Info on Qld BDM is almost as detailed as Scottish ones.      

https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch/queryEntry.m?type=births

Please remember that although the Qld index has the registration under BLAIR, the actual registration in 1860s did not include a surname for any baby.  Conventions at that time in at least Qld and NSW were that the baby take on mum's THEN surname, which if a married woman would match that of her husband.   So the online index entry is under BLAIR, suggesting  to me that Julia was at least known as Mrs Blair at that time.    That convention re surnames did not change until well into the 20th century, in NSW it changed in about 1969.

May I gently ask again if anyone has contacted St Pauls, Ipswich to see where the parish registers for that era are currently located.    Just because a civil birth registration cannot be found, does not mean a baptism record is also lost.  The C of E family sheet system is often overlooked by family history buffs, but it can be full of details if it is available.   

Similarly with the Presbyterians, Ann St, Brisbane .... where are those 1870s registers currently located?

Church records are not public records, so it may take some time to locate and then to seek permission for a volunteer archivist to check through them, but with the details from the Qld BDM's civil registrations at least the volunteer will have a starting date.  There may be requests for donations, or perhaps even set fees for the look ups.

PS Thanks OzScot for clearing up the matter of James William Blair's fate .... I agree with Sue's comment ....

How easy it is to tangle our facts, as we all know, and then confuse them for lies .

Sue

It is very easy to miss mis-steps in chronologies ....

JM       

[majm]

http://www.textqueensland.com.au/item/article/e6b0a209b4b22d4a041e872e8388ffdc

This is a live link to an account in the Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Qld re James William BLAIR.   It includes some positive comments about both his parents and his siblings.  He married quite late in life, his wife was much younger than him.  OzScot’s friend most likely would enjoy reading about her own connections too, via Isabella’s son and his place on Qld Supreme Court’s Bench.

It does mention that Gordon BLAIR was Scottish and that Julia DROUGHTON was Irish and they had married in Brisbane in 1864.   It does not give any clues about the earlier life in Scotland for Gordon BLAIR.  It does note the lack of recorded CIVIL birth registration for James William BLAIR. 

JM