More on Hiding in Tasmania

[Ranolki]

Thank you Lucy2, that's an interesting thought you've put forward.  I think we were relying totally on that Electoral Roll information and the fact we found no details of an actual sale.  I'm chatting with someone else who has looked at this before to see what else we have so I'll report back!  I've started looking at the records in Archives New Zealand but haven't come up with anything yet.  The Tasmanian records were so helpful so I'm hoping I can find something eventually.

According to a copy of his Probate, his address was shown as his last one ie Torrington Place, London  BUT it also refers to him as late of 18 Napier St Fitzroy, Victoria.  Trove shows various people living at that address in the period 1910 to 1919 but not him in any of the names I know. I've asked to see a copy of his actual Will in case that tells me more about why that is mentioned.  Also the date of the Will might be interesting.  But it must have been written after he arrived in the UK in 1919.  He named an executor, Robert McCutcheon Edgar, who I believe was still in Australia which is interesting, although he declined to act.   

[PatLac]

There was a Robert McCutcheon Edgar at 10 High street Kew between 1915 and 1920 (Sands & McDougall's) who is mentioned on Trove

The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924)  Wed 21 Jun 1922
 Page 6
 NEW JUSTICES.

NEW JUSTICES.
Melbourne, Tuesday.
The Executive Council to-day approved
of the appointment of the following jus
tices: —George Robinson, Jnr., Warrackna
beal, Northern bailiwick; Charles Cooper
Hunt, Stawel), Western bailiwick; and Ro
bert McCutcheon Edgar, Kew...

 The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)  Thu 7 Jun 1956
 Page 20
 Family Notices


EDGAR - On June 6, Isabella
Mary, beloved wife of the late
Robert Mccutcheon Edgar, loving
mother of Frank (Second A.I.F.,
deceased) Noel, and Isobel (Mrs.
E. L. Weller).

Death Record:

EDGAR
Robert McCutcheon
Death
Eleanor
FINLAY
EDGAR Robert
BANGOR IRELAND
KEW
80
1941
10114/1941

[Ranolki]

I’ve now seen the actual Will. It was written in August 1918 in Melbourne. He gave his real name, then added sometimes known as John Wilson and his address as 18 Napier Street, Fitzroy.  It was very basic, leaving his estate to his estranged wife. She eventually acted as executor. He left £160 gross. 

I’m now seeing what I can find for the sale of Empire Bridge Farm. Unfortunately if that really was him on that short trip back to England he managed to miss the census both there and Australia for 1911.

[PatLac]

I have noticed that the newspapers' articles on Mrs. Maydwell have a gap between 1919 and 1921 and I wonder if this couple could be Christiana and Isaiah having a final fling? I don't think lying about age was an issue for them.

Victoria - Outwards passenger lists (1852-1923)

WILSON   J MR     72   WESTRALIA   1920   NOV   BLUFF   1
WILSON   J MRS   55   WESTRALIA   1920   NOV   BLUFF   1

https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/29C775A0-F7F0-11E9-AE98-F9816B9D592D?image=335

[PatLac]

Why is Christiana's Coffee Palace, Sea Lake, in the name of Mrs. E. Maydwell in 1920 (Sands and McDougall's)? A mistake or...?

[PatLac]

Now there's an interesting thought!  A whole new set of ideas... I had just mentioned to a co-researcher almost as a joke "What if they really were going back to England, just like they said in the contracts and sale info?"

There was obviously some reason why they sold up in Tasmania after only being there for around a year and investing in that farm. The fire was almost certainly too minor to make them want to leave.  I know Isaiah was supposed to meet Christiana as she arrived from Tasmania and her youngest son Basil said years later that they slipped down the crew gangway to avoid him but that Basil saw him waiting on the dock. It could be possible that they had a passage booked back to England and she decided this was a perfect time to strike out on her own.  On that basis he could have carried on with his planned trip but come back later.  I'll have to look at the timings and see what went on at Empire Bridge Farm.  I haven't looked hard yet for sale details. He DID try to sell it before they went to Tasmania but as far as I know it didn't meet reserve (and that would fit with him still being there in 1911).

To be honest there was no reason why they would go to Melbourne anyway, other than to take the ship back to England.  Once she didn't go, was that the point she decided to strike out on her own to Sea Lake?  It just gets more and more complex.  Thanks for the wonderful research!

Are you saying that Christiana and Basil went to Melbourne in 1910? Have you managed to locate them in the passenger lists?

[Ranolki]

Isaiah arrived back in the UK in April 1919 on the Osterley (probably as soon as he could after WWl ended) and by then he was 78/79 years old.  Christiana was born in 1868 so would have been 52 in 1920.  I don't think she was aware of the Wilson name and had deliberately distanced herself from Isaiah when she left Tasmania in 1910.  I would be very surprised if she even had a way of contacting him (and vice versa).

I think Mrs E Maydwell must have been a typo.  Maydwell was a name Christiana came up with herself so other than her own children (none with a E...) there would have been no one else

[Ranolki]

PatLac, I haven't found them on any ships' info.  At the moment I would love to find anything showing them going from Christchurch (or Lyttleton) to Tasmania in 1908/9 and then Isaiah going to Melbourne in 1910, followed shortly afterward by Christiana and her children on the same route.  At the time those children would have been Anthony, William, Christina and Basil.  After 1908/9 they were being cagey with names so the first trip might be under Whitfield, North or Vernon (anything else I suppose).  Isaiah's trip to Melbourne may have still been under Vernon and possibly Christiana's too, although she took on Maydwell as soon as she arrived in Sea Lake.

Some of the information we are using came from Helen Maydwell, Christiana's daughter in law.  It was written many years later so a few bits in her recollections are sometimes muddled.  But I believe Basil will have had input into that too so generally speaking it's accurate.  They obviously had no idea what Isaiah was up to after he arrived in Melbourne...   

Those passenger details are a few of the bits I need to find, along with actual sales info on Empire Bridge Farm (I have the adverts of the auction but no firm sale details or contracts etc).  I believe her coffee palace was always a rental.

[PatLac]

Thanks, Ranolki.

I think they defininitely went to Melbourne in 1910 (after the furniture sale) given that Mrs. Maydwell's coffee palace has been mentioned on 4 January 1911

Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918)  Fri 6 Jan 1911
Page 4
OUR COUNTRY SERVICE.

SEA LAKE, 4th January.
Last night Mounted-constable Morey, on
the eve of his departure for Ballarat, was
entertained by the townspeople in Mrs.
Maydwell's coffee palace.

In 1910 the coffee palace belonged to "Mrs. Clarence Mudge, proprietress", as can be seen on Sands& Mc's and I think Christiana bought the place, otherwise why would they call it "Mrs. Maydwell's buildings"?

Sea Lake Times and Berriwillock Advertiser (Vic. : 1914 - 1918)  Sat 14 Nov 1914
Page 5
Advertising


WE desire to notify our clients that
we have opened TEMPORARY
OFFICES at Mrs MAYDWELL'S
BUILDINGS, Sea Lake.
THOMAS, MORROW AND CO.,
Auctioneers,Sea Lake and Branches.


Mount Wycheproof Ensign and East Wimmera Advocate (Vic. : 1914 - 1918)  Fri 10 Jul 1914
Page 5
Advertising

Public Notices.
SHOP to Let, best position Sea Lake
two large windows, newly reno
vated, suit any business; good cellar,
office, and store-room if desired. MRS
MAYDWELL, Commercial Coffee Palace,
Sea Lake.