Hi all,
I am a descendant of this man. When I started researching family history I started with just my direct line, but have recently been working with other Clark descendants to fill in the gaps to get a better picture of the family as a whole. Charles and his second wife, Elspit Taylor, brought with them Andrew, the son of his first wife Jane Ogg, who had died, and eight of their own children (another had died in infancy). They had two more Australian-born children. I have a family history written by William Oswald Clark (1923-2013), Charles Clark's 2 x great grandson, and another Clark descendant has transcribed it. If you message me your email address I will send you a copy. I have also been in contact with William Oswald Clark's nephew to find out more about his uncle.
The Clark family moved from Melbourne to Smeaton in Victoria and then spread out to places including Yarrawonga, Corowa and the Narrandera area. My own great grandmother, Alice Clark (1877-1967) lived in the Lockhart area of the Riverina.
The history I found concentrates mainly on the descendants of Charles' first child, Andrew, but includes details of the area in Aberdeenshire (near Balmoral Castle) where Charles was a blacksmith before emigrating.
All the people I have mentioned (with the exception of William Oswald Clark's unnamed nephew) are deceased, so there should be no problems with that.
That's the background, now to the specific query. Fellow cousins descended from Sidney Ernest Wilson (1879-1961) are stumped trying to determine his ancestry. On the parish marriage register (St Michaels, Surry Hills, 2 Oct 1906, age 27) he says his father's name is unknown and his mother is Louisa, maiden name unknown. It says he was born at Clifton, which is on the coast between Sydney and Wollongong.
Some researchers think his father might have been Thomas Wilson Garlick (1835-1901), and Sidney was given his middle name for a surname. NSW BDM has one marriage for Thomas Wilson Garlick, and it's to Mary Collary (or Collaery), not to a woman named Louisa. Mary Garlick's death certificate does not list a Sidney as a child, living or dead.
As well as Sidney's marriage register, his Boer War mounted infantry picture, 1900 jail book (Wollongong jail, for vagrancy at Nowra), WWI Attestation, and Rookwood records all use the Sidney Wilson name.
I did a fairly wide sweep (1880-1890) of Wilson births in NSW BDM and found no Sidney births, let alone one at Clifton with a mother Louisa.
There were two births for Sydney, which I could rule out for other reasons.
I can see why my fellow Clark descendants are having trouble. I wonder if any Rootschatters might have ideas for further research.
Thanks again,
Geoff Turner
Brisbane
