Who was Mary Thelma Goodworth?

Mary Thelma with Chris and another grandchild at Londonderry c1961

My cousin Chris, who was orphaned while still at school, asked me to find out about his grandmother. She was a puzzle to him and he had been told that she was a Jewess. Generally, women who are from the Jewish religion bring up their children in the Jewish religion, so this was curious. His mother had been Church of England.

Chris’ details about her were. “Her name was Mary Thelma Goodworth and she had a hardware store in the Darlinghurst, Eastern Suburbs” known to be part of the Jewish community in Sydney.

I had to work backwards as it turns out she appears to have had more than one marriage. My father had been involved with tidying up Chris’ mother’s affairs upon her death somehow he had found a few bits of information but the wider Ancestry trees were all over the shop with names for parents, birth details and a marriage to John Kennedy in Mannum South Australia while she was a minor. 

This led me to search for Mary Thelma’s parents and her beginnings in South Australia. One thing led to another and the search gave the tragic story of her mother, her sister and their neglected beginnings.

See previous story on Mary Williams Campbell 

https://robynandthegenies.blogspot.com/2026/03/whats-story-maria-wheelhouse-aka-mary.html 

The little neglected girls from Mitcham…… the story so far

Mary Thelma Wheelhouse b 1908 and Lillian Olga Wheelhouse b1905 were the daughters of Mary Williams  Begg nee Campbell. Their births and therefore their father’s name were never registered. Let’s say they were born out of wedlock and their mother was left to care for them in say parts around Mitcham South Australia. Mary was also known around SA as Maria Wheelhouse.

There is newspaper article that mentions Lillian and her grandfather Mr Wheelhouse in Blanchtown giving a presentation of violets and snowdrops to the wife of the Governor. This suggests they are familiar with their grandparents around 1909.

There is more evidence of her relationship to the Wheelhouse family. Papers submitted during Maria’s admission to an Asylum tell of their accommodation and relationship with the Wheelhouse family.

The gist of this letter has Maria living in Cromwell St Adelaide with minimal furniture, bedding and a piano. Harry Hugh Wheelhouse the presumed father of the girls is living in Kalgoorlie- some evidence of money sent to her is found.

Letter regarding the situation with Mary Williams Begg

Indeed, it does point to a poor situation for Maria and the Children.

As was mentioned in Maria’s story in the previous blog,  their mother known as Maria Wheelhouse was never released from the Parkside Mental Hospital where she died in 1946.

The two little girls from Mitcham were charged with being neglected in 1910 were sent to Industrial Schools and foster homes until they reach adulthood.

Another couple of entries in Government Gazettes charge that Mary Thelma has absconded from her foster home. At this time she is still a minor and needs to be found.

Mary Absconded from Foster care

Later presumably from the next notice  she is now of legal age or found and the search is off.

Mary no longer being looked for

Another report in the South Australian newspaper has Thelma missing for three months. She had been working in Petersborough. Her sister Lillian had sent her a present at Christmas but had heard no more. Lillian inquired of her friends and they thought she had gone to Sydney. A handy description tells us Mary Thelma was described as tall for her years, brown eyes, olive brown complexion with semi shingled thick black hair.

Mary's missing

Mary Thelma makes her way to New South Wales. There is supposedly a marriage to a John Kennedy. A date bandied around in Ancestry is 12/9/1926 in Mannum, South Australia. This is not right as Mary Thelma would have been underage at this stage and besides no record can be found for the marriage or the birth of her daughter Aileen Kennedywhich comes soon after. Aileen Jill Kennedy was born we think around 1928 to 1929 and it was previously assumed this happened in Mannam South Australia.  I can’t access a birth certificate yet because of the 100 years rule. We now suspect she was born in Waratah, New South Wales.

Mary Thelma and Aileen Kenedy

By the next year Mary Thelma is in Warringah Electorate in Sydney. The information I have heard from one of the other researchers  is that John or Robert Kennedy was a merchant seaman from Scotland with a wife and children. He was not at liberty to marry Mary but he hung around long enough to father another son Alan Robert Kennedy who was born 4^th January 1930 in a destitute mother’s hospital in Sydney after his father had returned to Scotland.  Mary is doing it tough raising two children without support and Alan is fostered out to the Carroll family. Not everyone in the family knows about Alan including my cousin but it seems Mary maintained the relationship with Alan as he is mentioned in Mary Thelma’s obituary along with his wife and children.

Alan his mother and a foster parent ?Sommerville

 

In December 1933 Mary married Charles Louis Roland Jackson in a Presbyterian Church at Gladesville. He was a Yorkshireman working as a merchant seaman.  Soon they hear the pitter patter of little feet and little sister Ivy Priscilla Jackson is born in August 1934.The marriage ends in divorce in 1954. According to the divorce papers, Charles Jackson sued Mary Thelma for divorce in December 1954 on the grounds of desertion. The dissolution came about in March 1956. It seems Mary Thelma had left him “deserted” on many occasions. Another excerpt from the divorce files shows a history of desertions.

Charles Jackson's statement at the divorce proceeding

 Read into this what you will but in the 1950s women had few options for getting out of an unfortunate marriage. The man seems to be the disadvantaged one with their lack of conjugal rights but the women had to deal with the expectations of the times, little chance at working,  lack of systems in place and little government support.

Her divorce papers state she only has one child by him, Ivy, and no mention of a step daughter Aileen or second child, Alan.

Divorce, marriages and births 

By this time Aileen had married Richard Knighton aka Moran Gray in 1950. They had divorced after a marriage of domestic violence.

Aileen's wedding with her mother Mary Thelma

Soon, she married Frank Kelf, my uncle, in April 1959. Her son Christopher was born a little over a year later.

She lost her husband when he died about six months later and continued on the path of being a single mother until her death in 1974.

Alan, who was brought up under the name of Carroll, married Elaine Jeffrey in 1958 and had three children. (2 boys and a girl)

Ivy Priscilla Jackson married Otto Arnold Ruhnan in 1957. Together they had three children (2 girls and a boy) and I had brief contact with Ivy before her death in 2024. She had been searching for information about her mother and grandmother who she believed had died in childbirth and some of the information turned up had reached her before her death.

Ivy's wedding 1957  Arnold 2nd left top, Aileen Mary  Thelma and Ivy mid left 

Happiness at last

After her divorce from Charles Jackson, Mary married Peter Bateson Goodworth (1913-1996) in 1958. They lived together in Sydney until her death in 1977. Mary Thelma died on the 10th of June 1977 at Carlton, New South Wales.

Mary Thelma, Peter Goodworth Chris and Aileen

She’s not Jewish
Fast forward, I talked to my cousin to update him and tell him I had found a lot more about Mary Thelma's past. I explained that she probably wasn't Jewish. Blow me down. Then he said, “I remember relatives saying she was a Jewess, but I remember her in a Catholic church being very devoted Catholic. She was a convert.”

Apparently, her family had called her the derogatory word “Jewish” meaning miserly. It appears she was careful with her money. Any little wonder, considering her harsh upbringing, neglect at the age of 14 months, foster homes, lack of money, single motherhood, abandonment, divorce, etc.

Nevertheless, his request to find her religion has unearthed her story of her sad upbringing.

Misinformation and more….it was a bit of a nightmare
I had looked up what was recorded already in her tree. She was supposedly married three times. My dad had started on the research after the death of my cousin's mother. I checked out Mary Thelma’s obituary. I consulted Ancestry and she had numerous surnames. Coupled with the fact there was not There was not a definitive birth nor a marriage in South Australia, as was reported on her daughter's documents. Her children's births are not yet “open” on Births, Deaths, and Marriages.

Upon further researching, it turns out her name was  indeed Wheelhouse. No credible parents' names were available. People had various versions and possibilities in their own trees - West, Western, Daley etc. Differing Christian names for her parents were Mary, Matilda, Thelma, John.  Even the first name for her sister and herself were interchangeable.

So, hitting a bunch of brick walls, I decided after a year or two to check her divorce record from Jackson in 1954. Details were vague on her daughter's documents, also with her mother's name listed as West. The marriage certificate in these documents confirmed her name as Wheelhouse and a comment: ‘never married previously’ helped rule out John/ Robert Kennedy. Her mother was down as Mariam Daly and her father John. So it helped a little.

Facebook genealogy groups helped with checking South Australian births and marriages. Nothing came up. After searching for Wheelhouse on Trove, bingo. I found the Gazette entries around the 24th of August 1910 - three Wheelhouse females. Thank you to the genie gods. Never discount the Ancestry algorithm. It amazingly found the connection Mary Williams Begg nee Campbell and opened up the whole investigation.  

Lillian’s story

Lillian and Mary maintained contact in South Australia as they got older. Lily reported her sister missing before she left for Sydney.  Meanwhile, living in Peterborough, Lillian had met a man named Clifford James Fowler and an announcement in the paper stated that they had become engaged.

Lillian ended up in Sydney, joining her sister. Presumably her engagement fell through before she came to Sydney. She was working as a theatrical artist in Adelaide.

Having married John Sidney Murphy, a stevedore, in 1930 they welcomed eight children. Four sadly died in infancy.

Olga's marriage certificate

However, it wasn't a happy marriage. According to reports in the divorce her husband's habit of drinking and staying out late usually ended up in a domestic violence assault and attacks on the children. Lillian became a kindergarten teacher to support herself and her children.

The divorce as reported

According to the divorce papers they moved several times during their marriage. For the last 10 years of her marriage, she lived at the same address as her husband, but there was no cohabitation and few meals were served nor washing and cooking etc. They divorced in 1961.

Later Lillian married Cecil Harold Denning in 1962 and they lived together until he died in 1978. Lillian lived until the ripe old age of 86 when she died in Sydney in 1991.

Lilian Olga  (from MM Ancestry tree)

DNA works its magic

During the courses of my research other researchers had been networking through DNA matches. Isn’t it interesting when various people for various reasons independently do DNA tests. Be prepared for the surprises.

DNA found from Mary Thelma and Lillian Olga’s offspring strongly match the Beggs family members. In turn DNA from Mary Thelma’s and Lillian’s offspring match others who were looking for answers.

Thankyou

This has taken three years at least to work through. Thank you to those who DNA tested, to those who corresponded with me via Ancestry Message, email and phone.  Some information is not mine to tell so there may be some gaps in information.    To my partner in crime, Lorraine Jeffrey- we made a good team and I enjoyed working through this with you. Thanks Chris for the photos and MM from ancestry.

Any errors in this story are mine.

 

 

 

 

What’s the story ? Maria Wheelhouse aka Mary Williams Begg nee Campbell, 1871 to 1943

 

 

Mary Williams Campbell left Scotland in the spring of 1888. As she left Scotland, she was saying goodbye forever to winter and the bitterly cold Scottish weather.

Mary was born in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland, to Alexander Campbell and Elizabeth Garrett on the 24th of February, 1871. Mary, a domestic servant, came to Australia aged 17 as a free settler from Scotland, leaving on 1 August 1888 on the Merkara,  which arrived on 24 September 1888 in Brisbane.

Back in the Scottish 1881 census, she was shown as living with her parents in Dalziel, aged 10, the eldest of five children. Her mother had died and she may have come out to Australia to take pressure off her father and earn some money for the family.

Merkera arrived 1888

The shipping document above shows some of Mary's travelling companions. The newspaper report  24/8/1888 stated that the ship brought cargo and immigrants for Rockhampton. There were 8 single girls, 18 single men, 1 married couple and a child. They would have taken positions as labourers, domestic servants, a nurse, or possibly even governess on northern Australian farms. Filling a chronic labour shortage was one thing but the single girls were of marriageable age too.

After her arrival in Queensland about 900 kilometres NW of Brisbane, Mary presumably went to work as a domestic servant in a cattle station or farm where she presumably met William Begg, who was 14 years her senior.

They married in Albert Park, Melbourne, on the 19th of November 1891. Mary was still a minor, and a JP gave written consent for the marriage to occur.

At this stage, Mary's address was listed as Albert Park, and Williams was in Wanaring, in New South Wales, where he was a station manager.

Mary and William  c 1890

After she married William Begg they journeyed to Queensland, where they took up residence at “Coreena” near Barcaldine which was a large sheep station, the site of a large shearer's strike.

Coreena is near the town of Barcaldine, classified as 1240 square miles of absolutely first-class merino country, dotted with Downs and first class timber. This is the Aboriginal name for Big Water. Begg came to the station as manager.

They welcomed a son, Hector Campbell Begg, on the 16th of September, 1893. Their second son was born on the station - Percy Campbell Begg was born on 5 November 1895.

And after that, things went terribly wrong.

This part of the story is largely unknown. Mary disappeared from William Begg's life. You see, Mary left William Begg's life for whatever reason. Perhaps it was vice versa.

Who knows the hardship this young lady had to bear in remote Australian outback with no parental support, moving from Queensland to New South Wales to Victoria and back again. Two young boys, possibly postnatal problems, a marriage to an older man, and any other number of situations.

What is known is that the family left Coreena Station in 1897, as it seems William Begg was again working in New South Wales and possibly travelling back and forwards to Queensland.

Whether Mary and the children were accompanying him is unknown, but something was seriously wrong as the children were placed in an orphanage around 1901. (Later, Begg's relatives, who were living in Mount Carmel Station in Heathcote, Victoria, took the children in to live with them.)

I was researching this lady from a totally different angle.

What I was looking for at this stage was the mother of my cousin's grandmother. I was researching this lady from a totally other angle, and we can thank Ancestry's algorithm for making the connection to Mary Williams Campbell.

What was Mary up to during this time apart from William?

My clues were that his grandmother’s name  was Mary Thelma Wheelhouse and that she had a sister called Lillian Olga Wheelhouse.

Notations from various marriage certificates suggested that her name may have been Daly, Western  or West. Others had called her Thelma Beck. Unbeknownst to us, the girls had a pretty sad life, and it was no wonder they were unsure of the details of their birth.

So Mary Campbell  Begg  probably had an affair with a man called Harry Hugh Wheelhouse met in either Queensland or South Australia.

Two little girls were born but never registered in Queensland or South Australia. Mary Thelma was insistent she was born in Mannum, South Australia but there’s no record.

The dates we have for the girls are Lily Olga Wheelhouse 24-8-1905, Murray Bridge, South Australia, and Mary Thelma Wheelhouse, 24-6-1909, Mannan, South Australia.

During my research, I was distracted by a piece in the South Australian Police Gazette that two little girls, Lily Wheelhouse, aged five, and Mary  (Thelma )Wheelhouse, aged 14 months, were charged with being neglected children at Mitcham and were sent to an industrial school. These dates fit.

Life in an institution, no wonder they didn't know their details.

What I also noticed was that Maria Wheelhouse, in the item above, was charged as a lunatic at Mitcham and sent to an asylum.

As I mentioned before, Ancestry's algorithm was responsible for solving the mystery.

Maria Wheelhouse in my tree was generating Mary Campbell Williams hints and photos for me to investigate!

Luckily, the owner of a tree had put a message on her tree that her DNA investigations had linked Mary to the little girls.

I contacted Lorraine, and we compared findings, collaborated further and pretty much confirmed the details.

We are hampered by the 100-year privacy rules and undigitized South Australian records and also the fact that she's in Western Australia and I'm in New South Wales.  Some information though was available, such as papers from the South Australian State Archives. Despite this we make a good team researching in our own ways where we could.

Although we have never found a marriage certificate or birth certificates, it appears the children's father is Harry Hugh Wheelhouse of Kalgoorlie, previously South Australia. The paperwork confirms her relationship with the girls and a connection with the Wheelhouses.  

 

In addition, a newspaper article years before confirms a relationship with Francis Wheelhouse when he and his granddaughter Lily present the visiting Governor’s wife with a bunch of snowdrops and violets.

At the time of her admission to the Parkside Asylum she's a pauper and obviously mentally ill.  Her house in Cromwell St Adelaide was quite poorly equipped with a table , three chairs, some bedding, kitchen utensils and a pram. Interestingly she had a piano. Records we have accessed stated that she was a music teacher and the wife of Harry Wheelhouse, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

Investigations into Maria's circumstances and her partner, and previous acquaintances at her place of residence suggested that Mr. Harry Wheelhouse should contribute to her costs in the asylum. The investigations also link Wheelhouse’s father to the lady in question. Papers discovered claim Harry Hugh Wheelhouse is her husband and currently residing in Western  Australia.

When the  Institution writes to him asking for support for Maria  of 3/- per diem he won’t admit responsibility and claims she is the responsibility of William Begg of Coreena as she is married to him.

The final report, though, from the Commissioner of Police, Adelaide, states that Harry Hugh refused to contribute towards maintenance because they had not been living together for four years due to domestic troubles. He also said that as they had never married, she was legally the wife of Mr William Begg, the former station manager of Coreena.

Mary never left the asylum until she died on the 14th of August, 1943, aged 71 years. Her death certificate does not mention any of her children or a spouse, but alludes to Harry. She died of cerebral thrombosis anterio sclerosis. It seems a pity that such an accomplished woman has languished in an asylum for many, many years. If, for example, she suffered from postnatal depression, in different times she may have been treatable and even well enough to live a normal life.

There were probably many things that ailed Mary/Maria- Mental illness, postnatal depression, unhappy marriage, domestic violence, loneliness. Neglect. The saddest thing is she ended up having a lonely life deprived of her children. Mary Thelma  never thought to search for her because she believed she died at birth.

Today her grandchildren  are reunited with her story through Ancestry Records and DNA Connections and some serious digging by Lorraine and me. Did they have a better life? That’s  to be continued…

DNA

DNA tests for other people looking for parents show links to both Lily and Mary via associated DNA tests. These in turn match with DNA testing from Mary Campbell Williams' offspring's Percy  and Hector plus Lily and  Mary Thelma’s children's offspring. Details are deliberately vague here to protect the privacy of others involved in this case.

Meanwhile, Harry Hugh Wheelhouse had moved on.

No sooner had Lily been born in August 1905 Harry married Lucie Hay, in Redfern, Sydney, in September 1905. When they met or how quickly he left SA for Sydney  after Lily was conceived is unknown. We know he was back in SA giving Maria money and he’s quite possibly Mary Thelma’s father too. His father is with the children in a newspaper report.

However when Lucie  died in 1914 Harry was quick in collecting her inheritance. Harry, who was native to Kapunda, South Australia, had a number of jobs, one of which was as a bookkeeper when he married Lucie Hay. However, he also was quite well known for running an  skating rink in Kalgoorlie and performing with Jessie Dodsworth. Harry, it seems, is a bit of a slippery character. Despite a search we cannot  find his death.

Harry Hall Wheelhouse and Jessie Dodsworth - Kalgoorli Argus

The Wheelhouses had come to South Australia in 1876 and father Francis was employed by the South Australian Railways at Kapunda where he eventually became an inspector. He resigned in 1902 and then he established himself on the Murray in Blanchetown as publican.  There must have been a falling out because they didn’t take the little girls in. After retirement, he and his wife lived at Watson's Bay in Sydney. His wife Ellen died in 1920 and he died about one month later at sea.

The Jessies and their Legacy. The Cross Family Story.

 

 

James Cross     m          Jessie Smart     m           John Tennant    

1826 - 1884                      1830 - 1904

David Williamson Cross    Jessie Cross          James Cross        Agnes Ducat Cross

      1850 - 1918                  1852 - 1881          1855-1858             1853-1856

m Elizabeth Steed                  m     James Francis Kerr

Early life – James Cross and Janet Smart AKA Jessie

Our Cross family originated from Burtonton, Perthshire. James Cross' life begins there.

My three times great-grandfather, James Cross, was born approximately 1826. Fast forward to the 1841 census he is boarding with the Taylors at age 15. At that young age he is a brewer of spirits. At the time, the spirit brewing operations were undergoing more formal regulation of the brewing distillery industry.

James Cross 1841 census

Brewing usually involved making whisky or beer. Around this time, they were now making whiskey  with grain rather than malt. These were the formative days of the grain whisky. Grain whiskey was a lighter and faster way to produce whiskey than malt whiskey. There were 280 breweries in Scotland.

At some stage, he was drawn to working in Edinburgh and probably ended at the Carlton Hill Brewery in Edinburgh. By the time of his marriage to Jesse Smart, he was living with his parents-in-law at 5 Amphion Place in Edinburgh.

Smart family 1841 census

The Carlton Hill Brewery was located in Amphion Place, so it is assumed James probably worked there, as did Jesse's father, Robert Smart, who was a cooper supplying barrels. Carlton Hill Brewery is on the north side of the north back of Cannon Gate. It was an extensive brewery at the eastern end of Amphion Place.

James and Jessie married in July 1850. They had had a son a few months before, little David Williamson Cross. 

James and Jessie 1851 census

In the 1851 census he is listed with his small son with Jessie a porter to a spirit merchant. Soon Jessie Cross was born in 1852. James Senior died of cholera on 14^th September 1854 at age 28 a victim of an outbreak that had swept through the area as is evidenced in the burial records.

James death from the Cemetary records

The following year, 1855 brought the birth of little James Cross He was born in 87 Kirkgate South. Under his father's name in the registration form it states that he has two girls and one boy alive. The birth certificate of James also shows Jessie as having her fourth child. So far, they had Jessie, David, and an unknown girl later found to be Agnes Ducat Cross who died in 1856. The irony is that James was born seven and a half months after the death of his father on 1 March 1855. Tragically three little children in the household were fatherless. Presumably Jessie was able to call on her parents Robert and Janet (Jessie) Wilson for help. Alas young James Cross died on 14^th February 1858.

Another 2 months into 1858 saw Jessie’s father, Robert Smart, pass away also from chronic bronchitis. He was 64.

Later in the 1861 census we see Jessie,31 and her mother, 54 are living with her two surviving children, David and Jessie by then 11 and 9.  If you turn the page, John Tennant, aged 35, the widower of Elizabeth Hardy, is lodging with the family.

John works as a clockmaker. His motherless children, Jessie, aged five years, and Isabella 6 months, are with their grandparents in Banffshire. Out of love, necessity, convenience, financially or a combination, Jessie and John Tennant married later that year in October 1861 in Edinburgh according to the rites of the United Presbyterian Church.

Jessie and John marriage

The Family in Glasgow
After their marriage John's child from his previous marriage, Jessie Tennent lives with John and Jessie. Isabella does not live with them and it is unknown about her further life. By 1871, a decade after their marriage, they had all relocated to Glasgow after welcoming two more children to their family. These children were William, 8, and Robert Smart, 6. John's child from his previous marriage, Jessie, aged 15, was 15 by this stage. I estimate they moved to Glasgow sometime after the birth of Robert Smart in 1864 as Jessie’s mother Janet (Jessie) Smart nee Wilson died in Glasgow in July 1865.

After she made the move the tenement was crowded with Jessies- 4 in all. All the females in this household are called Jessie!  

Janet Jessie Smart died aged 77 in her daughter Jessie’s home in Crookston Street Tradeston of gangrene of the foot and leg possibly pointing to an underlying condition of severe diabetes or infection due to trauma.

During 1870, young Jessie Cross while working as a silk worker gave birth to an illegitimate daughter- another Jessie- Jessie Smart Cross. This little one died at age two months.

Yet again our Jessie, my 2 times great grandmother, was in the 1871 census as stepdaughter, Jessie Cross- mill worker. Also, in the tenement her mother Jessie is living with her second husband, John Tennant and her oldest son David. David had taken on his stepfather's profession as a clockmaker. John Tennant's daughter, Jessie, plus the two children from his second marriage, William and Robert Smart Tennant also live there.

Around this time Jessie had met a young man named James Francis Kerr a young Cab driver from Ireland and a courtship ensued.  

John Tennent death 

The Tennants continued to live in the same area in Glasgow with him working in the clockmaking field. Their young sons had by the 1881 census begun employment with William as a brass finisher and Robert Smart as an apprentice Engine turner. 

In time the children Jessie, David, William and Robert moved on, married and started their own families. Sadly in 1894, John died of paralysis apoplexy leaving his daughter Jessie and wife Jessie to continue living together.

Jumping ahead to the 1901 census, Jessie Tennant, (John's daughter), is now aged 45 and living with her stepmother Jessie, who is now 70. My three times great-grandmother, Jessie nee Smart, previously Cross and then Tennant, lived a grand old life, dying in 1904 at age 74. She had been living with her stepdaughter, Jessie, who was the witness on her death certificate. Her cause of death was senile debility.

Jessie Smart Cross Tennent death 

The Next Generation

In 1873 young Jessie Cross had married James Francis Kerr who was living in Shuttle Street Glasgow. James had come from Ireland and was working as a cabman for Mr. Aiken, a cab proprietor in Bridgeton.

By 1881, he had started up his own business as a cab proprietor, and they were living in a tenement with two rooms or more, with one or more windows. They had three children. James Francis Kerr, born 1873 and died 1874 of measles. James Cross Kerr, 1876, my great-grandfather, and another Jessie -Jessie Smart Kerr was born 1878.

Another child, John Kerr, was born in 1880 but died in 1881. James's lovely wife Jessie died in October 1881 because of severe vomiting in pregnancy. A little over a month later, their one-year-old son John died of convulsions.

Jessie Kerr nee Cross death

David Williamson Cross married Elizabeth Steed also in 1873. After having 2 children he moved to live in England as a mechanic with the postal service where he had 6 more children. He eventually retired and moved in with his daughter and son-in-law as a retired superannuated GPO mechanic following the passing of his in 1898. He died in 1918.

Half-brother Robert Smart Tennant married Sarah Mulholland in 1887. They had a son and a daughter in Glasgow. He died in1890 aged 25 of erysipelas -strep infection while working as an iron turner. They lived in 265 Crookston St Glasgow.

Older half-brother William who married Margaret Moore in 1885 was a brass finisher who had died before 1911 census. Here the family of two sons John and Thomas and daughters Margaret and Elizabeth are shown living with widowed mother Margaret and none other than a sister Jessies daughter Jessie Smart Gallagher nee Kerr who was herself a young widow.   

The Legacy

So, what became of the family? James Francis Kerr went on to become an entrepreneur cab proprietor of mixed fortunes. He later remarried Agnes Yuill, and most of his children were employed in his business until this horse-drawn business declined around World War I.

Two of his children, by Jessie Cross, James Cross Kerr (my great grandfather) and Jessie Smart Kerr, came to Australia post-war and made their homes in Sydney.

James had 3 children after marrying Mary Ann Murphy -James (my grandfather) and Alfred. Stephen deceased. He served in the First World War. Jessie travelled to Australia, met and married Ernest Rayner living out her days in Bondi after running the successful Rayner’s Cafe. She probably kept the Cross Tennent story alive though her nephews James and Alf and continued to write to her aunt and her daughter Peggy Allisson, Tommie etc.

Jessie Smart Kerr  wedding?

Jessie and her Kerr nephews Alf top and James below with little Jean

This is the story of the Cross family, of the move from Perthshire to Edinburgh to Glasgow and Newcastle and ultimately Australia. Facts along the way highlight the hardships of the times, despite solid employment, and death from now-eradicated diseases and the trials of pregnancy abound in 19th-century Scotland.

I knew about my 2x great grandmother Jessie Cross from early on, or at least that that was her name. My great-uncle Alf used to talk about her as if he knew her. Her name had been included in my great-grandfather's name, James Cross Kerr. Cross had the misfortune of being recorded as CROFS in Old English for SS. That confused some relatives, particularly those who came from the step-siblings of James Cross Kerr and Jessie Smart Kerr.

Lack of social security for women and the need for someone to housekeep, cook, etc., in families saw many men and women remarry and consequent blended families for genealogists to find. Add a few illegitimate children, and a story where everyone is called Jessie results to distort the DNA and confuse the researcher. At last count there were 6 and I haven’t even mentioned Jean my aunt who died as a child who was named as a derivative of Janet or Jessie.

Along the way, more of the story of the Scottish relatives is revealed. They didn't all come from Glasgow after all. Our relationship with the Tennants continued with Aunty Jessie Smart Kerr, previously Gallagher, living with Maggie, who was the widow from William Tennant. Jessie continued to write to her once in Australia. See photo postcard. We also have a Bible gifted from Tommy Tennant before her trip abroard on the 1910s.

The Cross family’s story is one of resilience and adaptation, shaped by the challenges and opportunities of 19^th Century Scotland. From James Cross’ early days as a brewer to the migration to Glasgow and eventually Australia their legacy lives on through the generations. It’s a testament to the power of family and the stories we inherit.

Note: At some point Tennant became Tennent in the records or was used inter changeably .

DNA matches  

Some of the connections can be verified via DNA. So far I have confirmed matches with two of the of the offspring of David Williamson Cross and one of the offspring of half sibling William Tennant.

Shipboard life in the 1920s

 

What was it like to travel to Sydney from the UK in the 1920s?

Nanny's ticket to Australia

One little scrap of paper in my father's memorabilia and a couple of internet sites gives some  insight on this.

This is a ticket for my grandmother's travel to Sydney in 1926. She purchased the third-class Orient Line ticket on the Ormond in April for £33. Together with her future mother-in-law, Mary Ann, and future brother-in-laws, Alfred and Frank, she was immigrating to Sydney and joining her fiancé, James Kerr of Glasgow Scotland. He had moved there 12 months previously.

£33 buying power is £2,500 in 2025 100 years later and with inflation.  I would imagine it was pretty difficult for most people to afford the fare.

Not much was known about her background. Details of her mother, Mary McLaughlin have only just been discovered. She was known by her family to be an only child but as it turns out, she had  an illegitimate Strelley half-sisters and two half brothers. She went by the name Strelley and spent time with her father at his gym, even though it turns out she was illegitimate. She worked firstly for Saltcoasts Mission biscuits  and then for McFarlane Lang Biscuit Company as an ovens woman and lived with a relative of Macfarlane family in 1921 census. She earned extra money working at fight night events for the Strelley gym. She was able to buy her £33 ticket to Australia without anyone's help.

They applied for their passports and the four prepared for their journey to Sydney. They were travelling to London before departure, on the 29th of May, 1925, staying with Joe Valli's wife (vaudeville fame) prior to the journey.

RMS Ormonde

The Ormond was previously a World War I 14,853 tonnes ship, now converted to a three-class passenger liner. This oil-burning steamer ran a regular service from Tilbury, London, to Australia until 1952. Its regular route went from Tilbury, London, via Gibraltar, Toulon, Naples, Port Said, Suez, Aden, Colombo, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Burnie, Sydney and Brisbane. It was known as the RMS due to its extra role as a Royal Mail Ship. It carried post-war immigrants keen to make a new home in Australia. Generally, it had around 278 first-class, 196 second-class and 1,017 third-class passengers as it plied its way back and forward several times a year.

The ticket reveals what the third-class passenger would expect for their money. Firstly, each ticket was for either a six, eight or 10 berth cabin. It was guaranteed to carry four quarts of water per passenger per day. Presumably, this was provided for bathing and toilets as well as quality drinking water. Bedding, cabin and table requirements were provided by the ship.

What to look forward to

The ticket lists the weekly provisions supplied to each adult. These were dictated by the Board of Trade and Ministry Scale. This included

2lb 4ozs of pork, 1lb of preserved meat and 2lb 8ozs of bread or biscuits. Also listed was the required  quantity of potatoes, raisins, butter, suet, sugar, oats and  flour etc.

Third Class Dining Room Deck F

Meals were supplied in the third-class dining rooms at the following times:

8am for breakfast

1pm for dinner

5pm for Tea

8pm for supper

Breakfast consisted of porridge with milk, sausage, Irish stew, curried meat, rice, cold meat with bread, butter, jam, marmalade, tea and coffee. Dinner or lunch was served with soup, fish or boiled meat, fresh vegetables, stewed fruits, pudding, bread and butter and jam and marmalade.

Tea consisted of cold meats, pickles, salad, cakes or scones, et cetera, plus bread and butter and jam, et cetera. Supper was bread and butter, cheese and biscuits.

Dining Room Third Class Deck E

Each passenger was permitted 15 cubic feet of luggage, carried in trunks to the value of £10 unless insured for more. A 15 cubic feet is a trunk of 14 inches (L) by 35 inches (W) by 17 inches (D).

Being so far from home on this lengthy trip oh how they would have marvelled at the exotic sights along the way.  Was the trip an epic adventure expected of travellers today? Did they partake in the sun and sea air? Between meals did they use the gym, enjoy dancing, partake of shipboard sports such as  tennis and shuffleboard.

A few stories from other relatives who made the long trip.

An earlier trip by the Kerrs travelling to New Zealand resulted in a shipwreck. David Montgomery Yuill Kerr, Hannah Anderson Johnson, with their children, James, Robert, May and David left Scotland to make a new life in New Zealand in 1922. They originally left for N Z on the SS "Remuera" on 20 July 1922. It appears to have had a collision with the SS " Marengo" near Weymouth in the English Channel. The passengers were taken off the ship by the SS "Victoria"

My Gadsby family travelled with great great grandmother Selina and family Grace, Maude, Julia, Kitty, Selina, and young son William. They met up with future friends the Thurlows, and a shipboard romance ensued. They carried with them a well-thumbed copy of the “Girl's Own Annual” hundreds of pages   with stories of fashion, Australian lifestyles, cooking and memories left behind. I've often imagined my relatives and their exploits on the six-week trip with their experiences and new found friendships.

Later in the 1920s, my mother-in-law, Wynne travelled over as an eight-year-old with her six-year-old sister, Patricia under the guidance of a stewardess. One of her memories is of the residents of the Suez Canal welcoming them by lifting their dresses. To their shock, they were wearing no underwear!

 At port stops were our relatives too scared to venture ashore at exotic and unfamiliar ports?

Perhaps they were offered shells, ivory carvings, exotic foods et cetera, by the locals at docks on the way. Pieces of coral and ivory, amongst my grandparents’ memorabilia makes me think they  did gather some souvenirs on the way!

Carved Ivory

Vintage Coral

Australia Day 2026-the Ford side.

An Australia Day 2025  Lunch with seafood at Yum Yum Cafe

 

I saw a suggestion a couple of years ago some family history  within an Australia Day theme. I decided to get organised to write a bit about my husband’s family coming to Australia.

On his side the Fords, Hudsons and the Cassidys all came in the second and third decades of the 1900s

My husband’s paternal grandparents Sidney Ford and Ethel Hudson came as a married couple in 1913 just as the war was about to break out in Europe, They had left from England where they both lived and had newly married. He arrived to live officially in Melbourne on 20/6/1913 on a merchant ship Makarini. He had travelled backwards and forwards before that in the Merchant Marines between 1911 and 1913. Sid’s wife Ethel Hudson who arrived heavily pregnant gave birth in Melbourne before arriving in Sydney soon after Alice was born.

James Cassidy arrived in Sydney 3/11/1927 on S.S.Hobsons Bay  

Do the the Fords and the Cassidys have Australian royalty? Heaven forbid they were convict stock. Steve is an Australian mongrel. His  relatives are largely English. Just so happened his paternal grandfather Sid, was of British origin, but born while his father worked on the Coast Guard in Donegal Island. No wonder they called him Paddy.

Did any ancestors arrive under their own financial steam?

Yep, Paddy came out on a merchant ship (he jumped ship as they say) and his wife followed. The Cassidys probably paid their own way. Travel costs may have been paid by Hendersons who were looking for workers to work in their hat factory.

How many came as singles?

James E Cassidy- grandfather  was a widower. James came on the 3rd of November 1927 leaving his motherless daughters, Winifred and Patricia back in Bury , England with relatives. The girls were reunited with their father after travelling to Australia unaccompanied under the watchful eye of a stewardess after their father met and married May Davis.

May had come to Australia in 19 September 1926 with her family from Bedworth in Warwickshire. James married the boss’ daughter!

How many came as couples?

Ethel Ford Nee Hudson arrived in December 1913 on the SS Hobsons Bay H22. She had married Sidney in England and was expecting her first baby by the time she arrived to meet up with her husband who had come across on a merchant ship. She had to disembark to give birth in Melbourne. Then came the happy reunion in Sydney with baby Alice.

Ethel's shipping documents 1913

Did one person lead the way and others followed? James E Cassidy found himself a job and married the boss's daughter. Then his little daughters Winifred and Patricia arrived in Australia in unaccompanied.

Wyn and Pat arrived on the 8th of December 1928 on the SS Orsover via Ceylon, Columbia.. May had come to Australia in 19 September 1926.

Winifred's shipping documents - travelling unaccompanied

What was the longest journey that they came to get here? They all came from England directly.

Did any make two-step migration via another place? No.

What state or colony did they arrive in? New South Wales. All were aiming for Sydney. Ethel had a short stopover in Melbourne to have her baby Alice.

Did they stay in their first state or did they move? All made their homes in Sydney, Drummoyne and Ryde.

Do you have any first Australians in your tree? No.

Were any self-employed? Having seawater in his veins Sidney  the answer is No. Plying the waters of Sydney Harbour on ferries was Sid's calling.

James fell into his job at Henderson Hats. It was a skill he brought with him from Lancashire.

What skills or occupation did they make? Does anyone still follow this occupation?

Sidney work on Sydney Ferries all his life.

Hats fell out of fashion in the 1960s and James moved on to work as a watchman at Hoover in Meadowbank. However James's daughter  Wynne did work in Hendersons before her marriage . She met her future husband, Joe, via a note in the army hat she had prepared that was issued to Joe during WWII. Patricia became a nurse.

Did any ancestors leave or go home? No. They all loved Australia and led quite comfortable lives compared with their families back home.

Some questions for the Steve

What is your state of origin? New South Wales.

Do you still live here? Yep. Any special places you like to holiday now? See other answers. Share your favourite spot in Oz picture.

What's on your Australian holiday bucket list? I love a good railway trip and I'm sure my wife has ideas.

How do you celebrate Australia Day? Surrounded by my family, Aussie flags and after a few games eating a good barbecue.

The grandkids celebrating Australia Day 2021 in Yamba