Happy Australia Day from snowy Canada!
In honour of Australia Day – January 26 for those non-Australians - Shelley at Twigs of Yore recently invited all genealogy bloggers with Australian ancestry to find the earliest piece of documentation they have about an ancestor in Australia. Those of use without Australian ancestors were to choose the earliest piece of documentation for a relative in Australia.Â
On Australia Day we were to post our answers to these questions:
- What is the document?
- Do you remember the research process that lead you to it? How and where did you find it?
- Tell us the story(ies) of the document. You may like to consider the nature of the document, the people mentioned, the place and the time. Be as long or short, broad or narrow in your story telling as you like!
I don’t have any Australian ancestors. I don’t really have any connection to Australia at all. Well, no connection besides a desire to visit! But when I saw Shelley’s challenge for some reason I really wished I could participate. I didn’t see how that would be possible as I had no Australian documentation of any sort on any ancestor.
Then, just a couple of weeks ago, it suddenly became possible. It’s a very tenuous connection, but I’m going to make the most of it and I hope no one minds me crashing the party!
I just recently discovered that my Ansted ancestors were fruit brokers based in London, England, from the late 1700s until the early 1900s. They were the Ansted part of Clark, Ansted & Co. The brokerage dealt in dried fruit – much better to make long ocean-going voyages than fresh, one would think.
The Australian documentation I recently discovered relates to this business. I had had some luck in tracking down newspaper clippings on the company in the Times of London. For some reason, I decided I would see whether they ever had any business dealings in Australia.
And, wouldn’t you know it, they did. It’s not much to work with but in a few issues of The Southern Australian Advertiser (Adelaide) from 1858 and 1860, Clark, Ansted & Co. is mentioned (amongst others such as Colman and Co. and Lea and Perrin’s!) as having fruit for auction. I have no evidence any of the Ansteds ever actually made the trek to Australia – but their fruit apparently did.
From The Southern Australian Advertiser, November 1, 1858:
So, it’s possible that some of the ancestors of other genealogy bloggers writing today ate the raisins and currants that my ancestors’ company sent to Australia!
Thanks for letting me join the party!
Thanks for sharing your unique document.
We’re a friendly mob down here and are giving a warm welcome to everyone who joins our celebration for Australia Day.
It is a trek to Australia – I do hope you make it here some day – I am sure our Aussie geneabloggers will roll out the red carpet.
Good on ya cobber! No, we don’t really talk like that, but we’re pleased to have you aboard.
You are very welcome at our party! I do hope you can visit Australia soon.
An afterthought… It would be fun if you could make your visit coincide with the Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry. The next one is in Adelaide in 2012. There are always some speakers from the northern hemisphere.
I really would love to come visit some day. I`d like to take my children along, though. As they are both under four, I think I`m going to wait a few more years. I`m just not that brave! (When I think of what our ancestors went through to get to Australia and Canada, it seems silly I don`t want to travel for a couple of days with two small children, but there it is!)
OK, I understand. International flights can be an effort on one’s own, let alone with little ones in tow! The Australasian Congress is held every third year, so you will get another chance. I think 2015 will be in Canberra.
Thanks for joining in from Canada 🙂
Thanks for joining in the challenge. Every story adds more information to our stories.
Sorry for my belated commenting, I couldn’t access the site when I came by earlier. I’m so glad you found a way to join in. Every contribution is appreciated and it all adds context to our ancestors lives.
My little ones are a similar age to yours so if you ever make it to Australia we could organise a playdate!
Thanks for organizing the whole event – it was fun to participate, even from such a distance. And should you ever make your way to Canada – let me know. We’d love to play!
Hi, Jen,
I realise it is 3 1/2 years since you posted this, so hope you receive it.
Yes, you do have relatives in Australia – very distant ones, but still relatives. Thomas Ansted & Esther Carruthers had a son, Thomas, who had a son Frederick born 1825 in Hackney, who migrated to South Australia, and married Maria Evelina Tidmarsh. They had two daughters, one being Julia Maria Ansted b 1852. Julia migrated to New Zealand, and married Frederick William Smith, had a family and ws at various times a farmer, teacher, chemist, and solicitor. Their son Frederick Burchall Ansted-Smith was born in 1879, married Amy Francis, had three children, and migrated to Sydney. The family reversed the name and the children were “Smith-Ansteds”. The youngest son was my husband’s father, Leo Frederick Smith-Ansted.
I wondered for a while what the Ansteds did in South Australia, and now I know! What I don’t know is why they migrated to New Zealand. In any case, there are Ansted relations in NSW, and apparently quite a few still in New Zealand. Cheers,
Karen Ansted