Grave Tales :: Story of Strange Butson Hartigan

This is the first in a series of Grave Tales, from Brad Argent and his travels across the land and its many burial grounds. He may be a little nuts about cemeteries but aren't all historians!

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For most suburbanites, cemeteries are large well laid out affairs located on the outer reaches of the city or town, but what many don’t realise is that there might be a smaller, quainter, necropolis just around the corner.

Tucked away in the quiet back streets of the Inner-western Sydney suburb of Canterbury is a cemetery.  Like many of the smaller suburban cemeteries still around today this one is attached to St. Paul’s Anglican Church – a beautiful building from 1859, designed by Edmund Blacket who was also responsible for the Great Hall at Sydney University.

Residing in this cemetery is the wonderfully named Strange Butson Hartigan, the third son of Reverend Edward and Elizabeth Florence Hartigan (nee Eyre).  At the age of about 19 Strange left his 12 brothers and sisters and joined the West India Regiment, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain.  A military life must have suited him as he pops up in the US Civil War records in the early 1860’s.  At this point he is married to a music teacher, Ellen Sandars and living in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1865 he’s back in Ireland, this time marrying a Margaret O’Dea in Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland.  What happened to his first wife, Ellen, is unknown, but it’s possible she died in the US.  Strange and Margaret make their way to Australia later that same year and arrived in Sydney, via Adelaide, on February 22, 1866.  Strange died 12 years later on October 10, 1878.

I’ve yet to find out about the life of Strange once he arrived here, whether he had children, when his wife died, etc. – I only recently stumbled upon his existence.  But to think that 145 years ago a world weary ‘soldier of fortune’ came to spend his quiet years just around the corner from where I currently live is pretty awesome.

Take a closer look at your neighbourhood cemetery, there might be some strange things there too.

Read the 2nd instalment in the series - The murder of William Hird!

✻ Brad Argent is content director at Ancestry.com.au. Australia’s leading family history website, Ancestry.com.au contains more than 930 million records in its Australian and UK collections. 

Love letters from Ireland 1799. We #loveheritage

Joseph Davis (c1760-1823) was a convict found guilty of high treason on Dublin in 1798 and sentenced to transportation for seven years. He was one of a large number of men who had been apprehended for administering an unlawful oath (considered a rebel offence by the authorities) on 1 October 1797. The group were given time to put their affairs in order before leaving the country. While on board the Minerva in Cork harbour awaiting transportation to Sydney, Davis penned an emotional love letter to his wife. The letter survives to this day.

My dear Mary,
This day I received your letter and it gives me great satisfaction to find in the post circumstances that you, my mother and the four children are well. I hope little young John will get over the cough. I am myself tolerable well in health.… I often think of our mutual attachment to each other and my children but them times are over. I am very sure we will soon sail. Every preparation denotes it. However let me be in my part of the world, you, your mother and the children will be my chief concern. I wish I could in some measure think my health be better. I am exactly nine months on board this day and 18 months in confinement. …I hope you have fortitude to withstand this great trouble and distress for tho we may be separated in this life, we should get happiness. Pray keep up your spirits we may meet again. I am extremely sorry to hear a complaint of [my daughter] Sally, I thought she promised to have better times and I strictly desire for her to mind her schooling and every other thing you or her grandmother desire for her to do. She must know how such things put me in my present situation. Not being with her, therefore inform her if she has any respect for her father, that she will mind his direction or she will repent when it’s too late.I have not a sufficiency of words to acknowledge the kindness of your mother to you and the children, she has my prayers. I don’t know what might have been the consequences only for her, and I request she will continue her kindness and to pay a strict attention to the morals of the children.…The complaint of that lump in my belly is much the old way, no tenderness here will do any service. The reality I can’t say I got my health very bad but is entirely unable to bear hardship, sometimes weakness bordering on fainting attacks but wear off again.When you have an opportunity, give my best respects to Mr and Mrs Spencer, your sister Anne… Give my respects to the two Goodmans and Mr Donney with them, let them know Brady and Mulhall [also on board the Minerva] and the remainder of us seven are well. It gives me great pleasure to hear from you and often wonder at your neglect (I forgive you) and your mother has me affection with you the same as ever…Show this letter to my friend and cousin, [he] is next to your mother and the children… grant him peace in this life and happiness in the next. Give my duty to your mother, my love and blessings to the children and I hope Sally will be an ornament not a discredit to me. Many times I think of them, therefore I desire that they will take your advice on every particular and mind their education, particularly if in any way able to give it them and the blessing of God almighty be with you and mother is the wish of your ever loving husband. Jos. Davis.

N.B. If anything comes relative to my pardon or any attention in the family send me and if we go away too suddenly I am afraid you or your mother will not survive to see the children provided for but I pray God you both may… I would be contented if you write, don’t forget the directions, Capt Cox, Minerva, love from me.

This is an extract from the forthcoming book by Barbara Hall on the convicts of the Minerva, which arrived in Sydney in 1800. The book is scheduled to be published by Irish Wattle in 2012. Stay tuned for more soon!

ISSUE # 3 COMPETITION GIVEAWAYS

[1]  Subscription package to Find My Past worth $350
This is an Inside History giveaway not to be missed! Valued at $350, the package includes a 12-month subscription to www.findmypast.com.au plus 12 months’ access to its hugely successful UK sister-site, www.findmypast.co.uk.

• access to more than 50 million records covering Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands
• 650 million UK records (including the 1911 census) 
• the records available range from cemetery records and electoral rolls, migration and criminal reports, to military records, almanacs and government gazettes.  

Competition closes 5pm, 26 April 2011.

[2]  In Bligh's Hand by Jennifer Gall

 Win a little piece of history. In Bligh’s Hand brings to life the events of the infamous mutiny in 1789, and the subsequent 47-day voyage taken by Bligh and 18 of his crew as they struggled to reached a safe haven. Beautifully illustrated and fascinating to read, author Jennifer Gall has reconstructed the historic events through pages from Bligh’s own notebook and his list of mutineers. Make this book on Australian history yours forever!

Competition closes 5pm, 26 April 2011.

[3]  Double passes to Not Just Ned at the National Museum of Australia

The National Museum of Australia's latest exhibition explores the history of the Irish in Australia. Journey back to the first arrivals in 1788, the infamous Kelly gang, past politicans, artists and rebels, to the present-day winners of the Rose of Tralee. And we have two double passes up for grabs.

Competition closes 5pm, 19 April, 2011.

For more details on all these terrific prizes, grab a copy of issue 3 of Inside History.http://www.findmypast.com.au/

Issue # 3 is now available!

Inside History is for people passionate about Australian and New Zealand history and heritage, whether it's their family's ancestry, or in a broader social context. Our March/April issue celebrates our Irish ancestry, to coincide with the National Museum of Australia’s latest exhibition, Not Just Ned, opening on March 17. Read how to search for early Irish convicts, and learn about an emotional family reunion from the 1850s. Plus, you could win one of two double passes to the exhibition!

Now’s also the time to celebrate 100 years of International Women’s Day. We’re featuring our favourite photo finds from Flickr of women who stood out from the crowd.

Anzac Day is not far away, and if you’re still searching the records for that elusive soldier, we have some terrific research advice. Plus, we look at how one family preserved their grandfather’s World War I postcards, there’s new research by Michael Flynn on the early life of Governor Arthur Phillip, records for tracing Indigenous ancestors in Victoria, an expert Q&A military special from the Boer War to WWII, and lots more!

Authors to look out for in Issue # 3:

• UK genealogist :: Else Churchill
• NZ genealogist :: Christine Clement
• Australian genealogist :: Megan Gibson
• Historian :: Michael Flynn
• Archivist :: Sebastian Gurciullo - PROV
• Australian genealogist :: Barbara Hall
• Journalist :: Alice Johnson
• Author :: Peter Macinnis
• Military historian :: Neil Smith
• Preservation expert :: Kay Soderlund
• Australian genealogist :: Suzanne Voytas
• NZ genealogist :: Mark Webster

Back issues of Issue # 3 are available online from Inside History :: www.insidehistory.com.au

Happy reading,
The Inside History team

Wragge Labs :: Trove Dynamic Graphs

Thanks to Tim Sherratt {@wragge} we can now all get even more from the amazing Trove search engine, brought to us from the National Library.

Irish in Australia

Chinese in Australia

These calculations are based on the number of articles currently available through Trove. The totals were harvested using my TroveTools scraper and the lists of articles are generated using my unoffical Newspapers API. Comments or questions to @wragge