Topic: Dig A Little Deeper.

There is always a little doubt about the accuracy of on-line records. Are you CERTAIN you have the correct person? It is not always practicable to order certificates. You may think the record must be correct because it is an unusual surname – but I have found otherwise.

One of my Great Aunts, Margaret Hunt, married a Bill Wiblin/Wiblen. I soon found them and their family in Australian records. Seeking to expand the family tree I looked for Bill’s parents and discovered a huge number of Wiblin families all living in the same small country area in NSW. That rang some cautionary bells, but not quite strongly enough!

I was fairly certain I had Bill’s family correct. He had a large number of uncles, aunts and siblings, all of whose names and dates I noted and put in the family tree. There was a slight discrepancy about his birthplace but initially I put that down to a transcription error.

But something did not fit. Checking newspaper reports, birth records, etc it became obvious that I had the wrong family. It was not difficult to find the correct one, thankfully a little smaller! Then it became a task to delete all the incorrect family members from my on-line trees.

Lesson learnt – always check the facts and if something doesn’t agree – check again.

Topic: Friends.

Remembering that this is a Genealogical discussion: It is impossible to estimate the number of ‘friends’ I have made online – many of them distant relatives who are only too willing to exchange family information. Some are ‘mine’, some are my husband’s relatives. Many live in other countries. Some have remained correspondents for years; others for only a short time, but if something pops up – sometimes years later – that needs running past them, we often resume just where we left off. The inestimable value of the internet and email!

And then there are of course my personal friends – people I have known since childhood – not related but sharing other kinds of bonds. Distance often separates us and, sadly, old age is also making inroads now- so many have gone either physically or just mentally – shadows of their former selves. With those friends I share great memories. With my internet friends I share often valuable genealogical information which could not be obtained anywhere else.

Topic: TRAVEL.

My Great Aunt Margaret Anne Hunt, always known as “Maggie” , was born on 9 Sept 1864 in Reading, Berkshire and travelled to Australia with her family in 1879. She spent much of her early years in the shadow of her big sister Fanny, the first woman to gain a Science degree in Australia. Fanny started a girls’ school in Ipswich, outside Brisbane, Australia and Maggie, who as far as is known had no formal nursing training, became the school matron. Later Fanny started another school in Toowoomba, Queensland which she named Girton after Girton College at Oxford. Maggie was again the matron.

In an interesting twist of fate the building which housed Girton was later taken over by a Mr. Ernest Gill who started a boys’ school there in 1910. His wife was Isabella Griffiths, daughter of AL Griffiths of the Griffiths family which founded the Toowoomba Foundry.

In 1911 Maggie married wealthy George Washington Griffiths, almost certainly the brother of AL Griffiths. She was 47 and he was 67. They were great world travellers and made one or more voyages to England via the newly-opened Suez Canal. It is said they crossed the Alps in a De Dion motorcar, saw a ‘flying machine’ (airship) over Lake Lausanne, brought back a tin of tea from Japan and also several huge ornamental vases, and some intricately carved items of furniture from northern India among many other mementoes. Many of these are still in the hands of Maggie’s siblings’ descendants.

When George died in 1924, Maggie had a wonderful time spending George’s money on more overseas travelling. One does wonder if George’s children from his earlier marriage were equally well provided for! Maggie survived him by another 15 years. She had no children.

Although not part of the “Travel” story, it is worth recording that eventually Maggie bought a substantial house in northern Sydney some time after 1931 and named it “Redmarley” after the Hunt family’s ancestral village in Worcestershire. This particular “Redmarley”, one of a number of houses owned by Hunt family members, was at one time later a private nursing hospital run by Maggie’s niece Betty d’Archy, the author’s aunt. The family house in Toowoomba at the time Maggie was a matron at Griton, was also named “Redmarley”.