gathering dust

Once again the lovely Jill over at GeniAus has given us a geneameme , this time challenging us to think about the positives of the past year. So here is my 2013 in review. An elusive ancestor I found was Thomas Henry Tozer , my maternal great-great grandfather. After having a hissy fit of frustration over his elusiveness I posted to a couple of rootsweb mailing lists asking if anyone had any suggestions or clues and TADA! A bunch of lovely people suggested I check out the record in the Victorian BDM indexes for a Thomas Toyer. Yep, transcription error. I paid the immediate gratification fee (I love the image download facility of the Victorian BDMs, I really do) and there it was a z like I write mine, easily mistaken for a y. So instead of feeling silly that I had passed over that record a million times I am instead glad that I reached out and people were willing to help. Genealogists are pretty generous people. A precious family photo I found was of the above mentioned Thomas Henry....

Sometimes you come across a character in your research who for one reason or another sparks your curiosity. One such person is John Phillip Gail, the second husband of my 3x Great Grandmother Christiana Sophia Boss (nee Rusch). I have mentioned him in brief twice before in relation to a newspaper report  and a gaol entrance record  but as he is on my mind of late I thought I'd expand a little, who knows maybe someone in the ether knows something of him. Born around 1810 in Germany and possibly died 1892 in Liverpool, NSW.  He married Christiana Boss on the 27th of July 1874 at the Presbyterian Minsters Residence in Scone, NSW. Like all documents related to my family it is pretty unhelpful and full of blanks. John Phillip is however listed as a Widower. Now, by their marriage in 1874 Christiana and John Phillip had three children; Eliza born in 1857, Louisa in 1859 and John William in 1862. Herein lies the first question. Why did John Phillip and Christiana no...