52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (2020)
Week 3 | Long Line
In reflecting on this topic in its most literal sense (as in
‘a long line of butchers’), I was a bit stuck for options. We have a tradition
of teaching going back four generations from my generation. And there’s at least a few generations of cordwainers
on another branch but I haven’t done enough research to write about those
ancestors yet. So I’m going to take an
alternate interpretation of the topic and write about a long line of inquiry I
undertook that ultimately paid dividends in identifying a mystery photo brickwall.
Some years ago (probably around 2003), my mother entrusted me
with my maternal Granny’s photo album. Most of the photos were no longer in
their mounts and there was no apparent order to where they nestled in between
the leaves of the album. I began a
process of sorting, scanning and identifying.
The majority could be linked to my Granny’s family. There were only two clearly linked to her
husband (my Pop). And there was this one
that was a complete mystery.
I was able to establish that H.W. Pell had a studio in Kadina
between 1906-1915, giving me a date range for the photo. At the time I started this inquiry, the Pells
still operated a studio in Kadina but they indicated that they did not have any
records old enough to assist with this query. Mum thought the image was related to her father (my Pop) but
had no basis for this ‘feeling’.
I started by sending a copy of the photo to all of Mum’s
siblings and cousins which failed to net any information.
From that point, each time I made contact with a newly discovered
cousin in any maternal branch of my family, I would send them a copy of the
photo and ask if they recognized the subject.
Each time the response was an apologetic ‘no’. Continued research connected me with a cousin
on the Betts line in 2009 and together we found a connection in our Betts
family line to Wallaroo, South Australia, which is very close to Kadina. It was a clue.
Three years later, in 2012, I made contact with additional Betts
family members in South Australia and duly emailed a scanned copy of the
photo. Within a day and a half I had a
reply back to say ‘yes, that photo was in his collection of Betts image’. Notations in his mother’s hand on the back
indicated that it was “Great Aunt Susan, spinster sister of Thomas Betts—lived
in Queensland”. Hallelujah! This mystery lady now had a name. And, not
only that, I knew exactly who she was.
And included a digital copy of his version of the photo, which was in
much better condition than the one in my possession.
Susan Betts was my Pop’s mother, Annie Davey’s, sister and,
as noted by my contact’s mother, was a spinster. As an unmarried woman it has been challenging
to find sufficient information to build her story.
Susan was born in 1849 in Brill, Buckinghamshire to parents
Richard John DeVere and Tracey (nee Goodgame) Betts. By the age of 12 years, in 1861, she was
working as a nursemaid for her uncle and aunt Edward and Susan Hyde (nee Betts).
Edward was a cordwainer and the couple
had three daughters ages 5, 4, and 1 year.
Like many of her seven siblings, she immigrated to Australia
although. Based on her death certificate this was round 1891 but identifying when
and where she arrived has not been established. She settled in Queensland and from
1903 she appears in electoral rolls living in the Lutwyche and Nundah areas,
which was close to her sister Elizabeth, and the Beaudesert area, which was
close to her brother John. Her brother
Mark was also living in Brisbane, while other siblings had settled in South
Australia. The portrait of her taken in Kadina
suggests that she visited family in South Australia at least once. For a few years, she worked as a nurse.
In her later years, Susan was living at the Aged Christian
Women’s Home in New Farm. Susan died in
the Salvation Army Home on Morgan Street, in May 1933 from heart disease and a
throat infection at the age of 83 years.
Susan is buried in Lutwyche Cemetery (Brisbane, Queensland)
in a grave shared with her sister Elizabeth.
