SCHOLEFIELD and CHARLES: Birth Certificates in Land Files

In 'Free Certificates in Archives Files' I mentioned some record series in which I had found birth, death and marriage certificates. I recently came across another example.

Birth certificates for Edward George SCHOLEFIELD (1906) and Ethel Irene Rose CHARLES (1904) are in a 'dead farm' (land selection) file.

The source location is Queensland State Archives item ID 73066, file no. 6297. If you can visit the Archives and inspect the file (which is quite large), you can take digital photographs of the certificates.

A friend and I are creating an index for certificates that we find in odd places (land selection files, Colonial Secretary's Office correspondence, etc). In the future (perhaps 2014 or 2015) the names from that index will be added to my main Web site.

Gympie Police Charge Bench Books

Queensland State Archives item ID 324223 (previous system B/3056) is an index to Court of Petty Sessions (Gympie) police charge bench books, 14 Jan 1890 - 27 Jul 1931. It is alphabetical only by first letter of surname. Entries usually give date, name, offence and how disposed of.

Two letters inside the front cover are about James Edward MADDEN and J. HOLT (probably Joseph James HOLT). HOLT committed suicide on 21 Oct 1893. He had asked that two people in NSW be notified, and the document gives their addresses.

This departmental index for 1890-1931 makes it easier to find entries in the actual bench books, which are much more informative. I myself have indexed persons arrested and victims of crime from Gympie bench books for an earlier period (1884-1886).

Hannah Trueman BURKE (formerly UPTON)

A statutory declaration from Hannah Trueman BURKE of Clune, Upper Logan, Beaudesert, says that she was formerly the widow of William Henry UPTON who died at Rockey Creek on 11 Jan 1867. They were married in the parish of Mullabrack, County Armagh, 10 Jun 1857. (The person who gave me this information could not provide a source reference for the document at Qld State Archives.)

Edward Spencer HARRISON and Charlotte Ann HARRISON

Qld State Archives source COL/A315; 1881/2556 (in item ID 847046) is about Edward Spencer HARRISON seeking admission to Dunwich Benevolent Asylum. Letters include one from his cousin Charlotte Ann HARRISON in London.

BEASLEY, McMANUS, LEGG

Charles BEASLEY married Emily McMANUS. Later (as Chester Alfred BEASLEY) he bigamously married Elizabeth LEGG. In 1898 Emily was living with Henry McCALLAUGH. Details are in the staff file of a police officer involved in the case (Qld State Archives item ID 566132).

Matilda JESSUP, 1870s

Queensland State Archives hold documents (dated 1878) about Matilda JESSUP. They give details of her arrival on the Scottish Hero with her husband; his death from typhoid (which she also had); her mother-in-law's death from burns suffered when she fell in a fire; and a passage back to England for Matilda and five children on the Windsor Castle.

If you need my help to obtain a copy of this document from Queensland State Archives (the cost would be about $15), email me at the address shown in the sidebar here.

If you are not familiar with in-letters, see:

• I is for In-Letters and Invalid Pensions (opens in a new window)


• more examples of information in Col.Sec. in-letters (scroll down on that page).

Magdalen Asylum, Lutwyche (Julia CRONIN)

A letter dated 18 Jun 1897 says that Julia CRONIN was sent from the Magdalen Asylum, Lutwyche (Sisters of Mercy) to be confined at the Lady Bowen Hospital. The letter was in a bundle at Qld State Archives (previous system location CUR/R297) but it appears to have been filed there by mistake.

Employees, Criterion Hotel, Warwick, 1910

Qld State Archives previous system location CUR/R297, file no.231, document no.250, refers to wages paid in March 1910 to these employees of the Criterion Hotel, Warwick, Queensland:

Charlie AH CHEE
Mary BYRNES
Rose HAYES
Sarah HAYES
Bridgie HEALY
May NOONAN
Maggie RYAN
W. SPINKS

Illegitimate child's father named in inquest

An illegitimate child who is in the Registrar-General's index under the mother's surname, with no father's name shown, may appear in Justice Department inquest indexes/files under the father's surname.

Actual examples are:

'William SMITH, son of Catherine, father's name BROOM'

'Mary Anne DOBIKIN, daughter of Margaret, father's name Thomas JENYNS'.