Bluestone Genealogy

First work locomotive reaching Hurstbridge during the extension of the railway line from Eltham to Hurstbridge. Source: Picture Victoria. Copyright Nillumbik Historical Society Last week, I told the story of John and Goymer Shorten and their illegal exploits in several counties in England, discussing their luck in narrowly avoiding a Capitol sentence after they were apprehended for horse stealing. Week 12 of #52ancestors gives us the prompt of "misfortune." Misfortune is defined as bad luck; an unfortunate condition or event. For John Maguire, that unfortunate event occurred on Thursday, 2nd October 1913. John Michael Maguire (sometimes Maguire, sometimes McGuire) was the first born of Patrick Maguire and Elizabeth Monaghan, and was my 2nd great-granduncle. He was born around 1857 in County Meath, Ireland and traveled with his parents and his younger brother Patrick Michael (my x2 great grandfather) from Liverpool, England to Melbourne, Australia aboard the Phoenix ...

Week 6 of Amy's #52Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge is Favourite Name. William Shakespeare tells us, in the immortal words of his tragic character Juliet " What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."  However, L.M. Montgomery argues through her precocious character, Anne Shirley, who does not believe "...a rose would be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk-cabbage."    During my research, it became apparent that some families liked certain names, usually family names, so much and were so determined to use them, they would 'recycle' them if their first child didn't survive infancy. For example, my 3x great grandparents Michael and Margaret Quigley (nee Kiely) named their fifth child Thomas (after Michael's father), after their first son Thomas died 3 days after birth.  My 3x great grandparents Patrick and Elizabeth Maguire (nee Monaghan) had 12 children, with three of their sons s...

Larpent Diamond Jubliee Dinner 1909 / W. H. Watts. Source: State Library of Victoria Week 4 of Amy's #52ancestors in 52 weeks challenge is 'invite to dinner'. This is a difficult one for me as, if I had the option of inviting any of my ancestors for dinner, I would invite them all! I would invite my Poppy,  Calcidonio 'Charlie', who passed away ten years ago - I would listen to his stories with great interest instead of youthful arrogance; I would invite my maternal grandmother Mary, who passed away a month before I was born. I would love to speak to my 3x great grandfather Goymer, a convict and career criminal until a stint at Norfolk Island seemed to set him straight. I'd love to have my great-grandfather James over for dinner, who served in France in World War 1 and who, like hundreds of thousands of veterans, witnessed such atrocities that scarred them for life, both mentally and physically. I would like to have any and all of my female ancestor...

An elderly (but obviously fit) worker at the Cox and Rizzetti foundry, c.1988. Copyright Yarra Libraries. Source:picturevictoria As I mentioned in last weeks post, I am participating in Amy Johnson Crow's #52ancestors in 52 weeks challenge. This challenge provides weekly prompts to get us to think about our ancestors and share something about them, with the purpose of getting that knowledge out of our heads / filing cabinets / genealogy software and doing something with it. If you are a user of social media, check out the #52ancestors  hashtag to follow along and read some of the really amazing stories that have already been shared.  This week's prompt is 'longevity.' As soon as I read this, I knew whose story I would share; that of Mr. John Shannahan, my fourth great-granduncle, who lived to be an amazing 98 years old, in a time when the average life expectancy for a male was around 43 years.  I only recently began delving into the life of John Shannahan,...

Boy enjoying the flood waters, c.1950s, Copyright Beard Family, sourced from pictureaustralia Melbourne is famous (or perhaps infamous?) for experiencing all four seasons in one day. As a born and bred Melburnian, it's something that I often joke about to tourists. We can go from a balmy 19 degrees one day, to a whopping 41 degrees Celsius the next (that's 105 Fahrenheit to you Northern folks!). In fact the highest temperature in Australia (ever recorded) was 50.7 degrees Celsius in Oodnadatta, South Australia in 1960. So for part 2 of my 'ancestors and adverse weather' series (which I write from my comfortably air conditioned house), I will explore another heat wave in South Australia, and the devastating effects it had on one family.  William Henry Shorten was the last child of Goymer and Jane Shorten (nee Duce). While his eight siblings were all born in the Longford / Launceston area of Tasmania, William was the first Shorten to be born in Victoria....