RIP ~ Heather Irene Craft nee Johnson

Johnson/Lancaster Line

Heather Irene Craft

nee Johnson

29th July 1920, Paddington, NSW

20th May 2015, Maryborough, Qld

Aged 94 years, 9 months, 20 days

Heather Irene (Johnson) Craft, 94, died Tuesday, 19 May 2015.

Born on Thursday, 29 July 1920, she was the daughter of the late John Joseph (James) Johnson formerly of Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia and the late Jessie Aileen (Lancaster).

On Friday, 30 November 1984 she was preceded in death by her husband of 38 years, Andrew John Craft, son of the late Andrew Australia Craft, and the late Elizabeth Magdalena Mary (Goodwin).

Heather Irene is survived by one son, John Graham; (and possibly) one sister, Norma Dorothy (Patsy) (Johnson) Preen; three granddaughters, Jacqueline (Wadey) Fanto and her husband Larry Fanto, Tina (Wadey) Rouchotas and her husband Peter Rouchotas, and Georgina; five great grandchildren, Liam, Benjamin, and Noah Fanto, Elan and Olivia Rouchotas.

Heather Irene was preceded in death by one daughter, Suzanne Maree; two siblings, Jean Mary (Johnson) O'Brien, and John (Jack) William Johnson; four grandparents, William Lancaster, Emily Jane (Hatch) Lancaster, William Caleb Johnson, and Mary Ellen (Reeves) Johnson.

She is deeply mourned and lovingly remembered by her family.

Global Family Reunion - AJ Jacobs and Rhonda Lucas have 38 degrees of separation

Have you heard about the Global Family Reunion being held in New York City on 6th June 2015?

A.J. Jacobs is the founder of the Global Family Reunion and is a bestselling author, whose books include The Year of Living Biblically, The Know-It-All and Drop Dead Healthy.

By joining one of the Global Family Tree's, I use WikiTree, you can see by a simple click whether you connect to the Global Tree and I do! via marriage at the moment; AJ Jacobs and Rhonda Lucas have 38 degrees of separation, via the Craft Family:

38 degrees of separation

Exciting!

Go to the Global Family Reunion website to join in or learn more.

Our Convict Heritage

Here is a quick list of our known convicts to date.  As the tree grows I am sure more will be added :)

Chart is under progress.  It is amazing how much information I am lacking in my program!

NAME	CONVICTED	SHIP	TERM	NOTES	FAMILY
JONES, William	12 JAN 1814	Marquis of Wellington	Life	Conditional Pardon – 8 Sep 1836	Maternal
SULLIVAN, Mary Ann	24 OCT 1821	Mary Anne (1)	Death	Commuted to Transportation for Life	Maternal
HORNE, Samuel Henry	13 AUG 1816	Lord Eldon	Death	Commuted to Transportation for Life	Maternal by marriage
FRITCHLEY, Richard (alias NEWTON)	5 JAN 1835	Marquis of Huntley (4)	14 yrs	Pardoned	Maternal
WOODBURY, Richard	29 OCT 1803	Fortune (1)	7 yrs		Craft
EVERINGHAM, Matthew James	7 JUL 1784	Scarborough	7 yrs		Craft
CRAFT, Joseph	1790	Albermarle	Life		Craft
ROBINSON, Sarah	8 OCT 1799	Earl Cornwallis	7 yrs		Craft
RIMES, Elizabeth	28 OCT 1789	Neptune	7 yrs		Craft

You can’t help but feel for my daughter with all that convict blood!  I only have 3 strands, she has 8!

William C Johnson & Mary Ellen Reeves

John JOHNSON and Elizabeth Smyth

The Johnson family were predominately based around Tamworth and Manilla in New South Wales. As you can see I have very little information on them, are you the person to help us out?

Heather's mother died when she was a lass and she was sent to an orphanage, during her youth she had contact with her mother's family and has fond memories of them, more so than her father's family, which the Johnson's are.

Updated 24 Jan 2015
Because Heather is still with us at 94, 95 this year, I thought it prudent to get her DNA done, to start with I purchased Family Finder, as I have no direct need for mtDNA I will not be upgrading it at this time, however to assist family members, should you wish to upgrade her kit she is part of our "Family Project" and you are welcome to make a donation to her kit to upgrade it, here is the link: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/argdna/

Heather's Family Finder DNA kit is up on Gedmatch, her number is F353615.

Craft and Johnson Family

Welcome to our CRAFT GENEALOGY

This book incorporates the maternal and paternal line of John Craft ie Andrew John CRAFT and Heather Irene JOHNSON, it is being pursued for our daughter Georgina Craft who has taken an interest in her heritage and has even done a school assignment on Matthew James Everingham, ah how easy was that when mum had all the info?!

Bebeannah Reeves and Bridget Clarke

This chart is a new addition the Craft Genealogy Section covering the Lancaster Branch - more of Heather's and Gina's ancestors.

It has been compiled purely from NSW BDM Indexes and the Australian Cemetery Indexes, it is definitely open to corrections, additions and adjustments, I was seriously fascinated with the name Bebeannah which is what got me started! Anybody know the history of it? Please come forward.

Bibiana was born about 1823 apparently at Valapariaso, Chile.

There is speculation that he arrived in Australia from Chile on the John Barry which was captained by Robson and sailed from Valparaiso 26th Dec. 1839, sailed from Tahiti 21st Feb. 1840 and arrived at Port Jackson 26th Mar. 1840 with a cargo of 19 mules and 2 asses (11 mules died on the voyage). Three Chilean 'huasos' were steerage passengers to drive the mules, were under a 1 year contract with the Australian Agriculture Co. through Alexander Caldeugh of Santiago and John Bernard. Personally, I have not found anything to confirm this, although I have posted on a few old forum boards to see if I can confirm sources.

Updated 2 Nov 2016: Sadly, Heather is no longer with us, I am very grateful I thought it prudent enough to get her DNA done, to start with I purchased Family Finder, as I have no direct need for mtDNA I will not be upgrading it at this time, however to assist family members, should you wish to upgrade her kit she is part of our "Family Project" and you are welcome to make a donation to her kit to upgrade it, here is the link: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/argdna/ Heather's Family Finder DNA kit is up on Gedmatch, her number is T148000.

Dear G.G.G.G.Grandma Lydia by Glynis Wheeler

"Dear G.G.G.G.Grandma Lydia,"


I have recently returned from visiting the beautiful parish church in Madron, Cornwall, England where you were christened in September, 1811. My husband & I walked around the grounds of this church where you and your big brothers - William, b.1807 and Charles, b.1807 played.

Joseph Craft and Sarah Robinson

A LITTLE CRAFT HISTORY...

My daughter Gina's family tree has been the easiest as it has basically been done by a LOT of fellow family researchers!

Her Craft line merges with the Everingham's, which I have not shown here, but will give a little of their history below on how they connect.

Matthew James EVERINGHAM was a First Fleeter arriving in Australia January 1788. He married Elizabeth Rimes on 13 March 1791 and had 10 children. Their second daughter Sarah Elizabeth was born 9 June 1793 and married Richard WOODBURY on 17 Dec 1810 at Windsor, NSW. Richard & Sarah had 11 children and two of their daughters married into the CRAFT family by marrying two brothers. Ann WOODBURY married James CRAFT on 27 July 1840 and are Gina's 3rd great grandparents. Ann's sister Rebecca had already married William CRAFT on 28 Nov 1837. Check the related links at the bottom for some excellent sites on the Everingham's.

Isaac Lancaster and Mary Ann Shaw

A Little Lancaster History

This page is a work in progress which I recently started for my daughter Gina and her grandmother Heather.

On Heather's birthday in July 2002 she asked me to see if I could find any of her siblings who she was estranged from in 1931 following the death of her mother Jessie. This led me to the following information.

RIP ~ Louis Olsen

God's Line

Louis Olsen
16 June 1921 ~ Denmark
20 May 2006 ~ Southport, Aus
Aged 85 years, 11months, 4 days

Caring companion & dear friend of Heather Craft (nee Johnson).

Gina will also miss her special "Pop" and card playing friend.

RIP ~ Suzanne Maree Wadey

Craft / Johnson Line

Suzanne Maree Wadey nee Craft
20 August 1948 ~ 22 October 2002
Aged 54 years, 2 months, 2 days

Sue with her niece Gina, taken in 1995.