Seeking James Warren Patterson 1908-1974

Seeking information on descendants of James Warren Patterson b. abt 1908 died 14 Feb 1974, Sydney, late of 59 Cooks Ave, Canterbury and Mary Feeney Brown b. 14 Jan 1911, Sydney and died 3 Oct 2008, Sydney.

William Johnston 1888-1926, Inquest

Sometimes when researching your family you'll find something that pulls at your heartstrings, this is one such case.

William Johnston is my 1st cousin, 3 times removed, our common ancestors are George Brown and Mary Cleary.  I found his death a while ago but tonight was searching through Trove for any snippets and I found a Coroner's account of his tragic death.

PRIMITIVE HOPPERSCORONER'S SEVERE COMMENT  SYDNEY, Thursday.Some caustic comments were made to-day at an inquest concerning the death of William Johnston, who fell into the water while opening the doors of the hopper Kestrel. Evidence was given that when the large doors at the bottom of the hopper jammed it was customary to strike the ram with a hammer to release them. Johnston   had been doing this for about 10 minutes, standing on a pile of ashes, before the doors opened and he and the ashes slid into the water. 

William Tait, who was also employed on the hopper, endeavoured to save Johnston's life, and had managed to grasp his hand when another load of ashes crashed on to his shoulders, and he lost his grip. 

The coroner, in returning a verdict of accidental death, said he had inspected the hopper and it appeared to him that the method of opening the doors was most primitive; in fact, it seemed to, be an invention of the early eighties when human life was not of much value. He could not imagine that a better method of opening the doors could not be provided. A man might escape 100 times and then lose his life through no fault of his own. "It occurred to me," he added, "that a man has not anything to stand on except the ashes. Men become so accustomed to this sort of thing that they lose their sense of danger." 

The owners of the hopper informed the coroner that they had taken steps to prevent such accidents in future.

PRIMITIVE HOPPERS. (1926, August 20). Northern Star(Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved December 29, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93563163 

Further, his death appears to have left his surviving parents, William Johnston and Alice Mina Lola Brown in hardship.

DEATH OF A WORKER.PARENTS AWARDED COMPENSATION. Sydney, November 30.The Workers' Compensation Commission to-day awarded the parents of WilliamJohnston, who drowned at the Heads on July 22, by being precipitated through the hatches of an ash hopper, £400. Both were partly dependent on their son.

DEATH OF A WORKER. (1926, December 1). The Advertiser(Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), p. 13. Retrieved December 29, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40745600 

Anna Maria Rowe and William Bray

Now, do I call this one Hodges, Bray or Leahy? 

That is the big question!

Here is some background and hopefully, if you are connected to this branch you can help fill in some blanks.

Louisa Bray, the daughter of John & Maria BRAY was christened 4 August 1861 at St Blazey, Cornwall. I had narrowed down their arrival to between 1861 and 1877, Louisa's death certificate states she had been in the colonies for 72 years which makes her about 4 when she arrived. I believe William, Maria and Louisa arrived at Port Adelaide, Australia on 1st May 1865 onboard the Clara.

James Pinkerton and Mary Ann Pollock

James Pinkerton from Derry, Ire & Mary Ann Pollock from Leckpatrick, Co. Tyrone, Ire arrived on the New York Packet.

James' profile has been added to WikiTree please request to join the trusted list to collaboratively work on his profile. NOTE: We are actively seeking potential DNA matches on this line to confirm parentage; Rhonda, 16 Feb 2014

In 1841 there were three people onboard the 'New York Packet' which sailed into Sydney that would play a part in the Pinkerton Lineage. They were James PINKERTON, aged 23, a native of Derry, Ireland; Mary Ann POLLOCK, aged 21, and her younger sister Margaret POLLOCK, aged 18 both from Leckpatrick, Co. Tyrone, Ireland.

My Ancestry Composition at 23andme including Split View

Thought I would post my Ancestry Composition according to 23andme.  I'm quiet impatient for the day we can knock out those 'Nonspecific' assignments!

Conservative ancestry composition for Rhonda

Speculative ancestry composition for Rhonda
This one is more interesting!

Standard ancestry composition for Rhonda

This 'standard' chart is is the one shown when you first check your results.

_..._..._

As both Mum and I have been tested I am able to view the Split view, this is the best part of having a parent test especially as in my case my father has been deceased for 14 years, thanks to Mum I am able to view a breakdown of his composition!  To me this is priceless.

Conservative Split view

Speculative Split view

Standard Split view

Lucas from Scotland Y-DNA Results

Further to my earlier post "Journeying into genetic genealogy", results are starting to come in on my paternal "Lucas" Y-DNA test with Family Tree DNA.

The Results are:

Y-DNA = R1b1a2 with the shorthand code of R-M269.  

The 37 marker test hasn't revealed any close matches which is disappointing.  There were a couple of hopefuls, but there is no way to contact the people listed as they have their profile set to private, frustrating!

I have the joined two projects in the hope of finding matches:
Lucas Project: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Lucas/
Scottish Project: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Scottishdna/

The mtDNA is due in next.

Since my previous post, 23andme has reduced the price of there genetic test to $99 USD, delivery to Australia is $74.95 USD.  I had no intention of getting my own DNA done, but I have decided to do so.  So last Monday (4 Feb 2013) I ordered a test kit, it turned up today!  Considering the kit from  Family Tree DNA took over 4 weeks to arrive, the delivery time on this one was OUTSTANDING!  I know of one Melrose cousin who has her test with 23andme so it will be interesting to compare notes when the result is in.

If you are connected to the family in anyway, and are interested in getting your DNA done to prove connections, I would love to hear from you.

The results have been entered on our tree at ancestry.com.au (16-Feb-2013), we'll see if it finds any matches.

Ancestry say this about our y-DNA haplogroup;

DNA Related Posts:

• Blood relative Surnames of Rhonda Lucas
• Rhonda's Pedigree Chart
• Hodges-Bray-Rowe mtDNA Haplogroup U4
• Journeying into genetic genealogy
• Lucas from Scotland Y-DNA Results
• DNA Journey with 23andme - getting started

Cornelius Leahy & Margaret Manly

THE LEAHY FAMILY...

From what I have established so far the Leahy's and Manl(e)y's appear to have immigrated to South Australia from Ireland.

Cornelius and Margaret were married 3 Oct 1858 at Mt Barker, South Australia, his father was Denis Leahy and her father was Edward Manely.  At some stage following their marriage they travelled through Victoria to the Wilcannia area in NSW were Cornelius worked as a horse breaker and teamster, I believe for the Cobb & Co Coach Company.

Hodges-Bray-Rowe mtDNA Haplogroup U4

Further to my previous posts on our Genetic Genealogy we are now starting to see results on Ronald Sidney Lucas's (Aussie Rhonda's father) maternal line, which were ordered 29-Oct-2012 from FamilyTree DNA.  For those who aren't sure how the tracing of DNA works, the y-DNA follows the father, grandfather, great-grandfather etc, whilst the mtDNA follows the mother, grandmother, great grandmother and onwards.

Journeying into genetic genealogy

I have been following the advancement of genetic genealogy for a while now, and one of my favourite sites for education myself is Blaine Bettinger’s “The Genetic Genealogist “, however, today I was reading Peter Calder’s article “Do you have traces of other peoples' DNA in your body?” in his Lost Cousins Newsletter and it really got me thinking it’s time to stop sitting on my laurels and do something about it.

As my father is deceased its time to get the DNA done before any more elders drop off their perches.  My reasons are twofold, on my paternal line I would like confirmation on a few of my grandmothers links and of course I would like to take the Lucas line back further.  On my maternal side, my mother was adopted and I would like confirmation along both of her lines as far back as possible, including confirming her father as a Cummins.

ANZAC Honours - Paternal

This page is created with love to honour those in the family that served in the wars.

Anzac Honours – Paternal Lucas Ancestors

100th Birthday Reunion

On Friday 23rd September 1910, Harry Sidney Lucas was born to David John & Gertrude Clara Lucas (née Pinkerton) at Sydney.  Harry was the second child of seven born to David and the second of ninth to Gertrude.


On Saturday 25th September 2010 Harry's descendants  gathered at Ryde Ex Services Club to celebrate his birth 100 years ago. 

Family Connections & Researchers

Helping each other...

This page list's members of the extended family that are currently researching the families found within this website and family member's who have a web presence.


Updated and dead links removed (26/09/2016)

Lucas and Hodges Family

Our Lucas Genealogy incorporates the following major surnames

Bray, Brown, Chapman, Hodges, Leahy, LUCAS, Manly, McLauchlan, Paton, Pinkerton, Pollock, Richmond, Rowe, Speir, Young

RIP ~ Aileenberyl “Betty” Lucas

Lucas Line

"Betty" Aileenberyl Mary Philamena Zambotto (Lucas)
nee Nolan formerly Spry

2 July 1933 ~ Sydney, NSW, Aus
25 Oct 2008 ~ Armadale, WA, Aus
Aged 75 years, 3 months, 23 days

Bill & Betty in their hey day :)

Dear Aunty Betty, may you be flying
with Angels and be pain free.
I bet you and dad are having a ball ;)

Your wit, love and support will be missed!

Please don't shoot me for putting your full name up, it is done with love.

Photo published with permission of Aunty Beverly,
who took this photo a few weeks ago when she visited them
.

William Lucas & Anna Speir

A LITTLE LUCAS HISTORY

My paternal Lucas branch has been transplanted on Australian soil for 8 generations to date and I have found three brothers making a fresh start here (so far). They were Daniel, the eldest and first to arrive @ 1881 then William and his family along with his youngest brother James in 1885. The brothers appeared to follow in the family tradition of being iron moulders with Daniel having his own company 'Bird & Lucas Pty Ltd' located in the Forest Lodge, Glebe area, Sydney. The company was de-registered in 1985. If anybody has any connection or knowledge of this company I would love to hear from you as I would like to know what they made!

Who was Henry Gustavus Pockrandt?

Tonight I was answering an email in relation to my Hodges family - which is really my Leahy family, this in turn prompted me to run a search on Pockrandt's yet again. You would think with the name Pockrandt it would be easy to trace! Think again... This would certainly be right up there in my 'hard to trace' branches.

RIP ~ Snoopy Lucas

God's Line

Snoopy Lucas

14-Dec-2004
12 years + some

Dad's faithful Snoopdog went home to his maker and I can actually picture
Ron & Snoop reuniting and strolling around together!

It was a joint decision made by both Gina and I to send him home. Can you
believe it? I was too upset to stay with him so I stayed outside while
Gina was with him until the end. Now he doesn't have to negotiate the
stairs and can stop running into things from his progressive blindness.

Peace be with you Snoop!

Snoopy on the 30 Aug 2004

RIP ~ Hannah Currie Lucas

Lucas Line

'Nancy' Hannah Currie Lucas nee Steele
12 June 1921 ~ High Park, Coylton, Ayr, Sct
23 May 2004 ~ Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Eng
Aged 82 years, 11 months, 11 days

Nancy was married to Allan Lucas, Peter Bolton's Uncle.
Hannah Currie STEELE was the daughter of Thomas Currie STEELE and Jessie Dunlop KENNEDY

RIP ~ John Ernest Lucas

Lucas / Campbell / Barclay Line

'Jim' John Ernest Lucas
10 May 1924 ~ Gillingham, Kent, England
21 Feb 2003 ~ Berkshire, England
Aged 78 years, 9 months, 11 days

Uncle Jack to Peter Bolton our English cousin and genealogy compatriot!

RIP ~ Ronald Sidney Lucas

Lucas / Hodges / Pinkerton / Leahy Line

Ronald Sidney Lucas

22-Sep-1936 to 14-Oct-1999

Aged 63 years and 22 days

This photo was the last taken on the eve of his 63rd birthday.

He was scheduled to go into hospital on his birthday for a biopsy

which turned out to be cancerous, he died 22 days later.

Ron with two of his grandchildren, Daneil & Gina.