Stuck and dont know what to do next?

[lecat35]

I am new to this site but I am really stuck with one ancestor who I just cannot seem to locate before he came to Australia. I am hoping someone might be able to point me in a direction that I might find a record or something that will lead me to his Birth records and who his parents were. This is all the information I have on him so far.

Here is the info I have.
James Meredith

In 1958 James made a trip via unassisted travel on board the vessel the cyclone from Britain to Sydney NSW Australia. He married Sophia Harriett Little at Toryburn a district of Armidale NSW, both marking there documents with there mark this was on the 23rd Jan 1860. the documents don't have details of parents place of birth or anything outside of the religion being Church of Scotland.

James Death 10th December 1864, Armidale NSW, he was 38years, he was a farmer/ shearer of Clerkness in the Armidale District. He died of Diptheria and is buried in the Bundarra Cemetery Burial took place December 12 1864.At the time of his death he left his young wife of 19.5years and 3 children.

[kylejustin]

how unusual that the marriage and death certs don't record parents or birthplace. what do the births of the children say?
do you have a copy of the shipping list? it should (they don't always) record the county at least that he came from.

[lecat35]

No the children certificates from Sophia and James only list them no further details.

[lecat35]

I think that's because while James was born in England the children and Sophia were born in Australia.

[Chrissie Smiff]

I wonder if he was born in Ireland? I couldn't find the record of him sailing out but I did see several Merediths who were born in Ireland. I also found a James Meredith in the 1851 Scotland census born in Ireland but he was born c1821 and was 30 years old and married with children.

[lecat35]

I have the Death certificate in front of me It says he ws born Hereford in England Can I upload these documents anywhere make it a bit easier for people to help?

[lecat35]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/85764759/img433.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...ath%20Cert.pdf
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...207227148d.pdf

[margaretmarch]

Looks like the only clue for helping find James in England before he emigrated is that he was born in Hereford and his father was a shepherd.

Pity the marriage certificate does not give any fathers' details for either of them - I wonder why that was allowed.

Margaret

[margaretmarch]

Well there is this one http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin...try&h=15958999 which although says Wales is very near the border to England and Hereford. Father Robert is a farmer and that is most likely of sheep being wales!
Margaret

[kylejustin]

NSW registry states civil registration began in NSW in 1856, so the marriage cert should have contained parents names by 1860.

victoria began civil registration in 1855, and i have a marriage from 1857, which includes all the information that is asked at a marriage today.

maybe the place they were married did not have the new registers in 1860, only the old parish registers.

[kylejustin]

is this where you got the info for james arriving in sydney?

http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/1858/12/065cyc.htm

james meredith, mate, 26 of great britain, crew aboard the 'cyclone' arriving sydney 29 dec 1858.

would he be traceable through his profession, backtrack through ships he's been on?

[margaretmarch]

is this where you got the info for james arriving in sydney?

http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/1858/12/065cyc.htm

james meredith, mate, 26 of great britain, crew aboard the 'cyclone' arriving sydney 29 dec 1858.

would he be traceable through his profession, backtrack through ships he's been on?

I think later records show he was a farmer so maybe he was just a member of the crew for the journey to Australia.

Margaret

[Sue from Southend]

Not sure if this helps but there is a James Meredith, born Knighton, Herefordshire c1826 on the Merchant Seaman database on FMP. The date of the record is for 1848, I can't see a later one. I know there is a discrepancy in the age but the age of James at arrival in Australia and age at death are some years apart too....


Just checked, Knighton would appear to be in Powys, Wales now.

[lecat35]

Its been a busy week since I started this post I have found 2 others researching the same line. As well as the historical society in the town James Died. Everyone is coming up with the same educated guess apparently. I'm told there is no way of proving the birth of James as it wasn't registered the people doing the guess have come up with Parents Joseph Meredith and Elizabeth Edwards. They have traced this family group the brothers and sisters etc and apparently the only one they cant find a death for in England or Wales is James. The assumption then being that our James is him. I would not have thought this a great thing but it seems more than one person is drawing such conclusion. What would the next step be in this to get some accuracy.

[margaretmarch]

The only way you could get accuracy is to find the baptism that matches the information you have - if you can't find that then all you can go on is best guesses.
Margaret

[JBee]

Have a look on ancestry's merchant navy records for mates certificate. Hopefully it would give some additional details on it including date of birth and I think place of birth.

[Mary from Italy]

Don't get your hopes up too much, but there may be a possibility of finding his parents' names.

Marriage certs like the one you have, with very little information, are relatively common in small places at that period; however, the full details sometimes didn't get transferred to the central registers, but were actually entered in the church register, so you need to find out if copies of the church registers have survived, and where they're held.

I think the Church of Scotland is the same as the Presbyterian church, so there are two possibilities worth trying: SAG (the Australian Society of Genealogists), which holds numerous church records of all denominations on microfilm:

info@sag.org.au

and the Uniting Church Archives, which hold Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian records:

archives@nsw.uca.org.au

They both make a charge, but if you can get the information you need, I would think it's worth paying; if I remember rightly, last time I used them the Uniting Church was a bit cheaper than SAG.

Another alternative would be to contact the nearest library or family history centre to see if they have the records; that's probably the cheapest option, but I'm not sure how many records are still kept locally.