Roddicks on the move to Australia

[Uncle John]

The story starts with James Reid RODDICK, born in 1865 near Adelaide, South Australia. His father, also James, was a Presbyterian minister and there are loads of hits on Trove for him. When James senior died, his pregnant wife and children returned to Scotland.
I followed James junior through the Scottish censuses to 1901. He was in the banking industry. Then I found his death in London aged 40, so that was that.

I was idly updating my tree the other day and had another go at him. The first hit was a probate register entry which revealed that he died in September 1905 and had a wife, Maggie or Margaret Maclagan. His address for probate was 50 Cornhill, London, which must be his employer bank's address. Then I found in the LMA baptisms their child, Margaret Sheila Maclagan Roddick, born June 1905 but baptised a few weeks after her father's death. And finally from the Andrews Newspaper cards, a death notice for the widow in Melbourne in 1948, giving the daughter's name as Sheila Coppell.

On 10 May 1906 "Mrs and Miss Roddick" disembarked at Melbourne from the ship "China" from London to Sydney.

I've had an extensive trawl through "Trove" but can't find any more about them, particularly Sheila's marriage to Mr Coppell. And stepping back a bit, I can't find a marriage for James and Margaret.

Any thoughts please?

[margaretmarch]

The Probate entry reads rather oddly for a simple widow situation so I wonder if they really were married but just called herself Roddick. I think you might need to get the Will to see exactly what the situation was.
Margaret

[margaretmarch]

Interestingly the Probate entry doesn't say any amount whereas others do - something odd here I think? what does it man when it says sealed?
Margaret

[Uncle John]

I don't see anything too odd. Sealed means it was a Scottish will (we've had the discussion here in the past). And the alternate surname thing is also a normal Scottish way of expressing things. If the Scottish wills on SP went beyond 1901 there might be more.

[kylejustin]

is it possible they married in australia?

[Uncle John]

The vicar might have made a comment on the baptism if the parents were both alive but weren't married. But by the time of the baptism the father was dead, so the question was academic. The father died 6 months before the mother and child emigrated.

[Mary from Italy]

Margaret Roddick was cremated at Springvale cemetery, but Sheila doesn't seem to be there:

http://deceasedsearch.com/index.php?page=search&s_res=GO&cid=0&Given_Names=margaret&Surname=roddick&Surname_ex=&hw_num=100

[Mary from Italy]

There are various Margaret Roddicks on the electoral roll in Melbourne from 1903-1943. I can't see any further details, because my Ancestry sub's expired. Can't see a Sheila Coppell.

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=0&gsfn=margaret+&gsln=roddick&sx=&f29=&rg_f10__date=&rs_f10__date=0&f8=Victoria&f2=&f4=&gskw=&prox=1&db=auselectoralrolls&ti=5538&ti.si=0&gl=&gss=rfs&gst=&so=3

[Mary from Italy]

Here's Margaret's death notice from Trove, which is probably the one you found in the Andrews cards:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/22531771?searchTerm=margaret%20roddick&searchLimits=sortby=dateDesc|||l-title=The+Argus+(Melbourne%2C...|titleid%3A13|||l-decade=194|||l-year=1948

[Mary from Italy]

Can't see Sheila on the Ryerson Index.

You'll find Victoria BMDs here, but I can't see her marriage:

https://online.justice.vic.gov.au/bdm/index-search?action=getHistIdxSearchCriteria

There are BMDs for most States on Ancestry, but they aren't complete.

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1780

[Uncle John]

Margaret Roddick was cremated at Springvale cemetery, but Sheila doesn't seem to be there:

http://deceasedsearch.com/index.php?...ex=&hw_num=100

Thanks for that. Though it could be the one in the electoral rolls (wrong person - she has a husband and the wrong daughter).

[Uncle John]

There are various Margaret Roddicks on the electoral roll in Melbourne from 1903-1943. I can't see any further details, because my Ancestry sub's expired. Can't see a Sheila Coppell.

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin...=rfs&gst=&so=3

All the same (wrong) person unfortunately. She has a husband and a daughter (Margaret Ada).

[Uncle John]

Here's Margaret's death notice from Trove, which is probably the one you found in the Andrews cards:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/arti...|||l-year=1948

Trove's offline at the mo!

[Uncle John]

Thanks for all your efforts, Mary. 'Tis a pity the cremation might be another Margaret Roddick. Tbere's not enough to tie it down. And there's no sign of a Coppell - Roddick marriage.

[Mary from Italy]

I wonder if they went back to South Australia? There's very little online for that State, unfortunately.

[Kerri from Aus]

From VIC deaths-
Surname: CONNELL
Given Names: Margaret Sheila
Father: Roddick James
Mother: Margaret
Death Place: EMEL
Age: 74
Age Code:
Year: 1983
Reg Number: 09734
Event: D

Ask volunteer from website below for newspaper clipping-

http://www.ryersonindex.org/

CONNELL Sheila Death notice 19APR1983 Death at Melbourne, late of Toorak Sydney Morning Herald 27APR1983


Cemetery Surname Given Names Location Details Burial Type Date of Service Details
SPRINGVALE BOTANICAL CEMETERY CONNELL MARGARET SHEILA MCLAGAN THE CREMATED REMAINS HAVE BEEN COLLECTED CREMATED 21/04/1983 More Information
You can request more information from-

http://www.deceasedsearch.com/index.php

[Kerri from Aus]

You probably have this info from SA Births-
Surname: RODICK
Given Names: Mary Davidson
Date: 1868-09-28
Sex: F
Father: James RODICK
Mother: Mary REED
Birth Place/Residence: Mount Pleasant
District Code: Tal
Book: 69
Page: 129


Surname: RODDICK
Given Names: Elliot William Davidson
Date: 1871-02-23
Sex: M
Father: James RODDICK
Mother: Margret REID
Birth Place/Residence: Mount Pleasant
District Code: Tal
Book: 92
Page: 198

Surname: RODDICK
Given Names: James Reid
Date: 1865-01-07
Sex: M
Father: James RODDICK
Mother: Margaret REID
Birth Place/Residence: Springfield
District Code: Cra
Book: 34
Page: 454

Surname: RODDICK
Given Names: Robert McCheyne
Date: 1867-06-21
Sex: M
Father: James RODDICK
Mother: Margaret REID
Birth Place/Residence: Springfield
District Code: Cra
Book: 52
Page: 513

From VIC deaths-
Surname: RODDICK
Given Names: Margt
Father: Malagan Major Chas
Mother: Barbara Johnston MILLER
Death Place: MELB
Age: 77
Year: 1948
Reg Number: 1296
Event: D

[Uncle John]

Thank you very much, Kerri. I had all the first generation births sorted, but the rest is all new. I now know where to dig. This is my first serious bit of Australian research. BTW, where is EMEL (Margaret Connell's place of death)? Incidentally, Connell sounds a much more likely surname than Coppell.

[Mary from Italy]

It certainly does. I had checked the Ryerson index, but it didn't occur to me to look for Connell.

[Uncle John]

A snippet from Trove: Melbourne Argus 3 Sep 1938 (Social Notes): ".... Guests at Chevron include ..... , and Mrs. Ian Connell and her mother, Mrs. M. Roddick, who arrived from England on Monday."

I can't find a corresponding passenger list for that period. And I'm no further forward finding a Connell/Roddick marriage.