Best Wishes to you all. Are any of these people yours??? Those of you who are regular contributors to this list, will probably know of my quest to find a connection between the Maher / Clarke/ Toohey/ MacPherson families in North Queensland. It has come to the point where I feel I have to try to go through a process of elimination [eg. if they belong to someone else, and that can be verified, I can write that person off my list]. This probably defies every rule of genealogy, but then again, after almost twenty years of trying to find this elusive John Maher / John Clarke, I am willing to try anything! I have listed below the results of my searches at the Queensland State Archives for Miner's Rights held by any John CLARKE or John MAHER in the period 1875 -1878, for the Etheridge Goldfield ie. Georgetown, NQ. Can you claim any one of these? 1875 - J. CLARKE. No. 59287; 1876 - John CLARKE No. 954 (issued 18 January 1876); 1877 - John CLARKE No. 45449 (issued July 1877); 1878 - John MAHER No. 45732 (issued April 1878). N/B. There is no John CLARKE in this year. It is known that John MAHER transferred a 1/4 share of Gold Lease No. 50 - [taken up by Francis HUMBOLT in December 1883] which comprised 4 acres at Monkland Reef, on the Etheridge Goldfield, to Thomas BAYES [maybe HAYES] in June 1884. For further explanation of my quest, please read the following: On 3 November, 1873, Anne Jane [TOOHEY] McPHERSON, wife of Donald Angus McPHERSON, gave birth to twin girls, Jessie and Maggie [Etheridge Birth Register Nos. 56 and 57]. The infant, Maggie, died on 8 February 1874 - aged 3 months. The informant and burial witness was "John CLARKE - friend, of Georgetown". I can find no death certificate for the other twin, Jessie, in those early years, and can only assume that she lived to adulthood. [I have details of a marriage between a Jessie MacPHERSON and John TOBIN in Queensland, in 1898. Any takers for this one?] On 17 September, 1875 Margaret McPHERSON, was born at Georgetown [Etheridge Birth Register No. 93]. The father is noted as "John CLARKE - miner, 26 years, born Maitland, NSW". The informant was "Anne McPHERSON, mother, of Georgetown". Registrar's notes: "Omit John CLARKE - miner, 26 years, of Maitland NSW". [This has obviously been done because, although John Clarke was the father of the child, Anne McPherson was not married to him. She was still married to Donald Angus McPHERSON, who was a blacksmith in Georgetown.] Margaret McPherson was baptised at Glen Mowbray, NQ. on 25 April, 1880 by Rev. William Hanley [Catholic priest]. Godparents were William TRACEY and Annie TRACEY. Note in the baptismal register: "Illegitimate". Next was Sarah Jane [registered as Sarah Jane McPHERSON] born on 8 October 1879. The baptismal certificate reads: "In the Parish of Atherton, Diocese of Glen Mowbray, I hereby certify that Sarah Jane McPherson, daughter of John MARR (CLARK) and Anne McPHERSON born on 8 October, 1879, was baptised on 25 April, 1880, by Rev. William Hanley, the Godparent being Catherine TRACEY". Then came John Henry, whose birth on 29 May, 1881, was registered with the name of the father being "John MAHER, miner, 38 years, birthplace New South Wales Kind regards, and as always, any assistance is very much appreciated. Jennifer *********************************************************************** Jennifer Lambert Tracey Historical Archaeologist Cultural Heritage Research Centre UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA Tel. / Fax (02) 6295 6795 Mobile Tel. 0419 011 860 e-mail: jtracey@ozemail.com.au http://www.ozemail.com.au/~jtracey/ ***********************************************************************