Forwarded for Allan. Beryl O'Gorman Greensborough Victoria Australia List Admin ----- Original Message ----- From: "allan" <[email protected]> To: "Beryl O'Gorman" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 11:21 AM Subject: Re: [AUS-VIC-West] What cheeses me off and Vic CDs > Sorry, Beryl. I did intend to respond to your first "challenge", but only > wrote this after receiving your latest e-mail. Better late than never? > > Boxing Day (the date) was what enabled me to solve a mystery. Try as I did, > I had not been able to find any birth record for my mother's mother - my > grandmother - Mary Neale (nee McLean). Mary had lived with my parents for > many years until she died in 1972 at age 92. I therefore new well that her > date of birth was December 26, 1879. > > My wife likes shopping so - with time on my hands - I spent hours in > Melbourne's Public Library scanning the microfiche cards for that date. The > result is the following story. > > Mary was born Louisa O'Flaherty. On Dec. 26, 1879, Catherine O'Flaherty > gave birth in Natimuk, Victoria, to a girl called Louisa. A father's name > was not recorded. Then, on May 9, 1881, Catherine again gave birth to a girl > in Natimuk, this time called Mary Ann. Unfortunately, Mary Ann died the same > day due to being premature. On Mary Ann's birth record (but not on her death > record) a father's name was shown: That of Hugh McLean. This birth record > was amended in August 1881 when a note was added stating that the father's > name had been recorded "in error". [As an aside, just think what future > genealogists will miss out on when the day comes that all records will be > entered into a computer. A future Hugh McLean's name could simply be deleted > from the record and nobody would ever know it had been there!] Then, on > November 19, 1881, Hugh McLean married Catherine O'Flaherty. > > Thus, Louisa was 17 months old when Mary Ann was born and just shy of two > years old when her mother married Hugh McLean. I wonder if Louisa was ever > aware of this situation. Hugh McLean's mother was Mary (nee McLeod), so it > would seem plausible that he did have a part to play in the birth of Mary > Ann (Catherine's mother was Ann Kelly). > > At what time did Louisa start being called Mary and why? I'd dearly like to > know the answer to that question, but I suspect that I never will. > > Now, if only I could find the birth record for my father's father, William > Jamieson, born - I believe - at Clarke Hill in 1857. I never met William > and don't have a definite date to help me this time! > > Allan Jamieson > Burnie, Tasmania > > > >