Doreen, I'm a bit surprised that despite your "costly" enquiry, you don't seem to have an exact birthdate for Ann, and are working on a series of derived dates based on stated age for marriage or details provided buy others from her death certificate. Not that it's a huge problem, but I would expect that to be the first thing they told you. I had a look at Victorian Assisted and Unassisted Immigration Indexes, but there is no obvious arrival. There was an Ann Arthur in 1859 who gave age as 22. It perhaps fits arrival at 14. I also looked at all females under 25 with the Arthur surname. There is a Norah in 1867 age 22. Perhaps Ann was a derivative name. If she truly came at 14, one would expect one of the Orphan Schemes. But if orphaned, it's likely sibling would also be included. Do you know when parents died? Having said all that, I guess a specific arrival date is rather irrelevant, as you know her origins and parents and where she lived and died here. I only mention paid research to establish my credentials. I'm mainly about helping and encouraging people to do their own research. It's much more fun. Peter

Hello Peter, Thank you so much for looking at PROV. I feel so absolutely stupid but I obviously haven't looked at the "Unassisted" List and have only myself to blame. I have to confess that I haven't looked in Victoria for a very long time but the evidence is quite clearly there. I've been wandering around the rest of the country! Just goes to prove "Leave NO stone unturned!" The age is a bit of a conundrum as it makes her the same age (?twin) as her brother, Tom, b.1837. It is always possible that is isn't her true age, but I will be hotfooting it into North Melbourne at the first opportunity. It may be a little while before I can manage it but I will certainly get there as soon as possible. I shall also check out any other eligible girls, just to make sure. I had also thought, as did my cousin, that Ann may have been the "Unnamed child", which may have clouded my thinking, but there is no getting away from the fact that I have made a very significant error. A very timely lesson. There is another name among the young women aboard, that of a similar name to an Irish friend of Ann's, though the spelling is different. It may yet be proven that they came out here together. Only time will tell on that one. I 'googled' "Herald of the Morning" and found that she carried a large contingent of Government Emigrants. Not sure how that fits in with "Unassisted", but that is no longer a problem, thanks to you. Thank you very much for looking the Victorian records up yourself. Had you not done it I might have been looking forever with blinkered eyes. I had hoped that the Clare Heritage research might have turned up the births, marriage and deaths of Ann's parents, John ARTHUR and Bridget CONOLE., but no such luck. Just the three baptisms, one of which had no name. By the way, that research was costly to me in 1985 - 60 Irish Pounds when I was on a very low wage and the rate of exchange was also low. Still, that is in the past now, but I have never been tempted to go back. Maybe that will change now if it becomes necessary. Thank you once again for your very great help which is much appreciated. Regards from a deeply embarrassed Doreen. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter R Booth" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Cc: "Doreen Dunlop" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 5:35 PM Subject: Re: [IRL-CLARE] ARTHUR surname - Co CLARE to AUSTRALIA > Doreen, > > I'm a bit surprised that despite your "costly" enquiry, you don't seem > to have an exact birthdate for Ann, and are working on a series of derived > dates based on stated age for marriage or details provided buy others from > her death certificate. Not that it's a huge problem, but I would expect > that to be the first thing they told you. > > I had a look at Victorian Assisted and Unassisted Immigration Indexes, > but there is no obvious arrival. There was an Ann Arthur in 1859 who gave > age as 22. It perhaps fits arrival at 14. > > I also looked at all females under 25 with the Arthur surname. There is > a Norah in 1867 age 22. Perhaps Ann was a derivative name. > > If she truly came at 14, one would expect one of the Orphan Schemes. > But if orphaned, it's likely sibling would also be included. Do you know > when parents died? > > Having said all that, I guess a specific arrival date is rather > irrelevant, as you know her origins and parents and where she lived and > died here. > > I only mention paid research to establish my credentials. I'm mainly > about helping and encouraging people to do their own research. It's much > more fun. > > Peter