Hello Listers, I am hoping that there is someone who may be able to point me in the right direction with this brick wall that I have. My great grandmother and her sister were born (1866 and 1868) in Double Island Swatow. Their father was a pilot there. His name was Henry Johnson, and I do not know where to find information on him. I do not know if he worked for a private shipping company or the English Government. Are there any records that someone knows about and where they are? They migrated to Australia prior to 1886, but nothing in known of them after this. Their names suggest that they were most definately not Chinese, and my great grandmother certainly does not appear to have any Chinese blood in her. Jenni Woolard in Australia

An interesting situation. When I started this reply I don't think I could give any very authoritative answer, just some thoughts which occurred to me. However, in Googling a bit I've struck pay dirt! Never overlook the power of Google. "Swatow Cemetery" brought up http://www.bristol.ac.uk/history/customs/ancestors/talbot.pdf - it doesn't list your people but it is quite interesting, and it led me to the site it comes from - http://www.bris.ac.uk/history/customs/ancestors/ which is a site for China Coast Family history. There is a burials search facility on the site but its not working for me! More interestingly, there are links to a load of directories. The numbers of Europeans in China in the early days was so small that most of them are listed by name.... I don't think I'd ever heard of Swatow, but it seems to have been opened to foreign trade in 1860 following the Second Opium War though there seem to have been Europeans there since 1842. I started with a Complete Guide to the open ports of China and Japan for 1867 which was slap in the middle of the time you know he was there http://tinyurl.com/3t986el . It has a great description of the place (turn to the contents page and click on the link to Swatow) and tells you just about everything you could wish to know about all sorts of aspects of life there. The foreign community was "very small", and included pilots who lived in a separate "colony". The 1867 directory states that pilots were supervised by a Board whose make-up is stated. Maybe their records exist somewhere. In order to be a pilot, Henry Johnson would have had to have had very good knowledge of the approaches to the port and any rocks shoals and currents therein which could only have been gained by experience. He would also have had to have been a sufficiently experienced sailor to be able to handle vessels of all sizes. Therefore, it is likely that he arrived at the port in the early 1860s, maybe earlier, with a background as a sailor, possibly having served on vessels in Chinese waters for some time before that, maybe as mate although he could have been qualified as a master. This gives us few clues as to his age: he may have been an older man, with little prospect of a command of his own, who decided to settle down, or a comparatively young one who seized an opportunity. According to the article above, Swatow in 1860 was little more than a village so it might have appealed more to the optimism of youth! Unfortunately for your research purposes, the 1860s were very early days of certifications for masters and mates and if we assume that he had some experience already, it may be that he never took any nautical exams. There are several Henry Johnsons in the Index to Lloyd's Captains registers at http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/capsJ.pdf but none particularly caught my eye. However, it would be worth your having a look. Many of the possible candidates can be excluded as their dates don't fit. The other directories at https://www.bris.ac.uk/history/customs/ancestors/directories.html yielded several results - I didn't use the search but went through them manually. H Johnson is shown in an 1862 directory as a "godown [ie warehouse] keeper" for Dent & Co at Swatow. In 1861 he was a "tidewaiter" (apparently a customs officer who boarded and inspected incoming ships) for "Imp. Mar. Cus [the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Maritime_Customs_Service ] at C.ton [Canton]". He is NOT listed there in 1859 and I couldn't see him anywhere else - though it might be worth your going through that volume more slowly and carefully than I have done. In 1867, the only H Johnson listed is a clerk in the Purveyors Department at Hong Kong. H Johnson, pilot, Swatow, is named in a directory for 1872 at http://www.bris.ac.uk/history/customs/ancestors/1872chroniclechina.pdf . He is not listed at Swatow in the 1877 edition. I didn't look for him in any of the other cities - there is no general index, you have to go through port by port. As I understand it, the only other evidence you have as to his movements after 1868 is that your G-GM and her sister were in Australia by 1886, and that he was dead by then. So he may not have moved to Australia himself. If he did, I think he would be less likely to have become a pilot because he wouldn't have been familiar with the waters, and he seems to have wanted to make a career for himself in China. He seems to have had a varied career in any case - customs officer, warehouse keeper, clerk, and pilot, at least! Have a bit of a look through the British overseas records at www.familyrelatives.com - you need to register (its free) in order to search. You will find consular marriages, deaths and births (annoyingly 1864-65 marriages isn't there), marine deaths, etc. There will presumably be British Consular records at Kew, though that is not much good to you unless you can get over here. At the same time, I would look for the girls (not the parents, who may have been dead by then) arriving in Australia during the period 1868-86. http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/ despite being titled "Mariners and Ships in Australian waters" really relates to NSW, but since there is a NSW connection here you have some chance of picking them up. You may need to go through all possible years and look at all vessels coming from China (the port of departure shown is likely to be the last call before Australia, so it could have been from any Chinese port). Hope this helps Cheers Piers -----Original Message----- From: mariners-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:mariners-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of jennifer woolard Sent: 10 May 2011 05:11 To: mariners@rootsweb.com Subject: [MAR] pilots in Swatow, China Hello Listers, I am hoping that there is someone who may be able to point me in the right direction with this brick wall that I have. My great grandmother and her sister were born (1866 and 1868) in Double Island Swatow. Their father was a pilot there. His name was Henry Johnson, and I do not know where to find information on him. I do not know if he worked for a private shipping company or the English Government. Are there any records that someone knows about and where they are? They migrated to Australia prior to 1886, but nothing in known of them after this. Their names suggest that they were most definately not Chinese, and my great grandmother certainly does not appear to have any Chinese blood in her. Jenni Woolard in Australia ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

----- Original Message ----- From: "jennifer woolard" <jgwoolard@hotmail.com> To: <mariners@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 2:10 PM Subject: [MAR] pilots in Swatow, China > Hi Jennifer > I am hoping that there is someone who may be able to point me in the right > direction with this brick wall that I have. > > My great grandmother and her sister were born (1866 and 1868) in Double > Island Swatow. Their father was a pilot there. His name was Henry > Johnson, and I do not know where to find information on him. I do not > know if he worked for a private shipping company or the English > Government. Are there any records that someone knows about and where they > are? > > They migrated to Australia prior to 1886 How do you know that ??? To which State ????? Then they died here ???? > but nothing in known of them after this. Why is that when you live here ???????? Their names suggest that they were most definately not Chinese, and my great grandmother certainly does not appear to >have any Chinese blood in her. gg gmother might have been a local ???? > > Jenni Woolard in Australia Bye MargM Beautiful NSW Central Coast Australia