Reposting my interests in the hope that the needle I'm looking for has joined this particular haystack. Thomas Turner m. Hannah Wood | Thomas Turner m. Catherine Brown | William Turner m. Margaret Jane Killean m. Harlettie Louisa Groombridge | Sydney Groombridge Turner m. Martha Lydia Paterson | Douglas Ernest Turner m. Jessie Rose Hanniver | Graeme Sydney Turner m. Jeannette Frances Wilton William Turner was christened in Maltby, Yorkshire, in 1813. He may have been any age from newborn to 5 years old, but that's beside the point at this stage. His parents were Thomas TURNER and Catherine. Although Catherine is listed as BROWN on both marriage record (1810) and christening record, William was to record her name later as Catherine ELLIS. This could be just to drive me insane, as William and co. seemed to have the gift of foresight, and took great pleasure in making my life miserable. I digress. William's father, Thomas, was himself the son of a Thomas TURNER, and of Hannah WOOD. They married in Maltby in 1776, and had a few children, but at the time of the 1881 census, Francis TURNER (William's brother) and his wife Mary were the only TURNERs listed for the town. Thomas Sr., Thomas Jr., William and Francis were all tailors. William joined the army. His commission took him to Australia. I will now quote Muriel McGivern from her book "A History of Croydon" volume 2: While this locality still remained forested hills and intermittent lagoons with wildlife abounding and natives hunting, the first permanent white man came -- William Turner, pastoralist. Recorded in the first volume of this book as one of the initial Europeans to gaze upon the region, substantiation of his residence at Croydon was not found, but since that publication descendants of his from far afield who know his history have come forward to tell of him. Arriving at Port Phillip in 1837, he pastured stock with Goliath Chatterton q.v. ("as much as you wish"), recorded in Billis and Kenyon's Pastoral Pioneers of Port Philip. Turner family records state that the grazing lands of Turner's first run extended to and about the Dandenongs including Croydon to Fern Tree Gully. William TURNER had had a colourful career. Born in Yorkshire in 1808, he came of an early Quaker family. He was a captain in the English army and his commission took him to Sydney; in 1837, one year after Captain Lonsdale arrived at Port Phillip to take charge of Batman's unauthorised settlement, William TURNER came to Melbourne by sailing ship as an officer in the army of occupation... TURNER soon after gave up his commission, the cause unknown; but he had taken strong exception to the public flogging of convicted persons in the streets of Melbourne for trifling offences such as stealing a loaf of bread... Croydon can still be proud that her founder was a humanitarian. There are one or two things that I wouldn't strongly agree with in this book, the first being that the family were Quakers, especially since they were apparently Anglicans, and the fact that William joined the army seems to negate this. Another rather startling omission is that of William's second wife, Harlettie Lousia Groombridge, and their three children, but no other member of the family was aware of this second branch until I located them and told them!! But once again, I'm getting ahead of myself William TURNER married Margaret Jane KILLEAN of Kilkenny, Ireland (born 1825), and had ten children: William, Janet, Thomas, Joshua, Louisa, Rose, Hector, Catherine, Annie and May. Joshua was the first known child of European descent born at The Basin in 1849. Annie was one year shy of being the first white child born in Croydon. Now we get to the part of the story left out of "A History of Croydon" In December 1882, Margaret TURNER (nee KILLEAN) died. In June 1883, William remarried. He was about 70 years old, his new wife was 38. Their son, Sydney Groombridge TURNER was born in July, 1883, making for one of the shortest pregnancies in history. Miraculously, their baby survived being born 8 months prem (yeah, right), and the marriage endured for ten years, until William's death. In that time, they had two more children - Claribell (who died at the age of 3) and Myrtle. William's new wife had been a busy lady... born in Tasmania in 1848, she married William WILLIAMS at the age of 16. They had one child, a son who was not named on the birth certificate, and then she was widowed. Her second husband was a man named William Henry SMITH. They were married two years after her first marriage, and had somewhere between 5 and 9 children. Following his death, she moved to Victoria, and married our William TURNER. Her name? Born Arlette, she changed the spelling of her name and became Harlettie Louisa GROOMBRIDGE WILLIAMS SMITH TURNER HAWARD ROTHERY. There is a rumor that she married a Capt. COLLISTER in Canada, but I've been unable to confirm that as yet. Besides, 5 husbands is enough for any woman, if you ask me. Sydney Groombridge TURNER was my great grandfather. He married Martha Lydia PATERSON (daughter of Eleanor DUNWOODIE and Robert PATERSON of Seymour, Victoria), and they had 9 children. My Grandfather, Douglas Ernest TURNER is their only son still living, and there are three daughters also still living. Myrtle Elsie Adelaide TURNER married Francis RUSH in Tasmania and had 3 children. For more (?) information, please consult my website (URL below) Yours Carol Turner http://www.i-o.net.au/members/mbt Researching Barlow - Whitby, Yorkshire; White - Whitby, Yorkshire; Turner - Maltby, Yorkshire; Brown - Maltby, Yorkshire and all in Australia Groombridge - Kent and Tasmania Dunwoodie - Ireland, Scotland and Australia Higginbottom - Victoria, Australia Hanniver - Victoria, Australia Wandel - Germany, South Australia and Victoria, Australia All of the above - Victoria, Australia Where are we going? And what's with the handbasket? "Cos it's strange, isn't it.You stand in the middle of a library and go 'Aaaaaaagghhhh!' and everyone just stares at you. But you do the same thing on an aeroplane, and everyone joins in."