Ancestry DNA Adventures Part II

I've been making an effort to review at least a page or two of matches every day. It's a tedious process and I'm looking forward to when Ancestry provides us with better data management tools.

Discards - these are any matches that have a private tree, have no tree attached to the DNA results, or have a minimal tree with less than about a dozen people.

Stars - these are matches with a primary name I'm looking for or one of the places I'm interested in. The places this first pass are Norfolk and Staffordshire in England, and Australia. I should have looked for more but didn't realise this when I started.

No Stars - these are matches without any of my primary names and none of the places in my search.

Primary Names Not Yet Found - Beecroft, Cockle, Ettridge, Fokard, Tissott
Names with 1-10 matches - Davy, Freedman, Brothers, Tomson
Names with 10-25 matches - Fielding, Hewitt, Gooch, Sutherland, Reeder, Casey
Names with 25-50 matches - Barnard, Bull, Lindsay, Dickerson, Norton, Cobb, Hardy
Names with 50-100 matches - Williamson
Greater than 100 matches - Wells, Bailey, Parker, Baker, Walker, Wright, Thompson, Taylor

Status of my matches as of 15 March 2013.
Matches Reviewed: 2900
Matches Discarded: 650
Matches not reviewed: 400
Total Matches: 3300

On This Day: 2nd January

1909: Kathleen Mary ANNAKIN was born in Leeds, Yorkshire. She was the daughter of Arthur Dodsworth ANNAKIN and Jessie COMSTIVE.

1912: Lavinia Ann TISSOTT married William Alexander SHEPPARD at Winslow, Victoria. Lavinia was the daughter of Joseph Henry TISSOTT and Elizabeth Hannah HUGHES; William was the son of Moor SHEPPARD and Mary ARCHMAN. Lavinia was my 1st cousin 1x removed (Joseph Henry was my grandfather Harry's eldest brother).

1970: Evangeline Isobel Booth TISSOTT (nee CARR) passed away at Collie, Western Australia. Auntie Eva was married to my uncle, Harold TISSOTT.

Black Sheep Sunday - Henry Tissott (Tissett) 1832 Pleading for Clemency (Part 1)

Following my previous post on  Henry Tissott 1832 Letter from Gaol Henry's father Joseph Tissott petitioned the court for clemency because he was only 13.

HO17/99 Petitions for Clemency

Petition SQ10

The humble petition of Joseph Tissot

Sheweth

That your Lordships humble Petitioner is the Father of Henry Tissott an unfortunate youth thirteen years of age now under Sentence of Death recorded in Stafford Gaol for aiding and assisting Elizabeth Banks seventeen years of age in Stealing and disposing of a cow, belonging to Henry Crutchley of Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford.

Your Lordships humble Petitioner prayeth of your great goodness you will consider the feelings of a parent having but this Son and a daughter many miles from him left out of Seven children my said Son Henry Tissott has always been brought up with me under my own care untill Childlike he was enticed to leave me prior to the said Robbery.

Your Lordship’s Humble Petitioner therefore humbly prayeth that you may consider the prisoner’s tender years, and that this is the first and only charge ever brought against him, and that you of your great compassion will ameliorate the anguish of an afflicted parent Sixty one years of age over an unfortunate child

and be pleased to be as lenient with the prisoner as his case will admit and your Lordship’s humble Petitioner will as in duty bound ever pray

Joseph Tissott – his mark

Black Sheep Sunday - Henry Tissott (Tissett) 1832 in Stafford Gaol

My Great Grandfather Henry Tissott stole a cow when he was 13, was sentenced to death then had his sentence commuted to transportation for life (see my note below - got to make sure of the facts). Here is a letter he wrote his father from Stafford Gaol.

Letter from Henry Tissett in Stafford Gaol 1832

 

January 8^th Stafford Gaol 1832

Dear Farther

I now set down to writ a few lines hoping to find you in good health as it leaves me at the present considering my unfortunate situation.  Dear father Elizabeth Banks enticed me away from home and thold me that she had a cow at Wolverhampton and she told me she wanted me to take it to Birmingham market for she wanted me to cell it as I did not know beter but it was herowne and wen we had sold it she said she wold by me some sows but wen she had sold it she began to quarrel with me wen i was in bed and said to me how come you to steal the cow and I said to her you told me it was yours and I told the man at the house as she sent me from it and then the man of the house got up and went for the constable and had us both put into custordy and she told me if I  would tell the magaistrate as she had nothing to do with it and clear her she would go home to my father’s house and wen he was a sleep she wold kill him and bring me all is money to the prison. Dear father I hope you pleas either cord hav send to me on Thursday next and pleas to bring me a little bacon chees and buter and a little coffee and sugar and about 3 shillings in money as you may see me on Thursday or in Thursday or satarday. So no more at presant from your unfortunate son

H Tissart

I used the services of Pastfinders to get these records from the National Archives at Kew.

Sorting Saturday - Ignored Clues on scanned Birth Certificates

This is a follow-up to my previous post Sorting Saturday - BDM Certificates from Various Heaps .The BDM's I had to take to Kinko's, AKA Fed-Ex Office, are from Western Australia and just won't fit on my Canon CanoScan N1220U. When I first started in genealogy I didn't realise exactly how much there was on these certificates.

These West Australian Birth Certificates (from 1898-1906) have:

1. Number in Register
2. Child: When and where Born
3. Child: Name and whether present at registration or not
4. Sex
5. Father: Name and Surname, Rank or Profession, Age, and Birth-place
6. Father: When and Where married, Previous Issue living and deceased
7. Mother: Name and Maiden Surname, Age, and Birth-place
8. Informant: Signature, Description, and Residence of Informant
9. Witness: Name of Accoucheur, Nurse by whom certified, and Names of Occupiers or other Witnesses
10. Registrar: When registered and where
11. Registrar: Signature of District Registrar
12. Name, if added after the Regisration of Birth.
13. Certification that this is a true copy of the register kept in Western Australia

I had previously entered the obvious items into my Family Tree Maker files and now, after verifying I hadn't made an error, I took a look at the Informant And Witness columns.

The informant for my Uncle Harold in 1898 was his father (nothing new there). But his father Harry was listed as an occupier of the house where Harold was born. i.e. he was born at home. This also held true for my Aunt Evelyn's birth in 1901 and my Aunt Ida's birth in 1904.

I found I hadn't missed very much the first time around.

The indices (or indexes) for Births, Deaths and Marriages in the state of Western Australia can be found at WA Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

Surname Saturday - Tissott

I'm joining the Saturday Surname brigade and starting with myself and my maiden name.

Tissott (we've always spelled it with the "double t" at the end) is an anglicized version of Tissot, from a diminutive Tissier, the Old French occupational name for a weaver. And no, we are no relation to the Swiss watch firm of the same name, more's the pity.

1. Rosemary Tissott (1940 - )

2. Eric Henry Lindsay TISSOTT(1911-2006), son of Harry TISSOTT and Mary LINDSAY was born on 08 Oct 1911 in Boulder, Western Australia and passed away on 13 Jun 2006 in Hornsby, New South Wales. He was raised on the goldfields at Yunndaga, Western Australia until he was around 7 then moved to Collie, Western Australia, where the mining was for coal instead of gold. Dad always said he was only allowed to stay in school if he kept getting good marks, which he did, eventually leaving school at 15 to join a national bank. At night he studied for his accountancy exams coming 2nd in the state examinations. After being transferred to Narrogin he met and married Eileen Mary Brothers on 06 Mar 1937. He had been transferred to Sydney and they spent the rest of their lives there. It was only after his retirement that they returned to the west for an extended visit.
3. Eileen Mary BROTHERS(1908-1994) was born on 11 Nov 1908 in Dagenham, Essex, England and passed away on 24 Aug 1994 in Gordon, New South Wales.
Eileen Mary BROTHERS and Eric Henry Lindsay TISSOTT had the following children:

1. i. Rosemary TISSOTT
ii. Female Tissott (living)
iii. Male Tissott (living)

4. Harry TISSOTT(1867-1935), son of Henry TISSOTT and Emma SUTHERLAND was born on 01 Jun 1867 in Mount Taurus, Victoria and died on 26 Oct 1935 in Collie, Western Australia. He married Mary LINDSAY on 25 Sep 1895 in Winslow, Victoria. Harry was a miner, gold in Victoria and Western Australia and then coal in Western Australia.
5. Mary LINDSAY, daughter of John LINDSAY and Charlotte WELLS was born on 12 Sep 1868 in Winslow, Victoria and died on 11 Oct 1958 in Fremantle, Western Australia.

Mary LINDSAY and Harry TISSOTT had the following children:

i. Arthur Vivian Tissott, born on 20 Oct 1896 in Yarpturk, Victoria, and died on 27 Apr 1968 in South Fremantle, Western Australia. He married Dulcie Ewart Lethlean on 25 Dec 1919 in Leonora, Western Australia.

ii. Harold Leslie Tissott was born on 13 Aug 1898 in Four Mile, South Menzies, and died in Dec 1981 in Western Australia. He married Evangeline Isobel Booth Carr in 1917 in Coolgardie, Western Australia.

iii. Evelyn Myra Tissott, born on 13 May 1901 in Woolgar, Western Australia and died on 26 Jan 1995 in Mandurah, Western Australia. She married Henry Walter Moyle in 1922 in Collie, Western Australia.

iv. Ida Muriel Tissott, born on 11 Aug 1904 in Yunndaga, Western Australia and died on 27 Dec 2000 in Collie, Western Australia. She married David Hughes on 02 Aug 1925 in Collie, Western Australia.

2. v. Eric Henry Lindsay TISSOTT was born on 08 Oct 1911 in Boulder, Western Australia and died on 13 Jun 2006 in Hornsby, New South Wales. He married Eileen Mary BROTHERS on 06 Mar 1937 in Narrogin, Western Australia.

8. Henry TISSOTT (1819-1853), son of Joseph TISSOTT and Rosanna PARKER was born on 27 Mar 1819 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. He died on 12 Oct 1882 in Yarpturk, Victoria. He married Emma SUTHERLAND on 25 Jul 1853 in Portland, Victoria. Henry was transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1833 for stealing a cow. He was 13 at the time and was led astray by an older woman of 17. After serving his time he made his way to Victoria and joined the gold rush, working in various mining towns until ending his days as a farmer.
9. Emma Sutherland (~1832-1920), born in Holborn, Middlesex and died in Cannington, Western Australa.

Henry and Emma had 8 children:

i. Joseph Henry Tissott, born 27 Aug 1854 in Campbells Creek, Victoria, died on 17 Feb 1945 in Winslow, Victoria. He married Elizabeth Hannah Hughes on 6 Apr 1885.

ii. Alfred Tissott, born on 27 Oct 1856 at Fryer's Creek, Victoria and died on 06 Aug 1935 at Cooma, New South Wales. He never married and was a miner.

iii. Francis Tissott was born 13 May 1859 in Warrnambool, Victoria and died 30 Nov 1940 in Victoria. He married Ellen Hughes on 20 Jul 1886 in Winslow, Victoria. Ellen and Joseph Henry's wife ELizabeth were sisters.

iv. Emma Tissott was born 08 Jun 1862 in Moliagul, Victoria and died 10 Mar 1917 in Cannington, Western Australia. She married Alfred Free on 04 Dec 1890 at Yarpturk, Victoria.

v. Arthur Tissott was born on 29 Oct 1864 in Moliagul, Victoria and died on 02 May 1867 in Winslow, Victoria.

5. vi. Harry Tissott, born 01 Jun 1867 in Mount Taurus, Victoria and died 26 Oct 1935 in Collie, Western Australia. He married Mary Lindsay on 25 Sep 1895 in Winslow, Victoria.

vii. Lewis Tisott was born on 22 Dec 1869 in Moutn Taurus, Victoria and died on 11 Oct 1899 in Perth, Western Australia. Lewis never married.

viii. Maria Antoinette Tissott was 11 Jun 1873 in Yarpturk, Victoria and died on 16 Dec 1897 in Mepunga, Victoria. She married John Thomas Merrett on 4 Oct 1894 in Winslow, Victoria.

16. Joseph TISSOTT (~1761-1849) was born about 1761 in New Holland, Lincolnshire. He died on 23 Sep 1849 in Brewood, Staffordshire from the Penkridge Union Workhouse. He married Rosanna PARKER on 04 May 1818 in Brewood, Staffordshire. Not much is known of Joseph's life. After Henry was transported to Van Diemen's Land he shows up in the criminal registers a couple of times for petty crimes such as receiving stolen goods but was never sentenced. He died in the Poorhouse.
17. Rosanna Parker was probably born around 1797. I have no further information on her.
Joseph and Rosanna had at least 5 children:

8. i. Henry Tissott (1819-1882)

ii. Rosanna or Rosina Tissot, born around 23 Sep 1821 in Bishops Wood, Staffordshire, and died about 3 Dec 1835 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire.

iii. Emma Tissot, born around 31 Oct 1823 in Bishops Wood, Staffs, and died around 20 Jun 1829 in Brewood, Staffs.

iv. Julia Tissot, born before 07 Dec 1825 in Bishops Wood, Staffs, and died as an infant on 02 Jan 1826, Brewood, Staffs.

v. Antoinette Tissot was born about 4 Jun 1827 in Brewood, Staffs and died 15 Jun 1829 in Brewood, Staffs.

Joseph possibly had 2 more children, not necessarily by his wife Rosanna. He stated at his son Henry's trial that he had 7 children, Henry, a daughter who was "from home (Rosanna) and all the others had passed away.

If anyone has anymore information on my Tissott Family i would love to hear from you. If you have a subscription to Ancestry you can find the Tissott's in my tree "Tissott and Lindsay.

Mothers Day - Mum Planted With Her Roses

Happy Mothers Day Mum

Avid gardener that she was, her wishes were always to be planted under a bush.

Eileen Mary (Brothers) Tissott was born 11 Nov 1908 at Chadwell Heath, Essex; married Eric Henry Lindsay Tissott on 6 Mar 1937 at Narrogin, Western Australia and passed away on 24 Aug 1994 at Gordon, New South Wales.

She rests under a rosebush at Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens. The inscription reads:

Eileen Mary Tissott

11-11-1908     24-8-1994

Loving Wife of Eric

Mother of Rosemary

Elizabeth and Robert

Fond Nana of Her Grandchildren

Founders & Survivors - Vandemonians on the Victorian Goldfields

I just received the latest copy of the Founders & Survivors April newsletter "Chainletter". This issue of their newsletter looks at Vandemonians on the Victorian Goldfields, a Vandemonian being a convict who was transported to Van Diemen's Land and who then made his (or her) way legally or otherwise to the goldfields of Victoria.

 

My great grandfather Henry Tissett (Tissott) was one such convict. When he was 13 he was sentenced to death for cattle stealing, the sentence later being commuted to transportation for life in Van Diemen's Land. He eventually made his way to the Victorian goldfields and spent the rest of his life there, mining, farming, and this and that.

 

Founders & Survivors is a partnership between historians, genealogists, demographers and population health researchers. It seeks to record and study the founding population of 73,000 men women and children who were transported to Tasmania. Many survived their convict experience and went on to help build a new society. They are concentrating on Tasmanian (Van Diemen's Land) convicts because the Tasmanian records are better and more extensive than those from the other colonies. Tasmanian convict records can be viewed online from Archives Office of Tasmania convict records online .

 

Now I have to add details of my 2 direct-line convicts to their database.

(1) Great Grandfather Henry Tissett (Isabella)

(2) Great Great Grandfather Robert Wells (Moffatt)

Mystery Monday - Where are you hiding Rosanna Parker?

Where are you Rosanna Parker? Or is your name Rose Anna, Rosina, Hannah, or Anna? Is Parker your maiden name, were you widowed, could it be Barker? 

Rosanna Parker is my GtGt Grandmother. My first reference to Rosanna is when she married my GtGt Grandfather Joseph Tissott on 4th May 1818 at St Mary's, Brewood, Staffordshire.

 

 Joseph Tissot of this Parish and Rosanna Parker of this Parish were married in this Church by Banns this fourth Day of May in the Year One thousand eight hundred and eighteen. 

Note that the condition of neither the bride or groom is mentioned; they could have been single, widowed or already married to someone else. Additionally, the "with consent of" has been crossed out indicating that both Joseph and Rosanna were of full age.

Here is a timeline of Rosanna's life, as far as I can reconstruct.

• 4th May 1818, Rosanna Parker married Joseph Tissot at St Mary's, Brewood.
• 31 March 1819, Henry, son of Joseph and Hannah Tissom was baptised at Ss Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Chapel, Wolverhampton.
• 23 September 1821, Rosanna, daughter of Joseph and Rosanna Tissot of Bishop's Wood was baptised at St Mary's, Brewood.
• 31 October 1823, Emma, daughter of Joseph and Rosanna Tissot was baptised at St Mary's, Brewood.
• 7 December 1825, Julia, daughter of Joseph and Rosanna Tissot of Bishops's Wood was baptised at St Mary's, Brewood.
• 4th Jun 1827, Antoinette Tissot, daughter of Joseph and Rosanna Tissot of Bishop's Wood, was baptised at St Mary's, Brewood.

This is the last sighting I have of Rosanna Parker.

At Henry's baptism in Wolverhampton the priest spelled Joseph's name "Tissom" instead of "Tissott". There are many variations of "Tissott", Tissot, Tissett, Tisset, are some of the more common ones. "Tissott" is the correct spelling as Joseph states during Henry's Petition for Clemency at Stafford Assizes in 1832. As for "Hannah" being his mother, that could very well be what the priest was told.

Before the end of 1829 Emma, Julia and Antoinette had all been buried at St Mary's, Brewood.
On 4th December 1835 a Rosina Tissett, of the Poor House, aged 17 years, was buried at St George District Church Wolverhampton. This girl could be either
     (a) Rosanna Tissot, aged 14
     (b) Rosanna Tissott, aged about 30.

The Stafford Record Office could not find any reference to Rosanna or Rosina in the Poor House Records they have and I have yet to search the films of the Wolverhampton Poor House that are available from the FHL in Salt Lake City.
I haven't been able to find a Baptism for Rosanna Parker in Brewood, Staffordshire or in the surrounding districts as well as over into Shropshire.
I've just done another search to see if anything new has shown up at FamilySearch. There is a Rose Hannah Parker who was baptised at Uttoxeter in 1790 and she could very well be my Rosanna. I have no way of connecting the 2 women since she was of age when she married in 1818.


For now, I'm stuck with this brick wall as to when Rosanna died. The Poor House records may show whether this was Rosanna or her daughter who died in 1835.

 

 

Lest We Forget - Reginald Sydney Merrett (1895-1917)

Reginald Sydney Merrett was the only son of my grand aunt Maria Antoinette Tissott and her husband John Thomas Merrett. He grew up in Mepunga, Victoria and enlisted in the AIF on 29 Jan 1915 at Melbourne, Victoria. After training for a year he left for Suez on HMAT A69 Warilda, arriving there on 08 Mar 1916. He spent 3 months in Egypt training before being sent to join the 12th Battalion in France, arriving there in Jun 1916. On 9 Apr 1917 he died with gun shot wounds to the chest and back and was buried at Pozieres British Cemetery (Plot II, Row J, Grave No 28), Ovillers-La-Boisselle, France.

AIF 12th Battalion, 14th Regiment, 1916

Australian War Memorial Negative Number DAX1124

After the war his family asked the Australian Red Cross for more details surrounding his death and burial however there was no new information.

Reginald died intestate, his will never being found in any of his service records.  There were bequests to him from his uncle, Alfred Tissott, his grandfather, Thomas Henry Merrett, and his father, John Thomas Merrett and this correspondence is available in the digitised copy of his file at The National Archives of Australia. His estate finally went to probate in 1939 with probate being granted to his half-sister Grace Teresa Merrett of Brunswick, Victoria.

In the beginning (or how I became obsessed with genealogy)

After my father, Eric Henry Lindsay Tissott, passed away in 2006 I was sorting out some of his papers and came across an envelope labelled "Genealogy". Now, I had no idea that he had started to pursue an interest in his family's history. Included in this slim envelope was a letter from his sister, my Aunt Ida, describing what she knew of their grandfather Henry Tissott. 

Ida's words are:
"Dad's father was born in Wolverhampton I think he said and was sent out as a boy of eight as a convict for pinching a cow and later a rabbit. Eric I forget the name of the place where convicts were sent. Evelyn and I went & saw the jail & where convicts were put in chains etc well he was there till he was 20 odd, then went to the mainland."

These few words started me climbing around the family rosebush.

My father's family grew up in Western Australia; from Tasmania, the rest of Australia is known as "the mainland" which means that my great grandfather, Henry Tissott, had been sent to the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania) sometime during the 19th century. The gaol that my aunts Ida and Evelyn had visited was Port Arthur.