taxisixo on Family Tree Circles

I'm not conscious of when I started to "do" the family history, but I was aware that I had some interesting rellies, and a cousin on my Paternal side had done the Paternal/Maternal side, and in book form at that, very impressive. When my Mum and then my Dad died in 1987/1988 respectively, I became the recipient of family papers, photos, diaries etc and I suppose that was what probably got me started in a serious way. However, I've had a couple of "eureka" moments and one in particular was probably one of my finest hours. My husband and I used to do "courier" work, in fact we delivered AVON, by the ton (people buy a lot of AVON even in OZ). We had been on holidays and when we started delivering again one of regular clients was pleased to see us back. We were on friendly terms with most of our clients, so Joy asked us where we had been and the reply was Adelaide, the South East(South Australia), Naracoorte SA etc. to which she replied that her Grandfather was buried at Naracoorte, I then jokingly asked if his name was Andrew MARSHALL and her answser was "yes", that was also the name of my Grandfather. Imagine standing there staring at each other over a carton of AVON. So what we discovered was that Joy's Grandfather Andrew was my Grandfather Andrew's nephew, and it was my Grandfather who was buried at Naracoorte SA, but I knew that. Joy had been looking for her Grandfather Andrew for about 25 years and we did eventually track down him down. Now Naracoorte SA is about a 1,100 miles South West from where we were having the conversation and we also lived within less than a mile of each other. Gobsmacked to use a word. Actually what we did discover in 2010 about Joy's Grandfather Andrew was that he had enlisted in the Australian Army in South Australia in 1914 and developed Influenza and died prior to embarkation for WW1, he was the first Soldier in uniform to die, and that's another story. Joy's mother would never tell her what had happened to her father, Andrew MARSHALL, she was 96 years old in 2005 when she died, but on reflection we believe that she in fact didn't know what happened to him, she was too young in 1914 and he wasn't with the family. Joy and I are great mates, we are in regular contact, it's all good. Cheers, Sue Simmonds.

Hi, when family have been in Australia since early white settlement, searching can be quite easy, and after all there are still only 23 million people here, so it's a relatively small country. The only State that charges for basic information is Victoria, but all the rest are free. My husband has complained that I had all the intersting characters and when was I going to have a look at his lot. So I caved in and found it was a relatively easy task given that we lived in the Region where his family settled when they arrived here and they didn't stray far. They were in fact considered "pioneers". He had the usual mix of convict (Irish) and free settlers and it was the convicts that were of particulart note. I discovered that he had a cousin, Edward Rennix "Teddy" LARKIN, the grandson of an Irish convict William RENNIX. William RENNIX's daughter Mary Ann married a William LARKIN and apart from "Teddy" they had four other children. Teddy and his siblings although born near Newcastle NSW were raised in an inner suburb of Sydney, Newtown. Teddy and his brothers went to St Joseph's Hunters Hill. When Teddy left school he became a Policeman, he was a "capped" Rugby International, then in 1909 after Rugby Union broke away from Rugby League he became their full-time Secretary (they were in financial trouble. In 1913 Teddy LARKIN was elected to the NSW Parliament and when WW1 broke out in August 1914, while still a serving member of the Parliament he enlisted, saying that he was setting an example. He embarked from Australia and landed at Gallipoli and was killed on the 25/04/1915 along with his brother Martin LARKIN they have no kinown grave. Teddy was still a serving Member of the NSW Parliament. He left a wife and two small boys aged 6 and 3 years. Last year on Rememberance Day 11/11/11, I received a random email from a lady claiming to be the daughter of Teddy's son Howard Rennix LARKIN, after some enquiries we discovered that indeed she was Howard's daughter, that she was only a young women, and that her father had died when she was 3 years old (history repeating itself). Her father, Howard, had been a pilot in the RAF (UK)in WW11 and was captured by the Germans at Dunkirk in 1942 and was interned in Stalag Luft 111 (Sagen), the "Great Escape" camp. Howard's daughter was keen for information about her father but we were unable to help her, since all the information that we had was what was a matter of public record. The young lady has choosen not to stay in touch with us, and that's sad, but my husband is very proud and happy about his cousin "Teddy" LARKIN and his contribution to public life. It was quite a "find" and probably by best accomnplishment to date. Cheers, Sue.