#52Ancestorsin52Weeks Week25/52 Daisy Mildred CARRETT (nee TAYLOR)– 1887 - 1963
Ahnentafel Number 11
Context
for discovery:
This
biography was written as part of the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks exercise devised
by Amy Johnson Crow. You can join in too
here. The theme for this week is "Broken Branch”
Amy says:
Have you had to trim a branch from your family tree after you figured out it wasn't the right line? Are you researching a branch that it feels like there is nobody else in the world who is researching them? What about a collateral line that seems to have gotten lost?
This blog post is a compilation of several blog posts I previously wrote about my great-grandmother plus some new information.
 |
| Daisy Mildred Carrett nee Taylor on the occasion of her 70th birthday |
Childhood
Birth
Date/Place:
On Daisy’s
death certificate, her birthplace is still described as Parramatta, and her age
as 80 years in 1963 born circa 1883.
Just to complicate matters further, Daisy also seems to be called Minnie in some documents. Such fun! I might also add that Daisy can also be a nickname for Margaret but let's not go there. Or perhaps we should!
I remember there
was talk in the family that Daisy may have been at the Parramatta Girls
Home.
I searched
the Child Care and Protection Index and Dependent Children Registers on the NSW
State Archives website but found nothing.
I also found
a birth certificate for a Daisy M Taylor of Mary A and John Taylor in Balmain
which I have just ordered.
Now I’ve
gone back to check Dad’s notes, and this is what he says:
“Nan was supposed to have two half-sisters, Zoe and Myra. Myra being the eldest. Myra was supposed to be the child of Mary Ann Mulholland's first husband, Mr David M Taylor. Zoe was supposed to be the child of Mary Ann Mulholland 's second husband, Mr George A Waters. Nan, according to Mum, was supposed to be a foundling, probably born at Parramatta, and adoptd by Mr and Mrs Taylor. Her evidence for this is based on a visit Nan is supposed to have made to a fortune teller once and a conversation which followed with her mother, Mary Ann Mulholland, at which Mum (Ethel Carrett) was present. The fortune teller apparently indicated to Nan, that Mrs Taylor was not her real mother. Nan asked this of Mary Ann Mulholland and apparently there was some sort of “knowing wink” which led them to believe it.
Mum maintains that the Taylors and Nan lived in Katoomba for a while, just before Mr Taylor died (1892). She says that after he died, Nan was shipped out to work at some sort of Boys Home at Parramatta. None or very little of this we have been able to verify, despite searches through Electoral Rolls and the like.”
Dad’s notes also say that:
“David Monte Taylor died from meningitis 16 September 1893 and only one child is shown on the death certificate – Zoe aged 4 years so born 1889.
Mary Ann married again…on 20 December 1893 this time to George A Waters at Petersham….the only child shown being born to them was a George D Waters born in 1896.”
Further
notes say:
“Zoe is supposed to have married a Mr Kent Bush, a stonemason. They had three children, the youngest of which was Oswald. Myra is supposed to have married a Jack Brady, and they had one child that Mum remembers, called Jackie.”
I found Zoe’s marriage certificate from 1906 on
Ancestry. She is recorded as being 17 years old which
means she was born in 1889. She said she
was born in Petersham. On her marriage certificate, she said her father was
David Monte Taylor but on her death certificate, it says her father was George
Alfred Waters.
I was not able to find Myra’s marriage at first. Then I googled Zoe’s name because it was so unusual - Zoe Manglor Bush. Sure enough, it popped up on Geni. I often wonder why I bother registering on so many genealogy sites. This "find" is a very good reason why.
I looked at all the
profiles of people researching Zoe and her family. One of them had details about Myra. Bingo! She married a Bray, not a Brady.
And before that, she married a John Knight. I haven’t been able to determine much else
except that John Cornelius Bray was a hairdresser in Katoomba from an article
in Trove.
We have also been unable to find birth records for Zoe or
Myra.
Baptism
Date/Place:
Not found
So, we know that
Daisy was the second eldest of four children and that they may or not be step-siblings:
1. Myra (born 1885?)
2. Zoe (born 1889) and
3. George (born 1896).
Daisy’s
father (presumably the only father she knew) David Monte Taylor died in 1893
when she was ten years old. Zoe is the only child listed on David's death Certificate.
There are
more handwritten notes that Dad wrote down which indicate that Daisy had her first job in
Katoomba at the age of 11 in 1894 and then was working at the Boys Home in Parramatta
from 1897 when she was 14 years old. I
would like to see if we can discover some employment records for that, maybe
through NSW State Archives.
Just a little bit more about Daisy's mother - adopted or not - because I found out some new to me information. My father had managed to find out that Mary Ann Mulholland came out to Australia in 1876 on the Nineveh. She was 23 years old and described as a housekeeper. On the ship was also Thomas Mulholland. We presume that is her brother. What I learned today, just by looking at different types of documents i.e. an immigration deposit journal rather than just a shipping list, was that Mary Ann and Thomas were sponsored by Joseph Mulholland, their older brother.
Mary Mann married David Taylor in 1878 at Newtown and I need to order their marriage certificate.
On the shipping list Thomas and Mary Ann both declared their parents dead. On her marriage certificate to George Alfred Waters, Mary Ann said her father was David Mulholland a farmer and her mother was Eliza York.
Further research into Joseph Mulholland's arrival in Australia has revealed that he and his brother David (who died on the voyage) were from Eden in County Derry.
I have been able to find a David Mulholland farmer through Griffith Valuations living in the parish of Tamlaght O'Crilly. To say I am excited to have found that level of detail is an understatement. One happy family history researcher here today.
Married Life
Marriage
Dates/Places:
Daisy Mildred
TAYLOR married George Henry Charles CARRETT III on 20 May 1902[i] at Christ Church
Enmore which is now St
Luke's Anglican Church I believe.
Daisy was
described as being 19 years old and a housemaid living at Stanmore.
The mother of
the bride's consent was obtained - Maryann Waters. The father of the
bride is described as "not known".
I do not know
how Daisy and George met. I suspect it
was through families with a mutual interest in building homes. George was from a long line of
bricklayers. Daisy’s father or adopted father/s
were house painters. Daisy’s older sister Myra married a builder,
John Knight. Her younger sister Zoe
married Kent Willard Bush, a stonemason.
Looking in
Trove for results for Christ Church Enmore in 1902 I found an article in the
social pages for a marriage on 31 May. This made me realise that the 20
May was not a Saturday. It was in fact a Tuesday which strikes me as an
unusual day to get married. So maybe things were done in a bit of a
rush. Millie was born in December of that year.
Children’s
Birth Dates/Places:
George and
Daisy had seven children:
1.
Millie
in 1903[ii]
2.
Ethel
(my grandmother) in 1904[iii]
3.
Daisy
&
4.
George
- the twins in 1906[iv]
5.
Rene
in 1908[v]
6.
Ossie
in 1910[vi]
7.
And
Nora in 1913[vii]
Electoral Rolls
As I’ve
mentioned in previous blog posts, George left for San Francisco to help rebuild
the city after the earthquake in 1906. Daisy
gave birth to twins Daisy and George on 3rd November. What fortitude to be left with four children
under the age of three.
1913 – George and Daisy are
living at Flinders Road Canterbury.
George is described as a builder.
His father, George Henry II is living around the corner in Riverview
road with his wife Sarah and daughter Mary Ann.
Charles, George Henry III’s brother, and wife Louisa are living in Bass
Road.[viii]
This Xmas card and an entry in the Sands Directory indicate the Carretts moved to Vaucluse happened in 1914.
First
World War
George Henry Charles CARRETT III enlisted on 8 May 1916 at the age of 37.[ix]
The swimming years
I have realised that in my research I always assumed that George the father was the driver of the Carrett girls swimming but I’m now beginning to adopt a different point of view.
I think Daisy enjoyed swimming just as much as her children. She participated in it, and supported her girls’ success in this field which is demonstrated in many articles on Trove.
She
took on an office bearer’s position at the Sydney Ladies Club, swam in the Married
Ladies events (yes, I know, too quaint – but very useful for family history
researchers), and she obviously enjoyed getting out and about and taking tea
whenever she could. A woman after my own
heart.
Here is a digest of the articles I found. Daisy would have been aged 31-39 during these years.
October 1918
“The annual meeting of the Sydney Ladies Club was held on Monday, September 30, when the following officials were elected for the ensuing season: Patroness Mrs Hugh D. McIntosh; president Mrs Fred Flowers; vice-prsidents Mesdames A. Wood, S.Park, J. Lovelce,J O’Connell, G. Carret….etc. Mrs G Carrett has donated a silver cup for the encouragement of long distance swimming among members distances 150 yars, 22 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, 1320 yards. These events will be held once a month at Watson Bay Baths.
("SWIMMING" Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939) 9 October 1918: 12. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120309895>.)
October 1919
In NSW LASA President’s Cup competitions your club was represented by Misses M. Shepherd, M. Carrett, E. Carrett, R. Carrett. Miss Shepherd and Miss E. Carrett tied for points for first place, which necessitated a swim-off the distance being 440 yards. Miss E. Carrett won comfortably from Miss Shepherd, thus winnig the much coveted cup.
"SWIMMING" Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939) 22 October 1919: 11. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120303935>.
October 1921
Mrs G Carrett
elected vice-President again. Millie
Carrett was Vice-Captain.
"THE SWIMMERS" Arrow (Sydney, NSW : 1916 - 1933) 7 October 1921: 12. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103444399>.
May 1922
The Sydney Ladies Swimming Club held the annual presentation of trophies and dance at St James Hall. Among those present were: Captain Miss M Carrett, Mrs G Carrett….
"TEA-TABLE GOSSIP" Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930) 28 May 1922: 15. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128212609>.
August 1922
Miss B. Lovelace was presented with a beautiful beaded bag at a tea party given by the members of the Sydney Ladies Swimming Club at the Wentworth Café yesterday afternoon in honour of her birthday. The tables were decorated with baskets of red carnations. There were present…Mrs Garrett (I think they mean Carrett)…M Carrett etc
"For Women" Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931) 31 August 1922: 10. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118856042>.
September 1922
Miss B Lovelace, hon treasurer of the Ladies Swimming Club, was entertained by fellow-members on her birthday at a tea party at the Wentworth. Guests included G. Carrett…M. Carrett….
"TEA-TABLE GOSSIP" Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930) 10 September 1922: 4 (Social and Magazine Section). Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128216578>.
November 1922
“Miss May Lovelace was given a birthday tea by members of the Ladies’ Swimming Club at the Wentworth on Thursday. The guests were: Mrs E. Higginbotham, Mrs W. Chambers,Mrs B. O’Keefe, Mrs L. Duff, Mrs A Galen, Mrs G. Carrett, Mrs. G. Whitechurch, Misses M. Carrett, M. Owens, B. Lovelace, D. Jamieson, G. Smith and L. Blanchard.
"Society [?] [?]" Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930) 19 November 1922: 19. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128221803>.
And
Fastest Swims of the Season
Tiny tots 33 yards Handicap – N. Carrett 2nd 15 secs. Married Ladies’ handicap Mrs Carrett 3rd 32 seconds. Diving Tiny Tots N. Carrett 1st
"FASTEST SWIMS OF SEASON" Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930) 12 November 1922: 10. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128206525>.
December 1922
Great Swimming Sydney Ladies Results Married Ladies Handicap Mrs Higginbotham 1 Mrs Carrett 2 Mrs Jamieson 3
"NEW RECORD" The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954) 3 December 1922: 10. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224156215>.
August 1923
”Softly shaded lights, gay balloons, evergreens and dainty frocks were the features of the ball given at Sargents on Wednesday evening by the N.S.Wales Ladies’ Amateur Swimming Association. The President’s Cup was awarded to Miss Renie Carrett….Miss R Carrett was in white satin and georgette. Others present were …Mrs G Carrett.
Just in case you have forgotten what the style was in those days, may I remind you....
"New Millinery is Adapted to Show Long Earrings" Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930) 12 August 1923: 19. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120532311>.
October 1923
Sydney Ladies Club officials are….vide-presidents….G. Carrett….Ettie Robertson and Rene Carrett showed very good form by covering 100yards in 1.19 and 1.24 respectively.
"EARLY SWIMMING FORM" Referee (Sydney, NSW : 1886 - 1939) 31 October 1923: 9. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128111291>.
November 1923
“Christmas bells and flannel flowers decorated the tables (at the Wentworth café). Among those present were Mrs G. Carret, Miss Rene Carrett and Miss Mary Durack.
"For Women." Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931) 29 November 1923: 15. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119188758>.
December 1923
“To celebrate the coming of age of Miss Millie Carrett, the Sydney Ladies Amateur Swimming Club gave a party at the Wentworth Cafe. There were present….Mrs G. Carrett
"For Women" Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931) 22 December 1923: 7. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119192940>.
February 1924
The southern lady swimmers who are visiting Brisbane for the championship carnivals were entertained by Mrs F. W. De Little the patroness of the Queensland ladies Amateur Swimming Association at tea at the Ritz Café on Thursday. The tea tables arranged in the form of a T were adorned with silver vases of gerberas and roses set on royal blue, pale blue and maroon streamers the colours of the Victorian, News South Wales and Queensland States respectively. …included in the party were Mrs and Miss Carrett…..
"Woman's Sphere." The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947) 21 February 1924: 3 (SECOND EDITION). Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article180044757>.
November 1924
Mrs Hugh D McIntosh patroness of the Sydney ladies’ Amateur Swimming Club, was the guest at the Ambassadors yesterday afternoon of the members of the club…those present included….Miss R Carrett,…Mrs G. Carrett…..Miss D. Carrett….
"SYDNEY LADY SWIMMERS" Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930) 2 November 1924: 7. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128147361>.
March 1926
“The Sydney Ladies Swimming Club entertained at the Ambassadors on Monday night….present were Mrs G. Carrett and Miss Rene Carrett.
"NEAR AND FAR." The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) 3 March 1926: 9. Web. 3 Jul 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16272381>.
Weddings and Funerals
1924 daughters
Millie and Ethel marry[x] I know that Daisy wasn't present at Ethel's wedding. She accompanied Rene to Brisbane for the swimming.
1925 George
Carrett and Harold E.S. Carrett are listed as living on the North side of
Wairoa Street Campsie off South Parade[xi]
1926 Daughter Daisy
married Hector (Harry) Beitsch
1928 Son George
married
1929 Daisy's husband father died[xii]
1930 Daisy’s
older sister Myra Bray died
1932 Daughter
Rene married Frank Hall
1933 the Electoral
roll shows George and Daisy living at 74 Myrtle street, Annandale South[xiii] and son Ossie
married
1934 George’s mother
died and their daughter Nora married
1935 Electoral
Roll – George and Daisy are listed as living at Chards Lane, Belmore.[xiv]
1936 Daisy’s
mother died
Senior
Years
I am
arbitrarily denoting the senior years as when you turn 60 years of age. Depressing, I know but there you are. So
Daisy would have been 60 in 1947.
1949 Electoral Roll – George and Daisy and Daisy Minnie are living at 71 Ewart Street Dulwich Hill. George is described as having no occupation.[xv] This seems somewhat of a come-down and a tiny place after all the hard yakka that George had done over the years building lovely homes for his daughters and everyone else. But it was close to the station and all the familiar things they knew I suppose.
This looks like it might be taken at a train or a bus station doesn't it? Ted and Ethel CONNER (nee CARRETT) are in the middle and then there are Ethel's parents on either side, George Henry Charles CARRETT III and Daisy May (nee TAYLOR). I'm guessing this is circa early 50s.
I think this must be the last photo we have of George. He is shown here with his wife Daisy Mildred and daughter Daisy Minnie.
1957 Daisy's children hold a slap-up birthday party for Daisy’s 70th birthday - the picture at the top of this post shows Daisy cutting her cake
1962 Daisy’s son Ossie dies 3 December
Date and
place of Death
Daisy died on 3 January 1963.
What a sad Christmas that would have been for my grandmother to lose her mother and her brother within the month.
I did meet Daisy
once or twice. Not in living memory but
I have movie footage of her at my christening 😊
We were
living in Edinburgh when she died. I found a letter from my mother to her mother-in-law, Ethel shortly after
they must have heard the news:
“Dear Mum
I am so unhappy to hear about Nan; I suppose it’s unreasonable not to expect it at any time of a person of her years, but that’s the whole point; she never seemed that age to me and she was always so full of life each time I saw her. I’ll always remember her roaring with laugther when she was with us, and particularly the last time we saw here the day we sailed – I shall always regret that photo was never taken with Alex, but that’s just one of those vain regrets we always find ourselves left with on those occasions, isn’t it.
You must have had your hands full the last few weeks – Jim’s told me about his Uncle and then Nan’s short illness.” (letter dated 9th January 1963 from Barbara Conner to Ethel Conner in Alex's personal collection)
It’s great
to have just even that short description of my father’s Nan from my mother.
Looking at my
father’s account of the morning of our departure from Sydney in September 1962
he says:
“One or two trips were made from Blakehurst over to Jim’s grandmother’s place to deposit some of the now discovered and unwanted luggage. …eventually at about 10:30 …all was ready and all left the house at Blakehurst to drive over to Dulwich Hill to leave Jim’s Mother’s car there with her mother. Farewells were said to Nan and Aunty Daisy and then the party took a taxi into the centre of the city.” (entry in News Clippings journal of trip to UK written by Jim Conner)
Unbeknownst
to him, that was the last time my father was to see his grandmother.
Daisy Carrett
nee Taylor is buried at Woronora Cemetery.
Her younger sister Zoe died a few years later on 31 January 1967
Woronora Cemetery by ACME on Flickr
Conclusion
Huge thanks are due to my dear father for all the research he has done over the years. We are talking about research in the days before the internet. It has been quite sobering going through all the photos of the Indexes to the NSW BDM and his handwritten notes. How our research has changed.
It’s been a frantically busy week this end. I have been finalising sponsors for National
Family History Month and taking up new duties in my role as Vice-President for
QFHS which include drafting a social media strategy for Open Day. I hope to write another blog post this
weekend about another ancestor so I don’t fall behind too much in this challenge.
I had hoped to practise and demonstrate the skills I learned last
weekend with the lovely Sharn White about how to use Google Earth more in
family history but that is going to have to wait for the moment.
The exciting news is that just today I have made contact
with one of Zoe’s descendants so we should be able to push the family back a
bit further, I hope. Certainly, the research
I have done today has been very interesting.
I just need to prove that Mary Ann Mulholland was Daisy’s mother,
hopefully through DNA. If not, then we’re
stuck until I find someone whose DNA does match.
I desperately need to do some filing and I am looking forward
to another fab Family Historian User Group meeting this afternoon.
How’s your week been?
References
[i] FindMyPast New South
Wales Marriages 1788-1945
[ii] Ancestry.com, Australia
Birth Index, 1788-1922
[iii] District of Canterbury
at Canterbury , Birth Registered Number 31218, Ethel Irene Carrett, 1904,
Registrar General’s Office, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia
[iv] Sydney, Australia,
Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.
[v] Ancestry.com Australia
Birth Index, 1788-1922
[vi] Ancestry.com Australia
Birth Index, 1788-1922
[vii] NSW BDM Index
[viii] FindMyPast Austraia
Electoral Rolls 1913 District Canterbury Number 233 Page 4
[ix] Ancestry.com,
Australia, WWI Service Records, 1914-1920
[x] Ancestry.com, Australia
Marriage Index, 1788-1950
[xi] Ancestry.com. Sydney and New South Wales,
Australia, Sands Street Index, 1861-1930 [database on-line]. Provo,
UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
[xii] FindMyPast Civil Deaths
and Burials Registration number 20510 (mother Mary and father George H)
[xiii] Ancestry.com,
Australian Electoral Rolls, 1901-1936
[xiv] FindMyPast Australia
Electoral Rolls Lang District Number 1112 page 19
[xv] Ancestry.com. Australia, Electoral Rolls,
1903-1980 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations,
Inc., 2010.
[xvi] Death Certificate, District of Newtown, Registration Number 1953/026525 George Henry Charles CARRETT
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