Sunday 14 August 2016

Sepia Saturday August 2016 Love & Marriage

Marriage and love don’t always come at the same time. But when love does come hang onto it with both hands like Lillian did.


Thomas MANDERSON married Lillian CRUMP in May 1903 in Eaglehawk, Victoria[i]. Lillian was only 19 years of age, Thomas was six years her senior. 
Figure 1 G.L. Massingham, Wedding Photo of Lillian Crump & Thomas Manderson, 1903, scan of original image.

There are no recorded births for any children to the couple in either Victoria or Western Australia. Thomas listed his usual place of residence as Kalgoolie, Western Australia on their marriage certificate.  Lillian however did go on to have 4 children but none listed Thomas as the father.[ii]  The father of all Lillian CRUMP’s children is thought to have been William BASSETT, but only the two youngest children William (b.1908) and Gladys Irene (b.1912) have been confirmed.[iii]  No father is listed for the eldest two children Doris Lillian (b.1906) and Myrtle May (b.1907).[iv]

A missing person article appeared in the local Western Australian newspaper in 1906 announcing that a Thomas MANDERSON had been found, locating  the original "Missing Person" article might help to confirm if this is the same Thomas MANDERSON who had married Lillian Crump in 1903.[v]  It is thought that by 1907 Thomas MANDERSON had gone to sea and can be found on the “Empress of Britain” as a crew member and he may have eventually settled in America.[vi]


Lillian was 21 years old when she gave birth to Doris, her eldest child.[vii] Neither Lillian MANDERSON/CRUMP, Thomas MANDERSON or William BASSETT were the informant on either the two eldest children's birth certificates.[viii]  Later Myrtle would say that she had no doubt that William Bassett was her father as the family resemblance was strong. [ix]

William Bassett & Lillian Crump became a couple, possibly around 1905 however they never married.  When Myrtle their second eldest was two years of age (in 1907) the family left Eaglehawk and relocated to Tasmania. William found employment in the mines and their only son, William, was born.[x] They returned to Eaglehawk by 1912 for the birth of their fourth child Gladys Irene.[xi]

When they moved back to Eaglehawk it was thought the couple had married in Tasmania.[xii] Later in life after a bout of illness Lillian insisted that a portrait was taken of her and William to commemorate their union.  Later she would say that William would have nothing to remember her without the portrait.
Figure 2 Photographer Unknown, Formal Portrait of William Bassett & Lillian Crump, c.mid-1920s, scan of original image.

Ironically it would be William who died first of miner’s complaint in 1945.[xiii]

 [click here to read more about the missing person newspaper article for Thomas Manderson]

To read more about the venue for Lillian Crump & Thomas Manderson's click here


References

Images

Figure 1  G.L,Massingham, Wedding Photo of Lillian Crump & Thomas Manderson, 1903
Figure 2  Photographer Unknown, Formal Portrait of William Bassett & Lillian Crump, date unknown

Sources

[i] Victorian Marriage Certificate, District of Bendigo, 1903/2358, Thomas Manderson and Lillian Crump
[ii] NSW Death Certificate, 1964/19504, District of Sutherhland, Lillian BASSETT; Victorian Birth Certificate, District of Eaglehawk, 1906/2600, Doris Lillian MANDERSON, Victorian Birth Certificate, District of Eaglehawk, 1907/10233, Myrtle May MANDERSON; NAA: B883, VX21203 William BASSETT; Victorian Birth Certificate 1912/19781, District of Eaglehawk, Gladys Irene BASSETT
[iii] NAA: B883, VX21203 William BASSETT; Victorian Birth Certificate, 1912/19781, District of Eaglehawk, Gladys Irene BASSETT
[iv] Victorian Birth Certificate, 1906/2600 District of Eaglehawk, Doris Lillian MANDERSON and Victorian Birth Certificate, 1907/10233, District of Eaglehawk, Myrtle May MANDERSON
[v] MISSING FRIENDS (1906, June 30). The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950),Col 6, p. 6 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82404925.
[vi] “Liverpool, England, Crew Lists 1861-1919;" Liverpool Record Office, Liverpool, England; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, "Crew lists (fishing boats). 387 FIS : 1907,"Ancestry.com (www.Ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2016); Entry for Thomas MANDERSON on the Empress of Britain; U.S., Residents Serving in the British Expeditionary Forces, 1917-1919; War Department. Office of the Provost Marshal General (1917–1919); digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.Ancestry.com : accessed 25 Mar 2016) Entry of Thomas MANDERSON; 1920 U.S. census, Mendocino, California, population schedule, Big River Township (part), Big River Precinct 1, Big River Precinct 2, Caspar Precinct, enumeration district (ED) 111, sheet 18B, p. 7015 (image 26 of 27), dwelling 678, family 468, Thomas MANDERSON; digital images,  Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 Mar 2016)
[vii] Victorian Birth Certificate, 1906/2600, District of Eaglehawk, Doris Lillian MANDERSON
[viii] Victorian Birth Certificate, 1906/2600, District of Eaglehawk, Doris Lillian MANDERSON; Victorian Birth Certificate,  1907/10233, District of Eaglehawk, Myrtle May MANDERSON
[ix] Myrtle Sharp, in personal discussion with author, c.2000
[x] NAA: B883, VX21203 William BASSETT
[xi] Victorian Birth Certificate, 1912/19781, District of Eaglehawk, Gladys Irene Bassett
[xii] Myrtle Sharp, in personal discussion with author, c.2000
[xiii] Victorian Death Certificate, 1945/5364, District of St Kilda, William BASSETT

Edit History

Originally posted on the 14th August 2016
Updated and revised on 16th August 2016

10 comments:

  1. A mysterious man, this Mr. Thomas MANDERSON! However, publishing this may eventually help you finding the solution. Sometimes somebody on the other side of the world reads this and ... At least, that's my experience. On a different subject, I want to express my appreciation for the fact that you so explicitly mention the surnames you are interested in. I wish more people would that!

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    1. I think Sonoma County Clerk's Office holds the death records Certificate required for Thomas Manderson year 1938; registration number 20331, However I haven’t been able to work out yet how to go about getting a copy. On my todo list!
      I found Thomas in the 1910 U.S. census, San Luis Obispo, California, population schedule & 1920 U.S. census, Mendocino, California, population schedule, in the Big River Township - the birthdate and the birth country match my Thomas MANDERSON. I also found him in the Residents Serving in the British Expeditionary Forces, 1917-1919 at Ancestry but I’m not quite sure how to access information beyond record. Also on my todo list!

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  2. But Doris Lillian and Myrtle May both used Manderson as their names? And Lillian was 19 when they married and she had her oldest child of four children when she was 21? This is a fascinating story.

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    1. Doris and Myrtle never used the name Manderson they always used the name Bassett. When I went to apply for their birth certificates they both were registered under both surnames but the reference numbers are identical.
      And yes Lillian was 19 when she married but I have been unable to find any trace of either of them in either WA or Eaglehawk, Victoria. Not that Lillian would be easy to find as she wouldn’t have been on the voters register until she 21. I was never able to find any trace of Thomas himself although I was able to trace his mother initially in Eaglehawk, Victoria and the subsequently in WA after her second husband died and she went to live with her daughter. There were quite a few Thomas Mandersons in Eaglehawk but during the course of my research I was able to eliminate them as possible candidates. Sometimes I think they got married in a hurry so that she could return with him to WA but it didn’t work out so she came back to Eaglehawk (where his mother was still living) and began a new relationship with William Bassett who she working for as domestic, but would need a little more to substantiate that story!

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  3. Tidbits of information like this story which leaves out so much can be frustrating to descendants wishing they knew how and why things happened as they did.

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    1. It can be frustrating but it is also addictive as we try to find out more, The tidbits keep us going ... incase we can find more tidbits - all part of the fun.

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  4. These missing husbands and fathers can be very hard to find, but it seems like you've done well here. I have a case of a father who deserted his wife and 3 little girls in NZ, enlisted and then re-married bigamously in Australia. The descendants of his daughters had no idea what had happened to him. I've told them but I don't think they really want to know. Unfortunately he was my relative (3x great uncle).

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  5. A fascinating story. I wish you luck in your search. These stories are oh so common and make researching family history so hard. My father left England in 1920 and his great nephews and nieces were never told of his existence.

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  6. "Later she would say that William would have nothing to remember her without the portrait." So poignant.

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  7. Someone was telling me recently how mixed up families are today compared to those of the olden days. They are so wrong. Aside from husbands and fathers and sometimes mothers running off, there are so many deaths and remarriages with resulting recombinations of families. I don't think it was ever simple.

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