Simon Fraser

My Ancestor James Fraser married Hannah Woodhouse Loose in about 1804, they had 17 children between 1805 and 1834, one being my Great Grandfather Robert Fraser ( 1822-1881) who was married in County Cork to Barbara Elinor Atkin. He had a sister named Hannah and also a brother named Simon (born 1st June 1818).

Neil Fraser, currently in Ontario Canada.

Subject: Davies family of Australia
Hello Ms Janson
I have recently come across your site, Website http://www.geocities.com/mepnab/d/d9.html
I would very much appreciate any information that you have with respect to this entry
Your entry differs somewhat from my mother’s notes and family tree, however the names are the same, the spouses and children seem to be different or my mother had no entry for them.
We have Slingsby Davies with wife unknown, and 4 children, Sophie and Simeon as two of them. However there is a good chance that my mother’s records are somewhat mixed up. I do not have any record of another Slingsby that was born in Durham.
We have Arthur (later Colonel unattached to the Army and living in Wye Kent in 1841 and 1851) as the father, married to a Catherine Fenwick (Fenwick is later a name within the family). There is a good chance that Fenwick might have been a middle name if the spouse really is Atkinson. We have one of Slingsby’s brother’s married to an Atkinson. What I would really like is to have any records or knowledge of how to get your records, so we can rule in or out what you have in your listing.
We live in Western Canada and cannot search Australian records.
My grandmother is the granddaughter of one of Slingsby’s brothers.
Many thanks for any help you can give us,
With kind regards
Judith Pettit
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And I replied
As you live in Canada, I will include the Victorian listing for Slingsby and his family up to 1888, when my CD stops.
I will be happy to look for more data in the Indexes for you. That is my source for my entry on Slingsby Davies - and the two links to Fraser and Rayson.
First - I wondered why I could not find baby Slingsby born 1872, and so used his record number, and found his surname was Davis.
Bad recording or parent could not read or write - the usual state for adults in 1870, when the adults had decided that every child in Victoria should go to school and learn the 3rs
As families were unusually large - the average had about 10 children over 20 years - we can understand why parents needed help raising the children.

CC: "Ruth Barton" ruthbarton of shaw spot ca
Hello Elizabeth
Many thanks for your reply and your help. Your information is very helpful.
Our concerns, questions etc arise from the following your website and the below that you sent : -
We have no spouse for Slingsby Davies (family known as Davis on various census records, but more recently as Davies) christened Headingley, Yorkshire. I thought at first that you had two Slingsby Davies with different wives, but on studying the site more, and the below records, I believe you mean marriage 1 to Katherine Fraser and marriage 2 to Hannah Woodhouse Fraser. Do you know for sure that they were sisters, their birthplaces seem to be different and I assume those are in Ireland (or does Australia have the same names - a common problem with the colony countries like Canada and Australia!) Am I right when I think that Slingsby married both women in Australia? Hannah after the death of Katherine.

My mother shows only 4 children for Slingsby and his unknown wife... Two unnamed and Sophie and Simon. She did not know that he married twice... I think my grandmother probably did not know a great deal about the family that went to Australia and stayed there.

With respect to the Davies (Davis) family, I have information on the forbearers of Slingsby. The one thing that confounds us is the marriage of Arthur (Slingsby's father) to Catherine. Our family records show that he married Catherine Fenwick. Do you have the marriage or a source for that where we could check that you are right and we are not? Family records also show that William Davies (brother to Slingsby) was married to an Atkinson.
I have seen the IGI at Scarborough of a marriage of Arthur Davies and Catherine Atkinson and the date is good, but I don't know if that is the correct Arthur. I would appreciate any information that you have to offer with respect to this for us.

Slingsby Davies (Davis) had three other brothers that we know of who came to Australia, and did not stay. Arthur Davies, who is shown on the 1861 English census as the proprietor of houses and lands in Australia, William, and Henry. One of these (Henry we thought till yesterday) was the father of my great grandfather Charles Arthur Davies, and one of the others (William) was the father of my great grandmother Ellen Augusta Davies. Charles and Ellen were first cousins and married and they were both born in Australia.

I would very much appreciate the birth records if you have them for Arthur Charles Davies born Prahran Australia 21/04/1854 Arthur Charles had a brother Fairfax who was also born in Australia c1856 Ellen Augusta Davies born Dandenong Australia 10/11/1857 Ellen had two siblings, Catherine Mary Davies born Australia c 1856 And Arthur Harwood Davies born c1861

If we get the birth records of Arthur Charles and/or Fairfax we will know for sure whether Henry or Arthur is the father of them.

The records for the Davies Family show that early census records in 1841 and 1851 have the name as Davis more often than not, but it seems that by the time of the Slingsby's childrens' generation all families were called Davies, and that was the name of my great grandfather Arthur Charles and his cousins etc. I do not think that the variations in the name are due to the inability to read and write as in many branches (of our family and others).
Often it is a mistake by the census taker who writes what he or she hears.
However, Slingsby's father was Arthur Davies, who became a Colonel, and mostly lived on his own means. He was generally unattached or on half pay with the army and was a farmer of 300 acres+ at Withersdane Hall in Wye Kent And on all census records there were governesses and servants. I think they were fairly well educated.

I do not have any record of the Reardon or George Slingsby, though there is a branch of Slingsbys that are somehow related to the Davies. It was my understanding that a Thomas Slingsby or someone was a brother to one of the wives of the Davies sons at some stage. There was a Charles Henry R Slingsby who lived here in Victoria and was a cousin of my grandmothers and came from England with his wife.

Well, I have asked a lot of questions, and I do so appreciate your contact and your help.

Kind regards, Judith

I have cc'd my sister Ruth on this as she is working on the family tree with me.

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And I replied
2nd letter
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006
Hi Two
This is just a start - nearly bed time here in Victoria, Australia. I have two web pages
Davies
http://www.geocities.com/mepnab/d/d9.html
Fraser
http://www.geocities.com/mepnab/ef/f30.html

Notes- These references all come from the Victorian Index, each state is separate.
You can purchase these certificates yourself to see what extra information is there - will include the informant for the burials.
For marriage will include ages, birthplaces and parents names, former wife, children living and dead if previously married - can be fun!

I would be hoping that the first marriage of Slibgsby Davies would be where he correctly names his parents - and that would be great.
Second marriage in theory should have the same details with extra about previous wife -
Death certificate would not be reliable unless it confirms what is already known.
For family lists, the idea is to get a certificate for the last born child, expecting the full list of siblings as well as details of parents marriage and ages .. (live in hope). First-born may be better for details of parents...

Is this your Charles?
Arthur Davies wed 1853 #26161 to Elizabeth Christiana Fenwick at St Pauls, Melbourne, Church Of England, and lived at Prahan then at Kew 1. Arthur Charles Davies 1854 #1765
2. Fairfax Davies 1856 #600
3. Henry William Davies 1859 #17401 - 1859 #7295 lived 5 months, born and died at Kew

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And your Ellen? - fits the dates you sent
William Davies and Sarah Anne Williams lived at Prahan then at Dandenong 1. Catherine Mary Davies 1856 #950
2. Ellen Augusta Davies 1858 #953
3. Unnamed male Davies 1870 #8181 - 1870 #3998 lived 3 days

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Concerning Kate
Katherine Davis 1844 - 1872 #496 aged 28, dau of Frances Rochead and Simon L Fraser of Clare
Katherine Fraser of Clare wed 1869 #3562 to Slingsby Davies of Yorkshire

Hannah Woodhouse Fraser of Cork wed 1874 #2514 to Slingsby Davies of Durham

Simon Lovat Fraser of Co Clare wed 1883 #3792 to Susan Mary Cleghorn Rochead of Edinboro

Shipping records
The El Dorado came Nov 1852 with 361 passengers, including the Fraser family of Simon 34, Mrs -, Kate 7, June 6, Hannah 5 and infant.

http://proarchives.imagineering.com.au/index_search_results.asp

Unassisted Immigration to Victoria
Sort for Fraser, El Dorado 1852
or any fields you wish.
For some reason it dowes not give neat alphabetic lists - a bug that appeared a couple of months ago

http://online.justice.vic.gov.au/servlet/bdm_home
BMD in Victoria, historical indexes

You can purchase ....