The Webb Wagg Family in Australia

Our last post was on 21 September 2017, the 99th anniversary of the death of Sarah Wagg (nee Turner) - the matriarch of our Webb Wagg family.  It was a hasty post as I was heading off to a Family History Conference in Orange with an early afternoon tea in Bathurst at the home of "our Webb Wagg cousin", Therese. As I made my way out of Sydney, the serendipity of meeting Therese again after 50 plus years on the anniversary of Sarah's death struck me....  It's always fun to catch up with family when you share an interest...even more fun when family treasures are presented as well as delicious scones! Here's what was waiting for me...... All that's written on the back is "Webb Wagg family gathering".  Therese and I poured over the photo as I'm sure you will.   Have you ever seen a copy of this photo before?   Where and when was it taken? Who are all those people?   Is there more than one camera as some are facing ahead, some ar...

On 21 September 1918, our many times great-grandmother and great-aunt, Sarah Wagg (nee Turner) died at the home of her son, William, at 247 West Street Cammeray.  Sarah was 85 years of age and William, her husband, has died 13 years earlier. Sarah and William had 11 children- 5 had died as infants or children - William George, Mary Ann, Adelaide, William John and Alice, Sarah and William predeceased their other children but Sarah Jane Gillett (nee Wagg), their oldest adult child,  died one year and one week after her mother!  Sarah was buried with William at Gore Hill Cemetery.  I recently visited and have to report that it's in fine condition! In the New Year, we'll let you know about the arrangements we are making to celebrate the lives of William and Sarah around the centenary of Sarah's death....stay tuned!

Back in May, there were posts about the Sarah Wagg (nee Turner) and Jane Trickett (nee Turner) and their parents George Turner and Mary Hand. The Turners, The Tricketts and The Webb Waggs George Turner - Father of Sarah Wagg and Jane Trickett A bit of a recap of what we've found to date.... With traditional family history research, we know of two children from George and Mary's marriage - Sarah born on 21 October 1832 and Jane born about 1841.  We're still trying to locate Jane's birth  registration - elusive in spite of much searching and money spent on transcripts!  Jane's birth date is based on her death registration.   We're still searching for information on Mary Hand.  This will be covered in a later post... George Turner died in 1847 when Sarah was 15 and Jane was about 6.  There's no evidence that Mary was part of the girls life at this time.  Jane was a witness at Sara...

William John Wagg was born on 23 July 1864 - just over 10 years after the birth of William George, Bill and Sarah's first child, on 17 May 1854.  William George had died on 31 December 1855.   With the birth of William John, Bill and Sarah, had three surviving children - Sarah Jane (7) and Charles (2).  William's birth was registered at St Leonards.   On 11 October 1864, William was baptised at St Thomas' Church of England, North Sydney.  The family is shown as living at Oyster Bay and Bill's shown as a boatman. St Thomas Church of England, North Sydney - Baptism Register A little over two years later, on 17 October 1866, Henry Christopher (known as Chris) was born.    On 30 May 1868, William John died just before his fourth birthday.  By this time, three of Bill and Sarah's seven children survived.

In April 1862, after nine years of marriage, Sarah Jane was Bill and Sarah Wagg's only surviving child.  Their other three children, William George, Mary Ann and Adelaide, had died as infants.  On 23 June 1862, their second son Charles was born at Table Bay on the North Shore of Sydney - probably at the same location as Mary Ann and Adelaide.  We now know the area as Wollstonecraft Bay.   Charles was baptised on 21 September 1862 at St Thomas Church of England, North Sydney.   We've read about Charles in previous posts- The Webb's, the Foy's and the Sydney Flying Squadron Charles Webb-Wagg - 23 June 1862 to 08 May 1939 Charles worked for Sydney Ferries all his working life ending his career around the age of 70 as a master of the vehicular ferry service between Dawes Port and Blue's Point.  The service was discontinued when the Harbour Bridge opened in 1932. On 30 January 1893, Charles married Amy Agnes Clancy at St David's Church of Engl...

Thank you to Maureen, my 3rd cousin 1 x removed, for her latest discovery which again shows the family links between the Webb Wagg's and Trickett's.  We first looked at this  in a blog back in early May.    Maureen is the granddaughter of Edward George Trickett and Sabina (Bina) McManus.  You may recall that Edward's mother, Jane Trickett (nee Hand) and Sarah Wagg (nee Hand) were sisters.  Here's a chart that shows all the Wagg (or Webb or Webb-Wagg) and Trickett cousins.   Wagg and Trickett cousins Edward George Trickett was born on 12 September 1867 at "Kerosine Works, Oyster Bay, North Sydney".  Edward's birthplace is now very familiar from looking at the births of William and Sarah Wagg's children.   On 13 January 1906, Edward married Sabina (Bina) McManus at Christ Church North Sydney.  Edward was a 39 year old carpenter and Sabina was a 39 year old spinster at the time of the marriage.  Sabina was born in 1867...

Adelaide Wagg was the fourth child of William and Sarah Wagg.  There's a possibility that Adelaide was named after one of Bill's sisters who was still living in Norfolk, England...more research required! On 07 October 1860, Adelaide was born at Greenwich.  Adelaide's birth was registered by Sarah.  This is the first evidence that Sarah was not able to write as her signature is marked as "X".  The registration shows the father as William Wagg, ballast man from Yarmouth, and the mother as Sarah Turner, aged 28 from Sydney.  Interestingly, the registration shows "Mrs Trickett" was present at the birth - this is probably Jane Trickett (nee Turner), Sarah's sister. William and Sarah and their three girls, Sarah Jane, Mary Ann and  Adelaide, appear to have lived in the same area of the lower North Shore of Sydney during this time. On 18 May 1861, Adelaide died from convulsions which she had suffered for 2...

Mary Ann Wagg was the third child of William and Sarah Wagg.  Mary was certainly named after her maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Turner (nee Hand)  and, if our current research is accurate, her paternal grandmother, Mary Ann (Ann) Wagg (nee Clark), as well! On 22 August 1858, Mary Ann was born at "Sugar Works, North Shore, District of St Leonards".  Mary Ann's birth was registered by Sarah of "Sugar Works" and shows the father as William Wagg, labourer, aged 29 from Yarmouth England and the mother as Sarah Turner, aged 24 from Sydney.   Plan of the Sugar Works Estate (part of the Crows Nest Estate) situated at the North Shore near Sydney - The property of R. M. Robey Esq. Robey's Sugar Works first opened in 1857 on a land situated on the current Wollstonecraft Bay.  It was taken over by the Colonial Sugar Refinery Co.  In the late 1860s, the Australian Mineral Oil Co. established a kerosene works on the site to treat kerosene shale and handle imp...

Sarah Jane Wagg was second child of William and Sarah Wagg - named after her mother (Sarah) and her maternal aunt (Jane).  A transcript of Sarah's birth registration shows she was born on 11 July 1856 at Botany Road, Redfern - just over 6 months after the death of her brother, William George.  Her father, William Wagg, a drayman, aged 28 from the West of England is the informant.  Sarah Turner, aged 23 and born in Sydney is shown as Sarah Jane's mother.  The date and place of William and Sarah's marriage is recorded as 18 April 1853 at St James Church, Sydney.  The transcript also show the previous issue as "1 boy deceased". By the mid 1860s, the Wagg family has moved to the Blues Point area on the North Shore of Sydney Harbour. In 1883, Sarah Jane, aged 27, married James Judkins Gillett, aged 35.  The marriage is registered at St Leonards.  James Judkins was born in about January 1848 in Islington, England.  He was the second child and o...

Over the next few months, we'll be looking at the eleven children of William (Bill) and Sarah Wagg. William George Wagg was their first born child - named after his father and paternal grandfather (William) and maternal grandfather (George).  A transcript of William's baptism record shows he was born on 17 May 1854 to William Wagg, a mariner, and Sarah.  Their residence is recorded as "Kissing Point" which is now the suburb of Putney.   On 03 September 1854, William was baptised by  Reverend William Cowper  at St Philips Church of England which stood on the current site of Lang Park in York Street, Sydney. On 31 December 1855, aged 18 months, William died.  The burial registration records William's occupation as "son of a sailor" of Queens Place - where the statue of Queen Victoria currently stands off Macquarie Street, Sydney.   William was buried on 02 January 1856 in the Church of England Cemetery Camperdown by  Reverend Charle...

In our last post, we saw the home where our matriarch, Sarah Wagg (nee Turner), died in 1918.  Dale, a granddaughter of William John Neely (1898 to 1947), recalls that 247 West Street, North Sydney was the address William used on his First World War discharge papers stating it was the home of his uncle (and Sarah's son), William John (Bill) Webb-Wagg (1873 to 1933). So Sarah was living with her son Bill, his wife Ethel (nee Swanson) and their six children - Les, Bill, Em, Christopher, Charlie and Ali - at the time of her death.   We've seen a number of precious documents that have passed through the family of Bill Webb-Wagg.  This adds to the story of how they survived for over 150 years! William Neely was the oldest of the four children of Arthur John Burns (Top) Neely and Minnie Daisy Webb Wagg (the youngest of William and Sarah's children).  Minnie died on 08 July 1911 and Top Neely was still living at the family home in Willoughby at the end of the First...

Sarah's death notice shows that she died on 21 September 1918 at "her residence, 247 West-street, North Sydney".  After lunch at a cafe in West Street, I decided to track down Sarah's home - only to find that I've driven past it hundred of time without knowing.  I don't know if any other members of the family were living in the home at the time....maybe you do! Here it is on the north eastern corner of West and Amhurst Streets, Cammeray.  How many times have I taken the Cammeray exit heading east on the Warringah Freeway and driven along Amhurst Street right next to it!  I'll think of Sarah and the Webb Waggs from now on..........

Today seemed like a appropriate time to focus on George Turner, the father of Sarah and Jane as it's highly likely that George died on 16 May 1847 - 170 years ago today! Our cousin, Leonie, has led the "The Webb Wagg Family" research into George and his wife Mary Ann Hand with many hour spent pouring over microfiche at the NSW State Archives and the Society of Australian Genealogists.  What's written here is a mixture of fact and informed speculation! We are confident that George Turner, our many times great-grandfather, was born in about 1805 in York, England to William and Sarah Turner. We have fragments of George's indenture paper that have been handed down through "The Williams" and provided by George's 3X great-granddaughter, Linda. Fragment of George Turner's Indenture Paper Understandably, this document is fragile at it's almost 200 years old!  George's indenture commenced on 3 September 1818 when George was abo...

We are lucky to have this beautiful photo of Pearle Beatrice who passed away on this day 47 years ago. Pearle Beatrice Wendes (nee Gillett) In 1887, Pearle was born in Armidale - the only daughter and second child of James Judkins Gillett and Sarah Jane Wagg.   On 28 August 1912, Pearle married Walter Keith Jack Wendes at her parent's home, Mascotte in North Sydney.  Walter was born in about July 1883 on the Isle of Wight in England.  He was the son of Charles and Emily Wendes.   Family Notices (1912, September 7).  The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) , p. 14.  Retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28132826 Pearle and Walter's only child, Thelma Muriel, was born in 1913.  When Thelma was about 12, Walter and Pearle were divorced. In the 1930 and 1937 Electoral Rolls, Pearle shows her occupation as a dressmaker and she is living at 35 Concord Road Hurstville.  The photo sh...