The Webb Wagg Family in Australia

MyHeritage is a subscription sites for family history enthusiasts.  They've introduced a new facility to colour photos.  I've been giving it quite a work out! "Ma and Pa Webb" with Jack Lutge Hayden and Josephine - my great-grandparents Mum always told me that the red hair came from Pa Webb! Pa Webb's parents - William Webb Wagg and Sarah Turner Certainly some red hair there... A touch of colour added to one of my all time favourite photos! That WW family gathering with Sarah in the front row!

Today marks 100 years since our many times great-grandmother and great-aunt, Sarah, died at the home of her son, William - 247 West Street Cammeray. Sarah was born on 21 October 1832 in Sydney - the daughter of George Turner (a carpenter from York, England) and Mary Hand (a convict from Atholone, Ireland).  George and May had another daughter, Jane, but it's possible that there were more children - the search continues! You can read last year's post about Sarah here. Sarah married William Wagg (a seaman and convict from Norfolk, England) on 18 August 1853 at St James Church of England in Sydney.  They settled on the lower North Shore of Sydney and raised their large family. Here's the last photo that we have of Sarah with her extended family.  She's clearly visible as are some of her sons and their wives.  I doubt we'll ever identify everyone or know the reason for the gathering. Listening to my great-grandmother, Josephine Webb-Wagg (nee Clancy)...

A  Facebook comment from one of the "Webb Wagg cousins" about the involvement of Chris Webb in the family of his youngest sister, Minnie, underlies my view that all the children of Bill and Sarah Wagg were very close and supportive. We just have to look at the three generation in this photo! Then we have the photo another "Webb Wagg cousins" shared with us of the Webb Wagg family gathering in the late 1910s. I've spent a long time looking at this photo with a magnifying glass since Therese lent it to me. You can clearly see Sarah Wag g in the front row. In the middle of the second row looking away from the camera is Chris and Nellie Webb with Hayden and Josephine Webb Wagg to their right. I'm sure that there are many Tricketts in the photos. You'll recall that Sarah's sister Jane Turner, married John Trickett. Here's the 1906 marriage certificate of Edward George Thickett (Jane and John's oldest son) to Bina (Sabina) McManus at...

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.

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...

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...

To celebrate Mothers' Day 2017, we've been able to put together photos of Sarah, our matriarch, and 18 of her direct descendants who are mothers.  Top row, left to right- Sarah Wagg (nee Turner - 1832 to 1918) Pearle Wendes (nee Gillett - 1887 to 1970 - granddaughter) Violet Prince (nee Webb - 1893 to 1978 - granddaughter) May Ravell (nee Webb - 1895 to 1970 - granddaughter) Sarah Jane Gillett (nee Wagg - 1856 to 1919 - daughter) Middle row, left to right- Ethel Lutge (nee Webb-Wagg - 1901 to 1989 - granddaughter) Emily Marland (nee Webb-Wagg 1899 to 1982 - granddaughter) Claudia Snell (nee Webb-Wagg - 1922 to 2015 - great-granddaughter) Beryl Woodlands (nee Lutge - 1928 to 2014 - great-granddaughter) Pam (great-granddaughter) Vera Bunyard (nee Neely - 1924 to 2002 - great-granddaughter) Daphne Byron (nee Neely - 1930 to 2013 - great-granddaughter) Botton row, left to right- Janice (great-granddaughter) Suzanne (2X great-granddaughter) Merrin (3X gre...

With Mother's Day fast approaching, I'm thinking of a post featuring those mothers who are direct descendants of our Sarah Wagg (nee Turner) through all the generations.  I'm calling for photos of any of the "mothers" that you might have. For me, I have photos of my own mother, Beryl Woodlands (nee Lutge), and Ethel Lutge (nee Webb Wagg). My beloved great-grandmother, Josephine, won't feature as she was a "Webb" by marriage.  So start looking! You can either post them here or email them to me at chrisw9953@gmail.com...with a description of who they and when and where the photo might have been taken. So far, I've identified 44 mothers who are direct descendants of Sarah...... Daughters -  Sarah Jane Gillett (nee Wagg -1856 to 1919) and Minnie Neely (nee Wagg -1875 to 1911) Granddaughters -  Winifred Isobel MaKinley (nee Gillett - 1910 to 1942) Pearle Beatrice Wendes (nee Gillett- 1887 to 1970) Violet Manning “Vi” Prin...

A good day to do some recapping with charts showing the Webb Wagg family.... We now have descendants of each of William and Sarah's children who survived to adulthood on our Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/431220147211599/ What  follows  are two generation charts for families when great grandchildren of William and Sarah are living and three generation charts for the other families. Chart 1 - William Webb Wagg, Sarah Turner and their children Chart 2 - James Gillett, Sarah Wagg, their children and grandchildren Chart 3 -  Charlie Webb-Wagg, Amy Clancy, their children and grandchildren Chart 4 - Chris Webb-Wagg, Nellie Rogers and their children Chart 5 -  Hayden Webb Wagg, Josephine Clancy and their children Chart 6 -  William John Webb-Wagg and Ethel Swanson and their children Chart 7 - Arthur Neely, Minnie Wagg and their  children Chart 1 - The family of William Webb Wagg and Sarah Turner ...

On this day 164 years ago, a 27 year old William Wagg married a 20 year old Sarah Turner at Saint James King Street Sydney.  So this is very much the start of our Webb Wagg story! No photos of the wedding but we do have two precious momentos - the marriage registration and the photo of William and Sarah taken in about 1903. 1853 Marriage registration of William Wagg and Sarah Turner William and Sarah Webb Wagg circa 1903 I've located a drawing of St James from around 1842 along with the banner from the Sydney Morning Herald on 18 April 1853.   William and Sarah were married for 51 years until William's death on 08 January 1905. They had 11 children with 5 dying as infants or children. I've attached the details of the children again. I'll be having a toast to William and Sarah today......

So much of the Webb Wagg story is set around the waters of Sydney Harbour and Middle Harbour.  The Sydney Flying Squadron at Kirribilli is a central part of that story.  Here's a few extracts from their website to set the scene- "The 1890’s sailing environment was the pinnacle of conservatism. Then along came this upstart called Mark Foy. He had made his fortune in retailing and had one of the biggest department stores in Sydney. He wanted to upend tradition and do things like have colours on sails so spectators could easily identify boats. Mary Foy The first race that Sydney Flying Squadron took part in was on 24 October 1891. Mark Foy’s 20 footer “Kannanook” and champion sailor, Chris Webb’s “Mantura” took part in the race. Mark Foy was a successful businessman known for the department store “Mark Foys” Mark Foy's Kannanook in the foreground Chris Webb's Manuta "The Squadron men had little money, few free days, enthusiasm and skill. They were ...