The Webb Wagg Family in Australia

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)...

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...

I've previously written about our search for the birth family of our patriarch, William Webb Wagg.  As we approach Mother's Day, it's timely to look at the birth family of our matriarch, Sarah Turner. The first clue is in the 1853 marriage registration of William Wagg and Sarah Turner at St James, Sydney.  We see the witnesses named as George Fairfield of Sussex Street and Jane Turner of George Street. Sarah's 1918 death registration records the names of her parents as George Turner (a shipwright) and Sarah.  The witnesses to the death registration are Sarah's sons, William Webb Wagg and Charles Webb Wagg.  They record Sarah's age as 86 - birth around 1832 in Sydney. As Sarah's birth was so early in the colonies history, there are no birth registrations.  However, we've found a baptism transcript for Sarah Turner at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.  It records that Sarah was born on 21 October 1932 and baptised on 09 December 1832.  Her father...

We've all asked where did "Webb Wagg" come from and why are there all the variations. Recently, I met a third cousin who is descended from William Webb-Wagg (1873 to 1974) - son of William and Sarah.  She had two documents that had come down through "the Williams" (as I now call them) which supports and answers many of our questions.  The mystery is not fully solved yet.... First, we have William Webb's discharge from the Gwalior (sic) on 4 March 1853. This was a ship that sailed around Australia and the Pacific in the 1850s. So we see that William was working under the name of Webb not Wagg. He continued to do so for all his working life being referred to as "old Billy Webb" I've read. Next, we have the original registration of the marriage between William Wagg and Sarah Turner at the Parish of St James, Sydney on 18 April 1853 - just six weeks later. You'll spot that one of the witnesses is Jane Turner, Sarah's sister, who went on to...