The Webb Wagg Family in Australia

"The last dance" Ma Webb with son, Bob - May 1970 "Ma Webb" is my mother's mother's mother. My other great-grandparents died before my birth - between 1919 and 1950. Ma was the matriarch at the centre of Mum's family.  She died thirteen days after my twenty first birthday on Anzac Day 1974, aged ninety six. That was the first family celebration she missed! Her parents were born in New South Wales to Irish Catholic immigrants. Born on St Joseph's Day in 1878, it's no surprise she was named Josephine. Ma lived with her parents and six siblings at The Rocks.  A week after her seventeenth birthday, she married Hayden Webb Wagg, at St Thomas' Church of England, North Sydney. Her six children were baptised in the Church of England. Ma and Pa built their home at 14 Bray Street Mosman about 1902. Ma lived there for 72 years. Most of the family lived close by. We were 300 metres up the road.  Ma and Pa's approac...

Albert Hayden Webb Wagg was the ninth child of William (Bill) and Sarah Wagg.  He was know as Hayden and is my maternal great-grandfather. It's taken me a long while to get to Bill and Sarah's ninth child.  It's over two years since I wrote about Chris Webb , their seventh child.  Alice was Bill and Sarah's eight child.  She was born on 30 March 1869 and died 3 months later on 30 June 1869.  A year later, on 1 July 1870, along came Hayden.  He was born at the family's home in Blues Point.  Sarah's sister Jane Trickett (nee Turner) was present at the birth. Only three of Bill and Sarah's children were still living when Hayden was born - Sarah Jane (11 days short of the 14th birthday), Charlie (8 years and 7 days) and Chris (3 years and 9 months).  William George died in 1855 aged 18 months.  Mary Ann died in 1861 one day short of her third birthday.  Adelaide died in 1861 at 8 months.  William John in 1868 at 3 years and 9 months...

For many of the Webb Wagg "cousins", every 19 March brings special thoughts back to us of our cherished "Ma Webb" for she was born on St Joseph's Day in 1878 - 140 years ago today.  Ma was named Josephine, of course, because she came from a family with a strong Irish background.  I'm sure she would have been called Patricia of she was born two days earlier! To recap an earlier blog.... We were so fortunate to have Ma with us until her death on Anzac Day 1974, aged 96.  Ma was very proud of her Irish Catholic heritage but both of her parents were born in Australia.   John Clancy, her father, was born on 24 January 1845 at Camden - the fifth of the ten children of John Clancy (1811 to 1858) and Mary Casey (1814 to 1905).  John and Mary married on 29 December 1836 in County Cork, Ireland and arrived in Australia on 16 October 1838. John Clancy Catherine Mary Teresa (Kate) Flaven, her mother, was born on 28 September 1846 at Princes Street, The ...

Many of our men fought in World War 1 and World War 11.  Mercifully, it seems that none of "our boys" were lost but I know that, like me, you undoubtedly have relatives in the other branches of your family that were taken while on service or died after their return from injuries they sustained.  Then, there is the ongoing trauma for those that were involved in these or other conflicts.   Today, I'll be remembering all of them and reflecting on the threats we currently face.   Lest we forget! I've always thought about my Webb Wagg relatives on Anzac Day...... First, when I was young it was Uncle Bob's birthday.  Well, he was my great uncle but always a big presence in my life.  Bob was born Robert Webb-Wagg on 25 April 1907 - the fourth child of Hayden Webb Wagg and Josephine Clancy.  Bob married May Lillian Jessie Rodger in 1938.  May was literally "the girl across the road".  They'd known each other since the Webb Waggs mov...

Josephine Clancy, or "Ma Webb" to her very large family, was born on 19 March 1878 in Cumberland Street, Sydney.  The daughter of John Clancy and Catherine Flaven.  Ma died on 25 Apr 1974 at 96 years of age.  Here she is at the wedding of her great granddaughter, Suzanne. Josephine Webb Wagg On 26 March 1895, a 24 year old Hayden Webb Wagg (Pa Webb) married a 17 year old Josephine Clancy (Ma Webb) at St Thomas' Church of England, North Sydney. Ma and Pa Webb and "Little Jackie" Lutge This photo was probably taken in the mid 1920s as their grandson, "Little Jackie" Lutge, has sneaked in.  It looks like the island at Balmoral. Any thoughts? Finally, some details from the marriage registration- Albert Hayden Webb Wagg, bachelor of Blues Point Road North Sydney, records his occupation as a fireman and his father's occupation as a lighterman.  Parents are William Webb-Wagg and Sarah Turner. Josephine Clancy, spinster of 104 Princes Street ...