With assistance from family in the UK (you know who you are!), I sent away for copies of the Smithers articles that I found in the online indexes to ‘The Cambrian’ newspaper. Unfortunately the text contains little more information than … Continue reading →
I’ve mentioned before that John Van Cooten was a physician. There are a variety of sources of biographical information on medical practitioners in England, but I will focus on those that are relevant to find out more about John Van … Continue reading →
Some time ago I obtained an 1881 English Census household entry from the LDS transcripts on CD for Thomas and Ida Gorsuch. The other day, having access to ancestry.com at the GSV Library I obtained a scanned copy of the … Continue reading →
John Van Cooten, eldest son of Hendrik, married Martha Keane Smithers. Ida Gorsuch wrote in 1893: He [John] married a London merchant’s daughter (rather to the disgust of his father & his royal mother). She his wife was a “Miss … Continue reading →
Google Books contains a surprising mine of genealogical information, particularly when searching for a relatively uncommon name like “Van Cooten”. I occasionally check Google Books to see what might pop up. For full text books in the references below, search … Continue reading →
The Genealogical Society of Victoria Library provides members free access to findmypast.com – a commercial site specialising in British family history records, including complete birth, marriage and death records for England and Wales from 1837 to 2004, fully transcribed census … Continue reading →
John Van Cooten was possibly the eldest son, or the eldest legitimate son, of Hendrik Van Cooten. By inference from English censuses, and from his death certificate, he was born in about 1775-1781, most likely 1780, in Demerara. This is … Continue reading →
I ordered the birth certificates for John Hughes born in Reading in March 1853 (ref 2c 351) checking that the mother’s forename was Emma, and June 1855 (ref 2c 326) again checking the mother’s forename. Both drew a blank. Fortunately, … Continue reading →
The birth certificates I ordered for the birth of John Hughes registered in Reading in the September quarter of 1856, and the birth of Margaret Hughes registered in the March quarter of 1859 turned up in the mail today. The … Continue reading →
John Hughes Van Cooten arrived in Australia on 20 Dec 1874 – almost 133 years ago. But it is highly likely that he wasn’t the first of Hendrik Van Cooten’s descendants to arrive in Australia! Three seemingly unconnected pieces of … Continue reading →