Someone contacted me recently trying to determine if he was connected to the Annie Jones lurking in the Van Cooten tree. The information I had for her was sparse, so the contact prompted me to do a little more research. Annie was the first wife of William John Fraser Van Cooten. The only information I had about her was from a couple of entries in a family bible. She died after giving birth to their first child Sylvester Fraser Van Cooten, who also died at birth. Knowing that the marriage in question took place in Queensland, I searched the Queensland historical marriages and found:
Reg # |
Subjects family name |
Subjects given names |
Other party’s names |
1910/C002280 |
Van Cooten |
William John Fraser |
Sarah Ann Caroline Jones |
Sarah Ann Caroline is obviously the person I had always heard referred to as “Annie”. Doing a search on deaths, I found:
Reg # |
Family name |
Given name |
Fathers given names |
Mothers names |
1911/C002979 |
Van Cooten |
Sarah Ann Caroline |
David Jones |
Amelia Williams |
1911/C008879 |
Van Cooten |
Sylvester Fraser |
William John Fraser |
Sarah Ann Caroline Jones |
This confirms Annie’s full name, and also gives the names of her parents. Doing a search for births to David Jones and Amelia Williams gives:
Reg # |
Family name |
Given names |
Fathers given names |
Mothers names |
1884/C005818 |
Jones |
Sarah Anne Caroline |
David |
Amelia Williams |
1887/C006616 |
Jones |
Thomas Stephen |
David |
Amelia Williams |
1888/C007565 |
Jones |
John Edgar |
David |
Amelia Williams |
1882/M001167 |
Jones |
Unnamed (M) |
David |
Amelia Williams |
Thus “Annie” was born in Queensland along with three other brothers, one who possibly died at birth. Continuing this further, I decided to look for an immigration record for the Jones. These are available online for the years 1848 to 1884 in pdf form. In the pdf for “Johnston to Jones” I found that an Amelia Jones and a David Jones both arrived aboard the “Silver Eagle” on 7 June 1882. I then consulted the microfilm of the Queensland immigration records held at the State Library of Victoria.The “Silver Eagle” skippered by Captain Wright departed Plymouth 2nd March 1882 and arrived at Maryborough 7th June 1882. On board were:
Jones |
David |
Male |
34 |
Jones |
Amelia |
Female |
35 |
Jones |
William |
Male |
9 |
Jones |
Francis |
Male |
7 |
Jones |
Margaret |
Female |
2 |
Jones |
Ada |
Female |
1 |
Jones |
|
born on voyage |
This shows that the family were quite well established before emigration, and also gives an idea of ages for David and Amelia. I then looked in the British census records and found the family in the 1881 census for Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. The residents of 11 Victoria Place were:
David Jones |
Head |
Mar |
M |
33 |
Wire warehouse man |
Monmouthshire |
Amelia Jones |
Wife |
Mar |
F |
34 |
– |
Monmouthshire |
William Frederick Jones |
Son |
|
M |
8 |
Scholar |
Monmouthshire |
Francis Henry Jones |
Son |
|
M |
6 |
Scholar |
Monmouthshire |
Margaret Amy Jones |
Daur |
|
F |
2 |
|
Monmouthshire |
Ada Eleanor Jones |
Daur |
|
F |
4 months |
|
Monmouthshire |
These ages correspond quite well with those given in the immigration record, and the census also indicates that the family were all born in Wales.The final step I took was to look at the electoral records for Queensland. These show Amelia and David living at Macadam St, Maryborough, Queensland during the period 1913 to 1925. Amelia’s occupation is “home duties” and David is a carpenter. No other family members appear at the same address. Amelia and David would have been in their 70s at this time.
Although this family is a “dead end” as far as Van Cooten descendants goes, it was an interesting exercise to see how much information could be obtained, and gaps filled, in a relatively short space of time using resources readily available on the internet, and State Library of Victoria holdings.