Theories about our ancestors' lives are all well and good, until they lead us astray. Following a theory too closely, however, can mean we don't look for records in the right places.
One such example was the family of my great grandfather, James Nicholas Clark. From information in marriage and death records, James was born around 1856, and his family came from Bristol, England and settled in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.
For years I searched the Victorian immigration records for the family's arrival. For years I searched for James's birth or baptism in and around Bristol. My theory in progress was that the family travelled from Bristol to Victoria sometime around 1870, when they first appeared in St Kilda records. That was my theory in progress. Of course I was wrong!
After discovering that the German branch of my family had emigrated from Hamburg, Germany to Hahndorf, South Australia before travelling overland into Victoria to settle, it struck me that perhaps my Clark family had also arrived in a different colony in Australia before moving to Victoria, and I began looking further afield. A new theory in progress!
There I found them, arriving in Launceston, Tasmania in 1855, where the family lived for at least 12 years before they crossed Bass Strait and settled in Victoria. An unnamed male child, almost certainly my great grandfather James Nicholas, was registered in Launceston in 1856, and James’s younger sister Annie Amelia Clark was born 31 March 1857 in Port Sorrell, Tasmania. Annie was followed by several other children also born in Port Sorrell.
This prompted me to revisit several other theories about my family and explore possibilities I had not previously considered. It pays to check your theories and think outside the box.
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