Website Wednesday - The Ryerson Index

The Ryerson Index is a free index to death notices appearing in Australian newspapers. The date range covered extends from the Sydney Gazette of 1803 up to newspapers published within the last week or so. The Index also includes many funeral notices, and some probate notices and obituaries.

In 2020, Ryerson made the decision to commence indexing notices from Funeral Directors' websites in response to the mass closures of regional newspapers which occured in the second quarter of the year.

The Index was originally created by the Sydney Dead Persons Society, so its strength lies in notices from NSW papers - including in excess of two million notices from the Sydney Morning Herald alone. However, the representation from sources in other states continues to grow, with additional papers and funeral directors being regularly added, so that the Index can now truly be considered an Australian index.  Today the Ryerson Index contains 9,604,544 notices from 497 different Australian newspapers, publisher websites and funeral director websites.

Indexing is being continuously carried out by a team of volunteers who give freely of their time to ensure the site continues to grow. Site updates generally occur weekly creating a wonderful resource not purely for Family History researchers. 

While the actual notice is not digitised, information includes :

Name

Notice Type (Death, Funeral, Probate) 

Date of Event 

Event Type (Death, Funeral, Cremation, Publication) 

Age (if available)

Other Details (late of...)

Publication

Date Published

A Masonic Connection

In my last post I showed some of my newspaper finds amongst death, funeral and probate notices, and the details they could provide.  In the case of two of my ancestors, they also led me to the discovery of some Masonic connections I had previously been unaware of.

When my great great grandfather John Clark passed away on June 11th 1894, his family placed a notice in The Age inviting friends to attend his funeral.

Directly below this first notice was another, inserted by the Brighton Union Lodge, inviting members to also attend John's funeral.  Until I found this notice I had no idea he was a Mason.

When his son, my great grandfather James Nicholas Clark died in 1924, similar notices were placed.  Which is how I discovered James was also a Mason.

The above notices were published in The Age, Friday 8 February 1924, page 16.  Like his father, James was also a member of the Brighton Union Lodge, and the Lodge placed a funeral notice alongside that of his family.  Note that in the Lodge notice has his surname listed a Clarg - spelling errors can never be discounted.

Death and Funeral Notices

As I continue my current fixation on researching old newspapers, I have come to realise I have quite a number of death, funeral and probate notices amongst my finds.

While many of these notices contain the basic details only, others provide a number of interesting details which can be very useful in further research.  Take the notices regarding my ancestor William Pummeroy and the details they provide.

Above is his death notice, from the Leader, Saturday 12 October 1889, page 43.  This notice not only gives William's date of death but his full address, age at death, names of his children (including married names of his daughters), a count of his grandchildren and how long he had lived in the colony - which helps me find his immigration details.  So much information is such a short statement.

Next we have the notice of the application for probate from The Age, Wednesday 16 October 1889, page 8.  This gives me William's occupation and the names, occupation and addresses of his executors - two of his sons.

Finally, I have a report of the details of William's will, something I have rarely found reported in the newspapers.  This was published in Table Talk (part of the Government Gazette), Friday 29 November 1889, page 6 and gives some wonderful detail of his property, belongings and the value of the estate he left behind.

The Death of Golding Boggis

One of my more interestingly named ancestors was Golding Boggis.  He was born in 1786 in Bures, Suffolk to George Boggis and Rachel (Davy), and married Sarah Prentice on 11 July 1823.  Golding and Sarah had 6 surviving children between them.

Golding Boggis died quite suddenly at the age of 71, and there were notices of his death in several local newspapers.  While he was quite elderly for his time, the second article makes it quite clear that he was in good health otherwise and that his death was unexpected.  It is also worth noting that while the first article reports his death in the 19th of January, the second says he died on the 20th.

Suffolk and Essex Free Press, Thursday 22 January 1857

This first notice above comments on his long standing in the community, as well as giving me the name of the farm where the family lived.  It is the second notice below, however, that sent me looking for more information.  It refers to a fire that occurred barely a week before his death, the stress of which was attributed to his sudden death.

Essex Standard, Friday 23 January 1857

This second notice of Golding's death immediately sent me looking for more information about this fire, which surely would have been reported in local newspapers.

Berkshire Chronicle, Saturday 24 January 1857

The article above was printed in several newspapers, the cleanest and most legible included here.  Three fires in total were set in stacks on local farms.  The first fire in the sequence took place at Golding's property, the next two impacted his neighbors, with the third almost spreading to a nearby barn.

The newspapers provided me with even more information after Golding's death, with notices advertising the sale of farming stock and household goods being posted by his executors.

Essex Standard, Wednesday 16 September 1857

Essex Standard, Friday 25 September 1857

Both these articles give details about how Golding Boggis and his family lived and worked, and are another wonderful resource.  Although I am still disturbed by the advertising of 'live and dead farming stock'.