Monday 3 December 2012

William Foster and Eliza Foster (nee Goble)

William Foster (1841-1918) and his wife Eliza Foster - nee Goble -  1843-1915) are Tom's great grandparents. They lived in Worthing, Sussex.



The incription reads

In Memory of ELIZA
Beloved wife of WILLIAM FOSTER
Died 19th Jan 1915
Aged 69
Peace, perfect pearc
WIFE of
WILLIAM FOSTER
Died 25th April 1918
Aged 75
Again united

I don't know a lot about the Foster family in Worthing.  I do know they had 4 children:  Mary (Polly), William James, Eliza Florence (Lylie) and Maude Alice.  Daughter Lylie Foster emigrated to Western Australia and married George Ambrose Miller (of Ringmer) in Fremantle a day after her arrival on 18 March 1913 at Albany. Both Lylie and George knew each other prior to both emigrating to Australia.  The Miller family moved to Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria.  Sadly Lylie died 49 in Brighton in 1930, aged 49 when her daughters Gwenyth and Joan were young girls.  You can read more about George and Lylie on my Fisher and Ellis families website

Thanks to the Friends of Brighton and Worthing Cemetery www.fbwc.org who were kind enough to photograph William and Eliza's grave and headstone at Worthing Cemetery.   I was able to find their burial details on the Worthing Council website in 2011 but it appears that the council has merged and the burial information doesn't seem to be available - will keep you posted!

Monday 30 April 2012

Edgar Ford Kent

Tom and I visited Villers-Bretonneaux Cemetery in the Somme, France, just after Anzac Day to pay respect to my grandmother Mary Kent's brother Edgar Ford Kent (#2894) who died on 5 July 1918. A moving experience...so many cemeteries and so many who have not been identified...



Edgar Ford Kent
taken 26 April 2012
Location XX E9
Edgar Ford Kent
Villers-Bretonneaux Cemetery
26 April 2012


Villers-Bretonneaux Cemetery
26 April 2012

Sunday 25 March 2012

John Francis Raven Fisher and Joan Foster Fisher nee Miller

Commemoration plaques in the Office of Australian War Graves (OAWG) Victorian Garden of Remembrance for Tom's parents, J F R Fisher VX145495 and Joan Foster Fisher nee Miller VFX 127718 can be found at Wall 130 Row S.  Joan passed away in 1995 and John passed away in 2003.  I was able to request that the 2 plaques could be placed together.

Plaque for Joan Foster Fisher nee Miller
Plaque for John Francis Raven Fisher


Plaques for Joan and John Fisher
Location of plaques

Location of plaques



Charles James Harman

In the Australian War Graves at Springvale Botanical Cemetery, you can find #251051 Charles James Harman (1878-1943), husband of Lavinia Raven Fisher, the daughter of John Raven Fisher.  The grave is located in the Lawn in section 1P, Australian War Graves C, Grave 10.
C J Harman
Australian War Graves Springvale
C J Harman
Australian War Graves Springvale




Jenkinson Fisher and Florence May Fisher nee Collins

Quite close to David Fisher family grave at Springvale Botanical Cemetery, you can find the grave of Florence May Fisher nee Collins (abt 1888-1936), the wife of Jenkinson Fisher (1892-1965).  Sadly the headstone is cracked.   The grave is located beside a shady tree in the Church of England, Monumental, Compartment R, Section, Grave 26.  Springvale Cemetery record that her husband Jenkinson Fisher is also buried there, but he is not noted on the headstone. Jenkinson is the son of Joseph and Agnes Fisher, brother of Elsyian Lucas nee Fisher, and nephew of David Fisher.  I took this photo when I visited the cemetery in March 2012.
Headstone of Florence May Fisher

Grave of Jenkinson and Florence May Fisher

Location of grave of Jenkinson and Florence May Fisher nee Collins



Elsyian Lucas nee Fisher

Springvale Botanical Cemetery is also the resting place of Elsyian Lucas nee Fisher (1889-1954), the daughter of Joseph and Agnes Fisher.  She is buried with her husband McKenzie Alexander Lucas (1888-1975) in the Presbyterian, Monumental, Compartment C, Section 7, Grave 23.  Sadly their daughter Dorothy Isobel Lucas is also buried there.  It is only a small distance away from her uncle David Fisher's family grave, and also her brother Jenkinson Fisher's wife Florence May Fisher nee Collins.

Headstone for Elsyian Lucas nee Fisher

Lucas family grave

Lucas family grave
Lucas family grave


Darwin bombing veteran

Uncle Gordon Ellis, who turned 90 yesterday in Barham NSW, has just returned from the 70th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin.  You can read more in the Bendigo Advertiser on 18 February and 6 March 2012.  Also the Koondrook Barham Bridge 9 March 2012.

There's a great photo in the Northern Territory News as well!

David Fisher and Louisa Fisher nee Yate

Springvale Botanical Cemetery is the resting place for David Fisher (1953-1925) and his wife Louisa Fisher nee Yate (1956-1934), daughters Anne (1882-1914) and  Emily Victoria (1897-1963).   They are all buried together in the Fisher family grave in the Church of England, Monumental, Compartment I Section 2 Grave 8 and 8A.  These photographs were taken by me in March 2012.  It is very difficult to read the inscriptions of Ann and Emily due to lichen.
David Fisher family grave at Springvale Botanical Cemetery
Headstone for David Fisher died 1925

Headstone for Louisa Fisher died 1934 


Headston for Annie Fisher died 1914 and Emily Victoria Fisher died 1963

Saturday 3 March 2012

Like to know more about my families?

You can see more about the families I am researching, especially the Fisher families on my Google Fisher and Ellis Families web pages.

Fisher Gravestone at St Bees

Fisher  grave 1923
St Bees Churchyard, St Bees, Cumbria
pictured with Thos Fisher and Dickinson Fisher
Headstone Thomas and Hannah Fisher, John and Ann Fisher  1923
St Bees Churchyard, St Bees, Cumbria
John Raven Fisher's grandparents Thomas Fisher and Hannah Fisher nee Raven, and his parents John and Ann nee Nail, are buried in St Bees Churchyard, in Cumberland in England. This photograph of the grave was taken in 1923 by Thomas Fisher visiting from Australia.

This photo is from his son, John Francis Raven Fisher's photo album and taken in 1951. The headstones have since fallen over and all within the cemetery moved to the side of the churchyard.  Sadly we couldn't sight these headstones when we visited some 30 years ago.  

Fisher grave 1951
St Bees Churchyard, St Bees, Cumbria

Elizabeth Raven Hope nee Fisher

Booroondara Cemetery in Kew is where the Hope family are buried.  Here you will find Elizabeth Raven Hope nee Fisher (1874-1963),  her husband John (1876-1940), son Ernest (1903-1926) and infant son Keith (1908-1908). The headstone is quite difficult to read.  Elizabeth Raven Hope is John Raven Fisher's sister.


Grave of Elizabeth Raven Hope nee Fisher family
Booroondara Cemetery, Kew
Headstone for Elizabeth Raven Hope nee Fisher family
Booroondara Cemetery, Kew

Daniel Fisher and Elizabeth Helen nee Wilson


St Kilda Cemetery is the resting place for Daniel Fisher (1865-1949) and his wife Elizabeth Helen nee Wilson (1862-1934), and infant daughters Violet Lillian (1888-1888) and Catherine Anne Fisher (1881-1893).
Headstone Daniel Fisher family at St Kilda Cemetery
Grave of Daniel Fisher family at St Kilda Cemetery

John Raven Fisher

John Raven Fisher is memorialised at Melbourne General Cemetery, along with his wife, Mary nee McFarlane, son Thomas and his wife Ivy nee Sweetland, son William, and daughter Mary.
Fisher grave
Melbourne General Cemetery

John Raven Fisher, Mary Fisher nee McFarlane, and son William Fisher
Melbourne General Cemetery

Daughter Mary Fisher
Melbourne General Cemetery


Son Thomas Fisher and his wife Ivy Fisher nee Sweetland
Melbourne General Cemetery

Jane Helen Fisher nee Brown

Brighton General Cemetery is the resting place for Jane Helen Fisher nee Brown (1857-1930), William Fisher's widow.  William died in Morecambe in Lancashire in 1901.

Headstone for Jane Helen Fisher (nee Brown)
Brighton General Cemetery
Grave of Jane Helen Fisher (nee Brown)
Brighton General Cemetery



Joseph Fisher and Agnes nee Jenkinson

Thanks to Dorothy (William Fisher and Jane Brown line), I have found that Joseph Fisher, brother of John Raven Fisher, also emigrated to Victoria!   He married Agnes Jenkinson on  20 September 1888 at St. Matthews Church, Prahran.   Joseph died on 18 November 1933 at 169 Cochrane Street Elsternwick, his wife Agnes predeceasing him in 1911.  Joseph (1860-1933) and his wife Agnes (1865-1911) are buried together at Brighton General Cemetery.    Here's a photo of the headstone I took last weekend.
Headstone for Joseph and Agnes Fisher
Brighton General Cemetery

Wednesday 22 February 2012

King Island connections

So..as part of my Certificate of Genealogical Research with the Society of Australian Genealogists last year I researched John Savigny, a Tasmanian cricketer...just so up my ally with two daughters and no sons. It really challenged me writing a biography with a maximum word count...no waffling!!! His family connections with Launceston, Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney environs made it easy to get side tracked. Schools, trout fishing, several members of the first parliament in the Federation of Australia all a part of this man's connections. And so looking at my screensaver on my iPad the name next to my grandfather Edgar Ellis's portion on the parish map of King Island, which I found almost 20 years ago, on our trip for our wedding anniversary, was Clemons...and I had thought the name was very familiar!

4 March 2013 - Here's the King Island parish map with the Ellis brothers, sisters and wives  - my grandfather Edgar Ernest Ellis (232), Florence Maud Ellis (233), Herbert Ellis (129), Florence May Smith (143), my grandmother Margot Jane Ellis (131 and 132), Mary Ellen Ellis (238), Charles Alfred Ellis (145),  and Inez Mary Ellis (143).  Brother Rueben Ellis had a selection on another part of King Island.  The Clemons family have numerous portions around the Ellis portions.

Friday 17 February 2012

Otekah tree

Not quite related...but I found this lovely stall at Salamanca Market in Hobart in December. It is called  Otekah where I bought this beautiful tree necklace...very appropriate methinks.   www.otekah.com.au

Saturday 7 January 2012

William Fisher family

So....have just found out William Fisher, brother of John Raven Fisher,  and Jane Helen Brown's grand daughter who is still living in Stawell aged 81!  As far as I know she is the only living descendant so hopefully she may have photos.  Her grandmother Jane Helen Fisher is buried close by at Brighton Cemetery.  As to William Fisher, I think he died before Jane and daughter Hannah Mina came out to Victoria.  But Hannah's surviving brothers in 1930 are missing in action - Sandwith, Stanley and Dickinson.  Not sure it they came out to Australia?  Haven't found them back in the UK...maybe they went to South Africa to join other Fisher relatives...