Cornish Association of New South Wales

Project pages on Byng, Cadia and Cobar have continued to expand and you can look at them by using the link associated with each town name.
Internet Searches using surnames of ancestors in and from Cornwall and the tracing of their descendants in Australia have grown. You can move to other pages from here, if you wish.

The Table below provides a means of listing surnames (and maybe first name) interests in Cornwall and in Australia, the locations (parish, village, town, Australian State and so on) which could be of value in your investigations, together with the name of the submitter and their postal and email addresses. Some entries are for people who have gone to other countries from Cornwall in the past.

The table headings and the contents will give guidance on the presentation. Note that the Chapman Code is used to abbreviate the County name in the British Isles and overseas places are abbreviated in the same Code for the State and Country.

Surnames Index

A:—ALLEN* ARTHUR* ASH*
B:—BADCOCK* BARRON* BASSETT* BASSETT* BEARD* BASSETT* BELLETT* BEST* BLAMEY* BLIGHT* BROKENSHA* BROKENSHIRE* BULLEN*
C:—CHE(Y)NOWETH* CLEMMOW* COLLINS* CO(O)DE* CROWL(E)* CUND(A)Y*
DANIEL* D:—DAVIES* DINGLE*
E:—EDDY*
F:—FRANCIS*
G:—GARLAND* GEDDY* GEORGE* GUMMOW*
H:—HARRIS* HENDRA* HENWOOD* HITCHENS*
I:—IVEY*
J:—JAMES* JENKIN* JOHNS*
K:—
L:—LADNER* LOBB* LUNY*
M:—MEAGER* MENADUE* MINEAR* MINERS* MINORS* MI(T)CHELL* MOYLE* MOYLE*
N:—NOQUIT*
O:—OATS*OLIVER* OXNAM*
P:—PASCOE* PASCOE* PAYNTER* PHILLIPS*
R:—RASHLEIGH* ROBBINS* RODLIFF* ROWE* ROUSE*
S:—SAUNDRY* SEARLE* SEDGMAN* SIMS* STEPHENS* STEVENS* SYMONDS* SYMONS* SYMONS* SYMONS* SYMONS* SYMONS* SYMONS*
T:—TREGILGAS* TREGIL(L)GAS*TREMAIN*TRENEMAN* TRETHOWAN*TRUSCOTT*
U:—UREN*
V:—VARCOE* VINCENT*
W:—WARE*WEBB* WILLCOCKS*WILLIAMS*WYATT*

Family Surname Interests

Return to Surname Index

Family Queries

Clare Holden is searching for more definite information about her GGM Jane GUMMOW who was born at the Union Workhouse in St Columb Major to Eliza GUMMOW. Jane's marriage certificate names her father as Robert GUMMOW and her mother as Eliza nee TREMAIN but no marriage of Robert and Eliza has been found. Clare has been unable to find any more about Eliza or Robert.
In the 1851 census, there was a Jane Gummow, aged 9, living with Maria and John Gummow, being their niece, and this may possibly be the Jane she is searching for. Maria was the daughter of Thomas Gummow and Elizabeth, born at Roseannon, St Columb Major CON. John Gummow was the son of John Gummow of Retallick CON, born at St Stephens in Brannel CON.
Jane seems to have emigrated or been sent to Moreton Bay in QLD AUS when she was in her late teens.
There were obvious complications in this Gummow family which resulted in Eliza being in the Union Workhouse. Clare would be most grateful for any help that can be given in providing clues to unravelling this family background.

Margaret Lyall is searching for information on the Che(y)noweth and Oxnam families from Cornwall who came to NSW and QLD in the 19th Century.
Richard CHYNOWETH of St Agnes CON emigrated to Araluen NSW AUS c1857/60 (arrival details not yet found). His wife, Mary nee OXNAM and five children arrived on Morning Star on 6 Sep 1864. Mary died at Araluen NSW in 1879 and Richard died at Orange NSW in 1882.
Thomas OXNAM (Mary's brother) with wife Mary nee PHILLIPS and seven children arrived in Maryborough QLD on City of Agra on 27 Jul 1877. They lived in various places thereafter - Cairns, Cooktown and Charters Towers QLD AUS. Daughter Mary married Robert Watson and lived on Lizard Island QLD. She was quite famous: there is a book by Jillian Robertson Lizard Island. A reconstruction of the life of Mrs Watson.

Margaret Thompson is seeking more information on the ancestors and siblings of James SYMONS who married Matilda PASCOE not long before 1853 at a date and place not yet found. When they emigrated to SA AUS on the SULTANA in Nov 1853, they were listed as both being 22 years of age. It seemed they had an infant daughter Josephine though it appears that she died at sea or soon after arrival. Their son Thomas John was born in 1863 at Burra SA AUS and married Annie JENKINS in SA on 11 Dec 1888. Margaret is descended from this family.
For those interested in the SYMONS name, James and Matilda had as fellow passengers Matthew SYMONS (20y) and Susannah (26y) who were married; she died at sea. There were others with the surname SYMONS too; another family group - Joseph (45y), Alice (40y), Mary (12y), Margaret (10y), Henry (18y) and William (no age). It is possible that Joseph and Alice may have been related to or even parents of James and Matthew, yet unproven.

Tim Holt is searching for information about his Grandmother Dora SIMS nee SYMONDS who was born in central Cornwall around 1880 and married Edward SIMS 1900-3 possibly in London. His mother was Dorothy May SIMS, born Caterham, Surrey on 2 October 1903. Tim's GF Edward was in the Scots Guards in 1901 and, in that year, he won a silver Tankard as a heavyweight boxing champion. Tim still has it. Edward was also in the Military Police in 1918.
Dora Symonds' siblings were many but Tim met two of them. In the 1940s, he visited his GM's youngest sister Lilian who had married Jack Blake. They farmed at Woodah Farm near Treburley CON and at Bradstone Hall Home Farm in Devon. Tim also visited Blanche Symonds, another of Dora's sisters, in Lostwithiel CON (she was a spinster). He understands that his GM's other siblings were scattered to Australia, NZ, USA and possibly Canada. One brother was Jack Symonds who went to Australia as did a sister Kate. Another sister Anne went to Oklahoma USA and then to Sandiego CA USA. He has not been able to trace these except from old anecdotal information.
He would be most grateful for any help that can be provided to get him better acquainted with his Symonds family ancestry.

Jane Donnelly would welcome more details of the OAT(E)S family of CON ENG, their Cornish descendants and the descendants of those who emigrated to Australia, New Zealand and America.
Thomas Oats was born in 1823 in Sennen CON and married Jane Thomas, born 1832 in Sennen CON. They were the parents of James OATS who married Rose Robbins in Waverley NSW. Thomas and Jane had 10 children in all, as follows:
Mary A. (b.1852 Sennen), Alice Hosken (b.1853 St Just, m.1880 Henry Nicholas, Sennen), Thomas (b.1855 St Just), James (b.1857, listed in table above), Elizabeth (b.1859 St Just), Nicholas (b.1863 St Buryan), John (b.1866 St Buryan), Martha J. (b.1866 St Buryan), Richard (b.1871 Sancreed), Ruth (b.1872 Sancreed).
Richard emigrated to Australia as well as James. One other brother went to America. Their sisters are believed to have emigrated to New Zealand. From the 1891 Census of Cornwall, Jane found that James' brother Thomas had married an Elizabeth GUY and they were living in Madron CON, the same village as his Oats parents and Elizabeth's mother.
James OATS and Rose nee ROBBINS had 13 children, all born in Waverley NSW:
Amy Ruth (1882-1888), Mabel Rose (1883, m.George Mcmah 1909), John Thomas (1885-1885), Annie Jane (1886-1887), John Thomas (1887, m.Violet Barr 1923), Henry Richard (1890, m.Edith Nicholls 1914), Ada Marion (1892-1892), Emily Ruth (1893, m.James Wooff 1915), Bertha (1895-1895), Violet A. (1896, m.Henry Howell 1919), James (1898-1968, Jane's maternal grandfather - m.Francis Rose Henstridge 1926), Lena Francis (1900, m.John Perrett 1925), Stanley Robert (1902-1903).

Lyn Dalley is researching the family of Nicholas George BROKENSHIRE who was born in Cornwall, emigrated to South Australia, married and had 14 children and later moved the family to New Zealand. She wishes to find where he was born in Cornwall, his ancestry and descendants there. Lyn would like to follow up all of his descendants in Australia and New Zealand.
The children of his marriage to Catherine Carthew MINERS are:
Nicholas James (b.1873), Thomas George (b.1875) and Nicholas John (b.1876), these three at Cross Roads SA AUS; Elizabeth Catherine (b.1881), Edith (b.1883), Carrie May (b.1885), Kate (b.1887), William James (b.1885), Ethel May (b.1891), Percy (b.1891), Hellen (b.1892), Percy (b.1895), Beatrice Emma (b.1897), Harry (b.1899), these 11 at Moonta SA AUS.

Noeline Mullins is looking for more information on John Walter and Frederick SYMONS who came to NSW AUS after about 1874-5. Both were tin miners in CON. On the ship with John and Frederick were their sister Priscilla and her husband John Letcher RASHLEIGH who had been married at St Michael's Church in 1875 in Helston CON.
John SYMONS had married Mary Ann ANGROVE c1874 at Loftus Terrace CON ENG. Children were Minnie (c1876), William J. (c1878), Richard H. (c1880), Frederick J. (c1883), Thomas M. (c1886), Walter C.(c1889) and Cecilia (c1891) and one other unnamed. All were born in NSW, the last two known to have been born at Sunny Corner in Turon Shire NSW. John Symons died on 13 Jan 1919 at Sunny Corner NSW. His daughter Minnie Attnell nee Symons who married George A. Attnell at Sunny Corner in 1900 was the death registration informant.
Frederick SYMONS, John's brother occupanying him to NSW, died 1917 at Burwood NSW.
Some mystery surrounds Priscilla who married John Letcher Rashleigh and emigrated to New Zealand via NSW about 1875. She must have stayed in NZ when John Rashleigh went back to NSW and married Priscilla's cousin, Phyllis Symons, about 1887. No records have been found of John and Phyllis.
Noeline would welcome any information about these families in Cornwall, Australia and New Zealand. It has been difficult to find details of John's family who apparently went to Sunny Corner some time between 1875 and 1889 when there is a birth record of Walter C and Cecilia Symons there. Any information on Frederick and his family would also be very welcome.

Elizabeth Rahman is seeking information on her GGParents Thomas and Amelia (nee Wyatt) Symons who lived at Truro CON. She has little about Thomas Symons other than that he worked with Brunel on the Tamar Bridge and other projects, making it likely that he was away from his family for long stretches at a time. They had the following children: Lily (m.Bert Paice), Jack, Claude, Tom, Beattie, Isabella, Charlie and Elizabeth (Elizabeth's GM who married George William Merrifield Welch).
Elizabeth has more information on Amelia nee Wyatt. She had a twin sister Sarah. Amelia Wyatt's mother was Amelia nee NOQUIT (an unusual surname) and her mother was Sarah (b.1804, no maiden name known).
Elizabeth would be delighted to make contact with anyone who might help with her enquiries as she is at a deadend at the moment.

Sally Richmond has an interesting problem sorting out the content of a Family Bible. There are two Cornish families, MITCHELL and SYMONS , listed and the connection between them is not apparent. It could be that a daughter of the Mitchell descendants handed the Bible on to a Symons connection by marriage. The written information starts with the Mitchell family.
John William MITCHELL was born on 20 May 1777 to parents not listed. He entered a Methodist Society in 1802 and was appointed a Class Leader in March 1814. His wife was Naomi (b.1776). From the IGI, we have found that her maiden name was JAMES. The marriage took place at Phillack CON on 20 Apr 1804. The births and deaths of their children were listed as Naomi (b.1805), Ann (b.1806), John (1808-1825), William (1809-1835), Henry (1811-1821), James (1812-1813) and Joseph (b.1817).
NOTE: The IGI has all of these children listed to John MICHELL and Naomi nee JAMES with full dates of baptism. This spelling of the surname persists in the Cornish records.
The Bible record goes on to John Simmons [SYMONS] b.1826 Penryn CON to John Symons (b.1806 Budock CON) and Mary DAVIES (b.1804 Penryn CON). John SYMONS jnr married Johanna MOYLE (b.1828? Wendron CON) in Jan 1849 at Penryn CON, with the marriage record stating that her father was James MOYLE. Two witnesses were Thomas Mitchell and Richard Searle. [The IGI gives the baptism of John SYMONS jnr as 12 Nov 1826 at St Gluvias CON to John and Mary Symons.]. The Cornish SYMONS became SIMMONS in the USA.
The children of John and Johanna are listed as: Anna (b.1849 - m. Mr Collins, mother nee TOY), Mary Jane (1851-1855), Elizabeth (1853-1855), Phillip (b.1854), Mary Jane (b.1855), John Phillip (1857-1858), William Henry (1859-1867), John Thomas (1861-1876), Mary Jane (b.1863, d.Canada, wife of John James Treleaven), Thomasine (1865-1931 MI USA, wife of Jesse Bradburn), Elizabeth (b.1867-d.Canada m1.Marks, m2.McDougall), Adda (1873-1954 MI USA m.John Mills).
John and Johanna and family emigrated to the USA via Canada from Liverpool UK in 1880.
Sally would greatly appreciate any contacts and advice on these entries, especially on the Mi(t)chell/Symons connection and on the Cornish "Methodist Society" which John William MI(T)CHELL joined in 1802.

Doug Johnson is looking for family background on Stephen WEBB and Carolyn nee OLIVER who married in Camborne CON and arrived in Sydney NSW AUS on 4 Aug 1854 on board LADY ELGIN. There were eight children, one born in CON and seven in NSW AUS. Doug has quite a lot of the Australian family background (marriages not included here) and would be pleased to exchange information for both CON and AUS. The children were as follows:
Eliza A. (b.c1853/4 CON, d. bef 1859 in AUS);
Stephen (b.27 Jun 1856 Orange NSW, d.25 Nov 1917 Waterfall NSW);
George (b.11 Sep 1858, Cornish Settlement NSW, d.11 Mar 1917 Parkes NSW);
Mary Jane (b.25 Oct 1860 Minmi NSW, d.25 Dec 1861 Wallsend NSW);
Mary Jane (b. 25 Oct 1862 Newcastle NSW, d.26 Feb 1884 Cadia NSW);
John [Jack](b.16 Feb 1865 Cadia NSW, d.16 May 1933 Guildford NSW);
Francis [Frank](b.17 Jul 1867 Cadia NSW, d.21 Oct 1920 Cobar NSW);
Richard (b.c1872/4, d.bef.1917, is deceased son on father's death certificate.)

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