And finally Ellen has revealed herself!

It has been many years of on again, off again work, but I am delighted to share with everyone, that with the help and guidance of many people along the way, Ellen has finally been found!
To be fair and honest it was never Ellen that was lost -- she always maintained that her native place was Hogganfield, Scotland and even though I could not ever locate her there, it turns out she was speaking the truth all along! Locating Ellen has required much patience and lots of leaps of faith and suppositions -- but these conjectures have proven their worth in the long term and I am so happy for everyone in the family to meet Ellen, who has been lost for a while and is finally found!

Ellen McQuillan told us, in the birth entries of two of her children -- Alfred Edward b 1881 and Robert Walter b 1883 -- that her "native place" was Hogganfield, Scotland. A letter from Auntie Sybil from way back in the late 1980's told me that Ellen McQuillan was from Glasgow, so that must have been information she had gleaned from family stories.

What the family did not know, well at least not Auntie Sybil, for whom the revelation was an interesting one, was that Henry William Baron did not marry Ellen until she was pregnant with their third child. The birth entries of  the first two children, Jane b 1865 and Henry b 1867, were recorded as "illegitimate" and then overwritten on 10th January 1895 as "legitimated" as a result of an Act of Parliament called the 1894 Legitimation Act.

This Act made provision for the registration of the birth of any child born out of wedlock where the parents had subsequently married. In such cases the father of the child was required register the birth and make a declaration that at the time of the birth there was no legal impediment to his marriage to the mother. What this meant was that Henry Baron registered these two births when his children were well into adulthood and declared that about thirty years earlier there had been no reason for him not to have married Ellen ie. neither he nor Ellen had been married to someone else at the time of the births of both Jane and Henry. They were married in a Registry Office ceremony in Dunedin on 21 April 1868 and their third child, Annie, was born in Tuturau, Mataura, Southland on 14 November of that same year.

Some time ago I was able to locate an Ellen McQuillan who arrived in Timaru on 24 December, 1862 aboard the immigrant ship "Echunga". She was listed as being a 20 year old dairymaid from Lanarkshire. Given that Henry Baron had Crown grant land in Timaru, it is highly likely that a dairymaid was someone of great use to him in the young colony. Also, given that the barracks, for the 121 people who disembarked at Timaru, had not yet been completed, it is possible that Henry recruited Ellen down at the port area and took her back to his land to begin work, almost immediately, as a dairy maid on his farm. What we do not have to assume is that just 27 months later Ellen was giving birth, in Dunedin, to Henry and Ellen's first child, Jane.

Extensive reading of contemporary newspapers in and around Hogganfield, where Ellen tells us she was from, revealed not even a whisper of the name McQuillan, and I could find no record in the 1841 Hogganfield census of a McQuillan family.

Where to next?? The question that begs itself is why, in Victorian times in the colonial outposts of southern New Zealand, did Henry and Ellen not marry at the first sign that a baby was on the way? They were clearly enamoured of each other on some level as they were producing offspring on a regular basis, yet Henry had not "made an honest woman of her" until she was already well aligned with him and expecting a third child? Given what I know of the more modern Barons, I decided that I needed to explore much wider than the baptism records of Hogganfield or Lanarkshire Church of Scotland records, where Ellen was nowhere to be found.

It was time to consider the potential reasons that the last child of the Anglican Vicar of Walsall in England, and grandson and great-grandson of a long line of Prescot religious figures, would not marry the mother of his children in colonial New Zealand. It was time to consider the concept that perhaps Henry had married a Roman Catholic!
 It certainly did not take too much time to find a "Helen McQuillan", the daughter of one Charles McQuillan and Helen Doran, who was baptised at St Andrew's Catholic Church, Glasgow on 31 October 1841 having been born on 23 October, just a week earlier. The two "sponsors" or godparents for the young Helen were named as Michael Rush and Sarah Campbell. When our Ellen boarded the "Echunga", for the more than three month journey to New Zealand, on September 10, 1862 she would have been 20 years old which matches perfectly with the Ellen from Lanarkshire who arrived in Timaru. She would have had her 21st birthday on board the immigrant ship. Also worthy of note is the fact that Ellen's son, Henry, recorded his mother's birth date, in some papers relating to the Will of her late husband in 1915 in Mossman, Sydney, as being 31 October. Surely this is much more than a coincidence?

Slowly but surely Ellen was revealing herself to us! A look at the Census records for Lanarkshire proved to be a real challenge as the spelling and/or transcription of the name was different for every Census.
Because Ellen was not born for the 1841 Census I searched first for the McQuillans in 1851.

And I found a Charles McQuille with his wife Eleanor and children James, Helen, Charles, Elisabeth and Eleanor in Garnkirk in the parish of Cadder - just up the road from Hogganfield! Charles was working as a limestone miner and his birth place and that of his wife and son James was given as Ireland. 

By the time of the 1861 Census a search for the family reveals that Helen/Ellen has left home so needs to be located somewhere else! Is this her living and working in Glasgow as a . . . dairy servant?

Hard to believe this is the same name but there is a Helen McIlquham living with Donald and Agnes Black in Brown Street, Glasgow and she is listed as a dairy servant. Her age is give as 18 but given the way this name is spelled maybe they got the age wrong by a couple of years as well?  The most important detail here after her occupation, which makes her eminently employable in colonial New Zealand, and her place of birth, Hogganfield, is that there is another servant living in the house and working as a dairy servant and her name is Isabella Campbell. Remember the sponsor at Ellen's baptism was one Sarah Campbell -- maybe they are related? 

By 1871 one Ellen McQuillan has given birth to four children, and is married to Henry William Baron in the South Island of New Zealand, so the Census records can tell us nothing more about this person Helen/Ellen in the northern hemisphere.

So, a look at the 1841 Census was an important step in the search for the origins of this family. It was so hard to locate this entry because, as you will see, the name is recorded as McQuaken!!  

The census of 1841 took place on 7 June and the baby Helen was born on October 23 and baptised just 8 days later at St Andrew's in Glasgow. 

This census detail reveals that one Charles McQuillan is working as a day labourer in Millerston. He is living not just with his wife Hellen and a son James but also with an Edward and Sarah Campbell and, perhaps, their children Jean and Thomas. It is highly likely that this Sarah Campbell is the same Sarah Campbell who is the godmother of Helen McQuillan four short months later. The final piece of significant detail to be gleaned is that all but one of the household were recorded as having been born in Ireland. 

So, somewhere between the birth of one year old James in either late 1839 or early 1840 and the census of June 1841 the McQuillan family moved from Ireland to Millerston near Glasgow. Given that there is a clay works that was situated in Millerston at this time, one might draw a conclusion that Charles was able to find work in this mine, for his occupation in 1851 at Garnkirk is as a limestone miner. 

And then look what we learn about exactly where Millerston is!!  Right there on the edge of Hogganfield Loch and 3 miles NE of Glasgow!  

All along Ellen had maintained that she was from Hogganfield but because I was not looking for an Irish Catholic girl I could not find her! 

There is much more to tell, for many of Ellen's siblings and her mother emigrated to Ohio after Charles' death in 1876, but that is a story for another time! 

For now it is enough to say that we have found Ellen. . . now we just need to follow the leads back into Ireland to find where her roots in Ireland are. I have some hints in a birth entry for one of her siblings (this is apparently the marriage date for Charles McQuillan and Helen Doran). . . . and the McQuillans tend to tell the truth about where they are from!

James Baron's Will Revealed

It is high time I posted an update of the search for James Baron. . . this time I have found the right man. Do read on!!!

The film of James' Will that I ordered on January 14, 2014 finally arrived exactly one year later on January 14, 2015!! It had been sitting on a shelf in the courier's office for all those months and by the time I had the call to come and view it, there had been time for a second copy of the film to wing its way to the Family History Centre on Pah Road in Royal Oak, me to read that film and for it to be returned! I was disappointed to discover that it was the exact film that I had already viewed back in November!  Ah well, that did not decrease the huge significance of all that the film revealed. 
James, unlike his future grand daughter-in-law Ellen McQuillan, was careful to ensure that he left a wonderful trail for his descendants to follow. Despite the fact that there are some words that it is hard for me to read, I was able to painstakingly transcribe the following Will of James Baron, Attorney at Law, Wigan:

The first page of the Will of James Baron of Wigan

This is the last Will and Testament of me, James Baron, of Wigan in the County of Lancaster, Attorney at Law, made and published the eighth day of March in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty as follows –

Discharged from the payment of the whole and every part of my debts, my funeral expenses and the charges of proving this my will --  

·        I give and devise unto my brother in law William Darbyshire, during his life, the messuage, or dwelling-house and premises in School Lane in Standish, in the said County, which are now, or lately, were in his own occupation, with the appurtenances, and from and immediately after his decease,

·        I give and devise the said messuage or dwelling-house and premises with the appurtenances unto John Lord, of Wigan aforesaid, Attorney at Law, and his heirs. In trust to sell the same for the best price and most money that can be reasonably obtained for the same, and to pay, distribute and divide the clear monies which shall arise from such sale and from the rents and profits thereof in the meantime until sale thereof be made unto and amongst such of the children of my late sister Ann, the late wife of the said William Darbyshire and the lawful issue of such of her children as shall be then dead, equally share and share alike, the issue of each deceased child to stand in the place of such deceased child and to take and equally amongst them. If more than one, the shares which such deceased child would if living have taken – and discharged as aforesaid.

·        I give and devise the messuage or dwelling-house and premises in School Lane, aforesaid, where my late sister Mary lived with the appurtenances unto the said John Lord and his heirs in trust to sell the same for the best price and most money that can be reasonably obtained for the same and to pay distribute and divide the clear monies which shall arise from such last mentioned sale and from the rents and profits of the same premises in the meantime until sale thereof be made unto and amongst such of the children of my said sister Mary as were living at her death and the lawful issue of such of her children as were then dead equally share and share alike the issue of each deceased child to stand in the place of such deceased child and to take and equally amongst them if more than one the share which each deceased child would if living have taken – and discharged aforesaid.

·        I give and devise unto my sister Peggy and her husband Edward Brooks during their joint natural lives and to the survivor of them during his or her natural life, the messuage or dwelling-house and premises in School Lane aforesaid, where they now live with the appurtenances and from and immediately after the decease of the survivor of them, my sister Peggy and her husband,

·        I give and devise the same messuage or dwelling-house and premises with the appurtenances unto the said John Lord and his heirs, in trust to sell the same for the best price and most money that can reasonably obtained for the same, and to pay, distribute  and divide the clear monies which shall arise from such last mentioned sale and from the rents and profits of the said last mentioned premises until sale thereof be made unto and amongst such of the children of my said sister Peggy, as shall be living at the death of the survivor of her and her said husband Edward Brooks and the lawful issue of such of her children as shall be then dead, equally share and share alike the issue of each deceased child to stand in the place of such deceased child and to take and equally amongst them if more than one the share which such deceased child would if living have taken –

·        And I hereby direct that each of the said Houses shall be charged with and bear and pay one equal third part of the yearly ground rent two pounds five shillings which from the whole of the premises is now payable – And I hereby declare that the receipts or receipts of the said John Lord or of his heirs shall be a good and sufficient discharge to any purchaser or purchasers of the said several messuages or dwelling-houses and premises or any of them or any part thereof and to his or their heirs, executors, administrators and assignees for so much of his, her or their purchase money or respective purchase monies as in such receipt or receipts respectively shall be expressed or acknowledged to have been received. And that no purchaser or purchasers or his, her or their executors, administrators or assignees shall be obliged to ?? to the application of the whole or any part of the purchase monies behind? in such receipt or receipts respectively shall be expressed or acknowledged to have been received nor be ascribable or accountable for the misapplication or non-application thereof or of any part thereof –

·        As a trifling compensation to my late respected friend Thomas Houghton late of Ormskirk in the said County, Attorney at Law, deceased for the trouble I from time to time gave him respecting my Close of land in Aughton in the said County, commonly called and known by the name of the Lady Acre and which is now and has been for several years past been in the occupation of Widow Swift as my Tenant thereof, I gave him in his lifetime the small piece of common land which was allotted to me in respect of the said Close, called the Lady Acre and I meant him to have the fee simple and inheritance of such allotment but I did not execute to him in his lifetime or to any part of his family since his decease and conveyance thereof – He did, I understand, erect in his lifetime, a messuage or dwelling-house and other buildings upon the said allotment but how he has disposed of the said allotment or the same messuage or dwelling-house and other buildings or any part thereof I am at present wholly uninformed. In order, however, the better to perfect the title of the family of the said Thomas Houghton to the said allotment and to the said messuage or dwelling-house and the other buildings erected thereon, I do hereby give and devise the said allotment and the said messuage or dwelling-house and any estate or interest therein unto such and the same person or persons and for such estate and estates interest and interests and in such and the same or the like parts, shares and proportions manner and form as the same are now held by and belong to the widow and children, or any of them, of the late Thomas Houghton under any deed or title or other instrument in the law executed by the said late Thomas Houghton in his lifetime, and if he made no disposition thereof by any deed or title or other instrument in the Law then I give and devise the same with the appurtenances to his widow in fee and if she die in my lifetime then I give and devise the same to the said Thomas Houghton’s eldest son in fee –

·        I have in part provided for my daughter Jane Baron by having, before the making of this my will, purchased or directed to be purchased in her name and on her own account ten thousand pounds new four percents stock [See the following link for some information of the meaning of this “new four percent stoc https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=WCsIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA69&dq=What+is+four+percent+stock,+1830&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RNeNVLuUEIHLmwWZ54HwCA&ved=0CGMQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=What%20is%20four%20percent%20stock%2C%201830&f=false  k: 

and I have applied the thirty pounds principal which I owed her and the interest due for the same towards the purchase of the said stock and have thereby paid or satisfied the said thirty pounds principal and the interest thereof –

·        And in order to make a suitable provision for my wife Ellen Baron and some further provision for my said daughter I give to my said wife, the sum of two hundred pounds to be paid to her immediately after my decease. I also give to my wife, to and for her own proper use and benefit, all the monies which, at the time of my decease, shall be standing in her name in the Books of Mossicars, Thicknesse and Woodcock, Bankers in Wigan. I also give to my wife her gold watch and all the other ornaments of her person. I also give her one of my best bedsteads and one of my best beds together with all necessary and suitable bedding thereto and so much and such part and parts of my household furniture as she shall make choice of and as shall be sufficient to furnish a house for her after my decease. And I likewise give her all my plate, linen, china and glass and all the wine and spirituous liquors that shall be in my house at the time of my decease, together with all the casks, bottles and other vessels containing the same. And I also give her all my cloaths (sic) and weaving apparel.

·        I give to my said daughter one other of my best bedsteads and one other of my best beds, together with all necessary and suitable bedding thereto.

·        I also give to my wife the several principal sums of money now owing to me as herein after mentioned.

§  That is to say the principal sum of nine hundred and twenty pounds now owing to me from or upon security of certain premises in Pemberton, now or late belonging to one Peter Barlow;

§  the principal sum of three hundred and fifty pounds now owing to me from, or upon security, of certain premises in Wigan now or late belonging to one Robert Barlow;

§  the principal sum of eight hundred pounds now owing to me from or upon security of certain premises in Wigan, now or late belonging to Mr Battersby of Wigan, Solicitor;

§  the principal sum of nine hundred and fifty pounds now owing to me from or upon security of certain premises in Coppall, now or late belonging to one William Fisher, now deceased;

§  the principal sum of seven hundred pounds now owing to me from or upon security of an estate in Ince near Wigan, called Fogg’s;

§   the principal sum of four hundred pounds now owing to me from or after security of certain premises in Lowton and Golborne, now belonging or reported to belong to one Mrs Worthington who was heretofore Miss Collier, spinster;

§  the principal sum of two hundred and sixty four pounds now owing to me from or upon security of certain premises in Skelmersdale which belonged to Robert Marsden late of Wigan, tinplate worker, deceased;

§  the principal sum of one hundred and fifty pounds now owing to me by part of the family of the late John Sim from or upon security of their share or interest in certain premises in Pemberton heretofore belonging to Bryan Molyneux, Esquire, deceased and;

§  the principal sum of three hundred and one pounds or thereabouts now owing to me from a certain Estate in Rivington called Hamer’s

§  which said principal sums amount altogether to the sum of four thousand eight hundred and thirty twenty five pounds

§  And I also give and bequeath unto my said wife all the interest which at the time of my decease shall be owing to me for or upon the said several and respective principal sums, amounting altogether as aforesaid to the said sum of four thousand eight hundred and thirty twenty five pounds, and also all such interest thereof as aforesaid unto my wife, her executors and administrators upon the trusts and to and for the intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned, expressed and declared of and concerning the same. That is to say, upon trust to place or continue the said several and respective principal sums amounting altogether as aforesaid to the said sum of four thousand eight hundred and thirty twenty five pounds at interest and when and as often as needs may require to call in or receive the same or any part or parts thereof and again place the same at interest and upon further trust that she, my said wife, do and shall out of the interest which she shall from time to time during her life receive therefrom, pay or retain to herself to and for her own proper use and benefit yearly and every year during her life the sum of two hundred pounds the first yearly payment or retention to be made at the end of one year from the time of my decease and do

§  and shall pay the surplus, if any, of such interest unto my son John Baron to and for his own proper use and benefit and from and immediately after the decease of my said wife,

§  then upon further trust that the executors or administrators of my said wife, do and shall pay the sum of three thousand pounds, part of the before mentioned sum of four thousand eight hundred thirty twenty five pounds, unto my said daughter Jane, to and for her own proper use and benefit

§  and the sum of one thousand eight hundred and thirty twenty five pounds residue of the said sum of four thousand eight hundred and thirty twenty five pounds unto my said son John to and for his own proper use and benefit and not to, for or upon any other use, trust, intent or purpose whatsoever

§  and the better to enable my said wife to execute the trust aforesaid I do hereby give, devise and bequeath to her and to her heirs, executors and administrators all such estates and interests both at law and in equity as I may have at the time of my decease in the whole or any part or parts of the several and respective principal sums amounting altogether as aforesaid to the said sum of four thousand eight hundred and thirty twenty five pounds are now owing to me as aforesaid and I hereby declare that the provision hereby made for my wife shall be and that the same shall be by her accepted as in lieu bar and full satisfaction of and for all dower and thirds right and totle of the Common Law of England or otherwise howsoever she, if she survive me may, can, might or could claim of, into, out of or from my real and personal estates respectively or any part thereof

§  And as for and concerning all the rest, residue and remainder of my real estates and effects whatsoever and wheresoever, and of what nature, kind or quality secure with their and every of their respective appurtenances (so charged and chargeable as hereinafter is mentioned) I give, devise and bequeath the same and every part or parcel thereof unto the before mentioned John Lord and his heirs to the uses upon the trusts and to and for the intents and purposes herein after mentioned, expressed and declared of and concerning the same that is to say to the use and behoof of such person and persons for such estate and estates, uses, ends, intents and purposes and in such parts, shares and proportions, manner and form and with under and subject to such powers, provisions, charges, limitations, restrictions and agreements with or without power of revocation as my said son John Baron by any his act or acts or deed or deeds in writing to be sealed and delivered by him in the presence of and attested by one or more credible witness or witnesses shall grant, bargain, ?ll alien role as enfooss, convey, demise, give, devise, direct, limit or appoint and in default of such appointment to the use and behoof of my said son John and his assigns for and during the term of his natural life without impeachment of or for any manner of waste and from and immediately after the determination of that estate by forfeiture or otherwise during the lifetime of my said son, then to the use and behoof of the said John Lord and his heirs during the natural life of my said son John but in trust for my said son during his life and to prevent dowore ??

§  And from and immediately after the decease of my said son then to the use and behoof of the heirs and assignees of my said son John forever and not to for or upon any other use trust intent or purpose whatsoever

§  And as for and concerning all the rest residue and remainder of my personal estate and effects whatsoever and wheresoever and of what nature, kind or quality socoor not herein before by me otherwise disposed of I give and bequeath the same (so charged and chargeable as herein after is mentioned) unto my said son John, his executors administrators and assignees to and for his and their own proper use and benefit forever.

§  But I hereby charge and make chargeable the real and personal estators and effects herein before given to or in trust for my said son John with the payment of all my just debts, my funeral expenses and the charges of proving this my will

§  And I hereby revoke all former and other wills and testamentary papers by me at any time or times heretofore made and of this which I publish as and declare to be my only true last will and testament do constitute and appoint my wife, so far as concerns the personal property hereby given to my wife whether to her own use or upon any trust and also so far as concerns the property hereby given to my said daughter, to be the executrix and so far as concerns the residue of my personal property and any outstanding term or terms for years which I may stand professed of or interested in at the time of my decease in trust for any person or persons I do hereby constitute and appoint my said son to be executor of this my will. In witness whereof I, the said James Baron, the testator have to each of the first six sheets of this my will contained in seven sheets of paper set my hand and to the seventh (being the last) sheet thereof my hand and seal the day and your first before written.

§  Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said testator, James Baron, as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us, who at his request and in his presence, and in the presence of each other have hereto subscribed our names as witnesses. The words “before the making of this my will” having been first interhand in the third sheet.

§  Jane Newsham; Ann Newsham, Samuel Newsham

·        The eighteenth day of January 1831 – John Baron and Ellen Baron, the Executor and Executrix in this will named were sworn in common form and they further made oath that the personal estate and effects of the testator within the Diocese of Chester was under the value of eight thousand pounds.  Before me: J. Bromitors The testator died the third day of January 1831

·        Probate issued Dated: 18 January 1831

The last page of the 1830 Will and 1831 probate for James Baron, Wigan

  The information that this Will provides for us as we move to the next step in researching the life and times of James Baron is simply amazing. We now have the names of his sisters and the names of two of their husbands. We know that these sisters had children. He confirms that he had a wife called Ellen and that he had two children called Jane and John. We have a positive link with Standish to confirm his place of burial as well as an inkling that he died on January 3, 1831 with a considerable estate of eight thousand pounds. This very roughly means his estate was worth around $NZ13,000,000.00 in current financial terms!! He not only cared for his wife and daughter upon his death but with this kind of accumulated wealth was able to ensure that his living sisters and their offspring had houses to live in during their lifetimes. 

   The next task is to piece together this family by locating a family around Standish with these siblings and, thereby, get back another generation to discover their parents. It is staggering to realise that from Malcolm, Hamish and Samuel it is possible to trace back 7 generations just by locating a few relevant documents and using them as a base for finding proof of the links between the generations!

   Watch out for more detail as I continue to unravel the past to bring meaning to the here and now!