The first rule of genealogy is to research backwards systematically, confirming what you know and always looking for clues to the unknown. Some ancestors kindly appear in records just where you might expect them and it is easy to get birth, marriage and death certificates, which in turn probably point to their parents. The biggest risk for these ancestors is that you might forget to look for interesting stories along the way.

Other ancestors, like Samuel Etherington, required me to search far and wide in less obvious records. The result was that I learnt a lot more about him than if he had been easier to find.

Family

My mother’s grandfather was William Edward Etherington. I found his marriage to Annie Barbara McNeill (in Surry Hills, Sydney),1 his marriage certificate listing his parents as Samuel Etherington and Sarah Everett, but I could not find his birth certificate. Eventually I found his baptism, which listed his parents as Samuel and Sarah Etherington, living at King St, Sydney.2 Samuel was described as a ‘cabinet maker’.

Unable to find a marriage record for Samuel, I turned to researching other children of Samuel and Sarah, hoping that in those records there might be further clues. For son John I could find a marriage but no birth registered. John’s marriage certificate named his father as Samuel Etherington, a baker.3 I did find a baptism for daughter Emmeline,4 which listed her father as Samuel Henry Hetherington, an engineer, living at Miller’s Point. (Cabinet maker, baker, engineer?)

(Samuel’s daughter) Harriet’s baptism certificate listed her father as an engineer.5 On Harriet’s marriage certificate, her father was listed as a commercial traveller.6 Samuel’s son Alfred died at only 16 months old. On his baptism, Samuel was listed as an engineer.7 On Alfred’s death certificate, Samuel was listed as a carpenter.8 On the marriage certificate of another son (Frederick), Samuel was described as a clerk.9

On all these records, Samuel’s wife was named as Sarah (née Everitt or Everett). Sarah had been baptised at St John’s in Limerick City in Ireland10 and migrated with her parents to Sydney in 1841.11 I could not find a marriage between Samuel and Sarah, but when Sarah died in 1885, she was described as a widow.12

Timeline

Samuel’s origins remained a puzzle – I could not find a record of either his birth in, or immigration to, Australia. In the absence of further family records, I turned to building up a timeline of his addresses and occupations. Some of these details were listed in the birth or marriage certificates of his children, but others came from directories, such as the Sydney, Suburban and Country Commercial Directory, published by John Sands.13 Electoral rolls also provided addresses and sometimes occupations.14 Samuel was variously listed as: an engineer, a builder, a carpenter or cabinet maker, a clerk, a commercial traveller – before the surprising shift to baker.

Other Etherington families?

Fortunately Etherington was not such a common name in Australia, so I began building up family trees of anyone in Australia named Etherington or Hetherington, hoping for clues. As well as birth, death, marriage and address records, I also searched newspapers – made much easier when the wonderful Trove website came online.15 Among its many collections, Trove contains easily searchable digitised newspapers. In researching all the family, the marriage announcement for son John mentioned that Samuel was ‘late of London’.16

I decided to extend my search to Etherington families in south-east England, starting with those who had a family member come to Australia. I was hoping for maybe a sibling called Samuel in England who might have disappeared from English records.

In 1857 Thomas and Ann Etherington arrived in Sydney.17 Searching in the indexes of the NSW State Archives collection (Museums of History NSW website) I found two microfilm numbers associated with their arrival in Australia as Assisted Immigrants.18 The first film contained the information Thomas and Ann provided when they boarded the ship in England, and this has been digitised. The second microfilm contains information collected by the Immigration Board when Thomas and Ann disembarked in Sydney. This second microfilm was not digitised and I viewed it at the State Archives Reading Room. In addition to the information collected in London, the Immigration Board in Sydney also asked immigrants to give details of their parents. Thomas said that his parents were ‘Joseph and Henrietta, mother dead, father living at Peckham’.

Thomas and Ann had been married in London before travelling together to Australia.19 Thomas was the son of Joseph Etherington, a builder, and Ann was the daughter of John Etherington, also a builder. In the 1841 English census, I found Thomas living in Southwark (just south of London) with his parents Joseph (a carpenter) and Hetty.20 Also listed in the family were Thomas’ six siblings – including his older sister Anna. Further researching this family, I found that Anna had been baptised in 1824 – on the same day as an older brother Samuel.21

I could not find record of a marriage or death for this Samuel, so I wondered if he might be the Samuel Etherington I was seeking?

In those early days of the Internet, I posted enquiries about this family wherever I could. Might there be someone else researching the Etherington family in NSW or else the family of Joseph and Hetty/Henrietta Etherington of Southwark, England? Eventually I received this reply:

Are you looking for information about Samuel Etherington, who married Hester Holmes in England about 1836 and came to NSW? His mother’s name was also Holmes. They used the name Holmes instead of Etherington in Australia. Samuel died in Bombala in 1903.

This exciting reply gave me more research clues – as well as contact with a descendant of Samuel’s sister Anna. Anna’s son had written to the Lloyd’s Weekly newspaper in London in 1903, and that enquiry was re-published in Australian newspapers:

Hetherington (Samuel) landed in Sydney, N.S.W., in 1838, last heard of in 1888, trading as S. Holmes, Steam Flour Mills, Sydney. Sister Anna’s son inquires.22

Samuel’s son had written back, and Anna’s descendant still has that letter.

Dear Sir, Mr. H.S. Holmes, Tocumwall, New South Wales, Australia, says his father, your uncle, traded for many years as a flour miller under the name of Holmes. He died in Bombala, N.S.W. in April last year. Please let us know if you will write to your cousin.

Anna’s descendant also still has the prayer book that Samuel inscribed and signed and gave to his sister when he visited London in 1855.

With all this information, I started researching NSW miller and baker Samuel Holmes.

While Samuel Etherington was in England visiting his sister, the wife of Samuel Holmes gave evidence at a trial for one of his employees, and noted Samuel’s ‘temporary absence in England’.23

In 1858 Samuel Holmes gave evidence at an enquiry into the quality of flour in Sydney, and mentioned that he had examined the manufacture of flour in Richmond, Virginia ‘about two years ago’.24 That led to discovering that while Samuel Etherington had visited his sister Anna in England, it was as Samuel Holmes that he travelled home to Australia via North America.25

I tracked the names Samuel Holmes and Samuel Etherington through directories and NSW electoral rolls, gradually adding to the timeline of his addresses and listed occupations associated with both names.

In 1860 a fire broke out in Samuel Holmes’ bakery and mill in King Street, Sydney. The bakery was adjacent to the Prince of Wales Theatre, and the fire not only destroyed Samuel’s business, but also that theatre.26 Two months later Samuel Holmes wrote to the Sydney Council, requesting a reduction on his water rates, given that he was not currently using water in his business.27

Samuel Holmes was declared insolvent several times during his business life (in 184828, 186229 and 187130) before finally being declared bankrupt in 1891.31 The file associated with his 1862 insolvency gives great insights into his life, including a David Jones (department store) bill that he was unable to pay. Perhaps Samuel was planning to re-outfit himself following the fire.

Doves’ 1880 map of Sydney32 shows that Samuel Holmes rebuilt his bakery and flour mill adjacent to the newly rebuilt theatre (renamed the Theatre Royal). Once again patrons entered the stalls of the theatre through Samuel’s bakery.

Volume 2 of The Aldine Centennial History of New South Wales includes biographies of ‘prominent inhabitants’.33 As chairman of the Master Bakers Association, Samuel Holmes is included. This notes that his bakery is ‘the largest as well as the oldest house of the kind in Sydney’ undertaking ‘baking, steam biscuit making and steam flour milling’. Apparently his business also supplied electric light to the Theatre Royal, as well as ‘to light with electricity from the corner of Pitt-street up King-street and round to the new arcade in Castlereagh street’.

I found an illustration of Samuel’s earlier bakery in the Rocks area of Sydney in 1848, in the building that had formerly been the offices of the Sydney Gazette.34 35

In 1897 a newspaper reported that Samuel Holmes had become proprietor of the Bombala Roller Flour Mill.36 In the leadup to Australia’s federation (1901), Bombala was one of the places being considered as a potential national capital. Samuel is mentioned again when there was an attempted robbery of his Bombala house in 1903.37

Finally the death of Samuel Holmes was reported, in Bombala on 10 April 1903.38 His son Henry Holmes was the informant on Samuel’s death certificate, which mentions a second family, but ‘details unknown’.39 Samuel died intestate, leaving more in debts than assets.40 He was buried in an unmarked grave in Bombala Cemetery.

When I searched for Samuel’s arrival in Australia, using the clue that his nephew had mentioned (1838), still nothing was simple. Samuel Holmes arrived on the ship Alfred on 31 December 1837. He was described as an ‘unmarried male immigrant’ aged 18 (in fact he was 15) with occupation given as ‘baker and farmer’, and with native place listed as Weeley in Essex.41 On that same voyage was an Ellen Holmes, listed as an unmarried 25-year-old dress maker, also from Weeley.

When Hester Holmes died in Sydney in 1879, the informant on her death certificate was her ‘husband’ Samuel Holmes of King Street. Her parents were listed as John Holmes, a baker, and Sarah Erith.42 In looking at Weeley baptisms, the daughter of John Holmes and Sarah (‘formerly Erith’) was baptised as Helen Holmes.43 So Helen (or Ellen) Holmes became Hester Holmes and Samuel Etherington called himself her husband, Samuel Holmes.

DNA testing and comparison with descendants of the children of the various siblings of Samuel (and also his cousins) have confirmed the above conclusions.

The following timeline puts the story in order.

SE refers to records in the name of Samuel Etherington – SH means in the name of Samuel Holmes.

1822SE born Southwark, Englandbaptism 21 1837SH arrived Sydneyimmigration411840SH son Henry Holmes bornHenry’s death cert471842-1857SH Holmes children Ann, George, Henrietta bornall died young44 45 461848SH journeyman baker, Glebe Sydney Insolvency281848SH baker Miller’s Point, SydneyFowles341850-1852SH bread & biscuit maker, King St,
Holmes children Thomas & Emmaboth died young 48 49 1853SH baker, King Stcourt case501855SE in Londonvisiting sister231855SH returns from England to Australia via USAflour inquiry (Trove)24
passenger list251857SE son Samuel Joseph Etherington born511858SH baker, King Stdirectory521860SH fire in King St bakery261859-1866SE Etherington children Emmeline, John, Harriet, Arthur born 3 4 5 1867SH baker AND SE cabinet maker, King StSH directory53
SE birth son WIlliam21868-1873SE children Alfred, Frederick born 7 8 9 1876SE baker, Buckingham Stmarriage of son511879SH Hester Holmes died421885SE Sarah (née Everitt) died 12 1886SE commercial travellermarriage of daughter61891SH bankrupt311897SH proprietor of Bombala Flour Mill361903SH Samuel died in Bombala38 39

The signatures in the names of Samuel Etherington and Samuel Holmes provide further evidence that this was in fact the same person.

ReferencesNSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages 1891/1380, marriage of William E Etherington & Annie McNeill.Ancestry.com, Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011 William Edward Etherington born 16 Feb 1867, baptised at St Andrew’s Sydney on 2 Aug 1867.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages 1909/3385, marriage of John H Etherington.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, 8286/1859 V18598286 121C, baptism of Emmeline Emily Hetherington.Ancestry.com, Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011 Harriett Martha Hetherington born 27 Nov 1864, baptised at St Andrew’s Sydney on 19 Jun 1865.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages 1886/211, marriage of Harriet Etherington.Ancestry.com, Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011 Alfred Henry Etherington born 8 Sep 1868, baptised at St Andrew’s Sydney on 27 Nov 1868.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages 1870/89, death of Alfred Henry Etherington.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages 1894/402, marriage of Frederick Charles Etherington.“Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FRQK-58Q : 5 February 2020), Sarah Everett, 1830.“Australia, New South Wales, Index to Bounty Immigrants, 1828-1842”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FL29-SWP : 13 June 2019), John Everitt, 1841.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages 1885/1597, death of Sarah Etherington.City of Sydney Archives, Sands Postal Directories, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/495003.Ancestry has some relevant electoral rolls at New South Wales, Australia, Historical Electoral Rolls,1842-1864 at https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/categories/auvoters/ but many more are available at the State Library of NSW.https://trove.nla.gov.au/, hosted and published by the National Library of Australia.1876 ‘Family Notices’, The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), 1 August, p. 1. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13377536.Museums of History NSW, Assisted Immigrants Index 1839-1896, Reel 2138, [4/4794]; Reel 2475, [4/4967], https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=61SRA&lang=en_US&docid=INDEX867787 and https://indexes.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook/list.aspx?series=NRS5316&item=4_4794&ship=Boanergeshttps://mhnsw.au/indexes/immigration-and-shipping/assisted-immigrants-index/.General Register Office UK, the marriage of Thomas Etherington and Ann Etherington was registered in the June quarter 1857 at West London, volume 1c page 118.Ancestry.com, 1841 England Census, Joseph Etherington, Class: HO107; Piece: 1087; Book: 9; Civil Parish: St Olave; County: Surrey; Enumeration District: 2; Folio: 23; Page: 39; Line: 12; GSU roll: 474669. Ancestry.com, London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1923 for Anna Etherington, London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P71/JN/016.1903 ‘KITH AND KIN.’, The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 – 1955), 16 October, p. 2. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article80963308.1855 ‘CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT—MONDAY.’, The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), 4 December, p. 4., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12978754.1858 ‘THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.’, The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), 28 June, p. 4. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13018015.Ancestry.com, New York U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1957 for Samuel Holmes, Year: 1855; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Line: 7; List Number: 963.1860 ‘GREAT FIRE, AND LOSS OF LIFE.’, Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1875), 4 October, p. 8. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60499372.City of Sydney Council Archives, Letters Received, CSA078183, A-000292829, No. 806, Letter received from Samuel Holmes of King Street, dated 4 Dec 1860.Museums of History NSW, State Archives collection, Insolvency Index 1842-1887, Samuel Holmes, NRS-13654-1-[2/8821]-1787.Museums of History NSW, State Archives collection, Insolvency Index 1842-1887, Samuel Holmes, NRS-13654-1-[2/9058]-5888.Museums of History NSW, State Archives collection, Insolvency Index 1842-1887, Samuel Holmes,
NRS-13654-1-[2/9415]-10451.Museums of History NSW, State Archives collection, Bankruptcy Index 1888-1929, Samuel Holmes,
NRS-13655-1-[10/22724]-3979.City of Sydney Council Archives, Plans of Sydney (Doves) in 1880, Box CSA 058395, Map 5, Block 17, Alt. ID 41, A-00880148.Morrison, W. F. The Aldine Centennial History of New South Wales illustrated, volume 2, Sydney, Aldine Pub. Co., 1888, reproduced at https://www.textqueensland.com.au/item/book/28ee0733e1498b7bdbf4e46d9209415c.Fowles, J, Sydney in 1848, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600151h.html#p14.Joseph Fowles, From the collections of the State Library of New South Wales, Dixson Library Q84/56],(Opp p.17 (detail), ‘Sydney in 1848 : illustrated by copper-plate engravings of its principal streets, public buildings, churches, chapels, etc.’ from drawings by Joseph Fowles) https://dictionaryofsydney.org/media/62885.1897 ‘Bombala Items.’, Delegate Argus and Border Post (NSW : 1895 – 1906), 18 March, p. 4. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109705030.1903 ‘An Unpleasant Awakening.’, The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer (NSW : 1898 – 1954), 21 February, p. 8. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168027389.1903 ‘No title’, Bombala Times and Manaro and Coast Districts General Advertiser (NSW : 1899 – 1905), 10 April, p. 2. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134132596.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages 1903/5311, death of Samuel Henry Holmes.Museums of History NSW, State Archives collection, Intestate Estates Index 1821-1913, HOLMES Samuel Henry, INX-53-6110, File no 454, Previous System No [10/27658], Index no 53.Museums of History NSW, State Archives collection, Miscellaneous immigrants index 1828-1843 HOLMES Samuel, INX-55-4374, NRS 5313, Item No [4/4780] page 30.
Also Ancestry.com.au, New South Wales Assisted Passenger Index, taken from State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood New South Wales, Australia; Persons on early migrant ships (Fair Copy); Series: 5310; Reel: 1286.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages #1765 in 1879, death of Hester Holmes.Essex Records Office, baptisms at St Andrew’s Weeley, image 19, D/P 407/1/3, baptism of Helen Holmes, child of John & Sarah, late Erith.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, death in 1847 of Anne Holmes, aged 5 years, # 229/1847 V1847229 32B, daughter of a baker.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, death in 1852 of George Holmes, aged 8 years, at the home of his parents in King St, # 663/1852 V1852663 38B, son of a baker.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, death in 1860 of Henrietta Holmes, aged 13 years, at the home of her parents in King St, registration # 602/1860, daughter of a baker.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, death in 1912 of Henry Samuel Holmes, aged 72 years, at Bombala, registration # 9584/1912.Sydney Early Church Records, microfilm # 993964 (C. of E. baptisms, marriages, burials, 1852-1853 (vols. 38-39)), Parish records for St James, Sydney, Thomas Holmes, born 18 Jan 1850 at King St, Sydney, baptised 1853 at St James, Sydney, son of a Samuel Holmes and Hester, father a baker, seen at the Society of Australian Genealogists.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, birth in 1852, baptism in 1853 of Emma Holmes, registration # 72/1852 V185272 39A.1853 ‘SYDNEY POLICE COURT—TUESDAY.’, Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1875), 26 January, p. 3. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60137814.NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, marriage of Samuel Joseph Etherington, registration # 711 in 1876.Sands Commercial Directory for Sydney, 1858, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1898994, page 163.Sands Alphabetical Directory for Sydney, 1867, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/1898988, page 100.