#52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 46, Prompt: 'Random Facts'

Week 46 Prompt: Random Facts

One: 

I never knew that I had relatives who lived in and around Wales – the Monmouth area.

In 2004, my brother was on a retreat and caretaking a house in Wales for an English friend.  He suffered from Myasthenia Gravis and on deteriorating took himself to the hospital in Abergavenny where he unexpectedly died not long after on 09 October.  He was 63 years old and had been ill intermittently for a few years.  

Neville Hill Hospital, Abergavenny, Wales

So, when I was researching and found that my grandmother Palmer Mum’s mother’s side of the family originally came from Ross on Wye and lived in and around that area, I felt like my brother had completed a family circle. Wales/Herefordshire to Australia and back to Wales.

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Two:

My grandmother Violet Palmer and I also have something in common.  I only found out on a Trove search (good old Trove).

When I was four years old, I had a machinery accident.  My family was visiting an orange orchard near Mildura, the Vic/NSW border.  My sister and I were in the packing shed and should have been safe there as we had a similar environment at home.  However, being a bit bored whilst the adults talked, we started getting rid of the foliage caught at the feeding end of the grader.  Next minute my left arm was dragged into the machine through the rotating cogs. 

It could not be removed so they had to reverse the machine and support it coming out.  What a mangled mess – hanging together by some skin.  Mum held my tightly wrapped arm on her lap and cuddled me as best she could in the front seat of our Holden car. As we were nowhere near a doctor Dad drove frantically to a town where one was available, and he checked my arm. Bleeding was stopped, and bandages applied with a splint. I guess I was given painkillers too.

Then Dad raced back to Mooroopna Hospital near Shepparton and Dr Dickman operated on me.  He saved my arm from amputation – apparently, I was in theatre for hours. He was a brilliant surgeon to be working in a country hospital and I was very lucky to have him.

Thus, to come across the following article in Trove was a real surprise as no-one had ever mentioned it – and maybe didn’t know.

“A little girl two years of age, the daughter of Mr. A.S. Palmer, of Jindivick, had her right hand nearly cut off by a chaff cutter which she and her brothers were playing on Friday evening last. She was attended on Saturday morning by Dr. Herberts. of Warragul, and under his able treatment there is every reason to hope that her hand will soon be all right again, although, at first sight, the doctor thought amputation would be necessary.”

Trove. Violet Palmer accident - Warragul Guardian, Thursday, Nov 17, 1881. Page 2 Article.

Grandma Violet Palmer (Crop from wedding photo, Jan 1904)