2019 - #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks; Week 6 Prompt: ‘Surprise’

 Week 6 Prompt:  ‘Surprize’

#52ancestors

I was trying to think of something in my ancestry/research that was a  surprize but everything that came to mind I had already written about or the people were still alive.

When low and behold my surprize hit me in the face this morning!!

I was doing some research on my paternal side of the family and needed an old photograph to check people and names.  I took the photo back to my desk and realized I had picked up the wrong one.  This one was a family photo on my maternal side - same generation.  I started to look at it closely and as it was not labeled, I thought I would mark who the family members were.  

There was Mother (Eleanor Wells) and Father (Arthur Samuel Palmer) with 5 sons and 1 daughter. 

What a shock – I only have 4 boys and 1 girl in my tree !!  

This is not counting the first-born child - daughter Edith Agnes born in 1873, who sadly died when only one year old.

So the children I know are:

        Names                                     Birth (Photo position)

    1.    Arthur Ernest (Ern)         1874 (? Mid Centre)

 2.  James Edward                   1876  (? Mid Back)

   3.  Percy Richard Frederick  1878  (? Back right)

4.  Violet Maude                      1879  ( * Back left)

  5.  Claude Laidlaw                   1881   (? Front right)

So, who is this other boy in the family photo - possibly kneeling on the Front left?  

None of them look like twins.

I checked on Ancestry the other matching Palmer trees and they had the same information as me.

I checked Arthur Palmer and Eleanor Wells marriage and the date was 1871. 

Ref: Australian BDM Register, Schedule D.  No 24  Marriage copy of Entry. Reg no: 1175  

(given to me by relative Lesley Holt, 5 Aug 1981)

This could mean there was an earlier child. 

However, I could find no sign of one on the Birth Register or in Trove Newspapers.

I recognize Violet as she is the only daughter in the family alive and is my Grandmother.  I have other photos of her at that age, labelled. 

I also checked to see if I could find photos of the men to compare. I had photos of the four men - but they were all as adults, and it was hard to tell.  I have marked the boys as I think they could be placed in the photograph, in the list above.

There is no record available of wills for Eleanor or Arthur. None of the children are marked on Electoral Rolls that I have found so far.

However I did find on Eleanor’s Death Certificate the list of children from her marriage and it does not include any other son, to those I already know. (Crop from Death Certificate)

So this 'Surprize' extra boy in the photo will remain a mystery for now.