There was a young man of Pulldown . . .

The title could be the first line of a limerick but it is actually a reflection of my almost fruitless search for my 4 x great grandfather.

I say "almost because I have found quite a bit of evidence here in Australia where he married twice, once in Sydney, New South Wales and to my 4 x great grandmother in South Australia.

A little bit of history here:  Australia didn't become a Federation until 1901 and until then was a collection of independent States.  South Australia was the only state which was never a penal colony and was colonised by unfranchised people from many places, mainly English and German but there were Afghan camel drivers who carried goods up into the centre of Australia (the train which runs from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the north is named The Ghan in their honour).

My 4 x times G/grandfather arrived in Sydney in 1842 on a ship called "Champion" as an assisted passenger and there is a record of all the passengers  who arrived.  That is easy to find as are his two marriages but what I found a couple of sleepless nights ago was what must have been some sort of passport which named his parents as well as the place in Ireland where he had lived.  He named it "Pulldown"  which I was totally unable to locate but his referees who had to sign for his character lived in Puladown  -  and that did exist. There are about four different versions of the name on the document but I refuse to be drawn into 200 year old arguments about the spelling

The Irish archives burned down in 1922 and are slowly being reconstructed from church and civic records but County Armagh seems to be the last on the list because there is nothing there yet.  Maybe one day my granddaughter will be able to access the BMD and find out more about the family.

I had a horrible day yesterday.  The weather was awful and I had an appointment just a quick train ride away at 11.00am and another at 3.30.  the prospect of battling the weather to and from the train station decided me to stay where I was so in the morning I had my eyes tested and in the afternoon I had a cracked filling in one of my back teeth repaired, spending the intervening time reading my E-book in the shopping centre.  I arrived home at about 5.00, exhausted from doing nothing all day.

Now I have nothing planned for the near future so I can get back to doing the things I enjoy  -  or probably more family research as it is a bit like a treasure hunt and it is addictive.

And now today's limerick.  For any American readers who find themselves here, this one was written by President Woodrow Wilson.

I sat next to the Duchess at tea;
It was just as I feared it would be:
Her rumblings abdominal
Were truly phenomenal
And everyone thought it was me!