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There is no Passage as Mysterious as the Passage of time
From the genealogical point of view we in Australia have been generally blessed with the records which have been preserved of our families in this continent.
But even here we have to cope with the missing links. Our search becomes more difficult as we try to trace our families beyond 1788 and into the former lands of our heritage. Nevertheless many of our forebears have been identified and it is interesting to put them into the context of the societies in which they lived.
The Most Recent Immigrant Arrival
The most recent "First member of a family line" for the Moore-Kimberley group was David Nelson Smith who arrived in Australia in 1890. He died within a few days of his arrival, but he had brought a number of his grown children with him and one of his daughters married here. So all of our ancestral groups have been in Australia for over 100 years. More is written about David Nelson Smith on the Ships and the Legends pages. (links to be established)
Our Earliest Immigrant Australians
Our earliest arrivals were persons on the First Fleet and included the convict Edward Kimberley and the marine Daniel Stanfield. Daniel married another First Fleeter, Alice Mansfield,the widowed wife of another First Fleet marine, Thomas Harmsworth who died soon after arrival. Alice's shipboard child, Thomas junior also died on 24 February 1788 soon after landing and was one of the earliest burials in Sydney. It is interesting to note also that another son, John, enlisted as a drummer boy before the age of 10 years, served with the NSW Corps, then went with English troops to Ceylon. He returned to Tasmania where he died on 21 july 1860 reputedly the last of the First Fleet people.
There are other First Fleeters associated with the later stages of the family and their stories may be found in other sections of these pages.
..........It is notable to have a family with so many direct lineal
..........connections, as distinct from cousinships and uncleships,
..........with First Fleeters. To an Australian this is somewhat akin
..........to a U.S. citizen finding a "Mayflower" ancestor.
Our pre-Australian Links
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