Trove Tuesday - Philip Merchant Tenterfield

I love it when Trove allows you to find events that would not be easily discovered without a random search.

This post concerns my great grandfather, Philip Richard Merchant of Tenterfield. His story made both the Brisbane and Sydney papers.

Sydney Morning Herald, 12 March 1931, p. 10

DRAGGED BY A HORSE

TENTERFIELD, Wednesday

Late yesterday afternoon Philip Merchant,

a married man with 11 children, a resident 

of the Tenterfield district, suffered severe in-

juries when he was dragged several hundred

yards by a horse. He was riding on a cart-

load of wood, and, when he attempted to

jump off, his foot became caught in the reins,

tearing the winkers off the horse and causing

it to bolt. Merchant was dashed against

three telegraph poles. His condition is

critical.

Philip survived this accident. He died 20 years later in Tenterfield aged 68.

Trove Tuesday - The Baumgarten brothers and Ned Kelly

Many years ago when I was beginning my family research I made contact with a relative in Victoria who I believed was my grandfather's first cousin. I had sent him a letter with a hunch that he was possibly named after the two towns in which his parents were born - Franklin (Tasmania) and Heathcote (Victoria). My guess was correct and we corresponded for several years.

One of Frank's letters dropped a bombshell. The Baumgarten family had connections with Ned Kelly. As this was pre internet days I raced off to the nearest library and went straight to the indexes of all the the books about Ned Kelly. There they were -  Gustav and William Baumgarten.

My connection to this family is through my great great aunt Catherine Ellen Dawson who married Gustav Baumgarten in Melbourne on 30th November 1876.

Trove Tuesday - Australian Women's Weekly

For this week's Trove Tuesday post I was lucky enough to find mention of a family member in The Australian Women's Weekly.

The Australian Women's Weekly, 19 December 1956, p. 46

Royal Melbourne Championship Show 1956

McWilliam's

Awarded

T.C. Seabrook Trophy

for 

Most Successful Exhibitor

In all still table wine classes

Thomas Claudius Seabrook was a wine merchant and judge. You can read his biography in The Australian Dictionary of Biography here.

An advertisement taken out by McWilliams in The Argus of 5th November 1956 states that this was the first year this award was presented.