Help re. Jacob Brown born c.1842 Austria immigrated to Australia in 1865

Question

Hi I am trying to find ANY information on the Family/Ancestry of Jacob Brown who immigrated to Australia as a Crew member Apprentice on the "Merrie Monarch" arriving Sydney in 1867.  Although the ships list identifies him as from France all other documents referring to Jacob have his birth place as Austria.

I have hit a brick wall.

I know Jacob anglicised his name, presumably from Braun but I have no record of the name change.

All I know is:

Jacob Brown born c.1843 Austria died July 1915 Sydney, Australia.

Married 1867 Mary Anne Gallagher born c.1840 Ireland died Oct 1917 Newcastle, NSW Australia.

His marriage certificate lists his Parents as

Father: Domonic Brown (Braun) Farmer

Mother: Tonine Luccedge

Jacob and Mary had 7 children Maurice Sylvester (1867-1958); William John (1871-1952) Great Grandfather; Mary Eliabeth 1873-1873); Jacob Dominic (1874-1876); Ellena Maud (1876-1880); Agnes Mary (1878-1940) and Josephine T (1881-1960)

 The spelling of Jacob parents names may or may not be correct as I don't know if Jacob was literate in English at the time of his marriage.

Any help in tracing Jacobs Ancestry would be greatly appreciated.

Sandra

Answer 1

Austria in 1842 could be a wide area in Central and Eastern Europe. As his mother's name has no semblance to a German name as spelled here, it could be a clue to where it would be best to start searching. The spelling could also be a handwriting problem. Do you have a scan of the document?

Comments

I recently contacted the Librarian at the State Library NSW and they were able to view the original Cathedral records for Jacobs marriage. The spelling of his parents names transcribed onto the record of marriage by the NSW BDM register were similar but incorrect. 

The library advise the marriage is contained in Reel 0014 of the Parish Records for St Mary's Cathedral however they are restricted and cannot be copied. The writing on the microfilm record was very clear and easy to read: 

Name : Jacob BROWN, Status : Bachelor, Birthplace : Austria, Rank or Profession : Mariner, Age : 24, Usual Place of Residence : Sydney, Parents Names : Domanic BROWN, Jonenne LUCCIDGE, Father's Trade : Farmer. 

Can anyone give me a lead on where the family may have originated based on the new spellings?

 

Answer 2

Hello Sandra,

A starting point that might help you is the vessel Merrie Monarch. It should have a crew register/list with details of the crew in it. I checked the name against shipping registers & there is a total of 9 vessels with that name registered in the 1800's. See following link for the names & years registered http://www.shippedia.com/vessels-name-list.php?n=MERRIE%20MONARCH

Or the following http://www.crewlist.org.uk/findingoncrewlists.html

For the British registered ships you can check the archives at the National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

I'm sure there will be similar resources in America as well.

All the best

Billy