Maria Alice May (Hancock) Almond (abt. 1876 - 1960)

Born about 1876 in Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Percy Meade Almond — married about 1915 in Victoria, Australia

Died 23 Dec 1960 at about age 84 in South Australia, Australia

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Biography

Maria Alice May "Maysie" Hancock was born during 1876 in the state of Victoria, Australia.^[1] Her parents were George Robert Hancock and Maria Heard Jackson.

Little is known about her early life. Both of her parents had died by the time she was 11 years old.^[2] Records between 1909 and 1914 show her working as a teacher and a governess in the towns of Bendigo^[3] and Knebsworth^[4] respectively.

In 1915, Maysie Hancock married Percy Meade Almond^[5], a bank manager and accountant. They had no children.

The Almonds lived in Victoria for the rest of the 1910s^[6][7], then moved to South Australia, where Percy invested in several mining ventures.^[8][9] Sadly, the Great Depression forced him into bankruptcy in 1931^[10], and they were forced to liquidate many of those assets.

In 1922, Percy and Maysie Almond became the first people in South Australia to join the Baha'i Faith.^[11] Maysie served on the first Local Spiritual Assembly in the city of Adelaide, and travelled to the inaugural Summer School at Yerribool, New South Wales on 9 January 1938.^[12] She became known throughout the wider community for her hospitality and inspiring letters.^[13]

Clarice Stanton wrote:

"Mrs. Almond carved a niche for herself in the early Bahá’í history of Australia: A Rose Garden School was established by her for children in and around Adelaide, her gift of music helping her very much in this work. Eventually she added something of wider value which was a Correspondence Rose Garden School and the lessons from this school were sent to all the states in Australia and as far as the island State of Tasmania where children were eager to get these wonderful lessons, so well thought out and well done. They were appreciated by adults, too, who kept learning about the Faith along with their children, and in this way Mrs. Almond literally sent the meaning of the Greatest Name to the Bahá’í children all over this vast continent... She had kept her wonderful sense of humor and every visitor to her home was assured a happy time and always came away with a more intimate knowledge of the Faith."^[11]

Maysie Almond died on 23 December 1960^[14], at the age of 84. She is buried with her husband in Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena, South Australia.^[15][16]

Research Notes

Her birth record contains the place abbreviation "GR EE", which could refer to either Greendale, Greensborough, Greenvale, or Greenwald. Most online trees indicate that Greenvale is the correct town. - Freeth-52 02:29, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria State Government, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria. Maria Alice May Hancock. Birth. Registration number 9774/1876. District: GR EE. Link to search page
2. ↑ "Wills and Bequests", Melbourne Punch (Melbourne, Victoria), 17 Nov 1887. p. 12. Accessed on 30 Mar 2020. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174572845
3. ↑ "Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980", database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Mar 2020), Maria Alice May Hancock, 128 Queen St, Bendigo, teacher, F. Electoral Place: Sandhurst Central, Bendigo, Victoria. Year: 1909. Australian Electoral Commission. [Electoral roll].
4. ↑ "Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980", database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Mar 2020), Maria Alice May Hancock, Knebsworth, governess, F. Electoral Place: Macarthur, Wannon, Victoria. Year: 1912-1914. Australian Electoral Commission. [Electoral roll].
5. ↑ Victoria State Government, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria. Percy Meade Almond and Maria Alice May Hancock. Marriage. Registration number 8275/1915. Link to search page
6. ↑ "Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980", database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Mar 2020), Maria Alice May Almond, Park st, Seymour, home duties, F. Electoral Place: Echuca, Seymour, Victoria. Year: 1919. Australian Electoral Commission. [Electoral roll].
7. ↑ "Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980", database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Mar 2020), Maria Alice May Almond, Claremont, Healesville, home duties, F. Electoral Place: Healesville, Flinders, Victoria. Year: 1919, 1943. Australian Electoral Commission. [Electoral roll].
8. ↑ "New Company Registered", The News (Adelaide, South Australia), 20 Apr 1927. Accessed on 24 Mar 2020. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/129250805
9. ↑ "Hanlon's West Silver-Lead", The News (Adelaide, South Australia), 3 Oct 1929. Accessed on 24 Mar 2020. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/128870531
10. ↑ "Take notice that Percy Meade Almond, of 35 T&G Building, King William-street, Adelaide...", Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 26 Mar 1931. 388. Accessed on 24 Mar 2020. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/232191242
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} "Maysie Almond". In The Baha'i World. 936-7. Vol. XIII. Haifa: The Universal House of Justice, 1970. Accessed 30 Mar 2020. http://bahai-library.com/pdf/bw/bahai_world_volume_13b.pdf.
12. ↑ "Survey Of Current Baha'i Activities In The East And West ". In The Baha'i World. 72. Vol. VII. New York: Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1939. Accessed 30 Mar 2020. https://file.bahai.media/d/dd/BW_Volume7.pdf
13. ↑ "Intimate Jottings". The Australian Women's Weekly, 26 May 1934. p. 23. Accessed on 30 Mar 2020. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51276403
14. ↑ "Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985", database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Mar 2020), Maria Alice May Almond, 23 December 1960, South Australia. Vol. 917, Page 418. Ancestry.com. Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
15. ↑ Burial Record (Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena, https://www.centennialpark.org/memorial-search/ : accessed 18 Feb 2021) database entry for Almond, Maria Alice May (Interment Type: Burial, Interment Date: 27 Dec 1960, Location: General AC, Path 17A, Grave 299A, Last Abode: Rosslyn Park).
16. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 30 March 2020), memorial page for Maria Alice May Almond (unknown–23 Dec 1960), Find A Grave: Memorial #148247942, citing Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena, Mitcham City, South Australia, Australia ; Maintained by Dwight Baker (contributor 47306645) .

See also:

• “Early Believers.” The Australian Baha'i Community 1920-2020. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia Inc., 2020. https://centenary.bahai.org.au/index.php/early-believers/.