Working backwards from Thomas' death record it is possible to piece-together a little of his life, albeit that he seems to have left remarkably little in terms of documentary evidence of his existence.
He is buried at Geelong[1] in a plot that he shares with his wife, who died more than 17 years before him.
Thomas' death does not appear to have been accompanied by the publication of any death notices or obituaries which might reveal further of his life or circumstances. The record[2] simply shows that he was around 85 years of age and reveals, somewhat oddly, that his parents are Thomas Keeble and Elizabeth née McPherson. The significance of these names is explored further below.
Thomas and Agnes married in 1893.[3] Reference to the original document will confirm, but it seems likely that they married in Geelong as that seems to be where Thomas did most of his growing-up as well as being the place of birth of all of their eight children. Again, their marriage does not appear to have been sufficiently socially significant to justify any newspaper notices or the like at the time.
Based on his stated age at death it is possible to estimate that Thomas would have been around 24 when he married Agnes but what little we can tell for sure or guess of his life before then is quite limited.
It seems almost certain that the parents recorded on his death registration were his adoptive parents. Thomas Keeble and Elizabeth McPherson married at Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, in 1841.[4] Some time later they made their way to Victoria and, by 1885, were fostering wards of the state. Even after Thomas died in 1891, it is evident that Elizabeth continued to do so.
It therefore seems that Thomas was at some point a state ward and possibly even formally adopted by the Keeble family. While tracing his life before his adoption or fostering cannot yet be done with any certainty, there is at least one child in Victorian state records which could be him.
A potentially good candidate as being the subject of this profile is the boy who was, on 18 April 1874, found on Bourke Street, Melbourne.[5][6] His parents were unknown and his state of health is described as, "Good", although his general condition, "Dirty. Cloths bad". Around five weeks later is committed as a ward of the state for seven years due to neglect. Over the following years he is recorded as spending time in institutions in Melbourne, Geelong, and Royal Park (all known sites of welfare institutions) as well as absconding and being boarded-out on a couple of ocassions. The last entry shows that he was boarded-out, most recently having been at Geelong.
Adoptive brother:
Adoptive parents’ are buried at Geelong:
There are reports in the press which confirm that the Keeble family in Geelong were involved with fostering children, although none of these relate to Thomas:
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