Thomas and Friends

Continued from the previous post about Thomas Rankins of Smithfield, Maine.

I keep being mistaken about Thomas Rankins. I form a theory and then find that it is wrong. Come to think of it, that's the scientific method applied to genealogical research, so maybe my approach isn't so far off. But Thomas keeps surprising me.

I figured that he traveled across America alone and, in 1852, boarded a ship filled with strangers to go to Australia (Where Thomas Went). Then I found a website called American Fever, Australian Gold. The following quote comes from the home page:

"Authors Denise McMahon and Christine Wild realized there had been a large number of Americans and Canadians who came to the northeast district of what was then the colony of Victoria during the gold rushes of the mid 1800s and about whom little, and in most cases nothing, had been recorded or acknowledged in the region's history books. With that in mind, they set about to rectify that omission.

With five years' work into researching the lives of men and women, and of the history of northeast Victoria, Denise and Christine have captured how these intrepid travellers journeyed thousands of miles in the hope of a fortune and how they contributed to the development of the district, an area very few white men had traversed.

At a time when there were no towns, no infrastructure and little communication with the outside world, these new arrivals found nothing but mullock [rubbish] heaps, shanties, tents and tracks dotted through the Australian bush. Under a canopy of gum trees with the smell of eucalyptus in the air, and with kangaroos, koalas, and kookaburras always close by, these people lived a dream."

In the website's index of narratives, there was my very own great great great Uncle Thomas Rankins: "Born 1829; native place Smithfield, Somerset County, Maine; yr. of arrival in Australia, 1852." Wonderful! This meant that the CD called American Fever, American Gold would contain more information about Thomas.

But, wait! What was this? The very next person indexed was Leonard Richardson from... Somerset County, Maine, arriving in Australia the year after Thomas. Were there perhaps others?

Late last night, I went through the index and extracted a list of all the men and womn who left Somerset County for Australia in the gold rush years. There were fifty-five (average age just under 24 years), and several of those were from Thomas' town of Smithfield (population 873 in 1850). He had to have known some of them. (3)

I took my list of gold rushers traveling from Somerset County and compared it to the list of ship's passengers for the "fast sailing packet ship Orpheus" (1) and BINGO! There they were, all in a group with Thomas. See for yourself.

This is the list of passengers leaving San Francisco on June 29, 1852 and arriving in Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia on September 1st of that same year.

And here are the names that matched the list on the Australian gold website. The fact that they are listed in a group makes me believe that they were all traveling together. While there is no way of knowing for sure without further research, I believe that they are:

Heman [yes, Heman] Spaulding; born 1828; native place, Norridgewock, Somerset County, Maine; arriving Australia 1852

Benjamin Franklin Allen; born 1831; Somerset County, Maine; arriving 1852

Benjamin Kendall Snow; born 1828; Skowhegan, Somerset County, Maine; arriving 1852

Joshua Cushman Bigelow; born 1826; Norridgewock, Somerset County, Maine; arriving 1852

Charles Pishon Bigelow; born 1828; Somerset County, Maine; arriving 1852

Thomas Rankins; born 1829; Smithfield, Somerset County, Maine; arriving 1852 (2)

Next post: The Thomas Rankins Story Continues

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Sources/Notes

1. New South Wales Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922. Ancestry.com

2. Thomas' birthdate is given here as 1829. I have used 1830 in my records, but that is based on a census record that gives Thomas' age as 20 in 1850. Age estimates from census records are often a year off if no actual birthdate is given. 1829 is no doubt the better date.

3. List that I extracted from the index to the website American Fever, Australian Gold

 Name Birth Arrival Origin

Allen, Benj Franklin 1831 1852 Somerset County, Maine

Allen, Daniel 1830 1853 Smithfield, Somerset, Maine

Allen, Francis 1836 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Allen, Freeman 1834 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Bickford, Samuel Augustus 1822 1853 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Bigelow, Charles Pishon 1828 1852 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Bigelow, Joseph c1826 1853 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Bigelow, Joshua Cushman 1826 1852 Norridgewock, Somerset, Maine

Bigelow, Leander Lowell 1833 1852 Norridgewock, Somerset, Maine

Bradley, Augusta D 1829 1853 No. Anson, Somerset, Maine

Cleveland, Simeon Cragin 1817 1853 Embden, Somerset, Maine

Cleveland, William Parker 1833 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Dean, Samuel Jr. 1833 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Dillingham, Joseph S 1831 1853 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Dinsmore, Ephraim 1828 1853 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Eaton, Horace 1825 1853 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Gould, William Dinsmore 1821 1853 Norridgewock, Somerset, Maine

Hill, Ebenzer [sic] 1830 1853 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Hilton, John 1824 1853 Starks, Somerset, Maine

Hilton, Sarah Wheeler 1829 1853 Starks, Somerset, Maine

Holloway, Ansel 1831 Bef.

1853 Starks, Somerset, Maine

Hutchins, Cyrus L 1831 1853 New Portland, Somerset, Maine

Johnson, N ---- 1853 Brighton, Somerset, Maine

Kimball, Cyrus 1827 1853 Brighton, Somerset, Maine

Kinsmore, John Roscoe 1831 1853 Cornville, Somerset, Maine

Leighton, Albert 1826 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Longley, Wm 1830 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Marston, Norris 1823 1853 Smithfield, Somerset, Maine

Morrison, John Keith 1809 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Neil, Henry Baker c1827 1853 Smithfield, Somerset, Maine

Nowell, Samuel 1827 Bef.

1854 Fairfield, Somerset, Maine

Nye, Bartlett Samuel 1830-1832 1853 Fairfield, Somerset, Maine

Nye, Hiram 1836 Bef. 1861 Fairfield, Somerset, Maine

Page, Augustus C 1835 1853 Norridgewock, Somerset, Maine

Page, Henry S 1834 1853 Norridgewock, Somerset, Maine

Pearson, Wm Henry c1833 1853 Norridgewock, Somerset, Maine

Smiley, Shepherd Parkman 1828 1853 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Snow, Benjamin Kendall 1828 1852 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Spaulding, Charles Hudson 1831 1853 No. Anson, Somerset, Maine

Spaulding, Heman [sic] 1828 1852 Norridgewock, Somerset, Maine

Steward, Horatio 1827 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Steward, Philander Coburn 1832 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Steward, Charles Miller 1829 1853 Penobscot County, Maine (included here because of possible relationship to other Stewards)

Rankins, Thomas 1829 1852 Smithfield, Somerset, Maine

Richardson, Leonard 1831 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Teague, Francis 1795 1853 Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine

Thompson, Stephen 1833 1853 Starks, Somerset, Maine

Tufts, Charles 1835 1853 Starks, Somerset, Maine

Tufts, Hanson 1835 1853 Starks, Somerset, Maine

Walker, Cephas Raymond 1820 1852 Embden, Somerset, Maine

Waugh, Daniel 1820 1853 Starks, Somerset, Maine

Wentworth, William 1822 1853 Athens, Somerset, Maine

Weston, Ephraim 1827 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

Weston, Moody Joseph 1822 1853 Bloomfield, Somerset, Maine

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Additional note: Here is how I am related to Thomas Rankins.

Thomas Rankins (1830 - 1892)
3rd great-uncle
Joseph P. Rankins Sr. (1801 - 1882)
father of Thomas Rankins
Eleanor Ruth Rankins (1822 - 1914)
daughter of Joseph P. Rankins Sr.
Oscar J. Ellis (1852 - 1907)
son of Eleanor Ruth Rankins
Eva Josephine Ellis (1888 - 1943)
daughter of Oscar J. Ellis
Daniel Lawrence Harris (1907 - 1972)
son of Eva Josephine Ellis
Clair Marie Harris
You are the daughter of Daniel Lawrence Harris