I never knew that I had a great Uncle Thomas (actually gx3) until last June. I had some slight knowledge of my great grandfather, Charles SCREEN, Tailor, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, but that was it. Then I discovered Email. The first thing that happened was that in canvassing my surname interests in the soc.genealogy.britain newsgroup, I found Ruth. Now Ruth is a remarkable lady who has been researching the SCREEN family for a very long time and was able to immediately produce from the 1881 census materials my great grandfather and his family, and there was my grandmother, Lucy Louise, and my great Aunts remembered well from my childhood. Not only that, but she produced his father, also Charles, Tailor of Cheltenham, from the 1851 census. Shortly afterwards, I was able to find the births of both in the IGI and discovered that Charles the elder, was born in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, son of Thomas SCREEN and Jane Georgina HILL. While still a little doubtful of our own relationship, Ruth suggested that her SCREENS from the same district might be related to mine. Another three generations back and they were.

Spreading my search as I became more confident I joined Cliff Manis's Genserv system and was immediately rewarded by finding a lady in Queensland who had submitted a Thomas SCREEN of Thornbury in her data. This led me to a family in New Zealand whose grandfather was this Thomas, who kindly sent me a copy of his Baptismal record. Here he was, baptised in Thornbury and the son of Thomas and Jane Georgina! To think that I had relative in New Zealand of whom I knew nothing! But their story was even more thrilling. Thomas had first come to Australia seeking gold in Ballarat, but their knowledge of what he had been doing was very limited and mostly family memories.

So I set out to find Thomas and here is what I found.

Thomas SCREEN was born in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England, in 1830. He was baptised in Thornbury Parish Church on 29 August, 1830, (page 179, Entry no. 1431). His parents were Thomas SCREEN (b.1787) and Jane Georgina HILL who were married at St James Church, Bristol, a historic Benedictine Priory, on 14 November, 1814, (Parish Records on Fiche p152 entry no.455). There were other brothers, Robert , born 1817, William, born 1820, Charles, my great great grandfather, born 1822, and James, born 1826 . There were sisters, Mary Ann, born 1815, Hester, born 1824, Jane, born 1828 and Caroline, born 1832.

At the time of the 1851 census Thomas was living with his parents at Milbery Heath, in South Gloucestershire. (Source Ruth White, Parish Records on fiche at Bristol Record Centre) His other siblings were living in other parts of Gloucestershire or Bristol. (from the Bristol & Avon FHS fiche for the areas and a Gloucestershire FHS printout) He is described as an agricultural labourer. It would be interesting to know whether during this period of his life, he may have been receiving training for his later occupations in Australia and New Zealand.

In June 1856, when 26 years old, Thomas left Liverpool on the Saldanha and arrived in Port Philip, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in September 1856 ( National Library of Australia, Shipping Records and Immigration Records into Victoria, fiche B112). In the manifest he is described as a labourer. It is suggested by family stories, that he intended to join a group setting up a Tannery, but that his proposed partners had lost the business before he arrived. Family knowledge suggests that he also worked for a company providing water for mining, and that at sometime he worked as a Miner.

There is no record which I could find of Thomas applying for a gold mining lease or a miner's license, so that this was probably not a large part of his occupation. There are certain facts recorded about local businesses which seemed to cast a light on what Thomas was doing. In 1857 an American named Kirk started a company which brought water from the higher ground at Warrenheip into the diggings. Although there may have been others which I have not found, it is possible that Thomas worked for this group for a while. I have not found in Ballarat directories at this early stage of his life in Ballarat. This may suggest a more itinerant lifestyle consistent with working outside the town, possibly for such a company. He first appears in the Victorian Postal Directory in 1861, the year he married Mary Ann MOSS from London (Victoria Register of Marriages, no. 35. The actual marriage certificate is No. 5 for Ballarat in 1861). This took place in Christchurch, Church of England, Ballarat.

The certificate is dated 17th January 1861, Thomas SCREEN is described as Bachelor, aged 31, born in Thornbury Gloucestershire and by profession a Tanner. His parents are indicated as Thomas SCREEN and Jane HILL; his father is described as a Farmer. Mary Ann MOSS was a spinster, aged 30, born Stepney, London; parents Isaac MOSS a Stay maker, ie. a maker of corsets, and her mother is Mary PHILPOTT. Mary Ann's profession is indicated as Hat Trimmer. Both bride and groom are said to be living in Ballarat. The Celebrant was John POTTER and the witnesses Pat POWERS (?) and Eliza DELANEY. Both Bride and Groom signed the records and signified that they were members of the Church of England. The marriage was by license.

A Mary Ann MOSS was born in Bethnal Green in the September quarter of 1840 (GRO vol. II entry 21), the IGI states that she was the daughter of Isaac MOSS and mother Mary (surname unrecorded). These details seem to fit but the date is ten years too late. There could be a mistake in the age on the certificate, but this is more likely to be a different person with very similar details . Bethnal Green and Stepney are on opposite sides of Whitechapel Road, so there would be no problem in Mary Ann describing the place of Birth as one and the certificate showing the other. They might have lived in Stepney but the Registry could have been in Bethnal Green. This needs a further check. Unfortunately the GRO does not exist before 1837. Need to check parish records for 1830.

A Mary A MOSS travelled from London on the British Empire, arriving in Melbourne, Port Philip, in March 1853. She is described in the Passenger list (National Library of Australia, Shipping Records Fiche B031) as a servant, aged 23. This is compatible with the birth in 1830 calculated from her Marriage certificate. Five other Mary Moss's travelled between 1852 and 1859 but all would be either significantly older or significantly younger and can be discounted. An Isaac MOSS travelled to Melbourne on the "Ida", arriving on 12 July 1853. He was 16 years old, Church of England, could read and write and had been engaged by a Mr Grasswell of Bronte (my interpretation of the address may be faulty) On the same vessel was a Mary Moss but as I have not been able to find her in the detailed manifest I have no other information. There are other Moss families to be found but none with an obvious connection.

It is useful to look at the directories of the period to find Thomas and Mary Ann.. The Victorian Postal Directory for 1861 first shows Thomas as a Tanner living at 152 Sturt Street, Ballarat, as does the 1865/1866 directory. He is also noted in a different directory for 1862 as living in Sturt St, occupation Tanner. There is no number, but the names of occupants are ordered in this directory in the manner in which the houses run. This puts Thomas in the section of Sturt St between the Northumberland Hotel, on the corner of Sturt and Ripon Sts, and the Yorkshire Arms, which was next to the Victoria Mine between Parker and Service Streets. There was another tanner, J Boundy, living in the same block a couple of houses from Thomas. The city Rate Books for 1861 to 1864 indicate that this was a cottage on the North side of Sturt St (confirmation of the above) and that Thomas was the occupier not the owner. The Postal Directories for 1866/67 show him still at the same place in Sturt St but does not give an occupation. The directories for 1868 to 1870 give Mary Ann Screen as living at a Sturt St address and describes her as a Laundress. One person with whom I have discussed this suggests that use of the woman's name and occupation suggests she was living without a husband. However the Rate books for 1869 and 1870 indicate that Thomas was in Sturt St at what seems to be a different block in Ballarat West (across the creek which divided the town) and as the owner of the cottage rated at £15 p.a. I am given to understand that this is probably the same block but the numbers have changed. He is still described as a Tanner though another source describes him as a Farm worker. There are no entries in the Postal Directories for Thomas and Mary Ann after 1870, supporting the view that Thomas left for New Zealand soon after his wife's death.

Whether Thomas and Mary Ann owned a house which they lived in, while she conducted a business at a different address, cannot be solved as the numbers were changed from time to time. There is no alternative address for Mary Ann in the Rate Book. Perhaps from the economic point of view it became important to stress the Laundry business in the Postal Directory.

Thomas's work as a Tanner needs further examination. I am told that the only Tannery in Ballarat at the time was Graham's and the Tannery itself was in Buninyong, 6 miles from the town. This may be of later significance. Graham's had a factory and Shop on the corner of Armstrong St close to the present centre of the city of Ballarat. A drawing of the shop and of the Tannery in Buninyong appears on their letterhead. There is also a photograph of the tannery in existence. ("An Illustrated History of Buninyong" Buninyong Historical Society) It would not have been unreasonable for Thomas to ride to Buninyong to his place of work. He could of course have been a worker in the factory at the back of the shop, although unlikely then to be described as a Tanner. I have not been able to ascertain from the books on Buninyong history when the Tannery passed into the hands of the Graham family, but it was operating under A C Davies from the early 1850s. Davies is a Welsh name. Wales is just across the Severn from Thornbury. Is this the person with whom Thomas had hoped to go into partnership? Had he gone into partnership with Graham before Thomas arrived?

The first child of Thomas and Mary Ann , Louisa Jane SCREEN was born in Ballarat in 1862 (Victoria Register of Births entry no. 219) She died in 1863 in Ballarat (Victoria Register of Deaths entry no. 121) and was buried in Ballarat Old Cemetery on 5 Jan 1863 at the age of 13 months (Ballarat Cemetery Records). A second child, Mary Jane SCREEN, was born in Ballarat in 1863 (Vic reg no.12024) Both these are confirmed children of Thomas and Mary Ann. The Birth Certificate of Mary Jane states that she was born on 11 June 1863 at Ballarat West. This address seems to confirm that the family occupied the same house from 1861 to 1870. Thomas SCREEN, aged 32, is described as a Miner. The mother is Mary Ann MOSS, b. Stepney, London, aged 32. The nurse attending the birth was Mrs COOPER and the Deputy Registrar is William Thomas DOOLEY. The certificate also records that there was another child, Louisa, deceased. There is an error on the certificate as it states that the parents were married in Ballarat in 1860, not 1861.

Thomas's wife, Mary Ann SCREEN, died in Ballarat in 1870 (Vic Reg no. 6173), and her parentage is confirmed in the record. There is no record of her being treated in hospital. She was buried in Ballarat Old Cemetery on 29 August 1870. There is no record of the plot in which Mary Ann and her baby were buried, but I was able to identify the general area in which burials from about 1840 to 1870 took place. The photograph I have taken is of that general area and the white tombstone in the picture records the names of four persons named Moss who were interred between 1840 and 1860. It is interesting to think that she may be buried near other members of her own family. There are several other Mosses recorded as immigrants at the period, and a Francis MOSS was a very successful horticulturalist in Buninyong.

The story in family memory is that when Thomas departed for New Zealand, after his wife's death, Mary Jane was adopted by a local doctor. There are no official adoptions until 1900 so this cannot be followed up easily. It is certain however from what follows that Mary Jane SCREEN kept her name into adulthood.

Mary Jane is not found again, until thirty years later, in the Marriage Records. Victorian Record no. 5287, Ballarat district page 18 entry no. 31 records the marriage of John GREGORY, Batchelor, born in Parsons' Town, Kings County ,Ireland (now Birr, county of Offally), to Mary Jane SCREEN, Spinster, born Ballarat, Victoria. It gives the parents of John as John GREGORY and Ann SPENCER, and those of Mary Jane as Thomas SCREEN and Mary Ann MOSS. John, aged 51 is a Farmer and Mary Jane a Housekeeper. Both fathers are described as Farmers. The marriage took place at the Presbyterian Manse, Buninyong, on 29 September 1900,and was celebrated by James A Forest. They were married by licence according to the form of the Presbyterian church and the witnesses were F A Anderson and Jeanie McAlpin.. There is no account of the wedding in the Ballarat newspapers, but there was a small newspaper in Buninyong at the time and a copy is being sought in the Victoria State Library.

There is a puzzle concerning the marriage in Buninyong. Mary Jane's parents were Church of England, however it is not known how she was brought up by whoever she was left with at the age of seven years when her father went to New Zealand. John GREGORY may have been an Irish Presbyterian. But there was a Presbyterian Church in Ballarat at this time, and this is where they both are said to have lived at the time of the marriage. They were married by licence which suggests that they may not have lived in the Parish. John GREGORY's properties were all north around Warrak.

The two other marriages on the same page of the register are also by licence and took place at the Manse, not the church. The indication of the Manse is a mystery. Could it be that the Minister would not marry persons not members of his congregation in the Church, but only at the Manse? Or was the Church undergoing substantial repairs? This has to be researched.

Then why marry in Buninyong when there was a Presbyterian Church in Ballarat? Let's go back to Thomas who worked as a Tanner. The only Tannery in the district was at Buninyong. Was his association with the Tannery owners continued by the daughter?

There is a photograph of Mr and Mrs Frank Graham, the owners of the Tannery in front of their house, "Netherby". ("An Illustrated History of Buninyong" Buninyong Historical Society) This house had been owned until July 1879 by a Dr Sparling and then by Dr Scott, who was followed by Dr Hardie in 1884. Perhaps the Doctor with whom Mary Jane had been left was in Buninyong, not Ballarat? Could it be that she had later worked as a Housekeeper for the Grahams and that they had hosted her wedding? This is of course complete speculation and there seems to be no obvious way of finding the facts. Another very tenuous association is that Francis Moss an early nurseryman of the district lived in a house named "Mossmont" in the 1860s with his family. The house still stands in Webb's Hill Road, Buninyong.

Mary Jane and John lived, after marriage, at 403 Brougham St, Ballarat. In his Probate records some years later it is described as 'Land Allotment 3 Section P, Town and Parish of Ballarat, with seven rooms. Weatherboard dwelling with detached woodshed and conveniences. Its value in 1929 was £ 450. The year after their marriage, in 1901, their first son Henry Spencer GREGORY, was born (Victoria Birth records 1901 no.444). Another son Thomas Screen GREGORY was born two years later ( entry no. 7722 for 1903 in the Victorian Records). Henry was in the 2nd AIF and appears to have died in WWII. Thomas Screen, (who appears to have been known as Greg) went to Ballarat Agricultural High School and to Melbourne University where he studied Veterinary Science. In WWII he served as a Bacteriologist and later at the Malaria Research Unit in Cairns. Later, Thomas became the Head of the Animal Health Division of CSIRO until his retirement in 1966. ( details from Obituary, Melbourne Age 7 April 1972)

To return to John Gregory; he died in Ballarat on 6 Oct 1929 (Victorian Death Records entry no. 12893 and Probate application) aged 79 years. He was buried at Ballarat New Cemetery on 18 Oct 1929 ( Area Private F, Section 1, Row 1, Grave 5).

The following notices appeared in the Ballarat Courier,

"GREGORY, John
The friends of the late John Gregory are informed that the funeral will leave his residence, 403 Brougham Street , tomorrow (Friday) 18th inst. At 11 am for the Ballarat New Cemetery. Funeral Strictly private. No flowers by request."

"Gregory, John
Suddenly on 16th October at his residence 403 Brougham Street, Ballarat, John beloved husband of Mary Gregory and loved father of Harry and Tom. In his 79th year. Funeral strictly private. No flowers by request."

"Gregory, John
At his residence, 403 Brougham Street, Ballarat, John Gregory, beloved uncle of Thomas, Henry, John and Etta Mathews, Florence (Mrs Burgoyne), Annie (Mrs Watkins), May (Mrs Holden) and Elsie (Mrs Knight)"

These names of nieces and nephews, presumably the children of a sister, should be compared with those in the later death notices for Mary Jane.

Surprisingly, for a prosperous grazier, he did not leave a will, and his widow, Mary Jane had to apply for probate. The Authority to her solicitors to act for her still exists and I have a copy bearing her signature. (Victoria Probate Records series 233 no. 272) In addition to the house at 403 Brougham St North, it included, (Land Crown Grant Vol 4166 Fol. 833060) John left land in the Parish of Warrack, County of Borung; and the Parish of Colvinsby, County of Ripon. All these properties were in the Land District of Ararat and to the north of Ballarat. There were 15 acres of oats, sheep, 250 hives of bees, harrows, plows, a reaper, a thresher and an oil engined chaff cutter. The grant to administer the estate was given on 13 December 1829.

I have examined the land maps of 1932, and by this time the farming blocks all belonged to other persons. In 1962 the house on Brougham Street belonged to an A. Gregory. Presumably it had been sold or left to another member of the family.

Mary Jane Gregory died in the Ballarat Private Hospital on 9 April 1948. Her death notice appeared in the Ballarat Courier on April 13. '.. of 403 Brougham Street, widow of the late John Gregory and loved mother of Henry deceased 2nd AIF and Thomas. Privately interred April 12'. She was buried in the same grave as her husband in the Ballarat New Cemetery. The grave is unmarked, not even a name, although it can be found with the assistance of cemetery staff, who are extremely helpful.

Two other notices appear in the Ballarat Courier.

"On April 9 at Ballarat, Mary, loved Aunt of Anne and James Watkin of 403 Brougham Street, Ballarat"

and

"On April ( at Ballarat, Mary, loved aunt of Florence (Mrs Burgoyne), Anne (Mrs Watkin), May (Mrs Holden) and Elsie (Mrs Knight)"

It is assumed that these were nieces of Mary Jane's husband (see also the death notices for John Gregory) and that the Watkins lived with her. Should it be possible to contact them or their children, perhaps some of the outstanding questions about Mary Jane's life might be answered. Mary Jane left no will. It may be that the A Gregory shown on the town plan as the owner of the 403 Brougham St North block in 1962 is related to the Gregory family. Mary Jane left no will as far as can be traced in the official records.

If there are any members of the niece's families still living in the area, I would be very pleased to hear from them. Perhaps they might be able to cast some light on the missing 30 years of her younger life, or tell me more about her.

Her son, Thomas Screen GREGORY died at Traralgon, Victoria, on 3 April 1972. To think that I had been living in Australia for 16 years while he was alive. An Obituary in the Melbourne Age of 7 April reads as follows,

"CSIRO Man Dies at 69

One of Australia's leading veterinarians, Dr Thomas Screen GREGORY, died at Traralgon this week. Dr Gregory was chief of CSIRO's Animal Health Division from 1959 to his retirement in 1966. Born in Ballarat, Dr Gregory was educated at Melbourne University and Ballarat Agricultural High School. He served in the AIF in WWII as a bacteriologist. Later in the War he worked with a research team in Cairns on malaria. He leaves a wife. The Funeral was yesterday."

CSIRO is the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation of Australia.

In the same edition of the Age are three death notices.

"Gregory, Dr Thomas S
Suddenly, on 3 April, dear Greg, husband of Iris"

"Gregory, Dr Thomas S
On 3 April. Loving memories Greg. Pierre, Dorothy, Tracy and Stephen"

"Gregory, Dr Thomas S
Suddenly on 3 April (Greg). Fond remembrances. Marjorie and Arthur"

These must have been his friends as no children are mentioned.

If the persons mentioned in the death notices are known, it would be a privilege to hear from them about my unknown second cousin twice removed. His real cousins, living in New Zealand, the issue of Thomas's second family would also like to know more about these cousins they never knew. Filling in the gaps about my unknown relatives has become important to me, especially as I lived in Australia during Thomas GREGORY's life and may even have met him at one stage of my work.

The possibilities for further investigation will depend on the willingness of people who have been associated to give me information. Sadly this part of the SCREEN family has probably gone.