marriage for Henry Ross & Margaret

[SarahND]

One of their children[Alice] married a George Rice and lived in Fresno.

This one thankfully doesn't appear to be her first cousin! His parents were born in Arkansas and Iowa according to the census.

Cheers,
Sarah

[janneymc]

THanks so much for clarifying that Sarah. I don't suppose you know if there are any old newspapers that may have obituaries for the Fresno region. Henry died in Dec 1888, not sure where Margaret died but mos of their children lived in the area for many years.
Cheers
Jan

[SarahND]

Hi Jan,

Have a look at the Fresno County Library site: http://www.fresnolibrary.org/calif/index.html

There is a link to searchable old newspapers: Fresno Weekly/Morning Republican (1876-1921) and the Fresno Bee (1923-1978)

You need a library subscription to access them, but the fact that they exist at all means that, as someone who lives far from there, you might be able to ask the librarian to search for you. They may charge a small fee for sending you the articles. You can send a query at the top of the page and find out what is possible.

All the best,
Sarah

P.S. Later: I see that these newspapers are on Ancestry.com. Well worth a month's subscription to have a look. Or, you can wait for one of the regular freebees that come around now and then.

[SarahND]

Hi Jan,
Just found this in the History of Fresno County, California, published by Wallace W. Elliott & Co Publishers, San Francisco 1882. Your Henry had an interesting life!

Henry Ross of Kingsburg, was born in Morrayshire Scotland, June 5 1840. At the age of fifteen years he was apprenticed to a house carpenter for five years and worked at his trade two years in Scotland, and then went to London, England, where he worked a season on the Crystal Palace; from there he went to Rockhampton, Australia, in the ship Eutolia, and lived in the bush one year.

He also worked at his trade till 1866, when he took passage at Sidney on the ship Nimrod for San Francisco, Cal., where he arrived in sixty days, February, 1867.

In San Francisco and Oakland he worked at house-building till 1870, when he came to Fresno County and engaged in wool growing. In 1878 he bought 640 acres of land, and began general farming on land located eighteen miles from county seat, five miles from railroad and two miles only from church and schools. His land produces from twenty-five to thirty bushels wheat per acre and eight tons of alfalfa in a season. His stock consists chiefly of Jersey cattle, Berkshire hogs and Merino sheep. He has an orchard of 500 trees, apples, pears, peaches and almonds.

In 1869 he married Miss Margaret Ryce, a native of Ayrshire, Scotland. They have three boys and two girls, whose names are Maggie, George, Edwin, Alice and Henry Ross.

[SarahND]

Last post of the day/week:

To tantalize you: There's a photo of James Ryce (Margaret's brother) on May 12, 1940 in the Fresno Bee. The article about "Pioneer Days in Fresno County" is well worth a read, as it seems the Ryces came via Australia as well!
Sorry, I'm supposed to pack now to leave for a week-- my husband is dropping large hints and I really have to run.

Cheers,
Sarah

[garibaldired]

Wow!
Jan How lucky are you!


Meg

[janneymc]

Sarah, You are amazing!!!! THank you so much. This is fantastic. I wondered if the family had gone to Australia first last night when I found the Ryce's on the 1870 census with one child born in Australia. I think a couple of children must have died along the way. But Henry obviously met Margaret on the boat from Sydney not from the UK. How fascinating. This is so exciting!!!
Thank you SO much
Cheers
Jan

[Currie]

Hello Jan, here are a few scraps from me.

In the R document on this page there’s an arrival in Queensland 11 November, 1862, on the “Utopia” Henry Ross, age 22. Eutolia sounds like a mangled version of Utopia.
http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/research ... ration.asp

If you go to this site and search for Utopia then narrow it down to Brisbane Courier in the 1860s you’ll find a number of articles regarding its rather bumpy arrival. http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home
But for some quicker information try http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~auscq ... utopia.htm

Here’s the birth of the Ryce child in Queensland.
1864/B2741, Ryce Jessie, Andrew Crawford, Margaret Wilson
https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch/BirIndexQry.m

And an advert for the “Nimrod”, leaving Sydney, on what would be the same voyage. (middle of column 1)
http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1276847

Hope that helps,
Alan

[janneymc]

Alan, thank you so much for all that information. I also found Margaret Ryce age15 arriving on the Prince Consort on 30 Mar 1864. But where are her parents?? very strange as they obviously came too since their child Jessie was born in 1864 in Australia . Is there any site where you can see the list of passengers for this ship?
Thanks again
Jan

[deano]

Hello Jan,

The Margaret Wilson, who married Andrew Crawford Rice/Ryce. well her parents were James Wilson, and Margaret Marr, who were married 30/Nov/1830. Mauchline, Ayr.

Andrew Crawford Rice, was born 22/Jan/1829. Mauchline, Ayr, to parents Robert Rice, and Elizabeth Crawford, who were married 28/May/1822. Mauchline, Ayr.

Regards,
Jonn.