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My 3rd great grandparents John Billin and Mary (nee Symons) with their four children (including my 2nd great grandmother Emma Symons Treloar Billin, aged 5) left Plymouth, Devon, England on 11 May 1849 and arrived at Port Adelaide, South Australia on 23 Aug 1849.

On one of the documents associated with that voyage (see below) there is a column headed "From what County selected" and the entry for John Billin lists "Middlesex".

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John Billin was certainly a Tailor after taking over his deceased father's business in Helston, Cornwall, England on 19 Jun 1839 but that business folded on 16 Apr 1845 (see below).

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The names and ages of the family all match up with Helston christening records so I am very confident that this is the family in which I am interested.

I am keen to know whether the Middlesex reference indicates that John and his family had moved to Middlesex for perhaps a few years before emigrating (for which I have no other evidence), or whether an alternative theory that John may just have gone there "for an interview" might be plausible.

I suspect that gaining a better understanding of the "selection process" for South Australian immigrants at that time and place might be helpful.

How should the entries in the "From what County selected" column on a document such as this be interpreted?

PolyGeo
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  • As a possible line of research I suggest looking for other passengers from the same county, then looking for other records from the county in the years immediately preceding the voyage. – Jan Murphy Aug 17 '14 at 04:23
  • Google Books: [A hand-book to the colony of South Australia, by the ed. of the 'Australian and New Zealand gazette'.] (http://books.google.com/books?id=bShcAAAAQAAJ&dq=australia+%22assisted+emigration%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s) published 1858 is too late for your question, but see page 23 for the section ASSISTED EMIGRATION REGULATIONS in effect at that time. If you can find a similar guidebook for the decade prior, that might give some insight into the selection process. – Jan Murphy Aug 17 '14 at 05:08
  • Also, if you have a University Library nearby, perhaps you could find this journal article: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF03029555 – Jan Murphy Aug 17 '14 at 05:17
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    @JanMurphy I've just found that the House of Commons Volume 40 has a number of mentions about the "Eliza" and other Emigration and policies at that time http://books.google.com.au/books?id=po8SAAAAYAAJ – PolyGeo Aug 17 '14 at 08:10
  • Unfortunately the oldest directory in the collection of Historical Directories of England & Wales at University of Leicester is from 1855, too late for this question; plus the information for these directories is not as extensive as it might be, 100 years later. – Jan Murphy Aug 18 '14 at 21:39
  • The Ships List might say. Will post links later. – Jan Murphy Oct 30 '14 at 08:39
  • At http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/eliza1849.shtml it has Middlesex against John Billin in the "Birthplace" column but I am confident that he was christened at Helston, Cornwall on 18 Dec 1814 so I think someone may have misunderstood or incorrectly transcribed their data. – PolyGeo Oct 30 '14 at 09:47
  • Here's the link to the page I was viewing last night: Immigrants to South Australia, UK, assisted passage, 1847-1886 thought the supplemental links and other material might be of interest. – Jan Murphy Oct 30 '14 at 21:00
  • Many thanks @JanMurphy - that part of the site is another great resource that I was unaware of. – PolyGeo Oct 30 '14 at 21:28
  • The section about "Emigrants leaving the Colony" on that page may also be relevant to your Antelope question. It seems many people took ship to whatever port they could and then took local shipping afterwards to get to their final destination. Sorry I wasn't more clear, but last night I was reading on my phone, so couldn't paste the link. – Jan Murphy Oct 30 '14 at 21:36
  • Thanks again @JanMurphy - that section is very interesting even though it talks about emigrants arriving in Adelaide (then going to Melbourne) rather than the other way like my Hitchcox ancestors. I think there may still be more I can learn about their emigration, and you have given me some great leads! – PolyGeo Oct 30 '14 at 21:44

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I think the answer is largely in front of you, "From What County Selected" is where they were selected from for immigration, but not where they are originally from or currently residing.

The bankruptcy / debt notice you posted you posted is where at the time of the filing where announced and which court jurisdiction it was in. Over the four years in between he may have also accumulated more debt else where. His creditors / supplies could have been in multiple locations or like any debt it may have been transferred. So from what I have read from other documents and discussions.

So from what I can tell how you should interpret it is that at the time of selection for immigration the debt resided in Middlesex.

CRSouser
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  • +1 Thanks for your input on this, it does seem like his debt resided in London/Middlesex. I wonder if having such a debt obligated him to live near it to help sort out what was owing to the creditors. I think I'll research/ask about whether the deed mentioned would be traceable today and may shed some further light like his address at the time. – PolyGeo Nov 13 '14 at 23:52