After my last post, I was contacted by a number of John Patrick's descendants and provided with more information about the family. I've now updated the entry to reflect these and would like to thank everyone for their help and interest.
In particular I'd like to thank Lyn Rasmassen of Bendigo. Lyn is the granddaughter of Winifred Alice Nibbs (1907-1970) Like so many of us, she had no idea about the extent of the Nibbs family and it's various branches. I was lucky enough to meet with Lyn when I visited Victoria in May and we had lots to talk about. A highlight was a recording of a conversation that Lyn had with her Uncle Bill on Anzac Day 2015. Bill was her mother's brother - William John Richards. Sadly, he passed away in 2016 but Lyn gave me a copy of the recording and I've now transcribed it, see below. At the end, I've tried to identify the people he talks about. Once again, any further information or corrections are always welcome.
Transcript of Conversation between Lyn Rasmussen and her uncle Bill Richards.
Anzac Day 2015
Bill:
My grandfather’s brother Uncle Tom Nibbs was in the First World War. He signed up in 1914 at the age of 40 because up to 45 was the age they would take anyone.
Now, he was a machine gunnest – and he made a vow that he would look after Wilfred… and he tried desperately to get him into the machine gun branch – but he wasn’t allowed to… he wasn’t allowed to. Now, he came back – he came from the war and he marred a woman that – He didn’t marry till he was 60 something years of age.. and he married a woman, Aunty Amy who was in her early twenties – in her early twenties.
Lyn:
That was a big age gap.
Bill:
Yeah… Very big.
Now, Uncle Tom, he had a child. Uncle Tom and Aunty Amy had a child and his name was Brian Nibbs.
Now, I was photographed with Brian Nibbs when I was 12 years of age, when he was just a baby and I've got that photograph of him. I’m nursing him when he was about 3 months old, and he’s still alive. So, he’s a Nibbs as well.
Lyn:
Is he really. So, does he live in Strahan?
Bill:
He lives in Smithton, He’s a Smithton man.
Lyn:
Yep. Smithton, OK. Wow.
Bill:
Yes. So, Uncle Tom he came back from the war.
Lyn:
So, you got a lot of info and it was a really good visit when you went over to Tassie a couple of years ago.
Bill:
Yeah and one of the information … so, um, What I found out that was one of the most interesting traumatic news I ever heard of… This cousin of mine who lives in Wynyard … who lives in Wynyard, right… a cousin of mine.
My grandmother … her grandmother and my grandmother were supposed to be friends or something like that.
Now, she researched a lot of family for me and she got a lot of history and I often wondered… I asked her and they came over here from Tassie and she wanted to know where I was. She didn’t know where I was, so she researched… she thought I was dead. So she researched and found out that your mother was buried in Bendigo.
Then she found out your address and Christine’s address and got all the information from the cemetery and found out I was still alive.
So she got my address, etc and then rang me up from Geelong.. so came to our place… her and her husband, and we had lots to talk about and all that sort of thing and then when we went over to Tassie we stayed in Wynyard for about two weeks and saw them on a regular basis… and one of my cousins, June… One of my first cousins June, we took her out to lunch down to Marrawah to Aunt Alice and Uncle Jack’s farm. Which they had… Uncle Jack was blind and he still worked the dairy farm with Aunt Alice… still worked the dairy farm.
Lyn:
Wow
Bill:
So, we went down and had a look at the old dairy farm and poor June, she went into a nursing home and she subsequently died.
But the biggest bit of news I got, this cousin of mine, she looked up all the info she could get and she found a wedding certificate at a church in Burnie in Tasmania. It was a wedding certificate of your grandmothers and my mothers wedding when she was eighteen years of age.
Lyn:
Yeah.. That was a bit young wasn’t it.
Bill:
Yeah, very young.
… and she married an Irishman by the name of O’Riley. Now we believe he may have been a woodcutter of sawmiller up on the bush or something, but we researched and we couldn’ t find where this ORiley was anywhere and this is one of the reasons, we reckon, that my mother and my grandfather came to Victoria. So that’s … and then she met my father and all the rest of it, but that bit I don’t know anything from when she was eighteen onwards until she met my father.
Lyn:
So would this O’Riley have just disappeared? Would she have had to swerve a certain amount of time to get an annulment or would she have divorced, or…?
Bill:
Probably, would have divorced or something, but we don’t know whether she was or not, don’t know.
Lyn:
That’s funny isn’t it because Nanna was always a very prim and proper person wasn’t she?
Bill:
Yeah.
Lyn:
I mean, we always thought that she was, you know, go to church, not swear, do everything right, and yet to find that sort of stuff in your family history is interesting.
Bill:
Yeah… Well the wedding certificate was signed by John W Nibbs, her
Footnotes:
1. Uncle Tom – Thomas Henry Nibbs 1878-1960. Tom was actually in his 40's when he married... not his 60's. Thanks for the update Trish Nibbs.
2. Wilfred – Wilfred Alice Nibbs 1896-1915. Tom’s nephew and son of Johm William (Jack) Nibbs and Ellen Ollington. He was wounded at Gallipoli and died of his wounds.
3. Aunty Amy – Amy Eva Helen Bentley wife of Thomas Henry Nibbs
4. Brian Nibbs – 1947 – living in Smithton
5. Cousin in Wynyard – Unknown: Thanks to Julie Ann Lovell for her response: "The cousin in Wynyard was probably Joy Nibbs my auntie who was married to Ted Dunn at the time. Sister of Brian, June, Tommy, Jimmy, Geoffrey"
6. Christine - daughter of Geoffrey ‘Jogga’ Nibbs 1926-1991 ?
7. June – Bill’s 1st cousin – June Mary Nibbs 1925-2011. Daughter of Thomas Henry and Amy Nibbs
8. Aunt Alice and Uncle Jack - Emily Alice Nibbs 1882-1969 and her husband John (Jack) Ward Gale 1870-1961. They died in the 1960’s so his memory may have been from an earlier visit.
9. Bill’s mother Winifred Alice Nibbs did marry an Irishman in Burnie, but his name was Martin Connolly. Their divorce was noted in The Burnie Advocate dated 22 July 1930 p.2
Connolly v Connolly
Winifred Alice Connolly applied for a divorce from her husband Martin James Connolly, on the grounds of desertion.
Petitioner stated that she was married at Burnie on December 4, 1924 and resided there for about five months. Her husband who was a timber worker obtained work about 14 miles from Smithton where he went to reside, returning home for the weekends. A fortnight before Christmas 1925 he informed her that he was going away and would not return. He left her the next day and she has not seen him since. She had to support herself and was now working in Melbourne.
His Honor granted a decree nisi.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.new-article67730594
To Lyn Rasmussen... you can stop worrying now - your Nanna was prim and proper. Pity Uncle Bill didn't hear this before he passed away - Denece
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