9or quite some time I had been stuck at my great great grandfather William Dodds, I had a birth date of 1853 and then the only other information was birth and death of his children and his death date.. I had found another William Dodds in Tasmania born in 1853, he was born to an Irish convict Samuel and a Sarah Gleeson. This connection was really hard to pin to William, there was nothing there. I was stuck. Years this dead end taunted me. Other lines, I have taken back way back.. here I was stuck with my great great grandfather.
That is until DNA broke down that wall. I was able to match with a relative who is descended from Isabella (William's widow) and her new husband John Boucher Hodges. After William died, Isabella remarried 3 months later, then they took of to Western Australia, for the gold rush in 1894. Four months after the death of William, Isabella had a child and named him Thomas Boucher Hodges. (Is he Williams child and named for the new husband as they were married, or did Isabella cheat on her husband?) I had a match in my DNA and I messaged her and received a reply, after a bit of conversing, I received Isabella and Williams marriage certificate and I was able to piece everything together from there. William and Isabella were born in Northumberland England and sailed to South Australia in 1879 on board the Trevelyen. I know from death announcement in the newspaper that William's brother joined him ( he was not listed on the Trevelyen, so he could have come before or after William and Isabella). So now I have found William's parents, John G Dodds and Mary Ann Greener, sister Jane and his older brother John ( Who was a police constable in Adelaide). The search continues, who is Mary Ann, who is John, did they have more kids? so much more to learn, but I am so glad I have had this break through! The family come from Newcastle Upon Tyne, so I can put my best Geordie Shore accent on and say "wai aye lets get canny mortal man!"
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AuthorMy name is Davina and I have been researching my family history since 2011. I started with almost nothing but ended up with a wealth of information and I needed an outlet to show and display all the information I have found. Archives
September 2023
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