When I first thought about about constructing this
site my secondary aims were to honour the ancestors and inform the
young. However, my primary aim was, and still is, to learn more about
the family. At the beginning, my knowledge of Edgar ancestry was scant.
It still falls short in many areas. So please send any new information,
corrections or images to archaeoaust@yahoo.com.au
Many
kind people have helped me in researching the data needed to construct
this document. I would like to acknowledge their help here.
First, Tessa
who has been a pillar even though she sometimes grumbles about the time
I spend on the computer when I could be helping around the house and
garden. When (if) she gets around to doing her own family history
(Lydon and Williams) she will find out how time consuming and endless
it can be.
Most importantly, Maggie Tucker whose
rediscovery and retyping of the Newletters of the Victoria based Society of Edgar
Families and making the resulting work available on the internet at http://edgar.society.newsletters.googlepages.com is
probably the single most valuable Edgar resource in Australia if not
the world. You will find the phrase "thank you Maggie Tucker" scattered
liberally throughout. Although she is an Edgar descendant, her main interest is in the Hope family which she has documented in detail at http://stemmata.googlepages.com
Graham Campbell, M.B.B.S (Hons), B.Sc.Agr, for being prepared to speculate on the meaning of the causes of death shown on some 19th Century Death Certificates.
Griffith Genealogical & Historical Society at http://users.dragnet.com.au/~ggahs/cem.htm for records of the Errebendery Station cemetery.
Helen Castle,
who has a large data base of Edgar researchers which she shared with
me, even though the Edgar family is peripheral to her own interests. You can find her site at http://addison.homedns.org/
Beverly Chambers, Jan Howell and Lola Wilson
all helped with particular information. Lola, especially, has reminded
me of the necessity of gaining permission to publish even family
photographs, something I hadn't even considered previously.
Rusheen Craig and the NSW-WEST-L mailing list at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~surreal/NSWW/faq.html#subscribing for information about licence conditions for publicans and billiard parlour proprietors.
David Edgar, of Harrow, the latest David to run the property, for permission to use images and other Edgar material in his possession.
Richard Edgar, of Ireland, has an Edgar website with considerable detail and links to other sites about many branches of the family at http://www.geocities.com/edgarwebsites/
Anne Grant of the Glenelg Shire Council History House (The old Portland Town Hall) for material about David Edgar: http://www.glenelg.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.asp?Page_Id=876&h=1
Kate McCarthy, who provided information about the life of Halbert James Edgar and images of he and his wife, Elizabeth Ann Rundle.
The Western Age newspaper and the specialists at the Mitchell and the State Libraries of NSW who helped me research it.
Finally, members of family who kept old photos and documents (both before and after corrections, see below).
A cautionary tale for beginners like me:
If
you have an unusual name in your family, be sceptical, very sceptical,
of official records. If you have an elderly relative who says "that's
wrong" when shown an official document don't dismiss them out of hand
as a victim of failing memory. Investigate, particularly if the
document is based on a telephoned or other verbal report or the
interpretation of somebody's handwriting.
RESIST the
tendency to regard official documents as gospel. They are only as
reliable as the informants who supplied the information and the people
who transcribed it.
Two examples:
The
name Halbert occurs in every generation of my direct family ending with
my father who was named Halbert Emil Edgar. A number of official
records have shown him variously as Albert or (occasionally) Herbert.
On one occasion he was Albert Emilie.
If your parents come from
outback Australia but you were born, for emergency reasons, in a big
city maternity hospital where at least some of the staff are
geographically challenged you may be extremely surprised to find that
your parents came from Como, a southern Sydney suburb, rather than
Cobar, a western New South Wales town.
Another caution:
Do
not assume that all your living family members will be happy to have
even basic details about them published. Consult before you act
otherwise you may be in for some nasty surprises. I am waiting, tense,
with some trepidation.
Books:
Arkley, Lindsay. 2000. The Hated Protector (The Story of Charles Wightman Sievwight, Protector of Aborigines, 1839-1842). Melbourne: Orbit Press.
Clelland, W. 1984. Cobar Founding Fathers. Dubbo: Macquarie Publications.
Edgar, A. B. 1815. Genealogical collections concerning the Scottish House of Edgar: With a memoir of James Edgar. London: Grampian Club.
This book has a lot of detailed information on the more well-known and wealthy members of the family. Although it has a section headed Dumfries, it is of little use as a source for data on the small-holders and shepherds of Moffat.
Lang, John Dunmore 1847. Phillipsland,
or, the country hitherto designated Port Phillip. Its
present condition and prospects as a highly
eligible field for emigration. Edinburgh:Thomas Constable.
(Lang was an interesting man. By today's standards he was a religious and social bigot. Yet his lists of Aborigines killed by Europeans and Europeans killed by Aborigines together with his descriptions of the dreadful condition of the recently dispossessed inhabitants vividly remind us of the costs that our ancestors extracted in their "development" of the country.) However, the Edgars seemed to get on well with local Aborigines, at least to begin with. He also points out (p.151) how much more solitary the life of the early shepherd was in Australia compared to the Scottish equivalent and the effects this had on their behaviour.
Spreadborough, R. & Anderson, H. 1983. Victorian Squatters. Red Rooster Press.
This site was constructed using Google Page Creator, a free, but experimental template based Web Page constructor. How long it will remain free or even available, I have no idea. It is very easy to use and has a limited range of functions but enough to quickly produce a basic site like this. If you have HTML programming skills, then you probably will be able to make it sing and dance.
It was last updated April 17, 2008.