Saturday, May 1, 2010

In search of Oliver Alfred Rayson

I received in the mail today a transcribed list of a 6 June 1863 Militia Roll for the 2nd Battalion Auckland (from the Blockhouse Bay Historical Society), showing, at that time, “residents of Whau” (which included a lot of West Auckland as well, because there was no differentiation those days.) One name sprang out – Oliver Rayson. I’d come across him before, on the list of those donating toward the establishment of an Anglican church at Avondale in the early 1860s (where he subscribed £5) . I looked into things a bit more …

Oliver Alfred Rayson (his initials are shown variously either as O C A Rayson, or O R Rayson, or O C R Rayson, as the 6 June 1863 Militia Roll shows) and his family sailed from Gravesend 3 December 1859, on the Shaw Savill ship Frenchman and arrived in Auckland 22 March 1860. Rayson was one of those attending the first proper school committee meeting at Avondale, held at St Ninian’s 17 October 1865. The Southern Cross of 18 March 1868 recorded that he gave a bundle of the Illustrated London News to the Auckland Asylum. By 1870, he was down on the Thames gold fields, and declared bankruptcy in February that year (he was apparently living at Waiotahi Creek). He appears to have survived financially – in December 1874, he transferred the licence he held for the Imperial Hotel at Thames to a Francis Amy. His New Zealand story seems to end there.

But …

Was he the O A Rayson who ended up as manager of the Sydney Tram and Omnibus Company by the late 1880s? That Mr Rayson died around early 1895 while he lived at 1 Lancaster Villas, Ocean Street, Woollahra (his will, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, 2 April 1895, attracted £485 in duty). A later advertisement inserted by his widow referred to a wandering cow, so he may have had a fair bit of property. There, though, the trail runs out.

I'd appreciate any further information.

An update.

13 comments:

  1. Oliver Alfred Rayson left behind a very young family, the children were only 11, 9, 7, 5 and 1 when he shuffled off this mortal coil.
    NSW hatched, matched and dispatched is free to search.

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  2. Cheers for the NSW BDM link, Jayne -- that will be handy. But, where did you get the info on the ages of his children from?

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  3. Why had I not come across his name when I have a dozen books on Sydney tram history? And how could he be a manager when Sydney trams were managed by the railways? Well, easy, Sydney Tram and Omnibus Company had nothing to do with trams. They never ran any. It was a horse bus company.

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  4. That's what I figured the company was about when the main references that came up for Oliver Rayson in Sydney in the 1880s-1890s was with regard to a farrier's strike, Andrew. Back then "tram" and "tramline" had a lot more connotations to it than we moderns realise today.

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  5. I found his childrens' DOB by accident when I searched 'births' instead of 'deaths', came up with his wife's name as Katherine/Catherine, too.

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  6. O. A. Rayson's Deceased Estate file is available at the State Records Office of NSW and according to the on-line index his date of death was 24 January 1895. I am a local historian in the Blue Mountains (west of Sydney) who has been enjoying your blog for some time now (my Dad was a Kiwi and I have a strong connection to NZ). I have a couple of Deceased Estate files I want to check in relation to a current research project of my own and would be happy to have a look at Rayson's if you think it might help.

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  7. Hi John,

    Thank you! That would be fantastic if you have a chance to look into his records as well. It would hopefully clear up the question as to whether the Sydney O A Rayson is the same as the Whau/Avondale one -- or perhaps another generation. That would be brilliant, cheers!

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  8. Looks like the info is coming through wonderfully on this. John the Blue Mountains are stunning. Love to visit there again some time. Thanks for helping Lisa on this. And you too Jayne!

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  9. I should be able to get to the State Records some time in the next couple of weeks so will report back as soon as I've had a look at his file. Some times they have lots of information, some times not much at all. So, keep your fingers crossed! Yes, the Blue Mountains are a wonderful place to live and with a rich history. There are about half a dozen historical societies within the region. I'm a member of the oldest, the Blue Mountains Historical Society (est. 1947), and before retiring a couple of years ago was the local studies librarian at the BM City Library for over 20 years. Quite a number of NZ connections in our history too!! Cheers for now.

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  10. The fingers are crossed, indeed, John! Thanks again -- looking forward to hearing about your findings. Also, any time you'd like to share some of those Blue Mountains-EnZed connections here -- feel free! Cheers.

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  11. Lisa, thank you for the invitation to share. I have done some research on a couple of people that I'm sure would be of interest so I might just take you up on that!! Will report back on Rayson soon, John

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  12. Hi Timespanner, I am the great grandson of Oliver Alfred Rayson and he has always intrigued me as family folklore was that he was from the USA which is obviously incorrect and I have found out since he was from england originally if you get an opportunity I have some details about him on ancestry.com under mclennan family tree including a photo (only known one that I am aware of) he died of cancer of the tongue and is buried at Waverley cemetary in Sydney, he was also married prior to marrying my grandmother. I would be grateful for anything you may have discovered about him including photos. My email address in donmclennan61@gmail.com Kind regards Don McLennan

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