Discovering Grandpa Brunner's Family
Using Uncle Ossie's lineage report, I went digging for BDM Certificates. It wasn't easy because this family didn't go by their birth names, but I finally sorted through the rubble and found that Emily & John Brunner had 8 babies born but 2 didn't survive. Grandpa grew up with 2 brothers and 3 sisters.
Walter the eldest, born..........1885 registered George Walter Brunner
Daisy, born...........................1889 registered Emily Clara Brunner
Fraser, born.........................1891 registered Edward Fraser Brunner
Ida M Brunner, born..............1893 died same year
Amy Ruth Brunner, born........1895
Boy Child Brunner, born.........1897 died at childbirth
Ossie, born...........................1899 registered Charles Oswald Brunner.....my Grandpa
Lilly, the baby, born................1905 registered Lilian Margaret Brunner
Walter the eldest, born..........1885 registered George Walter Brunner
Daisy, born...........................1889 registered Emily Clara Brunner
Fraser, born.........................1891 registered Edward Fraser Brunner
Ida M Brunner, born..............1893 died same year
Amy Ruth Brunner, born........1895
Boy Child Brunner, born.........1897 died at childbirth
Ossie, born...........................1899 registered Charles Oswald Brunner.....my Grandpa
Lilly, the baby, born................1905 registered Lilian Margaret Brunner
Walter : married Margaret Swan in 1908 - they had 3 children and I believe their descendants survive today. Walter died quite young at 41 years of age in 1927 and on one of the documents it gives his occupation as a sawyer - one who saws wood or a carpenter.
Daisy : married Harcourt Spurway in 1911 - they had 2 boys & 2 girls and I believe their descendants survive today. Daisy died 1944.
Fraser : was 46 when he married Phoebe Millar in 1937 - only one daughter.
Fraser died - 1977
Uncle Ossie has a few little tales to tell........
We have another Fraser Brunner who married Grandpa's youngest sister, Lilly, yes half cousin - Fraser William Brunner who came out from England, connected with our 'Brunner Family'.
I remember a Fraser Brunner visiting us once when I was a teenager and the impression of his statue has been transfixed in my mind. To me he seemed a large man and old, even though he was sitting down, everything about him seemed oversized, I had never seen such big ears before, even his nose was so big with great big full lips. I'm not sure if I shook his hand, but I also remember his huge hands and those humongous boots. I'm sure his heart was just as big and he had a funny accent. So perhaps he was this Fraser Brunner from England. Or, larger than life in a young persons mind and he was our Edward Fraser.
Fraser died - 1977
Uncle Ossie has a few little tales to tell........
We have another Fraser Brunner who married Grandpa's youngest sister, Lilly, yes half cousin - Fraser William Brunner who came out from England, connected with our 'Brunner Family'.
I remember a Fraser Brunner visiting us once when I was a teenager and the impression of his statue has been transfixed in my mind. To me he seemed a large man and old, even though he was sitting down, everything about him seemed oversized, I had never seen such big ears before, even his nose was so big with great big full lips. I'm not sure if I shook his hand, but I also remember his huge hands and those humongous boots. I'm sure his heart was just as big and he had a funny accent. So perhaps he was this Fraser Brunner from England. Or, larger than life in a young persons mind and he was our Edward Fraser.
Amy's : marriage certificate has never been found so my story from records I've found, is that she eloped with Alfred Weston in 1918 to California USA. She could never come back home to Australia to live, because Alfred Weston had a wife and 2 children here. They lived as husband and wife and had 2 children and became Naturalised American Citizens in 1929. I believe their descendants survive today. Amy died 1978.
Ossie : my Grandfather married Amy Downes 1923 - they had 5 children and adopted 2 more. Ossie died 1973. Their descendants survive today.
Lilly : the baby of the family contracted the dreaded disease of polio as a toddler and so she was marred for life with walking disabilities. That didn't seem to dampen her spirits as she was a determined and independent individual. See Ossie's story...... Lilly married Fraser William Brunner in 1936 but sadly she died in 1937 soon after giving birth to a son - Lawrence George. Ossie & Amy - my Grandparents - legally adopted Lawrence when he was 10 years old. He was tragically killed in a motorbike accident in Victoria, in 1956.
This generation grew-up in Sydney and I would call them down right city slickers. I have gathered that they were an ordinary poor family with Father John on a measly clerks pay in the Australian Post Office. He died in 1916 which left Mother Emily to support (no dole in those days) Lillian, 11 years, her youngest with a dissability, the others were old enough to find jobs. I have found 3 addresses they lived at in Sydney:- 41 Stewart St. Paddington, Broadbent St. Ranwick, and 11 Chelsea St. Redfern is shown on google maps below.
Click on the links to find some Great Australian History that this family lived through.
Australia's Federation - 1901
Sydney gets electricity - 1904
Sydney's Transport - from beginnings to modern day
Sydney Harbour Bridge
First World War 1914 - 1918
Australia's Federation - 1901
Sydney gets electricity - 1904
Sydney's Transport - from beginnings to modern day
Sydney Harbour Bridge
First World War 1914 - 1918
We haven't been able to find much information on Emily Mary Briggs, born 1859. She claimed to be an orphan and was an inmate in the home of the 'Society for the Relief of Destitute Children' . On her marriage certificate she names her parents as Emily May & Thomas Briggs a Policeman. After her husband John Brunner dies, she remarries, a Dutchman, Carl Simon in 1923.
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