Find Living Relatives

My Irish friend Brian Lunney is desperately trying to find his mum who emigrated to Australia in the 60's. Her birth name was Ursula Lunney, D.O.B 14/06/1931, Ballybay, Co Monaghan, Ireland. We know she remarried in 1963 and is now known as Ursula Hanna. According to the records we can find she had a daughter in 1964 called Ursula Mary Hanna in 1964 in Wolverhampton, staffordshire, England, 16/03/1964 and they emigrated to Australia in 1965, the records showing they docked at Canberra, that's as far as we can get. Has anyone got any idea how we can find them. His mum may have died, we hope not, so tracing the daughter may be the best option. He was given an address for his mother in Tullamarine Victoria by an agency which he wrote to with no reply, she may have died as mentioned or possibly just moved, or doesn't want to reply, he's desperate to know. The address was 32 Tadstan Drive, Tullamarine 3043 Harbour, Victoria. We're hoping that if the address is/was correct then the daughter, his half sister will be close by, can anyone please help, it would bring him so much joy and some peace in his life, many thanks, Catherine

There is record on FMP of probate for an Ursula Hanna who died in Victoria in 2001

Can’t give you any more info, as my subscription doesn’t cover it

Also probate for Samuel Garlt Hanna in Victoria relating to a death in 1996

This is from Ancestry (no image)

Victoria, Australia, Wills and Probate Records, 1841-2009

Name: Ursula Hanna
Death Date: 9 Jan 2001
Death Place: Tullamarine << same as last known area
Occupation: Home Duties
Grant Date: 19 Apr 2001

Name: Samuel Garlt Hanna
Death Date: 8 Nov 1996
Death Place: Moonee Ponds
Occupation: Construction Worker
Grant Date: 26 Mar 1997

From Ryerson index

Surname Given Names Notice Type Date Event Age Other Details Publication Published
HANNA Ursula Funeral notice 15JAN2001 Funeral Herald Sun (Melbourne) 13JAN2001

You could ask the Victoria Ask a Librarian service to send you a transcript of the newspaper article. It may give you more information about the lady in question.

You could also ask them to look up the ER for the address Brian has, to see when Ursula lived there, and if the names of another people registered there.

https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/ask-librarian

They could probably advise how to obtain a copy of the Grant of Probate, and the Will if one was written. That should show the name of the Executor, either a solicitor or relative.

Australian privacy laws are more stringent than ours. It might be that some personal information will be redacted.

If Brian has a copy of his original birth certificate, it might be possible to order a copy of his birth mother's death certificate.

Please do advise him that his half sister may not be aware of his existence. It could be quite a shock, if she is traced, for her to find out about him.

Sorry that things seem to be working out this way

Living with a Samuel Hanna, a painter, at 1 Dawson Street, Tulllamarine

Name: Ursula Hanna
Gender: Female
Electoral Year: 1977
Subdistrict: Tullamarine
State: Victoria
District: Burke
Country: Australia

Considering Samuel's occupation, not entirely sure if the 1977 is a relevant record.
This one is a Rigger, living at 13 Dolphin Court, Gladstone Park along with Ursula

Name: Samual Gault Hanna
Gender: Male
Electoral Year: 1980
Subdistrict: Gladstone Park
State: Victoria
District: Burke
Country: Australia

Ursula Mary's marriage, if she has, would be too recent to be in the public domain. 1980 is the last ER year available on Ancestry

Any idea who the Eileen Caron is? She emigrated with them.

HANNA Samuel Gault born 13 March 1918; Ursula (nee Lunney) born 14 June 1931; Ursula Mary Hanna born (dd/mm) 1964; Eileen Caron born (dd/mm) 1965; travelled per FAIRSTAR departing Southampton on 2 March 1966 under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme

NB - as Catherine is a new member, PM sent advising of replies on her thread

Thank you very much, Erika, DetEcTive, your help is very much appreciated. Well at least our friend Brian can now come to terms with the sad news. I suppose all we can do is to try and find his sister/sister's at some point in the future.

Have received this message on another board,
Edited: 01 Oct 2018 03:27AM
Hi

If you go to the National Archives of Australia site
http://www.naa.gov.au/

and type in samuel gault hanna you will see that another child was born to Samuel and Ursula in 1965 who also arrived in Australia.

Karin

EDIT: child born in 1965 has a middle initial of K on FreeUKBDM, as opposed to C on migration details on National Archives.
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Maybe that's the Eileen Caron?

Kind Regards, Catherine

Hadn’t considered that as the entry in The Naturalisation & Immigration section didn’t add the surname. Ursula Mary is listed as a Hanna.
Yes, the birth is recorded in Freebmd as Eileen K Hanna mmn Lunney b Wolverhampton.

You asked by PM how to find Ursula, & now Eileen.

As explained earlier, Australian privacy laws are more restrictive than the UKs & BM&D indexes etc have a longer closure. We have to approach research from a different angle. For instance, the funeral notice might contain give the name of the funeral directors. It’s possible they would pass on a letter to whoever paid for the funeral. Of course, the address they hold could be out of date.

Similarly once you know where the service/cremation/burial took place, you could approach the venue. They might be willing to give you the name of the purchaser. If it’s Mrs Ursula M xxxx or Mrs Eileen C/K yyyyy then you have other surnames to chase up.

This is the same reason why it’s been suggested that you try & apply for a copy of the probate.

Using the online ER to 1980, I & probably others, have looked for an entry for an Ursula M(ary) Hanna living in Victoria. Thinking about it, she’d have been 14 in 1980 & too young to vote.

The Victorian Ask a Librarian Service might be able to trace the girls via later ER. It used to be a free service, but at least one State has now instituted fees. A member who lives in Australia & is our ‘go to’ expert has suggested The 'National Library of Aus' (Canberra) covers ALL States - it MAY provide a better service..

Could you post the url for the other thread, please? It’s not immediately apparent.

When using GR, it’s best to only post one thread per family. That way research is not duplicated & members can work together to come up with suggestions/ideas.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/boards/localities.oceania.australia.vic.general/12158.1.1/mb.ashx

Brilliant, thank you. No wonder I couldn’t find it on GR: it’s on Ancestry. Ignore the comment re only one thread. That refers to GR.
it’s heartening that they’ve come to the same conclusion.

Although Ursula’s record isn’t coming up on the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust website, would it be worth contacting them anyway? There’s always the chance that it hasn’t yet been digitalised.
http://www.gmct.com.au/tools/contact-us/

Invaluable advice, thank you very much :-)

Good evening,
i understand that some members of the family have uploaded DNA samples to Ancestory.com. If Brian does the same, this will show if he is a relation. I have limited information about the family in Australia, but I would suggest this is a good first step.
Thanks
Marla

Marla

You might be better sending a direct message by clicking on Catherine's name

As she isn't related, she may not be looking for more replies

Unfortunately the site does not allow me to send a direct message as I am not associated with a family tree. Hopefully some one will reach out as I believe I can assist with Brian's family sarch. xx

It's such a shame that Catherine has deleted her account. Otherwise you could have sent her message by clicking on her name :-0

Marla - are you a member of Ancestry?

If so follow this link (posted earlier) & click on Catherine's name. If not, send me a personal message with your email address so that it can be sent on to her.

Although her account hasn't been active for 4 months, she still might receive a message. You can but try.
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/boards/localities.oceania.australia.vic.general/12158.1.1/mb.ashx

Given the implied circumstances of his birth, it seems likely that Peter is using a completely different name to the one given him by his birth mother.

Marla has pm’ed her email address which will sent to Catherine. There’s no guarantee she will reply.