I AM hoping that via your paper, I may be able to trace some long lost albeit rather distant relatives.
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In 1879 my great great grandfather, Archibald Black Howie, arrived in Sydney (from Scotland) aboard the Samuel Plimsoll. He was accompanied by his elder brother, John, and younger sister, Mary, then aged only 15.
John and Archibald, both stonemasons, started work in the building game: John as a foreman employed by McCredie Bros who built the Pitt St wing of Sydney's GPO and Archibald in partnership with a Mr Phillips. John started off building cottages in the Balmain area and Phillips and Howie built things like the Middle Harbour Defence Works (~ 1889) and Victoria Barracks stables.
John and Archibald formed Howie Bros in about 1891 and their first project seems to have been the magnificent house at Belmont Park, North Richmond, for the Charley family (well worth a look via Google). In 1896 they built the original Art Gallery and during 1906-08 the original Mitchell Library - and many other buildings, much of which is recorded in an extensive history I have written for the family.
However, in the course of my researches for the family history, I have not been able to find out a great deal about Mary. I would like, if possible, to locate Mary's descendants and hopefully learn a bit more about her, her family, and what her children and their children did.
In particular, a photograph of Mary would be a wonderful find. I am planning to include whatever I can learn in a second edition of the family history.
Mary seems to have left Sydney within a few years of arriving, because I do know that in 1885 she married William Charles Woods in Kempsey, which is where all but one of her six children were born.
These children were Eva Christina 1885-1973, Mabel Lavinia 1888-1961, Charles William 1889-1948, Archibald John 1892-1961, William 1894-1930 and Calder 1898-1962.
At about the turn of the century, Mary and her family seem to have moved from the Kempsey area to Macksville.
Eva Christina married Walter D'orset Hodge in 1910 and I believe they had five children, one dying in infancy. The surviving sons were Finlay, Robert, Donald and David.
Mabel Lavinia married Robert Frank Hulbert in 1909 and they seem to have had three children: Mavis, Jean and Ralph.
Charles William Woods served in the First World War and in 1922 he married Maud Willis in New Lambton, Newcastle. They went to England at some stage where he died in 1948.
Archibald John Woods also served in WWI and upon his 1918 discharge, he married Elvie Margaret Gaddes in December. They seem to have had eight children: Ellen Mary (who married Alfred John Partridge), Elizabeth, Thomas, Kathleen, David, Clifford, Margaret and Barbara.
So, the descendants I am hoping to locate would have surnames of Woods, Hodge, Hulbert and Partridge. Of course, there will also be other surnames, depending on the surnames of the husbands married by the next generation of females.
I would still like to make contact with any descendants, even if they do not know much about their forebears - after all, Mary Howie was several generations ago, and she died in 1909 (she is buried in Macksville Cemetery under the name Mary Howie Woods).
I do hope this letter attracts the interest of some descendants.