Connecting with the Past

One of the rewards of researching family history is that it draws you closer to people you have never met. Not in a sentimental way, but through a recognition of their efforts, their choices, and their strength.

Two names from my own research come to mind: Catherine Mazlin (née Cook) and Robert Anthony.

Catherine was the first wife of Thomas Mazlin, a timber-getter and the only child of two convicts transported to Australia in the early nineteenth century. They married in 1854, when Catherine was just fifteen years old. As a young woman, she moved into what was then bushland north of Sydney, helping to establish a household and raise children under conditions that were far from easy.

Catherine gave birth to eight children. The period from 1851 to 1853 must have been especially hard for her, as she lost her infant daughter Martha in 1851, followed by the deaths of her father and another daughter, Mary Jane, in 1853. She herself died at the age of just 38. It is not hard to imagine what must have been on her mind as she lay dying: the fate of her children, the burden that would fall on her husband, and perhaps the hope that her mother, Sarah Cook, might step in to help. One of those children, William Mazlin, would go on to become my great-great-grandfather.

Then there was Robert Anthony, my great-great-grandfather. In 1859, as a teenager, he made the journey from Ireland to Queensland, accompanied by his 12-year-old sister, Mary. It was a perilous voyage of several months to the other side of the world. I picture him sitting with her on the lower deck, perhaps during a bout of seasickness, or holding her hand as she cried herself to sleep, or quietly explaining what little he knew about the land ahead. The image of this young man quietly comforting his little sister says something about who he was: calm, caring, and dependable.

These people are not just dates of birth, dates of death, or vague outlines from the past. They are people I have come to know through the careful, though at times challenging,  work of family research. Have you experienced this yourself? Have you come to feel closer to someone in your family tree through the process of discovering their story? I would be interested to hear who they are.

In getting to know Catherine Mazlin and Robert Anthony, I feel more connected to my past.

Image Source: “Emmigrants at Dinner,” Illustrated London News, 13 April 1844.