Henry Smith Minter

1849 - 1905  (56 years)

• Name	Henry Smith Minter
  Birth	21 Mar 1849	Tarbert, Co. Kerry, Ireland   [1]
  Christening	20 May 1849	Parish of Kilnaughtin, Co. Kerry, Ireland   [1]
  Gender	Male
  _UID	229F059E51284CA09B10468483531D0D3EA5
  Death	5 Sep 1905	Government Hospital, Albany, Western Australia   [2, 3]
  Burial	6 Sep 1905	Wesleyan Cemetery, Albany, Western Australia   [3]
  Notes	The IGI has two birth records for a Henry Smith Minter, neither of which tally with the birth/baptism record found at http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie in Feb 2011. For the record, the IGI entries are: 1. Henry Smith Minter born 1843 of Ballycotton, Cork, Ireland, father Henry Minter. 2. Henry Smith Minter born about 1858 St Michael's, Blackrock, Cork - no parental details. The IGI also has the 1883 marriage of Henry Smith Minter but doesn't show any other details. It would seem, although the evidence is circumstantial, that Henry left his wife in Ireland and sought a new life in Australia. The evidence is mainly the name, Henry Smith Minter, which is unusual but additionally, in 1901 Henry's wife Elizabeth Charlotte was living without a husband but with her children, in Cork, and 10 years later was still living in Cork but now described as a widow (this would have been factually correct since Henry Smith Minter died in Australia in 1905 but would Elizabeth Charlotte have known this? Legally though, after the lapse of 7 years she could declare herself as being widowed.). It's a great pity that there are no surviving Irish census records for 1891. If Henry Smith Minter did abandon his family, and didn't divorce his wife, the 1892 marriage to Margaret HAMMOND nee STAPLETON in South Australia was bigamous. The marriage took place at the Presbytery, Port Adelaide and Henry gave his age as 36, status single and father as Henry Minter. It's not clear what became of Margaret Mary after her claim for divorce in 1902 in Adelaide (see below) but in 1903 the birth of Thomas Henry Minter was registered in Albany, Western Australia - father Henry Smith Minter, mother Mary Jane HALL. The 1903 Electoral Roll for Short Street (this is today re-named Grey Street East), Albany, Swan WA includes Henry Minter, labourer and Mary Minter, housewife. The couple also appear in the 1906 Electoral Roll for Albany, now in Stirling Terrace, which is difficult to understand since Henry Smith Minter died in 1905, but presumably the Roll was prepared before he died. There is no trace of the couple after 1906. It was originally thought that Mary Jane may have appeared in 1943 in the Electoral Roll for Northern, Swan, at 404 Fitzgerald Street, West Northern, but research by Geoff Hayes in June 2015 suggests that in fact Mary Jane returned to Adelaide it would seem shortly after the death of Henry Smith Minter and re-married on 17 March 1906 to Henry Hammant Turner. There are no official records to indicate that Henry Smith Minter and Mary Jane Hall ever married, in South Australia, Western Australia or Victoria. At the time of her marriage to Henry Hammant Turner on 17th March 1906 in Port Adelaide, Mary Jane stated her age as 33 and her status as single. Henry Hammant Turner was age 25 years and single. June 2015: a partial answer to the question, what happened to Margaret Mary Minter, has come to light, thanks to Geoffrey Hayes, a relative. The key facts are in the following newspaper article found at Trove by Geoffrey: "Kalgoorlie Miner (Western Australia), Thursday 8 May 1902 DIVORCE SUIT. MINTER v. MINTER, ADULTERY AMD CRUELTY ADELAIDE, May 7. To-day Margaret Mary Minter applied for a divorce from her husband, Henry Minter, on the grounds of adultery and cruelty. The respondent did not appear. The petitioner stated that she had married Minter, who was a sailor, at Port Adelaide in 1892. She was compelled to leave him in 1899 on account of his cruelty to her. She said that he had endeavored to take her life several times. Evidence was given that the respondent had lived with a woman named Mary Hall, and that she had since accompanied him to West Australia. The Chief Justice said that he would report the charge of adultery as proved." One final oddity is that the West Australia index record of Henry Smith Minter's death in 1905 gives his father's name as Henry Smith Minter and birthplace as Newfoundland. The latter is surely a mistake or a deliberate obfuscation. Later: thanks to Geoff Hayes, we now have a copy of the Western Australia death certificate. It contains the following detail: Names: Henry Smith Minter Place of death: Govt Hospital, Albany, Western Australia Date of death: 5 September 1905 Occupation & Sex: Seaman Male Age: 51 years Place of birth: Newfoundland Years lived in each State: South Australia 14 years, Western Australia 3 years Father's surname, given names, usual occupation: Minter, Henry Smith, Pilot Mother's maiden surnam, given names: Unknown Marriage pariticulars Place of marriage - South Australia. At what age -. To whom married - Place of marriage - South Australia. At what age -. 46 years. To whom married - Mary Jane Lowe o/w Hall * Names and ages of children: Thomas Henry 2 years Cause of death: Cirrhosis of liver, Dropsy (4 months) Name of doctor, date last seen: T H Robinson MD, 4 September 1905 Place of burial or cremation: Wesleyan Cemetery, Albany Date of burial, cremation or transportation: 6 September 1905 Person certifying: C F Layton Officiating minister: T A James Religious denomination of minister: Wesleyan Witnesses: M Cull, A Roberts Informant's name, address, description: M J Minter, Albany, Wife Registered on 5 September 1905 by J P Nairn * correspondence in June 2015 between Geoff Hayes and the Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages reveals that 'Mary Jane Lowe o/w Hall' should have been recorded as 'Mary Jane Lowe nee Hall'. In relation to the name 'Lowe', Geoff Hayes comments "... search of all the Australian States has not shown the marriage of a lady named HALL to any persons named LOWE. I am assuming here, and one should not assume, that as she was never married to HS Minter, and she would have been 31 when young Thomas Henry was born; she perhaps indicated to him she had been previously married for some reason. Otherwise I have no idea why this name appears in the records. Her father's name Thomas Charles HALL is clearly marked on the record of her marriage to Henry Hammant Turner in 1906 & her name is Mary Jane Eveline Hall on her birth records in South Australia." 30 June 2015: Geoff Hayes has received the following email from the Albany History Collection, City of Albany, WA. This is in reply to Geoff's enquiry about Henry Smith's burial: " can confirm that Henry is indeed buried at the Memorial Park Cemetery on Middleton Road in Albany, though unfortunately the location of his grave is unknown. The record lists that he died on the 5th September 1905 aged 51, cause of death noted as cirrhosis of the liver. The index also lists that his occupation was that of a Seaman." Geoff adds the comment " The authorities have his [Henry Smith Minter's] age at death as being incorrect, but that is not their fault, as the information he offered in his time here in Australia was often clouded, and whilst we do not know of his exact location within the cemetery in Albany, at least we know his final resting place." July 2015: Geoff Hayes has concluded that there is some compelling evidence that perhaps Henry Smith Minter fathered a child to Mary Jane Hall prior to his marriage on the 21st January 1892, to Margaret Mary Hammond. The child in question was: Ivy Mildred Hall. - Born 2 April 1891, at Queenstown, Adelaide, SA. - Book 475, Page 399. - Parents, Mother; Mary Jane Hall, Father; (Not Recorded). At a later date, when this child was married on the 26th December 1914, to Thomas Patrick Shiels, the records state the following:- Thomas Patrick Shiels, aged 27 years, single. Ivy Mildred Hall, aged 23 years, single. Groom's father; Thomas Patrick Shiels. Bride's Father; HENRY Hall. Geoff comments: "… a researcher could be forgiven for assuming, since all parties were in the same place at the same time, that Henry Smith Minter was in fact the birth father of this child. History has now shown us the definite connection between them as there was an ensuing divorce between Henry and his wife Margaret Mary Hammond in 1902, and furthermore the eventual birth of his son Thomas Henry Minter in 1903 in Albany, Western Australia. If this is how it all appears, there are some more questions to answer; who looked after and raised this young child Ivy Mildred Hall? Was she adopted out, or fostered by another family?"
  Person ID	I498	Ickham, Kent
  Last Modified	9 Jan 2017

  
  

  Father	Henry Minter,   b. Bef 10 Oct 1813, Kent d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Ann Elizabeth NASH,   b. Abt 1821   d. 28 Oct 1865, Ballycotton, Cork, Ireland (Age ~ 44 years)
  Marriage	Jun 1840	Battle RD   [4]
  Family ID	F651	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Elizabeth Charlotte HARNESS,   b. 1844, Co. Clare, Ireland d. 17 May 1933, Blackrock, Cork, Ireland (Age 89 years)
  Marriage	1883	St Michael's, Blackrock, Co. Cork, Ireland   [5]
  Children	1. Robert Harness Minter,   b. 12 Aug 1884, Blackrock, Cork, Ireland d. 28 Nov 1950, Oreston, Devon (Age 66 years)
  Family ID	F721	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	7 Feb 2011

  
  

  Family 2	Margaret Mary STAPLETON,   b. Abt 1855   d. 23 May 1904, Exeter, Adelaide, South Australia (Age ~ 49 years)
  Marriage	21 Jan 1892	The Presbytery, Port Adelaide, South Australia
  	Henry Minter, single, 36, father Henry Minter. Margaret Mary Hammond, 36, widow, father James Stapleton.
  Marital status	1902
  	Divorced
  Children	1. Julia Ann Minter,   b. 22 Aug 1892, Semaphore, South Australia d. 16 Feb 1893, Dudley Street, Semaphore, South Australia (Age 0 years)
  Family ID	F734	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Jun 2015

  
  

  Family 3	Mary Jane Eveline HALL,   b. 11 May 1872, Saddleworth, South Australia d. 1957, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Age 84 years)
  _MARRIED	N
  Children	1. Thomas Henry Minter,   b. 6 Jun 1903, Albany, Western Australia d. 9 Nov 1958, Balmain, NSW, Australia (Age 55 years)
  Family ID	F735	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Feb 2011

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 21 Mar 1849 - Tarbert, Co. Kerry, Ireland  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S153] http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie, Feb 2011. [S157] Western Australia BMD on-line, Feb 2011. [S235] Western Australia death certificate from Geoff Hayes, Jun 2015. [S3] BMD index, Q2 1840 Battle 7/317. (Reliability: 3). [S47] IGI.