Nalta
Rose. The son who disappeared…almost
In the days before social media, databases or internet
searches, it was relatively easy for someone to disappear and never be heard of
again. They would then quietly slip off the family tree, along with their new
life, with future generations never suspecting they, and their subsequent
family, were out there somewhere.
This very nearly happened to Nalta Rummond Rose, born 4th
June 1888 at Fleurty’s Point, Huon (Castle Forbes Bay). Charles and Mary Rose
had a son named Charles Montague Foster in 1886, who lived only three months, and
Nalta was born two years later. Later, in written family records, this uncle
had no story, no recollections, and no theories as to what became of him,
except a potential mention of a Nathaniel who was killed in the Great War.
Nalta was baptised on July 26, 1888, along with his nephew
Wilfred. Wilfred was 21 months old and slipped into the Rose family tree as
Nalta’s brother. Nat, as he was known as, would have grown up and attended
school at Dover.
Dover State School
In February 1898, catastrophic fires raged in the Huon. The new State School at Glazier’s Bay was destroyed, eighteen homesteads at Port Cygnet were swept away and settlers in the vicinity of Crabtree escaped with their lives only. Twenty families at Franklin were burnt out with huge losses to apples, crops and sawmills through many areas. When the fire approached the Dover State School, teacher Mr Brown and his ‘noble little band of workers’ (his students), saved the school. For several hot, weary hours the’ little fellows battled the fire, each one with his green bough in his hand, and stopped the fire getting hold’. Whether nine-year-old Nat or any of his brothers helped is not known, but the Rose family would have lived through this frightening time. The school was closed for a week to house displaced families.
The following year with school
attendance at eighty, Mr Brown was pleased to commemorate the opening of a new
classroom at the school.
The first online documentation in a search of Nat Rose, comes in the
Mercury newspaper on Thursday, 27th February 1908. Nat was age
nineteen. The newspaper reports that four young men were following local farmer
John Clennett home at 11:30 on Saturday night, the 11th of January. Two of the
men were charged with using insulting words towards Clennett, whereby a breach
of the peace might have been occasioned, were also charged with unlawfully,
falsely, wickedly, wilfully and corruptly committing perjury before a court
sitting at Dover in January. Henry Greenway and Henry Daniels had allegedly
called out “Goodnight Johnny”, and followed him calling out “Baa, baa” repeatedly.
Orchardist Stanley Reeve witnessed the events as he was on a late-night vigil
to nab a cherry thief who had been stealing from his orchard. Nat Rose and
Lewis Harding were with the accused pair and had admitted they had lied to police
on the night but were now telling the truth under oath. The charge was
dismissed, but the trial had created so much local interest that proceedings
had to be held in the public hall to accommodate the crowd.
One year later in January 1909, Nat married Mabel May
Pentland. Their certificate states Mabel was from Melbourne, was twenty-two, and
was a Lady’s Help. Her father was William Henry Pentland, and her mother,
Elenia Sullivan, and they were married by John Casley, the Dover Congregational
minister at that time. Witnesses were his sister Lillian Lockley and his mate
from a year ago, Henry Greenway. It seems Nat may have been illiterate, as he
signed his name with an ‘x’ (his mark). Nat’s full name was written in by
Henry. Illiteracy was far less common in the early 1900’s than the previous
century, as schooling was accessible to all, but for whatever reason, Nat did
not write or sign his own name that day.
Both Nat Rose and Mabel Rose now disappear from records.
Six tears later on December 15th, 1915, twenty-seven-year-old
Charles Jackson enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. His record
shows he was shipped to Suez and went on to spend the next three years serving
in the north of France. Reading the fine print of his War Record reveals his next
of kin recorded several times as Mrs C. Jackson of Port Esperance, Tasmania,
and once more as Mrs C. Rose, Port Esperance, and it states Charles’ alias as
Nat Rose. He signed his own name as C Jackson.
Nat Rose had moved to New Zealand and become Charles
Jackson.
Why Nat moved to New Zealand and changed his name is
unknown. One of the most common reasons to undertake this type of evasive
action was to escape bad circumstances or a bad relationship. Nat’s sister
Lillian Lockley had done this by 1910, so perhaps Nat and Lillian left together
for the same reason. Nat’s younger brother Luther, known as Charley, had also
relocated there, it was not unusual move when employment dried up in the Huon
to move away, and New Zealand was an unusual destination.
What happened to
Mabel is unknown. He had not declared a wife on his Enlistment Form and no
further information is readily found on common genealogy sites regarding Mabel,
her father William Henry Pentland, or her mother Elenia Sullivan. Some Ancestry
sites suggest she lived in Melbourne and died in 1984, but this Mabel seems to
be the daughter of Robert Evendon.
It is now only through a well-documented My Heritage Web
Site Biography Notes entry that is found a little more of Nat’s/ Charlie’s life
story.
“He
never spoke of his family in Australia and there is no evidence as to why he
changed his name. His son Peter does recall him speaking about the islands
Faith, Hope and Charity that he would row out to as a child. These are the
three islands off Dover in Tasmania where he grew up”.
https://www.myheritage.com/profile-OYYV6RPTBINZ62ZRVCXBLPHCCBWOPEQ-2500436/nalta-rumond-rose-aka-charles-jackson#biography
At age fifty-three in 1941, Charlie had a son, Barrie. In
1945, another son Peter was born. Charlie had married Charlotte Isabella (Pat) Jack, a lady twenty-five years younger
than him. He also had two daughters Jean and Phyllis with another partner. He
passed away on August 26th, 1959, in Christchurch, New Zealand, and
was buried in Woodland Memorial Gardens, Linwood, Christchurch. On the death
notification form in his Army Service Record his next of kin was listed as his
widow, Mrs C.I.Jackson, 564 New Brighton Road, Christchurch.
There are three publicly available images of Charlie Jackson on Ancestry and My Heritage. I wonder as I look at Uncle Charlie, did his family know what became of him, did they lose all contact, and what became of Mabel? As a young man about to go off to war, as an older father with his two young boys, cigarette in the mouth and out in the garden, and as an older man smiling with his young wife and looking very much like his older sister Kezia, I really can’t help but like Uncle Charlie
.jpg)
Photos all from Ancestry & My Heritage, original source unknown
No comments:
Post a Comment