The push toward respectability

So ... some more relatives. Cousins, for sure. But which cousins? To work it out, one has to go back to the first ancestor in common. The woman buried here, Sarah Puckeridge Drennan, was a younger sister of my great-great-grandmother, Mary Ann Puckeridge Selby. So, counting back to Mary Ann is four generations. But we have to go back one more generation to Amelia Hughes Puckeridge. So five generations. This means, I think, that the descendents of Sarah Drennan are my fourth cousins, however much removed. Confusing, isn't it?

Keep in mind that Mary Ann and Sarah had grandparents who were convicts, and in those days that was a massive stain on the family reputation. Not like today, where it is regarded as a badge of honour! Look at the plot here. It is massive. Well, very big, anyways. But it would need to be! It was purchased upon the death of William Drennan, Sarah's husband, in 1883 at the age of 46. It was, obviously, a mob that knew the value of money. Here is a list of who else is interred in this one plot out at Rookwood, in the Presbyterian Section 3A, in plot 1757 Edwin Bellis, 1896 aged 6 months, Sarah's grandson Reginald Bellis, 1899 aged 7 months, Sarah's grandson Arthur Tumeth, 1900 aged 11 months, Sarah's grandson Sarah, 1928 aged 85 Sarah Atkins, 1939 aged 64 Sarah's 6th child Thomas Drennan, 1942 aged 79, Sarah's oldest child Thomas Drennan, 1943 abed 43, Sarah's grandson Marion Drennan, 1950 aged 80, no idea where she fits in. I feel really chuffed to have found just these three lines of the family, and to have given them a voice.

This is my contribution to the Taphophile Tragics Community