Last week, my ancestor was Mark Oldroyd. This week, my ancestor is his daughter Jane Elizabeth Oldroyd, my gg grandmother.
The first information I had about Jane was from the book “Tarnagulla & District: The Way It Was” by Edna & Ken Arnold. This book stated that Jane was born 5 April 1828 and died 10 July 1902. Her parents were Mark Oldroyd and Elizabeth Sidebottom. Jane married Henry Sharp in 1847 in Wakefield.
I haven’t yet applied for her death certificate, to confirm the date of death, but I did find her death entry on the death indexes for Victoria, which were on microfiche at my local library:
Death Indexes 1896-1913
Year Name No Father Mother Place Age
1902 Sharp Jane 9097 Oldroyd Mark Sidebottom Elizth C’wood 74
I also found a marriage record for Jane and Henry, in the West Yorkshire, England, Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935 database at ancestry, which confirmed she was married in 1847 in Wakefield.
Despite an extensive search of the online databases, I have been unable to find a baptism/birth record for Jane. Although I have found baptisms for the first five of Mark and Elizabeth’s children (all christened at East Ardsley), the rest of their children remain elusive.
The next thing was to trace Jane on the census records in England.The 1841 Census showed that Jane was living with her parents at Stanley cum Wrenthorpe, Wakefield. (Lake Lock Rail Road).
The 1851 England Census shows Henry and Jane in George Street, Wakefield, Yorkshire.
The 1861 England Census shows the Henry and Jane were in the household of Roland Tidd at Newton Heath, Lancashire, England. Roland was Jane’s brother-in-law – he had married her sister Rachel.
The two families also migrated to Australia together. They travelled on the “Marco Polo”, which sailed from Liverpool on 6 August 1863 and arrived in Melbourne on 16 November 1863.
Both families ended up settling in the Tarnagulla area, as did Jane’s two other sisters, Emma (married James Abson), and Hannah (married George Gill), and her three brothers, John, Joshua and James.
