John Broom and Grace Paull

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Parents  :     John Broom and Mary Nichols (80%)     William Paull and Mary Paull  

 John Broom (b 1803 Bere Ferres Devon, m Grace Paull 1828 Calstock Cornwall, d 1872 Albaston, Calstock) 
 Grace Paull (b 1802 Calstock, d 1870 Albaston, Calstock) 
      John Paul Broome (b abt 1829 Calstock, m Tamzin Rowe 1852 Stoke Dameral Cornwall, d 1889 Batlow NSW)
      William Paull Broome (b 1832 Calstock, m Anne Maria Patterson 1877 Albury NSW, d 1909 Talgarno)
            Eircell Paullina Broome (b 1884 Talgarno, m Joseph Smart Rowley 1909 Talgarno, d 1917 Bethanga)
       Elizabeth Paull Broome (b abt 1835 Calstock, d 1910 Talgarno Vic)
      Mary Tamzin Broome (b 1837 Calstock, d 1837)
      Mary Broome (b abt 1839 Calstock, m John Goldsworthy, d 1928 Talgarno)
      Ann Broome (b abt 1841, d 1910 Talgarno)
Christening dates : Elizabeth, Ann and Mary 1841, Mary Tamzin 1837, others unknown

How good is the evidence for this family?

Death certificates for William, Paul and Elizabeth seem to fit well with this family (age is correct, born Calstock, and parents John and Grace, maiden name Paull). Similarly when John Broome registered a son in Yackandandah., John is the right age, and from Calstock.
It is interesting to note the Broomes seem to have added an e to their name in Australia (see census data in England)..
The slightly disconcerting thing  is that William seems to have missed the 1841 censuses, even though he would have been about nine at the time. The second son being called William (Broome) does look very plausible in the above family?

1841 census

Albaston, Calstock, Cornwall
Family one, all born in county
Mary Paul          60        Independent
William Paul       41        Miner, Copper
Soloman Paul     20        Engineer,
Family two, two houses away, all bar John born in county
John Broom        37        Miner, Tin
Grace Broom      37
John Broom        11
Elizabeth Broom    5
Mary Broom         2
William Juniour is missing
Family three, next door
Stephen Gray, 50, shoemaker
Ann, 40
plus family
Family Four, next door again
Joseph Paul, 35, Copper Miner
Elizabeth, 35
and family on the next page

1851 Census

Albaston, Calstock, Cornwall
John Broom           Head   Mar       49    Copper Miner     Beerferris Devon (abt 1801)
Grace Broom         Wife     Mar       49                              Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1801)
John Broom            Son      U           20    Copper Miner    Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1830)
Elizabeth Broom      Dau      U          15                              Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1835)
Mary Broom           Dau      U          12     Scholar             Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1838)
Ann Broom             Dau      U           9      Scholar            Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1841)

William Broom is missing again. But family three is still there in Albaston, and has William Broom born in  Calstock as a lodger.
He is a tin miner, aged 20

1861 Census

Albaston, Calstock, Cornwall
John Broom           Head   Mar       56    Miner     Beer, Devon (abt 1804)
Grace Broom        Wife     Mar       56                   Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1804), deaf
Ann Broom            Dau      U          19                   Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1841)
Grace's sister Ann (now Baker) is still living next door

1871 Census

Albaston, Calstock, Cornwall   
John Broom                     Head   Mar           68    Miner     Beerferres, Devon (abt 1803)
Elizabeth Broom            Dau      Unm          30                   Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1841)
Supplied by Marion Paul

General

    This family is connected to the Broomes in Yackandandah and Talgarno. James Broome's birth certificate in 1877 pretty clearly identifies his father as the John Broome born 1830 above.
    Marriage John Broome and Grace Paull :Witnesses: Robert Cory, Josiah Johns. Grace was classed as a Sojourner. John and Grace were not literate. John was a tin and copper miner. Bere Ferres is current spelling was Bere/Beer Ferris. Calstock is 8 m N of Plymouth and right on the Devon/Cornwall border, and Bere Ferris 4 m N of Plymouth.
William Broome came to Australia from Calstock in 1854. (See the article in VICTORIA & ITS METROPOLIS" on William's page. This appeared when he was 50 and should be accurate as it would have had his input

John Broom (the son)

Marion Paul supplied shipping information for his family. John came to Australia on the City of Hobart in 1864, followed by Tamzin, Elizabeth(aged 14)  Mary(aged 5) and William (aged 7) in July 1867 on the Atlanta

Marion Paul supplied a picture of the headstone for  John and Grace, with the inscription
Sacred to the memory of Grace wife of John Broom at Albaston in this parish who died July 31 1870 aged 67 years.
We are confident I say and willing, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Also the above named john Broom who died December 25 1872 aged 70 years.
Wherefore we labour, ------- that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him.
(At the base of the grave are two footstools that have G. B. 1870 & J. B. 1872)
20 Oct 2012 - Some more light on this family when Marion Paul supplied William's christening in 1832, correcting the age given on his death certificate. Now we only have William missing in the 1841 census, as the 20 year old next door to John and Grace looks very likely

Acknowledgements

Source for this family is Marion Paul. She supplied this and previous generations. I have only been able to verify some of it, but everything I could check was good. So this looks pretty reliable stuff..
My database notes Tamson, VicGold as a source for this family. That site seems to be defunct.
Thanks to Myra Cordrey, OPC for Calstock, whose excellent database helped in checking out a lot of this stuff. She kindly responded to an email with some extra information, and very helpful suggestions
I've recently received some enhanced images of the Parish Registers and there are these entries, which might not be on my website yet:-......
 burials
3-Mar 1816 Calstock William PAUL 44 or 24-Aug 1828 Calstock William PAUL 53
    Information that was unambiguous has been omitted from the quote, and incorporated in the text above. Marion Paull had William dying 1816, but Myra has added a second possibility. However, it does look like Marion was right again, as 44 years old in 1816 ties in nicely with his date of birth in 1770

Where is William in the 1841 Census?

Comment from Myra Cordrey, OPC for Calstock
    No, I can't find William in 1841 either, as William, Wm or Paul. Two possibilities spring to mind:-
    1. He was omitted from the Census by accident - enumerators wrote the details on to sheets and later transferred the records to the official file.This was often done after they returned from their 'rounds', late at night and without the benefit of electric lighting. Many omissions occurred.
    2. He was the son of a female relative, that John & Grace 'adopted'  in order to take to Australia - nothing formal in those days. Your 1851 sighting makes this plausible
    It might be worthwhile looking through the Williams (and Wms, since Ancestry doesn't include them in the same search results) of the right age in both Devon & Cornwall. If there is one with related parents, or a single mother, then you might have found him.
Except Marion Paul's baptism later has ruled out possibility two - it looks like number one

Research Notes

    Should be able to find shipping record. Would help prove the family unit. Checked Victorian online indexes without joy, including William Paul
The Calstock OPC site has some Baptisms.for parents John & Grace BROOM, in Albaston. (Ann,  Elizabeth and Mary on 22 Aug 1841, father a labourer :) and  Mary Tasmin? on 12 Oct 1837  : father a miner :The only other Broom baptism is BROOM, Elizabeth Anne : 31 Jan 1853 : John & Thomasin? : Calstock Town : father a miner:(She is a grandaughter). Except I had her born in Yackandandah, Vic in 1853. Recheck the Australian records
Another very helpful email from Myra Cordrey, OPC for Calstock (early June 2007)
    There has to be a complication somewhere, as William should show up in either the 1841 or 1851 Census.
    So just a few more thoughts . . .
    There is a gap between John & Grace's children for a late 1838 / early 1839 son but, if the rest of their children were with them in 1841, then a 3-year-old William should be recorded close by at least.
    There is a baptism for an Anne BROOME in Calstock in 1793, dau of Samuel & Martha. Could she be a sister to John, William's supposed father? The family doesn't seem to have been regular church-goers (3 of John's children were baptised at once, rather than individually), so John might not have been baptised - or the ceremony took place in the home parish of one of his parents.
    There is a burial which seems to be that of Grace nee PAUL, John's wife. She was aged 67 and was living at Albaston. John's burial seems to be this one buried 1872 aged 70, abode Albaston.
So John's birth date would be c. 1802.  There are no baptisms for him in the IGI in Cornwall (coverage isn't complete, but for Cornwall it's quite a high percentage) or in www.familyhistory.net.  There are several possibilities in Devon. Have you established who his parents were? If he had a sister called Sarah, then she might be the one with a son called William in Cullompton in 1841.
    Sometimes it's necessary to work backwards with ancestors, find some clues and then work forwards again. Have you tried the Devon Family History Society? You can obtain printouts from them of all their records for a specific surname, for a small charge. In this case you'd need to get those for BROOM and BROOME. (See Devon Family History Society and links.) I think that the answer lies in that county, rather than in Cornwall, so I can't be of much more help.
    The Devon site only has baptisms back to 1813, which helps explain why no-one seems to have an 1802 baptism for John Broom. However they do have marriages back to 1754 for Bere Ferres,. On inspecting the list they supplied, there are only two Broom marriages, but the timing looks OK as possible parents and grandparents for our John  born about 1802.
They are 
John Broom and Mary Nichols       (30 Mar 1796)     
Thomas Broome and Martha Toll    (10 Dec 1773)
Surprisingly in view of the Bere Ferres limitations above, LDS has a series of children being christened for John Broom and Mary Nichols, though none for Thomas and Martha
Thomas        1797
Mary Ann    1798
Jane             1800
Elizabeth      1802
Joseph         1807
Catherine     1809
Ann             1811
Thomazin     1813
Eliza            1815
It is a bit disconcerting to find our John missing from such an otherwise comprehensive list,  but there is  a gap in the list for him at about  the right  time. Thomas in children's names increases our confidece in the link to the grandparents. Similarly the names of John's children are encouraging, especially if  Thomazin and Tamzin are variations of the same names.
So, assessing the probabilities
John Broom and Mary Nichols        (an 80% chance as John's parents)
Thomas Broome and Martha Toll    (an 80% chance as John and Mary's parents)
Looking at the list, it seems reasonable to adjust John Broom's birth to abt 1804
Revisited all of this 2012, including scanning all 13 pages of the 1841 Calstock Census looking for our missing William, but no joy.
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