More about Lizzie & Ben

Thanks to Leigh, I was able to add a few facts about births and deaths and an interesting story about a daughter of Lizzie from a previous marriage (assuming I read it all correctly!).

Elizabeth NORRIS (b.1857-Amherst, Victoria, Australia; d. Bef. 27 Jun 1911)(our Lizzie)

Sp: (Edgar) Benoit Leopold PEELMAN )b.18 Aug 1855-Ghent, Belgium;m.1877;d.1915-Footscray,M, Victoria, Australia (our Ben)

Now, "our" Lizzie was the daughter of Leonard and Bridget Norris (I'm trying to make the distinction here because our Lizzie was Elizabeth and she had a daughter also named Elizabeth (but known as Annie!) - so I'm mostly trying to make it clear as much for myself as for the reader(s)). - and this "blog" was about Ben & Lizzie and the little we could glean from the letters....

The Saga of Annie Peelman (1st daughter of Lizzie) doesn't say who the father was - I get the impression that maybe there wasn't a husband as such but she had gone to Echuca/Moama as a "young widow". Maybe I'm reading too much into this - maybe there was a husband and she was in fact a "young widow" - but the father of "Annie" is not mentioned in any case.

Of significance for these pages is that Lizzie was relatively old when she was writing the letters - 38 - and Elsie May (Adele's mother) was 2 at the time.

Elsie May PEELMAN (b.1893-Footscray,Melbourne,Victoria,Australia;d.Aft 27 Jun 1911)

sp: Walter John CLARKE (m.1914)

I'm not sure why some of the dates of death are written as (Aft 27 jun 1911) ie after Jun 1911 - no doubt Leigh would know. I was 14 I think when Grandpa died (Walter John CLARKE) so that would be around 1964 and Elsie May some time after that because she came to live with us for a few years at Wantirna Road (72) Ringwood and then for a while in a nursing home. (Just an aside - I used to wag school to go and play cards with Elsie and some of her old mates).
When I entered the last of the letters into these pages it unsettled me to think that I didn't know anything about what had happened to them both.
Adele had thought that Lizzie was sick and had gone to the country for health reasons? But Leigh thinks more that it was the late 90's depression and that maybe it was easier for Lizzie to provide for herself and the kids while he was looking for work in Melbourne.
In any case I (we) now know that Lizzie died (before 1911<54>

3. Mary Elenor PEELMAN (b.1882-Echuca,Victoria,Australia;d.Bef 27 Jun 1911)

sp: Henry Daniel NEWMAN (m.1908)

3. Sophy Theresa PEELMAN (b.1885-Echuca,Victoria,Australia;d.Bef 27 Jun 1911)

3. Daisy Hortense PEELMAN (b.1887-Melbourne,Victoria,Australia;d.Aft 27 Jun 1911)

sp: Arthur H KENNY (m.1911)

3. Albert Victor Leopold PEELMAN (b.1890-Footscray,Melbourne,Victoria,Australia;d.1961-Bacchus Marsh,Victoria,Australia)

sp: Hannah Phoebe HINE (b.Abt 1890;m.1911;d.Jul 1955-Kew,Melbourne,Victoria,Australia)

3. Elsie May PEELMAN (b.1893-Footscray,Melbourne,Victoria,Australia;d.Aft 27 Jun 1911)

sp: Walter John CLARKE (m.1914)

3. Elizabeth Ann NORRIS (Peelman) (b.6 Jul 1873-Ballarat,Victoria,Australia;d.2 Sep 1953-) **
** This is "Annie" the first daughter of Lizzie - stepdaughter of Ben.
She was the subject of the last post.