James Blain Robertson

Started by Marcia McIntyre on Saturday, June 1, 2019
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6/1/2019 at 9:11 PM

I have recently joined geni.com and I do not quite understand how it operates yet. I Googled "James Blain Robertson" and a link to Geni.com popped up. I was forced to join and give my email address, so that I could access family trees. J.B. Robertson had a relationship with Rose Herring, a sister to my great-grandmother, Margaret. Rose was born in Picton, NSW in 1855. Her son, Charles Herring Robertson was born in Brisbane, Qld on 31 May, 1882. His birth certificate says that his parents were James Blain Robertson and Rose Herring. I cannot see a marriage for James and Rose in either NSW or QLD, so assume it was a de facto relationship. Information given to me by the daughter of Charles Herring Robertson was that his father James was a captain on the Burns Phillip shipping line, not much more info given by the grand daughter. Charles died at Thirrool, near Wollongong, NSW in 1947, and I have his obituary. He was a retired railway worker and involved with local sport in the Thirrool area, including the local Lifesaving organisation. His death certificate also says that he was the child of James Blain and Rose. In the last few weeks I have tried to find out more about James Blain Robertson, despite having a very limited amount of information given to me about 10 years ago by his granddaughter. I searched on Trove and found out a wealth of information. He was captain of the schooner "Flora", which seemed to be involved in "blackbirding", the forced removal of South Sea Islanders (Kanakas?) to work in North Qld plantations. The Flora operated between North Qld, New Guinea and the South Seas, mainly in the 1880s. J.B. Robertson was also charged with stealing jewellery, his excuse being that it belonged to his late wife (who was his late wife? Rose Herring? or someone else? puzzling). Rose died of cancer in Sydney in 1915, when she was married to a Frank Dargo). At another time James Blain Robertson was charged with stealing opera glasses and received two months gaol (this crimes happened in north Qld). A reference was found about him living in Townsville, then at another time in New Guinea. There were lots adventures chronicled about his trips on the "Flora" and other schooners. In the 1912, 1917 and 1919 electoral rolls on ancestry.com I have found Robertson (under his full name) listed. His occupation was "retired mariner", so more than likely these electoral roll entries referred the captain of the "Flora". There is a @James Blain Robertson recorded on geni.com and the family tree is compiled by @Andrew William Scott Robertson and @Paul William Steele. I tried to leave a message for these two researchers and I was told that a message would be sent to me email address, giving me instructions how to contact one or both of these researchers. I DID NOT RECEIVE THE EMAIL!! I have tried a couple of times to contact them, and been told each time that I would receive an email with instructions. EACH TIME THIS DID NOT HAPPEN! I would like to contact them, to get it straight that I have the correct information. There seems to be two James Blain Robertsons. One married Mary Ann Simpson in Qld in 1897, and one living in Sydney in 1919, married to a Susan, who was fatally stabbed by his son, Albert Henry Robertson in 1919 (found on Trove). So I am confused, trying to sort out these two people. Don't know which one had a relationship with Rose Herring! I NEED HELP!!

6/1/2019 at 9:17 PM

Sorry, I meant to say that the entries I found for @James Blain Robertson, a retired mariner, in the electoral rolls were in Malvern and Prahran, Victoria. In 1917 he was living at 23 Charles Street, Prahran.

10/19/2020 at 7:09 AM

@James Blain Robertson
Hi Marcia. Happy to help if I can. I believe ( from memory) he had three marriages , Black, herring and Simpson . His first wife was Jessie Black in Melbourne. They moved to NZ. He latter returned to QLd alone.

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7/22/2021 at 5:25 PM

Hi Marcia. I'm Neil Robertson & I live in Wellington New Zealand. James Blain Robertson was my great great grandfather, from his 1st marriage to Jessie Black.

I was sent a link to your Geni entry by my Uncle Max & so thought I'd make contact. Some 20 years ago I received some family papers following my fathers death and did some research on JB so do have a few things I could share with you. He seems to have been quite a character as you've found by the old Australian newspaper articles I had also discovered a few years ago (incidentally, I had understood he was returning the Kanaks to their homeland rather than kidnapping them ?). He also wrote a couple of diaries on his early & part of his later life, one I found in an old Melbourne museum. These are quite interesting.

My email is kiwikidsnz@hotmail.com it will be easier to email directly if you'd like some additional information.

Regards, Neil

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