Samuel Jarvis (Cuper) Cussen, {Australian Immigrant} - Disputed Origins

The only marriage record I have seen is a transcription, not the original, ie "Cuper" is how a transcriber has interpreted the writing, not necessarily what was witten. It is important to note that in the first half of the C19th what is referred to as the "long S" was often used. This took the form of a serif that extended below the line of script. It is easily misinterpreted as a "p'. A good example of this can be seen on the hand-written immigration record, which has been correctly transcribed as 'ss'.

As we have "Cussen" on the 1838 immigration record before the marriage, and "Cussen" as the surname of all his children beginning in 1841 following the marriage, there is no reason to believe he used an alias to marry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s

Although we can't be 100% certain that all the records we have found refer to the same person there do seem to be some pretty compelling reasons to think that the Samuel Jervois Cussen from County Cork who was the son of Patrick Cussen & Ellen Jervois is the same Samuel Jervis Cussin who emigrated to NSW from County Cork in 1838. I located a baptism at St Mary, Cork City in 1816 for a Samuel Cussen, son of Patrick Cussen & his wife Ellen Jervois. This couple also had Ellen, Constance, Anne, Thomas & Charlotte [from baptisms, newspaper items & chancery cases. A list of paticipants in a family chancery case that lists all of Patrick & Ellen's children shows that Samuel was in fact "Samuel Jervois Cussen. In 1834 Patrick Cussen of Ballyfeard, Cork [same place of residence as mentioned in the newspaper marriage notces for Samuel's sisters] was declared bankrupt [Dublin Morning Register] & then died in 1836 in the middle of a chancery case. Patrick Cussen of Ballyfeard will was probated in 1836, burt unfortunately only survives as an index entry. This however, could well explain why his son Samuel Jervis Cussen emigrated to Australia in 1838. His father Patrick Cussen is a match & mother's christian name Ellen is a match. Admittedly the Hungerford surname is a puzzle, but the clerk filling out the paperwork may have made an error. It is noted that this Samuel can read & write. It would be inconceivable that Samuel did not know his own surname, but early BMD records in Australia are full of errors & terrible handwriting, not to mention clerks and ministers struggling with unfamiliar accents and names. "Cuper" is surely a transcription error for Cussen/Cusen. Without knowing anything about Jane Sullivan's family, Sauel Jervis Cussen's children include the names that link back to the family of Patrick Cussen and Ellen Jervois; Thomas, Jervis, Ellen, Samuel, Patrick & Anne.
I don't consider the paret names on the death certificate as a proper primary source; Jane was dead already & of course, once Samuel Jervois Cussen has died, nearly 60 years after leaving Ireland, there was literally no one to ask who his parents were. In fact, the given parents are simply the names of Samuel's eldest two children [who are Thomas Emmanuel Jervis Cussen & Charlotte Ellen Jervis Cussen], so may well have been a complete guess.
To me, [especially as Jervois & Cussen are both extremely uncommon Irish surnames] it seems to me that a provable Samuel Jervois Cussen, son of Patrick Cussen & Ellen Jervois who vanishes from the Irish record & someone of the same name, age & from the same part of Ireland emigrates to Australia must be the same person; especially as there is no trace whatsoever in Ireland of a Thomas Cussen who married an Ellen Jervois/Jarvis, let alone any children baptised to anyone with those names.

Private User & I have been collaborating on the Becher/Jervois tree for may years as we both belong to the Irish Becher tree & Ian to the Jervois tree. We have both spent an ernormous amount of time on this branch of the family & have known about Patrick Cussen & Ellen Jervois for a long time, so we are familiar with them & their family. Ian has been investigating DNA matches with various descendants of this branch of the family which lead to our extending this part of the tree on Geni.

Thanks Jenny, well put!

In trying to weigh up the evidence, what seemed to me noteworthy, is that if there were 2 different individuals, then we have:

- Samuel Jervois Cussen, who we have recorded in Co. Cork with a number of documents, but who disappears without trace in Australia after 1838.

-Samuel Jarvis Cussen who appears out of thin air in Australia in 1841, with no record of him or his supposed parents in Co. Cork before that date, supported by only one document.

What is the likelihood?

If we are willing to accept that records can have errors (surely they aren't infallible?) then the pieces fit together to form a coherent picture of one individual.

So long as we note all the evidence carefully, including the conflicts ,so that any interested researchers can keep an eye out for further evidence, I don't see the harm in merging the profiles and assigning Patrick and Ellen as his parents. Thomas and Charlotte don't lead to any other alternative pedigree for him anyway! If further evidence comes to light that proves us wrong, the merge can easily be undone.

As yet, we have no other relatives of Samuel Jarvis Cussen on Geni requesting that Thomas and Charlotte be retained as parents. There may be many "smart matches" to trees on other sites that are cited as references for these parents, but none (that I can see) that include the evidence Jenny and I have found.

Thank you for the proposed way forward Erica, yes I would be happy with that.

In reply to your points Leanne:

The rootschat thread you reference was 2008-2013. In the thread, Lorraine Egan could only speculate about a possible connection to Patrick Cussen and Ellen Jervois, the baptism and Chancery Court records had not yet come to light. Jenny found them only last week.

Lorraine also pointed out the Jervois/Hungerford connections as an explanation for "Ellen Hungerford" appearing on the immigration record. One of SJC's maternal Hungerford relatives, Capt. Emanuel Hungerford, emigrated to New South South Wales in 1828 with at least 7 sons and a daughter. If any of these people were known to the record clerk, a conversation about family connections could easily have arisen which led to an incorrect entry.

I have notified descendants of the recent record finds, including Neil Smith who manages the wikitree profile for SJC, and I see he has already referenced them on the profile. I have no doubt that as the new information comes to the attention of descendants, we will begin to see trees amended. Incidentally, Neil mentions that the informant for SJC's 1894 death record was his grandson William Cussen Cormie. (So not at all surprising that errors could be made about the names of his great-grandparents).

I have not referenced DNA matches in this discussion (or on SJC's profile), because although they point in the right direction, the findings are inconclusive at present. But for any interested researchers:
My father is a well documented descendant of Samuel Jervois b.c.1770, brother of Ellen Jervois who married Patrick Cussen. He has 3rd-to-distant cousin matches with three descendants of Samuel Jarvis Cussin, each though a different child. This triangulates the match firmly to either Samuel Jarvis Cussen or his wife Jane Sullivan. As anyone familiar with genetic genealogy knows, things can only be ruled in, not out. So if/when a match can be triangulated with just one other descendant of the Jervois family, it will be conclusive evidence of Jervois descent for SJC. (The coupling of Samuel+Jarvis as names already points us there).

Hi Erica,
Thanks for your efforts and consideration Erica Howton. I am in agreement with Private User and happy with your solution. As more Irish records become available, a more definite conclusion will hopefully be possible in the future.
Thanks for identifying the informant for Samuel's death Ian. Interesting & not at all surprising that he would not know the names of Samuel's parents & of course there was nobody to ask! He may well have assumed that the names of Samuel's eldest two children were better than nothing.
We do at least know that Patrick Cussen & Ellen Jervois did have a Samuel Jervois Cussen of the right age, so I will keep looking for any further evidence that he emigrated to Australia.

Also, good point Private User about the Hungerford relatives, as they in fact settled in the Maitland area; exactly where Samuel Jervis Cussen settled soon after, so he presumably joined them there! "Emmanuel" is a favoured Hungerford name & may well be why Samuel chose it as a middle name for his son, as it is not a very common name.

No, just that there are partial errors on 2 of them.
- the immigration record correctly gives his birth date, origin in Co.Cork, name of his father, and that his mother's name was Ellen.

- the marriage record is most likely 100% correct. Somebody has just transcribed it badly.

- the death record gives his approximate age correctly, which ties him to the earlier immigration record, but gives the parents names incorrectly, which is entirely understandable if the informant was his grandson.

Up until now, researchers have been unable to find any information about his origins, because they were relying on a death record with errors.

If you begin with the baptism record, the picture is different:

You have his birth in 1816 to Patrick and Ellen in Co.Cork..
Confirmation of his middle name in the court records.
Immigration to Australia in 1838, with age correct age, place of origin and parent's names approximately correct.
Marriage in 1841.
Family names given to his children.
Death in 1894 with approximately correct age but parents named incorrectly.

All this for someone with a very unusual name, (no other person with the same name either in Co.Cork or Australia), at at time when people did not have passports or ID books to check for correct details. The surrounding context is important.

Can I just confirm Erica Howton, that part of this compromise involves "removing" Samuel Jervois Cussen as a child of Patrick Cussen & his wife Ellen Jervois? While I can see that it is up for discussion as to whether the proven son of that couple is the same man who emigrated to Australia, there is no doubt that Patrick & Ellen Cussen did baptised a Samuel on the 21st August 1816 at St Mary, Cork City & he is in a list of the other proven children of this couple in several chancery cases. I can see that it could lead to further merges [unless locked ], but all the same, it seems odd not to include Samuel with his parents & siblings since that part would seem to be 100% consistent & proven.

Also, the wikitree profile for Samuel Jarvis Cussen has a transcript of the marriage of Samuel & Jane. Unfortunately as suspected, it contains few details. No parents are given. This is what is written on the transcript;
Transcript only : Ref No 1841 V141-23 Samuel Jarvis Cuper [Cussen ]of Maitland married Jane Sullivan on 14th February 1841 in the parish of West Maitland, in the County of Northumberland, religion: Roman Catholic. Witnesses: James Callaghan & Elizabeth Callaghan both made their mark as did Jane. Samuel Jarvis Cussen signed. Bride and groom both state they are members of or hold Communion with the Roman Catholic Church. No parents are given, or ages or occupations. Would still be interesting to see the actual entry.

Thanks Leanne!

Could I please request that you also remove Thomas and Charlotte from your curator notes in the heading, as that preferences one of the three options.

As a reciprocal compromise on our part, could you please disconnect Samuel Jervois Cussen from wife Jane Sullivan and children please Erica Howton

If everyone is happy with that - then I think we have a working solution?

Thanks so much Erica, your assistance has been greatly appreciated!