Jessie Richardson

BIRTH & BAPTISM
1877 according to Teresa Flockhart in Ancestry tree
OR 1887 from Gary Richardson and her grave marker.
A bunch of Ancestry trees have Jessie and her siblings born Kingston SA. I can't find evidence for this, let alone something that would stand up against the Amherst records for the family.

The plot thickens. All the siblings definitely belong to Lavinia Maud McDonald (Frankcom) with whom Ruby (Jessie's daughter) lived for some time. Jessie is much younger, and no birth found so did she lie on her marriage certificate? did her father marry twice and she belongs to a second family? was she just not registered at birth? or was she Lavinia's cousin? No clear answers to any of these. If she also started out on the goldfields, when did she relocate to Gippsland?

Such a surprise to find that Jessie's mum, Mary Ann/Annie Morgan, is descended from First Fleeters and very early free settlers. I haven't found anyone else in the family whose Australian story goes back to 1788.

MARRIAGE
Name Jno Richardson
Marriage Date 1906
Marriage Place Victoria Possibly Drouin or Mirboo.
Registration Date 1906
Registration Place Victoria, Australia
Spouse Jessie McDonald
Registration Number 7094

In 1913 John and Jessie were living in Currie, King Island where their son Albert was born.

WW 1
Jessie and her children are abandoned by John Richardson when he deserts from the troop ship at Durban South Africa on its way to WW1.

She is then abandoned by the Australian government in 1920 when they declare John officially deserted and Jessie and girls therefore not entitled to financial support.

Since he is not declared dead, she cannot remarry without being charged with bigamy.

From 1919, John Richardson is back in Beech Forest a year before his desertion is confirmed (no wonder they didn't find him in South Africa), and from 1922 until 1927, the electoral rolls show Jessie living with him again.

In 1930 she has a Sydney solicitor solicit support from the government for herself and her daughters, but is again unsuccessful because John deserted the army. Presumably John has died or shot through again.

Jessie and John married in 1906, so Jessie might have been around 50 yrs old by 1930, and possibly living in Sydney. Ruby Pearl married in 1938 and is living in East Gippsland with her husband, but was living with her aunt Lavinia Frankom (McDonald) early in the 1930's. I can find no clear evidence for what happened to Ivy May Richardson, but there are several marriages for Ivy Richardson in NSW that might be her, suggesting that Jessie might have been living with Ivy in NSW in 1930 - she was see below.. The Great Depression might have caused greater than usual hardship for a woman in Jessie's situation and prompted the request for a war widow's pension. Suggests she is not living in a de facto marriage.

In 1930, Jessie and Ivy May were living at 89 Bourke Street, Darlinghurst West, East Sydney, NSW, a slum suburb of inner Sydney which had a hard time in the Great Depression. Neither has a job.

Ivy May married Vincent William Hunting in Queensland in 1934 which makes it likely that Jessie moved to Queensland with Ivy or Albert.

In 1941 Jessie Richardson was enrolled to vote at 266 Vulture St South Brisbane
Name Jessie Richardson
Gender Female
Residence Date 1941
Street Address 266 Vulture St.
Residence Place Maree, Griffith, Queensland, Australia
Occupation Home Duties
Electoral Register Number 6214
[Thia is the address given by Albert when he enlisted for WW2 in 1940. The Federal Electorate of Griffith takes in South Brisbane]

DEATH & BURIAL
With thanks to Garry Richardson
Jessie Richardson
BIRTH 1887 DEATH Jul 1963 (aged 75–76) BURIAL Hemmant Cemetery and Crematorium Brisbane, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia [Albert, Ivy May and her husband are buried in the same cemetery]

Jessie MacDonald Richardson
BIRTH 1887
DEATH Jul 1963 (aged 75–76)
BURIAL Hemmant Cemetery and Crematorium
Brisbane, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia
PLOT LAWN-1-756

[ALBERT IS BURIED IN THE SAME PLOT]