The Tale of Two 'Adelines' - Adeline Amelia Browning and Adeline Amelia Kean

Branching out from telling the stories of my direct ancestors has led me down some fascinating paths of family tree research. Along the way, I've sometimes been puzzled by the choices parents have made for the first names of their children, especially during the 1800s and early 1900s when it was usual practice to choose familiar family names. 

This post tells the story of two relatives named 'Adeline'. It's quite an unusual name on my family tree. Amongst the 2,700-odd individuals listed on my family tree so far, there are only two who have the first name of Adeline.  That makes them eligible to be added to a group I've created - The Lonely First Names Club!  

Curiously, not only are there only two women relatives on my family tree with the first name of Adeline, but both of these women have the same middle name as well.

The name Adeline is apparently of French and German origin, and means "noble, nobility."  It derives from the French name Adele, which comes from the Germanic root adal, meaning "noble."

Interesting random fact:   The famous British modernist author, Virginia Woolf, was actually christened Adeline Virginia.  

Adeline  Amelia  Browning  (1878 - 1953)

Adeline Amelia Crowley / Lumley nee Browning
(photo courtesy of Darrell Crowley)

Adeline Amelia Browning was my paternal 1st cousin, three times removed.

Common Ancestors: my 3x Great Grandparents, William Henry Browning and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns

Adeline Amelia was born in 1878.  Her parents were William Henry (known as Bill) Browning (my 2nd great uncle), an English immigrant, and his wife Sarah Jane Chillingworth, born in Australia to convict parents.  Adeline was the youngest of eleven children born to William and Sarah, although by the time Adeline was born, only six of those children were still living. 

 

Having researched the Browning family line quite extensively, I have found no evidence of the name Adeline anywhere on that side of my family tree.  I wonder if perhaps the name came down from my 2nd great uncle's wife's family, the Chillingworths?

When Adeline was baptised many, many years later, in her adult years, she stated her birth place was Woods Reef, Barraba, which is where she grew up.  On her birth certificate however, her birth place is listed as Mount Lourie Creek, near Bundarra.  These places are not all that far apart, so it's likely Adeline was born during the family's wanderings whilst her father worked as a 'bushman'/ shepherd / grazier.

Gold was discovered at Woods Reef in the late 1850s, and a thriving village existed there for around ten years.  However, when many of the miners left in the late 1860s, the village's population declined significantly and there was a corresponding decline in shops and services.  

Adeline's parents however stayed on and raised their family there. In 1896, when Adeline was 18 years old, her father declared bankruptcy.  I'd venture to say that Adeline's early family life was likely rather impoverished.

Interestingly, in December of 1900, just a few years after Adeline's father had declared bankruptcy, both Adeline and her mother Sarah were convicted of sheep stealing!!  Yes, sheep stealing.  I think it's probably true to say that the choice to steal had likely been born out of utter necessity and I really do hope this event was a one-off!

Adeline and her mother Sarah really made a solid attempt at the stealing of sheep though.  They stole 10 of them!  Now that's a decent effort.  

Unfortunately, they were not all that successful.  They were caught, arrested and charged, although by the time they were arrested. there were only sheepskins left!!! 

 

I'd hazard a guess to say that the sheep were slaughtered for their meat, and then the ladies were intent on selling the sheepskins and fleece.  

Mother and daughter were arrested in December of 1900.  The Police Gazette, dated Jan 1901, recorded their apprehension and stated they were to be committed for trial in Bingara, New South Wales.

Adeline's sentence was to be twelve months light labour at Tamworth Goal.  This sentence was suspended however, under the provisions of a new Crimes Act, which had only just come into existence in 1900.

So, an entry appeared in the Police Gazette, published in March of 1901, stating that both mother and daughter had been granted bail.  What a lucky break.  It's interesting to note that this article identifies Adeline as Adelaide, which was probably a much more common name at that time.

What has made me chuckle about this whole episode in their lives is the fact that Adeline is related to a direct ancestor of mine, who also attempted to steal sheep and got caught.  My paternal Great Great Grandfather, Patrick Cusack, had been transported to Australia for the crime of sheep stealing.  He and his brother John were sent to Australia as convicts in 1848, just 30 years before the birth of Adeline. 

Patrick Cusack was the father-in-law of Adeline's 1st cousin, Richard Joseph Brown (my great grandfather).  Richard Brown married Ellen Cusack, the daughter of Patrick Cusack. 

Now while the Cusacks settled and lived in the Richmond River District, outside Lismore, and the Brownings lived in Barraba on the Manilla River, outside Armidale; there may have been a chance that the families got together and shared stories.

I wonder if Adeline and her mother knew about the sheep-stealing Cusack brothers from Ireland?

After her criminal experience, it seemed Adeline was intent on turning her life around, or at the very least, giving the impression she was off to a fresh start and on her best behaviour .  Just a couple of months after her release, she was baptised and married on the same day!  Impressive!

John Humphrey Crowley
(photo courtesy of Darrell Crowley)

She married John Humphrey Crowley in May of 1901 and they went on to have 10 children together.  Sadly their first born died in 1902 and then two of their children died in 1906, one aged 7 and the other aged 1.

By the time Adeline's last child was born however, in 1919, it seems that married life for Adeline was not at all happy.  John appears to have been a bit of a cad and a bounder, and there was a warrant out for his arrest for failing to support his wife and children. 

At that time their children were aged from 15 to a newborn, and Adeline was caring for at least four of them at home.  Her mother Sarah had died the year before, and her father had died back in 1905.  Many of her brothers and sisters were still living in the Barraba area, where her parents had been buried, so hopefully they were of some support for Adeline through these tough years.

Adeline's husband John was arrested in 1920, but even after his discharge from jail, he did not attempt to contribute supporting Adeline and her children.  There was a series of warrants issued over the following five years or so, and John was arrested more than once during that time.  

By 1924, when yet another warrant was issued, John was using an alias.  I'm not sure what Adeline's life was like during these years, or for the next twenty when John passed away.  He died in 1940, after accidentally falling from his horse while riding.  What an end.  

Adeline married again the very next year.  In 1941 she married John Isaac Lumley.  At the time she was 63 years old, and he was 42.  Way to go, Adeline.  She died just over ten years later, and I do so hope her married life with her second John was a lot happier.

Adeline died in June of 1953, aged 74.  She was buried at the Inverell Cemetery in New South Wales.

 

The only other person with the first name of Adeline on my family tree was related to the Adeline Amelia Crowley / Lumley nee Browning mentioned above.  

Adeline Amelia Browning grew up with two older sisters, Caroline Maria and Ann Eliza.  Sadly, Ann Eliza died in 1894 at the age of 24.  Adeline Amelia would have been 16 years old at the time.  Her other sister, Caroline Maria, however lived a much longer life. She also married twice and survived into her 80s.  One of her daughters was named Adeline Amelia and was (of course) Adeline Amelia Crowley / Lumley nee Browning's niece.

Adeline  Amelia  Kean  (1892 - 1909)

Possibly Adeline Amelia Kean
- awaiting verification
(photo courtesy of Val Kronk)

 Adeline Amelia Kean was my paternal 2nd cousin twice removed.

 Common Ancestors:  my 3x Great   Grandparents, William Henry Browning   and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns.

Adeline Amelia Kean was the daughter of Adeline Amelia Browning's sister, Caroline Maria Browning, and her first husband, Thomas Matthew Kean.  Born in November of 1893 at a place named Swamp Oak, near Tamworth, in New South Wales; Adeline Amelia Kean was the second youngest of 5 children born to Caroline and Thomas.  It's clear that Adeline Amelia's mother, Caroline, named her daughter after her sister, as it wasn't a typical family name.

Sadly Adeline Amelia Kean's father Thomas died in 1896, when Adeline Amelia was only 3 years old.  She had also lost an older sister when she was 1.  Her sister Caroline Ann died in 1889 at the age of 3, apparently from eating poisonous fungi.

(photo courtesy of Lily Lawrence)

This is a photo of Adeline Amelia's mother, Caroline Maria Kean nee Browning, and Adeline's older siblings, taken before the birth of Adeline.

Adeline's oldest sister Elsie is standing on the right side.  Caroline is standing on the left side, and baby Sidney is sitting on his mother's lap.

This photo would have been taken just before Adeline's sister Caroline Ann died in 1889.

It was only months after the death of her father that her mother re-married a man who had three children of his own.  Adeline's mother and step-father went on to have another three children.

Adeline Amelia became a step-sister at the age of 5, 8 and 11, but tragically, two of her half-siblings had died by the time Adeline had reached the age of 12 in 1904.  At the start of 1905, Adeline only had one older sister, two brothers, and a step-sister remaining.

She herself passed away in December of 1909, at the very young age of 17.  Causes of death were listed as typhoid fever and pneumonia. There had been a widespread outbreak of typhoid fever in several areas of northern New South Wales from the start of 1909, and at that time it was difficult to control.  

Adeline Amelia died in the hospital at Tamworth and was laid to rest in the cemetery in that town.  

She was survived by:

- her mother Caroline Maria Kean/Carter nee Browning, aged 49 at that time.  Caroline was to live until 87 years of age, four years after the death of her second husband.

- her step-father William Carter, aged 47 at that time of Adeline's death.  He lived until the age of 80, passing away in 1942.

Headstone - Adeline Amelia's mother, Caroline, and step-father William.

- her sister Elsie Eugene Maria Kean, who lived until the age of 74.  She married Harry Price and they had five children together, only 3 of whom survived into adulthood.

- and her step-sister Elizabeth Ann Ivy Pearl Carter, who died in 1996 at the age of 92.  She married Frederick Stallard and they had three children together.

Caroline Maria Kean/Carter (nee Browning), seated on the far right;
with her daughter Elsie Eugene Maria Price (nee Kean) on the far left,
her step-daughter Elizabeth Ann Ivy Pearl Carter in the middle,
and granddaughters Rachael Price (on the left) and May Price (on the right) - daughters of Elsie.
Photo taken c.1923  (photo courtesy of Dorothy Smith) 

Adeline was also survived by:

- her brother Sidney Matthew Kean, who passed away in 1953 at the age of 63.  He married Louisa Weston and they had six children together,

- her brother Louis (Luis) Manning Kean, who was killed in action in 1918, near Villers-Bretonneux in France, at the age of 23.

Louis (Luis) Manning Kean
Service No: 3391
Regiment/Service: Australian Infantry, A.I.F., 31st Bn.
(photo courtesy of Lily Lawrence)

That is the sum total of the information I've discovered about the two Adelines.  I wonder if the name continued on in other branches of the family?

Special Note to any family members:  If you have memories to add, photos or information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so.  Please use the comments box below or email me.  It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.