This is the third of the Boese-Coogan postcards. For a description of the origin of these postcards,  see Postcard 1. Contributed by Cathie Sherwood, with many thanks to Les Vickers for his careful review of the story, additional information and the wedding photograph of William Vickers and Annie Frostrop.

[Note: The surnames have been spelt in numerous ways.  For records, the names are spelt as given, otherwise they are written as Mulherin and Frostrop.]

Wedding invitations have certainly changed over the last 105 years! This postcard was sent by the Mulherin family at Coningsby to Rudolph and Alice Boese inviting them to attend the wedding of their niece in April 1908. Unlike the first two postcards, I thought that this one would be an easy one to research because I knew of both the Mulherin and Vickers families and a wedding is usually a happy event.

Link to larger image of the postcard

However, as I delved into the families, I found this to be a very sad story, particularly with regards to the Frostrop family.

On the 22 April, 1908, William Leonard Vickers married Annie Bridget Frostrop/Frostrap in the Catholic Church at Coningsby. 

 

The Frostrop family

Annie Bridget Frostrop was born on the 21 February 1888 to Andrew (Anders/Andreas) Hansen Frostrop and Bridget Maria Mulherin. Annie was their third child with a son John (also called Patrick John), the eldest, who was born on the 18 October 1884 and a daughter Dorothea (Dora) Christina who was born on the 13 June 1886 (In the QLD BDM index, the surname is written as Frostdriff and Ancestry gives the date as the 18^th June. This date is from the Asylum files.). Bridget and Andrew were married on the 1 December 1883.  Her name is written as Mullhern in the QLD index.

The Frostrop family arrived in Townsville on 19 February 1874 on the immigrant ship Lammershagen from Hamburg. Like so many other new arrivals to the area, the Frostrop family was Danish. Travelling on the ship was Hans, aged 47, his wife Mette, aged 49, Dorothea aged 11, Anders (Andrew) aged 19 and Hans aged 16.  Sadly, Hans junior died on the voyage and his death is recorded as the 5 January 1874. Almost two years after they arrived, Dorothea Christina also died on the 30 December 1875.

It is not known what the Frostrop family did when they arrived but by 1877, only 3 years later, Andrew is listed as a freeholder on the Alexandra Plantation, outside Mackay, according to electoral rolls. He continued to live at that address for the next six years until his untimely death on the 7 June 1888. When Andrew died after only 5 years of marriage, Bridget was left with three young children aged 4, 2 and the baby Annie aged only 3½ months. It is not known what illness Andrew died from (his death certificate may have this information) or how long Bridget may have had to nurse him. His will was written only 4 days before he died so he knew death was imminent as a young man of 34 would not have expected to die so young.  The illness may have been lengthy as later documents indicate that their son, Patrick John, was living with his grandparents, Hans and Mette Frostrup, from about the age of 2 years.

The Mulherin family

Bridget Frostrop (nee Mulherin) was born in Drumcondra, Dublin, (according to the marriage certificate) Ireland, about 1859, however this could vary by as much as 3 years). She was the daughter of Martin Mulherin, later a farmer of Glendaduff (but likely to be farming in the townland of Ballyteige at the time of the birth), and Bridget nee Durkin/Durkan. One of her brothers was Patrick Mulherin (later documents have his name as John Patrick), labourer at Ashburton and later a farmer at Avondale, Coningsby. According to his obituary in the Daily Mercury on the 2 July 1942, Patrick arrived in Australia in 1874 on the Star Queen (as Patrick Mulharon aged 22). There are numerous trees on Ancestry which have his year of birth as 1870 which is clearly wrong as it is more likely to be around 1846-1848. (The Brisbane City Council cemetery records give his age as 91 while his obituary gives it as 96.)

According to his obituary, Patrick came from County Mayo and on arrival in Australia on the Star Queen, aged 22, he worked on various goldfields but ill health prompted his return to Ireland in 1879. Early in 1880 he travelled to America and worked in the sugar plantations in Louisiana, around New Orleans. He came to Mackay in 1882, arriving on the Dorunda (his obituary has the ship’s name as the Burunda which is incorrect) and this time used the name of John Mulhern, aged 28. Patrick married Ellen Griffin on the 16 July 1889 and had 9 children.

Bridget is not listed on the Dorunda. However, I have found a Bridget Mulhearn, aged 23, arriving on the Carnatic on the 28 September 1880 into Townsville. Also on board is John Mulhearn aged 21.  She came free while he was a remittance passenger. This may or may not be the Bridget of this story but it is highly likely. What makes this so likely is that a John Mulherin died on the 3 October 1897 aged 36 years. He was a labourer on the Goondi estate on the Johnstone River (near Innisfail). The administration of his estate (as he died intestate) was initially given to his brother Patrick Mulherin of Avondale, near Mackay but later changed to his father in Ireland, Martin Mulherin, with Frederick Bourne in Mackay as Martin’s agent. The age for the John Mulhearn on the Carnatic fits with the John Mulherrin who died in 1897. There is a John Mulherrin who is on the electoral rolls in 1884 at Nindaroo so he and Bridget may well have come to Mackay before he headed north to Innisfail.

Bridget also had a sister, Ann(e) who, on the 10 January 1883, had married Robert Drew and was living at Eungella where Robert was a miner. It is probable that Anne arrived, aged 23, on the Caroline on the 1^st May1882. Anne and Robert are listed at Cattle Creek on the 1903 and 1905 electoral rolls and he is a labourer. By 1913 he is a farmer at Finch Hatton. The couple had six children.  Robert died on the 25 December 1914 while Anne died on the 3 December 1925.

For Bridget, the death of Andrew must have been a terrible blow. Though she was not left destitute, as Andrew’s will left money to her through a life insurance policy, she will still have struggled with the loss of her husband, the care of three very young children and perhaps even post-natal depression as Annie was only a baby.

Eighteen months after Andrew’s death, on the 14 January 1890, Bridget was admitted to Goodna Mental Asylum. This is the date given on the files but she may not have arrived at Goodna until at least a week or so later, about the 24 January.  The first note about her is made on the 20 January regarding her transportation from Mackay to Brisbane.

The Asylum documents record the next sad episode in Bridget’s life. The initial documents relate to whether she had the funds to pay for the expense of having a nurse accompany her to the Asylum and for her ongoing care.  (A nurse, Mary Fraser, accompanied Bridget to Brisbane at a cost of £8 10s.) A letter from the gaoler at Her Majesty’s Gaol in Mackay to the Superintendent of the Asylum outlines her available funds and that two of her children are in the custody of her brother (Patrick Mulherin) while another is with her mother-in-law (Mette Frostrop).

A week after her admittance, Patrick Mulherin wrote to the Curator in Insanity asking what can be done as Bridget Frostrop owes him the sum of £62 6s 4d being money that he has lent her, bills he has paid and that he has the care of her children. The Curator makes an annotation on the letter asking if the Asylum doctor will state how long Bridget might remain in the Asylum and that a letter is to be sent to Mackay asking the Commissioner of Police to interview Mulherin. The Curator wished to know if the children appeared to be well cared for and if the claim of monies owed was a just one.

A later annotation on the same letter notes that the Curator does not intend to satisfy the patient’s debts as he has been informed that there is “a fair probability of patient’s recovery” and that he also requires copies of all receipts for the monies that Mulherin has spent.

The reply from Mackay outlines Bridget’s circumstances. The land owned by Bridget was bought by her father-in-law, Hans Frostrop, while the small cottage was built by her brother, Patrick Mulherin. The eldest child lives with his grandparents while his two sisters live with the Mulherin family who also take care of the household contents. The cottage is about 2 miles from town (it was on Bridge Road) with a value of about £50. Patrick provided the writer with a list of the payments he had made on Bridget’s behalf but would not press for repayment if the money would be kept for the benefit of the children.

The Curator notes on the letter that he will not charge for Bridget’s maintenance in the Asylum if the money will be used for the children. A further letter from Mackay states that Mulherin is employed on the Ashburton Plantation and appears to be “straight forward” but questions why he did not help his sister sooner when he found that she was not capable to take care of her only means. A further interview with Patrick is held where he again states that he will not press his claim if the money will be used for the children.

Bridget died in Goodna Asylum, Oxley of phthisis (tuberculosis) on the 17 June, 1892, aged 36.

Following her death, there is a further flurry of letters relating to her estate. Though Patrick did not press his claim in 1890, he does continue with the claim on her estate once she died. There is obviously gossip in Mackay about Bridget’s money as Ellen Mulherin wrote to the Curator to ask what was happening with her estate as she [Ellen] is “boldly accused by people here of having her [Bridget’s] money”. A letter from Patrick to the Curator also raises similar concerns that “people are encouraging Mr Frostrop (Hans Frostrop) that I am wanting it all but I am only wanting my own whitch (sic) that’s not half of it but I will just have to be the looser (sic).

The Curator in Insanity notes that there will not be any money left once Mulherin is paid his claim and the Curator is reimbursed for the maintenance and burial of the deceased. Patrick Mulherin reached an agreement with Hans Frostrop that Patrick John could remain with his grandfather while the two girls remained with the Mulherin family.

Dorothy (Dora) and Annie Bridget were enrolled at Coningsby School in 1893 and are listed on the school roll as Cissy Mulherin aged 7 and Annie Mulherin aged 6. Cissy left school in July of 1899 when she was 13 and Annie in July of the following year at the age of 12.

Dora Christina (Cissy) Frostrop married Charles Vines on 12 July 1905. Charles was a farmer at Palm Vale, near Habana and was 35 while Dorothy was 19. Four girls and a boy were born to the couple. A daughter, Sarah Ann, died in infancy in 1906. The marriage was not a happy one with Cissy leaving the house in 1918. She petitioned for divorce in 1931 but the petition failed as she could not prove that Charles had deserted her. Charles died in 1937. Following Charles’ death, Cissy married Leo McDermott and outlived him by many years, dying in her nineties in the 1980s. Leo McDermott died in 1957.

Patrick John continued to live with his grandparents until Mette died on the 23 July 1906 and Hans followed two years later on the 18 January 1908. At the time Patrick was employed at Meadowlands. He worked as a storeman until deciding to enlist for World War 1 in 1916 in Maryborough. He was killed in action in France on the 13 August 1918 aged 33. Patrick left everything he had to his niece, Dorothy Gertrude Vines.  He was initially buried in the Bayonvillers German Cemetery but was later moved to the Heath Cemetery just to the north of Harbonnieres in France. Frustratingly, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which maintains the cemetery, has his parents listed incorrectly as Hans Peter (his grandfather) and Ann Bridget (his sister) Frostrop.

The Vickers family

William (Bill) Leonard Vickers was born on the 19 March 1880 in Mackay.  He was the eldest son of George Leonard Vickers and Honora Dwyer who were married in St Patrick’s Church, Mackay on the 17 March 1879. Honora was married before her marriage to George as on some records her name is listed as Parker. (On their marriage certificate, the bride is Honora Parker – a widow.) Honora was born in Newcastle, County Tipperary, Ireland around 1853/54. George, then aged 21, arrived in Rockhampton on 2 June 1877 on board the Indus from London. Travelling with him was his 17 year old brother James. Honora arrived in Moreton Bay on 27 January 1878 on board the Aline from Liverpool, aged 24. Shipping records record her as just Mrs Parker with no mention of a first name. George worked as a labourer at first then purchased land at Hampden, farming sugar cane. He later bought land close to Marian Mill and farmed there from about 1902. He sold The Glen in 1918 and bought a farm at Owens Creek, later selling it to his son-in-law Frederick William Goltz when he retired to live in Mackay.

George and Honora had 7 children with three daughters dying as quite young infants (Annie May at 14 weeks in August 1882; Anne Vickers at 10 months in January 1885; and Elizabeth Ann May at 5 months in March 1892). George died on the 30 September 1934 while Honora died on the 15 September 1939.

On the 1903 electoral roll, William, known as Bill, is a labourer at the Glen Farm, Marian. In 1905 he worked at the Mossman Mill as a labourer. On the 1908 electoral roll, William is working at Marian as a labourer. In 1909 he is working as a carrier and living on the Homebush Road and the following year he and Annie are at Marian. He is still there in 1915 but by 1919 Bill is a farmer and living at Hampden. However, according to his grandson, William was farming at Owens Creek from at least 1917 until his move to Lethebrook. (William and Annie used to board the Owens Creek State School teachers – one was a Mr Harding.) By 1943 he and Annie are living at Lethebrook near Proserpine and he is a cane farmer.  By 1958 Annie and William are living at McLennan St, Woody Point near Brisbane. William Leonard died on the 18 May 1959. By the 1963 electoral roll, Annie is back living in Mackay at 1B Petersen St, North Mackay. She died on the 20th July, 1975.

Bill and Annie Vickers had five children:

William George Vickers b 13 May 1909 married Catherine Griffin and lived at Pinkenba in Brisbane for many years until his death there in 1973.

Edward Joseph Vickers b 02 January 1912 was a farmer at Lethebrook and never married. He died in 1971.

Honora Ellen Veronica Vickers b 21 December 1914 and died on 20 April 2011. She married Raymond Nicholas Stafford.

Thomas Henry Gerard Vickers b 25 December 1917, was a farmer married to Mabel Ellen (nee Stegman). He farmed at Mount Pelion from 1947 until his death in 1989.

Gregory Aloysius Vickers  married to Joyce Cecini and farmed at Lethebrook.