GG&T Article on Thomas Cue

Hi All,

Maybe somebody who reads handwriting better than myself could clear something for me?

Thomas Cue (Prospector) was born in Casterton, yet on the Death certificate (Page 40, 2012 GG&T yearbook written by Thomas J. Foster) reads to me as Ireland.
Although the N in Ireland looks like a U.

I know his father with the same name was born in Ireland. Maybe a mistake along with his age.

Great read by the way,

GD

Hi GD,
You are right, his father was born in Ireland. There are two mistakes on the death certificate. The first is place of birth and the second is his age when he died. He was seventy not 65. I asked the good people in Vancouver about this and they said that as there were so many people coming and going at that time the information could have been from someone who knew him for only a short time. He was married but in Victoria (Aust) not Canada or Alaska. He was a bit of a drunk in his later years and I think he had been booted out by his wife for drinking too much. She had been unfortunate and married two drunks one after the other. Tom Cue is not known to have had any children but we don't know this for sure, either.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Jim

Thanks Jim,

Sorry if I seemed picky, but I love these types of stories, and the early gold rush period is becoming a hobby of mine.
I went through some Trove articles today, but didn't find much, other than his sister died at the age of 64.


What impresses me the most, is you did your investigation while on holiday in Canada. My wife says I spend too much time on Gold as it is.
How did you find out he was a boozer?

GD

Hi GD, in a publication called The Currency Lad. Below is the face page and a little bit from the Author. Its a fascinating read. Simply type in the title and you will find it.

The book doesn't have anything much to say about Tom Cue other than he married one of the Wills girls but the story itself is an interesting read.

Cheers, Jim.

[/center]Author and Editor’s Notes.
The indented and italicised portions of this book are copies of, or quotations from, original documents coming either from Public Records or from the private collections of family members. In each case these are noted at the bottom left of the item which shows a document number used by me for filing and reference purposes, together with the initials of the family member from whose collection the item is taken. These are:
LWC Collection Mr Lawton Cooke
THSW Collection Mr. Tom Wills
TSWC Collection Mr. Terry Wills Cooke
Where I have inserted a comment or clarification it is surrounded by square brackets. [for example]
I have not corrected these documents (except for normal spelling and punctuation to make for easier reading) and this is the reason for the vagaries of the spelling of place names throughout. H.S.H. Wills in particular uses different spellings for places and is often guilty of inaccuracies in dates as he relied on memory rather than written material.
I have been greatly assisted by my uncle Lawton Cooke, and my cousin Tom Wills, who have given me a great deal of information as well as allowing me to use items from their collections.
I have also been given photographs and other assistance from Mrs. Patricia Billings (the grand-daughter of Minna Spencer Wills), from Mr Cliff Cowdroy (a descendant of Eliza Wills/Antill), from Mrs Meryl O’Brien and Mr. Arthur Wills (descendants of Egbert Spencer Wills), from Mrs Betty Edward (the grand-daughter of Elizabeth Spencer Wills) and from Dr Geoffrey Buckwell (the great-grandson of Thomas Wills)
Gillian Hibbins went to much trouble to edit the book and to give me a number of pieces of information of great value for which I thank her most sincerely. Further I have been assisted with information by the State Library of New South Wales, The Geelong Historical Records Centre, The Bellarine Historical Society, Mrs Celene Muller and Ms Jan Worthington.
The great difficulty has been to decide what to leave out and there are many documents and letters which have not been used either because they are repetitious, too personal, boring or because there has just not been room to fit them in. However the whole is recorded for posterity if indeed posterity should be interested.
I have been surprised a great deal by the inaccuracies in some of the earlier works and, having gone through and checked my material on numerous occasions, I can see how it

Hi Jim,

If Tom Cue wed in Victoria, Australia, then he was twice wed. Tom certainly wed (a widow) in Vancouver in 1900. (See Canadian on-line marriage index.)

Cheers,

JMCJ

Hi Forum,

Thomas George Cue, on 16/7/1900 at Vancouver wed a lady with the given names of Eugene Spencer. The marriage is twice registered on the same date together with the same registration number. She is family named both TYSON and WILLS which tells she was a widow, or perhaps, although unlikely, a divorcee.

Cheers,
JMCJ

PS If anyone wishes to learn why Tom Cue was possessed with wanderlust then check out his genealogy. The answer is most certainly there.

Hi,
I just did a little further research. Tom's wife was back in Victoria in time to register on the 1903 electoral roll. She was still living there under the name Eugene Spencer Cue in 1936. It is fairly obvious that Tom's union with Eugene was short-lived.

Cheers,
JMCJ

Hello,

I now have the details recorded on Tom George Cue's marriage certificate of 16/7/1900. They are as follows:-

The lady he wed was Eugene Spencer Tyson (widow), nee Wills, aged 38, born Victoria, Australia, daughter of Horatio Wills and Elizabeth Wyah. Tom told that he was born at Cork, Ireland, and that his age was 47 years. On the certificate he named his father as George and his mother as Maria Collins.

It would seem he reduced his age to narrow the age gap between his self and that of his bride, hence the incorrect age on his death certificate. Why he claimed Ireland as his birth place is a mystery. Tom Cue was a well educated man so one can only feel that error would be an unlikely cause.

Cheers,
JMCJ

We opened a can of worms.
Things aren't always what they seem,

GD

Here's a further tad of interest.

Thomas George Cue on 24 September 1912 arrived at Vancouver from the USA by either ship or train. (He had obviously made a trip to America.) This time Tom gave his age as 58 years and place of birth as Queenstown, Ireland.

About 50 years back I knew an old timer who recalled Tom both in his W.A. and prior to that in his Broken Hill days. He claimed that Tom was a great yarn spinner.

Cheers,

JMCJ

Hi everyone, I see there has been a fair bit of activity out there regarding Tom Cue. I have been unable to unearth any of the information you guys have. But then I'm not much up on that sort of research.

If you could pass on the source of your information plus anything else you might have I'd be very grateful as old Tom seems to have got under my skin.

My email address is jfoster1944@bigpond.com

Cheers, Jim