John Clements was my 2nd great grandfather, the son of Thomas Clements and Ann [maiden name unknown] from Warwickshire, England.

John was born in about 1800 and was living in Victoria, Australia by 1856. Very late in life, in 1869, he married Sarah Sedgley, originally from Gloucestershire, England. She was born in about 1845, the daughter of William Sedgley and Phoebe Hunt.

On the evening of 11 May 1887, he was killed by a falling tree branch, aged 87. He left behind a wife, and two children, William John aged 18 and Eliza Jane aged 16. The following is a newspaper article that details the event.

I also have a copy of his death inquest, held 12 May 1887, it is 8 pages long. It gives the accounts of the evening from Dr Thomas Scott, who examined the body, his wife Sarah, his son William, Donald McQuin, a man who was working for the family, and Constable Hibblett from the Warrnambool Police Station.

Since it helps me get caught up quicker, I am going to make this weeks post really easy on me. I am just going to list all the surnames that I have proven for my lines so far.

The names below are for my husband’s lines.

If you have any of these surnames, feel free to send me a message. Always looking to make new connections and meet new family members!

I was thinking about what I could write, and came up with a lot of ideas. Someone aged 12 years. Someone who was born or died in December. Someone who had 12 kids. #12 on an Ahnentafel list.

I decided to pick # 12 on my Ancestral Chart – my mother’s father’s father, Robert John McKenzie.

Robert was born in about 1875 in Victoria, Australia, probably in the Warrnambool area. His parents were Alexander McKenzie and Helen (or Ellen) Thompson. I still have not located a list of all his siblings yet.

In 1903, Robert married Eliza Jane Clements, daughter of John Clements and Sarah Sedgley. They had 4 children that I know of: –

• Adeline Hope – born 1904
• Gertrude Ivy – born 1905
• Meredith Hector – born 1907
• Gordon Cecil – born 1909

In 1916, his mother Helen passes away and his father Alexander follows her in 1925.

I found Robert in 18 Australian Electoral Rolls covering the years 1905-1931. His occupation is Farmer and his residence is in Woodford, Victoria, Australia at the family farm, Spring Valley.

Robert passed away on 25 October 1931 in Woodford. He is buried in the Warrnambool Cemetery with his wife and 2 of his children, Hope and Hector, both of whom never married.

I am still looking for an obituary and headstone photo.

Hector Meredith McKenzie, or “Hec” as he was known, was born in 1907 to Robert McKenzie and Eliza Jane Clements of “Spring Valley”, Woodford, Victoria, Australia.

I don’t remember much about him as he died when I was young but there are a few things I can recall.

He lived with his sister, Adeline Hope McKenzie, who also never married, in the house they were born in. They used to bicker alot and when I look back on them, if I didn’t know better I’d have thought they were married. LOL.

He used to go to Warrnambool to play bowls, possibly croquet or bocce ball. I’m not quite sure if it was either of these, but I remember there was a box of colored balls that he owned under the bedside table.

He used to go to “his secret men meetings”, as his sister Hope used to call them. I presume this to be the Freemasons Masonic Lodge.

But the one thing that I remember most, was when I used to stay at their house during the school holidays. We used to play card games, pick fruit from the trees in their yard and he let me play with my food.

One night we had meat and vegetables for dinner. Aunt Hope was sitting at the head of the table and uncle Hec and I were sitting next to each other at the long side of the table. My aunt Hope was a lovely lady and we also had some fun times but she didn’t appreciate playing at the dinner table.

My uncle leaned over towards my plate and said something like “this is probably going to get us in trouble”. He proceeded to show me how to pile up my mashed potatoes into a volcano shape and hide all my green peas within the sides of the “volcano”. He then poured tomato sauce, or what we call Ketchup in the U.S., all over the top so it looked like lava flowing out of the volcano.

My aunt was extremely mad at him over this, and if I remember right, I don’t think we got dessert that night. Fun times!

I have located Hector in all Australian Electoral Rolls right up to the year before he died (1931 thru 1980). His occupation is always listed as a Farmer.

He died 17 September 1981 and is buried in the Warrnambool Cemetery, Row 9, Grave 047, Presbyterian section.