On 15 September, 2002, I posted this photo on my website with the remote hope of someone out there being able to identify from whence in came and who the people in the photo were. I knew it was related in some way to my ancestor, James Norman Beaton, who left for Western Australia in the late 1800s. I had guessed which person in the photo he was, but the others staring out at me beckoning recognition remained mysterious. In less than a month, many questions have been answered and a great deal of extra information about the Beaton family has come pouring in from across Australia and further afield. This says something about the value of posting family histories on the WWW, as it seems more people than we imagine are scouring the internet in search of ancestors via search engines, bulletin boards, email lists and other virtual fora.

Questions ...

On the 15th of Semptember I posted this as the caption beneath the photo:

Photo of the Beaton Family of Western Australia
This old photo was emailed to me some time ago by one of the Western Australian descendants of James Norman and Emily Devereaux. Unfortunately, I have lost the email that had identifying information. Who is who? We know James had five children with Emily so my theory (based on observation of likenesses in the photo) is as follows: the three young men wearing hats in the back row are remarkably alike - they must be (in no particular order) Norman, Hughie and Ronald. The little boy of about 4 in the front row with lacy collar is probably a younger son, Lesley? and the baby seated in his mother's lap is Stanley? I would say James Beaton is standing directly behind Emily, his wife, who is nursing the baby. Other observations: How Gallic the two women and seated gentleman with little boy between his legs look (front row). Were these people the Devereaux family? Were they French, Swiss or French Canadian immigrants? As implied above, Emily is nursing the baby. Is the man to her left a brother? And the older lady her mother? The man to the extreme right (front row) does not resemble the Devereaux family members. He does, however, look very much like the man standing behind the woman nursing the baby - is he James Norman Beaton? Click the photo for a larger view to make your own inspection.

The big question is why did Rose Emmeline and James Norman divorce after only 3 years?

Answers ...

The answer to the question of why Rose Emmeline and James Norman divorced - or at the least the circumstances surrounding it - is explained in my story, James Norman Beaton - A Man of Many Talents. Emily's family do not appear to have any French, Swiss or French Canadian connections.

As it turns it out, I was partly right about the photo ... it was taken c.1903 in the Menzies Goldfield, WA. My direct ancestor, James Norman Beaton, is indeed the man standing in the middle, back row. However, he is not standing behind his wife (whom I mistook for Emily Beaton nee Devereaux) who is seated front row holding a baby. The woman is his sister, Margaret Lillias Read nee Beaton! She is nursing her baby, Lillias Irene Read.

The young men in the back row are all Margaret Lillias' brothers (from left to right): Charles Beaton, James Norman Beaton, William Beaton, Walter Beaton.

Front row: Sydney Harry Hood Read (husband of Margaret Lillias) with William Jonathan Hood Read (boy), Margaret Lillias Read (nee Beaton) nursing Lillias Irene Read, Margaret Beaton (nee Stevenson) and an unknown relative - possibly a son of Norman Beaton, the youngest member of the family who travelled out on the Sybil.

The descendants of Margaret Lillias Read remember hearing that Norman Beaton and his family also travelled to WA in the early 1900's and stayed there, so it appears that some of them must have had some luck.

The Read family moved to WA from Bendigo some time after his birth in 1901, and were back in Bendigo by 1909 for the birth of another daughter Hilda May, so it appears they did not prosper on the WA goldfields.

Last updated: October 8, 2002

© Dale Pobega. Please respect the time and effort invested in the research and writing of this family history. Apart from reasonable quotation or linking to the material contained in this story for non-commerical, personal family research, no part of the text or any image, may be reproduced without the express written permission of Dale Pobega