Genealogy always leaves gaps and unanswered questions. Sometimes there is enough indirect evidence to deduce an answer with a reasonable degree of confidence. Other times further research will uncover a vital clue, leading to answers. There are other questions that may never be answered because written records have been lost or perhaps never existed.

As at mid-2023, here are some questions still without definitive answers (but best guesses are also included where possible in italics):

Arthur Sams (Robinson) / Nellie Connelly

Was there really a “Robert Murphy, storekeeper of Forbes”, the father of Arthur as recorded in the Benevolent Asylum file of Arthur's birth; or was Robert just a pseudonym for Harry Sams (or even someone else)?
Best guess: It seems very likely that Harry Sams was NOT the father of Arthur. There's no evidence of Chinese ethnicity in the photographs of Arthur (unlike several of his Sams siblings). Another clue: When Margaret Robinson, Arthur Sams granddaughter, took a DNA test in mid-2017 it revealed no Chinese heritage, rather it showed her with more than 99% Anglo-Celtic background. This suggests that there may well have been a real "Robert Murphy"—it’s a common name of Irish ancestry and several men of that name either arrived in Australia in the mid-1850s or were born here around that time. Among the more credible possibilities are a publican by this name operating in inner Sydney in the early 1880s and another man, later to become a policeman, who was in the Forbes-Parkes area about the time that Martha Conway fell pregnant. Alternatively, it may be that Martha herself did not know who was the father of her son, Arthur, or perhaps she did know the name of the father but wished to disguise his real identity. So it may have been that Martha created a "Robert Murphy" pseudonym for the father, whomever he was.
Who was Mary Gibbons and what was Arthur Sam’s relationship with her? During WW1 Arthur was corresponding very regularly with a "Mrs Mary Gibbons". A 1917 letter from Mary is included in Arthur’s AIF service file. In the letter Mary inquires about Arthur’s reported injury and mentions that she would get letters from Arthur “twice every post”. When Arthur returned to Australia he lived in the same house as Mary in Morehead St, Waterloo/Redfern (very close to where his future “wife”, Nellie Robinson, also lived).
Best guess: Although signing herself as a “Mrs”, it seems clear that Gibbons was actually Mary’s maiden name. A Mary Margaret Gibbons married Clarence L Fairbairn at Redfern in 1917, the same year that Clarence also wrote to the Army enquiring after Arthur. So it appears that Mary and Clarence were more than casual acquaintances of Arthur but the exact nature of this friendship is yet to be discovered.
How, when and where did Arthur and Nellie Robinson meet?
Best guess: Around 1919-1920 Arthur and Nellie were living just a few hundred metres apart in the same street in Waterloo, Sydney. One imagines that they would bump into each other in the street, at the local shop or that they met through mutual neighbours.
Is Arthur Sams really Patrick Robinson’s father, or could Pat’s father have been Robert Robinson?
Best guess: Robert Robinson is listed on Pat’s birth certificate as his father. However, by that time (March 1921) Robert and Nellie had been apart for over two years so this seems unlikely. More plausible is that Nellie used his name on the birth certificate for appearance's sake. It is presumed therefore that Arthur was Patrick's biological father.

Ivan Maurič / Danila Jakin

Where is Ivan’s father, Bogomir, buried?
Best guess: Bogomir is probably buried somewhere near Gorizia, Italy where he is believed to have died. An exact burial location have so far not been identified. At that time graves in this region were only kept for a specific time, due to a lack of space. Afterwards old headstones would be removed and remains reburied in a common grave so the original plot could be reused. If so Bogomir’s final resting place is probably impossible to identify.
Anton Jakin, Danila’s grandfather, was married three times with at least 8 children surviving childhood. But Danila, only ever talked about one aunt, Luisa, the sister of Anton’s third wife, Terezija. Did Danila have any relationship with her other aunts and uncles?
Is more information available in U.S., English, Italian or Yugoslav military archives about Ivan’s wartime service?
Best guess: Almost certainly, but we’ll probably need to feature in an episode of “Who Do You Think We Are”, with access to a team of experts and significant resources, to find it!
How and when did Ivan and Danila meet?
Best guess: Kozana was (and still is) a small village and it is certain that they would have seen each other around at church and village social events
Was Ivan involved in any significant political activity after WW2 and did this play any part in his decision to escape from Yugoslavia?
Best guess: Probably not. If he had been politically active at that time, Ivan is very likely to have talked about it in later life. But politics did play role in Danila’s decision to leave Yugoslavia. In her refugee application with the International Refugee Organisation in October 1949 Danila emphasises she was under threat for failing to be active in the “Slovene National Front”, a patriotic movement in which all citizens were expected to participate by the new communist Yugoslav government (see the story, A New Life and “New Australians”). While undoubtedly what she told the IRO was true Danila may have chosen to emphasise this political risk to improve her prospects of being approved as a displaced person, eligible for resettlement.
In later life Ivan told the story that he and Danila had been planning to migrate to Canada. He said they ended up switching to Australia at the last minute after meeting fellow Slovenes from the Brda region in the displaced persons camp in Bremerhaven, Germany who had already decided on Australia and so he decided to make the move to Australia as well. Is it true that Ivan and Danila migrated to Australia almost by accident?
Best guess: Canada was definitely their preferred destination—this is clear from Danila’s IRO application, other documentation and the recollections of Ivan and Danila themselves. However their lack of relatives in Canada would have made it difficult for them to have been accepted for migration there. Ivan and Danila are likely to have come to Australia essentially because of its more generous immigration policies which made it the best available option.

Postscript: In the early 1960’s Ivan seriously considered relocating the family to Canada. He was eventually dissuaded by its long, cold winters and Danila’s reluctance to move. Ivan’s renewed, if temporary, enthusiasm for Canada reflected less a disenchantment with Australia, more the wanderlust and the interest in trying something new that characterised his approach to life.

Martha Conway / Harry Sams

Martha Conway had seven half-siblings from her mother’s first marriage to Joseph Hextell. With so many siblings around her how could Martha end up relying on the charity of the Benevolent Asylum for the birth of her children?
Did Martha have any contact (or even know of the existence) of her father’s children by Honora Burke (yet more half-siblings)?
Best guess: Given there were both court cases and newspaper articles regarding Michael’s escapades with Honora in 1862 Martha must have been aware of the birth of his son by her. But we have no definitive evidence of any later contacts.
What happened to Martha Conway’s first daughter, Edith May, born in the Benevolent Asylum in 1880?
Best guess: Assuming she did not die young Edith May is likely to have been adopted out and lived her life with her adopted parents' name. It’s unknown whether she was aware of, or had any contact with, her birth mother.
Who is "Charles Campbell", the person recorded at Benevolent Asylum as Edith May’s Conway's father?
Is the man born in Victoria as "Henry Ah-Sam" the same Harry Sam who went on to live his life with Martha Conway in Forbes ?
Best guess: All the available details seems to fit. It is generally accepted by Sams' descendants that Harry's father was a Chinese immigrant working the Victorian goldfields. Photographs of Harry Sams sons (other than Arthur) do suggest a Chinese heritage.
Where, and how, did Martha and Harry Sams meet?
Did Martha and Harry ever marry?
Best guess: No record of the marriage has yet been located, but could the couple really have lived as man and wife for many years and had at least eight children together without formalising their relationship?
Why and when did Martha and Harry move to Forbes from Lawson?
Best guess: Arthur Conway was born in the Benevolent Asylum, Sydney in 1883. In the Asylum’s records his father is listed as “Robert Murphy, a storekeeper in Forbes". Perhaps that name is fictitious, but it does suggest that Martha may have had a prior connection to Forbes and so eventually returned there with Harry. Whatever the truth from the available records we can deduce that the couple’s move to Forbes occurred sometime between 1905 and 1915.
Why did the Sam family change their name to “Sams” about the same time as their move to Forbes early in the 20th century?
Best guess: There was significant anti-Chinese prejudice at the time and the name change to "Sams" may have been a way of disguising Harry's Chinese ancestry.

The Sam Family of West Wyalong

Is there any family relationship between the family of William Flood Sam of West Wyalong and the family of Henry Sam(s) of Forbes?
Best guess: Probably not, although the similarities between the two families is startling. While it is assumed that Harry Sams was of Chinese origin (as Sam family members all seem to accept) there is an outside possibility that the history of the Sam family of West Wyalong (which is unquestionably of Chinese ethnicity) and the Sam/Sams family of Forbes have been conflated.
Even if there was no blood relationship did the two families know of each other?
Did George Loolong (son-in-law of William Flood Sam) know Robert Robinson from their service together in the same AIF unit during WW1 and introduce him to his future partner, Veronica Conway, in West Wyalong, where she also lived?
Best guess: All the details fit together neatly but there is no hard evidence (yet) to substantiate any connection.

Michael Conway, Martha and his Spouses

Who was Michael Conway's first wife?
Best guess: Michael’s marriage certificate to Jemima Morrison lists him as a “widower”. There is an 1859 NSW marriage certificate for a Michael Conway and “Catherine Dempsey” and a NSW death certificate for a “Catherine Conway” in 1861. Michael and Martha married in 1862 so these dates do fit but we cannot be sure that Catherine was indeed Michael’s first wife.
Did Michael Conway ever see his daughter, Martha, again after he and wife Jemima Morrison separated?
In the early 1860s Michael Conway was involved with Honora Burke and a woman referred to in contemporaneous newspaper reports as “Graylish’s wife”. As these the same person?
Best guess: Probably. All the available evidence seems to fit.

Robert Robinson / Veronica & Olga Conway

When exactly did Robert and Nellie Robinson split up?
Best guess: About 1919. Robert is listed on the birth certificate of William Patrick Robinson in March 1921 as his father. So Nellie and Robert were still keeping up the pretence of being husband and wife. However we know from 1919 correspondence from Nellie's brother, Bernard, that she and Robert had already separated by that time.
Is Veronica Mary Conway directly related to Arthur Robinson / Sams (born Conway)?
Best guess: That both Veronica and Arthur were a "Conway" is probably coincidental. Their families came from different counties of Ireland and no connection between the two have been identified. Still it is ironical that both Robert Robinson and his wife, Nellie Connelly, should each end up with a Conway as a partner after they separated.
Is William Patrick (“Pat”) Robinson named after Veronica’s father, William Patrick Conway?

Thomas and Ellen Connelly

Why and when did Thomas Connelly migrate from Ireland to New Zealand?
Best Guess: Based on Thomas' death certificate it seems that he did not travel directly from Ireland to New Zealand, but rather first came to Victoria (about 1859). It seems that he moved to New Zealand about 1865, then back to Sydney in the early 1880s with his family. These are all deductions based on his location at specific times but so far all attempts to discover specific evidence of these movements have been unsuccessful.
Did Thomas know his future wife, Ellen Duggan in Ireland or did they meet in Victoria or New Zealand?
When and why did the Connellys move from New Zealand to Australia?
Best guess: They may have moved in search of work or a better life. Taking into account all available information it seems that they moved sometime between 1881 and 1885.
Did Thomas and Ellen marry in New Zealand in 1873, as they stated on their children’s birth certificates and if so why is there no record of the marriage?; Why did they marry again in Sydney twelve years later?
Best guess: Perhaps they did marry in New Zealand but it was never registered there. Alternatively they may have just claimed to have married there in 1873 to avoid the their children being classed as illegitimate when they moved to Australia.

Thomas James Bowen

Where and when did Margaret Robinson’s maternal grandfather, T J Bowen, meet his second wife Katherine Adelaide ("Ken") Kennedy? What happened to Ken after Thomas’ death in 1961?

If you have any information or can shed further light on any of these questions we would love to hear from you! Send a message via the contact page on this website, being sure to include your email and/or telephone details.

Maurice-Robinson Family