I received an email from a distant cousin, Carmel, a couple of days ago. She found me via my tree website kyliesgenes.com and told me that she had a photograph of my 2x great uncle Charles Noah Wigley which she wanted to pass on. The photograph arrived today and I am ‘over the moon’. Charles was a saddler and in 1919 was working for G. Harper Esq. of Charing Cross, Bendigo. He later had his own saddlery.
Charles Noah Wigley 15 May 1919, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
The photograph is on its original mounting and was taken at the Kalma Photographic Studio in Pall Mall, Bendigo. It is a coarse, matt photographic paper and it looks to me like a faded sepia print. The photo is glued to the mount. It has had some water damage in the past which thankfully hasn’t marred the picture.
Now I have some more research to do about Charles’ lodge and the positions he held in it.
So it’s finally official – we have an “Odd Fellow” in the family tree!!!
Dear Kylie,
Thankyou so much for the piccie. Yours is so great a task for the family that none of us, in our timidity, will ever be able to thank you for the effort.
Another Charles eh! We’re and enduring breed! I trust Melissa’s ‘Charley’ will be informed of the lineage!! (If she doesn’t already know!)
He’s got the face though, hasn’t he? Ask your Mum to show you some photos of your Grandfather as a younger man. Perhaps not a spitting image, but certainly the family resemblance.
2x great uncle? Being an Uncle at such a young age (Tricia when I was eleven) confuses me occasionally. I am of course your Uncle, Douglas and Jessica’s great Uncle and Josiah’s great great Uncle. Would this make Charles Noah your great great great Uncle? Please advise? Perhaps I don’t wish to be so old!!!
Oh! Please remind Michael that your Grandfather was a Mason and Worshipful Master of his Lodge in the early Fifties. (You have the details as I recall) The ‘Odd Fellow’ he refers to, has been in the family much more recently than he seems to believe.
Always a pleasure Kylie, I remain,
a most appreciative,
Uncle Rick,
xoxo.
Dear Kylie,
I should have noticed before from the title in the Photograph! It seems that Uncle Charles Noah was a member of the Independent Order Of Oddfellows. If this ties in with the Mason’s, I really don’t know?
The Mason’s like to ‘preach’ that they are not a ‘Secret Society’ but a ‘Society with Secrets’. A plausible comment!! And one to maintain their exclusivity over the ages. I respect their individuality!
I, apparently, would have been a ‘shoe in’ for membership, given Dad’s involvement, and actually have been approached.
However, the overriding condition of membership is that one must believe in a supreme being. Not a religious being and never having believed, I don’t qualify!
Never mind! I believe the RSL appreciates my input!
In this vein I think I’m continuing the tradition of your Grandfather, (your Grandmother described as the perennial volunteer) by doing the best I can for the community which I am best able to serve.
Love you,
Uncle Rick,
xoxo.
Charles Noah is your great uncle so my great, great uncle. A lot of us have the same chin as him too. I don’t know much about the lodges so it’s something I will be researching. I love the volunteering streak throughout the family so now I know where it comes from!!
Love Kylie 🙂
How lovely to be sent the original photo for your very own. As Rick says, I can’t thank you enough for doing all this research, it is so interesting but so far beyond what I would do, so salaams etc. for your efforts.
Thanks Mum, I just love doing it!!!
Priceless.
Another example of publishing your tree online bringing results.