The Lutge Family in Australia

Again, I can't locate a birth registration for Margaret.  The details of her birth come from her parents' death registrations.   Based on the d ate of her birth, Margaret would have been born in The Rocks, Sydney and moved with her parent and five siblings to Mosman in the mid 1880s. There are no other records of Margaret prior to her death on 17 January 1895, aged about 14, at her home on Military Road, Mosman.  On 19 January 1895, Margaret was buried with her parents at Gore Hill Cemetery.  

I do enjoy when cousin Karen visits from Queensland as we always combine our Lutge family history research with a spot of lunch!  On her latest visit to Sydney, we had two outings... The first was to the NSW State Archives at Kingswood.  Always an interesting place to visit as there's a treasure trove of information waiting to be discovered!  We looked at the Probate Packet for our patriarch, Peter Benson Lutge, who died on 17 May 1890.  Probate was granted on 07 August 1890.  It contained the signature of his oldest son, John Henry Lutge, and Peter Benson's partner in the stevedoring business, Richard Moran.  First time we'd seen our great-grandfather's signature! Last Tuesday, we had a visit to Gore Hill Cemetery (at St Leonards on the Pacific Highway near the Royal North Shore Hospital).  How many times had we driven or walked passed it and never been inside!  We were on a mission to find the graves of Peter Benson and our matriarch...

Denis (Dinny) is the most well known of our Lutge family.  There's even a "wikipedia" entry which gives Dinny's birth date as 26 November 1879.  All sorts of searching of the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and still no success in finding a birth registration.  So, the search continues.... Dinny was the eighth child of Peter Benson and Mary Lutge.  He moved to the Mosman area with the family in the mid 1880s.  While Dinny worked as a stevedore in his early life, he commenced his rugby union career with the Mosman Junior in 1893.  We can see how young he is in this picture where he is second from the right in the second row (behind the fellow with the cap).  Three of his brothers are in the bottom row -  far left is Bob Lutge, second from left is Peter Lutge, second from right is Paddy Lutge. Between 1901 and 1907, Dinny played rugby union for the Northern Suburbs Club.  He made his international debut as a lock-for...

The mystery of the missing birth registrations deepens when we look at Peter Benson jnr.  His is the second of the birth registrations that I've located in the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. A transcript of the birth registration shows that Peter jnr was born on 16 July 1870 at Cumberland Street, Sydney. Peter Benson snr is the informant on the registration. His occupation is shown as stevedore, aged 33 from Denmark. Mary is shown as aged 24 from County Donegal. Dr Eichler is again present at the birth. As I said when covering Patrick Walter, the surprise comes as Peter jnr's birth registration shows the previous issue by Peter Benson and Mary is 1 male living! I still can't provide any explanation of this but the search will continue.... There's every indication that all  ten children were from the marriage of Peter Benson snr and Mary Lutge and all were born around The Rocks/Millers Point area of Sydney.  Also, when you l...

The mystery of the missing birth registrations for eight of the ten children of Peter Benson and Mary Lutge continues! I spent an afternoon last week at the Mitchell Library going through microfilms of early Sydney baptism transcripts for St Mary's Cathedral, St Phillips Church of England and Scots Church.  I left without locating one baptism registration under the name of Lutge! Again, I'm basing the information on Mary Ann, the third child of Peter Benson and Mary Lutge, on the information in her parents death registration.  Mary Ann was born in about 1869 - two years after her brother, Paddy. In 1889, she married William George Edward Ritchie in Sydney.  William was the son of James and Ann Ritchie who had settled in Mosman after they arrived in Australia.  William was born in 1865 and his birth was registered at St Leonards. Mary Ann and William went on to have 6 children with, Mary R, the second dying as an infant:- William John (John) - 1890 to 1...

Exploring family history always presents twists and turns.  However, I've struck a puzzle very early in covering the children of Peter Benson and Mary Lutge.  After a thorough search (including multiple spelling of the family name), I've only been able to locate birth registrations for two of the ten Lutge children, John Henry (the first) and Peter Benson jnr (the fourth).  All ten children and their ages are listed on their parents death registrations.  When all else fails, you purchase a transcript of a birth, death or marriage registration in the hope of getting some useful information.  So, the transcript of Peter Benson jnr's arrived and what a surprise!   Just over four years after the birth of John Henry, Peter Benson jnr was born on 16 July 1870 at Cumberland Street, Sydney.  Peter Benson snr is the informant on the registration.  His occupation is shown as stevedore, aged 33 from Denmark.  Mary is shown as aged 24 fro...

Over the next few months, we'll be looking at the 10 children of Peter Benson and Mary Lutge.  Again, if you have any photos, documents or information about the Lutge family, please contact me.  In an exciting development, I've recently been in contact with members of the Lutge family in Denmark!  Early days but very exciting as they live very close to the home town of Peter Benson. Turning to John Henry Lutge, the oldest of the children.... John Henry Lutge circa 1885 Original held by Christine Woodlands, great-granddaughter Eighteen months after the marriage of Peter Benson and Mary Lutge, John Henry was born on 15 April 1866 at Cumberland Street, Sydney.  Peter Benson is the informant on John Henry's birth registration.  His occupation is shown as stevedore, aged 28 from Denmark and now of Millers Point.  Mary is shown as aged 21 from County Donegal.  I found it interesting to see "Dr Eichler" is shown as present at the birth.  This ...