Robert Gibson, living at Cockle Creek near Wallsend N.S.W. in 1885
Can anyone throw any light on these people?
I have found information and a death certificate for an Elizabeth, known as Elizabeth Gibson. She died on 30th September 1884 at Cockle Creek, near Wallsend, N.S.W., from phthisis (tuberculosis). These are the details on the death certificate. Died 30th September 1884, Elizabeth Gibson, Female 35 years, found dead in a house, parents not known, informant Samuel Chapman Coroner, Newcastle, Particulars of registration Thomas Ah....ck? 7th October 1884 Wallsend, Buried 30th September 1884 Wallsend, Patrick Grennan minister of religion (sounds Catholic?), witness Daniel Jones, marriage to Robert Gibson, Newton, Sydney (this is false - they were not married).
Newspaper articles
Town & Country Journal
A strange story was reported from Wallsend today. It appears that a man named Gibson, who livedin a solitary hut in the bush seven miles from Wallsend, had a sick wife. Dr Nash attended, and was aware that the case was hopeless. Consequently he gave a certificate of death. The strange part of the affair is that on the doctor's last visit he found the husband absent and the wife dying. The former returned and saw his wife die, and later on left, as he alleged, for Wallsend to order a coffin. It transpired that instead of having done this he decamped, and left the corpse unprotected in the bush. Application was made to Inspector Thorpe today for permission to bury the body in the bush, but of course the request was not complied with.
Sydney Morning Herald
A man named Gibson, who resided in the bush near Wallsend, and who was working at the railway works at Cockle Creek, is reported to have deserted the dead body of his wife in the hut in which they had lived, to be buried by any person who chose to do so. Dr Nash, N.P., whose assistant had visited her during her illness, gave a magisterial order for her burial in the Wallsend Cemetery. Dr Nash saw her himself on Sunday. The husband left the hut in which they were living ostensibly to go to Wallsend to order a coffin, and he has not since been heard of.