Which William was Which?

The two contemporary William-Catherine marriages have been a subject of controversy for some years. The established belief, dating back to Barbara Ames' research in the late 1980s, is that several of the William-Catherine children are the fruit of a cousin marriage, namely from a Catherine Dreis marrying her father's first cousin.

This hypothesis has been questioned by Jenny Paterson, who suggests in her Big Index that it was William the son of Balthasar who married firstly Catherine Cahill in 1873 (registration number 2928, Maitland) and subsequently the above Catherine. Jenny has also posed questions about which Catherine Dries died in 1886.

The prevailing view however is that Balthasar's William died young, so Catherine Cahill's husband would surely have been Wilhelm Dreis's eldest son William. The subsequent problem is to separate which children belong where: who were Catherine Cahill's and who were her step-daughter's. To date the relevant death certificates have not been inspected to clarify this. The following represents some of the later thinking on this topic.

Gill Baker writes: This is as close as I can get to the definitive answer to the William and Catherine issue: Andreas and Wilhelm arrived with their respective families in 1853, Andreas with his children and new wife Ann, and Wilhelm with his wife Catherine and children (William aged 11, Phillip aged 9, Barbara aged 6 and John aged 3).

I also looked in the Hunter Valley Register which is a log of all the newspaper reports and personal notices between 1870 and 1890. I found the following notice: Driers Annie: Friends of William Driers are invited to attend his infant daughter Annie's funeral to leave Wilkinsons Paddock Wallsend for Wallsend Cemetery on etc. Source: NMH 10/12/1889. It would appear Herman Driers was her uncle. No one called Annie "Driers" died in Wallsend on the BDM, but William and Catherine Dries' daughter Annie died in Wallsend in 1889. Herman Dries was living in the Wallsend area about this time. I think, but I could be wrong, that both Herman and William Dries were blacksmiths.

I think this put a lot of distance between the two families called William and Catherine Dries, but I think that some of them may have merged back together in the Upper Hunter area. We will have to find a family member of either William's family to help sort them out any further.

Susan Dippel adds: I think that the most likely pairing is that of William, born 1856 to Andreas and Anna-Maria (Hübinger), to Catherine, born 1865 to Wilhelm and Catherine (Brunner). They are really the only ones who fit, unless there is a William somewhere born in 1863, which would fit the ages given on the marriage certificate. However, Chrissy has searched the CD-ROM records and there's no William born that year. Having said that, there is one other possibility and that is that William is the son of Balthasar and Barbara (Appel), who was born in 1861 and for whom I can find no further information [the Paterson theory]. The problem with that is that the wedding certificate states that the William getting married is the son of Andrew!!!! I suggest we leave it at what Gill and I have come up with until we have definite proof otherwise. I might start getting some death certificates soon and see if that sorts it out.

Additional backing comes from a publication, the Wyong and Tuggerah Lakes District Pioneer Register (Second Edition) by the Wyong Family History Group. It lists this couple as follows:

HUSBAND:	DRIES, William
DOB:	1845
OCCUPATION:	Timber Worker
Date/Place of MARRIAGE:	1884; Lochinvar
Date of DEATH:	12 May 1897
BURIAL PLACE:	Lisarow
PARENT'S NAMES:	Andrew Dries and Annie M .....
WIFE:	DRIES (DRAS), Catherine
DOB:	22 November 1865
Date of DEATH:	2 September 1940
BURIAL PLACE:	Lisarow
PARENT'S NAMES:	William Dries and Catherine (nee DREMNER)

Susan notes: Where did the 1845 birth date come from and the Dremner surname? but at least it appears to confirm Gill's hypothesis about the couple's respective parentage, with William being the son of Andreas and Anna Maria Hübinger and Catherine being the daughter of Wilhelm and Catherina Brunner (Dremner looks like a corruption of Brunner).

Susan has also received a scanned photo of a headstone at Lisarow for this couple. They are buried in the same grave under the same name and it appears to read:

Appendix

The parent generation

1. Wilhelm, young pioneer, son of Wilhelm, born Lorchhausen 10 June 1841): the dominant interpretation is that he was the William [Dryes in the online index, also Fryes] who married Catherine Brunner [Bermaner in the online index] in 1865 (reg. no. 2974, Patricks Plain). His death certificate only shows him as married to Catherine Cahill.

2. William Dryes who married Catherine Cahill 1873 (reg. no. 2928 Maitland). Paterson originally proposed this to be (3), the son of Andreas. However the death certificate for (3) however shows no marriage to Cahill, whereas the death certificate for (1) does show Cahill as the wife.

3. William, son of pioneer Andreas, born in NSW 1856 (no record), married Catherine Dries in 1884 and died 12 May 1897 at Wyong, NSW. The wife would appear to have been his first cousin's daughter, (B) below.

4. William Dries, born 1861 reg. no. 11350 (Patricks Plain): child of pioneer Balthasar and wife Barbara. Paterson, but no other, believes this to be the William [Dries, Dres] who married Catherine Dries [or Dras] in 1884 (reg. no. 6836, Patricks Plain)

5. Catherine Drys born 1857 reg. no. 10033 (Patricks Plains); parents Andrew/Martha, same as Catherine Troyce baptized 27 June 1858 at (West Maitland) (birth date given as 16 Sep 1857) (RC vo1. 121 no. 3357); parents stated to be Andrew Troyce/Mary Hevenagh. This child is thought to have died in infancy.

6. Catherine Dryes born 1861 reg. no. 11521 (Patricks Plain), same as Catherine Drice baptized R.C. 20 Apr 1862 at West Maitland (birth date given as 24 Oct 1861) (RC vo1. 121 no. 3647); parents stated to be Andrew Drice/Anne Drice. Assumed by Paterson but no other to have married 3 above (Catherine Dras & William Dries, 1884, reg. no. 6836 (Patricks Plain)).

7. Catherine Dryes b 1857 to Andrew & Martha, Patricks Plains 10033 (who is this? possibly the same person as (A) below)

8. Kathrene Dreis b 1860 to Kaspar & Elizabeth, Parramatta 10476 (probably has no connection to this Hunter Valley group).

The child generation: all children of a William and a Catherine

Contact: piggin@one-name.org