 Introduction to Peter's Family
Growing up I was aware of very few people bearing the name Gribble. There were distant cousins who lived on a farm in Western Australia we would see occasionally. Interstate in Victoria (like on the other side of the world almost!) there were genealogically distant Gribble relations. The last contact with these latter Gribbles was by my eldest brother Gordon on a visit he made to the East around 1955.
After the death of my father in the early 1980s it became apparent few in my family knew very much about our Gribble origins. Dad had said our ancestors were goldminers who came to the Ballarat Goldfields in the 1850s from Redruth or Truro in Cornwall. He had lived with relatives in Victoria for almost two years in his youth but had however long since lost contact with them. Decades later it seemed to me the key to unlock the puzzle of our ancestry lay in Victoria. Unfortunately few living relatives seemed to know the critical names, places, and relationships which would provide a starting point.
In the 1980s after my mother's death and with time on my hands I decided to make another attempt. Using a few new facts I approached the rellies again. This time some fascinating old photos and vital snippets of information were obtained from my father's surviving siblings and inlaws. For example the fact my grandfather Charles had lived with his blacksmith father at Northcote a suburb of Melbourne Victoria. With this information the state Birth Death and Marriage (BDM) records could more meaningfully be searched. The results suggested Charles might have another line of related descendants here in Victoria. On the verge of defeat a genealogy notice was placed in one of Victoria's rural papers seeking information about the Northcote Gribbles and their descendants. Wonder of wonders it was seen by a 90+ lady who happened to know the original Gribble family at Northcote and she passed the request on to known descendants.
 As a result contact was established and out of this contact a second treasure trove of photographic and family history documentation was revealed and also generously shared. From this time on the search began to get easier and the results came faster or so it seemed. The Cornish Association of Victoria's issues of Bawden's Illogan and Redruth transcripts proved indispensable. However it was to be over ten years before I had exhausted my leads and assembled sufficient information and currency to warrant a trip to Cornwall.
Findings
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