Northcote 2004

The year 2004 marked the 150th anniversary of the arrival in Australia of Simon Gribble. The vessel which carried Simon to the city of Melbourne at the top end of Victoria's Port Philip Bay was named "James McHenry". This was a substantial vessel of 1721 tons as per register and allowed to carry a maximum of 409 Statute Adults exclusive of Master, Crew, and Cabin Passengers. On this journey the vessel was under the command of the experienced master John Hood. You can examine a copy of the passenger list at Victoria's Public Record Office in North Melbourne. Our ancestor Simon Gribble is listed as having embarked at Liverpool with age 22 years and occupation miner.

This vessel is a bit of a mystery. It appears to have only made this single trip to Australia and shortly after disappeared off the face of the earth. My investigations have revealed that on departing Melbourne the next port of call was listed as Bombay where it would apparently offload a cargo of salt and pooc! I suspect it did not reach this destination and probably ran foul of a storm, pirates, or some other fatal calamity. Why? Master John Hood was it seems a very experienced mariner since at least 1843 in which year one of the same name is listed as the author of the London published book 'Australia and the East' being a journal of a voyage to NSW in an emigrant ship of 256 emigrants. The route from Melbourne to Bombay at that time would one can easily believe to have been treacherous given the mode of propulsion, the quality of charts, the hazard of pirates, and not least the incidence of the summer monsoon.

However back to the 150 year anniversary. As planned a Gribble reunion was held in the Northcote Town Hall during the morning of November 27. As luck would have it the weather was stinking hot! No matter once the presentations began people forgot the heat. Mavis Haynes with the aid of her family delivered a great presentation on Northcote Gribble history. Some of the historic photos which were projected were truly amazing. We all had a chuckle seeing the proud Eva and William Gribble photographed in 1915 in front of Gribble's Shoe Store 332 High Street under the fluttering flag emblazoned in large letters with the word GRIBBLES. Later on WA visitors were heard to gasp at the photo of William Gribble and his motor car in the Madura Pass WA 1929 on a visit to Kate and her family on the farm at Wickepin. Wonderful insight into the lives of Simon, William, and Eva Gribble.

This was followed by Jules Gribble with a brief talk on 'The Origins of the Name Gribble'. Summarising the findings of a number of years of research and allowing for the influence of such events as the plague, pestilence, and war on the numbers of people at any one time bearing the name Gribble it would seem the origin of this name is most likely Devon in England and not continental Europe as many of us have at various times been led to believe. If I recollect correctly the words of Jules it really all comes down to the evidence. There is as yet no conclusive indications which would support the continental origin. For more detail visit Jules and Michaels website, Gribble One Name Study.

Peter Gribble followed Jules with a brief presentation titled 'Family Tree Conundrums and Family Clusters'. If one examines the Illogan Gribbles website's ancestral tree closely there are two glaring inconsistencies Peter is conscious of. The first arises with William Gribble (married to Susanna Retallick, Illogan 1794). Many Gribble descendants assume the parents of this William to be William Gribble and Joan Blight married Illogan 1768 who have a child William baptised Illogan in 1774.

Our final address ‘DNA and Gribble Genealogy’ was very kindly and entertainingly presented by Peg Fraser. This paper was that prepared by her father in law Michael Gribble (of the Gribble One Name Study website and a significant genealogist) who was unable to attend on the day for reasons of health. The content of this paper stimulated quite a deal of animated discussion and all in attendance were most appreciative of both Michael's paper and it's presentation by Peg.

View photos of the event.
Download Mavis Haynes' talk 'Northcote Gribble History'. (coming soon)
Download Jules Gribbles's talk, 'The Origins of the Name Gribble'. (coming soon)
Download Peter Gribble's talk 'Family Tree Conundrums and Family Clusters'. (coming soon)