Dr Nathaniel Daniel Isaac Oman

[Russell]

Recently (thanks to the awful weather) I have had some opportunity to explore a family side branch trying to find out what happened to a great uncle (the above floridly named Nathaniel !) born in Wick in 1837. He trained as a Doctor in Edinburgh then practised as a GP around Carluke in Lanarkshire. For reasons unknown, he disappears from Carluke and pops up again in Malta then later emerges in Gibraltar working as Port Surgeon until his death in 1917.

The only Dr Oman I could find in Malta was working under the name Neil Oman but I have not been able to find out anything else about his life there until I discovered he had attended a military Ball there in 1888 with his wife Rosa !! Further investigation showed her burial on Malta in 1941.
Her memorial inscription gave her name as Rosa Bligh Darracott Oman. Her mother (Eliza) and two sisters were also buried in the Ta'Braxia cemetery.
Rosa b circa 1857 (sometimes recorded as Rosie) had at least two sisters.
Eliza Bligh Darracott b circa 1848
Jane Darracott b circa 1853

Her mother Eliza Neilsen married Thomas Bligh Darracott in N.Y. in 1837. Thomas was a wealthy merchant with a base in Trinidad where his daughters were born. It was this West Indies connection which cofirmed that Rosa, buried in Malta, was the same person.
Dr Oman's obituary in the BMJ 1917 reassured me that Neil and Nathaniel were one and the same person.

My questions now are:
Where, and when did he get married.?
Did Rosa go with him to Gibraltar.?
If not, why not ?

This is a man who worked with Sir J.Y. Simpson on chloroform anaesthesia before taking himself off to foreign parts. My nose is twitching wanting to know more.

Russell

[SarahND]

Hi Russell,
Are you sure you have her year of birth correctly? There is a Rosa Darracott, age 1, who arrived in 1851 in Philadelphia from St Thomas, Virgin Islands on the Brig Fairy.

The family was:
Thomas Bligh Darracott, 48, Gentleman
Eliza Darracott, 30, Lady
Emma Darracott, 12
Ellen Darracott, 9
Isis Darracott, 7
Jane Darracott, 3
Rosa Darracott, 1

They were all "belonging" to Great Britain and intended to settle in Canada.

Cheers,
Sarah

[Russell]

Hi Sarah

I'm not sure about anything with this gentleman and his 'apparent' marriage. Thomas Bligh Darracott appears to have been married twice losing his first wife soon after they arrived in the West Indies. I have found mention of her burial there.
Daughter Rosa's birth date is a guess from the information on the Malta site which could be way out.
Thomas Darracott and partner Adams (Darracott & Adams & Co) owned the brig Queen Victoria which made three voyages from Port o Spain to The States in 1846.
When he died in 1852 there appeared to be some court proceedings in Philadelphia to sort out his Will.
In 1879 - or before, Eliza Darracott and Rosa (Rosie) were in Upper Norwood in London. Their experience with a ghost was reported to the British Psychical Research Association by a niece Rosa Frizelle.
Ellen Darracott married into a wealthy Irish family the Kildahls and appears with her stockbroker husband William Sobieski Kildahl inthe 1881 census living in Streatham, Surrey.
IGI has daughters Rosa and Ellen with a birthplace in Ireland but the other evidence indicates that the submissions are totally inaccurate.
So far this search has been very convoluted and the British Dependencies like Malta and Gibraltar seemed to use a different type of census return compared to the U.K. versions so no help there.
A request to a Malta genealogy website has so far brought no reply.

Russell

[SarahND]

Hi Russell,
They were in Saltfleet, Wentworth County, Canada West (Ontario) in the 1851 census. An interesting thing is that the Canadian census asks about religion and the family is Episcopalian. That detail might help you find the records.

They didn't stay there long, I think. In 1871 they are in Torquay, Devon (Eliza is widowed)
In the 1881 census Eliza is in Dulwich, Camberwell, London with daughters Eliza, Jane and Rosa. There are two grandchildren in the household, one born Ireland and the other India.

Got to run now, but there must be more to find...

Sarah

[Currie]

Hello Russell,

You’ve seen the BMJ Obit and probably also this ‘Medical Bibliography for 1877’ entry
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=U-Y ... 22&f=false

From 1869 to October, 1880, there are a number of mentions in the Glasgow Herald of ‘Dr. Oman’ of Wishaw, mainly to do with various accidents he had attended and School Board matters.

There’s something in “The Scottish Law Reporter”, Oct 1877 – Jul 1878. Dr. Oman had been on the list of voters as ‘tenant and occupant’ of a house and stable in Kirk Road, Wishaw, since 1869. It seems that he had moved to another house in the same street and hadn’t carried out correct procedures regarding registration. Something like that. Please let me know if you want a copy. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=OEw ... CCkQ6AEwAA

There’s a birth notice in the London Times, Tuesday, Jan 25, 1887.
“On the 13th Jan., at No.4, Strada Mezzodi, Valletta, Malta, the wife of Neil Oman, Esq., M.D. Edinburgh—a daughter.”

Hope that’s useful,
Alan

[Russell]

Hi Alan

Wow ! You have been busy.
As you surmised, I had already garnered the 1877 medical biography entry and several entries from the Gibraltar branch of the BMA via the BMJ. We found it odd that his wife was not mentioned in the obituary. What happened to her and the child. Odd too that the child was not named. Rosa must have been about 37 when the child was born. A bit late for a first baby even if your husband was a Medic ! That was a fantastic find though. The family always thought that old Nathaniel was a misanthropic old man. It just shows you should never jump to conclusions about your ancestors.

Sarah had found, and e-mailed me a shipping manifest of the Darracotts travelling to the States on their way to Canada; the 1851 Canadian census with the family in Saltfleet township, Wentworth county. The life of gentleman farmer must have been too much for Thomas as a year later he has died and Eliza had moved to Torquay, England by the 1871 census. In the 1881 census they had moved to Dulwich in East Surrey. Not too surprising as Rosa's sister Ellen was living in Streatham, Surrey with her husband William Kildahl and family. Thanks for these Sarah.
So much information is emerging about Rosa's family but so little about Nathaniel/Neil. I wonder when he decided to adopt a 'guid Scots name'
Did his daughter survive to be given a name ?
I'm interested that even your prodigious search skills are only picking up snippets. It makes me feel better about my feeble efforts.

Russell

[Russell]

Hi Alan and Sarah

I thought you might be interested in a recent find. I discovered a Jane Darracott Brooke (widow) aged 87 buried October 1971 in the Ta'Braxia cemetery on Malta. I must assume that this is the daughter Alan found mentioned in the Times. The MI says she was born on Malta in 1884 which fits.
Malta is almost exclusively Roman Catholic and most information on genealogy relates to family dynasties on the island. Brits married, born and raised there are in a different category and few BDM records exist unless they were either army or navy personnel which old Nathaniel(Neil) wasn't.
The Times of Malta, which seems to be the best source of information doesn't go back far enough to cover a marriage for Nathaniel and I can't locate a marriage for him in Scotland or England so I presume he married in Valleta. There was a Scottish church there but I have had no joy locating their records.
Nathaniel was on the 1881 census at his home in Cambusnethan and Rosa was with her mother in London. How did they get together ? I presume that he was home sorting out his affairs before going to Malta and later he may have attended Rosa's sister Jane when she was dying of Diphtheria d.uring an epidemic on Malta
The thrust of genealogy records on Malta seems to be 'If you're not Maltese you don't exist !' There was no legal requirement for foreigners i.e. Brits to register family events with the Consulate or its equivalent.

Dead ends are infuriating particularly when Scots records are fairly straightforward.

Russell

[Currie]

Hello Russell,

Things do seem to have come to a grinding halt. Let’s hope that something will turn up later.

All the best,
Alan

[Russell]

Hi Alan and Sarah

News on the Mediterranean front

I contacted a gentleman who is researching his Darracott name and gave him the little information we had dug up. He has spent years, much of it pre-Internet finding snippets and thoroughly researching this line. He provided me with Jane Darracott Oman's marriage certificate to Lieut Kennedy Gerard Brooke in 1907 and the subsequent decree nisi by the Admiralty High Court in 1912. No children from the marriage. He sounded a bit of a heel. Asking her to come to Gibraltar, which she did, then not being there and stopping any support money. I now know her mother was in Gibraltar in 1909.
Another wee spicy bit links Thomas Bligh Darracott to the Bligh line i.e. 'mutiny on the Bounty' variety. His g-grandfather Greenhill Darracott married Mary Bligh.
The Darracotts left Trinidad because Thomas B's business went bust so although they moved in high circles it was no longer backed by extensive bank balance so there goes my notions of inheritance Thomas was also a slave owner
Humour aside I feel that further progress is being made. Thank you both.

Russell

[SarahND]

That's wonderful, Russell! You seem to be finding all sorts of interesting details, besides the usual BMD, to flesh out the story.

When are you writing the book?

All the best,
Sarah