Past history of this section of the Donnan family

Information about a selection of members of the family from previous generations of Donnans and related Briots, Oakleys, Sims and others
in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, France, and USA

* A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THIS PART OF THE DONNAN FAMILY

* SHORT NOTES ON THE BRIOT FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA AND FRANCE

* CURRENT DONNAN ANTECEDENTS: OAKLEY AND LAWRENCE

* BERYL DONNAN'S ANTECEDENTS: SIMS AND HUNT

* THE DONNAN FAMILY WEBSITE IN THE USA (WITH EUROPEAN ANTECEDENTS) (should open in a new window)

* FURTHER DETAILS OF FAMILY TREE (opens in a new window)

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THIS PART OF THE DONNAN FAMILY

At present the earliest known antecedent of this part of the family is JOHN DONNAN, born in Scotland in 1810, who appears in the 1841 Census of Baslow in Derbyshire, UK, as follows.

Donnans in the 1841 Census in Baslow, Derbyshire, UK
from http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Baslow/index.html (new window)

GENUKI acknowledge Public Record Office's custody of the original returns (PRO reference #ho107/183)
One of a set of transcriptions of Baslow-with-Bubnell Census very kindly provided by David Dalrymple-Smith.

PARISH: Bakewell, TOWNSHIP: Baslow

Baslow #19

Sche- dule	Name	Relation	Sex	Age	Occup- ation	Birth place	Birth year
85	DONNAN, John	Head	M	30	Grocer	Scotland	1810
86	DONNAN, Margaret	Wife	F	29	-	Derbyshire	1811
87	DONNAN, William	Son	M	8	-	Derbyshire	1832
88	DONNAN, Ann	Daur	F	5	-	Derbyshire	1835
89	DONNAN, John	Son	M	3	-	Derbyshire	1837

John Donnan was a grocer (a 'tea dealer' in one son's baptismal record). His son, also JOHN, born in 1837 and baptised in Baslow Parish Church, appears to be the one who emigrated to Australia (details of the journey are not yet known).

JOHN STROYAN DONNAN (last entry in table above), born in Baslow in 1837 (baptised Baslow April 1838), was married in Parramatta near Sydney, Australia, in July 1859.

Note 1	The name STROYAN enters the family here. A clue may be in the 1841 Census in Baslow (the Census where this family of Donnans appears) where there is a family surnamed Stroyan. Details here.
Note 2	An Irish connection is apparent in that John Stroyan Donnan in 1859 married Catherine Cooney in Australia; she was born in 1834 in County Clare (? Gost Cumna), daughter of James Cooney and Mary Maloney.

John Stroyan Donnan's son FREDERICK DONNAN was born 1871 registered in Liverpool, Sydney, Australia. (John Stroyan Donnan born 1838 had a son also named John Stroyan Donnan, born in Liverpool 10 years before Frederick.)

Frederick's son PAUL HENRY BRIOT DONNAN was born in Sydney, Australia, on 7 July 1906.

Paul's son STUART PAUL BRIOT DONNAN (the author of these pages) was born in Sydney, Australia, on 2 September 1940. Stuart moved to England in the late 1960s and his children were born there, completing the emigration cycle.

An outline family tree including more details of marriages, children etc. is in a new window here.

More details will be added when available. IF YOU (A READER) HAVE ANY POSSIBLY RELEVANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE LET STUART KNOW HERE.

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SHORT NOTES ON THE BRIOT FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA AND FRANCE

It appears that all the Briot line from Charles Albert Auguste Hippolyte Briot (Dean of the Faculty of Science in one of the Paris universities) were/are either professional or amateur mathematicians and musicians.

Paul Leon Maurice Briot migrated to Australia from France between 1851 and 1872. One of his daughters Laure Lillian Medhurst Briot married into the Donnan family.

Further details of the Briot line of the Donnan family in or from Sydney are here. (opens in an new page)

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CURRENT DONNAN ANTECEDENTS: OAKLEY AND LAWRENCE

Dot Donnan was born Dot Oakley - called (little) Jimmie by her siblings - was born in Mudgee and married Paul Donnan in 1935. It seems that Dot's great-grandfather James Oakley, born in Dudley, Worcestershire, UK, was transported to Australia in 1832 on the 'Parmelia' for 'stealing fowls'. The family settled near Mudgee in mid-west NSW. Details of Dot's mother's family, the Lawrences and related Bartons, will be added soon.

Brief details of the Oakley and Lawrence line into the Donnan family are here. (opens in an new page)

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BERYL DONNAN'S ANTECEDENTS: SIMS AND HUNT

Jane Sims (née Goatley or Gatley) was born in 1745 (died in 1838 aged 93). Her son William Sims (1st) and his son William Sims (2nd) were both bricklayers 'of Hungerford' UK.

William Sims (2nd) born in 1799, arrived in Sydney in 1833 and settled in Ryde. He married Ann Mason née Salter (2nd marriage) in 1841 at Parramatta near Sydney. Their sixth child Alice, born in 1855, apparently married John Garthen (? name) in 1881 but her son Alfred Ambrose Godson Sims was born in 1877 in Ryde and brought up by Richard William Stocker and his wife Hannah (Alice's older sister) at Hunters Hill.

Alfred Ambrose Godson Sims was married in 1900 to Emma Louise Henning, born in 1872. Emma's father Henry Henning arrived in Sydney from Prussia in 1860. He married Lydia Hayes born in Chelsea (London) UK who also arrived in Sydney in 1860.

Alfred and Emma Sims had 7 children; the youngest Eric was the main source of this information, and the third child was Cecil William Sims who was the father of Beryl Donnan the wife of the author of these pages (more about her and some of her writing is accessible from our homepage www.donnan-family.org.uk).

Cecil William Sims, born in 1905, married Alice May Hunt in 1933. They had 2 daughters, Beryl and Valma (see Family present). Cecil died in 1966 in Sydney, and Alice died in Canberra in 1981.

More details of the Hunt side of the family will be added later.

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THE NAME 'STROYAN' IN THE 1841 CENSUS IN BASLOW

1841 Census in Baslow, Derbyshire, UK
PARISH: Bakewell, TOWNSHIP: Baslow (detailed reference given above for Donnan entry)

Baslow #14

Sche- dule	Name	Relation	Sex	Age	Occup- ation	Birth place	Birth year
58	STROYAN, John	Head	56	M	Farmer	Scotland	1784
59	STROYAN, Isabel	Wife	50	F	-	Derbyshire	1790
60	STROYAN, John	Son	20	M	Journeyman	?	1820
61	STROYAN, James	Son	20	M	Apprentice	Derbyshire	1820
62	STROYAN, Ann	Daur	15	F	-	Derbyshire	1825

Back to John Stroyan Donnan above

This page was written by SD using Netscape Composer. The structure of the paa table of 100% page with with fixed 'margins' and all the actual information is in a nested table.