Research Missing DOD or DOB for League players (AFL)

[Gibbsy]

Haven't read the entire thread so I hope this is a positive contribution.

According to some crap code I wrote there are 5 players currently listed on AFL Tables with no birth date given - not sure if there's good info on any of these.

Dick Casey (South M 1905-1912)
Morrie Davidson (North M 1930)
Bill Hennington (South M 1914)
Kelly Robinson (Fitzroy 1897-1901, 2x Premiership player)
Jim Schellnack (South M 1904)

AFL Tables - Dick Casey - Stats - Statistics

afltables.com

AFL Tables - Morrie Davidson - Stats - Statistics

afltables.com

AFL Tables - Bill Hennington - Stats - Statistics

afltables.com

AFL Tables - Kelly Robinson - Stats - Statistics

afltables.com

AFL Tables - Jim Schellnack - Stats - Statistics

afltables.com

Robinson is a good shout, thanks. We don’t have him on our list. Wikipedia has 1876 (no date, just year). Draftguru has 1873 (old data?)

 

[GreyCrow]

James Peter '' Kelly '' Robinson died Nov 26 1943 aged 67

Former Fitzroy Footballer Dead - The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956) - 29 Nov 1943

JAMES PETER "KELLY" ROBINSON, 67, of Liverpool-st„ North Fitzroy, star wing player for Fitzroy from 1898 to 1902, died on Friday after a long illness. ...

nla.gov.au

Given the lateness of the year it doesnt help that much

Ancestry has trees but none with DOB

There may be hospital records?

Cremated and Ashes scattered - no info on Fawkner Cemetery records

 

[35Daicos]

Robinson is a good shout, thanks. We don’t have him on our list. Wikipedia has 1876 (no date, just year). Draftguru has 1873 (old data?)

Yes, it would have to be:

This^ is what the old AFL Historical Statistics site had for him on the Fitzroy 1897 playing list.

The most recent edition of The Encyclopedia calls him John Henry Kelly Robinson, with no DOB. His Wiki page has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Robinson

 

[GreyCrow]

Seems Robinson was a Collingwood Junior

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241620306

(tried to resize )

 

[Gibbsy]

Here's to you, Mr. Robinson



Add this to the list of dates we would be able to ratify were we to have access to a certificate.

 

[Gibbsy]

Fascinating indeed. That's two NSW links there (the Find a Grave listing and the NSW BDM listing).

I think a good jump-off point is the death of his sister Mary Terese O'Hagan in 1970. She is also seemingly referred to as Mary Theresa and Mary Teresa in various electoral rolls, probate listing etc.

View attachment 2170947

View attachment 2170950

Mary's four siblings were Peter, Patrick, John and Michael.

All except Michael are buried in Melbourne General Cemetery at the same site.

View attachment 2170975

View attachment 2170976

This suggests that Michael did not die in Victoria, either that or he had a falling out with the family.

But there is at least circumstantial evidence to suggest that he moved to NSW, possibly with his sister, given she was there at least as late as 1949.

It gives me good confidence that the man buried in Moree cemetery is our Michael. The listing was only added in February 2023, hence not overly familiar to us sleuths. Too bad there is no photo to confirm family members.

Ancestry turns up nothing; there aren't very many good listings for the O'Hagan siblings.

As has been mentioned before, we can confidently assume this 1906 electoral roll listing in Nathalia, VIC is our Michael O'Hagan (listed as a chemist, he studied pharmacy at Melbourne Uni). It appears he doesn't seem to have bothered with listing his middle name.

View attachment 2171003

This would also be him then, three years earlier, working as a chemist out of Hesse Street in Queenscliff, VIC (it wouldn't surprise me if it's the same building where the chemist still sits in Hesse Street today).

View attachment 2171013

I'm glad I found that 1903 listing, because it confirms that there are two Michael O'Hagans living in Victoria at the same time, and our man is not the labourer in Port Fairy seen below:

View attachment 2171017

This is especially important as it appears that very same labourer Michael O'Hagan was in New South Wales in the 1940s, at the same time that Mary O'Hagan (sister of our man, chemist Michael O'Hagan) was also living there.

View attachment 2171023

While there are many other listings of Michael J(ames) O'Hagan (carpenter, Footscray) in the decades between, none are our man.

His last confirmed 'appearance' is 1906. It does make the 1960 NSW grave site a bit perplexing, if it is him.

Penny for anyone's thoughts? I've put through a photo request on Find a Grave, let's see what might come back.

I got a message back on Find a Grave re: my Michael O'Hagan photo request.

Hi,
The Council burial register doesn't have Michael O'Hagan listed. I've looked up the Moree Court House death records and have found there was a Richard Joseph O'Hagen aged 82 yrs who died in Moree in March 1960 and is buried in the Roman Catholic section. However the exact plot is unknown. I don't know if they are the same person.
Unfortunately I won't be able to get you a photo.
Best wishes,

I suspect the original uploader to Find a Grave had a case of mistaken identity, and that Richard Joseph O'Hagen (O'Hagan?) was just another similarly named person born in the same year as Michael.

If anything, he didn't stray far from Moree between 1930 and his death.



Oddly enough, Ancestry has nothing for Richard Joseph O'Hagan/O'Hagen beyond this. No profile, no trees, nothing beyond those few electoral roll listings, all of which spelled his surname with an A, for what it's worth.

Here is his NSW BDM record:



There's every chance he is closely related to the other Michael O'Hagan, a labourer that we believe moved from Victoria to New South Wales some time between 1903 and 1943. This Richard Joseph O'Hagan was also originally listed in the roll as a labourer, and then later as a wool-classer.

So, probably much ado about nothing here. But it helps to build out the story.