Person:Israel Rands (1)

History

Israel travelled to Cape Town with his two brothers in search of mining riches; it is thought they worked in the diamond mines, while one brother took a cobbler's apprenticeship. John Rands went on to New Zealand before returning to England. Joseph William Rands travelled to Utah, where he lived the rest of his life as a Mormon. Israel (known as Edward or Ned) left his wife and small daughter behind in Cape Town in 1950 to travel on to Australia where the gold rush was looming large. Family lore has it that he had promised to send for his wife once he had settled and had somewhere for them to travel to - but five years later his wife came out on her own volition and found him herself. It was said that little Louisa could only speak Afrikaans, and had to leave her doll buried in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, when they left by dray to the goldfields.

Edward had been a gardener in the colony for almost as long as he had been in Australia, and had settled in Waanyarra which at the time was a bustling goldfield close to 30,000 in population. He stayed there until his death in 1904, by which time the area was largely deserted. It is now dry bush land, the cemetery - re-discovered in the late 20th century and restored - the only visual indication that there was ever a town in the area.

1. ↑ Country News - Tarnagulla, in The Argus. (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
   No. 18,149 pp 9, 14 Sep 1904.

   TARNAGULLA - MR. A. Rands, aged 80, a resident of Waanyarra for 50 years, died on Tuesday.

2. ↑ The Argus, in The Argus. (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
   No. 18,772, pp. 18, 15 Sep 1906.

   The attempt by a testator literally to cut his son out of his will by means of a pair of scissors, which led to application the other day for the Court's advice was held yesterday by Mr Justice Chomley to have been inefficient. From a statement which the testator George Rands, had left in the will it was made evident that by the clause he had previously cut out he had left to his son Albert Edward a life estate in his whole property, which, however, was valued at only £102. If effect had been given to the excision, there would have been an intestacy, so that the property would have gone to the next of kin. Being in doubt as to the proper construction to be given to the mutilated document the trustee had sought the Court's direction on the matter. Mr Justice Chomley held that in view of what bad been left in the will it was clearly to be implied that tho son was to have a life estate and the trustee was advised accordingly. Mr Schutt (instructed by Mr Cunningham) appeared for the trustee.

3. ↑ Not Cut Off, in Barrier Miner. (Broken Hill)
   Vol XIX, No. 5653, pp 2, 6 Oct 1906.

   A will case possessing a uniquely interesting feature was heard in the Melbourne Practice Court by Mr. Justice Chomley last week in regard to the interpretation of the will of the late Edward Rands, of Waanyarra. This was the case in which the testator, with the view of "cutting" his son, Albert Edward Rands, out of his will, literally cut out the portion of the document containing the paragraph. Other portions of the document, however, in which the son's name appeared, had only been scored out with a pen, but not sufficiently to entirely obliterate the words. As these excisions were not "attested" in the ordinary form under the Wills Act they still formed a portion of the document. The estate was valued at £102 only, and his Honor held that, in the exceptional circumstances, the son had a life interest in it, as had evidently been the original intention of the will.

4. ↑ Jone's Creek, in Bailliere, F. F. The Official post office directory of Victoria ... (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1974-1976)
   Vol. 1868, 1868.

   RANDS Edward, Market Gardener, Grassy Flat

5. ↑ Death of Israel Rands, in Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Edwardian Index, Victoria, 1902-1913: Index to Births, Deaths and Marriages in Victoria
   Index #10719, 26 Dec 2021.

   Name: Israel Rands
   Died: 1904
   Place: Waan
   Father: Isaac
   Mother: Short

6. ↑ ^6.0 6.1 St John Hampstead Baptisms, in Church of England, and Ancestry.com (comp.). London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database]. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, 2010)
   P81/JN1/065, 16 Jul 2023.

   When born: June 7 [1825]
   When Baptized: July 3 [1825]
   Child's Christian Name: Israel
   Parents Christian: Isaac & Sarah
   Parents Surname: Rands
   Abode: Hampstead
   Quality, Trade or Profession: Soldier
   By whom the Ceremony was performed: R H Simpson

7. ↑ Thompson's Cottages, Childs Hill, in England. 1841 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class: HO107; Piece: 657; Book: 6; Civil Parish: Hendon; County: Middlesex; Enumeration District: 3; Folio: 11; Page: 15; Line: 17; GSU roll: 438774, 16 Jul 2023.

   Isaac Rands, Gardiner, Not born in County
   Sarah ditto, 46 year old female, Not born in County
   Sophia ditto, 18 year old female, born in County
   Israel ditto, 16 year old male, born in County
   Joseph ditto, 14 year old male, born in County
   John ditto, 12 year old male, born in County
   Lydia ditto, 3 year old female, born in County

8. ↑ Was known as 'Ned'