The Gheas: Our Eurasian Family

Ghea Family c1930
Standing (left to right): Dick, Tilly, Liza, Maud, Dotsie
Seated: Flo, Emily, Great-Great-Grandma Annie, Minnie, Fanny
In front: Bunny

My Aunty Daph died on the 4^th November 1990. She was my paternal grandmother’s sister. It was only then as a result of a conversation with some in my family soon after her death that I discovered that we were Chinese. That was the catalyst for starting my family history journey.

The Gheas have always fascinated me ... probably because of the Chinese and even the German. I would have expected English, Irish and Scottish ... but German and Chinese? How exotic!

I can still remember how delighted I was when I was first given a copy of this beautiful photo above of the whole Ghea family ... well not quite the whole family. Where was Great-Great-Grandfather Ghea? This photo is one of two taken on the same occasion. The other photo is taken with hats on. The dress would date the photos to the late 1920s or early 1930s and the hats would likely indicate a family wedding. Great-Great-Grandfather Ghea had died in 1918.

Photo taken same day with hats on
(colorized courtesy of My Heritage website)

The head of the Ghea family was William Gee from Canton (Guangdong Province) China. Unlike Europeans the first Chinese weren’t recorded, or even regularly counted, as entering the Australian colonies so we don’t know exactly when he arrived. The first record we have for him is his marriage certificate.

Marriage certificate of William Gee and Anna Elise Wieckhorst

What a surprise I got when I found the marriage! Not only was the spelling of Ghea different but the bride was the wrong person! By this stage I already knew that William had married Anna Elise ‘Annie Elizabeth’ Wieckhorst so was more than a little perplexed to see a different person on the certificate.

William and Annie were married on 28 April 1870 in Maryborough Queensland. William gave his details as being a bachelor from Canton China, his occupation as cook, his age as 28, his current address as Maryborough, his parents’ names as John Wong Sing and Ah Houn, and his father’s occupation as merchant. Annie gave her name as Katie Sharp and her details as being a spinster from Hamburg Germany, her occupation as domestic, her age as 19, her current address as Maryborough, her parents’ names as Peter Sharp (in reality Peter Wieckhorst) and Annie Wickhorst (in reality Annie Reinfahrt), and her father’s occupation as carpenter. Annie could sign her name but William could not sign his name in English. Witnesses were George Ernest Macrae and John Patrick Furey.

Annie was 16 at the time of the marriage and not 19 as she claimed. William’s age varies enormously across the different records that exist so we don't know his exact age. He may well have put his age down at the time of his marriage to appear closer in age to his bride. 

Not only did Annie give her name as Katie Sharp for the marriage but she recorded it for the birth of her first 10 children. It was only for the birth of her 11^th child did she give her correct name. What would make her change her name? And why Katie Sharp?

One of the stories I heard when first beginning my search was that ‘Grandfather Ghea had to buy her (Annie)’. When I asked if that meant a dowry, the reply was that ‘No one wanted to marry a Chinese. They had to buy them (brides).’ I wondered if Annie had changed her name to disassociate herself from her father who had given her away as a 16 year old bride to a much older man.

In recent years another distant cousin revealed that their family story was that William and Annie had eloped. We know that Annie put her age up by 3 years for the marriage. At 16 she was too young to marry without written permission from a parent. This, together with the fact that no family member was a witness at the marriage, would point to the absence of family at the ceremony. The fact that Annie put her age up would indicate her consent to marrying William.  Additionally her mother had died a year prior to the marriage. It’s highly likely that Annie was in the role of housekeeper for her father and her two older brothers as well as the younger children. Was the prospect of running the household for years too much?

And where did the name Katie Sharp come from? I searched the passenger list from the ship that carried the Wieckhorsts to Australia and many other records but could not find any clue.

At any rate it is fair to assume that the marriage was a happy one. They had a large family and the marriage endured.

Children of William Gee and Anna Elise Wieckhorst

Ancestry ethnicity 7% Chinese

Nothing is complete in the world of family history these days until you have proven your DNA link to your forebears. I am happy to report that not only do I have 7% Chinese ethnicity but I have identified DNA matches with descendants of three of the 10 Ghea children as well as with a number of descendants of Annie Ghea nee Wieckhorst's grandparents. I can therefore claim the Gheas as part of my genetic family.

Note: Family history is a never ending story. If you find an error on this page or have anything new to contribute to this topic I would love to hear from you.

Please email me on Kathryn.Barrett02 at gmail.com

Granny Winsall: Triumph from adversity

Mary Gee 1872-1948

Granny Winsall has always intrigued me. I'm told she always wore black; always wore long beads; and always kept the hotel keys on her person hanging from her belt. And she ran a tight ship at the hotel!

Granny Winsall was born Mary Gee in 1872 in Gympie Queensland, the second child to William Gee from Canton China and Anna Elise Wieckhorst who came as an 11 year old with her parents and siblings from Schleswig Holstein in Germany.

Australia in the latter half of the 19th Century wasn't very kind to people of Chinese origin so Mary had the cards stacked against her right from the beginning.

She grew up in Maryborough Queensland with her 7 sisters and 2 brothers. The family then moved to Rockhampton. 

It was after this move to Rockhampton that the family changed the surname from GEE to GHEA. And Mary changed her name to Marion. So Mary Gee became Marion Ghea.

Dave Winsall 1871-1914

Marion marries the very handsome Dave Winsall, a miner from Northhampton England.

Over the next 11 years they have a number of children in Mount Morgan, just south of Rockhampton, where Dave continues as a miner.

In 1909 Dave got his first hotel licence and purchased the Railway Hotel in Yeppoon. And so began a life in hotels.

However after only 2 and half years the hotel, together with the nearby residence and all its contents, is sold.

So back to Rockhampton for the Winsalls and this time with Dave as licensee of the Supreme Court Hotel where life seemed to go well.

But then disaster struck! In September 1914, only 2 years later, Dave Winsall dies of Miners’ Pthisis, an occupational lung disease from years of inhaling the crystalline silica dust in the mines.

Now a widow, Marion was left alone with a pub to run and with 3 teenagers and an 8 year old to support.

15 months later she leaves Rockhampton for Aramac some 650 kms west of Rockhampton and takes up the licence of the Marathon Hotel. Also living with her are her son Alf, her sister Maud and her husband a dentist in Aramac. 

Marion and her sister Maud on the verandah of the Marathon Hotel Aramac

On the first anniversary of being the Licensed Victualler of the Marathon, disaster strikes for a second time and the pub is burnt to the ground.

Marathon Hotel fire 1916

The hotel is eventually rebuilt and reopens. But in 1921 Granny Winsall moves back to Rockhampton when her sister Tilly transfers the licence of the Crown Hotel into her name. And she remains as the Licensed Victualler there for the next 16 years.

There are many references in the newspaper of sponsoring various sporting groups and events. The hotel is the venue for many functions such as weddings and twenty-firsts. And Marion becomes a significant business woman in the town.

Finally in 1936 Marion purchases the freehold of the Excelsior Hotel opposite the Wintergarden and Earls Court cinemas in Rockhampton. She immediately makes plans to demolish it and build her own hotel ... and renames it Winsalls Hotel.

Winsalls Hotel Rockhampton 1980s

Granny Winsall died in 1948 just before her 76^th birthday but the hotel continued as a landmark in Rockhampton until it was demolished in recent years.

Little Mary Gee had triumphed both personally and in business. She was known as a tough business woman and well-known and respected around town. She built lucrative businesses and built her own hotel.  She was the matriarch of the family, provided for her parents, and financially supported her children and their families throughout the years during tough times.