V is for Volney

This month I am participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge where I will endeavour to post on this blog each day. It’s my first attempt at the challenge, I hope that I have the stamina to complete it.

I will be going through the Curry forenames in my surname study database from A-Z and,  as per the event schedule, will share some of the articles I have found on Trove relating to Currys. For problem letters like X and Q I may  resort to Google.

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Volney Curry is my choice for V as I was fascinated by the name Volney. The Meaning of Names site tells me that Volney is a German name meaning “peoples spirit”.

My CurryAus database tells me that Volney is one of six (that I have identified so far) children of George Curry and Mary Emma Geddes of Cootamundra. Perhaps Mary Emma had German ancestry or maybe the parents just liked the name Volney.

Much I can find about Volney on Trove centres around family weddings.

In September 1910 Master Volney Curry presented his sister May and her bridegroom, George Powell with a bread plate (1910 ‘WEDDING BELLS.’, Cootamundra Herald (NSW : 1877 – 1954), 13 September, p. 4. , viewed 17 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article144031710).  In 1911 Master Volney Curry gave his brother Reginald and new bride, Eliza McDonald, a sugar basin as a wedding gift (1911 ‘JOY BELLS.’, Cootamundra Herald (NSW : 1877 – 1954), 24 February, p. 4. , viewed 17 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139579598).

By 1921, when his brother Walter married Edith Ashton ,Volney had risen to be “Best Man”at the event (1921 ‘WEDDING.’, Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 – 1950), 15 July, p. 4. , viewed 17 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136372138).

It was finally in 1924 that Volney walked down the aisle to greet his bride, Helen Dolina McDougall.

1924 ‘WEDDINGS.’, Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (NSW : 1896 – 1938), 25 April, p. 27. , viewed 17 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101527664

There are numerous mentions of the Currys of Cootamundra in the local paper, The Cootamundra Herald (NSW : 1877 – 1954). I will need at least a day to transcribe all the information in obituaries, social columns and news items in that one publication