Today I talked with cousin Pam about her father, a child born to my grandmother several years before she married Roland and became my Nan Doe. A copy of only one side of the birth certificate can be located at the moment. I hadn’t had this info before, so it was somewhere new to start. The address where the birth took place was 28 Wellington Street, St Kilda. Excitement....an address. I googled it and came up with a street full of “past their use by date” looking flats. Obviously, it was a case of “ashes to ashes” and this is what rose from the dust. Next strategy was to try my “friend” Trove, the old newspapers. The first item I found was about a man who lived there and had to go to court, about 1944, a bit late and not promising. Next I found an ad for a flat at the address. Again, a bit past the time I was looking but it sounded OK, 3 rooms, balcony, hot and cold water and a phone, garage and stables. This sounded pretty upmarket for the times and made me think a little more about the circumstances of an unmarried mother in 1913. A bit more searching and I came across another ad offering the rooms to let, the practising rooms of the late Dr Schlessinger. This was 1917. I immediately decided that my uncle had been born in private rooms under the guidance of the kindly doctor. Until, wanting more, I changed my search words to gather a wider catch. I now discovered that the good Doctor had died in 1911, fully 2 years before the birth I was researching! I found an engagement notice for his son, who seemed to spend his life playing tennis and noticed that the Doctor’s wife now had a new name.
I am guessing now that
The rooms were used by the doctor as a surgery with inpatient facilities.
After he died, someone else kept the business going for a couple of years.
The place was divided into flats, which were later demolished
New flats were built there
And what happened to the good doctor? Well, my husband says it would be the death of anyone if they barracked for St Kilda.
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