Robins/Harper Family Tree

Richard Golden was born Richard Purchase at GEELONG Vic on 7 November, 1843, to Richard Purchase and Isabella Morrell. When Richard was twelve his father died and some seven or eight months later his mother was remarried in Ballarat to Thomas Golden (the name on their marriage record), a miner. Presumably because Richard was now living with Mr and Mrs Golden, he came to be known as Richard Golden, and his siblings probably likewise. However Golden wasn't Thomas' real name: He had been born in Sydney in 1834 to Thomas Golding and Caroline nee Donnelly. The similarity between the names Golden and Golding, and the fact that he signed his certificate with “his mark”, as did Isabella (hence they were at least partially illiterate - not uncommon for the time), may explain how the error in his surname on his marriage certificate came about. Richard Golden(ing) and Elizabeth Middleton Whyman (sic) married in Uralla in 1880, and as no record of a divorce from Alfred Wyman has come to light it appears Elizabeth married bigamously.