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The Disappearance of William and James Empey

My great-uncle Bill was the quintessential Empey family story-teller. About forty years ago, I remember him telling me the story of my great-great-grandfather, William Empey, and one of his sons, James Empey.[1] They had left Australia for South Africa in search of diamonds in about 1908 to 1910.[2] This story was quite feasible, as William was a miner and came to Victoria, Australia during the Gold Rush.[3] 
I became hooked!
I would go to the Public Record Office which was then situated in Laverton, Victoria for research.[4]  One by one I would slot a microfiche into the microfiche reader and comb through the microfiche looking for records. Sometimes, my mother, Lois, would come along to help too. 
However, I could not find any record of William and James leaving Victoria in the shipping records during that timeframe. In those days, I found it difficult to investigate what could have come of them in South Africa. I could only speculate.
Eventually, I purchased the marriage certificate of my great-grandparents, William Arthur Empey and Julia Warland Jones.[5] The puzzle thickened, as at their marriage certificate of 1893, it has that William’s father William is deceased.[6]
With the event of Trove and its presence online, I found a family notice in The Alexandra and Yea Standard which would bust the story wide open.[7] On 23 March 1887, William had died in Alexandra, Victoria.[8] I set up an account with Trove in 2010, and the doors opened enormously for my research on Empey stories in Australia.
But then, what became of James?
Jennifer Empey

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Alexandra and Yea Standard.
National Library of Australia (NLA), ‘Trove’, Accessed 11 July 2018.
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV), ‘Family History’, Accessed 11 July 2018.
Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria.
Notes
[1] William Empey to Jennifer Empey, discussion, [date unknown, possibly 1978].
[2] Empey to Empey, discussion, [date unknown, possibly 1978]; and William Empey to Jennifer Empey, letter, 3 September 1987, original held in recipient’s possession.
[3] Empey to Empey, discussion, [date unknown, possibly 1978]; and Empey to Empey, letter, 3 September 1987.
[4] Public Record Office Victoria (PROV), ‘Family History’, Accessed 11 July 2018.
[5] Marriage Certificate of William Arthur Empey and Julia Warland Jones, married 4 November 1893, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria, 5611/1893.
[6] Marriage Certificate of William Arthur Empey and Julia Warland Jones, married 4 November 1893.
[7] ‘Family Notices’, The Alexandra and Yea Standard, 1 April 1887, p. 2, Accessed 11 July 2018; and National Library of Australia (NLA), ‘Trove’,  Accessed 11 July 2018.[8] ‘Family Notices’, The Alexandra and Yea Standard, p. 2.

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