Louisa Josephine ARDIS
Name Variations ODDIS, ODDES, OTTES, HARDISS
Father George Joseph ODDIS b.c. 18201 m. 1850 d. 18632
Mother Sophia WILBERT3 b.c. 18264 m. 1850 d. 18625
Sister Catherina OTTES6 b.c. 1850 m. 18777 John Henry SHAW8 d. unknown
Brother Phillip WADIS aka ODDES b. 18549 m. none - d. 187210
Brother Jacob OTTES b.c. 185511 m. none - d. 187612
Sister Caroline13 ODDEAS b.c. 185714 m. (1) 187715 (2) 188616 (1) John Henry SHAW (2) Walter BRETT d. 192817
Inmate Louisa Josephine ODDES b. 185918 m. (1) unknown (2) 1877 (3) 1910 (see below) d. 193119
Husband (1) unknown  b. m. d.
Husband (2) Stephen GLEADALL or GLEADHALL b. 1854 m. 187720 d. 190621
Husband (3) Saint Thomas CORBY b. 1853 m. 191022 d. 1928
Daughter Louisa HARDISS b. 187523 m. none - d. 187524
Daughter Ida Louisa GLEADALL b. 187825 m. 190626 William Charles HALLEY27 d. 193528
Son William Henry GLEADALL b. 188029 m. 190730 Violet May GEORGE d. 196931
Daughter Annie Eleanor GLEADALL b. 188232 m. 190533 Anton PERSON34 d. 194435
Son Stephen Walter GLEADALL b.c. 1884 m. 191536 Florence Pauline PRYOR d. 196037

Note: The initial spellings 'ODD-' or 'OTT-' of Louisa's surname ceased after the death of her parents. All records connected with Louisa from 1870 of ANDIS, ARDIS or HARDISS appear as Anglicised versions of her original German surname.

Louisa ANDIS was an eleven-year-old orphan when she was arrested under the Industrial Schools Act by constable DALY of Newcastle Police.38 Her trial hasn't been located in either the Newcastle Chronicle or the Newcastle Pilot as no copies of either of these newspapers are extant for the date of her arrest. It will therefore never be known who was caring for her. Louisa was admitted to the Newcastle Industrial School on 10 October 1870.39 Her name appeared in the missing section of the Entrance Book so any family details, religion, educational attainment and trial location cannot be confirmed from this record. It is almost entirely certain that as an orphan, no parents would have been recorded in the Entrance Book. Louisa transferred with the school to Biloela in May 1871 and was recorded on the transfer lists as Louisa ANDIS, an eleven-year-old Catholic.40 She was recorded as still 'In the Institution' by George LUCAS in his April 1872 list.41 As Louisa ANDES, she was apprenticed by LUCAS for five years to Richard CANNON, Esq., of the Lyceum School,42 Bathurst Street, Sydney, on 28 October 1872.43 She would have been aged about 13 at the time of her apprenticeship that should have ended when she turned 18.

By early 1875, and as Louisa ARDIS, she and CANNON appeared in court in Sydney.44

Cannon v. Ardis was a proceeding under the Apprentice Act in which the master applied that a certain indenture of apprenticeship, by which the Superintendent of the Biloela Reformatory bound Louisa Ardis to him as an apprentice for the term of five years, two only of which have expired, should be cancelled, on the ground of the girl's misconduct. The defendant admitted the truth of the allegation against her, and the Bench cancelled the indenture and ordered her to be returned to Biloela.

The Empire provided further details.45

The indentures of a young girl named Louisa Ardiss, fifteen years of age apprenticed from Biloela to Mr. Richard Stuart Cannon, were ordered to be cancelled on the ground of misconduct, and defendant was ordered to return to Biloela. The misconduct complained of was that the girl had become enceinte.46 Mr. Forster appeared for complainant.

Louisa's master, CANNON, would certainly have considered a pregnancy 'misconduct' and sufficient grounds for cancelling the apprenticeship. Her case was discussed in letters to the editor the following month where it was erroneously recorded using the generic description often used at this time, that she had been apprenticed from the 'Biloela Reformatory'.47 John DALE, the Temporary Officer in Charge, indicated in his report on 25 January 1875, that Louisa had been readmitted to the school on 20 January.48 On 27 January 1975, DALE informed the Colonial Secretary of Louisa's pregnancy and requested that under the circumstances, she be removed from the school.49 Louisa was discharged from the school to the Benevolent Asylum on 8 February.50 The Sydney Benevolent Asylum recorded her as a fifteen-year-old Louisa HARDISS.51 On 25 February at the asylum she gave birth to her daughter, who she named Louisa. Sadly, a fortnight later on 13 March, her baby died. Louisa was recorded as HARDISS when she left the asylum on 20 April. She did not return to Biloela because her official discharge due to her pregnancy had been completed.52

It is unknown how Louisa survived from this point in time but it was likely that she managed to arrange to go into service or be accepted into another apprenticeship as she did not have any dependant to care for. It must be considered that she gained employment with the GLEADALL family prior to her marriage. On 26 March 1877, Louisa HARDISS married Stephen GLEADALL, at Bethel House, Sydney. He was the son of Stephen GLEADALL, the architect53 who had died in 1869.54 Stephen and Louisa were living at Lawson Street, Balmain, by 188255 when their daughter, Annie, was born. Stephen was an alderman of Prospect and Sherwood56 before moving to Queensland in about 1899. Louisa and Stephen's Silver Wedding announcement in 1902 located her father in Newcastle.57 Stephen GLEADHALL died in Charters Towers, Queensland, on 23 July 1906,58 so Louisa returned to NSW.

On 11 June 1910, in the Church of England, Cooma, Louisa remarried the widower,59 Saint Thomas60 CORBY.61 She died on 25 October 1931,62 and her death was registered at Parramatta. She was seventy-three years of age and only her maiden name of HARDISS was recorded on the registration in the index. Louisa was privately cremated.63 Both her birth and death registrations recorded that her middle name was Josephine.

Family

The variations of Louisa's surname are almost certainly due to her being an orphan and also to any residual family accent and the resulting anglicising of her surname. Her parents, George and Sophia, and her older sister, Catharina, had arrived from Estrich, Nassau, in March 1852 aboard the San Francisco. The San Francisco was a German immigrant ship. This arrival almost certainly recorded George as Joseph OTTES but it is still thought that this was Louisa's family. Of all the children of George and Sophia, only Louisa's birth was registered although the baptism of her brother, Phillip, appeared in 1854 under the surname WADIS. Louisa had been born in Newcastle in 1859 and her birth was registered as Louisa J. ODDES. It may be that because Louisa was probably their last child, her siblings were identified by name on the registration64 although this record has not been viewed.

In 1852 George aka Joseph was listed on the San Francisco indent as a 36-year-old vinedresser. His parents were recorded as Michel and Marianne MERTEIN.65 At the time of the baptism of Phillip in the Roman Catholic Church in Newcastle, two years after his arrival, George was recorded as a labourer.66 By June 1859, as George ODDIS, he signed the [etition of support for the election of Alexander Walker SCOTT for the Ash Island Electorate in Newcastle.67 The stretch of the lower Hunter River near Ash Island was an area where many vinedressers and their families settled. George died at the age of forty-two in 1863, the year after the death of his wife. His age on the indent doesn't exactly match his age at the time of death but there is little doubt that the death registered in Newcastle as George OTTIS was that of the George HARDISS, Esq., identified by Louisa in her Silver Wedding announcement in 1902.68 It is unknown how the children of his family survived after his death but it is possible that members of the German community supported the orphaned children.

The San Francisco indent identified George's wife Sophia had parents named Jacob SULPERT69 and Rosina BRAUN. At the time of the baptism of her son Phillip, Sophia was recorded as Sophia WIBERT.70 She died as Sofia OTTES in 1862.

Identifying Louisa's siblings is difficult due to th variations in the spelling of her surname. The Philip ODDIS who died in Murrurundi in 1872 at the age of sixteen was Louisa's brother whose baptism was recorded in 1954 under the name of WADIS. He was almost certainly working away from his siblings. Conflicting trees identify that Catherine, who had arrived with her parents, had married John Henry SHAW. Other trees identify that this marriage occurred as Caroline in 1877.

No further letters have been identified in the CSIL using a spelling beginning with 'h' or 'o'. There are no references on the HVPRI, Trove or in the Police Gazette for Louisa ANDIS, ANDERS, ARDIS, HARDISS, HARDERS or any variation for ODDIS. No other arrivals can be found in NSW or Queensland with this surname – or any variations.

The NSW BDM Index recorded the death of a Francis ARDIS in 1887 in Hay at the age of twenty-three and there may also be some connection with the Annie M. OTTIS who married George FOX in Sydney in 189271 but neither of these possibilities have been investigated.

Updated October 2018

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