Garry Stretton
master brummie
Reporting that I have started to enter all your great work into Wikitree. I now have a 4th great grandfather and grandmother. William (Izon) Ison and Mary Smith. I will enter the 2 more wives and many children on a rotating basis so I will continue to clean up my Wikitree obligations that are already badly entered. I am continuing to be amazed of my ignorance of the world significance of Birmingham. It was the Silicon Valley of the 1600 to 1800s. "Birmingham is one of England's principal industrial centres and has a history of industrial and scientific innovation. It was once known as 'city of a thousand trades' and in 1791, Arthur Young (the writer and commentator on British economic life) described Birmingham as "the first manufacturing town in the world". And still today "By the year 2000, of the 4,000 inventions copyrighted annually in the UK, 2,800 came from within a 35-mile radius of Birmingham."
I wonder why my 2nd great grandfather, Walter George Ison, left and immigrated with his family to Brisbane. He did though immediately set up a multi generational coach works with 2 branches. And he got good sub tropical weather and surf. And deadly snakes, spiders and other assorted vermin. And he was very much a pioneer in a young Brisbane. A big fish in a small pond. All of Queensland had a population of 23,520 in 1859. Queensland became a separate State from New South Wales in 1859. Walter and family arrived 1883. Australia as a separate country from England did not become the federal Commonwealth of Australia until 1 January 1901. Brisbane now has 2.5 million with the fastest growth rate in Australia. Apartment towers everywhere close in.
Science and invention in Birmingham - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org