Life of a Centenarian - Caroline Anstey Garrett

I first met my great grandmother, Caroline Anstey Garrett, in 1977, when I was 15 years old - she was 90 years old and had just immigrated to Australia!  

She was widowed in 1949 when she was 61 and went to live with her youngest daughter, Carrie, in the USA in 1951 and they also lived in Japan during this time. She returned to Scotland in 1954 after her sister, Lizzie, was also widowed and they lived together for the next 23 years until her sister died.

It was at this time that she came out to Australia to live with her daughter, Helen and where she was to meet her seven great-grandchildren for the first time. 

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Caroline Anstey Garrett was born at 11.55pm on 15 September 1887 at 184 Parliamentary Rd, Glasgow, the fifth child of Albert Garrett and Martha Stewart, who had married in 1881. As the second daughter, she was named after her paternal grandmother, Caroline Anstey.

While we don’t have a family bible as such, I’m very fortunate that her father, Albert Garrett, documented important events of the family and their friends and we have five pages of entries.  I have spent many hours researching the various people mentioned in these papers. 

Sadly, Caroline’s mother passed away when she was 15 years old and although she was one of eight children, only one brother and two sisters lived to adulthood. 

At the time of the 1911 census, which was taken in April, Caroline was living at The Folly in Stevenston, with her brother, James Stewart and his family. She was described as a Bookfolder, which meant she folded paper to make books.

However, when she married Alexander McDougall just a few months later in December that year, she was described as a Dynamite Worker. Her husband was also a Dynamite Worker and they worked at the Nobel Explosive Plant, a massive dynamite manufacturing plant built by Alfred Nobel in 1871. It went on to become the largest explosives plant in the world and at its peak employed 13,000 workers. 

A fascinating documentary SHIFTING SANDS - 150 years of Novel Explosives on the Ardeer Peninsula was recently released and is available to view on the Facebook page from this link.

Caroline and Alexander had three daughters, Elizabeth, known as Cissie, born in 1913 and Helen known as Nellie born in 1915 who were both born in The Folly in Stevenston and their youngest daughter, Caroline, known as Carrie was born in 1921 in Glasgow where the family had settled after the war. Very sadly, young Cissie died in 1919 of diphtheria just before her 6th birthday. 

In 1923 Caroline’s older sister, Mary, immigrated to the USA with her husband and children and settled in Chicago, Illinois. 

Caroline’s daughter, Helen married Robert Conway Martin in 1938 and they went on to have a family of five children including my mother. Helen and her family immigrated to Australia in 1951. 

In 1947, her other daughter, Carrie married Alexander Campbell, son of Mary who had immigrated to the USA. Alec was a Sergeant in the US Army and they lived in Germany and Japan before ultimately settling in the USA. 

Caroline’s husband, Alexander died in 1949 and in 1951 she went to live with her daughter in Chicago. In 1954 Caroline returned to Scotland when her sister, Lizzie’s husband died. 

In 1955, after several years in Australia, her daughter, Helen and family also returned to Scotland. However, upon their return, they decided to make their home permanently in Australia and returned again later the same year.  Caroline is pictured here with her daughter and grandchildren on the Saltcoats promenade.

June, Carol, Bob, Caroline, Helen and Irene - Saltcoats, Ayrshire, 1955

Caroline lived with her sister Lizzie for the next 23 years at “Derna” Kirkgate, Saltcoats with much anticipated visits from her daughters. Helen visited in 1963 with her youngest grandson, Richard and again in 1972 with her husband, Bob. 

In 1977, her daughter Helen’s husband, Robert died in May and her sister Lizzie died in August. With no close family, Helen went over to Scotland and it was decided that Caroline would come to live with Helen in Australia at the grand age of 90! 

Four years later, in 1981, her daughter, Carrie’s husband, Alec passed away, she also came to live in Australia with her mother and sister.

Caroline is pictured here with her two daughters, Carrie and Helen. Three granddaughters, Irene, Carol and June, and six great granddaughters.  There are two grandsons and one great grandson, not pictured.  

Shortly before her 100th birthday, Caroline took ill and was admitted to hospital for the first time in her life.  Although discharged from hospital she was unable to return home and was discharged to Guildford Nursing Home where she would celebrate her centenary. 

Unfortunately, there are a few inaccuracies in this article from The Advertiser. Caroline's three granddaughters, two of their husbands, and her two grandsons, Robert and Richard, were also present at her birthday celebrations.  Her daughters Helen and Caroline were residing at Merrylands, not Guildford.  Caroline had met all her grandchildren previously, the four eldest were born in Scotland.  She had not however met any of her great grandchildren prior to migrating to Australia.

Telegrams were received from HRH the Queen, Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Premier Barrie Unsworth, Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen and other dignitaries.  

Caroline only lived another month and died on 17 Oct 1987 of bronchopneumonia and was cremated at Rookwood Crematorium.

Family Tree and DNA

While we always thought our Garrett ancestors were Scottish, research revealed that Caroline's father, Albert Garrett was actually born in London and that his parents were both from Somerset. Her mother, Martha Stewart was born in Wigtownshire, but both her parents appear to be Irish and have been rather difficult to trace, although I'm hopeful that DNA is helping me take these lines further back.  

Caroline's family tree - the DNA symbol showing those lines have been DNA confirmed