The Don and Milsom Family
The maternal side of Joy's family were the Dons. Joy's mother Lillian Isobel Don was the second of a family of eight childrem born to James Gilbert Don (1894-1965) and Ruby Elizabeth Isobel Milsom (1897-1985).
James and Ruby were married at Goulburn, New South Wales on Novermber 21, 1916.
On the Don side, James Don was the first of the Don family to come to Australia. He was born in 1839 at Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland to John Donn and Mary Dickie. John was a gardener at Castlehill in Maybole, a mansion surrounded by gardens and parkland, which was Owned by a James Ballantyne.
Scottish records we know James was the second of six children. There are questions about the early family. That appeared in the 1841 census at living at Castlehill but in the 1851 census they appear to be missing. Two of the children, John and Mary, may have been living with a great aunt in Ayr and a James Don is described as a “deserted boy” is living in what appears to be a home for such children in Ayr. If these are James and his siblings it indicates some calamity has befallen the family between 1848 and 1851. What happened remains a mystery.
- James Don and Ruby Milsom Nan and Pa Don's story
- The Don Family Joy's Scottish origins.
- The Milsom Family Nana Don's family story.
- The Don Family Index