Janet Scrimgeour was born in 1845 in Creiff, Perthshire in Scotland. In 1854 she migrated to Australia with her father Alexander, a mason, her mother Henrietta and her brother William. After arriving on the ship Hilton, they settled in Bendigo, Victoria. In 1865 Janet married miner Peter Franz Brackelmann in Bendigo. For the wedding Janet wore the Limerick lace wedding veil, which is believed to have been ordered and imported from Ireland for the wedding.

Peter had migrated from Schlaswig Holstein in Denmark, to try his luck on the goldfields. He appears to have prospered, owning a couple of mines and a number of stores in Bendigo along with his German business partner Johann Koopman. Peter and Janet had three children, Annie Margarethe (1866-1959), Henrietta (1867-1904) and Peter (1869-1910).

After Peter's death Janet married Johann Koopman in 1872, her husband having left her well provided for. Janet and Johann had four children together, before Johann also died (it is thought both Peter and Johann were afflicted by 'miner's complaint' of the lungs). Janet then married Englishman John Harvey in 1893. Janet remained in Bendigo throughout her married life, finally moving to South Melbourne to live with her daughter. She died in 1941.

The Limerick lace veil worn by Janet for her wedding was made in Limerick, Ireland in the 1850s and is a delicate style that lends itself well to the lightness needed in a wedding veil. This veil was worn by over 100 women from five generations of the family since Janet's wedding in 1865.

These women include Janet's daughters by her first husband, Annie Margarethe Brackelmann Crocker and Henrietta. Annie Margarethe had no daughters but the brides of her three sons, including George, all wore the veil. The donor, Annie Myrtle (Nancy) Crocker Davies Maslen (daughter of George and Vera Crocker) was the 100th bride to wear the veil and became the final keeper of the precious family heirloom. She and her four sisters all donned the veil at weddings which spanned from 1934 to 1958. The veil was also worn by Nancy's daughter Jean at Ascot House, Ascot Vale in 1958. The last bride to wear the veil was a niece of Nancy, who married during the 1990s. After this wedding it was decided the veil was too fragile to be worn any longer and it was offered to the Museum.

References

1865 'Family Notices', Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918), 23 February, p. 2. (Supplement to The Bendigo Advertiser), viewed 28 Oct 2022, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87930255

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