Finding 1896-1897 residence of William and Emily Mountjoy Rouse in Adelaide, South Australia?

Question

I have been using the online Sands and Macdougall South Australian Directories to try and trace the residences of my great-grandfather William Rouse (born 26 Jul 1860 and baptized 26 Aug 1860 at Truro St Mary, Cornwall).

From the entries below I can see that in:

• 1894 he is living at Gilles Street, Adelaide and running an exotic nursery (I was always told that he had commercial rose gardens so this fits) at North Terrace, Kent Town. He had been living in Gilles Street since 1888.
• 1895 he is doing the same as in 1894 but on 1 May 1895 he married Emily Mountjoy Creber
• 1896 he is still running the exotic nursery but his mother Agnes Rouse (nee Green) is listed at Gilles Street instead so I am assuming that he has moved out with his new wife but there is no residential address for him
• 1897 he is doing the same as in 1896 i.e. there is still no residential address for him
• 1898 he is still running the exotic nursery and now has a residential address of Mill Street, Clarence Park. His second and third daughters, Priscilla Mountjoy and Ivy were born in 1900 and 1903 respectively at Clarence Park so the family lived there for some time.

1894:

1895:

1896:

1897:

1898:

I would like to try and determine where Wiliam and Emily Rouse were living in those first two years after they married. Some things I have considered are:

• living with Emily's parents (John Creber and Mary Patience Foot) but I know that until 1905 (when John died) they lived at Meadows Gully, Prospect Hill, which is about 25 miles away and not commutable.
• living with a sibling - William was the eldest son in Australia but had eight siblings in Adelaide and Emily had seven sisters (all but one older) living around South Australia - I have not ruled this out
• living onsite at the exotic nursery - I am not sure what evidence I could seek for this
• renting somewhere in Adelaide - I think this is the most likely because their first daughter Gladys Kathleen Rouse was born on 2 Feb 1896 in Adelaide

How would I find the residence of a newly married couple in 1890s Adelaide when they appear to have left their parental homes but are yet to have a new residence listed in the Sands and Macdougall directory?

Answer 1

With their first daughter Gladys Kathleen Rouse being born on 2 Feb 1896 in Adelaide it seems likely that her birth certificate (or transcript; not yet obtained) will have recorded her parents residence.

Her birth is easy to find in the Online Database of Genealogy SA and it appears that her birthplace is present but only available to members to view online. I should become a member at some point in the future.

Her baptism on 20 Sep 1896 at St. Mary Magdalene's, Adelaide is more evidence that they were probably living in, or within the vicinity of, Adelaide:

"Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XTD3-FVG : accessed 25 February 2015), Gladys Kathleen Rouse, 20 Sep 1896; citing Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; FHL microfilm 951,917.