John McKinley 1822-1886 (#52 Ancestors – Week 11 – Luck)

Donegal in Ireland. Birthplace of John McKinley

As we all know, it is very hard to research ancestors from Ireland. Each earlier generation brings new complications and less places where their name might have been recorded. The sketchy details I have of the McKinley family are hard won and still too meagre to tell us much. But here’s what I have gleaned:

John McKinley was born in Donegal in about 1822 and was the son of James McKinley. Nothing is known of his siblings.

John’s grandfather – Mr McKinley – seems to have come from Scotland and only lived in the Donegal region for one generation. We don’t have a name for him. We do know, however, that John’s father had a brother Patrick and a sister Mary.

John’s Uncle Patrick married a woman of unknown name and had sons Patrick, Michael, Andrew and James. Those four were my John McKinley’s first cousins.

John’s Aunt Mary married James McGarvie in Donegal and had children including William McGarvie.

John seems to have grown up with his McKinley cousins somewhere near Meenaneary in Donegal.

Somewhere around 1820, Aunt Mary, her husband and perhaps some children moved to Enniskillen in Fermanagh. As a young adult, John also moved to Fermanagh, most likely boarding with his McGarvie cousins. His cousin William McGarvie was born in the same year as John.

Enniskillen in modern times, still looking very old-worldly. By User: (WT-shared) Plug at wts wikivoyage [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

These were tough times in Ireland. Even without records unique to this family we know that starvation was beginning to bite. Disease was rife in the southern Irish counties, the military was very active, bandit groups were active, work was nonexistent. Displaced Irish folk were roaming all over the country looking for family to stay with, for sustainable work and for shelter from the harsh Irish climate. People starved.

From Fermanagh, John made his way to the city of Derry in the county Londonderry.

He may have been the John McKinley who appeared at the Antrim Quarter Sessions charged with stealing a quantity of linen yarn at Belfast in 1839. The result of that court appearance is not known and if that was our John, the case must have been dismissed. So possibly he was in Belfast then but he was not the only man of that name in the north of Ireland. What we know is that by the early 1840s he went to Derry.

Somewhere on this journey he met his future wife, Alice Bowles. They married in about 1842. Two children, Mary Ann and James Patrick, were born to John and Alice in 1844 and 1846 respectively.

The young family struggled and despaired.

Just about everything we know about this family comes from that generation of cousins, because all the named young people managed to flee to country to a safe home.

The children of Patrick McKinley emigrated to the United States. Patrick, Michael, Andrew and James settled in Pennsylvania where their name morphed to ‘McGinley’.

William McGarvie emigrated to Victoria, Australia where he was married in 1854.

The cousins emigrated as assisted emigrants but for some reason this option was not available to John. Maybe he was rejected on health grounds or he lacked the skill set required. It’s a puzzle.

Movements of John McKinley from Meenaneary (near Killibeg) to Enniskillen then to Londonderry.

Then in December 1847 or thereabouts, John McKinley took the gamble of his life, which qualifies him as the subject of a blog about luck.

Details are still sketchy, but John and his wife were arrested for stealing two geese. As was the system back then, they were placed in a holding cell from the time of accusation, awaiting trial to prove their innocence or receive sentence.

I cannot prove this, but I am pretty certain that this was a deliberate move to achieve emigration from the country.

There used to be lots of stories about convicts having done this in Tasmania. Many of those stories were the descendant’s way of reestablishing their family reputation in a time when society descriminated against the descendants of convicts. The ‘deliberate ploy for emigration’ and the ‘he/she stole to save a starving family’ are good ways to deflect shame and dishonour. I am always skeptical when I hear it. But once in a blue moon it was true. If the jury detected it as a motive for crime, they assigned a prison sentence instead. Or as in the case of John and Alice, they would sentence the husband to transportation and exonerate the wife entirely as acting under her husband’s influence. Looking through the court records this result was common for husband/wife first crimes.

John and Alice wouldn’t have known this. Their theft, conviction and sentencing resulted in John facing transportation and Alice facing a life without him in Fermanagh as single mother to two infant children.

The jury deliberated on this one and decided that since neither had a prior record they should be afforded lenience.

Ship Artemisia built 1847. Not used as a convict ship but the same build as several convict ships of 1850. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Discovery_at_Deptford.jpg See page for author [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

John probably didn’t feel very lucky at this point. The big plan had failed, his reputation was in ruins and the best he could hope for was that he would live while his family would die. It must have been a hard night in prison.

But they didn’t give up. Two weeks later his wife was back in gaol, having committed an offence on her own. An anxious wait must have ensued as she was once more kept in the holding cells awaiting trial. Her children were probably with her in the cell.

This time it worked. Alice received her own sentence. She and the children were shipped out first.

John languished a whole year in gaol in Fermanagh before the transportation occurred.

The 1836 convict built Ross Bridge crosing the Macquarie River in Tasmania by denisbin via flickr, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ , no changes made.

Once in Van Diemen’s Land, John McKinley and his wife still had a sentence to serve before they could resume their own life. Their little boy died very soon after arrival, a fact which obviously depressed Alice. John would not have known of the loss of his child until they met. Their daughter was safe in the Orphan School where she received something of an education in being a domestic servant.

Both John and Alice were exemplary workers and servants and received their Tickets of Leave in almost record time. Two years after Alice’s arrival in the colony they were back in the one household. John gained further brownie points by accepting a position as a constable.

In those days, constables were basically police officers/sheriffs and council inspectors all rolled into one. They were often chosen from among the better behaved convicts with the additional incentive of six months knocked off the sentence as well as better working conditions than they would have as labouring men. But the job came with animosity from many fellow convicts who maintained an ‘us or them’ mentality, considering the constables to be turncoats and betrayers.

John committed one offense as a ticket of leave constable, probably a genuine mistake. He illegally impounded a horse that should have been left where it was.

Conduct Record John McKinley CON33/1/92 at Tasmania Archives

But finally, after serving only half his sentence, John McKinley received a conditional pardon. He and Alice, now in their early thirties, settled in Kempton where John continued his employment as constable for the rest of his working life. A large family was born to them.

Civil death registration of John McKinley Tasmanian Archives RGD35/1/55 no 757

It was a long hard struggle, but that gamble paid off and changed the family fortunes forever. Their descendants have lived comfortably ever since.

The Wilmot Arms former hotel in Kempton Tasmania. Built 1843. A part of the new home town of John and Alice mcKinley/McKinlay. Photo by denisbin via Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/82134796@N03/10375487893 Some rights reserved https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ . Image unaltered.

The Adventurous Alice Head – Part Three – A Single Young Woman in Western Australia

Continue to Alice Head’s Train Journey Part One

Skip ahead to Adventurous Alice Part Four – A Single Young Woman in Kalgoorlie

Back to Adventurous Alice Part Two – Journey to Australia

Fremantle Australia

Fremantle 1905. 9 years after Alice arrived but many of the buildings would have been there already. Circa 1905. Public Domain. Digital scan of “Laying tramlines”, RWAHS R1770 in the photographic collection of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society via https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaizdas:Laying_tramlines.jpg

Alice and her sister Florrie reached Fremantle with 47 other young women on 22 May 1896. They disembarked somewhere along Fremantle’s famous mile-long pier and walked in to the shore. Most of the women were wearing donated clothes from the residents of St Helena (details in previous post) and only one of them had luggage. Many of them had lost treasured family heirlooms. Having left England in a cyclone and survived a ship’s fire, they must all have wondered what was in store for them in their new home. The old idea that misfortunes come in threes might have been forefront of their minds.

Probably not in the forefront of Alice’s mind though. She doesn’t show in the records as being superstitious and is remembered in the family as a very level headed and intelligent woman. Alice’s objective was financial security. She came from an overcrowded but hardworking home but the number of children would have made life difficult. It’s just a guess, but she probably did not want to live the hard working life that must have run her mother into the ground.

An approximation of the indoor world of Alice Head. An 1890s Parlour. This particular room was in Queensland but the furniture type and arrangement was equally accurate for Western Australia. Ref: State Library of Queensland

The women stayed in accommodation operated by the United British Women’s Emigration Society. An ambiguous notice in the Southern Times suggests that they traveled by train to Perth and were placed in a government owned boarding house there while they waited for employment.(1)

Either on the first or second day, they were also met with a list of employers who were seeking the service of a domestic servant. These employers had been vetted to some degree by the UBWES workers, who had already weeded out the less reputable offers. Under these circumstances the women were probably encouraged to meet with the potential employers on that first day and accept the first reasonable offer.

This year was a little different to the others. Miss Monk needed to purchase new clothing for her charges, which expense is listed in the quarterly accounts of October 1896.

Advertisement from two years before Alice’s journey. No doubt the same system applied. (2)

One day, I hope to know the fates of each girl who made this voyage. I’ve located many of them in the marriage records over the following ten years, but not all. Quite a few of them probably hoped to marry a wealthy gold tycoon, after wild tales of unparalleled wealth in Australia were reaching England. Others probably just sought a decent, hardworking husband to help them make a go of the world.

Women’s emigrant ships were known in Australia as ‘bride ships’, and even the United British Women’s Emigration Society annual accounts refers to the large number of emigrating women who find husbands in their new home. No information has come down in the family regarding Alice’s views about marriage. Whether this was a year long adventure expected to culminate in a return to England or a lifetime move is also not known.

Two of the women – 23 year old Maud Kirton and 19 year old Lily Downie – were married the year of arrival, failing to see out their terms of passage. Each of them were married in Fremantle and must have met their future husbands very soon after arrival.

All that I definitely known of the others is that they found employment quickly.

Emu Brewery in Perth Western Australia early 1900s. State Library of Western Australia Pictorial Archive

Alice and Florrie may have taken work around Fremantle or Perth for that first year with an employer duly approved by the UBWES team. They both vanish from the records for a short time. They were obliged to work for one year and no doubt Alice did this with her eyes and ears wide open, taking in the opportunities and pitfalls of life in the colony.

Some of the women (for example 19 year old Lizzie Allcock) ended up employed as laundresses for the Western Australia Public Service. It was secure work and no doubt decent pay, but if Alice found herself in this position she might have worried about parallels with her mother’s life.

One thing she must have heard was that there was money to be made in the hotels. Respectable barkeepers were in great demand. It looks like a tough job from this distance, without any of the modern health and safety regulations. It would have brought a girl into contact with dangerous men, smoke filled rooms and probably the sights and behaviours of genuine hardship. Hotels were generally boarding houses too, so duties would have involved maid work and cleaning, perhaps cooking, perhaps waitressing.

The UBWES may not have been affiliated officially with the Women’s Temperance League, but the two groups shared many common philosophies. It is very likely that no emigrant under their scheme was presented with bar work as an employment option. In 1896 there was talk in Perth of campaigning for a law to forbid single women from working in licensed premises.

But despite any conjectures, what Alice actually did for work in that first year is not known. By May 1897 a lot of her former travelling companions were getting married in Fremantle, Claremont and Perth.

Obviously Alice didn’t have enough excitement in her life. Probably in company with their friends, she and Florrie caught a train to Kalgoorlie, a journey of about 700km.

Fremantle today. I felt the blog needed more colour. By Nachoman-au (A digital photograph taken by myself.) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. No changes made.

“ARRIVAL OF IMMIGRANTS” Southern Times (Bunbury, WA : 1888 – 1916) 26 September 1893: 3. Web. 14 Apr 2018 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157516995>.
“DOMESTIC SERVANTS.” The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954) 13 March 1894: 2. Web. 14 Apr 2018

The Adventurous Alice Head; Part Two; Journey to Australia

Link to Part One Link to Part Three

Steamship City of Seattle, ca 1890s, probably in British Columbia waters. Similar to the ship which brought Alice to Australia in 1896. By Richard Maynard (1832-1907) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACity_of_Seattle_(steamship)_1890s.JPG

Weather report for 17 March 1896, London (1):

Throughout England and Ireland there was a boisterous, squally wind, blowing strongly in many localities … Early in the night temperature fell under 40deg (4.5 Celsius) over about half the country … but it rose quickly before morning, all but a few northern stations standing at from 45 deg to 53 deg (7-11.5 C) at 8am. In the course of the forenoon the cyclonic core moved across Scotland at rather a brisk pace, and shortly after noon it was out on the North Sea off the Aberdeenshire coast, the barometer going up steadily at all our home stations. The wind was shifting into west and north west in the afternoon … the sea off Holyhead and in the Straits of Dover was running high. Squally weather reported all round … temperatures from 51 deg to 53 deg (10-11 C) at 2pm.

The increasing wind reached London early in the night, and up to about midday yesterday the south-west breeze blew hard in frequent squalls, which at times attained the force of a moderate or fresh gale.

This reported ‘breeze’ brought down cranes and pylons, sunk two ships and destroyed the Coroner’s Court in the Police House in Liverpool. In Scotland and Ireland, the damage was much greater. It was officially named a cyclone once it reached St George’s Strait.

In the middle of the storms, Flo and Allie had packed, headed for their boarding point and joined 46 other girls for the adventure of their lives.

The arrangement was that the girls were to meet the day before sailing and all sleep at a hostel booked for the purpose near the wharf. (2) . Some were coming from British country regions, a few from Scotland and others from Ireland.

Another paper reported (3)

The emigrants are housed temporarily on their way through London … and often clothed more comfortably with … half-worn garments contributed.

So Flo and Allie would have met their fellow passengers on 16 March 1896. Even now, their travels were not confirmed. There was a medical check undertaken upon arrival. Some girls were rejected. A couple withdrew. Flo and Allie were deemed ‘satisfactory’ and were also up to date with their vaccinations. Presumably after passing the medical inspection they were allocated their quarters for the night.

In the morning they would, I expect, have traveled together to the wharf in a group.

The ship sailed without incident and the passing of the Port Phillip steamer at Ushant was reported on 20 March 1896.(4)

The papers of the UBWEA are held by the Women’s Library Archive at the London School of Economics and are not digitized. From various oral histories it is known that the girls received organized training while on board. Miss Monk inspected their needlework, their diction, their posture and their cleanliness. She ensured they knew how to wear their uniform and she ensured they were in good health.

Ocean near Australia

From the diary of ship’s doctor Dr Walter Bridgeford (5):

The Port Phillip left Gravesend on St. Patrick’s Day carrying 48 single girls, migrants for the Government of Western Australia, the matron in charge being Miss Monk . . . . Eleven days later, on March 28th, sighted San Antonio (Cape de Verde Islands), and on the same day entered the Bay of Porte Grande, St. Vincent. Porte Grande is about two miles wide at the entrance and is the largest harbour in the Cape de Verde Islands. It is well sheltered under high mountains and is the termination of a central valley running throughout the island between two chains of mountains. The anchorage is a good one and sufficiently large, it is said, to accommodate 200 large ships. The general aspect of St. Vincent from the Bay is mountainous, with high peaks. It wears a barren and desolate appearance, the volanic fires of a past age together with the scorching heat of a tropical sun having, in most places, rendered the soil unfit for cultivation.

There are two small churches-one Protestant and the other Roman Catholic, the former being at the time of our visit without a minister ; a very sandy cricket ground ; the usual public square, which is lighted at night and wherein a band plays regularly ; water-works, which are situated in the centre of the town ; the Governor’s palace ; and the barracks. The place is scorchingly hot-92 deg. Fahr. in the shade as I write and there is no vegetation beyond a few trees which have been planted in the streets. The houses occupied by the employees of the coaling companies and the cable telegraph staffs are large and commodious, well lighted and ventilated, and include the luxury of wood billiard rooms.

The natives are black in colour, but black of various degrees of density. Their houses are wretched hovels, a wooden shutter serving the purpose of a window, and dirty sand doing duty for a floor. There are a few stores on the island, an apothecary’s shop, and a building which by courtesy only is designated an hospital. (The water supply is good. Provisions are imported from neighbouring islands ; but notwithstanding the absence of herbage, goats manage to live. We only remained about 20 hours, and left on the 29th to pursue our voyage with 260 tons of coal on deck

Flo and Allie may have had a chance to go ashore. If not, they would have viewed the place from their ship. I also wonder if the blatant racism upset them, if they were close enough to notice the different living conditions of the Indigenous people versus the colonials.

Cape de Verde Islands today. By Ingo Wölbern (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Furna_Cape_Verde.jpg

All went smoothly until 8th April 1896 off the coast of St Helena.

From Bridgeford’s diary:

On April 8th, however, we learned that the ship was on fire. About a quarter-past 9 at night, and when we were about four miles N.W. of St. Helena, smoke was reported to be coming through the tunnel into the engine-room. The hose was at once got ready.

Meantime the emigrants’ steward reported smoke in the girls’ quarters in abundance. This was in the No. 3 hatch, next to the engine-room. The night being fine and clear, the girls were all ordered on to the poop.

I looked in the baggage room with the second officer and steward, but only to find it full of smoke. Steam and water were at once played into the hold, which was battened down. Several steam jets were played inside from the engine-room, and water was poured on outside.

The heat of the deck was intense. Only one box and portmanteau were recovered, the smoke being too dense to allow of more being brought up. We put the girls up in the saloon for the night, where they were fairly comfortable, which was as much as could be expected, considering the saloon is intended to accommodate 12 passengers only, whereas we had 53. As the fire was still raging two boats were lowered in readiness for emergencies, and the captain bore up for St Helena, which we reached at 2 o’clock the following morning.

Most of the girls were apparently in their nightclothes and were not allowed back to their sleeping quarters. Another report mentions how Miss Monk was a tower of strength at this time, leading the girls in a prayer and locating blankets for them to use while they waited. Miss Monk also arranged for tea and sandwiches shortly before dawn which was apparently very welcome.(6)

St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Andrew Neaum [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. No changes made. Attribution required. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASt-Helena-Jamestown.jpg

Bridgeford’s diary again:

Steam and water had been kept playing in the hold all night. The girls behaved splendidly throughout, there being no sign of panic. At 7 o’olook the harbour master came on board, and as the fire was still burning, it was deemed advisable to house the emigrsnts on shore. His Excellency the Acting Governor, Mr. Sterndale, very kindly placed the mess-house, formerly occupied by the officers of the garrison, at our disposal. This is a commodious building, situated in the main street, with verandahs on each floor, and only ten minutes’ walk from the landing steps of the wharf.

We utilised two large rooms on the first floor. Behind was an extensive yard, also kitchen, bath, and outhouses, and a plentiful supply of water. Mattresses, blankets, mugs, plates, lockers, and cooking utensils were lent by the Colonial Government military authorities, Emigration Department, and also by the manager of the (Miss Werton’s) Sailors’ Rest.

At 3 o’clock in the afternoon the hatchway of the streamer was opened, and the baggage, which was then hoisted on deck, presented a lamentable appearance. Some boxes were still on fire. Others, when opened, showed their contents charred and destroyed, while many were missing altogether.

The loss to the girls was considerable, many of them having disposed of their little all to provide themselves with a good outfit, now found themselves landed at St Helena with only the clothes they stood up in. Besides, all possessed souvenirs of some kind from family or friends which can never be replaced.

The emigrants were landed by half-past 4 p.m. in small boats, the steam tug in the harbour not being licensed to carry passengers. The landing here is somewhat difficult. However, all the girls got ashore safely and without mishap, but looking all the worse for their night of terror, want of sleep and loss of clothes.

The fire in ship was still burning next day when Lloyd’s surveyors went on board. During our stay on the island His Excellency the Acting-Governor and Mrs. Sterndale, and also the wife of the Governor (Mrs Grey-Wilson), called on several occasions to see the emigrants. Many other ladies also called, not a few of them sending fruit and flowers in abundance, while invitations to ” spend the day ” at their houses on the hills were numerous. It was, of course, impossible to accept all invitations, owing, in some cases, to the distance involved and the difficulty of transport, to say nothing of the heat.

Apparently the ladies of the town donated some clothing to the girls, but there were not many items of spare clothing on the island. More clothes were donated by incoming ships over the next fortnight.

Flo and Allie must have told their descendants about this unexpected fortnight on a tropical island, but as far as I know the stories have not survived.

Back to Bridgeford’s diary:

One day half the emigrants visited Longwood Farm, at the invitation of Miss Deason, where they were most hospitably entertained. They also visited Napoleon’s tomb, which lies en route from Jamestown to Longwood. The same day the remainder were entertained by Mr. Homagee, the magistrate, at tea and tennis -a sort of garden party. The advent of so many white girls on the island caused some little commotion so far as the local ” Tommy Atkins ” was concerned, the red-haired girls being particularly
cynosured by the natives. In the castle there resides the oldest inhabitant, a Miss Bagley, the housekeeper, who, being bedridden for the last five years, is relieved of her duties by a niece … the old lady requested the matron to send the girls to see her. Miss Bagley has reached the age of 90 years, and had never before seen red hair. Having had a goad look at it, she was delighted, and pronounced it pretty. She also asked her visitors for a “lock,” which request was readily acceded to.

A visit to the Colonial Hospital was most interesting. Miss Williams, the lady superintendent, resided at Kimberley some years ago, and so had many stories to tell of South África, of which the world is now talking so much.

On April 12 many of the girls attended the communion service at the church, which service was conducted by the Lord Bishop of St. Helena, Dr. Welby, a very aged prelate who has seen 86 summers, but who is still active. The same morning the Bishop held a
service in the moss house.

Every evening between 7 and 9 o’olock crowds assembled outside the mess house to listen to the girls singing and the town being usually very quiet at night, all the officials and principal merchants living on the hills three or four miles away, this proved a pleasant break in the monotony of the lives of those compelled to remain in town.

There is a Salvation Army corps at St. Helena, as there is everywhere, and the soldiers gave us from time to time the benefit of their big drum.

On the 17th, the matron and girls were the guests of the Governor and Mrs. Sterndale at their residence, the Plantation, three miles from Jamestown and 1,800ft. above the sea level. The Governor seat an ambulance waggon which seated six girls, his pair-horsed carriage to seat four, and the magistrate, Mr. Homagee, his one-horsed carriage to seat two, and with the means of locomotion thus provided, the girls walked and rode alternately from the coast to the Acting-Governor’s residence, where they arrived at 11.30 a.m. After inspecting the grounds they attended service at the ” Cathedral,” a small church with numerous mural tablets in memory of varions officers, civil servants and other inhabitants of note who have died on the Island. The rest of the day was spent in eating and drinking and various forms of amusement organised for the occasion, a number of visitors from Jamestown sharing the Acting-Governor’s hospitality.

Photo of Dinizulu with wood badge beads during Zulu civil war. E. E. Caney Photo – Retrieved from http://www.pinetreeweb.com/bp-dinizulu.htm. Original Photo from the collection of the Killie Campbell Museum, Durban, South Africa.

Bridgeford’s diary continues:

The party returned to Jamestown by 7.20 p.m., escorted by the Acting-Governor and his orderly. On April 20 the matron and one sub-matron and eight girls visited the Zulus at Maldives, a pretty house situated in the valley above the Colonial Hospital, and standing in a spacious garden loaded with tropical plants and flowers. These Zulus were sent here as prisoners of war seven years ago, after a rising in Zululand. There are three princes or chiefs. Dinizulu is a son of Cetchwayo, a fine blackman about 30 years of age, of a somewhat semetic cast of features. He arrived here a naked savage, but now dresses in the height of fashion, dances, sings, plays the piano, and speaks English fairly well. Ndabuko is a brother of Cetchwayo. about 60 years of age, and weighing about 22 stone.

He will not learn English, and is very morose. Tebangani ia a step.brother to Cetchwayo, smaller in stature, about 55 years of age, somewhat decrepit, though lively and vivacious in con-versation. He seaks English fairly, but not so well as Dinizulu. These dusky prisoners have with them their wives and families, servants, and interpreter. They were condemned to twelve years’ exile. On the island, however, they live in perfect freedom, but are not allowed to go on board ship without the Governor’s permission. They are in charge of a guardian sent by the Natal Government, but are under the direct orders of the Governor. They received the visitors most courteously. Dinizulu, the least bashful of the three, being particularly attentive, played and sang and regaled all with ” nectar,” a drink made from fruit, and also gave his autograph to each one. An agitation for the release of the Zulus is on foot, led by Miss Colenso, who was shortly expected on the Island, but is not likely to find favour with the Natal Government.
On April 22 we took our departure from St. Helena, all of us extremely grateful to the authorities, from the Acting Governor downwards, for the generous and kindly hospitality which was afforded us during our compulsory sojourn in that delightful island, historically famous for its Napeolonic associations.

The SS Port Phillip finally reached Fremantle on 22 May 1896. The girls disembarked on Fremantle’s old mile-long jetty and made their way to the accommodation waiting for them.

Flo and Allie were now ready to find employment in their new colony.

Alice’s journey to Australia 17 March 1896 – 22 May 1896

Appendix item – newspaper account of the arrival of the ‘Port Philip’ at Fremantle:

ARRIVAL OF THE S S. PORT PHILLIP
THE FIRE ON BOARD.

The steamer Port Phillip, of the well known and popular ” Port ” line of ocean traders, put in an appearance at Fremantle at 7 o’clock yesterday morning. The voyage from London had been an eventful one, the terrible ordeal of a fire on board having had to be faced and mastered.

A departure was made from London on 17th March, and very fair steaming was made to St. Vincent, where a stay of a few hours was made for coaling. The passenger list of the steamer consisted principally of 48 emigrant girls, and the comfort of all was undisturbed until the 8th April.

Shortly after 9 o’clock on the morning of that day the second engineer reported that smoke was coming from the vicinity of No. 3 hold, abaft the engine-room. Inspection showed that the tunnel was full of smoke, and the engineers endeavoured to find the cause of the apparent fire. The first engineer, after a gallant attempt to travel along tbe tunnel, had to desist, and his removal on deck was necessitated owing to the effect which the smoke and fumes had upon him. The second engineer and chief officer following up his efforts were likewise incapacitated, and, as the volume of smoke in that direction was baffling, attention was directed to other parts of the ship. On the next day the fire made itself apparent in the quarters allotted to the emigrants, and a quick clearance of the occupants of that part of the vessel had to be made. Their effects, unfortunately, could not be got out, so rapidly did the fire make progress.

Capt. J. R. Smith, wisely judging that the time for forcible treatment of the danger had arrived, ordered the batch way to be battened down and steam turned into No. 3 hold, with the object of suppressing the fire. This was at a point about four miles north-west of St. Helena. Steam was kept going into the hold for two days altogether, the steamer putting into St. Helena in the meantime. The effect of the steam was immediately beneficial, for the volume of smoke decreased.

It was, however, found that the affects of the emigrant girls had been heated and charred so to such an extent as to render them useless. The result was that many of the girls had to land on St. Helena without full clothing. Here, thanks to the good offices of the inhabitants and the Acting Governor, Mr. Stanley, they were well provided for, while the doctor of the ship, Mr. Walter Bridgeford, Capt. Smith, and the matron, Miss Monk, were assiduously successful in relieving the distress of all the sufferers.

The discipline on board throughout the trying circumstances of this part of the voyage is spoken of by all the passengers in terms of the highest praise, and Capt. Smith and his officers, together with Mr. Bridgeford, were heartily cheered by the girls as they left the steamer yesterday at Fremantle. The delay at St. Helena extended over 14 days. For the remainder of the voyage the weather was favourable. (7)

(1) Morning Post 17 March 1896 ‘The Stormy Weather’ p.4

(2) Willesden Chronicle 14 May 1897 Advertisements p.5

(3) Woman’s Signal 18 July 1895 ‘What Women Are Doing’ p.5

(4) Leeds Mercury 20 March 1896 ‘Mail and Shipping News’ p.7

(5) “VOYAGE OF THE PORT PHILLIP.” The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954) 26 May 1896: 7. Web. 3 Apr 2018 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3090849>.

(6) Woman’s Signal July 1897 ‘Annual report of the UBWEA’ p.4

(7) “ARRIVAL OF THE S. S. PORT PHILLIP.” The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954) 23 May 1896: 6. Web. 3 Apr 2018 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3090571>.

SRO of Western Australia; Chronological list of Inwards passengers from overseas to Freemantle 1880 – 1898; Accession: 503; Roll: 212

The Adventurous Alice Head: Part One – #52ancestors Week 10 -Strong Women

Link to Part Two

My tree is full of strong women. Women of courage, ingenuity and independent thought who presented this trait in a multitude of ways. I’m very proud of them all, so I had to look hard for one who truly stood out to write into this week’s blog. And here she is!

My great grandmother Alice Head

Alice was born in London in a working family amidst overcrowding and industry. As a young adult, she emigrated to Western Australia and made the rugged journey from Fremantle to the very wild frontier mining town of Kalgoorlie. Here she met and married a young gold miner and they moved even further from civilization to an outback settlement. She learned to shoot a rifle, to ride camels and to cope with many privations. After her husband died in a mining accident she and her seven year old son stayed in the isolated settlement where she ran a boarding house. She eventually remarried and moved with her new husband to Leonora. Later they retired to Nedlands.

Her story is too big to tell in one blog post, so I am writing it in parts. I am using Part One for the Week 10 prompt.

Eucalypt which can be found in Western Australia. Eucalyptus leucophloia habit By Mark Marathon (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Alice Head (Allie) was born in February 1876 in Richmond, Surrey, England, the fourth child of Henry and Annie Head.

In the various UK census records Henry has the occupation of gardener. Henry and Annie were married in 1871 and after a few years of shifting around moved into 10 Wigan’s Cottages in Mortlake in about 1880. Wigans was a large company with hops and breweries in many locations around London and a lot of residents in that row of cottages were their employees.

Alice’s mother Annie was a laundress. Even as recently as the 1880s women only worked if they needed the money, so most likely the family struggled. In the 1881 census Alice and her three elder siblings (Annie, Mark and Florence) attended school while her younger brothers Henry and Walter were still at home. Also in the family were Alice’s grandfather George Doo, and her uncle William Doo. It was a very full household for what was probably a very small house.

Jumping forward ten years to the 1891 census, the Head family lived at 61 Alexander Rd in Richmond. The house is here on Google street view but copyright prevents me from posting an image in my blog. It was a three story narrow brick terrace house in a world of seemingly endless brick terrace houses just like it, streets and streets of them all around.

Neither George nor William Doo were with them, although both were still alive and living nearby. Fifteen year old Allie was now working as a domestic servant and was the eldest child at home. Six younger siblings were in the household. The second youngest child was two year old Edwin, crippled from birth.

Perhaps Alice’s childhood world was something like this but with more siblings around and more fog and rain? ‘The Laundresses’ .Albert Edelfelt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Albert_Edelfelt_-_Pesij%C3%A4tt%C3%A4rien_%281893%29.jpg

At what point Allie started thinking about leaving London is not known. If she was in service in a large household her fellow servants may have talked about it. There was a great need for female domestic servants in the colonies and some places were offering free passage along with assistance to find employment at the other end. It must have been enticing. Alice was young and bright and no doubt she saw little future in the dense horizonless world of Richmond, particularly not when she saw the endless toil of her mother’s life with twelve children on top of her work as a laundress. Alice and her sister Flo obviously put their heads together and dreamed of pastures new.

Emigration schemes had existed in England for hundreds of years, sometimes falling out of favour then, it seems, back when the need arose. In about the 1880s the United British Women’s Emigration Scheme (UBWE) formed. The scheme was managed by a team of charitable women in partnership with some churches. The operation involved vetting suitable women, then chaperoning them to their new colonial home and ensuring that they found work, generally as domestic servants.

The requirements were strict. The women were to be single, aged between 18 and 24, sober, respectable, Christian, with some education and with some experience of domestic work.

Domestic Work 1880s. Religious Tract Society pamphlet

The UBWE annual report (June 1896) says their London office that financial year had received 1666 applications. Of those applications they interviewed 1300. Among those applicants were Flo and Allie Head. (1)

A public talk in April 1896 described the scheme to interested listeners. (2)

During the ten or twelve years of the British Women’s Emigrant Association’s existence, emigrants, averaging 700 or more annually have been befriended and happily placed in the Colonies, either in Canada, South Africa or Australia … in Western Australia, women are still at a premium. A very lively description was given by Mrs Shaw of the rough travelling in those remote districts.

An article in Pearson’s Weekly further describes the scheme:

I have received a letter … from the secretary of the United British Women’s Emigration Association, in which she requests me to inform my readers that they are on the point of arranging for the passage of fifty domestic servants to the Antipodes. The cost of the journey is, I am given to understand, defrayed by the colony. Moreover, no repayment is required for this. In return the girls are expected to become parties to an agreement by which they undertake to remain for one year in Western Australia, their wages to commence on the date of their engagement in the Colony. It is not an altogether uninteresting fact that of the last party taken out under the auspices of this association, every single member had obtained a situation within an hour and a half of her arrival. … Wages in Western Australia commence at 40 shillings a month. Only girls over eighteen, who can be recommended, will be accepted, and those who wish to apply must do so with as little delay as possible at the London offices of the association.

Flo and Allie Head met the requirements, gave notice at their current places of employment and packed their bags. Flo was 20, almost 21, and Allie was 19. It must have been an exciting time.

The girls each year traveled with a matron who was employed by the Association. Miss Mary Monk was the matron to Western Australia. She journeyed every year, taking the girls out and returning alone to prepare for the next batch.

I spent ages looking for an image of the ship on which they were booked for the journey. The Steamship ‘Port Phillip’ has a name which makes it very difficult to search. Instead, I’ve found a public domain image of London at the time that Flo and Alice would have travelled through, heading for their ship.

Fleet_Street._By_James_Valentine_c.1890.

Fleet Street in London looking east towards St Paul’s Cathedral. Photograph by James Valentine, c.1890. Public Domain in some countries including Australia but not in all. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fleet_Street._By_James_Valentine_c.1890..jpg

They departed on 17 Mar 1896, so embarkation was probably the morning of the same day or the afternoon of the previous. The whole family may have come to the wharf to see them off.

It is interesting to note on the ship’s papers that the ‘Port Phillip’ was legally licensed to carry 50 Statute adults, exclusive of crew, officers and Cabin passengers. Yet on this journey they were carrying 57 Statute adults. The journey was expected to take 85 days. Captain James Smith was in charge.

The girls traveled steerage and their matron, Miss Monk, had a cabin.

On the day of departure, the shipping lanes were congested due to a massive gale in Ireland preventing ships from approaching on their usual runs. In fact, there seem to have been bad gales right across the British Isles on that day. The girls would have been battling the wind as they walked up the gangplank onto the ship at Gravesend.

There is only the briefest mention of the Port Phillip in the shipping news.(4)

GRAVESEND: Tuesday, the Lusitania, from Bermuda, and Ovingdean Grange, from Buenos Aires, passed. The Carthage, from Bombay, passed. The Illovo, from Port Natal, passed yesterday. The Umbilo, for Port Natal; Warrigal, for Sydney; and Port Phillip, for Fremantle &c; left.

I’ll leave this post here, with Flo and Allie sailing away from the densely populated world they had always known for the unknown.

But to conclude, because I love lists of names, I’ll add the passenger list. My transcription just has names and ages. The actual shipping records contain more information. But it is still interesting to see all the girls.(5) Flo and Allie probably became very friendly with at least some of them.

Passengers under Miss Monk on the Steamship ‘Port Philip’ departing Gravesend on 17 March 1896. Page One.

Passengers under Miss Monk on the Port Phillip departing Gravesend on the 17 Mar 1896. Page 2.

(1) Woman’s Signal 25 June 1896 ‘Habitual Sobriety’ p. 6

(2) Western Times 14 April 1896 ‘District News’ p. 6

(3) Pearson’s Weekly 01 February 1896 ‘Let It Be Known That’ p.4

(4) Dundee Advertiser 18 March 1896 ‘Mail News’ p.7

(5) UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 via Ancestry.com.au

The Shattered Marriage of Ann Lovelace: Where There’s A Will #52Ancestors Week 9

Bank of Scotland at 1 Fleet St London – formerly Child’s Bank

This is the story of two inheritances, two families and two young people living in a world of wealth and hard business.

It all began with the death of Francis Child on 23 September 1763. It was a tragic cutting short of a potentially illustrious life. Francis was the nephew of Francis Child, founder of Child’s Bank. Born into a family of wealthy goldsmiths and bankers, Francis junior went into the family business early. At the age of twenty six in 1761 he was worth more than two hundred thousand pounds and at that age he became the Member of Parliament for Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire – but he lived in London.

Two years later he was engaged to a wealthy heiress named Mary Constance Trevor and owned a large estate called Osterley. But in that fateful summer in Buckinghamshire he was struck down in some unknown manner. It quickly became clear that he was going to die.

The Scots Magazine of 5 November 1763 reported his death.

At Hampden, Buckinghamshire, Francis Childs Esq; Banker in London, Member for Bishop’s Castle. When he found himself in imminent danger, he made a verbal will as follows. “I give to my brother all estates at Osterley and Upton, and all my other property, excepting 50,000 pounds, to Miss Trevor [only daughter of the Honourable Robert Trevor Hampden … to whom he was to have been married the Thursday after]. 20,000 pounds to Mr Thomas Devon, and 20,000 pounds to Mr Robert Lovelace [his two partners]. He attempted to say more, but could not get the words out.

From The Scots Magazine 05 November 1763, ‘Marriages etc’ page 56.

A suspicious modern mind might be inclined to ask questions about this sudden death, verbal will, and the number of people who benefited. But at the time no one batted an eyelid. Of greatest relevance to this blog is the two lots of 20,000 pounds bequeathed to Devon and Lovelace, partners with Francis Child in the banking business.

St Mark’s Church at Battersea Rise, Clapham By Edwardx (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The two bankers took their money and purchased vast blocks of land at Clapham, newly opened to development. They each built a showpiece mansion and moved in. Clapham society in those days, apparently, was elite and exclusive. It wasn’t actual British aristocracy, they were all self made men. Plantation owners from the colonies, goldsmiths, mineowners – all of them ridiculously wealthy, creating a new aristocratic world just for themselves. Clapham in those days, it seems, was beautiful, sparkling new with the best gardeners, roads, bridges and edifices that money could buy.

The unmarried adult children of all those wealthy magnates created a social scene all their own, with dances, balls, picnics and concerts. They were a new sophisticate, the highly educated children of less cultured, semi-educated parents.

It’s all gone now, apparently nothing remains of their mansions at all.

As banking partners in Child’s Bank and as practicing goldsmiths in a thriving economy, Robert Lovelace and Thomas Devon were both financially comfortable even before the receipt of the Childs money. But now they were rich. Robert and his wife Eliza had a family of seven children. I have only located two surviving children for Thomas and his wife Ann at the time of Francis Childs’ death.

At the time of moving into their new mansions, presuming they took a few years to build, Ann Lovelace, fifth child of Robert and Eliza Lovelace, would have been aged about 11.

Thomas Devon barely had time to sleep in his new home. He died in April 1767. All his wordly possessions, and it seems his position in the banking partnership, went to his eighteen year old son George Barker Devon.

It may have been a fond fancy of Thomas Devon that his son might marry a daughter of his business partner and friend Robert Lovelace. That sort of thing happened a lot in those days. Young George may even have given such a verbal promise at his father’s deathbed in the heat of the emotional parting. He was young and stepping into big shoes. I have a lot of sympathy for George. It was a big ask of a youngster whose social world was one of leisure and comfort.

George Barker Devon was now an extremely eligible bachelor. I cannot be sure, but given the marriage bond, the license agreement and later events, I can’t help feeling that he was pressured into this marriage somehow. He may have promised, but he was too young to know what that promise really meant. The same goes for Ann.

Maybe it had nothing to do with money. Perhaps the two fell in love and the marriage was their own wish. Maybe.

They might have been two spoilt young people used to getting whatever they wanted.

The Morning Walk (Portrait of Mr and Mrs William Hallett), 1785. By Thomas Gainsborough – Websearch, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3063152 . (Note: Mr and Mrs Halllett were probably not spoilt youngsters)

On 27 April 1773, 23 year old George Barker Devon and 19 year old Ann Lovelace were married in Battersea by license. The marriage bond was signed on 14th April 1773 by George Barker Devon, Goldsmith, and Robert Lovelace, Goldsmith of Battersea. Robert gave consent to the marriage of his daughter, a minor. The witnesses were Richard Harris Lovelace, brother to the bride, and Ann Devon, probably the mother of the groom unless there was a sister I haven’t found yet.

The happy couple settled somewhere in the parish of St Dunstan’s in Middlesex. George Barker Devon began working with a new banking partner, William Willis.

Matilda Maria Devon was born in 1775. Harriet was born about two years later. Just the two children.

Married State Circa 1780. By W. Proud [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMarried-state-ca1780.jpg

What happened next is unclear. There was a rift. I’m surprised it wasn’t a scandal, but their social circles functioned differently to the aristocracy. Researching the various young adults who grew up in early Clapham there were a lot of dodgy business deals, corruption, marital affairs, gambling problems, pistol duels and family feuds. None of it made a stir in London society and they kept it under the radar.

Miss Elizabeth Willis, daughter of the banker William Willis, had a son in about 1782 to George Barker Devon.

I would love to know what occurred now. What did Ann do? Did she refuse to accept his betrayal, take her children and fly to her parents’ home in Clapham? In that era she had no legal right to her own children. Did she forgive him to no purpose? Were there other extramarital children that haven’t been found?

The end result however it came about was that George purchased a new mansion and moved in with Elizabeth. Ann and her two daughters went back to the Lovelace home in Clapham.

George and Elizabeth had nine children together, in all. Once they were together, George settled down to a lengthy public career. He was the Remembrancer of First Fruits for several years. He continued as a banker. His daughters with Elizabeth made good marriages and his sons made excellent careers for themselves as military officers or businessmen. There is no indication of flightiness in George from this time on. Elizabeth was known in society as Mrs Elizabeth Devon, despite the absence of marriage. It’s likely that within five years, nobody outside the family circles remembered that there had ever been a first wife.

‘Lady Reading in an Interior’ by Marguerite Gérard [Public domain] ca 1796, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMarguerite_G%C3%A9rard_-_Lady_Reading_in_an_Interior_-_WGA8609.jpg

Ann had the money to travel and to live comfortably, but she does not appear in a public record again, only in wills. She was still married so she could not have another husband. She had her two daughters and seems to have devoted herself to them. Her love of her daughters emerges in the wording of Ann’s own will in 1833, written in her own handwriting. But at this time – she seems to have lived a very quiet life. Whether she was happy we do not know.

But her father Robert Lovelace – he was livid! To the end of his days he never forgave George Barker Devon for his actions. The rift between the families was permanent.

Also, in George Barker Devon’s will many years later there is no mention of his daughters to his first wife. It’s as if that part of his life never happened. Yet it seems that George’s sons with Elizabeth Willis knew of their nephew, the son of Harriet Devon and assisted him in his own military career later on.

So to the will that this blog is actually about – the will of Robert Lovelace 1796 (National Archives of London Catalogue Reference: Prob 11/1275) :

I, Robert Lovelace of Temple Bar London, Esquire, do make and publish this my last Will and Testament in manner following:

I will and bequeath to my daughter Ann the wife of George Barker Devon Esquire the sum of five hundred pounds to be paid to her within three months next after my death by my Executor for her sole and separate use and not to be subject to the debts or control of her husband, and my will is that [the recipient’s?] state shall be a sufficient surcharge to my executor. I bequeath to my daughter Dame Elizabeth Stachan the wife of Joseph Walton the annuity of one hundred pounds mentioned in her settlement previous to her last marriage according to the true intent and meaning thereof. I give and bequeath unto my son Richard Lovelace an annuity or yearly sum to be paid …

and so it goes on into the distribution of his estates to other family members. He references trusts with Robert Childs and also a painting of Francis Child bequeathed to his eldest son Robert Lovelace. The condition of the original will is not great and the handwriting is difficult too. It looks as though he was stingy with Ann, but Richard Lovelace’s will decades later makes clear that he was managing an amount intended for the maintenance of Ann. Presumably this was to ensure that the recalcitrant husband could not make a claim.

It was purchasing this will that set me on the trail to solving the mystery of George Barker Devon’s marriage to Ann Lovelace but regular baptisms of children with Elizabeth Willis. There are still mysteries.

But what a story to find in one’s tree!

Frances Richards and the Bible – Heirloom #52Ancestors Week 8

Family Bible first owned by Frances Richards 1829-1874

This week’s prompt was a challenge. My family just doesn’t keep things at all.

I have a clock from my mother’s side, and a family bible from my father’s side. That’s it, and I am exceptionally grateful to my mother’s brother and to my father’s mother for giving those items to me while they were alive, because otherwise they, also, would have been lost.

So for this week I decided to write about Frances Richards, a woman who might never have been known to me were it not for her bible. She lived apparently in such isolation that no record has been found of the births of most of her children. Were it not for the bible, my great great grandmother Sarah Ellen Cox would have been a brick wall.

This is a town just outside of Launceston in 2014 showing the terrain.

The little town of Launceston in northern Tasmania had a population of about 2000 when Frances was born on 2nd January 1829. She was the first born child of George and Ellen Richards.

George was a convict holding a ticket of leave, working as a butcher. This meant that he could receive wages for his work, but had to observe curfew, was not allowed to leave town and might have his ticket revoked if he misbehaved in any way. I have written a blog post about him already.

His wife Ellen was aged 19 when Frances was born. Ellen was the daughter of the ex-Captain John Cummings, formerly of the 102nd Regiment. John was a rather arrogant man, scion of a long line of successful military men. He was forced to resign after participating in the Rum Corp Rebellion of 1808 and received a land grant at Port Dalrymple in return for his prudent withdrawal. He brought his wife and three young children. His wife drowned when Ellen was eleven years old. The boys were sent off to be educated and Ellen was left behind presumably with a chaperon. She was eighteen when she married 28 year old George Richards, a man of a very different social class to herself.

At the time of Frances’ birth, Launceston had a population of 2000 and was about 20 years old. There was talk of setting up a printing office for its own newspaper, but that was still in the future. The ‘Launceston’ section of the Hobart Gazette reported on shipping arrivals and departures at Launceston, and on Criminal Court proceedings which in January 1829 took a whopping fortnight to process. A lot of the crime concerned either stock thefts or drunken fighting.

Rural scene near Launceston Tasmania

Frances was only a year old when her baby brother George was born and died within a fortnight. He was buried at St Johns, a church only built eight years earlier. But after George came Richard in 1833 and Matilda in 1834, both hearty enough to survive the dangerous early years of life. George’s sentence was now served out. As long as he remained in the colony he was a free man.

The family packed up and moved to somewhere beyond Hamilton.

Journey of the Richards family circa 1835 in green.

It sounds easy, but this was a colossal trek. How did they do it? Either they travelled overland all the way, or by boat to Hobart and overland from there. Neither option was easy. This was a journey of 176km in those days (109 miles) on fair weather roads or horse tracks, through thick forest and with the constant danger of attack from bushrangers and perhaps also from the Indigenous population of Tasmania. It would have taken at least a week, maybe longer.

The above map is in the public domain and was printed in 1837, just a year after seven year old Frances and her family made the trek. Not much is known yet about that event. They were probably not alone. Most likely, George was employed in Launceston by one of the men now receiving land grants in the midland areas. The family probably travelled with their new employer and with the families of other employees. But until more is known, this is just speculation.

Soon enough the family were somewhere beyond the thriving township of Hamilton in the vicinity of the River Ouse. Young Harriet Richards was baptised in Hamilton in 1836.

In 1836, parishes and counties were drawn up and gazetted for the colony, in blatant disregard of the large Aboriginal population already living in the region. (See appendix below for the details regarding the Ouse region where the Richards family now lived. George Richards was probably an employee of one of the referenced grant holders.)

Forest near Ouse where the Richards family lived 1836-1838

The only way to track the family at this time seems to be via baptisms of their children. Susan was born and baptised in 1838 in Ouse, just as discussions were underway for a proper church at the new Ouse Bridge. In 1839, Esther was baptised in Oatlands. But all later children were baptised at the new St John the Baptist chapel in Ouse.

That wild region was developing its own community by now. I have written about it here. The original grantees kept their holdings in the arable plains but sold off or leased out the more useless, resource-intensive mountain areas. These became the home of ex-convict families, most of them wood merchants or shepherds. Surnames such as Burris, Keats, Harrex, Pearce and Lane began to appear in the marriage and baptism records. Their descendants still live there today.

Another newcomer to the region was ex-convict Edward Cox. He must have been about thirty when Frances met him. They were married on 8 November 1847 in the new church, St John the Baptist at Ouse.

St John the Baptist, Ouse (taken 1992), where Edward and Frances were married in 1847.

Inside the chapel of St John the Baptist 2015

They both signed the register with an X. The witnesses were Edward and Frances Burris.

Marriage registration of Edward Cox and Frances Richards 1847

The couple travelled around for a bit. Their first child was a daughter Ann, baptised in Brighton which is towards Hobart Town. No birth or baptism has been located for their second child, Edward George Cox. But then they moved to Lane’s Tier.

Lanes Tier Rd near Osterley, Tasmania

This is the closest I could get to Lanes Tier on my most recent visit. This is the beginning of the road from the road into Osterley. Somewhere in there was the married world of Mrs Frances Cox, where she cared for her husband and raised a large family. Ann, George, Christiana and Letitia were the eldest four.

So finally – the topic prompt becomes relevant. We learned of their births from the family bible.

Family bible (click to enlarge)

Someone very thoughtfully arranged stickers with the children’s birth dates on them, stuck them in the bible and gave it to Frances. That’s my guess. I would also guess that the someone might have been connected to the church or to the wealthy landowner. Whoever it was has given our family a gift that is still treasured today. Frances kept this bible safe and passed it on to her daughter. It is hard to know how old the bible is, but later children are written in pen, probably by one of Frances’ younger daughters.

John Christopher William Cox was born in 1856, the year that Frances lost her mother to dropsy. Mrs Ellen Richards’ burial place is not known but the death was registered in Hamilton. John’s birth is not referenced in the family bible at all, but luckily he was baptised so we know he belongs.

The place is merely a locality today, but by 1860 there was a bustling little township at Lanes Tier. It wasn’t a township as we know them today. There were no shops and the road out of the town was only accessible in good weather. But they were self-sufficient and populous.

In 1873, the residents of Lane’s Tier were unable to meet the amount required to contribute towards a school due not to lack of wealth but simply through lack of actual coin and an inability to transport their produce to a place which would pay real money. “IN CASH OR KIND?” The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954) 7 April 1873: 2. Web. 31 Mar 2018 .

Eleven children were born to Edward and Frances. Christiana died at the age of five, but the rest reached adulthood.

In 1862, Frances’ little sister Ellen had married Thomas Lane, a son of the original occupant of Lane’s Tier. On 31 October 1871 Letitia Cox married George John Lane, Thomas’ younger brother.

On 26 January 1874, Frances Ann Cox was the first one in the Lanes Tier community to sicken and die from diphtheria, an epidemic that decimated the little town to such an extent that they never recovered. An inquest was held. Of the twelve men who participated in that inquest in the Cox household, eight died within the following two months of the same contagious affliction. But Frances was first and nobody knew what was ahead of them. The cause of death as per autopsy was given as quincy. The next six deaths were recorded as various throat-related inflammations. It was not till a month had passed before an actual doctor was sent to the community to investigate the large number of burials.

Death registration of Frances Ann Cox

The deaths of Frances Ann Cox and her son Edward George Cox, both of diphtheria a month apart, as recorded in the family bible.

This was a long post, but I am glad to write the basic story of a woman who – were it not for this family heirloom – would have been without any sense of reality to me. She was buried at St John the Baptist in Ouse.

Headstone of the Cox family. This seems to have been erected at least two years after Frances’ death and the dates are incorrect. The dates in the family bible match the death registration dates. This headstone is close, but seems to have given them all death years of 1875.

______________________________________________________

Appendix

3/30/2018 22 Jan 1836 – DIVISION OF THE COLONY INTO COUNTIES, HUNDREDS & PARISHES.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article4177728

In the county of Cumberland.-Parish of Lawrenny.-Bounded on the east side by the river Clyde from its junction with the river Derwent to the northeast angle of a grant of fifteen hundred acres to Mrs. Jacobina Burn, on the north by the north boundary of the before
mentioned grant to Mrs. Jacobina Burn and by a west line (in contiuuation of her boundary) through the Lawrenny estate to the river Ouse, on the south-west by the river Ouse to its junction with the river Derwent and afterwards by the Derwent to the junction of the river Clyde with the said river Derwent.
Parish of Guilford.-Bounded on the south by Lawrenny parish, on the east by the river Clyde from the northeast angle of Lawrenny parish to a rivulet wich falls into the Clyde, a few chains to the south of that point on the river whence the boundary of John Sherwin’s grant commences, on the north by the rivulet above described and a line in continuation through W. S. Sharland’s land, thence by a line in a north westerly direction to the Shaun ravine, by the Shaun ravine to the river Ouse, on the northwest by the river Ouse to the north-west angle of Lawrenny parish.
Parish of Abergavenny.-Bounded on the south by Guilford parish, on the southeast by the river Clyde from the northeast angle of Guilford parish to a point on that river opposite the division boundary line of Reid’s and Scott’s grants, on the northeast by a line in a northwesterly direction about the distance of four miles and a quarter to a mark, on the north by a west line to the river Ouse, and on the west by the river Ouse to the junction of the Shaun ravine with the said river.
Parish of Amherst.-Bounded on the south-west by Abergavenny parish, on the east and southeast by the river Clyde from the east angle of Abergavenny parish to the division boundary between Allardyce’s and Nowell’s grants, on the north by the division boundary of the two grants before mentioned and by the streamlet running through Captain Clark’s land and a line in continuation to a point about a mile west of the boundary of Captain Clark’s original grant, and on the north west by a line to a point on the Blue hills from the last mentioned point forming the northeast angle of Abergavenny parish.

[The above four parishes form the hundred of Lawrenny.]
Parish of Fortescue -Bounded on the north- west side by the river Ouse and Shannon from the north-west angle of Abergavenny parish to a small rivulet which falls in to the said river and divides the village of Ebrington, on the southeast by the northeast boundary of Amherst parish and a line in continuation of about two miles and a quarter, and on the northeast by a line from the termination of the last mentioned line running through the grant to Thomas James Lempriere and north of Mount Pleasant until it connects with the rivulet, thence by the rivulet running through the village of Ebrington to the river Shannon.
Parish of St. Albans.-Bounded on the south by Amherst parish, on the east by the river Clyde on the northwest by Fortescue parish and a line from the eastern angle of that parish in continuation of its south eastern boundary to the southeast angle of a grant to Miles Paterson by the cast boundary of that grant to its north-east angle, and on the north by a line from the northeast angle of the grant to Miles Paterson, bearing east to the river Clyde.
Parish of Malmesbury -Bounded on the south-west by the northeast boundary of Fortescue parish, on the southeast, and east by St. Alban’s parish to its northwest angle which is the northeast angle of a grant to Miles Paterson, and on the remaining part of the east by a line bearing north on the west by the river Clyde, and on the north by a line bearing east and west.
Parish of Rochford.-Bounded on tine south-east by the river Shannon, from its junction with tho river Ouse to a point” on the Shannon about two miles above the place whence the north boundary of Mrs. Sarah Smith’s grant commences, on the north by a west line from the river Shannon to the river Ouse, and on the west by the river Ouse to the junction of the river Shannon with the said river Ouse.
[The above four parishes form the hundred of Ebrington.]

John Reddan and Mary Ann McKinley – Week 7 52Ancestors – Valentine

Oatlands 2014

On the 4th of April 1858, John Reading and Mary Ann McGinty were united in Holy Matrimony at St Paul’s Catholic Church in Oatlands, Tasmania. According to the register, John was a farmer and a bachelor, aged 38. Mary Ann was a Lady and a spinster, aged 17. The witnesses were John Gorman and Sarah Flynn.

Here’s the entry:

Tasmania Names website https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD33-1-58$init=RGD33-1-58p596j2k

It was probably a very pretty wedding. The historic church of St Paul’s is a grand sandstone building, a place anyone would love to be married in. Here it is below.

St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Oatlands. V.D.L: first stone laid 9th April 1850 Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts. Usage of image allowed for non-commercial use only with attribution included.

The topic of Week 9 is Valentine and I struggled to find a good couple to write about. I’m sure there was plenty of love in my family tree, but life was so different back then, I just don’t think they thought about it that much. Generally speaking, the women needed to marry to have any kind of life at all, whatever their social sphere. The men needed to marry to have any kind of comfort in their life if they were poor, or to fulfil their social obligations if rich. No doubt love came into it, but looking at paper records for my ancestors doesn’t tell me much about their motivations.

John and Mary were my great great grandparents.

John was born in Tipperary, Ireland as John Reddan in 1820. This detail comes from later records. His father was Darby Reddan and his mother was named Bess. He grew up in a time of poverty and conflict and as an adult became a soldier. His name at attestation was recorded as John Redden.

He traveled to Canada with the 97th Regiment in about 1839. He spent ten years there. From the little bit I have read about the 97th Regiment and their experiences, it was very cold, very damp, very miserable. In 1849 John deserted, was excused, but then deserted again. He was found, charged with desertion and transported to Van Diemen’s Land as a convict. His transportation record is recorded as John Reddin. Upon receiving a ticket of leave after only two years, John became a constable in the Green Ponds region. He would have met ellow constable John McKinley, who was a transported convict from Donegal. He obviously also met John’s daughter Mary Ann.

Ruins near Oatlands, Tasmania 2014

John McKinley and his wife Alice came from Fermanagh in Ireland. A young couple with two toddlers and a completely clean record, they committed a crime together and were tried together. John was sentenced to transportation, Alice was deemed to have acted under the influence of her husband and was let off.

Alice committed another offence – larceny – days after her release. This time she was sentenced to transportation. It is very clear that the plan was orchestrated. They were transported on different ships a year apart.

Alice and her toddlers Mary and James arrived on the Waverley in July 1847. Both children survived the journey but tragically James died in the convict nursery at Dynnyrne – a place infamous for its disease and neglect of the children. Mary was sent to the Orphan School while her mother completed her sentence.

Orphan School Transcription – original can be found at Archives of Tasmania – transcription at http://www.orphanschool.org.au/showorphan.php?orphan_ID=3703 . Brother’s name is incorrectly listed as Patrick on the transportation record.

A fellow passenger on the Waverley was Sarah McTigue, aged 30 from Mayo, Ireland.

As Mary’s orphan school record shows, she was released to her mother at the age of about 7. The family was reunited as her parents completed their sentences. John McKinley became a constable and was stationed in Kempton.

Kempton in the morning fog.

Also in the region were two other convicts – Peter Flynn who was transported for manslaughter, and John Gorman who was a former soldier, transported for insubordination.

Peter Flynn and Sarah McTigue were married at Oatlands in 1850, while the new church was still under construction. The McKinley family probably attended that wedding. In 1850, Mary was aged about 8.

Mary must have grown up with John Reading around. He was a quiet man, not much of a talker apparently. He was 5 foot 7 with dark brown hair and blue eyes. I don’t have a description of Mary in her prime.

A mere 8 years later at the age of 17 – which can’t have been true, she was actually 16 or perhaps even 15 – Mary and 38 year old John Reading were married. The witnesses were Sarah Flynn (formerly McTigue) who made the crossing with Mary and her mother, and John Gorman, friend of John’s and a fellow soldier-convict.

John Reddan is recorded as John Reading and perhaps he was a farmer. Mary Ann McKinley is recorded as Mary Ann McGinty and she clearly presented herself well. ‘Lady’ is an unexpected status.

From all accounts, it was a very happy marriage. John committed one offense about twenty years later – after five days he closed the gate on a stray cow who had wandered into his paddock and accidentally branded the cow’s calf along with his own. Several character witnesses reported that he was a law-abiding man who participated in community life.

House in Oatlands

Twelve children were born to John and Mary. Their son Thomas was my great grandfather.

John died in 1893 in Kempton, aged 73. Mary moved in with her son Thomas and his wife.

My grandmother’s eldest sister remembered Mary McKinley who was her own grandmother and used to babysit her. She said she was a very old lady in a dark coloured dress who liked to talk.

Mary Ann Reading died on 13 Aug 1919 and was buried at St Peter’s Catholic Church Cemetery in Kempton. No headstone remains.

Mary’s death entry in the family bible (confusing bit of previous entry removed)

Fannie Rawlinson – Favourite Name – #52ancestors week 6

This prompt stumped me for weeks. My favourite ancestral name is Hester, but I have written extensively about my two Hesters already – probably because it is my favourite name. I didn’t want to write another Hester blog!

So I then chose Parsons Dudden, an ancestor with one of the coolest names imaginable. In the course of writing that post, I discovered that he wasn’t my ancestor after all. In the little Somerset village of Temple Cloud there were two girls named Elizabeth Dudden, one born in 1784 and one born in 1788. Somehow, I hit on the wrong one as the wife of my William Burleton.

I’m still not quite sure but it looks as though my Elizabeth Dudden was the daughter of George Dudden.

George is a good solid name, but not – to my mind – material for a ‘favourite name’ blog.

So who to choose? I have a lot of ancestors.

As I cast my eye over the various names – John, George, Thomas, Mary, Anne, Elizabeth – I just wasn’t inspired. And then I found her – a remarkable woman with a remarkable name.

This is a blog about the world of Fannie Rawlinson.

Fannie Rawlinson 1878-1953

Fannie is my children’s 3 times great grandmother.

Fannie’s family lived in the beautiful but cold hills of Ouse. Her great-uncle George had been one of those convicts of the early years who received a large grant of land upon completing his sentence. A lot of those early guys became quite rich by moving onto their own land in tough virgin bushland and establishing their own dynasty. One of those men was George Sweet Eyles (1819 -1895). George called his property Rocky Marsh, built a decent house and brought his struggling family out from England, giving himself a good support network and some trusted partners in the management of his property. George had listened and learned from everyone around him during his convict years. He also obtained a license as a publican and victualler, a business which rarely failed in early Tasmania.

Some of those family members included Fannie’s great grandfather John Eyles who died before she was born, some other great-aunts and great-uncles, and her grandmother Fanny, for whom our Fannie was clearly named.

The little town of Ouse at it was in 2014, taken from the bridge over the Ouse River.

Fanny Eyles was born in Bristol in 1827 and became the servant to a tripe setter named Peter Rawlinson, a man from Stockport in Cheshire. He was a man with his own business, with a wife and three children and a fourth on the way when Fanny Eyles first went there. This I have gleaned from census records. Peter’s wife was also Fanny – baptised as Frances Oldham. Frances Oldham died (maybe?) sometime after the birth of her fourth child, Alice Rawlinson. Our Fanny Eyles filled the empty place as mother to those children, and it appears she filled another empty place with her employer Peter. But he didn’t marry her. The women in this line never could pick a man who truly wanted them.

By 1853 Peter had just one child still at home. Peter, daughter Alice, and Fanny Eyles all took advantage of convict George Eyles’ sponsorship to Australia. This despite the fact that Peter and Fanny were still not married. Their daughter Mary was born in 1854 in Ouse.

Peter Rawlinson and Fanny Eyles were married on 24 April 1855 in Ouse, Tasmania probably as a result of family pressure. Two more children were born to the couple – Peter Edward Rawlinson in 1856, and Elizabeth in 1858 – mother to our Fannie.

Sheep paddock at Ouse 2014

There was a bit of fuss when 15 year old Alice Rawlinson moved in with 40-year-old George Eyles, the lord and master of Rocky Marsh. This comes from letters passed down the family.

George was a married man – he had married Sarah Kitchener in 1855, an ex-convict with an illegitimate son. But soon after their marriage she apparently became an invalid – possibly a stroke? The story which has come down is that she gave her blessing to George’s union with Alice Rawlinson, and she continued to live in the house with them and their growing family, with Alice caring for her. No further comment from me here.

George and Alice produced a large family, their eldest child born in 1861.

Those early properties were little countries of their own. Just after Alice moved in with George, her father Peter Rawlinson took off to Victoria, taking son Peter with him. It looks as though his rather forced marriage to Fanny hadn’t worked out. Perhaps he just couldn’t hack the Eyles household . Fanny raised the girls on her own, living at Rocky Marsh.

House at Ouse

You can see that Elizabeth grew up without the influence of a church or neighbours. She didn’t have as much idea of money or men, just a rather stifling home life with a predominance of women and great-uncle George Eyles firmly in charge.

Rocky Marsh was a big step up for the family, but it was still just an isolated house in the wilds of inland Tasmania with no infrastructure and few neighbours. It suited the older, married members of the family. It was clearly not meeting the needs or wishes of the next generation.

Mary moved to Hobart and married Henry Stump in 1873. Elizabeth, it seems, went to Hobart too, where she entered into a relationship with an educated, well-connected young man from a wealthy and ambitious merchant family. Alfred James Morling was a year older than she was (18 when she was 17), His father owned at least eleven shops in Hobart and he had a guaranteed place in the business. His world was vastly removed from Elizabeth’s, but it’s likely that she didn’t know that. There’s no way that uneducated, convict-descended Elizabeth would be acceptable to the Morley elders.

Two children were born to Alfred Morling and Elizabeth – Albert in September 1876, and our Fannie on 12 Jan 1878.

A year after Fannie’s birth, Alfred married Mary Bush, a young lady from his own social background. Elizabeth was left with two children. She chased Alfred in court a few times for financial support, petitions which were granted by the court but quickly forgotten by Alfred. So Fannie never met her real father or her eight half-siblings.

Derwent River near Rosetta, not far from the home of Henry and Mary Stump.

Elizabeth then met Henry Dawson, and it seems she was onto something good here. Henry was a drayman who lived on Landsdowne Crescent in West Hobart. Elizabeth, Albert and Fannie moved in with him and they had two daughters, Harriet Lilly and Elsie Mary.

Tragedy struck. Henry Dawson died of albuminaris (dropsy?) in January 1884. Harriet died of diarrhea just one month later.

Somewhat broken in spirit, Elizabeth took her three little ones and returned to Rocky Marsh, where she met Edward Albert Bethel Triffett (the spelling he used).

Edward Triffett was the great grandson of James Triffitt, yet another of those early convict land grantees who achieved wealth and repute in their own dynastic worlds. He was five years younger than Elizabeth, but it was a lasting match. Edward and Elizabeth were married in Hobart in 1887, then settled in Hamilton for the birth of their nine children together. From this point on, Fannie had a stable home life.

Then Fannie became pregnant at the age of sixteen. Her daughter Evelyn was born on 12 Jan 1895, just a few days before Fannie’s seventeenth birthday.

Evelyn is my children’s 2 times great grandmother. I’d love to know who that father was. But I don’t. DNA tests suggest he might have been surnamed Day.

Just an image to break up the text

Two more daughters were born to Fannie, each with father’s name not provided – Annie in 1897 and Elsie in 1898. Just like her own mother, Fannie’s third daughter died as an infant – of teething, ‘nil’ medical attendant at either death or prior illness. Yet for some reason there was no inquest?

A month after Elsie’s death, Fannie married Sydney Edwin Bethel Daley. Note the similarity in name to her stepfather. The two middle names were a feature of the prolific Triffitt dynasty and each one served a function in identifying the family branch.

Sydney Daley was the son of Isaac Daley and Maria Triffitt. Maria was the sister of Fannie’s stepfather Edward. (A generation back and Issac Daley was the son of Owen Daley and Susan Triffitt – the sister of Maria and Edward’s father John Frederick Triffitt).

Five children were born to Sydney and Fannie. They lived in Ouse.

But during their lifetime, there were also a couple of sons whose paternity is ascribed to other men. So perhaps it was not a happy marriage. The two – possibly three – sons were born too recently to be named here. They are all deceased now but their families may not know. Also – their eldest child Annie is registered with father’s name ‘unknown’ despite the marriage.

Sydney died in 1946 and Fannie passed away in 1953. She was known to her grandchildren as ‘Granny’ and was very much loved for her warmth and for the treats she gave to all the children in her world. Her last home was in Gatehouse St, Moonah.

Fannie was buried at Cornelian Bay, incorrectly recorded as ‘Fanny’ Elizabeth Daley, but I haven’t found a headstone.

Muddles Green 1841 – A Census Snapshot of a Special Family Moment. (#52 Ancestors Week 5 – In The Census)

CC Commons 0 – From PixaBay

It’s a baby girl!

Once in a while, a census entry captures something more than just names. Sometimes we get an actual glimpse into the lives of our ancestors, as happened with this particular census entry.

One domestic household in Muddles Green was buzzing with activity on census night, 6th June 1841. The wheelwright’s wife was in labour and the family was primed for action.

Mrs Frances Guy was clearly at her time. The wheelwright’s mother and sister had both come to stay, most certainly in readiness for this night. The wheelwright was Silas Guy and this was their eighth child, about to enter the world.

Muddles Green in summer

The hamlet of Muddles Green in the English county of Sussex was a very small place filled with the remnants of grandeur from a bygone glorious age. The industrial age churned into motion elsewhere in England but this tiny collection of cottages was not impacted one bit. It was a forgotten pocket of 18th century gentility in a world of coal dust and economic upheaval, populated by locals whose families had been there pretty well forever.

Life was definitely slow here in Muddles Green. The houses were old and sturdy, the industry was agricultural. It was half a mile from Chiddingly, which was five miles from Hailsham, which in turn was ten miles from Eastbourne.

It was the home of one branch of my ancestors for a couple of centuries.

Muddles Green near Chiddingly

My 5x great grandmother was Mary Guy. She was born in Chiddingly as Mary Funnell, daughter of Thomas Funnell and Mary Hoad.

Mary grew up at ‘The Park’ in Chiddingly, a small manor reputed to once have been the home of the Sackville family (attached to British royalty). The Funnells were a yeoman family, still important in their little community but no longer holding the wealth they once had known.

The Guy family of Muddles Green, on the other hand, were very wealthy and leased most of the land around, plus living in some of the remaining manor houses.

Thomas Guy of Muddles Green married Mary Funnell of Chiddingly on 27 July 1779 and they settled at Muddles Green. Their marriage united a respectable family with money (the Guy family) with a respectable family of antiquity and local repute. You couldn’t ask for a more advantageous circumstance. The children were baptised in Chiddingly, including Mary (born 1779), Philadelphia (born 1783) and Silas (born 1803).

The Guy family in 1841 – Muddles Green in the Hundred of Shiplake, civil parish of Chiddingly, Sussex, England.

The children grew up. My 4x great grandmother Philadelphia married and moved away. Her sister Mary married Thomas Newnham. Her brother Silas married Frances Eyles. There were seven other children who by 1841 had married and moved on.

My 5x great grandmother Mary Guy was eighty one years old when her youngest granddaughter was born on census night. Her eldest daughter was sixty. Mary Newnham was probably the real help here. I can imagine her rushing about with young Miriam Deacon, the 15-year-old servant girl listed in this census, boiling water, folding blankets, soothing her labouring sister-in-law. Grandma Mary perhaps was watching the other children, assisted by twelve year old Granddaughter Mary.

Three Mary’s in one household! It must have been confusing.

Being the eighth child, I’m sure the whole business was dealt with quickly and as calmly as could be. The newborn most likely made her way into the world, took her first shaky breaths, gave her first tremulous cry and was swaddled warmly in a blanket and passed to the waiting arms of her exhausted mother. I imagine it went that way. Miriam the servant girl would have gone to make a pot of tea while the children came to see their new little sister.

Finally, within an hour of the little one’s arrival, someone sat down to write up the census record.

Image of motherhood from Christian Ladies Magazine 1851. Unsigned, no attribution. Publication by the Religious Tract Society, London.

The census records the new baby as being a daughter of no name, aged one hour.

From my vantage point in the future, I know that she will be named Clara Jane Guy. I also know that she will grow up, get married, and become a mother to her own little ones. But that is all in the future for census night of 1841.

Stock photo from Pexels

Census record: Class: HO107; Piece: 1118; Book: 5; Civil Parish: Chiddingly; County: Sussex; Enumeration District: 4; Folio: 21; Page: 4; Line: 16; GSU roll: 464163

Hester Brown and the Art of Living Well on Nothing (#52Ancestors Week 4 – Invite to Dinner)

Just a short blog post today.

In 1900 at the age of seventeen, my great grandmother Hester Brown became the mother to her eight younger siblings. She was well able for the role. Hester was a warmhearted girl with the ability to turn a house into a home.

Corn and eggs

For the next three years, Hester looked after the family while her father worked as a farm labourer. She wasn’t alone in the task. Hester had some maiden aunts – Hannah and Esther Cox. The aunts helped a great deal. They showed Hester how to cook and grow vegetables in her garden.

In 1903, Hester married a widower with an eight year old son and a five year old daughter. Thomas Reading was twenty years older than she was. She moved from her father’s house with eight younger siblings, to her own house with its ready-made family. Hester then had nine children of her own.

Thomas and Hester lived at Apsley on a property called Parki. The house isn’t there any more. They lived in a two bedroom house, Thomas and the boys in one room, Hester and the girls in the other. Money was scarce.

The house where Thomas and Hester raised their children was on this property near the trees behind the mailbox.

Hester had a recipe book which did not come down to me, but I remember some of the recipes. There was rhubarb trifle and rabbit stew. Grilled bracken fern was had with every meal. They had one milk cow and several pigs, but Thomas used the pigs to clear blackberries so it was rare to eat pork. They had a lot of chickens and ate eggs for breakfast every day. The boys took scones to school for lunch, but they rarely had butter. Hester tried to grow berry fruits but their house had no attached water so in dry times the plants died. She did have a successful lemon tree.

The girls were given sheep’s tongues and sheep liver to eat, to ward off anaemia, and they made soup from the hocks. The sheep belonged to the owners of Parki who occasionally employed Thomas, but much of the time the family was self-sufficient on their own lease-farm. Although self-sufficient, they sometimes went hungry. They then went out to catch rabbits. Rabbits were plentiful in that decade in Tasmania.

They ate tapioca when there was nothing else. To the end of her days, my grandmother hated tapioca pudding from eating it so often in her childhood.

They may have hated the food, but the nineteen children that Hester fed in her mothering years all became healthy, long-lived adults. Hopefully someone still has her recipe book, it would be very interesting to see.