M is for Merseyside – 1854 departure of the “Dirigo”

On 10 June 1854, some two years after the death of her husband Kenneth Budge, my 3rd great grandmother Margaret Budge née Gunn (1819 – 1863) married for a second time, to Ewan Rankin (1825- ?), a carpenter in Wick in the far north of Scotland.

Soon afterwards she and her new husband, with the four surviving children of her first marriage, made the long journey—nearly five hundred miles—from Wick to Liverpool, planning to emigrate from there to South Australia.

The family sailed as assisted immigrants, passengers whose fare was paid by a Government body.

McMinn, W. K. 1852, Emigration depot at Birkenhead Illustrated London News, 10 July 1852 retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135889210

They embarked on the new emigrant ship Dirigo, launched that year in New Brunswick, Canada. She was 1282 tons, owned by Coltart and Co, and registered in Liverpool.

In light of what unfolded we are fortunate in having quite detailed records of this voyage of the Dirigo, much of it correspondence between officers in the Colonial Land and Emigration Office; some of it even tabled in the House of Commons.

The Dirigo got off to a bad start:

“She was to have been ready for the reception of her emigrants at noon on Friday, the 24th June, but owing to various delays, the whole of her passengers could not be embarked before the 3rd of July ; and although moved into the Mersey on the 29th June, she could not, from the rainy and tempestuous weather, finally sail until the 6th July.

“At the final muster of the emigrants on the 4th of July, when the sailing orders were delivered, the number on board was equal to 426 statute adults [passengers over the age of 12] ; and with the exception of diarrhoea among children (a very common complaint in emigrant ships at starting), and the case of an emigrant named Nottage, who was recovering from an attack of the same malady, all the people answered to their names, and were to all appearance in good health.”

On 7 July Captain Trevillick telegraphed the owners:

“From Trevellick, Queenstown, to William Coltart, Son & Co.,
Chapel-street, Liverpool. SATURDAY —Ship “ Dirigo,” from Cork ; three deaths; seven cases cholera; two cases fever. Expect to see or hear from you. (Reply by magnetic telegraph.)”

William L Echlin, Surgeon Superintendant of the Dirigo wrote to the Emigration Officer at Dublin:

Sir, Ship “Dirigo,” Cove of Cork, 8 July 1854, 5 A. M. IT is my painful duty to inform you that sickness of a very serious nature has broken out on board the ship “ Dirigo,” Captain Trevellick, commander, which sailed from Liverpool on Thursday the 6th instant at 1.30 p. m. About this time, a girl aged 13 years, was reported ill; she was promptly attended and every attention was paid to her, but she expired about 3 p. m. Her father, who was in attendance upon her, sickened and expired upon the following night at 8 p. m. On the 7th instant, about 7 p. m., cholera appeared on the lower deck, attacking two men, one single and the other married. At 11.30 p. m. another case presented itself on the poop deck.
On the 8th instant, between the hours of 2.30 a. m. and 5 a. m., three other cases appeared, two amongst the single women, and one on the lower deck. There are also two cases of fever, but I am happy in stating they are progressing favourably. It is almost impossible that those persons suffering from cholera can recover. 
Under such circumstances as the above, I have considered it prudent to order the ship into Cork, with the hope of having the sick promptly removed, so that the health of the remaining passengers may be insured. I trust that the urgent necessity of the case will be sufficient excuse for the order I have given.”

On 8 July the Dirigo arrived in Cork. The Government Emigration Officer advised the Colonial Land and Emigration Office that he had landed the sick, but had no means of landing the healthy passengers. When inspecting the ship with the medical examiner of emigrants, the Government Emigration Officer found 7 dead and 19 persons were in confirmed cholera, and more than half the passengers suffering from diarrhoea and premonitory symptoms. The Government Emigration Officer sent the Dirigo back immediately to Liverpool, in tow of the Minerva steam ship, as he believed the passengers would be provided with accommodation of a better description and at an earlier period than could be effected if they stayed in Cork.

The Dirigo arrived back in Liverpool on the morning of 10 July. It was towed to the dock gates at Birkenhead. The authorities there, however, were reluctant to allow the emigrants, sick or healthy, to be re-landed. There had been three more deaths and there were likely to be more before night. There were about 100 cases with cholera or with premonitory symptoms. There was much alarm among the passengers. At 1 am on 11 July 300 of the healthy emigrants were eventually brought ashore in a steamer to the depot.

“... large fires at both ends of the dining hall having been previously lighted, and tea already made to serve them. The thankfulness of these people at finding themselves once more in the depôt, and as they said, out of danger, more than repaid the anxiety of those engaged in attending their wants.”

McMinn, W. K. 1852, Government Emigrants’ Mess-Room in the Emigration depot at Birkenhead Illustrated London News, 10 July 1852 retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135889210

At 3am on 13 July a second party of 65 emigrants were landed leaving 20 on the ship who were sick or convalescent. These were landed the following night.

C. Stuart Bailey of the Colonial Land and Emigration Office who was in Liverpool wrote:

“I did not, however, overlook, while attending to my other duties, the importance of carrying out the Commissioner's instructions to induce the people to take daily walking exercise in the country. On several occasions I took parties of women and children to spend part of the day in the park, adjoining Birkenhead, regaling them with cakes and milk ; at another time, I hired half a dozen spring carts, and conveyed the whole of the people, men, women, and children, a few miles into the country ; giving them, in addition to their usual rations, which we took with us, a liberal supply of cakes and milk, and a small allowance of beer for the men ; and still further to encourage them to take exercise in the open air, away from the town, a notice was posted at the depôt, that such as might desire it should have cooked rations for the whole day served out to them in the morning.”

Ewan Rankin was among 118 passengers who signed a memorial concerning the cholera outbreak. Although they had made a number of complaints in the memorial, many of those who signed re-embarked and continued their journey to Australia. The Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners investigated and settled their complaints before sending the Dirigo to sea again.

Fifty-seven people from the Dirigo died of cholera from 8 July to 9 August.

The Dirigo left the Mersey at 7 p.m. on 9 August to continue her voyage to Adelaide. All her passengers were reportedly in good health and spirits. The voyage was more than a month delayed in setting off but the passengers had been ashore for four weeks recuperating from their ordeal.

The Dirigo . . . Arrived from Liverpool on the 22nd November, after a passage of 107 days. She landed 482 immigrants. Fourteen deaths and twelve births took place at sea. This ship arrived in a very excellent order. The cleanliness, general management and discipline of the people reflected the highest credit on Mr. W.L. Echlin, the surgeon-superintendent.

South Australian Government Gazette 1855.

At the same time the Dirigo was having trouble with cholera, another emigrant ship, the Bloomer, was leaving Liverpool. Amongst the emigrants were the Ralph family, ancestors of Greg. The Bloomer left Liverpool on 20 July but had to leave from Liverpool, on the other side of the Mersey, rather than Birkenhead because of the cholera at Birkenhead. The Bloomer arrived in Portland, Victoria on 21 November 1854 after a voyage of 124 days.

In reading the correspondence about the cholera outbreak on the Dirigo I was impressed by the efficiency of the officials dealing with the Dirigo cholera outbreak and struck by their kindheartedness. I was particularly touched by the conclusion of a report prepared on 10 August by C. Stuart Bailey, the Commissioners’ Despatching Officer at the Birkenhead Depot, an officer of the Colonial Land and Emigration Office:

"I have much gratification in pointing to the success which attended these simple efforts to promote the healthful recreation and amusement of these people; for instead of leaving, en masse, dispirited and discontented, long before the time came for a general muster preparatory to re-embarkation, good health, good spirits, and confidence were restored, and the number of those who had returned to their homes, instead of being 250, as at first threatened, did not exceed 50 adults altogether ; that is to say, the number in adults of the original passengers who re-embarked was about 300."

We smile condescendingly at Dickens’ portrayal of Victorian bureaucratic tanglements—Little Dorrit‘s Circumlocution Office is an example—so it is useful to be reminded that our forefathers were also very capable of doing things well.

Related posts

• Margaret Gunn (1819 – 1863)
• The death of Kenneth Budge (1813 – 1852) – Captain Budge died of cholera
• B is for Bookmark
• B is for the barque Bloomer arrived 1854

Further reading

• SHIPPING REPORT. (1854, November 1). The Hobart Town Advertiser (Tas.), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article264615098
• Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, Volume 46. Emigrant Ship Dirigo: Correspondence between Officers in Charge of Emigration Depot at Birkenhead, and Colonial Land and Emigration Coms. in relation to outbreak of cholera on board emigrant ship Dirigo. Retrieved through Google Books.

Wikitree:

• Ewan Rankin (abt. 1825 – aft. 1863)
• Margaret (Gunn) Rankin (1819 – 1863)

170 years since the Australian arrival of the Crespigny family on the ‘Cambodia’ 31 March 1852

In late 1851 my 3rd great grandparents, Philip Robert and Charlotte Frances Champion Crespigny, decided to emigrate to Australia. They first travelled from St Malo in France back to England. They left their youngest child, six months old, with his grandparents and his aunt, presumably deciding the baby was not able to make the voyage. On 4 December husband and wife, with two of their children and a servant, took passage on the Cambodia from Plymouth. They were the only cabin passengers; three hundred travelled in steerage.

The Cambodia, 914 tons, Captain Hammash, had been built in Sunderland the previous year, evidently to a high standard, with oak beams, and sheathed in copper.

The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown, 1855. Oil on panel. Original in the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.

It was very cold when they left Gravesend for Plymouth, where they boarded emigrants from the West Country.

The voyage to Point Henry (Geelong), delayed by light and adverse winds, took 116 days, several weeks longer than the normal run.

The passage saw a few incidents. The third mate had absconded at Plymouth, and this left only 16 crew to work the ship. There were four births and ten deaths. Although on arrival the Cambodia was judged clean and in good order, the Immigration Board, examining the journal of the ship’s surgeon, concluded that he had not been competent to take on the role. Some stores disappeared and the seaman appointed to hand out rations had his gratuity withheld.

Disembarkation at Point Henry was by the PS Vesta, an iron paddle-steamer chartered for the purpose.

Point Nepean Entrance Port Phillip sketched in December 1852 by Eugen von Guérard, 1811-1901

The family’s arrival coincided with the great rush for gold in Victoria which followed the announcement of significant discoveries in July 1851. In March 1851, Victoria had a population of about 77,000. By the end of the following year, 1852, this figure had increased by 100,000.

So great was the influx that fifty-six percent of those Europeans living in Victoria in December 1852 had arrived in that year, while eighty-six percent of those in the colony in December 1854 had come in the previous three years.

Broome, Richard (1984). “Arriving“. Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates, page 76

Two of Charlotte’s brothers, Henry Edmund Pulteney Dana (1817- 1852) and William Augustus Pulteney Dana (1826-1866) were both in Australia, Henry in charge of a force of native police and William one of his officers. As Commandant of Native Police, Henry Dana had a substantial position in the new-found settlement and was on good terms with Charles La Trobe, the Superintendent of Port Phillip District who became Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria in 1851. It is probable that Henry suggested Charlotte and her family come to Australia, and offered some assurance that he could find her husband a position in the government service.

The administration of Victoria’s Lieutenant-governor, Captain Charles La Trobe, under-staffed and under-resourced, was barely able to cope with the huge population increase.

Philip Crespigny was appointed an Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Goldfields on 18 November 1852 (Gazetted 14 October 1853). His first posting was to the Mount Alexander diggings near Castlemaine, and like his colleagues, he was involved with the enforcement of miner’s licences and the inspection and enforcement of claims.

License no. 144. Issued to George Bencraft, 05 February 1853. Issued by Commissioner P. C. Crespigny, Loddon District. State Library of Victoria Collection (H41033/19)

Charlotte Frances Champion Crespigny née Dana (1820 – 1904) photographed probably in the late 1850s

Philip Crespigny in 1879.

Related posts

• Australian arrival of the Champion Crespigny family on the ‘Cambodia’ 31 March 1852
• Divorce of John James and Charlotte Frances née Dana
• Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny (1851 – 1883)
• Brandy for the clerk
• T is for Talbot in 1869
• Charlotte Frances Champion Crespigny nee Dana (1820-1904) and her family in Australia

Wikitree:

• Philip Robert Champion Crespigny (1817 – 1889)
• Charlotte Frances (Dana) Champion Crespigny (1820 – 1904)
• Philip Champion de Crespigny (1850 – 1927)

Climbing our family’s gum tree again

In 2014 I responded to a prompt by a fellow genealogy blogger, Pauleen Cass, to look at my family’s immigration to Australia. In the seven years since, I’ve learned a lot more about our family history so I thought it would be fun to revisit Pauleen’s prompts.

CLIMBING OUR FAMILY’S GUM TREE

My first ancestor to arrive in Australia was…? George Taylor (1758 – 1828) and Mary Taylor née Low (1765 -1850), my fifth great grand parents, were the first of my forebears to emigrate to Australia, arriving in Tasmania on 10 January 1823 with most of their adult children. Their daughter Isabella Hutcheson nee Taylor, my fourth great grandmother, followed ten years later with her children. The property the Taylors and their sons farmed, called ‘Valleyfield‘, near Launceston, was sold in 2005 after more than 180 years in the same family.

About ninety percent, of our immigrant ancestors arrived before 1855, one arrived in 1888, and four arrived in the middle of the twentieth century after World War 2.

Fan chart of my children’s ancestors showing immigrants highlighted in dark green. Those highlighted in purple came to Australia but returned to England. We don’t know anything about the immigration of John Clark and Hannah Clark nee Sline highlighted in olive green. Chart generated using DNAPainter.

• 

  George Young

• 

  Philip Champion Crespigny

• 

  Charlotte Frances Champion Crespigny née Dana

• 

  Philip Chauncy

• 

  Susan Chauncy nee Mitchell

• 

  Henry Dawson

• 

  Charlotte Boltz nee Manock

• 

  Hans Boltz

• 

  Anna Boltz nee Bertz and my mother

Some of our immigrant forebears

Were there any convicts? There are no convicts on my side. My husband Greg’s great great grandmother Caroline Clarke, who married a gold-digger called George Young, was born in New South Wales about 1835. I still haven’t been able to trace her parents, so perhaps they were convicts, though this seems unlikely as convicts are well documented.

Where did our ancestors come from? Twenty-nine were from England, seven from Scotland, two from Wales, eight from Ireland, and four from Germany. One was born in New Zealand and arrived in Tasmania as a baby. One of our English forebears was born in India; two were British subjects born in France. There are also two immigrants, John Clark and his wife Hannah nee Sline, in the list of fifty-three that I know little about.

Did any of our ancestors pay their passage? Many paid their own passage, and there were some assisted immigrants. Only one person seems to have worked his way to Australia, Greg’s great great grandfather John Plowright, who on his admission to Maryborough Hospital in 1873 stated that he had arrived in the colony from London on the Speculation about 1853. He gave his occupation was mariner. He wasn’t listed as a deserter. It seems he gave up life as a seaman to try his chance on the goldfields.

How many ancestors came as singles? couples? families? Thirty-two of the fifty-three immigrants – sixty percent – came with their family. Twenty-eight were adults and eight were infants or children accompanying their parents. Thirteen came as single immigrants. There was only one couple without children: John and Sarah Way.

Did one person lead the way and others follow? There are quite a few instances of this.

• The Edwards came probably because Mary’s sister Sarah and her husband Francis Tuckfield were already in Australia.
• The de Crespignys came probably because Charlotte’s brothers had been given jobs by Governor Latrobe.
• Philip Chauncy followed his sisters, who had arrived in Adelaide two years previously.
• The Plaisteds followed Ann’s sister and brother, who had arrived twelve years earlier in Adelaide together with John’s sister Tabitha who married William Green.
• Isabella Hutcheson née Taylor followed her parents and brothers to Tasmania in about 1833 after the death of her husband. She came with five young children.
• My grandfather came first after the war and his wife and daughter joined him ten months later. My grandfather was the only immigrant to arrive by air. His mother joined him in Australia ten years later.

What’s the longest journey they took to get here? Of the voyages I know about, two took 136 days or 4 ½ months:

• the David Clark which arrived on 27 October 1839 with Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins, one of my 3rd great grandfathers
• the Rajah which arrived 12 April 1850 with my 4th great grandparents John and Ann Plaisted and their daughter Sally one of my 3rd great grandmothers

Did anyone make a two-step emigration via another place? Several ancestors came via other places:

• John and Matilda Darby emigrated first to New Zealand and came to Tasmania several years later.
• Gordon Mainwaring, one of my 3rd great grandfathers, came to Australia from Calcutta.
• Wentworth Cavenagh, one of my great great grandfathers, first tried farming in Canada, then coffee planting in Ceylon, then tried for a job in Calcutta, India. He arrived on the Bendigo goldfields in 1852 before making his way to South Australia a year later.

Which state(s)/colony did your ancestors arrive? Twenty arrived in Victoria, fourteen in South Australia, eleven arrived in Tasmania, two in Western Australia, two probably came to New South Wales, and four migrated to the Australian Capital Territory.

Did they settle and remain in one state or colony? They moved between the colonies, especially to and from Victoria and to and from South Australia.

• the Ways moved from South Australia to Victoria and then to New South Wales
• the Darbys moved from Tasmania to Victoria
• the Ralphs moved from Victoria to South Australia
• the Plaisteds and the Hughes moved from South Australia to Victoria
• the Cudmores and Nihills moved from Tasmania to South Australia
• the Hutchesons moved from Tasmania to Victoria
• Philip Chauncy moved from South Australia to Western Australia to Victoria

Did they stay in one town or move around? They tended to move around.

Do you have any First Australians in your tree? No direct forebears .

Were any self-employed? They were mostly self-employed. Many were farmers or miners.

What occupations or industries did your earliest ancestors work in? Most of them took up farming.

Does anyone in the family still follow that occupation? Not in my immediate family.

Did any of our ancestors leave Australia to return “Home”? William Snell Chauncy, one of my 4th great grandfathers, visited his children in South Australia for only twelve months before returning to England. Gordon Mainwaring and his wife Mary née Hickey both died in England, as did their son-in-law, Wentworth Cavenagh-Mainwaring.

Previous posts about immigration

• Australia Day: Climbing our family’s gum tree
• X is for excess exiting England
• 1823 the Taylors arrive in Tasmania V is for Valleyfield in Van Diemen’s Land
• 1833 Isabella Hutcheson nee Taylor arrives with her family
• 1835 Daniel Cudmore and the Nihill family arrive H is for the Cudmore family arrival in Hobart in 1835
• 1838 Mitchell family arrival on the Swan River 1838
• 1839 Philip Chauncy arrives on the Dumfries E is for emigration
• 1839 Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins arrives 180 years since the arrival of the “David Clark”
• 1840 Gordon Mainwaring arrives on the Eamont from Calcutta A Quiet Life: Gordon Mainwaring (1817-1872)
• 1840 Mary Hickey arrives with her sister and her brother’s family on the Birman, her brother died on the voyage Deaths at sea
• 1845 the Darby family arrive from New Zealand John Narroway Darby
• 1849 Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849
• 1849 the Hughes family arrive on the Gunga F is for Flintshire
• 1850 the Plaisted family arrive on the Rajah P is for phthisis (tuberculosis)
• 1852 Australian arrival of the Champion Crespigny family on the ‘Cambodia’ 31 March 1852
• 1852 Wentworth Cavenagh arrived on the Victorian Goldfields mentioned in a newspaper article when he departed 40 years later 1892 journey on the Ballaarat
• 1853 the Morley family arrived on the Ida Arrival of the Morley family in 1853
• 1853 George Young and James Cross probably both arrived about 1853 L is for leaving Liverpool
• 1853 John Plowright arrived on board the Speculation John Plowright (1831 – 1910)
• 1854 John Way and his wife Sarah nee Daw arrived on the Trafalgar Immigration on the Trafalgar in 1854 of John Way and Sarah née Daw
• 1854 the Ralph family arrived on the Bloomer B is for the barque Bloomer arrived 1854
• 1854 the Persian arrived with Ellen Murray and Margaret Smyth M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854
• 1854 the Dirigo arrived with Margaret Rankin and her her children Margaret Gunn (1819 – 1863)
• 1888 Henry Dawson arrived R is for Railways – triennial listing of railways employees in Victoria
• 1949 my grandfather Hans Boltz arrived Trove Tuesday: Flying the Kangaroo route in 1949
• 1950 my grandmother and mother arrived
• 1960 Anna Boltz, one of my great grandmothers, arrived G is for great grandmother from Germany

Mitchell family arrival on the Swan River 1838

On 4 August 1838, my fourth-great grandfather the Reverend William Mitchell (1803 – 1870), accompanied by his wife, four children, and a governess, arrived at Fremantle, on the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia.

They had left Portsmouth four months and three days before, sailing on the “Shepherd”. Their only intermediate port of call was Porto Praya off the west coast of Africa (now Praia, the the capital and largest city of Republic of Cabo Verde), where the ship took on supplies.

The Swan River Colony – now Perth – was established in 1829 following exploration of the region in 1827 by James Stirling, later Governor of Western Australia. Fremantle was the settlement’s main port.

Captain Stirling’s exploring party 50 miles up the Swan River, Western Australia, March, 1827. Oil painting by W. J. Huggins in the collection of the National Library of Australia retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134156746

William Mitchell had been ordained a minister of the Church of England in 1825. In 1826 he married Mary Anne Holmes (1805 – 1831), and soon afterwards, the family moved to India, where Mitchell served as a missionary. They had two daughters and a son. The second girl, Susan Augusta, born on 11 April 1828 in Bombay, was my third great grandmother. Around 1830 Mary Anne became ill and the family returned to England, where she died in 1831. William married again, to Frances Tree Tatlock (1806 – 1879) and returned to India, where this second marriage produced three more sons. Frances and the children returned to England in 1834 and William returned in 1835. In 1838 William was appointed by the Western Australian Missionary Society to be clergyman for the residents of the Middle and Upper Swan regions of the new colony of Western Australia.

Reverend William Mitchell portrait from “Mitchell Amen” by Frank Nelder Greenslade

The oldest child of the Reverend William Mitchell, born to his first wife Mary, was Annie (1826 – 1917). She was 12 when the family arrived on the “Shepherd”. In her memoirs, written many years later, she described their arrival:

The ship “Shepherd” anchored off Garden Island on 4 August 1838, after a voyage of four months and three days. We landed at Fremantle by the ships boats. The first sight we witnessed was a very large whale lying on the sea beach at Fremantle, from which the natives were cutting large pieces and carrying them away on spears.

We lodged at Fremantle for a week and then proceeded to Government House where we were entertained by Sir James Stirling and Lady Stirling. It was usual practice at this time for new arrivals to call at Government House on arrival. We stayed at Judge Mackies house for a while (he was the first Judge in the Colony). After this we went to Henley Park, on the Upper Swan, by boat. Major Irwin was landlord at this time. He was Commandant of the troops in W.A. We stayed with him for a week or so then went to the Mission-house on the Middle Swan where we settled.

The whole of Perth at this time was all deep sand and scrub. There was no road or railway to Perth. All transport was done by water travel. The banks of the Swan River were a mass of green fields and flowers, with everlastings as far as the eye could see.

At the time of arrival, there were only two vessels, the “Shepherd” and the “Britomart” plying between London and Western Australia. When a ship arrived, a cannon was fired to let people know that a vessel had arrived. The people used to ride or row down to Fremantle to get their letters. There were then about seven or eight hundred people settled in W.A. mostly along the banks of the Swan.

There was no church in the colony at this time and the services were conducted in the Courthouse by the Revd John Wittenoom, the first colonial chaplain.

Panorama of the Swan River Settlement, ca. 1831 by Jane Eliza Currie (wife of explorer Mark John Currie)

The Mitchells lived at Middle Swan, now a Perth suburb, 12 miles from the city centre.

In 2000 we visited Mitchell’s church at Middle Swan. The original octagonal church, built in 1840, was replaced in 1868 by the present-day building.

St Mary’s Octagonal Church, Middle Swan, sketch published in “Mitchell Amen” page 14

St Mary’s Church, Middle Swan photographed 2006 by Wikipedia user Moondyne

William Mitchell died at Perth and is buried in the graveyard of St Mary’s Middle Swan with his second wife and his son Andrew (1846 – 1870).

William, Frances Tree & Andrew Forster Mitchell, gravestone at St Marys, Middle Swan. (Photograph provided by a 3rd great grand daughter of William Mitchell and used with permission)

Sources

• Greenslade, Frank Nelder Mitchell Amen : a biography on the life of Reverend William Mitchell and his family. F.N. Greenslade, Maylands, W.A, 1979.
• THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL. (1838, August 11). The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 – 1847), p. 126. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article639437 
• Clergy of the Church of England database: https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/DisplayOrdination.jsp?CDBOrdRedID=139120 and https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/DisplayOrdination.jsp?CDBOrdRedID=139062
• Anglican Parish of Swan 
  • Octagon Church https://www.swananglicans.org.au/octagon-church
  • St Mary’s Church https://www.swananglicans.org.au/st-marys-church-cny2

Related post

• Remembering Susan Augusta Chauncy née Mitchell (1828-1867)

180 years since the arrival of the “David Clark”

On 29 October 1839 my 3rd great grandfather Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819 – 1867) arrived in Melbourne on the David Clark from Greenock, Glasgow, Scotland. The voyage, via Rio de Janeiro, took five months.

Ship David Clark coming into the harbour of Malta, 1820 Watercolour and ink on paper Nicolas Cammillieri, 1762/73-1860, artist (attrib.) Private collection Lance Pymble

The David Clark had been chartered by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to bring Port Phillip’s first bounty immigrants from Scotland. There were 229 settlers, among them Samuel Hawkins, aged 20, described as a storekeeper from Edinburgh. Although he had brothers in New South Wales he made his own way in what later became the colony of Victoria.

Samuel Hawkins would have responded to an article similar to this one which appeared in the Inverness Courier of 6 March 1839 on page 1

On 29 October 1939, one hundred years after the arrival of the David Clark, an anniversary celebration was held by some descendants in Melbourne.

Centenary Of First Barque-Load Of Pioneers (1939, October 3). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243409125

PIONEERS’ CENTENARY (1939, October 10). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206330961

The organisers of the anniversary celebrations did not have access to the original passenger list and preparation for it seems to have been left very late. Two weeks before the anniversary only 16 of the 68 families who had arrived on the David Clark had been contacted.

The festivities included a dinner for 330 descendants at the Hotel Federal in Melbourne and a church service the following day at Scot’s Church, Collins Street, Melbourne. One speaker at the dinner described the David Clark as “Victoria’s Mayflower”. A set of bagpipes that came out on the ship was brought to the dinner. The entertainments included pipe music, Scottish dancing and songs.

Today’s Parties (1939, October 27). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 11. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243405090

GATHERING OF THE CLANS (1939, October 30). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 8. Retrieved September 2, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206335659

In the Churches REMEMBERING PIONEERS (1939, October 30). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11250259

NEWS OF THE DAY (1939, November 15). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205590886

The lament “Lochaber no more” was played when the David Clark left Greenock and also at the centenary reunion.

Piper Sheila Wagg played the bagpipes at the David Clark centenary dinner. This picture is of her playing at the Royal Show in 1939.LATROBE CENTENARY FOOTBALL GRAND FINAL GARDEN PARTY (1939, October 2). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 11. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206336187

A reunion is planned for the 180th anniversary. A picnic will be held at Gulf Station at Yarra Glen, a property once owned by William Bell and Thomas Armstrong, both passengers of the David Clark. The 150th anniversary celebration was also held there.

If you would like to attend, please book so the organisers know how many people will be coming. There is a small charge ($12 adults, $10 concessions, $5 children, $30 families). Bookings can made through this link https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=542336& .

I look forward to meeting my Hawkins cousins and other David Clark descendants.

Related posts

• Trove Tuesday: Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins
• 52 ancestors: 1839 arrival in Australia of Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819-1867)

Further reading

• Janson, E. (2009). They came by the David Clark in 1839. Retrieved from http://www.oocities.org/vic1847/ship/david39.html?20192
• Kearsey, I. (2018). La Trobe’s first Immigrants: passengers from the ‘David Clark’, 1839. La Trobeana: Journal of the C J La Trobe Society, 17(2), 16-21. Retrieved from https://www.latrobesociety.org.au/LaTrobeana/LaTrobeanaV17n2Kearsey.pdf
• Kearsey (transcriber), I. (1839). Journal of Surgeon, Dr Archibald Gilchrist, David Clark. Retrieved from https://www.shade.id.au/Grierson/Surgeon’s%20journal%201839%20voyage%20of%20barque%20David%20Clark.pdf

 

Z is for zealot

My ninth great grandfather Charles Chauncy (1592-1672) was a non-conformist Divine, at one time imprisoned for his views by Archbishop Laud, who emigrated to America and later became a long-serving President of Harvard College.

Harvard president Charles Chauncy

In “Highways and Byways in Hertfordshire” (1902), H. W. Tompkins mentions Charles Chauncy in connection with Ardeley Bury:

To mention Ardeley, or to think of Ardeley Bury, is to call to mind the Chauncys, a good Hertfordshire family, whose talents were exercised in several spheres of usefulness. First, though not foremost from the standpoint of literary or historic importance, was old Charles, somewhat renowned in his day as a Nonconformist divine. Where he was born I am unable to say ; he was baptised in the church here on 5th November, 1592. He was an indefatigable reader and student, and was eminent as an oriental and classical scholar. For some time he gave the benefit of his learning to the townsmen of Ware ; but managed to fall foul of Archbishop Laud, as so many pastors did, and was summoned to appear before the High Commission Court on two occasions. I believe the precise nature of his misdemeanours, theological or political, is known to the learned, with whom I leave them. However trivial we might deem them now, they were heinous offences in the eyes of Laud, and Charles Chauncy was deprived of his living and placed in prison. I am sorry to remember that he was but a weak-kneed brother, and presently, finding that to him, at least, stone walls did make a prison, he submitted in the most abject manner before the mitred bigot. For this humiliation he never forgave himself. In 1637 he landed at Plymouth in New England, where he became for a short time an assistant pastor, going from thence to a town called Scituate. There he preached for several years, and then, the Puritans having triumphed over their enemies, the men of Ware besought their pastor to return. But his work now lay elsewhere. He was almost on the point of embarking for England when he was invited to become President of Harvard College — a position for which he was eminently qualified — and in November, 1654, he was installed as the second President of that now famous institution. At Harvard he laboured for the rest of his life, and dying there in 1672, was buried at New Cambridge. He was a rare and racy preacher of the old sort, whose mouth uttered quaint sayings in abundance, and who kept tongue and pen alike busy. The Plain Doctrine of the Justification of a Sinner in the Sight of God, was one of his productions — doubtless a pithy, profitable, and long discourse, which probably no man or woman now in Hertfordshire has ever read, and which rests in a few libraries in a repose almost as deep as the bones of its author.

Charles Chauncy graduated from Cambridge in 1613, and became a fellow of his college, Trinity College, and professor of Hebrew and Greek. In 1627 he was appointed Vicar of Ware, Hertfordshire, and from 1633 to 1637 vicar at Marston St Lawrence, Northamptonshire.

Chauncy had Puritanical opinions that placed him in opposition to the church hierarchy, including its most senior member, the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. He asserted in a sermon that “idolatry was admitted into the church” and he opposed, as a “snare to men’s consciences” placing a barrier – the altar rail – around the communion table. He was suspended by Archbishop Laud for refusing to perform his duty to read from the pulpit the “Book of Sports”, which set out permissible Sunday recreations. He was brought before the Court of High Commission in 1629 and again in 1634. In 1634 he was imprisoned. He made a formal recantation in 1637 which – it is said – he later regretted.

In 1638 Charles Chauncy emigrated to America. From 1638 to 1641 he was an associate pastor at Plymouth, Massachusetts. However, the Plymouth church community was dissatisfied with Chauncy’s advocacy of baptism of infants by immersion. From 1641 to 1654 he served as pastor at Scituate, Massachusetts. From 1654 until his death in 1672 he was President of Harvard College.

Charles Chauncy and his wife Catherine Chauncy nee Eyre (1604 – 1667) had six sons and at least two daughters. All six sons were said to have been “bred to the ministry and graduates of Harvard”. I have previously written about Ichabod, their third child and second son.

I think Charles Chauncy is close to the definition of a zealot: a person who has very strong opinions about something, and tries to make other people have them too. Chauncy only seemed to compromise reluctantly.

Related post

I is for Ichabod

Source

• Tompkins, Herbert W (1902). Highways and byways in Hertfordshire. Macmillan, London ; New York viewed through archive.org https://archive.org/details/highwaysandbywa03griggoog/page/n10

X is for excess exiting England

Almost all of my forebears and Greg’s came from England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales in the nineteenth century. My mother’s family immigrated from Germany to Australia immediately after World War II.

The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown, 1855. Oil on panel. Original in the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.

For many of them it is hard to say why they came; for some the reasons are easier to understand.

Below is a summary, arranged by decade, of what I know about our family’s emigration.

1820s

The first of my forebears to migrate to Australia was my fifth great grandfather George Taylor (1758 – 1828), who arrived in Tasmania, then known as Van Diemen’s Land, in 1823. With him was his wife Mary née Low (1765 -1850), three of his sons, and one of his daughters. My fourth great grandmother, his daughter Isabella Hutcheson née Taylor (1794-1876), followed ten years later, arriving about 1833. Other family members followed.

The Taylors had lived since about 1670 on a farm of about 700 acres near Abernethy, tenants of the Earl of Mansfield. In “Cherry Stones”, Helen Hudson wrote that the Taylors realised a considerable amount of money by selling various goods, stock, farm implements, and other property, and were granted land in Tasmania. George Taylor and the first of the Taylor emigrants sailed from Leith, the port of Edinburgh.

1830s

Greg’s 3rd great grandmother Caroline Clarke was born in New South Wales about 1835. We know nothing about her parents John Clark(e) or Hannah Sline. They were not probably not convicts, for convicts are well documented and I have not been able to discover anything about John and Hannah from the convict records.

My 3rd great grandfather Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816 – 1880) arrived in Adelaide, South Australia on the “Dumfries” in October 1839, which sailed from London in June. Philip met his first wife Charlotte Kemmis (1816 – 1847) on board. They married in 1841.

My 3rd great grandmother Susan Augusta Mitchell (1828 – 1867) arrived in Perth, Western Australia, with her father the Reverend William Mitchell (1803 – 1870) and her step mother, William’s second wife. William’s three children by his first wife had been born in India. The family returned to England, where she died. William remarried and returned to India. There three more children were born. The family again returned to England and William left his employment with the Church Missionary Society. William later worked for the Western Australian Missionary Society, which became known as the Colonial and Continental Church Society. On 4 August 1838, the Reverend and Mrs Mitchell, four children, and a governess arrived at the Swan River colony, Western Australia, on the “Shepherd”. They had left Portsmouth at the beginning of April.

On 29 October 1839 my 3rd great grandfather Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819 – 1867) arrived in Melbourne on the “David Clark” from Greenock, Scotland. They had sailed on 15 June 1839. The voyage, via Rio de Janeiro, took five months. The “David Clark” had been chartered by the government to bring the first bounty immigrants from Scotland to Melbourne. Samuel Hawkins was aged 20, a storekeeper from Edinburgh. He had brothers in New South Wales but he made his own way in what was later to become the colony of Victoria.

Image of Greenock included in the Gazetteer of Scotland, 1838

In 1835 my third great grandparents Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811 – 1891) and Mary Cudmore née Nihill (1811 – 1893) married on 15 January in County Limerick, not long before embarking on the “John Denniston”, which left Liverpool on 11 February. They arrived in Van Diemen’s Land on 7 June, after a voyage of more than four months. Other members of the Nihill family had sailed with the newly-married couple: Mary’s mother Dymphna Nihill née Gardiner (1790-1866), two of Mary’s six sisters,
Rebecca (1817-1901) and Sarah (1826-1915), and Mary’s brother James Nihill later Niall (1823-1877). Mary’s father Daniel (1761-1846) and Mary’s other four sisters arrived in Hobart separately six months later.

1840s

We don’t know when Greg’s third great grandmother Matilda Priscilla Mogridge (1825 – 1868) arrived in Australia. In 1842 she married John Narroway Darby (born 1821) One month before her death she married a second time, to David Hughes (1822 – 1895) with whom she had lived for several decades. She had a daughter born either in New Zealand or in Tasmania in 1845, and she had another daughter born in Geelong in 1850. According to her death certificate she had been 22 years in Victoria when she died in 1868 so it seems she had arrived about 1846. She evidently lived in New Zealand for about three years before she arrived in Victoria.

My husband’s third great grandparents Thomas Edwards (1794-1871) and Mary née Gilbart (1805-1867) from St Erth in Cornwall emigrated on the “Lysander”, sailing from from Plymouth on 21 September 1848 and arriving at Port Phillip on 13 January 1849. They were accompanied by their eight children. The youngest, Francis, was an infant born in January 1848; the oldest was aged twenty-two. In 1837 Mary’s sister Sarah (1808-1854), had married Francis Tuckfield (1808-1865), a Methodist missionary to the Aborigines at Buntingdale near Geelong. The Tuckfields had been in the colony since 1838.

On 20 January 1849 Samuel Hughes (1827 – 1896), one of my 3rd great grandfathers, arrived in South Australia on the “Gunga”, which had left Liverpool on 16 September 1848. His parents Edward Hughes (1803 – 1876) and Elizabeth Hughes nee Jones (1798 – 1865) came to Australia later but I have not been able to find their immigration record. Their arrival was after 1851. Elizabeth died in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, and is buried in Brighton cemetery. Edward returned to England and died 4 May 1876 at South Norwood near London. A death notice in the Melbourne Argus stated he was late of Sandhurst [Bendigo] Victoria.

My 3rd great grandmother Sally Plaisted (1826 – 1900) arrived in Adelaide South Australia in April 1850 on the barque “Rajah”, which departed London on 27 November 1840. Sally, twenty-three, was travelling with her parents, John Plaisted (1800 – 1858 and Ann Plaisted nee Green (1801 – 1882). Also on board were Sally’s five brothers and Ann Plaisted’s sister Abigail Green (1797 – 1880). John Plaisted’s sister Tabitha and Ann Plaisted’s brother and sister had already emigrated to Adelaide. Although I can’t be certain, it seems likely that the Plaisteds came to Australia for its better climate. John Plaisted was suffering from tuberculosis.

My 3rd great grandmother Jeanie Hutcheson (1824 – 1864) accompanied her widowed mother, Isabella Hutcheson nee Taylor (1794 – 1876) and youngest brother David Hutcheson from Scotland to Tasmania in about 1844. In 1846 Jeanie, her mother Isabella, and her three brothers, crossed Bass Strait to the Portland Bay District on the “Minerva”.

My 3rd great grandfather Gordon Mainwaring (1817 – 1872) arrived in Adelaide on 10 April 1840 on the “Eamont” from Calcutta. He was known in the family as ‘the remittance man’: his father sent him money to stay abroad.

My 3rd great grandmother Mary Hickey (1819 – 1890) came to Adelaide with her sister, and her brother and his wife and their small child. They sailed from Greenock via Cork on the “Birman”, arriving 27 December 1840. Mary’s brother died on the voyage and her sister-in-law and nephew returned to Ireland. I have DNA evidence that Mary’s nephew later emigrated to America.

1850s

George Edward Young (1826 – 1890), from Liverpool, had arrived in Victoria by 1853, probably in the rush for gold. In Australia he saw out his days as miner; I don’t know what his trade or profession had been in England. I don’t know anything about his parents and family.

John Way (1835 – 1911) and Sarah Daw (1837 – 1895) married only a few days before their departure on 6 March 1854. They sailed on the “Trafalgar” from Plymouth to South Australia.

James Cross (1828 – 1882) arrived in Victoria, probably for the gold rushes by 1853. He was from Liverpool. His brother Frederick Beswick Cross (1833 – 1910) arrived in Australia in 1856.

Ellen Murray (1837 – 1901) sailed from Southhampton on the “Persian” on 2 January 1854. With her was her sister Bridget (born 1830). Ellen and Bridget were from Dublin. It would seem that while on board she made a friend of passenger named Margaret Smyth (1834 – 1897) from Bailieborough, Cavan, Ireland. Ellen’s son and Margaret’s daughter, both born in Australia, married in 1886, thirty two years after the voyage of the “Persian”.

John Plowright (1831 – 1910) was a seaman from King’s Lynn, Norfolk. On his admission to Maryborough Hospital in 1873 that he stated that he had arrived in the colony on the “Speculation” from London about 1853 and that his occupation was mariner. He wasn’t listed as a deserter; perhaps he left legally. The “Speculation” had sailed from London on 19 May, arriving in Victoria 21 September.

My husband’s great grandfather John Morley (1823-1888), John’s wife Eliza née Sinden (1823-1908) and their two children, Elizabeth aged three and William aged one emigrated to Australia in 1853, arriving in Melbourne on the “Ida” on 12 July. The ship had sailed from Liverpool on March 25.

My husband’s great great grandmother Caroline Ralph (1850-1896) came to Australia at the age of four with her parents, Francis Ralph (1823-1915) and Caroline née Rodgers (1825-1893), and her brother, John Ralph (1848-1882). The family arrived in Portland, Victoria on 21 November 1854 on the “Bloomer” after a voyage of 124 days. They had left Liverpool on 20 July.

My 3rd great grandparents Philip Robert Champion Crespigny and his wife Charlotte Frances née Dana, together with two children, Ada and Philip, and a female servant arrived in Australia on the “Cambodia”, a 914 ton ship which had sailed from Plymouth on 4 December 1851. They left a seven month infant son behind with Philip’s
parents, presumably because they did not think he would survive the voyage. Philip and Charlotte probably came to Australia on the recommendation of Charlotte’s brothers, who were in charge of the colony’s native police force. Charlotte’s first husband was pursuing a legal claim against Philip which made it impossible for them to stay in England.

In 1854 my 3rd great grandmother Margaret Rankin née Gunn formerly Budge (1819 – 1863) emigrated from Wick, Caithness, to Adelaide, South Australia, sailing on the “Dirigo”. She had remarried, to Ewan Rankin (1825- ?), one month before their departure. Margaret and Ewen were accompanied by Margaret’s four surviving children, aged from three to thirteen, from her first marriage. The ship departed Liverpool on 10 July 1854 but returned because of a cholera outbreak. Sailing again on 9 August, they arrived in South Australia on 22 November.

My great great grandfather Wentworth Cavenagh (1822 – 1895) arrived in Adelaide, South Australia on 22 January 1853 on the “Queen of Sheba”. It was reported in 1892 when he left South Australia for England that

“when eighteen years of age [about 1840] he left home [Hythe, Kent, England or Wexford Ireland where his family came from and where he had gone to school] for Canada, where he was engaged for some years farming. He subsequently relinquished this occupation and started coffee planting in Ceylon. Afterwards he tried to obtain a Government appointment at Calcutta, but was unsuccessful. Attracted by a Government advertisement he came to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in 1852. Thence he went to the Bendigo diggings, and from there he came to South Australia and started farming at Peachy Belt.”

1860s

Greg’s great great grandfather William Sullivan (born 1839) was in Australia when he married in Geelong in 1862. He said he was born in London. We know nothing about his emigration.

1880s

Henry Dawson (1864 – 1929), my husband’s great great grandfather, arrived in about 1888. He travelled as a single man aged about 24; the rest of his immediate family stayed in England. I don’t know of any family he might have had in Australia nor why he emigrated.

Emigration ports: Greenock near Glasgow, Leith near Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Southampton, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Cork

created using wordart.com

Related posts

• Australia Day: Climbing our family’s gum tree (I have filled in some more gaps since I wrote this post in 2014)
• V is for Valleyfield in Van Diemen’s Land
• Charlotte Kemmis (1816-1847); first wife of Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy
• Remembering Susan Augusta Chauncy née Mitchell (1828-1867)
• 52 ancestors: 1839 arrival in Australia of Samuel Proudfoot Hawkins (1819-1867)
• H is for the Cudmore family arrival in Hobart in 1835
• Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849
• Trove Tuesday: Arrival of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield
• P is for phthisis (tuberculosis)
• A Quiet Life: Gordon Mainwaring (1817-1872)
• Deaths at sea
• L is for leaving Liverpool
• My Most Recent Unknown Ancestors
• Immigration on the Trafalgar in 1854 of John Way and Sarah née Daw
• M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854
• John Plowright (1831 – 1910)
• H is for hospital records
• Arrival of the Morley family in 1853
• B is for the barque Bloomer arrived 1854
• Australian arrival of the Champion Crespigny family on the ‘Cambodia’ 31 March 1852
• Margaret Gunn (1819 – 1863)
• 1892 journey on the Ballaarat

F is for Flintshire

In 1985, Helen Hudson nee Hughes (1915 – 2005), my grandfather’s first cousin, published a family history with the rather lengthy title, ‘Cherry stones: adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland; Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales; Hale of Gloucestershire, Langford Sidebottom, Cheshire; Shorten of Cork, Ireland, and Slater of Hampshire, England who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850, researched, compiled and written by Helen Lesley Hudson‘ (Berwick, Victoria: H.L. Hudson, 1985).

For me her book, based on papers, old letters, and paraphernalia she inherited from her father, is a researcher’s treasure-house. At the moment I’m preparing for a family-history trip to England, and I’m finding ‘Cherry stones‘ particularly useful, for it includes details of Helen’s travels to the “Old Country” visiting the places our forebears came from, and I’ll be doing something similar.

Helen and her husband Bill visited Holywell in Flintshire twice. She wrote about walking around the graveyard of the ancient church beside St Winifrede’s Well Sanctuary, where she found many graves of our Hughes family.

She also wrote about a visit she made to Trelawynydd, formerly known as Newmarket. My fourth great grandfather, Edward Hughes (1803 – 1876) was born at there. FindMyPast has the baptism records for Trelawnyd, Flintshire, and these include an Edward Hughes baptised 23 January 1803, the son of Edward and Ann Hughes. Helen gives Edward’s birth date as 17 January 1803. I am not sure what document she based this on. Edward Hughes is a common name – Hughes is the eighth most common Welsh surname – and there are plenty of other candidates for our Edward.

On 21 April 1821 Edward Hughes of Holywell, Flintshire married Elizabeth Jones of Ysgeifiog at Ysgeifiog. [Ysgeifiog pronounciation]. Ysgeifiog is less than five miles from Holywell. Helen’s tree had 1823 as the date of this marriage, but I have located a likely parish record at FindMyPast giving the date as 1821. Edward and Elizabeth married in Liverpool in 1825. Elizabeth Jones was from Cardiganshire.

Samuel Hughes (1827 – 1896), their eldest surviving child and my third great grandfather, was baptised at the Great Crosshall Street Chapel of Welsh Congregationalists, Liverpool. The baptism record gives his birth date as 12 October 1827. Helen’s tree has 13 October 1827 and gives his place of birth as Liverpool. Edward Hughes was stated to be a joiner of Norris Street, Liverpool.

At the time of the 1841 census Edward, Elizabeth, four children (Samuel, Mary, Henry, and Eliza) and a child Goodman Jones, I assume a nephew of Elizabeth’s, were living at Drinkwater Gardens, Liverpool. Edward was a joiner. There were no live-in servants.

On 20 January 1849 Samuel Hughes arrived in South Australia on the Gunga, which had left Liverpool on 16 September 1848. Helen states that Edward, Elizabeth, Mary, and Henry also arrived on the Gunga but there seems no record on the passenger list of any other family member.

In 1851 I believe Edward and Elizabeth Hughes and one daughter, Mary, were living in Heathfield Street, Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales. Edward was a builder, employing 30 men.

I have not been able to find the immigration record for Edward and Elizabeth Hughes. Elizabeth died in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, and is buried in Brighton cemetery. Edward returned to England and died 4 May 1876 at South Norwood near London. A death notice in the Melbourne Argus  stated he was late of Sandhurst and the father of Samuel Hughes. He had been living with his daughter Mary Hewitt nee Hughes.

Helen Hudson wrote that there was a family story that Edward had lost a lot of money in Peruvian Bonds but she was not able to verify it. Nor can I. Helen also wrote that Edward was on the Bendigo diggings and that he and Elizabeth were living in View Street, Bendigo at the time of Elizabeth’s death.

I am glad that Helen wrote up her family researches in such detail. Much more information has become available since 1985 and online searching makes the task of finding and gathering information far easier than it was. I am sure she would have enjoyed researching today and verifying what she knew. I look forward to retracing her footsteps in Holywell during our visit to the United Kingdom in May.

St. Winifred’s Well or Holy Well, Flintshire, Wales. Line engraving by G. Hawkins, 1795 Image retrieved through Wikimedia Commons who obtained the file from the Wellcome trust.

Sources

• Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
• “Liverpool: Churches.” A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4. Eds. William Farrer, and J Brownbill. London: Victoria County History, 1911. 43-52. British History Online. Web. 12 March 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp43-52.
• ancestry.com  – census records:
  • 1841 census : Class: HO107; Piece: 559; Book: 26; Civil Parish: Liverpool; County: Lancashire; Enumeration District: 35; Folio: 43; Page: 29; Line: 23; GSU roll: 306941
  • 1851 Wales census : Class: HO107; Piece: 2466; Folio: 145; Page: 57; GSU roll: 104215-104217

DNA – successfully finding some most common recent ancestors

AncestryDNA has a new map feature currently in Beta mode and a group of AncestryDNA users is trying out the feature before it is launched.

I tried it by selecting one of Greg’s matches, SB, a person who is shown as being from Australia.

SB is an estimated 4th cousin DNA match sharing 22 centimorgans across 2 segments. I had messaged her twice a year ago when her match first came up but had no response. She has a small tree attached to her match showing two living parents and four deceased grandparents. Details for the grandparents showed:

• Paternal grandfather: name but no middle names, death place Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, no birth or death dates
• Paternal grandmother: name including middle name, death place Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, birth year 1927, no death date
• Maternal grandfather: name but no middle names, birth and death place Sunshine, Victoria, Australia, birth and death dates 28 July 1915 and 12 November 1979
• Maternal grandmother: name but no middle names, birth place Maryborough, Victoria, Australia and death place Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, birth year 1924 and death date 1 August 2005.

SB shares DNA with Greg’s 2nd cousin HS. It would seem on the basis of this connection that the most common recent ancestors will be on Greg and HS’s Dawson or Edwards  line. HS and Greg share great grandparents Henry Dawson (1864 – 1929) and Edith Caroline Dawson nee Edwards (1871 – 1946).

Using the Victorian birth, death and marriage indexes, I developed a private non-indexed tree based on the data I had for SB. I started with the maternal grandparents. But I did not seem to be coming across familiar surnames and was quickly reaching back to the UK and areas that did not match those where Greg’s forebears came from.

I next looked at the paternal grandparents. I was having trouble finding their marriage and identifying the death of the paternal grandfather. However I successfully found the death date of the paternal grandmother from a death notice on the Ryerson index, a free index to death notices appearing in Australian newspapers. (The death notice is recent and can be viewed online.) Using the deceased search facility for the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, I was able to find the burial site of the paternal grandmother and confirm the death details of the paternal grandfather, who had been buried in the same plot. From there I was able to trace the paternal grandfather’s pedigree using the birth, death and marriage indexes. It was reasonably quick and trouble-free. Within 3 generations I had a surname I recognised.

index record from the registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria

Charlotte Victoria Edwards (1834 -1924), born St Erth, Cornwall, United Kingdom, and died Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, was already on my main family tree although I did not know she had come to Australia and did not have her marriage or death details. Charlotte is Greg’s 1st cousin 4 times removed and SB’s 3rd great grandmother. Greg and SB are 5th cousins once removed. Their most common recent ancestors are Greg’s fourth great grandparents John Edwards and Jane Edwards nee Gilbert.

Charlotte was the daughter of Greg’s fourth great uncle James Edwards (1805 – 1883), and the granddaughter of Greg’s fourth great grandparents John Edwards and Jane Edwards nee Gilbert. James Edwards married Mary Nicholas and they had at least six children of whom Charlotte was the third oldest.

Charlotte and her family arrived in Portland, Victoria on 30 January 1855 on the Oithona, which had left Southampton on 16 October 1854. There were 344 immigrants on board. James Edwards was a 50 year old agricultural labourer from Cornwall. He was accompanied by his 47 year-old wife Mary and two children, Elizabeth aged 9 and John aged 4. Their religious denomination was stated to be Church of England and James and Mary, but not their two children, could read and write. The disposal register listing their disembarkation intentions noted he was “on own account” and address Portland. Three older daughters, Mary (Mary Ann), Jane and Charlotte were enumerated separately as they were then 23, 22 and 19. All girls were said to be Church of England and they could all read and write. The register stated that Mary went to Mrs Nicholson of Portland, Jane went to Thomas Must of Portland and  Charlotte went with her father. One sun was enumerated separately. James was 17. He was described as an agricultural labourer from Cornwall, his religious denomination was Church of England and he could read and write. The disposal register noted he was “on own account” and address Portland.

Passenger list from the “Oithona” showing James, Mary, Jane and Charlotte Edwards as single passengers. Image retrieved from ancestry.com from database held by Public Records Office Victoria.Register of Assisted Immigrants from the United Kingdom. Microfiche VPRS 14.

Also on the Oithona was Charlotte Thomas nee Edwards (1811 – 1887) and her husband William Thomas, a mason. Charlotte Thomas was the sister of James and Thomas Edwards.

James’s brother Thomas Edwards (1794 – 1871) had arrived in Victoria in 1849. I assume James Edwards and Charlotte Thomas and their families came out as their brother Thomas recommended immigration to them. I do not know however if they met up in Victoria.

Trove Tuesday: Arrival of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield

One of my husband Greg’s fourth great aunts was a Cornishwoman, Sarah Tuckfield née Gilbart  (1808-1854).

Sarah and her twin sister Thomasine were born on 22 July 1808 at St Erth, a sand and clay mining town about 5 km from St Ives. They were the seventh and eighth children of John Gilbart (1761-1837) and Elizabeth Gilbart née Huthnance (1774-1847).

John Gilbart was manager of a copper rolling mill at St Erth. He had been a member of the first Copperhouse Methodist Society (Copperhouse was a foundry and its associated district in east Hayle), and in 1783 he had founded the St Erth Methodist Class, the local Wesleyan group meeting.

Francis Tuckfield (1808-1865) was a miner and fisherman, who at the age of 18 was convinced by the truths of  Methodist nonconformism. He became an active local preacher and in 1835, at the age of 27, was accepted as a candidate for the Ministry. He received two years training at the Wesleyan Theological Institution in Hoxton in London. On the completion of his studies Tuckfield was selected to be a missionary to the Aboriginals of the Port Phillip District (later became the colony of Victoria, Australia).

On 13 October 1837, less than a month before his departure, Sarah Gilbart and Francis Tuckfield were married at St Erth. They were then both 29 years old.

SHIP NEWS (1838, March 20). The Austral-Asiatic Review, Tasmanian and Australian Advertiser (Hobart Town, Tas. : 1837 – 1844), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232476273

In March 1838 after a long sea voyage Francis and Sarah Tuckfield landed in Hobart, Tasmania. In July the Tuckfields crossed Bass Strait to Melbourne on board the Adelaide. Sarah’s first child, a daughter, was born at Geelong on 12 August 1838.

Tuckfield made several exploratory trips about the Port Philip district looking for a suitable place to establish a mission station. (He is said to have employed William Buckley as a translator on these journeys. Buckley was an escaped convict who for a time had lived with Aboriginals. He had since been pardoned and given a job as a government interpreter.)

In 1839 he chose a site near Birregurra, 10 km east of Colac. Governor Gipps granted the mission 640 acres, a square mile.

The Birregurra experiment, however, was rapidly deemed a failure by the Victorian Government. In 1848 it was abandoned, and in 1850 the mission grazing licence was cancelled.

 

SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 1. (1848, July 1). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1847 – 1851), p. 2 (MORNING). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91457661

 

Francis Tuckfield was afterwards appointed to a succession of churches, first in Victoria and later in New South Wales. On 6 June 1854 Sarah died at the age of 45 in West Maitland, New South Wales. She and Francis had eight children.

 

Family Notices (1854, June 7). The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 – 1893), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article690022

 

In 1857 Francis remarried, to Mary Stevens (1823-1886). Eight years later, in 1865, he died at Portland, Victoria.

Portraits of Francis and Sarah Tuckfield are held by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Francis Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia

Sarah Tuckfield, portrait in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia

With only the bare facts of her life to draw on, it is very difficult to form an impression of Sarah Tuckfield the person. A history of the Birregurra mission portrays her as a dutiful daughter, devout Methodist, and devoted and capable wife and mother:

Sarah shared not only her father’s love of music and deep Christian conviction, but also his generous strength of character. She was a practical girl, who made an excellent teacher in the Sunday School, and was thoroughly trained in the housewifely arts by her mother. She also took an interest in the sick and incapacitated people in St Earth, who loved her for her kind ways and skills in nursing.

Le Griffon, Heather and Orton, Joseph Campfires at the cross : an account of the Bunting Dale Aboriginal Mission 1839-1951 at Birregurra, near Colac, Victoria : with a biography of Francis Tuckfield. Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, Vic, 2006. page 18.

But this – no doubt well-meant – encomium gets us no further. ‘Love of music’ to a Methodist meant hymn-singing; ‘deep Christian conviction’ covers everything from humble faith to pharisaical self-righteousness; ‘generous strength of character’ sounds suspiciously like stubbornness; ‘thoroughly trained in the housewifely arts’ might mean a drudge; and her kind ways with the sick and infirm makes her look like the village Lady Bountiful.

Sarah’s marriage at the age of 29 to a penniless Methodist preacher and her willingness to endure the hardships of missionary life on the far side of the world seem rather noble and self-sacrificing, but these were the usages of the times. She was getting no younger, and her prospects, probably never great, were shrinking. Wives followed their husbands, and she perhaps found some satisfaction in being able to help with his missionary endeavours.

Sometimes, of course, images delineate character better than words. The National Portrait Gallery painting of Sarah Tuckfield conveys a certain measure of self-assurance and sense of purpose, especially when her image is viewed with that of her husband. The artist has drawn them with much the same mouth, giving her an air of steadfastness and strength of will; he looks feminine and ineffectual. He looks coyly at the viewer; she stares beyond, into the future.

We’re left wondering. Could it be that it was Sarah who turned the Cornish miner into the Methodist preacher, urged him to attend the Hoxton Institution, encouraged him to emigrate, and supported him in his mission?

Sources

• C. A. McCallum, ‘Tuckfield, Francis (1808–1865)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tuckfield-francis-2747/text3887, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 5 June 2018.
• Le Griffon, Heather and Orton, Joseph Campfires at the cross : an account of the Bunting Dale Aboriginal Mission 1839-1951 at Birregurra, near Colac, Victoria : with a biography of Francis Tuckfield. Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, Vic, 2006.
• Wikipedia contributors. (2017, December 13). Gulidjan. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:27, June 5, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gulidjan&oldid=815258681
• “St.Erth Methodist Church.” St Erth Parish Council, St Erth Parish Council, 31 Aug. 2013, sterth-pc.gov.uk/st-erth-methodist-church/.
• “St. Erth Methodist Church.” About Us – St. Erth Methodist Church, St. Erth Methodist Church, www.sterthmethodists.co.uk/aboutus.htm.