N is for Nellie

One of my first cousins four times removed was Eleanor Mary (Nellie) Niall (1858-1891). She was the first cousin of my great great grandfather James Francis Cudmore (1837-1912).

Her father was James Niall (1823-1877), son of Daniel James Nihill (1761-1846) and Dymphna Nihill nee Gardiner (1790-1866). The Nihill family emigrated from Ireland to Australia in 1835, settling first in Tasmania, then moving to South Australia.

James Niall was an auctioneer and pastoralist. In 1857 he married Eleanor Mansfield (1833-1883) at Trinity Church, Adelaide.

 

They had eight children:

• Eleanor Mary Niall 1858–1891
• James Mansfield Niall 1860–1941
• George Franklin Niall 1862–1875
• Alice Louisa Niall 1863–1876
• Charles Arthur Niall 1864–1888
• Robert Gardiner Niall 1870–1932
• Dymphna Niall 1871–1871
• Margaret Rebekah Niall 1872–1875

Eleanor Mary, known as Nellie, was the oldest.

Her brother James Mansfield Niall (1860-1941), who became a successful pastoralist, was the only child who married and had children.

In 1875, at the age of 13, George died from what was described as “anaemia“. His illness and death were noted by his aunt Rebekah Nihill (1817-1901) in her diary:

2 Jul 1875 : George Niall very ill of swelling in the glands of his throat.

28 Aug 1875 : Rec’d a letter from Nelly Niall telling us dear George Niall died last Tuesday the 24th inst, whilst taking a drink of water. We feel his loss much as he was a very intelligent boy and extremely clever and cheerful.

4 Sep 1875  :  Our brother James and his wife came. They both looked sadly cut up after the loss of their dear children, particularly their dear boy George.

Alice died in 1876 aged 13 of tubercular phthisis, also known as tuberculosis.

Charles died in Sydney as a young man aged only 24. I am not sure what caused his early death.

Robert went on to the land as a grazier and station manager in Queensland. He died in Sydney, unmarried.

Dymphna died aged 5 months of convulsions. According to the diary of her aunt Rebekah Nihill, Margaret Rebekah, known as Rebekah, died when she was 3 of scarletina and diphtheria.

In 1877 Nellie’s father James died at the age of 54. Nellie’s mother died in 1883 aged 45 years.

On 13 November 1891 Eleanor Mary (Nellie) Niall died of typhoid. She was 33. (Typhoid is a bacterial disease, spread by eating food or drinking water contaminated by the faeces or urine of patients and carriers.)

Family Notices (1891, November 14). South Australian Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1895), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91566625

 

The authorities kept a close watch on infectious diseases. There was no major outbreak of typhoid at the time, but Eleanor’s death was noted by the South Australian Board of Health, as was one other death from typhoid in the same week.

BOARDS OF HEALTH. (1891, November 20). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 – 1912), p. 3 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198423918 (Click to enlarge)

 

Eleanor was buried on 14 November at the cemetery beside St George’s Anglican Church, Magill, a suburb of Adelaide  close to where she had lived.

Advertising (1891, November 13). The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA : 1867 – 1922), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208577463

The gravestone of Nellie, her parents and some of her siblings at Magill St George cemetery. The photograph is courtesy of “Gravesecrets at your Fingertips!” and reproduced with permission.

 

I am sorry to say that I have not been able to find out more about Nellie and her siblings. She is not mentioned in any digitised newspaper reports that I have seen. I have not found any photograph of her or mention in any family papers I have access to. I know almost nothing about her.

Sources

I am grateful to my cousin Robert Niall for sharing his information about the causes of death of Nellie’s siblings and providing extracts from the diaries of Margaret and Rebekah Nihill, the sisters of James Niall, Nellie’s father.

Related post

• Trove Tuesday : Nihill v. Fox

K is for Kenneth

One of my third great uncles was Kenneth George Budge (1842-1878), the son of Kenneth Budge (1813-1852) and Margaret Budge nee Gunn (1819-1863).

Kenneth Budge the father was a seaman who married Margaret Gunn in 1840. Kenneth and Margaret lived in Wick, Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. Their five children were:

• Daniel (1841-1895)
• Kenneth George (1842-1878)
• Alexandrina (1844 – before 1851)
• Margaret (1845 – 1912) my great great grandmother
• Alexandrina (1851-1911)

In August 1852 Kenneth Budge senior, who was trading between Scotland and the Baltic, died of cholera at sea, in the Øresund, the strait that separates Sweden and Denmark.

On 10 June 1854, Margaret remarried, to Ewan Rankin (1825- ?). With her four surviving children she emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia, sailing on the Dirigo. 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. Kenneth George was then 12 years old.

In 1863 Kenneth’s mother Margaret died at Bookmark station on the River Murray near present-day Renmark. Margaret was 44.

In 1867, in Adelaide, Kenneth’s sister, Margaret, married James Francis Cudmore (1837-1912).

In 1870, in partnership with his brother-in-law James Francis Cudmore, Kenneth bought Gooyea, a cattle station, on the Bulloo River near the Barcoo River, Queensland. In 1875 Kenneth’s brother Daniel joined the partnership.

The Barcoo River near Blackall photographed in 1938

Musterers on Milo station, probably in the 1890s. Milo station was formed from several stations including Gooyea

 

In October 1871 Kenneth was in charge of a mob of 600 cows and 16 bulls travelling from Paringa, a Cudmore station, to Dowling’s Creek, at Gooyea. A herd of cattle this big could travel only about ten miles a day, so the journey from Paringa to Gooyea would have taken nearly three months.

 

Latest News. (1871, October 18). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 – 1912), p. 2 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197660614

It is 1,224 kilometres from Paringa to Gooyea via Wilcannia or 765 miles

 

A mob of cattle crossing the MacIntyre River from Queensland to New South Wales. Image retrieved from Wikipedia.

From the Wikipedia article on Drover (Australian):

Movement of large mobs of stock was traditionally carried out by contract drovers. A drover had to be independent and tough, an excellent horseman, able to manage stock as well as men. The boss drover who had a plant (horses, dogs, cooking gear and other requisites) contracted to move the mob at a predetermined rate according to the conditions, from a starting point to the destination. The priorities for a boss drover were the livestock, the horses, and finally the men, as drovers were paid per head of stock delivered. Drovers were sometimes on the road for as long as two years. The drovers who covered very long distances to open up new country were known as “overlanders“.

Traditional droving could not have been done without horses. The horse plant was made up of work-horses, night-horses and packhorses, with each drover riding four or five horses during a trip. The horse tailer was the team member responsible for getting horses to water and feed, and bringing them to the camp in the morning. A good night-horse was highly prized for its night vision, temperament, and its ability to bring animals under control when a “rush”, known elsewhere as a stampede, occurred at night.

The standard team of men employed to move 1,200 cattle consisted of seven men: the boss drover, four stockmen, a cook and a horse-tailer. Store cattle were moved in larger mobs, of up to 1,500 head, while fat bullocks going to meatworks were taken in mobs of about 650 head, i.e. three train loads. The stockmen will ride in formation at the front, sides and back of the mob, at least until the mob has settled into a routine pace. Cattle are expected to cover about ten miles (16 km) a day, sheep about six miles (10 km), and are permitted to spread up to 800 metres (half a mile) on either side of the road. A short camp is made for a lunch break, after which the cook and horse-tailer will move ahead to set up the night camp

 

A report in November 1874 mentioned 2,200 cattle head of cattle had been purchased and were en route to Gooyea.

HAY SHIPPING. (1874, November 11). The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141197711

In June 1878 a newspaper article discussed the effort Kenneth Budge and J.F. Cudmore were making to establish a quality beef herd.

The Advertiser THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1878. (1878, June 6). The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 – 1889), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29603079

 

In April 1878 Kenneth Budge was appointed a Queensland magistrate.

On 6 November of that year, only 36 years old, he died suddenly of heart disease at Gooyea. He was buried at Gooyea, but two years later his body was exhumed, brought to Adelaide, and re-interred in West Terrace Cemetery.

 

 

The grave of Kenneth Budge at West Terrace cemetery photographed in April 2017

 

Related posts

• Margaret Gunn (1819 – 1863)
• The death of Kenneth Budge (1813 – 1852)
• W is for Wick, Caithness
• Trove tuesday : Daniel Budge
• Q is for questing in Queensland

Typhoid epidemic in Parkes in 1896

Headstone in Parkes cemetery of John Way and his parents, with a memorial inscription recording the death of his nephew

On 21 April 1896, John Way, 24 years old, died of typhoid, perforated bowel, and peritonitis after an illness of three weeks. John Way, from Parkes in central New South Wales, was a miner like his father, also called John.

Typhoid is a bacterial disease caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated by human faeces. Its spread is prevented by efficient sanitation and careful public hygiene.

John Way’s death was reported in the Evening News, a Sydney newspaper, on the next day:

Death from Typhoid.
PARKES, Wednesday.— Another death from typhoid has occurred a young man named John Way being the victim.

I came across this article by accident while browsing the National Library of Australia’s ‘Trove’ collection of digitised newspapers. I broadened my search to look for typhoid in Parkes in April 1896.

On 1 April, the Queanbeyan Age reported that there were 21 cases of typhoid in Parkes hospital. On 17 April the Sydney Evening News reported that since the beginning of the year there had been 59 deaths in Parkes, 19 of these due to typhoid. The source of the outbreak was yet to be traced. The mayor was taking steps to have cesspits filled in and the pan system generally adopted. On 24 April the Albury Banner and Wodonga Express reported there were over 100 typhoid cases in Parkes and district under medical treatment.

PARKES. (1896, April 24). Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (NSW : 1896 – 1938), p. 17. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article99431481

Towards the end of May a report on the epidemic was tabled in Parliament.The Riverine Grazier summarised the report on 23 June:

• Dr Tidswell, medical officer, was sent by the Board of Health to inquire into the prevalence of typhoid fever and the insanitary state of that town with special reference to the recent outbreak.
• Although certain by-laws were passed in 1890 requiring the adoption of a dry earth system, the by laws were not enforced as the validity had been disputed and in 1894 a bylaw was passed permitting the use of cesspits . Despite the requirement that they be constructed so as not be a nuisance, the bylaws were neglected and the arrangements were most primitive. The soil was polluted from slops, drainage and nightsoil.
• The excreta from typhoid patients was not treated before being buried in back yards or gardens.
• The supply of water was defective. Rainwater collected in tanks was very largely used in Parkes. The report pointed out that the roofs from which the water is collected are often covered with dust, sometimes to the extent that the gutters are blocked. During dry weather dust storms are no uncommon and the town is a dusty one. The rains carry the dust into the water tanks. the dust from the polluted soild carried the typhoid bacilli into the rain water collected in the tanks.
• Tidswell pointed out that soil pollution was the primary evil. The combined influence of natural conditions and the absence of an efficient drainage system meant that Parkes was specially liable to diseases fostered by soil pollution. The neglect of the by-laws resulted in excessive soil pollution.

In 1895,according to the cemetery register, there were 22 burials in Parkes cemetery. This in
cluded seven people burnt to death in a fire in April, mainly members of a family called Quinn. Twenty people were buried in the cemetery in 1896 but ten of the burials were in April. The cemetery register does not appear to include all those affected by the typhoid epidemic but the disproportion of the deaths in April 1896 gives some idea of the tragedy.

Usually there were no more than three burials a month in Parkes cemetery. The exceptions are in April 1895 when there was a fire killing seven people and in April 1896 when there was a typhoid epidemic. The figures are derived from the Parkes cemetery register.

In May 1879, John’s sister Harriet Way, nine years  old, died in Parkes of typhoid after an illness of three weeks.

John and Harriet Way were my husband’s great grand mother’s siblings, that is his great grand uncle and great grand aunt.

In my family tree, Eleanor Mary Niall (1858-1891), my first cousin four times removed, died of typhoid in Adelaide in November 1891.  My great great grand uncle Daniel Budge (1842-1895) died of typhoid in Coolgardie, Western Australia, in January 1895. One of his obituaries mentions that typhoid was firmly established at Coolgardie.

It is estimated that worldwide today there are 21 million cases of typhoid and 200,000 deaths each year. “Typhoid Fever.” National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 May 2013. Web. 30 June 2014. <http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/typhoid_fever/technical.html>.

Trove tuesday : Daniel Budge

Although I had spent a long time looking for the death of Daniel Budge (1842 – 1895), the brother of my great great grandmother Margaret Cudmore née Budge, and had found a death index entry for him in Western Australia, I couldn’t be sure this was the right man.  It wasn’t until I had searched the digitised newspapers on Trove that I learned how he died and why he was in Western Australia.

 COMPARATIVE LEGISLATION. (1895, January 26). The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 – 1929), p. 18. Retrieved October 22, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67947575

It is with feelings of the deepest regret that we (Barcoo Independent,) learn of the death of Mr. Daniel Budge, who expired at Coolgardie on Sunday last of typhoid fever. The deceased gentleman was well-known throughout the pastoral districts of Queensland, and to many of the older residents of the western portion of New South Wales, and was exceedingly and deservedly popular with all classes of the community. Born in Scotland in 1842, he accompanied his family to Adelaide, South Australia, in 1853. He adopted pastoral pursuits, and about 1862 was appointed manager of one of the Tolarno stations, on the Darling River, New South Wales. In 1875 he joined his brother, Mr. Kenneth Budge, an part owner of Gooyea Station, near Adavale, Queensland, where he remained until the death of his brother, after which the station was sold. In 1880 or 1881 he purchased Mr. A. Mossman’s share in Delta Station, baring for a partner Mr. W. P. Tozer, which station he managed for some years, during which Mr J. M. Niall bought Mr. Tozer’s share. About 1886 Messrs. R. Rarr-Smith and Co. bought Mr. Budge’s interest in that property, and the latter removed to Blackall, where he pur- chased the old Barcoo Hotel. This property he sold to Mr. R. Moss about 1888, and then entered into partnership with Mr. J. D. Hughes as auctioneers, stock and station agents, Blackall. Mr. Budge was the lessee of this paper from April, 1891, to April, 1894, and in September, 1894, he left Blackall for Coolgardie, where he died. He took a great interest in local matters, more especially in the welfare of the local racing institutions. At various times he occupied the offices of alderman of the Blackall Municipality, chairman of the Kargoolnah Divisional Board, vice-president of the Blackall District Hospital, and vice-president of the Blackall Racing Club. From his genial manner and cheerful disposition he was a general favourite with everyone with whom he was brought into contact ; while his extreme generosity will make his name long remembered on the Barcoo, and his good deeds a fruitful subject of conversation at many a camp fire. Poor old Dan will be greatly missed, and many a long day will elapse before his name fades in the memory of a host of friends. He leaves a wife and two children, who reside in Sydney.

The obituary also appeared in Rockhampton’s Morning Bulletin of 24 January 1895.

There is a longer obituary in The Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld.), 22 January, page 9.  It mentions Daniel Budge’s connections with the Niall, Cudmore and Tozer families, his property dealings and his interest in local government and in horse-racing.

Barcaldine Small Debts Court. (1895, January 22). The Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld. : 1892 – 1922), p. 9. Retrieved October 22, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79735787