A difficult start to life

Madeline as a young woman.

This week I started writing up the early life of my great-grandmother, Madeline Geary Henderson. It strikes me as a particularly difficult series of events for a young girl to experience.

Madeline was born in 1855 in the Darling Harbour area of Sydney, the second child of Robert Geary Henderson and Hannah nee Wallbridge. Her father is described as a 'mariner' in the Parish register that records Madeline's baptism, but he was also the licensee of the Clarence Hotel in Erskine Street Sydney. The family probably lived at the nearby Dove Inn which was owned by Madeline's grandparents, Robert and Catherine Henderson.

An interesting twist that has confused some family historians arose from William Cowper, the minister who baptised Madeline at St Philip's Church of England. When he filled out the baptism register, he wrote her name as 'Adelaide', the same name as another girl baptised earlier on the same day. Under the laws of the time, this became Madeline's legal name, and was used on legal documents for many years, including her two marriages, even though she was always known as 'Madeline'.

Madeline was just three when her father left his wife and children and went to live with another woman at Woy Woy. Hannah and her children continued to live at the Dove Inn and Hannah took over the running of the Clarence hotel.

When Madeline was five, she was playing with her three-year-old brother when he accidentally set her dress alight. She suffered burns to her limbs and body and for the rest of her life wore long sleeves and full length dresses to protect and hide the scars from these burns.

Another four years passed before Madeline's mother and sister became ill. They had contracted tuberculosis. The sister, Catherine, died in 1866, followed by Hannah in 1868. Madeline's grandparents, Robert and Catherine Henderson took charge of Madeline and her brother Robert (the name Robert runs in the Henderson family!). But they were both too ill to care for the children, so at just 13, Madeline was sent to live at Mrs Ashley's boarding school at Newtown, an all-girls school.

Six months passed and Christmas arrived. Madeline spent the first of many Christmases at the school, while most of the girls went home or the relatives for the holidays. A few days after Christmas, Robert Henderson snr (the grandfather) arrived at the school just and took Madeline to her grandmother's bedside. Catherine Henderson did not survive and Madeline returned to boarding school immediately after the funeral on 30 December 1868.

Robert Henderon snr was already ill when his wife died and within a year he was also dead. In the course of three years, Madeline lost four of the people closest to her and she was separated from he remaining brother who was at a different boarding school. Her one piece of good fortune was a legacy from her grandfather's will. Robert Henderson snr left a substantial amount of property in trust for Hannah and her brother. This ensured that they would be able to complete a good education and they would have a secure income for life.

Madeline remained at the school until she was 20, when she married Joseph Keele, a clerk with the Public Service. But tragedy struck again, and five months after the wedding, Joseph died of scarlet fever and Madeline found herself a pregnant widow, just 20 years of age.

In 1876 she gave birth to a daughter (Josephine Laura Keele) and moved to live with her brother Robert (that is Robert Francis Geary Henderson) at Kincumber on Brisbane Water. Family legend has it that Madeline had been chased up a tree by a bull when a young man from a nearby property came to the rescue. This was Manasseh Ward who would become Madeline's lifelong wife and partner. But that is another story with its own joys and tragedies.