The Manasseh myths

One of the side effects of careful research is that you sometimes find things that have been taken as fact, but prove to be overstated, or untrue. This week I was putting some key events into chronological order and noticed something that seemed at first an interesting side-story, but eventually turned into debunking not one but two of the traditional stories about Manasseh Ward!

This came up when I was writing the basic narrative of Manasseh and Madeline's family story. I was laying down the basic timeline of key events when I noticed a coincidence in dates. Two things happened on on Friday 6 May 1898.

• Manasseh and Madeline's eldest daughter, Madeline jnr married Robert Lambert in Gosford.
• The SS Maitland was wrecked at what is now known as Maitland Bay.

There are several published sources that say that Manasseh led the rescue party to the site of the Maitland wreck. Did this mean that he was called away from the wedding, or that he missed the wedding altogether?

I read several accounts of the rescue and none mentioned Manasseh. In fact, they all told the story of a rescue staged from Rock Davis' shipyard at Davistown. So I consulted the always helpful Local History Librarian at the Gosford Library, Geoffrey Potter, who is the published author of a book about the Maitland disaster. Geoffrey was able to give be a very good summary of the events and point to the original source of the story about Manasseh, which is a single paragraph in the local paper.

Wreck of the SS Maitland

Based on a summary that Geoffrey's kindly provided, the events were something like this:

The wreck occurred at 5.45am on 6th May 1898, but the alarm was not raised until very late that day when, during a brief window in the gale conditions, Barrenjoey Lighthouse spotted a dark shape ashore to the north of Broken Bay. Word was sent by horseback to Manly, across the harbour to Sydney, then by rail to Woy Woy. From Woy Woy word was sent to Rock Davis’ shipyard at Blackwall. A party set out from Blackwall by boat and then on foot. They did not know what sort of vessel they were looking for, nor exactly where it was.  They made their way to Putty Beach and then proceeded north through the bush. They finally reached the wreck site late on the afternoon of Saturday 7 May – 36 hours after the initial disaster. The last of the survivors made their way ashore just as the rescue group arrived. The survivors were taken back to Woy Woy, leaving several crew members to guard the wreck from looters.

And the original quote from the local paper:

The first to arrive right on the scene of the wrecked Maitland on horseback was Mr M. Ward, Mayor of Gosford, who being reared in the vicinity of the wreck knew every inch of the country. On Sunday morning Mr. Ward piloted about 15 horsemen over the mountain headlands to Boat Harbor [sic] Beach, a feat which the daily papers considered an absolute impossibility. 

The Gosford Times, 13 May 1898

The problem with this is that by the time the horseback party arrived at the site, the rescue was effectively over and most of the survivors had been taken back to Woy Woy!

There are several possible explanations. One is that the newspaper got the day wrong, and the horsemen set out n Saturday morning, but in that case we would have expected that they would have been mentioned in the accounts of the rescue. Another possible explanation is that the horseback party was setting up the recovery operation. In that case, in the point of the newspaper story could Manasseh's skill as a bushman and his knowledge of the area. If we put the emphasis on the words "on horseback", we might be closer to the truth.

So to debunk the myth:

Manasseh Ward's probably did not play a role in the rescue of survivors of the Maitland disaster, but he probably was instrumental in navigating the first group of horsemen to the site, which was considered a wonderful feat of bushmanship. This was possibly the start of the recovery operation, not the initial rescue.

To find out more about the Maitland disaster, I suggest you buy Geoffrey's book:

Wreck of the Maitland: a scene to make the angels weep by Geoffrey Potter  
available from the Gosford Library  for $25.

You can also find it on other online sources, but it will probably cost more! 

President's Hill

In my correspondence with Geoffrey Potter, he happened to mention that he also had concerns about the idea that President's Hill in Gosford was named in honour of Manasseh Ward as the first President of Erina Shire. He has since provided me with at least two separate instances where the name was used many years before Erina Shire was created.

Land was being sold in "The President's Hill Estate" (a real estate subdivision) as early as 1887 and there are numerous advertisements in the Sydney and Newcastle newspapers to prove it. For one example, see The Daily Telegraph, 16 November, 1887, page 2 (fifth advert in column 3).

Manasseh Ward was not elected to his first term on the Gosford Borough Council until 1888. Erina Shire would not be created created until 1906,  19 years after President's Hill was first mentioned.

Conclusions

It is probably inevitable that myths would be found in the story of a man who was so admired and loved in the community. One of the very early people to write about the early days in Gosford was George Fletcher, a Boer War veteran who worked at Erina Shire in Manasseh's time as Shire President. He wrote regularly under the pen name 'Perong', and in one of his memoirs in 1936 he wrote:

I may be permitted here to say that I have known Gosford for a very long time, and I have known some very good men, and have had (and still have) a very high regard for many, but my feeling for Manasseh Ward amounted almost to worship, and it still holds good.

The key to me is that even when you strip away the tall tales and myths, there are many more facts that can be verified, and they all tell the same story. Manasseh Ward was a man who had a great love of life and the district in which he lived his whole life. He was a generous, warm hearted man who made a huge contribution to the development of the Gosford district.

The Henderson Trust

Darling Harbour Resumption plan

Madeline Geary Ward nee Henderson had a steady and independent income from a trust established by her grandfather's will. I have struggled to sort out the exact details. I suspect that some of the  newspaper accounts of the various court cases may be a bit misleading when it comes to the specifics.

Someone with the time, and probably a bit more legal knowledge than me could probably read the documents in the Henderson Box (an archive box at the Mitchell Library) and consult the various Court Records to get a more accurate picture than I have been able to put together.

Robert Henderson left property in trust to four people:

• His son Robert Geary Henderson was to receive the Veteran Hall properties (current-day Saratoga) and also some property at the Phoenix Wharf.
• His son Thomas Henderson was to receive some property in Erskine Street with a wharf and buildings known as the Bethel Chapel.
• His granddaughter Madeline Geary Henderson was to receive the Dove Inn and properties in Sussex Street.
• His grandson Robert Francis Geary Henderson was to receive several properties at Pittwater and Brisbane Water, as well as a part of the Phoenix Wharf property containing the Clarence Hotel.

Thomas Henderson died shortly after his father and under the terms of the Will, his share was divided between the two grandchildren, Madeline and Robert Francis Geary Henderson.

The way I read the Will, all the properties were to be in Trust for the recipients lifetime, but Robert Francis Geary Henderson seems to have been able to deal with his properties as there is evidence he sold several of them over the years. But both Madeline and Robert Geary Henderson's properties were held in trusts set up under the 'Permanent Trustee Company of NSW Ltd.

One my big frustrations has been getting an accurate idea of just where the different Sydney properties were. They were all in the Darling Harbour area, but there was so much land reclamation over the years, with corresponding changes in the streetscape, that it is not easy to follow the descriptions.

This week I discovered some accurate plans of the area made on 1901 when the NSW Government resumed the whole Darling Harbour area for the development of public wharves. This has clarified some of the locations. (See the extract above- you should be able to expand it.)

The resumption map has two portions marked that are owned by the Permanent Trustee under the Estate of Robert Henderson. The former Dove Inn (marked as the Oxford Hotel) and the Sussex Street properties (marked 49) are leased to John See. Other papers suggest that See had a wharf on this property, but from the plan it is hard to see how or where the wharf would be. From other maps, I think the original waterline was at the end of the Sussex Street properties, where the Empire Hotel is shown on this plan (This hotel seems to be in one of the houses erected by Robert Henderson.) So I think the wharf may have behind that hotel, with a yard running back to the old Dove Inn, behind the houses.

The other portion (parked 53) is on the corner of Erskine and Shelly Streets, and I suspect that this may be the Bethel Chapel site left to Thomas Henderson. This is also under lease, but the lease has almost expired. If this the Bethel Chapel site, it was a waterfront site when Robert Henderson bought it. This would suggest that the whole Phoenix Wharf site was reclaimed from the harbour during Robert Henderson's lifetime (be bought his lots towards the end of his life).

I think the Clarence Hotel was on the other side of Shelly Street and is shown as the Balmain Ferry Hotel. This site had been resumed 10 years earlier.

No part of the Phoenix Wharf seems to be administered by the Trust, but there are mentions in other papers of compensation relating the the Phoenix Wharf being held in trust for the children of Robert Geary Henderson. It is possible that this was from the earlier resumption of the Clarence Hotel site, which at the time of Robert Henderson's Will was part of the Phoenix Wharf.

The many occupations of Manasseh Ward

Manasseh Ward grew up in the Brisbane Water district during the pioneer era. As is the way of most pioneers, he could turn his hand to almost anything that needed doing. In researching Manasseh, I have found direct evidence or been told stories that show him working in a wide range of occupations:

• Teamster was probably his chosen occupation as a young man. This is the occupation that is shown on his marriage documents and also on the birth certificates of his younger children. By all reports, he was an expert at this work and was famous in the district for his ability to move almost anything with pulleys, levers and a few good horses.
• Mariner – he was a competent mariner, able to crew and probably captain the small trading vessels owned by his father. One family story also places him as the ferryman, operating the East Gosford punt.
• Cattleman – with his brother Ephraim, he ran cattle on the family properties at Killcare, Kincumber, Mooney Mooney and other parts of the district.  He also leased land from the Council where he ran cattle.
• Poultry breeder – he ran extensive poultry yards. This was well beyond a backyard hobby and he sold eggs, birds for the table and breeding stock. He exported his best breeding stock as far as New Zealand.
• Dairy farmer – he operated a small dairy in Gosford and sold milk and cream.
• Orchardist – he had an orchard at Brady's Gully.
• Local Government politician – he served on both the Gosford Borough Council and later the Erina Council, including six terms as Mayor of Gosford and another six terms as Shire President of Erina Shire.
• Landowner – this his his occupation on the birth certificates of several children. In addition to several farms, he also owned a number of houses in the district that were rented out.
• Forest Inspector – When he stood for election to the newly created Erina Council, Manasseh told constituents that he was currently working as a Forest Inspector for the Forestry Department!
• Racehorse owner – while it was primarily a recreational passion, I am including it here because I think he was quite a successful owner of both gallopers and trotters.
• Gentleman – This is shown as Manasseh's profession on many documents after about 1885. It probably represents the diversity of his business interests and activities as well as the standing he held in the community.

I think many assume that Manasseh was able to pursue his political career because of the independent income that Madeline received from the Henderson Trust. But when I see the breadth of his business activities I think it likely that he like worked very hard to establish his own independent stream of income to support his family. Having said that, Madeline's income allowed them to live a more comfortable existence than would otherwise have been the case, and they certainly seem to have been very philanthropic in their support of the community.

Manasseh would devote huge energy to any undertaking that he thought worthwhile. The following is a direct quote from an admirer, referring to the welcome home of Gosford's Boer War veterans:

"...it was not generally known that Mr Ward was the originator of it, its secretary, treasurer, and chairman all rolled into one "

My research into Manasseh and his wife Madeline is finally drawing to a close and I am starting the complicated process of trying to make a complicated life story easy to read and understand. 

Manasseh Ward - sportsman

Christopher Sly's trophies, won on 
successive days.

In his younger days, Manasseh Ward was an active sportsman. He was an active participant in the annual Brisbane Water regatta, which was a big event in an area largely dependant on sail for trade and transport. He also played cricket for teams in Kincumber and Gosford and was known as a big-hitting batsman. In 1935, local historian George Fletcher proposed a team of cricketing greats who would represent Brisbane Water in Paradise – 'with our beloved Manasseh Ward as umpire'.

He held a marksman certificate with the Rifle Club and participated in swimming competitions. 

But the pastime that gave Manasseh the most pleasure was horse racing. He trained and rode his own horses at first, but in later times his wife's uncle, Charlie Wallbridge trained Manasseh's horses. Various local drivers and jockeys would ride the races. In later years Manasseh's son Roy Ward would drive his trotting horses.

Manasseh owned one horse named 'Cristopher Sly' that stands out. The story goes that this horse had endless energy and was difficult to control. At one race meeting at Blue Gum Flat (now Wyong), they lined up the horses for the start of the race. Christopher Sly broke before the starter's gun and bolted around the course. He did eight laps of the one mile track before the jockey could pull him up. They lined him up with the field again and this time, the starter got them away cleanly. It was another lap of the course and despite already having done eight miles, Christoper Sly won the race! Charlie Wallbridge was proudly leading him in when a comedian in the crowd called out to Manasseh, 'What do you feed that horse on Ward'. Before Manasseh could answer, Charlie Wallbridge quipped ' Nine mile blankety corn mate' (the actual word used was somewhat more colourful than blankety)..

In October 1884, Christopher Shy won the Benson Cup and the Edward Walmsley Cup on successive days, winning two ornate silver trophies (pictured above). These trophies are still in the family to this day and their engravings prove that the tale is true.

As with other aspects of his life, Manasseh was heavily involved in organising and managing racing activities. It was not unusual for him to act as both the starter and the the supervisor of the final weights at the finish of the race. He would fire the starting gun, then leap onto his pony and ride hell-for-leather across the racecourse to the weighing-in place to be ready to weigh the winning jockey.