A letter from home

The address on the letter

In her landmark family history of the Henderson and Ward families, Joan Taylor included a transcription of a letter written by Alexander Mitchel to his sister, Catherine Ward, at Brisbane Water.

I was unable to find the original of the letter when I followed up Joan's references. It was in the Mitchell Library, but Joan's reference did not make sense to the Librarian I consulted at the time. 

I eventually found the correct references in the Library's online catalogue, and last Saturday, I had a chance to visit the library and see the letter for myself. Joan's reference was possibly outdated by the time I initially looked. 

It took longer for the Librarian to fix my Library Card than to get the document on my hands, a matter of minutes. 

The letter is just a two  pieces of stained paper, neatly mounted in an archive folder, but once you know the story, it tells us quite a lot.

I will not repeat the whole letter here, but I took photographs. I added the photos to an updated transcript and some of my analysis. I have put the resulting document on my website. See A letter from home. If you want to find it again, it is under the William Ward resources section as '1853-ward-letter-from-home.pdf'. I will be updating this document if I find any more information.

So what is new? I have found or deduced quite a few things from this original that were not apparent from Joan's transcript. Just looking at it again also raised some new ideas.

1. The letter is dated 27 November 1853, but I think it is postmarked 'Sydney - April 1854'. There is also a visible number five, so maybe 5th or 15th of April. That means that the letter took almost five months to arrive by sailing ship. Allowing a few weeks turn around, Alexander would have waited for a year before he got a reply!
2. I think I found a small error in Joan's transcription. It is in the second line of the snippet pictured below. Joan transcribed it as 'Our sister Mary with her husband...'. But I think it is 'Anny' not Mary, which makes more sense as Mary is clearly mentioned in the next sentence. This has led me to reverse my earlier conclusion that Mary was married. This new interpretation suggests she was not married, otherwise Alexander would probably have said so, as he did with Anne.
3. Later in the letter, Alexander asks for the address of another sibling, John, who appears to be in Australia.
4. All this leads me to wonder about the other siblings? Baptism records for Alloa record nine children in the family, including another Catherine who presumably died before our Catherine was born. Anne, Mary and John are mentioned, and we can account for the two Catherines and Alexander, but what about Elizabeth, Janet, Marjorie and William? I have never been able to find any record of these children that I can be sure are the right family - so my new working theory is that the other children had died or left Scotland by 1853. There do not appear to be any surviving records of deaths in Alloa Parish before 1853.
5. Alexander also asks for news of an uncle also named Alexander. Joan was unsure whether this was an uncle on their father or mother's side, but my research suggests that it was a McGregor. Like Joan, I have not been able to find an Alexander McGregor in Australia that I can clearly link to our family.  
6. The letter is addressed 'care of Mr Northwood, Erskine Street'. Joan Taylor transcribed this as 'William Northwood', but I think the salutation is the same as on William's name, which I read to be 'Mr' – I would stand corrected on that, but it is not important, because I think his name was William Northwood anyway. William Northwood was an ex-Convict who had become a successful timber merchant. I suspect he served his time as a convict at Brisbane Water because that was where his Ticket of Leave was issued and where he married. Given the size of Brisbane Water at the time and his involvement in timber trading I assume he would have been well known to the Ward family and was possibly their agent in Sydney. I found one advertisement in the Sydney papers that hint that he may also have been in business with Robert Henderson as they were both named as contacts for a load of timber and shingles. Northwood's Wharf was at the foot of Erskine Street, quite possibly the wharf at the Bethel Chapel, which was purchased by Robert Henderson in 1953.

The top of page 2 of the letter which gives the news of family and friends.

The whole point of this letter is the cheque that had been incorrectly made out. The cheque was to pay for the Scottish siblings to emigrate to New South Wales. History tells that Alexander never made it here. I found a copy of his death registration which leaves little doubt. He died in Alloa in 1873. The death registration gives his age as 57 (a close match to his birth in 1819) and his parents as John Mitchell and Catherine McGregor. The informant was his wife, Mary Younger.

Armed with the additional information of Alexander's marriage, he can easily be found in the Census records for 1851, 1861 and 1871.

I doubt that Mary came either. With the new information that she was probably not married in 1853, I have a better chance of finding her story. The Scottish birth, death and marriage records are frustrating to work with (as are many) in that you have to pay over $30 to get enough information to be certain, but there are several deaths in Alloa in the 1890s that could be our Catherine's little sister. I will keep looking!

Always worth a second look

I was checking my references for Robert Henderson in the last few weeks and made the final breakthrough in sorting out his Sydney land dealings. I had been working from hand-written land transfer documents that were mainly sourced from family tree websites. But with a fresh look and a clear mind, I managed to track down and make sense of the Land Titles Office records. Now I can see why I was confused!

The area of Robert Henderson's Sydney properties
as it was in 1833 (click to enlarge).

The image to the right is a detailed street plan of Sydney as it was in 1833. I have put this image together from four separate plans which is why it has writing at odd angles. You can see the original plans at the Historical Atlas of Sydney and this is worth a look if you are interested in such things. You can compare the 1833 map with the 1880 plans (Dove's Plans). The 1833 plans show the  boundaries and  ownership/occupation of the properties as they were in 1833, with a lot of lines and notes in red that are about later developments. I have marked seven properties on my version here. Robert's properties are numbered 1 to 6 which is the order in which he acquired them. The property marked in blue is an interesting diversion that I will cover at the end.

1. Robert's first property was in Kent Street. In May 1830, the owner took out a mortgage with Robert, and the following year, ownership was transferred to Robert. I think this property cost Robert £300. I suspect that this property became Robert's first base in Sydney as he testified in a court case that he lodged in Kent Street when he was in Sydney. Robert sold this property in October 1835 for £400, no doubt to fund the next purchase. On the plan, the owner is shown as Robert Anderson, which was a common mistake at that time, but the Land Titles transfers are clearly in the name of Robert Henderson.
2. In December 1835 Robert purchased the property on the north western corner of Erskine and Sussex Streets. The vendor was John Forster Church and his name is shown on the block on the plan. Robert paid £650. In January 1836 Robert was given permission to build a wharf into Darling Harbour from the rear of the property. The wharf was not to extend 'beyond the true line of Sussex Street', which makes sense when you know that Sussex Street ended at the waterline, just past Robert's rear boundary and the Governemt had plans to fill in the inlet and extend Sussex Street, which they later did.
   It is not clear if there was an Inn on the site before Robert bought it, but Church was a wine merchant, so it quite possibly did have one. There certainly was an Inn named the Captain Piper there in 1837, licensed to John Anderson. He had leased the property from Robert in 1836.  William Bergan took over the lease in 1838, paying  Robert for £120 rent per year. Bergen held the license for the Sprig of Shillalah. The same building would would become the Dove Inn in 1842.   
3. In January 1838 Robert purchased 33 perches of land adjoining the Inn site to the west. The vendor was William Tiernan who is shown as the owner on the plan and the price was £650. This land was absorbed into the Inn site.
4. In November 1853 Robert purchased the site of the Bethel Chapel at auction. The Bethel Union had moved their operations to the Rocks. Robert paid £3,450, which shows how much prices had increased.
5. Robert had leased several properties in Erskine Street from George Allen in 1850. He established the Clarence Hotel in one of these properties, which was on the north-western corner of Erskine and Shelly Streets, one block west of the Dove Inn. It looks to me like he set up this hotel for his son, Robert Jr. Robert did not buy the property until May 1865. It was then described as Lot 3 of Phoenix Wharf, and Robert paid £2,100. By this time, Robert Jr was in disgrace, having deserted his family and his wife, Hannah, was the licensee of the Clarence Hotel.
6. In June 1865,  Robert purchased Lots 4 and Lot 5 of Phoenix Wharf from George Allen at a price of £927. These properties were on the north-eastern corner of Erskine and Shelly Streets, opposite the Clarence Hotel.

The last five of these properties where still in Robert's possession when he died in 1868 and they became part of the Trusts that he established in his will. If you are interested in tracking what happened to the properties, see my 2023 posts on those trusts.

My 2022 post on Robert Henderson's Sydney properties mentioned several other properties that Robert seemed to advertise for sale. Given that Robert was an Innkeeper, and the advertisements mentioned the hotel as well as Robert's name, it is possible that 'Robert Henderson's Dove Inn' was given the address of the vendor and Robert himself was not the vendor at all. I have not found any evidence in the official land records that Robert sold any more properties in Sydney, so I have now discounted these properties.

My confusion over the Sydney properties was to some extent because of the property I have marked in blue. If you look carefully, there are two blocks, one fronting Erskine Street and one fronting Sussex Street. The owner of both is shown as Mary Stewart, widow of the Late Robert Stewart, with a note in red 'R. Henderson C. Pass trustees'. Other documents spell-out the names as Robert Henderson and Casper Pass. And the description of the combined properties make it sound like a corner block. So we have Robert Henderson and Casper Pass showing up in a series of transactions for a property that seems to be on the corner of Erskine and Sussex Streets! It was the above plan of the properties that finally made it clear to me that this property was on the diagonally opposite corner to the Dove Inn site.

So what is going On? Well clarity came in one of the Land Records. It describes the person as 'Robert Henderson of Sydney aforesaid gardener'. So not our Robert Henderson at all!

This man was born in England in about 1800 and arrived in the Colony as a free settler about 1830. He married  Elizabeth Shepherd in Sydney in 1831. They had eight children born between 1833 and 1848. He lived in Newtown and worked initially as a gardener and later as a nurseryman. He was involved as a trustee in several trusts including this one. He was also a trustee for a church property in Lime Street, also quite close to the Dove Inn.

Once again the cautionary tale about similar or duplicate names. I have double-checked the other properties for collaborating details to make sure I have the right Robert Henderson. The sale document for the Kent Street property refers to Robert Henderson and Catherine his wife, so clearly our Robert. All the other properties were detailed in his will.

William Ward's arrival in Sydney?

Some of the most interesting discoveries I have made in my family history research have been accidental.

This week, I solved a long-standing question about when and how William Ward came to Sydney. We have solid evidence that he arrived in NSW as a convict aboard the Almorah (1817) and was immediately transferred to another vessel, the Pilot and sent to Tasmania. He served out his 7-year sentence on public works at Georgetown before being released in February 1824. The next we hear of him he is running shingles to Sydney from Brisbane Water in 1825. 

This week I was searching for a document about another ancestor and stumbled on the answer to that puzzle. When looking at scanned images of old land records, I flicked backwards few pages just to see if there was anything related or interesting. In this case I found William Ward's original application for the purchase of a property at current-day Killcare. 

It all seemed as I would expect, except that his surname is spelled 'Whard'. The description of the land seems right for the land that William and his  family called home. It reveals that William had engaged an agent to do the application, a man named Samuel Jones at Market Wharf. That makes sense because William was illiterate.

Land purchase application by 
William Ward in 1835

Then I noticed something odd. There is a small declaration at the end 'I am free and arrived in the Colony by the Ship...'

The 'Ship' was crossed out and 'Cutter Lord Liverpool, from London in 1824' was entered! That does not match our William at all! What was going on! So I did some more digging.

The Lord Liverpool was a cutter that was purchased in London by a wealthy merchant who wanted to emigrate to a warmer climate. She sailed from London in 1822 with 16 people on board, crew and passengers. No Ward or Whard listed, although there were two unnamed apprentice blacksmiths (unlikely to be William because he was not a blacksmith). The vessel arrived at Georgetown in February 1823. She was sold in Launceston in September 1824 and soon afterwards sailed to Sydney where she arrived on 27 October. She was carrying a cargo of wheat and sundries. She carried five passengers including the new owners and some businessmen. There were also three of their servants who are not named. Apart from the Master, the crew are also not named. The cutter had sailed from London with a crew of seven, including the master and a carpenter, so it is safe to assume there was a crew of at lease four or five for the short voyage from Launceston.

The Lord Liverpool went onto regular service to Newcastle which she continued until wrecked at the entrance to Newcastle Harbour in 1830.

It seems perfectly logical that a recently freed convict would take on a job as temporary crewman as a way of getting to the main part of the Colony, which at that time was Sydney. 

I am satisfied that this document is evidence that William Ward arrived in Sydney aboard the Lord Liverpool on 27 October 1824, travelling not from London, but from Launceston. He could argue that  he did come from London, and he did arrive in Sydney on the Lord Liverpool. The fact that he left London six years before the cutter is just an untidy detail.

I don't think this was a subterfuge to increase his chances of getting the land. A convict past was not a barrier to purchasing land from the Colonial Government. More likely it was because of the intermediary, his agent, getting William's story slightly awry.

Accidental paradise

It has been a while since I posted on this blog, partially because I have largely completed the research phase of my project, and partially because I have been rethinking what I am trying to achieve. What set out to be an update of a landmark family history from the 1980s has evolved into something quite different. 

I have now worked through at least four different versions of this book. Most of the other family histories that I have read document the lives of individual people, which involves a degree of duplication for a married couple. I had the feeling that in most families, the story of a man or woman cannot be easily separated from the story of their spouse and children, and telling of individual stories can easily undervalue the contribution of the women of the family. So I decided to base the book on a series of small ‘family’ biographies. This works very well, except for the unusually complex family of Robert Henderson II. But he is a special case.

Next, I started to look at how I would organise a printed book. I had written over 40 separate chapters, mostly biographies of families, and no mater how I organised them, it seemed clumsy and difficult to navigate. 

There was one recurring thought that came to me as I was researching many of the convict generation was the likelihood that many of them must have had a 'light-bulb' moment. They had been sent to the Colony of New South Wales as a punishment, but it was turning out to be a better life that they would have had if they had stayed in their homeland.

This led me to a new way of organising my intended book. I have divided it into three parts.

Part 1. Ancestral roots

The first part will look at the ancestral roots of our family in the British Isles. My starting point is 1770 when James Cook was making the discoveries that would eventually lead to the establishment of the British Colonies on the Australian continent. This is also an important point in time when you look at the reasons most of our ancestors ended up in Australia. 

Across most of the British Isles people were living a largely rural existence. Most families had lived out many generations within a small local area. But agricultural revolution was driving an unprecedented population growth and the industrial revolution was stirring. People were starting to move around to find work and the drift of people to the larger cities was increasing.

Part 2. The immigrants

16 of our ancestors made the journey from Britain to the Colony of New South Wales. They arrived over 60 years starting in 1793. They included eight convicts, six free settlers and one soldier with his wife. Three married couples made the journey. The remaining ten immigrants met their partners in the colony.

This part of the book will comprise eight chapters, each covering the lives of a couple and their children.

Part 3. Colonial pioneers

The final six chapters will be the stories of the colonial-born generations. As in the immigrant section, each chapter will cover  the lives of a couple and their children.

Some rule breakers

While most of the immigrants either arrived as couples, or married another immigrant in Australia, Sarah Lewis and Hannah Wallbridge did not quite fit that rule. Sarah Lewis was colonial born, but married a convict, while Hannah Wallbridge arrived as an immigrant, and married a colonial-born man. 

• I included Sarah Lewis with her husband, Thomas Watkins in the immigrant section. 
• I included Hannah Wallbridge with her colonial born husband, Robert Henderson II in the pioneers section. The fact that Hannah’s parents followed her to Australia means that this makes more sense.

Progressive rewrite

I have created a new section of my website for the new version of the book and will be linking in the new chapters as I go. I am trying to rewrite the new chapters more as a story and less as a commentary on the records that have been found. I will be referencing the sources of key facts and will make my rougher notes available under the resources section of each chapter.

Purse of gold

I was recently reading back through a family history prepared in the mid 1980s by Joan Taylor, a granddaughter of Manasseh and Madeline Ward. Joan's mother was Doris Ward  (always known as Dolly), the youngest of Manasseh and Madeline's children. Joan was a very thorough researcher, and recognised the importance of recording things, even if she was unable to verify them.

Towards the end of Joan's folder, there is a small collection of family stories. In my latest skim through, I noticed the story below which I did not remember. It is possibly the story of how an unnamed couple first met.

The family story from page 95 of Joan Taylor's landmark family history.

So who were this couple? The source of the story was Dolly Pierce nee Ward. It is very unlikely that this was about Dolly herself. In fact, it is an unlikely story for anyone to recount about themselves, because it paints them as either a thief or an accomplice. I suspect that it was told in the third party to protect the identity of the protagonists, but was likely one of Dolly's ancestors.

My logical mind stepped back through the family tree to see who might fit the story. The key facts are that it was in Sydney or Parramatta, and the couple went on to do well - the sovereigns were the basis of the family fortune.

• Manasseh and Madeline Ward met in Gosford. ✗
• William and Catherine Ward almost certainly met at Killcare. ✗
• William Ward and Catherine Mitchell both arrived as convicts, so that rules out any of their ancestors. ✗
• Madeline's father, Robert Geary Henderson squandered rather than made a family fortune. ✗
• Madeline's mother, Hannah Wallbridge, arrived from England, so it could not have anyone in her family. ✗
• Madeline's Henderson grandparents, Robert Henderson and Catherine Geary cannot be ruled out! 
• Robert Henderson's parents arrived together as Irish convicts, so they are rued out. ✗
• Patrick and Elizabeth Geary arrived together, Patrick as a soldier and Elizabeth as his wife. It cannot be them or any of their family. ✗

Dolly's only ancestors who I could not eliminate were Robert Henderson and Catherine Geary. They fit the story nicely and if the story was true, it may explain a few things. 

They both grew up in Parramatta and married there when Catherine was only 16. Neither was from a privileged background, and it is very unlikely that the young couple had much money. Robert's father was a tenant farmer and petty criminal and had been in prison in the years leading up to his son's marriage. Cathrine's father was a private in the NSW Corps. While many of the officers had done well for themselves, Patrick Geary was a working-class man.

Shortly after they married, Robert was granted land at Pittwater. There was an error in the grant documents and Robert's name was recorded as 'Anderson'. Was this really an error - or did the couple intentionally give the wrong name? And why take up land so far from where they had grown up? Was this just where the opportunities were, or was it to escape a poor reputation in the Parramatta district?

Their Pittwater farm prospered quickly. They quickly built up a herd of cattle and within five years they were buying nearby properties for cash. How were they able to build up their resources so quickly?

Robert and Catherine had setbacks and windfalls along the way, but of all of Dolly's ancestors, theirs was probably the largest family fortune.

If my logic is sound, this story puts a different light on Robert Henderson. While I had his father down as a petty Irish villain, I thought that Robert may have lived a more honest life. Sure he had a reputation as a rum smuggler, but that was just a bit of 'character'. 

But if this story is about Robert and Catherine Henderson, it paints him as a character more like his father. He may have been a thief from a young age, but was clever enough to stay a step ahead of the authorities and used his ill-gotten gains to establish a legitimate business empire. Maybe not the law-abiding good citizen that my imagination had created?

Which Thomas Watkins?

 I have been working this week going over the information that I have on Thomas and Sarah Watkins, who were early settlers of Mangrove Creek, a settlement in the lower Hawkesbury River region of Colonial New South Wales. I have written previously about both Thomas Watkins and his wife, Sarah Lewis. Thomas was a convict who arrived in Sydney on the Baring in 1815. Sarah was born in the colony, probably of convict parents.

The problem is that there were a number of people in the Colony who carried the name 'Thomas Watkins'.  That is not particularly unusual with the more common surnames. Christian names like Thomas, William, James, John and Joseph where also a dime a dozen at the time. William Ward was another relative that had the same problem - there were 35 or more convicts of that name over the history of convict transportation!

When considering a new piece of evidence that refers to a person of interest, in this case Thomas Watkins, I usually look for a second collaborative detail to make sure I have the right person. For a convict, this is often the ship on which they arrived, but I also accept locations or other details that give added assurance. So with William Ward, we can be sure that any reference that mentions the Almorah or Brisbane Water are likely to be my ancestor.

But this gets more complicated for Thomas Watkins, because there were two convicts of that name aboard the convict ship Baring. The two men often appear on the same page of convicts and the key detail that separates them is the place that they were tried.

• One was a native of Bristol and had been convicted at Gloucester on 6 April, 1814. His occupation was carter.
• The other was a native of Herefordshire and had been tried at Hereford. He was a labourer.

Both had been sentenced to transportation for life and were of a similar age (within five years). You can often find them both on the same list of convicts.

Click to enlarge - list of convicts in Baring.
There are two men named Thomas Watkins.

So which one was the Thomas that married Sarah Lewis? They had to get permission from the Governor to marry, but the records of that permission just describes Thomas as coming on the Baring.

The answer requires a bit more detective work than normal.  

In 1826 our Thomas Watkins was accused of stealing wood and his Ticket of Leave was revoked. Sarah appealed to the Governor and in her letter says that Thomas had held his Ticket of Leave for seven years. This matches up with a request to the Governor in 1919, which says that Thomas was recently married.

The investigation cleared Thomas of any wrong-doing and a new Ticket of leave was issued. This document is the clue I neeeded. It gives his native place as Bristol, his place of trial as Gloucester and the date of trial as 6 April 1814. It also  details the cancellation of the earlier Ticket of Leave. So there is no doubt that the Thomas Watkins who married Sarah Lewis was the one from Bristol. They are linked by Sarah's letter to the Governor.

The Hereford Thomas was granted his Ticket of Leave in 1824, at which time he was in the Illawarra region. I have not traced his history further.

It is not surprising that some family historians have mixed up the two men, and you will find some family trees that have the events of both men combined into a single story. 

At one point a few years ago, I was living at Wentworth Falls in the NSW Blue Mountains. Our house was on a section of the original 'Cox's Road' that had been built in just six months by William Cox. I had a short-lived thrill when I found the name of Thomas Watkins, who arrived on the Baring among the convicts assigned to work on the road. Of course it was the Hereford Thomas, not our relative.

The coincidences are interesting. I was browsing old copies of 'The Gloucester Journal', where I knew there were reports of Thomas's trial. I did a search for 'Thomas Watkins' and 'horse-stealing' and got an immediate hit in the right timeframe. I was about to save my find, when I noticed that it was a report of the Hereford Assizes (courts). I was sure I was in the right edition of that paper, and did some page flipping, and sure enough, the Gloucester Assizes, and our Thomas's conviction, were reported on page three, while the more distant courts, with the other Thomas, were on page four. And they were both convicted of horse-stealing.

Madeline Geary Henderson's trust

This is the story of the property trust established by Robert Henderson for his granddaughter, Madeline. Read my earlier post for the background to this trust.

Madeline Mary Geary Henderson was the second child of Robert Geary Henderson and Hannah Wallbridge.  Her grandfather, Robert Henderson Sr set up a trust in his will to provide for Madeline's care and schooling and to give her a good start in life. He may have had concerns that Madeline's father would squander the family fortune and not care properly for Madeline and her brother. (If you read about the other trusts, you will see that any such fears were well justified.)

Madeline's trust consisted of two parcels of land in Darling Harbour:

Diagram of the property included in Madeline Henderson's trust. This diagram was contained
with the papers from Robert's lawyers.

• The hotel known as the Dove Inn in the corner of Erskine and Sussex Streets in Sydney.
• A row of houses running from the Dove Inn, along Sussex Street.

It is likely that there was a wharf at the end of the row of houses, and this would have been linked to the Inn through the yard shown behind the houses. This wharf would have been included in the property.

Madeline was 14 and at boarding school when her grandfather died. While she remained a minor, any income from the trust was be applied to her care and education, as well her advancement in life. Once she was 21, she would be able to use the income for her own benefit or choose how it would be applied.

Madeline remained at her boarding school until she was married Joseph Keele in 1875. Tragically, Joseph died six months later and Madeline was left a widow (and pregnant) at just 20 years of age. After her daughter Josephine was born, Madeline went to stay with her brother, Robert, at the Kincumber property he had inherited in his trust. While there, she met Manasseh Ward, whose family owned the neighbouring property. They married in 1877.  In the ensuing 20 years, Madeline gave birth to another 13 children, 10 surviving to adulthood.

In 1878, the Trustees leased part of the property to John See and James Kidman for 90 years, for an annual rent of £248. They separately leased the hotel and boarding house for seven years. In 1887, the hotel and boarding house were leased to John See for 50 years for £400 per year. The £648 combined rental was the equivalent of almost 10 times the income of an average worker in 1888.

The trustees appointed under Robert Henderson's will retired in 1897 and the Permanent Trustee Company was appointed to administer the trust. 

In 1900, The Colonial Government announced the resumption of a large swathe of the Sydney waterfront for a redevelopment project. Madeline's property was included. Compensation was paid in 1903, with over £19,000 paid for the Dove in and houses belonging to Madeline. Unfortunately for Madeline, 92% of the compensation was paid to the people who held the long-term lease, and Madeline's trust was left with just over £1,800. While this was a lot less that the property was worth, it was still about 18 times the average wage at the time.

The trustees reinvested the money on terrace houses in Glebe. I am not exactly sure how many houses they bought and an earlier family researcher found that some of the houses were also resumed. But at the end of the trust, there were 20 brick houses in two terraces. There were 16 houses in Glebe Road (now Glebe Point Road) and four houses in Bridge Road.

Madeline and Manasseh were not dependent on the trust for their daily needs, but the trust enabled them to educate their family and also to live comfortably. Both Manasseh and Madeline had other property holdings that would have earned money from rents. The reliability of the trust income probably allowed Manasseh to devote his time to civic duties and he served many terms on local Councils.

While Madeline seemed content to let her trust run its course, not all her children were as patient. The youngest child Bruce first mortgaged his rights to the trust in 1918 and then sold them in 1920. Roy likewise sold his rights in 1920.

Madeline died in 1934. The trustees sought to get the approval of the beneficiaries to sell the real estate properties. However Madeline's eldest child, Josephine was in care in the USA and was not able to approve the sale. The trust would not be wound up until after Josephine's death in 1964. I have not discovered the precise details of the final winding up of the trust, but based on documents from Josephine's Australian probate file, and family recollections, it was finalised in about 1965. An estimate of the value of the trust done for Josephine's probate was over $140,000, roughly 60 times the average annual income. Each of the 11 shares would have been worth around $12,800. 

I think that Madeline's grandfather would have been happy with the trust he established for Madeline. It probably the only one of the four trusts that he created that did what he intended, and allowed Madeline to live a comfortable life.

Thomas Henderson's trust

The single property i Thomas's trust is
shaded in red.

This is the story of the property trust established by Robert Henderson for his son, Thomas. See my earlier post for the background to this trust. 

Thomas Henderson was the second son of Robert Henderson, an Innkeeper in early Colonial Sydney. Little is known about Thomas. Details of his birth have not been discovered, leading some to speculate that he may have been adopted as a companion for Robert, his older brother.

Thomas grew up around the Dove Inn in Darling Harbour. The little we know of Thomas paints the picture of a spoiled youth with rich parents. He comes into some focus in 1858 when he is repeatedly taken to court in an effort to get him to support a child he had fathered with Eliza Wallbridge, a barmaid at the Dove Inn. To make matters worse, Eliza washis sister-in-law, younger sister of Hannah, his brother's wife.

At around the same time as Thomas was creating a scandal for the family, his brother Robert was busy doing the same, deserting Hannah and her children and running away to Woy Woy with another woman. 

These joint scandals were quite possibly behind their father's decision to leave his property in trusts, rather than to his sons direct.

Robert Henderson Sr created a property trust for Thomas that contained a single property, known as the 'Bethel Chapel'. This had been a seaman's mission run by an interdenominational organisation called the 'Bethel Union', but the property was sold to Robert Henderson when a new chapel was built in The Rocks. The property was right on the waterfront at the foot of Erskine Street. From descriptions contained in later conveyancing, it seems to be on the opposite (southern) side of Erskine Street, opposite what was then known as the Clarence Hotel.

The property was left in Trust to Thomas for his lifetime. He was entitled to receive any rents or profits from the property, but was not permitted sell it or convey it to someone else.

Thomas fell seriously ill shortly after his father died. In his last weeks of life, he made a will, naming the publicans at the Dove Inn and Clarence Hotel as his executors and leaving all of his estate to Catherine Larkin, housemaid at the Dove Inn. There was a Catherine Larkin born in St James, Sydney in 1854 and if this was the girl, she was only 16! Thomas was 32.

The trustees signed over the Bethel Chapel property to Catherine Larkin in September 1870.

Catherine married Matthew Smith in 1872, but the couple held onto the property and there are several records of the property being leased in the following years. I have not traced it further, but it is likely that the property was resumed by the Government either in 1890, when the Clarence Hotel was resumed, or in 1900 when the Dove Inn and the other Phoenix Wharf properties contained in other trusts were resumed.

I can't help it, but I don't have a good opinion of Thomas Henderson. I think his father would have been horrified to see the property leave the family in this manner less than a year after his death, left to a slip of a girl. 

Robert Francis Geary Henderson's trust

The Brisbane Water properties included in
Robert's trust.

This is the story of the property trust established by Robert Henderson, for his grandson, Robert Francis Geary Henderson. See my earlier post for the background to this trust.

Robert Francis Geary Henderson was born in 1856, the third child of Robert Geary Henderson and Hannah Wallbridge. He was about 18 months old when his father deserted the family and ran away to Woy Woy with another woman. His half-brother, named Robert Frederick Henderson, was born at Brisbane Water in 1860. (In this post, a reference to just 'Robert' is to Robert Francis Geary Henderson).

After her husband left, Hannah Henderson took over the running of the Clarence Hotel, but the family probably continued to live with Robert's grandparents, Robert and Catherine Henderson, at the Dove Inn. Robert's older sister, Catherine, died of tuberculosis in 1866, followed in 1868 by his mother Hannah. By this time his grandparents had retired to live at Brisbane Water, and they were both unwell, so Robert and his sister Madeline were sent to boarding schools. 

Meanwhile, Robert's father had four children in his second family. Shortly after Hannah died, Robert Geary Henderson married his defacto, Elizabeth Delaney.

Robert was 14 when his grandfather died and created the property trust. It is likely that Robert Henderson Sr. was not confident that his son (Robert Geary Henderson) would properly care for the children of his first marriage, and so created trusts that he hoped would see them properly educated and given a good start in life.

Robert's trust contained seven parcels of land:

• Lot 3 of Phoenix Wharf, including the Clarence Hotel. This was on the corner of Erskine Street and Shelley Street and the property ran all the way from Shelly Street to the high water mark of Darling Harbour. (see the map in my earlier post for the location).
• 80 acres of land at Pittwater, known as Bryant's grant. This was portion 30, Parish of Narrabeen.
• 100 acres of land at Cockle Creek. This was Portion 29, Parish of Kincumber.
• 300 acres of land at Brisbane Water known as Culcorin. This was Portion 285, Parish of Kincumber.
• Three adjoining lots of land in Holden Street Gosford, each ½ acre.

Robert Henderson Sr's Pittwater land holdings.
Only Bryant's Grant remained when the
trust was create

Under the terms of the Will, income from the properties was to be used for Robert's care, education and furtherance of his life, until he was 21, when he would be able to use the income as he wished. But is was not entitled to sell the properties.

The trustees leased the Clarence Hotel several times before Robert turned 21. 

It seems that Robert may not have understood the terms of the trust, or decided to ignore them, because in 1881 he entered into a contract to sell the Pittwater property. The trustees had to step in six weeks later and legalise the sale by transferring the property to the purchaser.

Then in 1888, at Robert's request, the trustees signed over the absolute title of the remaining properties to Robert. They overcame the legalities with a token payment of 10 shillings from Robert to the trustees. Under the terms of the trust, an attempt to sell the properties possibly ended the trust. Regardless, this was effectively the end of Robert's trust and he was free to sell the properties as he wished. He immediately mortgaged all of the properties, possibly to fund other land transactions in Chippendale.

Robert eventually sold all the properties:

• Portion 29 at Kincumber was sold to Austral Verge in 1890 for £700. Verge was probably acting as an agent, because he on-sold the property for the same price in 1892 to the trustees of the Sisters of St Joseph (including Mary McKillop) for the development of their Kincumber boys home.
• The Clarence Hotel and Lot 3 Phoenix Wharf were resumed by the government in 1890 (ten yeas before the Dove Inn). Robert received £9,489 in compensation.
• Portion 285 at Kincumber (Culcorin) was sold for £700 in 1893.
• Robert converted the three lots in Holden Street Gosford to a single Torrens Title in 1896. He finally sold the property in 1912.

The trust established by his grandfather gave Robert a good start in life and he was able to live as a relatively wealthy man.  He does not come across as a happy man, but that can probably be explained to some extent by his difficult childhood. He spent many of his formative years in a boarding school, and he never had the benefit of a guiding fatherly hand. He died in a traffic accident in 1930. 

I am not sure how the original Robert Henderson would have viewed his grandson's treatment of the trust, and he may have been disappointed that the properties did not remain in the family. But he might also have been quite happy to see his grandson assert himself and would have been satisfied that his fortune was not entirely wasted.

Robert Geary Henderson trust

The three Brisbane water properties included
in Robert's trust

This is the story of the property trust established by Robert Henderson for his eldest son, Robert Geary Henderson.  Read my earlier post for the background to the trust.

Robert Geary Henderson was born at Brisbane Water in 1832, the first child of Robert and Catherine Henderson.  Robert proved to be a man of unreliable temperament and he drank too much. In 1858 he deserted his wife and three children in Sydney and ran away to Woy Woy with another woman. 

The Robert Geary Henderson Trust was established under his father's will, quite possibly to ensure that Robert was able to live comfortably, but not waste the assets that had been accumulated by his father.

Robert Henderson Sr died in 1869. Robert Jr was living at Brisbane Water with his second wife, Elizabeth and two sons, Robert Frederick Henderson and Patrick Bin Henderson. The two boys had been born before the couple married, but were named in their grandfather's will, making them legitimate heirs. The trust established in Robert Sr's will was four properties:

• Lots 4 and 5 Phoenix Wharf at Darling Harbour (see map in earlier post). This property was on the corner of Erskine and Shelley Street,
• 100 acres at Brisbane Water known as 'Veteran Hall', Portion 26 Parish of Kincumber.
• 50 acres adjoining Veteran Hall to the west, Portion 71.
• 100 acres to the south east of Veteran Hall, Portion 116.

The properties were in trust for Robert's lifetime, but he was able to occupy the properties and to receive any rents etc. He was not allowed to sell or transfer the properties and there were clauses that would terminate the trust under certain circumstances. On termination of the trust, presumably by Robert's death, the property was to be divided between Robert Frederick Henderson, Patrick Bin Henderson and any future children.

After the activation of the trust, two more boys were born. Herbert Geary Henderson was born in 1870 and Charles Arthur Henderson was born in 1872.

In 1877, the Trustees leased the Phoenix Wharf property for 30 years, for a yearly rent of £104 per year. remembering that Robert also had the use of 250 acres of land at Brisbane Water, this was a substantial income, about 160% of the average average annual wage for the time.

Robert's second wife, Elizabeth, died in 1885, but Robert immediately formed a new relationship with Gertrude Stretton and more children soon followed. Florence (also known as Kathleen) was born in 1886, Kenneth in 1890 and Nellie in 1893. Robert and Gertrude finally married in 1869, after Nellie's birth.

The first hint of problems was in 1888 when Robert Frederick Henderson mortgaged his interest in the trust to Robert Malcolm, who later transferred it to James Malcolm. It seems that he did not repay the mortgage, and Malcolm owned Robert Frederick's share from this point.

In a similar vein, in 1893, Patrick and Herbert tried to sell their share of the trust to Joseph O'Brien.

Then in 1895, under and order of the Sheriff, Robert Geary Henderson's life interest in the trust was sold at public auction, seemingly to recover debts. This interest was purchased by Robert Miller.

Charles Henderson then approached the Trustees to see if he should be receiving a share of the income from the trust. The trustees were perplexed and asked the Equity Court to clarify who was entitled to the income from the trust. It took the Court almost three years to resolve. The Court eventually ruled that Robert's life interest was terminated and that any income from the trust was to be shared by James Malcolm (Robert Frederick's share),  Patrick, Herbert and Charles. Florence, Kenneth and Nellie were not entitled under the laws of the time, because they were illegitimate. The sale of rights to Joseph O'Brien were ruled invalid and Patrick and Herbert were ordered to pay him £50 each in compensation.

The Court case proved to be the last straw for the trustees and a final decree from the Court transferred the trusteeship to The Permanent Trustee Company Ltd, a private trust management company. 

Importantly, the Court ruled that the same four parties were entitled to an absolute share of the properties on the death of Robert Geary Henderson, but any future born children would have an equal share of both the income and the absolute property.

Soon after the Court decision, Robert and Gertrude had another child, named Archie, born in 1897, followed by Cora in 1899. This added two more to the list of people who would share in the trust. Sadly Cora died at 6 months old, but her entitlement remained.

In 1900, the Colonial Government resumed the Darling Harbour property. The compensation of over £7,000 was paid in 1903. Once again the Courts were involved, because Robert was still alive and any yet-to-be-born children were entitled to a share of the property. So the proceeds were paid into another trust fund, to be distributed after Robert's death.

Patrick, Charles and Herbert had now accumulated substantial Court costs from two cases and they each sold any future interest in the trust to Eva Hordern. They may have enjoyed a small cash benefit after the costs were paid, but it would not have been much.

Robert Geary Henderson finally died in 1907. The Equity Court had to receive special medical evidence that there would be no more children. The trust fund from the property resumptions was then distributed in six equal shares, estimated at £1,175 each.

The three Brisbane Water properties were sold at auction, generating a further £1,816. Assuming these were fully distributed in the same shares, each share would have been about £1,500, or about two years annual earnings. Remembering that James Malcolm and Eva Hordern would have received four of the shares! And Cora's share was somehow under mortgage, so the only share that I believe stayed in the family was placed into trust until 10-year-old Archie Henderson reached the age of 21.

I can find no trace of Herbert or Charles after their 1903 sale of their inheritance. Patrick's family tell that he was so upset by the whole saga that he changed his surname to McDonald for many years. Perhaps Herbert and Charles did the same and changed their name.

Robert Frederick moved with Gertrude and her children to live out their lives in Nowra. Kathleen was a somewhat delinquent child before settling down and raising a family in Sydney. Kenneth and Archie never married. Nellie became a nun.

The only known descendants of Robert Geary Henderson's second and third families are the children of Patrick and Kathleen.

Robert Henderson Sr probably created this trust to prevent his wastrel son from spending the family fortune. It seems that his fears were justified, and I think he would have been extremely disappointed by the outcome.

The trust that broke a family?

The Darling Harbour properties Click to enlarge
Red is Thomas's trust, blue is Robert III's,
green is Robert Jr's and yellow Madeline's.

Robert Henderson was a rather colourful character in the Colonial history of New South Wales. Born in Parramatta in 1796 to convict parents, Robert and his wife, Catherine nee Geary were land owners, ship-builders, merchant traders and hotel keepers. Robert also gained some notoriety as 'Bob the Smuggler' after a landmark smuggling incident in Broken Bay in 1842 (see my 2022 post about Bob the Smuggler). But apart from his smuggling, Robert was by all reports well respected in the community.

They were married for 15 years before their first child, Robert Geary Henderson was born in 1832. A second son, Thomas Henderson, followed several years later.

By the time they retired in the mid-1860's the Hendersons had accumulated at least six separate properties in Darling Harbour, and over 700 acres of land across six properties at Pittwater and Brisbane Water.

While Robert and Catherine were hard-working and well respected in their community, they must have been disappointed in their two sons who were both of unreliable temperament and prone to womanising and drinking. Robert Jr had married in 1852 and started a family, but within six years, deserted his wife and three children and started a second family with another woman. Meanwhile, the second son, Thomas, fathered a child with his sister-in-law and refused t do anything to support the girl or her child.

After his wife Catherine died in 1868, Robert Sr devised a will that he hoped would protect the family fortune from his wastrel sons. He devised four trusts that would see the property holdings preserved, but provide income for the family members. The four trusts were one each for his sons, Robert Jr and Thomas and one each for Robert Jr's surviving children, Madeline and Robert III.

If you are getting confused by the Roberts, there are actually four:

• Robert Henderson 1796–1869
•  Robert Geary Henderson 1832–1906, Robert's son so Robert Jr
• Robert Francis Geary Henderson 1856–1930 Robert Jr's first son.
• Robert Frederick Henderson 1860–1941 Robert Jr's second son!

I usually just give their full names, but that can get very clumsy, so you have to pay attention. What ever possessed the bloke to name TWO sons after himself. He had confused historians ever since. 

But back to the trusts. Each trust contained a parcel of properties to be kept in trust for the lifetime of the beneficiary, then for their children. There were quite complex provisions for where someone died with no children and no will, but that never eventuated, so we will ignore that. The two trusts set up for the children specified that the income from the properties was to be paid towards their maintenance education or advancement in life. Once they attained the age of 21, they were able to receive any income or profits directly for their own benefit.

The executors and trustees were Robert's friends, William Speer and Henry Clark.

The first trust was for Robert Geary Henderson. 

It contained a property in Darling Harbour and the main family estate at current-day Saratoga:

• Lots 4 and 5 of Phoenix Wharf - in Darling Harbour.
• A 100 acre property at Brisbane water known as 'Veteran Hall'. This is where Robert Sr was living when he died.
• 50 acres adjoining Veteran Hall to the west.
• 100 acres adjoining Veteran Hall to the south-east

Robert Jr was entitled to occupy and receive any income from these properties for his life. The will names his two sons by his second marriage, Robert Frederick Henderson and Patrick Bin Henderson as beneficiaries after their father's death, but also allowed for any future children to share the trust.

Read my post about Robert Geary Henderson's trust

The second trust was for Madeline Geary Henderson

Madeline was the eldest surviving daughter of Robert Jr from his first marriage. She was 14 when her grandfather died.

This trust contained: 

• The Dove Inn on the corner of Erskine and Sussex Streets at Darling Harbour.
• A row of houses in Sussex Street, running north from the Dove Inn
• These properties probably included a wharf at the end of the row of houses.

Read my post about Madeline's trust

The third trust was for Thomas Henderson

Thomas was the second son of Robert Sr. This trust contained a single property.

• The property known as the Bethel Chapel.

Read my post about Thomas's trust

The fourth trust was for Robert Francis Geary Henderson

Robert Francis was Madeline's younger brother and he was 13 when his grandfather died. This Trust contained:

• Lot 3 of Phoenix Wharf at Darling Harbour, including the Clarence Hotel.
• 80 acres at Pittwater, known as Bryant's Grant.
• 100 acres fronting Cockle Creek (Kincumber Broadwater) at Brisbane Water.
• 300 acres at Brisbane Water known as Culcorin.
• Three adjoining town allotments in Holden Street Gosford (1.5 acres total).

Read my post about Robert Francis Geary Henderson's trust

It is worth noting that while the sons, Robert Jr and Thomas grew up and worked in their parents hotels, the two hotels in Robert Sr's estate were left to the grandchildren and not to the sons. That is probably down to the reputation that the sons had for drinking the profits.

I will look at what happened in each of these trusts in subsequent posts, but the upshot is that they caused considerable unrest in some parts of the family. Two of Robert Sr's grandchildren were made independently wealthy by their trusts, while others had to wait for their father to die, before getting a much smaller share than their older half-siblings. There were feelings of injustice and friction between family members and as a result there were divisions in the family that were never healed.

If Robert Henderson Sn's intention was to preserve his estate for posterity, and avoid it being lost by his wastrel sons, he was not entirely successful. The property in trusts for both of his sons were mostly lost to the family. 

But Robert was successful in ensuring that his eldest grandchildren were properly cared-for and that they were given the best opportunity for a good life.

  

Just when you think you know!

From Kincumber Parish Map. Toorigal was both 115 and 57.

The last few weeks, I have been digging through land grant, title and sales documents after learning to use the Historical Records system for NSW. I started out trying to find when William Ward's property 'Toorigal' left the Ward family, but I found out that there was a lot about William Ward's land that we did not know!

The landmark family history prepared by Joan Taylor in the mid 1980s correctly identified four key land holdings that William and Catherine ward owned:

• Williams original grant of 150 acres at Killcare.
• The Toorigal property, supposedly 100 acres, purchased from HG Watson about 1855.
• A grant of 100 acres bought in 1855 near Avoca - purchased for the timber.
• A block of about three acres in the Kincumber village.

While checking something else this week, I discovered that we had greatly underestimated William and Catherine's land holding. When you read Catherine's will carefully, the Avoca land is described as '260 acres'! I since found where William bought the two blocks to the north of his grant, These total 210 acres, so allowing for William's initial 100 acres, I still have to acount for some other transactions (sales?)

Next I was checking out what happened to Toorigal, which Catherine's will split between her sons, Ephraim and John. I found that Ephraim had sold his half-share back to John in 1910, but it was 80 acres, not 50! Checking the description of the land carefully, it is clear that Toorigal was 160 acres, not the 100 acres we thought. If you check the Parish maps, HG Watson had two grants, one being the Toorigal 100 acres, but the adjoining 60 acres was also granted to Watson, so they must have been sold as a single property. I have yet to find the proof of the sale, but there is no doubt that this was the case. Watson sold then re-purchased the property as one entity before it came into William's possession.

Now that solves another little mystery as to exactly how Manasseh Ward met his wife Madeline. Now that we know Toorigal included Watson's 80-acres, Robert Henderson's grant was the bordering farm! So When Madeline was staying with her brother at Kincumber, the Ward property was right next door and she probably had to drive through it to get to her brother's house.

Bill and Alice Parry of Gosford

Bill and Alice Parry were the parents of Lena Parry, and my great-grandparents.

William Henry Parry (generally known as Bill) was born at Mangrove Creek in 1855, the eldest child of Griffith Parry Jr and Sarah Jane Watkins. His family moved into Gosford when he was a small child and he grew up on a property on the corner of Mann and Beane Streets which is now the Gosford goods yards. The block was two acres and there was a fresh water stream running close to the house. 

Bill was about 27 when he bought his first property, a two-acre block on the corner of Mann and Erina Street. The Gosford Hotel now stands on part of this property. He later bought the adjoining block, running along Mann Street so he owned the whole block of Mann Street from Erina to Faunce Streets. The blocks ran through to current-day Watt Street, although that was not there until some years later. Bill started work on his land, building a house, blacksmith/wheelwright shop and a hall that could be rented out for events.

Frances Alice Miller was born at Hartley in 1867, the youngest child of Job and Susan Miller.  it seems that she was always known as Alice in her family, but the order of her names changes over the years in official documents. Her father was a contractor working on the building of the western railway and the family moved west as the project progressed. Her father died in Dubbo in 1882 and it is possible her mother and the younger children moved to Sydney or the central coast.  

I have not discovered how or where Bill and Alice met, but they married in 1885 at Burwood. Bill was 30 and Alice 17. By this time it seems that Bill was working as a produce agent, and soon after the wedding he was in serious financial trouble. He claimed that he lost a lot of produce due to spoilage, but he seems to have been a bit liberal with the facts, so it is plausible that he over extended his finances with his building works. The Insolvency Court had to work on the basis of Bill's word, because his financial records were 'lost' overboard while he was travelling to Sydney for the hearing. How inconvenient! He was able to get a license to try to clear his debts and evade full bankruptcy.

Bill and Alice moved to the north coast where Bill found work in the sugar industry, driving sugar trains and possibly working as an engineer at a refinery. Their first two children were born near Grafton and Casino. The family moved back to the Gosford district when Bill finally cleared his insolvency and by 1889 they were living at Ourimbah. Bill again worked as a fireman and engineer at a shipyard for a time, then went farming at Ourimbah.

Around 1894 Bill finally returned to live in his home in Mann Street and he worked for a time as a wheelwright at his workshop in Mann Street. He continued to work as a wheelwright and blacksmith on and off for a number of years while he also dabbled in farming and selling wildflowers harvested from the bush. He bought a property at Kariong and set up a fruit and vegetable farm, but he never completed the house and eventually returned to live in Gosford. He started another vegetable farm closer to town, possibly in Dwyer Street, and by all reports this was a successful venture. We walked to the farm from his home in Erina Street each day.

In his later years, Bill lived largely apart from the rest of his family, preferring to live in a series of rough bush huts that abide by Alice's ideas of tidiness. 

My father, Laurie Ward, was Bill's grandson and remembered visiting him at one or another of his bush camps. There was always a pot of stew steaming near the fire - Bill would eat from it then top it up with more meat or vegetables. But Laurie's mother had always pre-warned her children not to eat any of 'grandfather's stew' - she was clearly worried about her father's hygiene.

Bill returned to live at the Erina Street home in his last months when he was too sick to remain in the bush. He was housed in a room that opened off the back verandah. Laurie's memories again give us a vivid picture of the old man, bedridden, but demanding. He would only drink the water from a particular waterfall on the Mount Penang Road and several times a week, one of his sons or sons-in-law would be sent on horseback to fetch a supply. Even though they tried, they could not substitute any other water and he could always tell if they cheated and used water from a closer waterfall, or from the tank.

Laurie had very fond memories of his grandmother, Alice. His family lived in Dwyer Street Gosford, and the Parry home in Erina Street was almost on their route to school. They would often be tasked with delivering eggs, vegetables or milk on their way to school and on those occasions Alice would insist on smoothing his unruly hair. He carried the warm feeling of her gentle grooming for the rest of his life.

Bill Parry died in 1936 aged 80. Alice remained in the family home, which she shared with her daughter Ethel and son Charles. She died in 1941 aged 73. She was survived by nine of her 13 children and 20 grandchildren. 

Griffith Parry Jr and Sarah Jane Watkins

 Griffith Parry and Sarah Jane Parry were the grandparents of lena Parry, and therefore my 2nd great-grandparents. Both were the children of convict fathers and their families were early settlers of the Mangrove Creek area.

Griffith William Parry was born at Macdonald River (now St Albans) in 1830, the son of Griffith Parry and Mary Ann Mustare.  He lived at Macdonald River for at least 10 years, and his father was a constable and farmer. The family moved to Mangrove Creek in about 1842, when Griffith was 12. His mother died two years later.

Sarah Jane Watkins was born in Sydney in 1832, the daughter of Thomas Watkins and Sarah Lewis. Her early years were spent in Sydney, where her parents ran an hotel. The family moved to Mangrove Creek in about 1839, when Sarah was six. 

By 1843, both Watkins and Parry families were settled on farms along Mangrove Creek. Their farms were about 10 km apart in a direct line, maybe 15 km by road or track. Both families were part of the close-knit Church of England Community and were clearly well known to each other. There would be several marriages between the two families in the 1850s.

The Mangrove Creek community consisted of mainly ex-convicts and their colonial-born children, with a few free settlers thrown in. The farms grew wheat, corn, vegetables, fruit and livestock. Their produce was taken to Sydney by boat. There was also a good supply of timber in the area and some families concentrated on timer-getting, producing hand-sawn planks, palings and shingles.The creek was a tidal tributary of the Hawkesbury River and was navigable for a good distance, which is why it was settled so early.

Griffith and Sarah married in  June 1854 and they made their first home at Mangrove Creek where Griffith worked as a farmer. Two children were born while they were living at the Creek. But life would have been hard, and there were a series of bushfires and severe floods that possibly convinced the young couple to move their small family to the growing town of Gosford. By the time their third child was baptised, they were living in Gosford.

Their first home in Gosford was a grassy paddock that I think was on the corner of Mann and Beane Streets. The land had been purchased by Sarah's brother, Charles Watkins in 1855, but it is not clear whether Griffith and Sarah bought the property, or just lived there. Griffith and Charles worked together at times. The property was two acres, so it is possible both families lived there. Griffith worked as a shingle splitter and later carpenter and teamster. On some early records, he is described as a 'rough carpenter' so it may have been working with rough bush timber. As a bushman, he would have been able to turn his hand to many tasks, but he remained a manual worker for his whole life.

Griffith and Sarah had ten children born between 1855 and 1875, and all but the last survived to adulthood. Samuel Parry was born in 1975 and only lived for six months. Just two years after Samuel's death, the older children started to marry and the first grandchild was born in 1878.

The family were forced to move their home in the early 1880s when it was in the path of the new railway being built to connect Gosford and Newcastle to Sydney. Their new home was in Mann Street, and may have been owned by their son William, who had purchased two large blocks of land totalling five acres.

In May 1881 Griffith was arrested and charged with ‘conduct denoting lunacy’ . Police records show that he was sent to Gladesville Asylum for one month ‘in default of sureties’. This is the only record that suggests that Griffith was ever in trouble with the Police or suffered from mental health problems. The fact that this incident seems to correspond roughly with the government acquisition of the family home may provide a clue to what occurred, but the rest of the full story has not yet been uncovered. My private theory is that Griffith was so enraged by the actions of the Government that he 'lost it' and refused to calm down.

As I have explained in a separate post, Griffith has been mistakenly blamed for his son's eccentricities  in a number of publications over the years, but I believe he lived out his last years living in Mann Street Gosford with his wife and son, Elijah. Elijah never married. Griffith was well respected in Gosford and was an integral part of the Church of England community. When he died in 1909, the Minister of the time made a note in the burial register, under the column for profession  'Griff was sextant here for many years. I tolled the bell for this burial'. Of 30 burials on the opening of the register, this is the only one to mention tolling of the bell. The sextant is the member of the parish council that looks after the church property.

Sarah Jane died four years later in 1913. Both were buried at Point Clare.

Griffith and Sarah Jane Parry were survived by eight of their ten children. They were also survived by 48 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren born during their lifetime.

Correcting a miscarriage of history

In my research I always try to collaborate the information contained in previous publications and in this case I think I have to correct a miscarriage of history carried out on Griffith Parry due to a careless error by an otherwise  good historian.  Many people have included the error in their tales about Griffith Parry, so it is time to correct the error.

When I first read about Griffith Parry in other family histories, they mostly included the story that Griffith Parry was an untidy man who lived his later life in bush huts around Gosford and on Narara Creek. This was interesting because I was told the same thing about his son, Bill Parry (William Henry Parry). By father remembered him from his childhood. Some of the family histories thankfully gave the source of their information, it was contained in the book Gosford and the Kendall Country by respected central coast historian Charles Swancott.

The tale begins on page 133 of my copy and the offending section is copied below.

Parry story from 'Gosford and the Kendall Country'

It was only on my second reading of the story, that I spotted the problem. The story starts off talking about William Parry, but ends up talking about his father, Griffith. Swancott has mixed up the two men at the end of the story by tying the first four paragraphs to the death of Griffith Parry in 1909. Bill Parry died in 1936. The story is clearly about William - 'Will was rather an untidy man...'.

The story was repeated in The Watkins Chronicle by Fay Fry, with a photo of Griffith as a disheveled figure dressed in rags. That sealed the deal I think!

So to correct the record. Griffith Parry Jr, who was married to Sarah Jane Watkins was not the man portrayed in Swancott's story - it was his son William Henry Parry, known as Bill I believe. I suspect that Griffith was not a rich man in his later life which would explain his appearance in the photos.

The lesson for other family historians - check the sources, read them carefully, and don't necessarily believe something because it was published by a respected researcher. We all make mistakes!

The Parrys of Bullock's Wharf

Griffith and Mary Ann Parry were among the early settlers of the Macdonald Valley and the town of St Albans in particular. When they arrived at what is now known as St Albans, it went by the more evocative name of 'Bullock's Wharf'.

Griffith and Mary Ann were the great-grandparents of Lena Parry, so my 3rd great-grandparents.

Griffith William Parry was born in London in 1799, the son of Henry and Catherine Parry. He had a sound education before following his parents into the candle-making trade, so he was a 'tallow-chandler'. He was 20 when he was convicted of stealing a watch and sentenced to transportation for life. He was lucky not to receive the death penalty as he was initially charged with highway robbery!  Arriving in Sydney aboard the Speke in 1821, he was immediately assigned to work for a settler named John Wood at Bringelly, near Liverpool. John Wood must have given him a good report, because in 1824, Griffith was transferred to Windsor and appointed as a Constable. It is surprising to us today that a serving convict could be appointed as a policeman, but that was not unusual at the time.

At Windsor, Griffith met an Irish girl named Mary Ann Mustare. Mary Ann is a difficult girl to research, but seems to have arrived as a free person aboard the Mariner in 1825. She could not read or write, and her name is recorded under various forms such as 'Musty' and 'Musfare'. This, combined with the loss of many Catholic records in Ireland, and the poor documentation about women in general, means we know nothing about Mary Ann's life before she arrived in Australia. She probably arrived as a servant of the Rev Meares, and she was still working for him when she met Griffith.

Griffith and Mary Ann married in Windsor in 1826 and soon started a family. Their first child, a boy, was born the following year and was named Henry after his paternal grandfather. A daughter named Catherine followed in 1828.

Griffith was granted his Ticket of Leave in 1828. This is much like parole today. Then in 1829 he was appointed District Constable at 'Lower Branch', known as Wiseman's Ferry today. He was replacing James Woodbury who had resigned after being severely beaten by escaped convicts who invaded his home. He was only saved when his 12-year-old son, William, opened fire on the invaders. So Griffith's appointment was not without risk to himself and his young family.

Within a few months of his appointment, Griffith's post was moved to Bullocks Wharf on the Macdonald River. The wharf had been built at the limit of navigation on the Macdonald River. The valley was the main informal route for people travelling overland to the Hunter Valley. Griffith and Mary Ann settled themselves on ten acres fronting the river, where in between his duties as constable and pound keeper, Griffith managed to find time to farm the land he had selected. Five more children arrived at regular intervals. The first child born at Macdonald River was a boy, named Griffith William Parry after his father (we do like to make life difficult for future family historians). Griffith Jr. was Lena Parry's Grandfather and will feature in his own family profile, hopefully in two weeks!

Griffith was granted a conditional pardon in 1836. This effectively removed the conditions of his Ticket of Leave and the only remnant of his criminal conviction was that he was not allowed to return to England. But with the pardon, Griffith's dream run with the Colonial administration came to a crashing end. He was dismissed as a constable, apparently for smuggling. Family talk is that he was in cahoots with Samuel Wisemen and a group of other constables and the goods smuggled was liquour. Next, Griffith lost most of his farm when the town of St Albans was surveyed. He argued that he was promised 10 acres, and held out for a few years, but was eventually given just the two acres that contained his house.

Griffith tried his hand at running a school and was Headmaster at a small Wollombi school for a short time, then moved his family to Mangrove Creek. 

Sadly, Mary Ann died in 1844, shortly after the move. While the older children were young adults by this time, the youngest was just four.  According to other family histories, Mary Ann was buried beside a creek at Upper Mangrove.

Griffith was 46 in 1845 when he remarried. His new bride was 26-year-old widow, Margaret Malone nee Kelly. Margaret had been born in Ireland and had arrived in Australia in 1841 with her husband. Owen Maloney. They had two children before Owen died in 1843. 

Griffith and Margaret had another six children, all girls. 

In his later years, Griffith was appointed as the 'Mangrove Creek agent' for the Maitland Mercury newspaper. We know that he was an educated man, which would have stood him out from many of the other settlers in the mangrove Creek area. It is likely that he was the author of some of the items that were published in the newspapers, at the time, usually signed 'from our Mangrove Creek Correspondent'.

Griffith died at Mangrove Creek in 1959. He was 60. He was buried in what is now known as the Dubbo Gully Cemetery at Upper Mangrove. Two of his daughters from his first marriage are also buried there, and Mary Ann's headstone is also located beside Griffith (possibly relocated from her lonely bush grave).

Margaret survived Griffith by 43 years. She died in 1902. She was buried at the catholic cemetery Spencer with her first husband, Owen Malone. 

I am intrigued by the religious dynamic that must have played out in the Parry household over the years. Griffith was quite a religious man I think and was a staunch supporter of the Church of England community in Mangrove Creek. His first wife, Mary Ann, was a Catholic, but all their children were raised to be Church of England. Margaret Maloney (nee Kelly) was also an Irish Catholic, much younger than Griffith. It seems that all her children were raised in the catholic faith, although at least one married as Church of England. Margaret and two of their daughters were buried in the Catholic cemetery at Spencer. 

Griffith Parry's story is very well documented in official records, many of which can be found in the resources section on his page on my website. The Colonial records were extensive and repetitive, but each document often adds another snippet of information. It is no coincidence that there are 10 documents about Griffith for every one about Mary Ann. Married women were often excluded from the records completely. Mary Ann possibly contributed equally to the success of the Parry family, but scarcely rates a mention in any of the official records. This is one of the reasons behind my writing biographies of the family, rather than the individual people. Individual biographies of the women would be very sparse compared to the men, not because they played a lesser role, but because the society of the day largely pretended that they were not there!

Job Miller and Susan Rumble, goldrush immigrants

I have been following the maternal ancestry of my grandmother, Lena Parry. Today I will cover the story of her grandparents, Job Miller and Susan Rumble.

Job Miller was born in Elmdon, Essex in 1828, the son of Job and Jane Miller. His family had been in the area for many generations and were working class people. Job was named after his father, and the name has biblical origins. It is pronounced 'jobe' and rhymes with 'robe'. Job grew up in Elmdon and would have started work as an agricultural labourer about the age of 12. 

Job was 19 when he married Sarah Chester in 1848. Sarah was a straw bonnet maker. Their first child, George was baptised in Elmdon in July 1852.

Susan Rumble was born in Barkway ,Hertfordshire in 1831, daughter of Joseph and Sarah  Rumble. Barkway is only about five miles from Elmdon. Like. The Rumble family had been in the general area for many generations and her father's family were from a village almost next door to Elmdon. In fact, Susan and Job were probably 4th cousins. Both had John and Ruth Pity in their ancestry, five generations before!

Susan's mother died when Susan was 10. Her father moved the family back to his home village of Little Chishall in Essex, which is less than three miles from Elmdon. Susan's father worked as an agricultural labourer, and Susan possibly cared for her younger siblings.

By 1850, conditions for agricultural workers in England were tough. Many of the big landholders were mechanising the harvesting and processing of crops and wages for labourers were vfalling. Meanwhile the British colonies in Australia were growing rapidly and were desperate for workers. The British Government would pay the fare for any workers willing to emigrate to the colonies. The attraction increased substantially after gold was discovered in 1851 and by 1853 there was a full-blown gold rush under way. Other families from the Elmdon area took up the Government assistance, including Job's aunt, Susannah Barker, nee Corbey, who had emigrated to Victoria with her whole family in 1851.

Job and  Sarah took their infant son and boarded the Dea in February 1953, arriving in Melbourne in May. Susan left a month later, boarding the Childe Harold in March 1853, arriving in Geelong in June. These were clearly people seeking a better life, not fortune hunters attracted by the lure of gold. Their tickets would have been in 'steerage', which was a deck below the waterline of the ship. People were crammed into common spaces with no privacy. The ships were sailing vessels and the decks were work areas for the crew, so passengers were allowed very limited access to the deck and then were confined to a tiny area. It would not have been a pleasant voyage.

Job went straight to work as a carter in Melbourne, while Susan was contracted to work for a Geelong man for three years for a salary of £24, including rations.

Job and Susan were not the last of their families to leave their ancestral home. Susan's sister Ellen Rumble married a second cousin and emigrated to Western Australia in December 1853.  Job's brother William Miller emigrated  to Victoria in about 1854.

Within weeks of arriving in Melbourne, hope turned to sadness for Job Miller. His wife Sarah died in Melbourne in June 1851. The cause of death has not been discovered, but circumstantial evidence points to death in childbirth. If so, the child did not survive either. (In those days, a stillborn child would not be baptised and therefore was not given a formal burial - the child would have been buried with the mother). Job was left as a widower with his small son, George, to care for.

History does not record whether Job and Susan knew each other before they emigrated, or how they came to meet up in Australia, but in October 1855 they were married in Melbourne.

The family movements from this point can be followed from the records of births, deaths and marriages.  Their first child, Sarah Jane was born in Melbourne in 1857. Then Thomas was born in Geelong in 1859. Eliza was born in 1861, and Joseph in 1862, both near Kyneton, Victoria. Next came Edward in 1864 and Charles in 1866, both born in Penrith, NSW. Finally, their last child, Alice was born in Hartley, NSW in 1867.

They were still in Hartley in 1869 when two of their children died. Joseph was seven  and George (Job’s son from his first marriage) was 17. 

In 1875 their eldest daughter Sarah married Lionel Clothier in Wellington.

Their movements in NSW are probably connected to the building of the Western railway line. The Railway had reached Penrith in 1863. The Blue Mountains section of the line was built between 1867 and 1869. It reached Bathurst in 1876, Wellington in 1880 and Dubbo in 1881.

Job died at Dubbo in May 1882. His headstone says he was aged 62, but he was only 53.

I have not found any definite trace of Susan after Job died. She was 50 when he died, so it is possible that she remarried. I think that she must have moved to Sydney or perhaps the Central Coast.  Eliza married John Moore at Burwood in 1874, then Alice married William Parry in 1885, also in Burwood. That points to the family home being near Burwood at that time.

Thomas Miller was working on the railway when he was killed in a horrific train accident in 1886. The newspaper reports say that the deceased 'has parents residing at Gosford'. I don't place a heavy reliance on this reference, but it is an interesting pointer that Susan may have been in Gosford.

I would be very interested to hear is anyone knows what became of Susan Miller.

The children:

• George, who was Job's son by his first marriage, died in Hartley in 1869, aged 17.
• Sarah raised a large family with her husband, John Clothier. They lived at Guerie. She died in 1930. 
• Thomas was killed in a work accident at Newcastle in 1886. I don't think he married.
• Eliza had eight children with John Moore. They lived in Dubbo. After John died she lived in Sydney. She died in Gosford in 1921 and was buried at Woy Woy. Interestingly, the funeral notices mention Charles Miller and the Clothier and Moore families, but not Alice or John's families.
• Joseph died in 1886 aged 7.
• John was also known as Edward. He possibly married and had children, but if he did, details have not yet been uncovered. He died in a work accident at Burrenjuck Dam in 1924. His obituary mentions Charles, Mrs Parry and Mrs Clother.
• Charles married Louisa Absalan. They lived at Brooklyn and did not have children. Charles died in 1929. He was possibly close to his sister Alice and her son, Henry Parry, was executor of Charles' will.
• Alice was just 17 when she married Bill Parry, who was 30! They had 12 children, including my grandmother, Lena Parry. Alice died in 1941.