Tag Archives: Lismore

T is for Thomas

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T is for Thomas William Thompson, who was my great, great grandfather. Thomas was born 5 December 1888 in Warwick, Queensland to parents William Henry Thompson and Sarah White (see my ‘S’ post for more on Sarah). The first few years of his life were lived in Queensland, where a younger sister was born and died. By 1894, Thomas was living with his family in Bingara, NSW. It was here that his father died in 1896, when Thomas was eight years old.

Thomas William Thompson and Hannah Mallet

The records don’t tell us how long the family stayed in Bingara or if Thomas stayed with them but by 1911, Thomas was living in Lismore NSW. It was here that Thomas met and married Hannah Maria Darch Mallet on 23 December 1911. Thomas and his wife settled down in the Lismore district and raised a family of nine children, all living to adulthood. Included in these nine children was his wife’s illegitimate child from before their marriage, whom Thomas raised as his own.

Sadly, Hannah died in 1929 at the age of 36 after 17 years of marriage. Thomas was left to finish raising his children alone. As was the customer, the eldest girl of the household was left to run the house and look after the children. This fell to his daughter Jean, who was aged only 12 years old at the time. Thomas was a kind man though, with Jean recalling him coming home one day to find her in tears and unable to cope with the situation. Thomas promptly hired a housekeeper. This housekeeper stayed on for some years, with Thomas later marrying her. Further evidence of his kindness can be seen in his raising of his grandson, whom his daughter Jean had given birth to at 15. Most children in this situation would have been adopted out, but Jean’s child was raised by his family.

Thomas remained in the Lismore area for the rest of his life, passing away in 1956  at the age of 68 years.

H is for Hannah

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Hannah Maria Darch Mallet was my great, great grandmother, and was born 8 October 1892 at

Hannah Mallet aged 15

Wyrallah near Lismore in Northern NSW. Her parents were John Mallet, a bookmaker, and Mary Ann Webber and Hannah was the youngest of eight surviving children born to the couple. Wyrallah is a village on the outskirts of Lismore and this is where Hannah spent her early years but the family eventually moved into the township of Lismore, which in those days had very few residents.

It did however have a hotel, of course, and it was behind the then Lismore Hotel that Hannah’s father opened and operated his bookmaking business. I have not found exactly where this hotel would have been located, but I would assume it was somewhere in the vicinity of the current Lismore CBD. This is approximately 2.5 km from the family’s residence in Showview Street, Girard’s Hill. At the time, the residence was surrounded by a small amount of land. Family photos from the time indicate the family’s apparently comfortable circumstances.

Hannah in 1910

Hannah was still residing with her parents at Showview Street when at the age of 17 she gave birth to her first child, a girl she named Alexandria Adeline Ross Mallet. As the child, known as Adie, was born out of wedlock she was registered under the Mallet surname and no father is recorded. The name ‘Ross’ may, however, be a clue to who Adie’s biological father was. Whatever the case, Hannah continued to live at her parent’s residence in Showview Street, and it was here on 23 December 1911 that she married Thomas William Thompson. Their first child was born in 1912, and Hannah went on to give birth to seven more children (including a set of twins) between 1914-1927.

 

Hannah Mallet and Thomas William Thompson

Hannah and her family continued to live in and around Lismore, moving around the area with her husband’s various jobs as a farm and general labourer. The family settled for good in Hannah’s childhood home in Showview Street after the death of Hannah’s mother in 1916. The family finally had a permanent home as Hannah had inherited the property and land from her mother, and was owned by Hannah specifically and independently of her husband. Despite the fact that they now had a permanent home, according to Hannah’s children there was never a lot of money in the family and they struggled financially. This was probably due to the fact the Hannah’s husband was an unskilled labourer who went from job to job.

Hannah’s five eldest children

Hannah raised her family as was usual for a woman of that era, caring for her children and her home whilst her husband went to work. Hannah was apparently quite adamant that her children receive as much education as possible, and made sure her children attended school. However, things were to change with Hannah’s death on 9 August 1929. Hannah had been suffering from influenza and developed pneumonia which led to her death. She left behind her husband and all eight children, with the three youngest children being aged just 2 and 4 years old.

Just a month after Hannah’s death, her eldest daughter Adie married and left the family home. As a result, the next eldest girl was left to step up and run the house and be a surrogate mother to the younger children. This was my great grandmother Jean who was aged just 12 years old at the time. Jean was pulled out of school, as were her two elder brothers, and left to look after the family. Eventually, Jean crashed and her father hired a housekeeper to help (who also eventually became her stepmother) but Jean remained in the memory of her younger siblings as ‘Mum’.