Tag Archives: Molong

J is for Jane

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Jane Child was born 29 May 1841 in Southwark, London and was my 3rd great grandmother and despite some challenges in life, she managed to live to the ripe old age of 93. I am quite lucky in having found quite a bit of information about Jane, and I’d like to share it here with you.

Jane’s parents were Daniel Child (who was the subject of my D post) and Susannah Gandell. Jane was the seventh child to be born into family, who lived on Old Kent Road in the London borough of Southwark. Those who read my post about Jane’s father, Daniel Child, may remember that his professions was a pianoforte maker. Based on the UK Census records, Daniel remained in this profession for the erst of his life. Jane appears in the 1841, 1851, and 1861 UK censuses with her family, continuing to live in Old Kent Road in Southwark. No profession is mentioned for Jane on these records, not even Domestic Service which is often listed for women who keep the home.

In 1869, Jane’s life was to undergo a drastic change as she departed England for Australia. Jane arrived on 25 October 1869 aboard the “Landsborough” which docked in Sydney, NSW. Based on her arrival date, Jane probably departed England sometime in May or June of 1869 as the voyage from England to Australia took around four months depending on weather conditions. Interestingly, Jane arrived as an unassisted immigrant in the Steerage class of the few passengers aboard. Based on all I’ve seen and heard about travelling Steerage on board a ship, it can’t have been a pleasant journey. However, it seems there may have been a different highlight to the voyage for Jane: it was where she met the man who would be her husband.

Just three days after arriving in Australia, Jane was married to Henry Flear Trueman at the Scots Church in Sydney, NSW. It seems like they became very close on the voyage, as their first child was born six months later. This would explain the hasty marriage three days after docking in Sydney. The couple had a further three children together, moving around the state of NSW. However, the marriage was not to be a happy one.

The first indication that the marriage was a troubled on was the appearance of an article in the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal newspaper on Saturday 30 April 1887. The article is brief, but accounts how Henry had attempted to commit suicide in his own home by taking poison. The doctor applied the necessary remedy, and Henry survived. At the time, suicide and attempted suicide was a criminal offence so a further article appeared in the same paper on Tuesday 3 May, recounting the case in the local Police Court. Apparently, Henry had taken an ounce bottle’s worth of laudanum to “ease his mind” as he was heavily in debt. Henry had then promptly laid down to sleep and when he was unable to be woken his wife had summoned the doctor. However, it appears this was not the full story. Henry’s wife, Jane, was the next to be deposed in court and she tells a bit more of a story to the incident. According to Jane Henry had frequently threatened to take his own life and on this occasion had drunk the bottle of laudanum before taking off his boots and laying down, proclaiming his wish to die.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, to tell your wife your wish to die, Henry later admits that he only wanted to “scare” his wife. I can’t imagine how that must feel, to hear your husband say such things, no matter how unhappy the marriage had been. Henry was not charged with anything in the end, as the laudanum was so diluted that it was apparent he didn’t actually wish to kill himself. But the marriage had obviously been unhappy even before this, as an article appeared in the same paper on the same day as the initial report of the suicide attempt charging Henry with desertion.

This second article details how Henry had left Jane and their three children without means of support since April 1st. Jane had been supporting the family since then by teaching music to local children, and the article reports how Henry had visited the house in search of money and when Jane refused to supply him with any he had beaten her. Despite these troubles, divorce was extremely uncommon in those days and it seems the couple reconciled as the family moved to Molong, NSW as a single family unit. The local newspaper is filled with accounts of Mrs. Trueman’s prowess on the pianoforte and the singing and dancing skills of her three daughters.

All three of Jane’s daughters were married in Molong to men local to the community, and it was in Molong in 1897 that Henry died at the age of 61. The death notice in the paper indicates that he was well known in the community, as a “goodly number” of residents attended the funeral and internment. So, Jane was now a widow but with all her children settle din their own homes she only had herself to support and at least she had a skill with which to support herself.

Jane continued to live in the Molong area after her husband’s death, perhaps as this was where her three daughters lived with their families. She appears on the electoral rolls for the Molong district in 1903-1904 and again in 1913 but not thereafter. It appears she continued to live in the area for some time after this, as in 1930 an article appeared in the Molong Express newspaper detailing Jane’s recovery in Molong Hospital following a broken leg. In the same year, Jane also suffered a broken hip following a sudden fall at home.

By 1935, Jane was living in the Sydney suburb of Belmore which was where she passed away at the age of 93 from senile decay. Jane’s remains were cremated and interred at Rookwood cemetery in Sydney. It just goes to show, that despite challenges thrown up people can overcome and live a long and full life like Jane.

B is for Betsey

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Mrs. S. Starr, Senr.                                                                                                                           “The residence of Mrs. S. Starr, senr., of West Molong, was the scene of a happy gathering on Wednesday, the 12th instant, when the members of her family attended to celebrate her 83rd birthday. Needless to say, all the family were pleased to see the old lady looking so well and hearty and as active as one many years her junior. Amongst the members present were — Richard (Copper Hill), William and David (Molong), Mrs. Pearsall (Sydney), and Mrs. W. Crook (Exchange Hotel, Orange), who each presented Mrs. Starr with a memento of the occasion, which was heartily appreciated by the venerable recipient Mrs. Starr, who has resided in the Molong district for upward of 60 years, is highly respected. She has living seven children, 27 grandchildren, and 20 great grandchildren. Amongst the grandchildren, seven are doing their duty for their country at the front and one, Gordon Starr, has made the supreme sacrifice.”                                                                                                                                          – Molong Argus (NSW, 1896-1921), Friday 21 June 1918, Page 1.

The article above relates to my great, great, great grandmother Betsey Starr nee Edwards and Betsey is the subject of my ‘B’ post. On the surface, Betsey led a fairly regular life but she also led quite a long life and saw a lot of changes in that lifetime.

Betsey was born 12 June 1835 in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, England to parents Richard Edwards and Elisabeth Catley. Her father Richard was a shepherd and the family consisted of five children, of which Betsey was the youngest. By the time Betsey was 6 year old, her mother Elizabeth had died. To date, I have not managed to pinpoint the death of Betsey’s mother but she is absent from both the 184 and 1851 census. Betsey’s father, Richard, never remarried so one can presume that Betsey was left to be raised by her elder sister Edith who was ten years older than Betsey. By 1844, Edith had married and left the family home to start her own family.

Betsey continued to love at home with her father and brothers, with just one brother remaining at home in the 1851 census. The rest of the family also appear in the 1851 census, at different addresses. However, in 1852 Betsey’s sister Edith and her family emigrated to Australia as Assisted Immigrants. Perhaps it was the fact that her sister, who had presumably been a mother figure to Betsey, was a prompt for more  of the family to emigrate to Australia in 1856.

In August of 1856, Betsey arrived in Australia with her father Richard and her brother David. After arriving in Sydney, the family travelled to the township of Molong in central western NSW. For a long time, I wondered why Molong? Why did they choose the town of Molong to settle in? Molong was and still is a farming area and Richard was a shepherd so I figured that was a major reason behind the decision to settle in Molong. Maybe this was part of the reason, however I recently discovered that Betsey’s elder sister and her family had settled in Molong so this was probably the deciding factor behind the move to Molong.

The next 13 years of Betsey’s life saw her give birth to her first child, Phoebe, in 1858; marry Samuel Starr (my 3x great grandfather) in 1860; and give birth to a further six children between 1860 and 1872. Over this time, Betsey settled into the small community of Molong and raised her family with her sister Edith also raising her family in Molong over the same period. The two families were close, with Betsey’s son William marrying Edith’s daughter Hannah Whitley. It seems strange to us in modern times to even consider marrying our first cousins, but in small rural communities it happened quite often in the past.

Now, all of this is very ordinary for a woman of Betsey’s time but Betsey was to live a long life and major world events were just around the corner. First, Betsey was to witness the birth of a new century: the 19th Century. Now, I don’t know what people would have been feeling in 1899 as they thought about the start of a new century but I do know that when we were approaching the start of the 21st Century there were all kinds of conspiracy theories floating around and people just didn’t know what a new century would bring. I have ton assume that perhaps people back in the late 1800s are feeling some similar feelings as they contemplated the start of a new century. And not far into the new century, a major world event was to occur with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.

For much of the British Empire, this was a major shock and many people could remember no other monarch before Queen Victoria as she had been on the throne for so long. Betsey would have been one of these, as she was born well into Queen Victoria’s reign. But the changes didn’t end there for Betsey. In 1914, World War I broke out and it’s effects would be felt worldwide. At the time of the war breaking out, Betsey had a total of 27 grandchildren living. Of these 27, nine were within the age range to serve their country and seven of these grandchildren enlisted and served overseas. As mentioned in the newspaper article at the start of the post, one of these grandchildren paid the ultimate price: Private (William) Gordon Starr was killed in action 20 July 1916 on the battlefields of France.

I can only imagine what Betsey would have felt at the loss of her grandson, and the continued worry of the other 6 grandchildren that she had serving overseas during WWI. I can only imagine the relief she felt when the remaining 6 grandchildren returned home to Australia with end of the war. Betsey was to have only a few more years with her family, dying in 1923 at the advanced age of 87 years.

In her long life, Betsey had gone from living in rural England to travelling to the other side of the world to a new country. She celebrated the expected events for a woman of her era, marrying and raising a family; but she also witnessed tremendous change in the latter part of her life with the death of a monarch and the outbreak of the First World War. She would have also been around to witness the beginnings of the Roaring Twenties. As her legacy, Betsey left behind a family of six children; twenty-six grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren.

 

 

 

B is for . . .

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B is for Blanche. Blanche Harriet Trueman was my great, great grandmother on my father’s side of the family. She always intrigued me with a name such as Blanche. To me, it seems such a sophisticated name which makes me wonder where she got it from as her life seems to be far from sophisticated.

Blanche was born 3 April 1880 in Bathurst, NSW. As soon as I learned of her birth place, I felt a connection with Blanch straight away. For most of my life I have lived in Bathurst and I loved growing up in a place with such a rich history. The fact that Blanche was born in Bathurst really piqued my interest and I spent a lot of time researching her and her time in Bathurst.

I knew that by 1897, she was residing in Molong NSW (about an hour west of Bathurst) with her family. Molong is listed as her residence on her marriage certificate and as she was only 17 years old at the time (and therefore under the legal age for marriage) she needed permission from her father and it was given. So what happened in the intervening years and how long was the family living in Bathurst?

Blanche Harriet Trueman with her husband Joseph Starr.

To figure this out, I had to backtrack to Blanche’s parents and locate the births of her elder siblings. I found that after their marriage in 1869, Blanche’s parents had lived in Young, NSW until at least 1875 which was where the sibling before Blanche was born. I have bene unable to pinpoint exactly when the family arrived either after the birth of their third child in 1875, or in the intervening years until the birth of Blanch in 1880. However, I have been able to learn some things about their life in Bathurst.

Blanche’s father Henry Flear Trueman appears in the 1886-1887 Bathurst and Western District Directory as residing in Kepple (sic) Street, Bathurst so that confirmed for me that the family was still living there 6-7 years after Blanche’s birth. The entry in the above publication is a simple name and address listing, similar to what we would find in a phone directory (with the omission of a phone number, of course) and doesn’t really tell you anything about the family aside form the street where they lived.

What I found next did flesh out the continuing story of Blanch and her family, and not in a pleasant way. Like any self-respecting family historian, I turned to Trove to see what I could find.  Now, I didn’t expect to find a lot based on my previous experiences with other ancestors. Much to my surprise, I found four whole articles relating to Blanche’s parents. The first article appeared in the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal on Saturday 30 April 1887 and revealed a very unstable family. Appearing on page 2, the article accounts the attempted suicide of Henry Flear Trueman of Bathurst. An article in May of the same year goes into more detail, relating how Henry took an entire bottle of laudanum in order to scare his wife. Later in the article, he admits that he took it due to being so heavily in debt. Whilst Henry didn’t succeed at taking his life, he was charged with attempted suicide. However, the article doesn’t disclose what his sentence was.

As if the attempted suicide of her father wasn’t bad enough, Blanche’s home life was evidently not a particularly happy one as her father is described as being inclined to fits of anger and physical violence towards his wife. In the same edition of the paper as the first article, and article also appears in the legal proceedings section of the paper in which Blanche’s mother Jane presents a claim to the court to preserve her property from her husband’s creditors. The article relates how Jane had been left to support herself and her children after her husband had deserted her. During this time Blanche was still a fairly young child and these articles don’t paint a pretty picture of Blanche’s childhood.

But in the midst of this misery, I did find something interesting. During the period of her husband’s desertion, Jane had managed to support herself and her three daughters by teaching music. Now, this was the first instance i had come across of one of my female ancestors having a skill beyond the traditional ones of mother and homemaker and it intrigued me.

By doing a bit of digging, I found that Jane’s father had been a pianoforte maker in London and presumably this is where Jane learned music or her father made a good enough living that he could pay for lessons. Perhaps it was this background of her mother’s that led to the name of Blanche. I like to think so.