Farnham, New South Wales, Australia

There will be two parts to the Farnham Story.  The first (this one) is pretty simple and outlines my Family Connections to Farnham / Stoney Creek. The next blog, which hasn’t been written yet, is about Farnham itself. I have some material, I just need to organise and clarify and desperately try and fill some gaps. There is very little information written about Farnham, which in its heyday probably had a few thousand people living there. Today, in 2015, there are around 10 abandoned buildings left with two or three farms operating in the area. Evidence of the many mines is also evident in the area, and there are two headstones remaining in Farnham Cemetery. 

On 8 December 1873 Agnes CROWE married Edmund William FREESTONE at Stoney Creek. This is the first time the family are connected to the area. From that time onwards there are a number of mentions of Edmund in Stoney Creek, which was renamed Farnham after the Surrey village of the same name in England.

I think that a number of Agnes and Edmuns's children were born in the region:

1.     Henry Frederick FREESTONE in 1874

2.     Alice Ann FREESTONE in 1877

3.     Alfred William FREESTONE in 1879

Their fourth child was definitely born at Stoney Creek: Ellen Elizabeth FREESTONE born on 10 October 1880. (See her blog entry)

The family moved from Stoney Creek shortly after this, but returned before 1894 as the following two children were probably born in the area:

1.     Myrtle Agnes FREESTONE in 1894

2.     Ethel Gladys Victoria May FREESTONE in 1897

Other important events that occurred in Farnham:

On 18 May 1898, Ellen Elizabeth FREESTONE married Francis Edward HOCKING.

In 1903, Alfred William FREESTONE married Mary Theresa May THOMPSON, daughter of Eliza Ann (nee ATTRILL) and John THOMPSON. I don’t know definitively that this occurred in Farnham, as I haven’t sighted the certificate.

On 28 April 1906, Stanley Melville HILTON died in Farnham and was buried on 30 April at Omigal Cemetery. He was one year and four months old and was visiting his grandparents with his mother and brother.

In April 1907 Albert FREESTONE married Ines Mary May DUNSMORE in Orange, but both of them had strong ties to Farnham.

Alfred W Freestone was still mining in Farnham in 1908, but his family also resided in Sydney, but he was probably the last of the Freestone children to have a connection to Farnham.

Aubrey LANDERS and Frederick HILTON recalled visiting Farnham to see their grandparents. Edmund FREESTONE was a miner and he would take his grandchildren to show them the mine shafts. We have a photo of Edmund carrying his gun, with his dog sitting beside him.  At this stage I believe that Edmund and Agnes stayed in Farnham longer than any of their children, but probably had left by 1910 – although I need to try and confirm this.