Ellen Carne

On 13 May 1854 at 29B Granby Street, Stoke Dameral (now an inner suburb of Plymouth, England), Ellen Carne was born.  She was the fifth child of Jane (nee Baker) and William John Carne.  One of the children had recently died and Ellen was named after this child.  She didn’t spend long in Stoke Dameral.  In January 1855 the young family set sail for Australia.  William John Carne was a mason – as was his father – and had presumably been enticed to Australia for work.  The family settled in Melbourne and a further four children were born.  Next door lived William’s brother, John Carne, and the two families were close (John Carne's family had also lived next door to the family when they were in Stoke Dameral).  

On Christmas day in 1865 some of the children went to Merri Creek, Northcote.  Ellen’s older brother William and his cousin Samuel were playing in the creek when they got into difficulty.  Ellen’s eldest brother went in to help the two boys, while George, Ellen’s cousin, ran to get help.  By the time assistance arrived, the three boys had disappeared and their bodies were found later in the day.  It is not known if Ellen was at the creek with her siblings.  This must have been a very difficult time for Ellen’s family…

When Ellen was 20 years old, she married Albert Samuel Joyce.  They married at her parents' home in Bedford Street, Collingwood on 5 January 1875.  Albert was a plumber and, like Ellen, had migrated to Melbourne as a young child with his family.  Ellen and Albert had eight children, the first child was born in late 1875: two of their daughters died as young children (in 1883 and 1890); the eldest son, William Frederick died (in 1898) when he was 20 (See entry for William Frederick Joyce).

Ellen's eldest daughter, Ellen Jane, married George Henry Green in 1898.  Ellen became a grandmother in 1900.  The photo below is of Albert Clifford Green with his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  Quite an unusual feat in the early 1900s. 

Ellen Jane had a second son in 1904 but sadly died when she was 30 in 1905.

Her widower, George Henry Green, then married Emily Joyce – Ellen’s second daughter – in 1906, so Emily raised her sister's children plus they had one son together. 

Ellen and Albert lived in Stanley Street, Collingwood, before moving to 166 McKean Street, Collingwood and then to Beulah, George Street, Fitzroy.  Albert’s plumbing business was quite successful and they were financially comfortable.  Their youngest three children, Clarice Rose, Albert Charles and Leslie Samuel all married and had their own families.  Albert and Leslie both joined the newly formed Australian Public Service, much to the disappointment of Albert who wanted them to join his plumbing business. 

On 19 October 1927, Albert Samuel Joyce died.  Ellen continued to keep busy with visits to her family – her four children and 17 grandchildren – and she enjoyed a form of knitting called ‘tacking’.  One of her grandchildren remembers trying to help her out of the rocking chair she had on her deck.  Unfortunately Ellen then fell on top of her – over the years she had become a rather large woman - and her granddaughter felt quite squashed!

Ellen died on 7 August 1943 at the age of 89. 

Relationship to SNR = Great, great grandmother

Matilda Walpole

Brighton, Sussex is a lovely beach town on the southern coast of England.  Until the mid 18th Century Brighthelmston was a fishing village, but development of Georgian terraces along the beachfront and the patronage of the Prince Regent after his first visit to the town in 1783, the village because known at the fashionable resort of Brighton.   It was in the bustling town that Matilda Walpole was born in 1819. It is the very fact that it was a growing town that makes further investigation into exactly who Matilda was so difficult (there were so many churches!).  

On 11 January 1836, at the tender age of 18, she married Augustus Richard Hollebone - who had a rather impressive name and was twelve years her senior!  Eighteen months later, she and Augustus Richard left Plymouth, England on board the Andromache bound for Sydney, Australia.  

The Andromache was 468 tons (old measure), 35 metres long and about 10 metres wide at her broadest point. In Greek mythology, Andromache is portrayed by Homer as the epitome of the perfect wife.  I suspect that Matilda was also being a perfect wife by agreeing to the journey at this particular time!  She was seven months pregnant with her first child when the vessel departed.  Now, various members of my family tend to get seasick - including myself - and I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it must have been to get into the boat with over 200 other people KNOWING that you were going to give birth for the first time before you left the boat!  And for that alone, Matilda has my profound respect!

As third class passengers, Matilda and Augustus do not have their names recorded in the basic information about this trip, but, interestingly, the Rev Joseph Walpole and his wife were also passengers.  I have tried to determine if there is a connection, but with no success (both have a father called John?).

Matilda's first child, Augustus John Hollebone, was born almost exactly halfway into the trip - on 17 August 1837.  I just hope it wasn't a rough sea that day!

The Andromache arrived in Sydney, Australia on 31 October 1837.  Augustus, Sarah and baby Augustus were the first of my ancestors to set foot in Australia.  (If only they had sailed a few months earlier, Augustus may have been the first to be born in Australia - but that "honour" went to young Augustus' son-in-law!)

Matilda and Augustus 'settled' in Sydney and had a further six children: Eliza (1840), Charlotte Elizabeth (1843), Mary Ann Matilda (1845), Henry (1849), Elizabeth Catherine (1852) and Isabella Frances (1855).  The fact that three of these names had Eliza/Elizabeth in them (and all but Mary survived childhood) leads me to think that perhaps Matilda's mother had been called Elizabeth.  Something to discover one day!

Augustus was a tinsmith, but he tried a number of other positions as well.  One of Augustus's more interesting jobs, was as the first postmaster of the new Balmain Post Office!   Someone sent me a newspaper article about it!

On 26 January 1866 at William Street, Redfern, Matilda died.  She was 47 years old and the memory of her good nature has been passed down from generation to generation.  The younger children were cared for by their older siblings.  For unknown reasons Augustus Richard was estranged from the family by the time he died - just over ten years later.

Matilda means 'mighty in battle', and many would say that life for most women in the 1800s was a battle.  I think she did pretty well!

In 2004, members of the Hollebone family decided to honour our 'first Australian family' by putting the Hollebone name onto the Immigration Wall at Darling Harbour.  There was some discussion about what name to put.  We finally agreed to simply put 'Hollebone Family'.   

Relationship to SNR = Great, great, great, great grandmother

Jane Heard - 1824 to 1882

Some of her story...

On 15 August 1824, Catherine and John Heard baptised their new baby daughter in the Parish Church at Dolton, Devon, England.   She was their eighth child (although one daughter had already died as a child) and was their last - Catherine was 42.   Jane grew up in Dolton, which is a small village, in the south west of England. A very normal, little Devon village!

On 7 March 1846 she married John Spicer, a bootmaker, in the Parish Church.  John had been living in Dolton with his parents for a number of years.  He had just turned 22 and she was 21.  Over the next 15 years she gave birth to at least nine children, including one set of twins.  Six of these children survived childhood.   The two eldest children were baptised in Dolton; then more children were baptised in Devonport, 70 kilometres south, on the coast, and finally some children were baptised in Winkleigh, 10 kilometres from Dolton.   So Jane and John appear to have been zipping up and down Devon!  But ultimately spending more time on the south coast.  John Spicer died in 1870, when he was 46, at Stoke Damerel, a few kilometres from Devonport.  1870 was also significant because Jane became a grandmother – her eldest son and his wife had a daughter named Elizabeth Jane.    

This period was also interesting - decisions were made to leave England for the sunny shores of Australia. George, Jane’s second child, was the first to leave – on the True Briton, which sailed in January 1871.  William (the eldest son) and Henry (the surviving twin) were next to leave – along with William’s wife (also Jane) and baby Elizabeth - in October 1871 on the Colonial Empire.   Finally, in September 1873, Jane left England for Australia on the Somersetshire with her three remaining children:  John (the 3^rd son), age 22; Edwin, age 15 and Emily, age 12.  They all arrived as unassisted passengers.  This means that the government did not pay for their fares.

It’s hard to imagine what Jane was thinking when she arrived in her new country.  She was a 50 year old widow and still had dependent children.  It is possible that her sons supported her.  It doesn’t appear that any of her siblings were in Australia – although at least one cousin had also come to Australia. 

Maria Ashplant, Jane’s cousin, had arrived in 1859 with her husband and son.  They also went to Victoria.  However, before Jane had even left England, Maria died.  She was struck by lightning while working in the paddock near her home.  In any case, Jane must have met Maria’s husband, John Milton, who was farming.  On 26 October 1875 Jane and John married at Runnymede, a little village north east of Bendigo.  It’s impossible to know what happened to Jane from this time until her death in Melbourne on 16 September 1882, when she was 58.   John Milton appears to have remained in rural Victoria.  Potentially they were not living together as Jane died in Melbourne and didn’t have a gravestone on her death – she’s a mention on her son’s gravestone but he didn’t die until 1915.  

I called this some of her story, because I believe that the information unknown could be a lot more interesting that the known.  What was Jane’s childhood like?  What happened to Jane's parents?  Why did Jane and John Spicer keep moving?  How well did Jane know Maria Ashplant?  Did Jane and John Milton stay together?  Was Jane happy? 

[Relationship to SNR =  great, great, grandmother]

Harriet Dyson

Harriet DYSON was born in 1882 in Mossley, Cheshire, England.  She was the third child of thirteen born to Elliot Dyson and Ellen (nee Swallow).

On 1 Mar 1906 when Harriet was 23, she married John William WHITE, son of Robert WHITE and Mary Jane ROBINSON, in Mossley, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England.  John was born on 17 Jun 1878 in Heyrod, Stalybridge, Lancashire, England, but in early 1879 had left with his mother, older sister and Aunt to join his father in Sydney, Australia.  John had returned to England, presumably to visit family as most of John’s family had remained in Lancashire - one of John’s uncles was a witness at their marriage.   

Harriet and John had an unhappy marriage.  John was a troubled person, he was very strict with his children and would regularly desert the family for large periods of time.  Maybe his strange behavior was the result of the gene pool being “undiluted” (John’s parents were first cousins – a brother and sister married a sister and brother.  Their children had then married – John was one of these children (so he had four different grandparents, but only four great-grandparents!  Family members reflecting on his behaviour often blame genetics but it’s probably just an excuse for a badly behaved man!).   

Harriet Dyson

Harriet and John had the following children:

            i.          Irene (1906-1947)

            ii.         Phyllis (1909-1994)

            iii.        Sidney (1911-1982)

            iv.        Herbert Victor (1913-1999)

            vi.        Elaine (1924-~1979)

Irene was the only child born in England as Harriet and John moved to Australia soon after her birth.  The Dyson family was obviously quite worried about Harriet so her younger sister, Clara, came to Australia to be with her.  The two sisters did spend much time together and their families were close, so it worked out well.

John William White enlisted for service in World War I on 15 April 1915.  At that time he listed his wife, Harriet Dyson as next of kin.  The following question on the enlistment form relates to distribution of salary.  The standard is “…/5 of salary paid to wife and children”.  John William changed his statement to read: 3/5 of salary paid to children, [through] Mary Jane White (Mother) Guardian.  It appears mistrust between the two was well established!

At some stage, Harriet moved into 50 Bennett Street, Bondi.  The houses in this area were built in the 1920s and were “project homes” of the day.  They were semi-detached cottages built to house returned servicemen and their families.  Harriet lived there with her children and took in boarders to assist with the budget.

The following article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday 28 October 1930:

WHITE v WHITE.

John William White was the petitioner, and Harriet White (formerly Dyson) the respondent, in a suit for the restitution of conjugal rights. The wife denied that she had remained away from her husband without just cause. The marriage took place at Mossley, England, on March 1, 1906, according to the rites of the Congregational Church. The petition was dismissed. Mr. D. C. Paterson (instructed by Mr. F. A. Dudley) appeared for the petitioner, and Mr. Rooney (Instructed by Messrs. Harry A. Green and Co., Sydney agents for Mr. F. E. Murray, of Parramatta) for the respondent.

Harriet and John never actually divorced, although they had very little to do with each other.   When Harriet’s daughter, Irene, died in 1947, the death notice referred to Mr and Mrs John White of Bondi, but John White had not lived in Bondi for many years (if at all).

John William died in Berala, NSW, on 25 Jul 1948; he was 70. At the time he was living with his nephew.   None of his children appears to have retained any photographs of him.  His funeral notice did not identify his children.   

Harriet died in her home at 50 Bennett Street, Bondi, Sydney, NSW, on 4 Jun 1961; she was 79.  All of her surviving children, grandchildren and nephew attended her funeral…

Relationship to SNR = Great-great grandmother

Clara Elizabeth Watson

Clara has become one of my "favourites".  There are lots of reasons for this, but mainly stem from the fact that she obviously loved photos and kept a beautiful Victorian Photo Album of her family.  Unfortunately she forgot to label anyone, but that's life!  She did keep a record of the birth dates of her five sisters and one brother - which also included the dates of death for a number. 

Clara was born on 13 October 1861 in Lowestoft, Suffolk.  She was the second child of Sarah Osborne and Alfred Watson (whose stories will be told another day!).  Clara grew up with her sisters in Lowestoft, mainly living in a house at 57 Raglan Street.  

Clara married George Furnsby in Lowestoft on 18 June 1884.  George was born on 15 February 1856 in Bethnal Green, London, the son of Ann Bunn and Richard Fernsby.  Both Ann and Richard had been married before – Richard was 51 years of age.  George was the only child of the couple to survive infancy.  The spelling of George’s surname varied in his early life.  All spellings of George’s name from 1881 are Furnsby, but on official records his father always spelt his name Fernsby.  George’s mother died when he was four and his father when he was 14.  His mother’s family was from Norfolk and this may have attracted him to Lowestoft.  George worked as a mariner.

Clara had her first child, Clara Elizabeth, on 9 February 1885 in Lowestoft.  George was absent.  He had arrived in Sydney, Australia three days earlier on board Rome.  He is listed on the crew as a lamp trimmer. This person is responsible for keeping the oil lamps of a ship burning brightly, especially the deck and navigation lamps.  Clara and her 23 month old daughter, Clara, followed George to Australia and arrived in Sydney on board the Port Victor on 23 January 1887.  This must have been a difficult move for Clara.  She was not moving with any other members of her family and she would have known that the likelihood of seeing her family again were relatively small.  So what does one pack when moving from England to Australia?  Clara brought her essentials – birth and marriage certificates, and her photo album.   These items were precious enough to Clara that she kept them for her whole life.  Fortunately they still survive.  Clara didn't see any of her family members again, but they did regularly correspond.

Clara and George had two more children born in Sydney; Alfred George, born in 1888 and Sarah, born in 1893.

In 1898 George Furnsby, then aged 42, was working on the wharves.  Family folklore says that he was crushed between a wharf and a boat.  He died at the family home, 25 Ewell St, Balmain, on 4 November 1898 as a result of the injuries received.

It is not known whether Clara contemplated returning to Lowestoft at this time.  Her children were then aged 13,10 and 5.  She may have felt that it would be disruptive to move them, or perhaps she had come to like her adopted country.  Another reason she may have decided to stay is that she did not have the funds to return to England.  This seems unlikely as Clara seems to have lived a comfortable life in Sydney.  NSW Probate records for George Furnsby existed but have been lost, so the value of his estate is not known.

Clara spent the next 13 years raising her children in Balmain, Sydney.

On 15 February 1905, Clara’s eldest daughter, Clara, married Robert Woolley, a butcher.  Clara became a grandmother on 10 December 1905 with the birth of Clara Margaret.  Clara and Robert had a further four children. 

Then in 1910, Alfred George married Annie Haynes daughter of Catherine Watt and Thomas William Haynes.  Alfred and Annie had three children.  They lived in the family home for the rest of their lives.

On 22 March 1911, Clara married for a second time.  The groom was widower George James Hardwick, the son of Mary Ann Dinhaur and George Wilshire Hardwick, born in 1851 in London.  Clara’s children were all very pleased with the marriage as everyone in the family liked ‘Hardie’.  George was a widower, but had no children of his own.  Certainly at the time of his death, his brother’s, wife and stepchildren acknowledged his death in the Newspaper.  Clara and George Hardwick moved to Gladesville, however, Alfred remained living in the Balmain house with his family.

Clara’s youngest child, Sarah, married William Walsh in 1912 and they had three children. 

All the children remained in Sydney.  

Clara and George Hardwick lived at Sunnyside Street, Gladesville for most of their married life.  Their home was named ‘Lowestoft’.  It was common for people to name their homes after their English birthplaces.  They were married for 16 years before Hardie died on 7 November 1927.  Clara went to live with her eldest daughter, Clara in Vaucluse.  She even met great-grandchildren.       

Clara died at 4 Peel Street, Vaucluse on 5 March 1941, aged 79.  Her grand-daughter, Lorna, said that she simply collapsed in the kitchen and died.  Clara is buried with George Hardwick in Waverley Cemetery, on the cliffs of the eastern suburbs of Sydney overlooking the ocean.  It’s not the same ocean of her youth but she couldn’t complain about the view!

Clara Furnsby nee Watson holding her daughter Clara in Lowestoft.

[Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great grandmother]