52 Ancestors #19 George Moses

George Moses was born in Windsor, New South Wales on 8 March 1838, the son of Uriah Moses and Anne Daley. He had eight brothers and sisters - Frederick Uriah (1830-1831), Rachael (1831-1831), Henry 1832-1926), Susannah (1834-1923), James (1840-1840), James Uriah (1842-1892), William (1844-1923) and Thomas (1846-1850). Although George came from a large family, four of his brothers and sisters died as babies or young children.

George was baptised on 8 April 1838. We do not learn anything further about George until his marriage to Elizabeth Penelope Pendergast at St Matthew's Church of England, Windsor on 8 June 1865. The notice about the wedding in the Illustrated Sydney News 16 July 1865 stated that the groom was from Armidale so at some stage prior to his wedding he had moved to Armidale to work.  The family lived in Armidale for a number of years. On 18 August 1866 George and Elizabeth's first daughter, Letitia (1866-1928) was born. The birth of their second daughter, Parthenia (1869-1872), was registered in Sydney so she was possibly born in Redfern which was where the family moved to from Armidale. When George Victor was born in August 1871 the address was Oldham Street in Redfern but when Parthenia died almost six months later the family was living at 1 Holden Street, Redfern.  

George worked as a clerk in the New South Wales Civil Service. A note in the Richmond and Windsor Gazette 8 August 1908 stated that George worked in the Railway Department, though he may have worked in another department earlier in his working life. We know from newspaper articles that he worked in the Parcels' Office in Bathurst for many years, probably from 1879 to 1894. The railway line was extended to Bathurst in 1876 with the railway station officially opened on 4 April of that year. George and Elizabeth's third daughter, Elsie, was born and died in Redfern in 1879 so the family was still in Sydney at this time.

George and Elizabeth had  two more children in the 1880s - Constance Henrietta (1882-1974) and Henry John (1889-1936).

When George left Bathurst in 1894 a presentation was made to him. The following article appeared in the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal 24 May 1894:

Presentation — Mr. George Moses who for a number of years was engaged in the Parcels office of the Bathurst Railway Station, and was at all times a deservedly popular and obliging officer, having removed to Sydney, his friends have presented him with a gold chain and pendant, an opal gold pin, and a gold nugget pin. The presentation was made in Sydney as Mr. Moses could not leave to visit Bathurst again. The pendant bears the following inscription 'Presented to George Moses by the public of Bathurst as a token of esteem on his departure from Bathurst, May, 1894.' The chain, etc., was ordered through Mr. J. Penson, Jeweller, Keppel street and the work is very creditable.

However life could be eventful working in a Parcels' Office as was shown when George was required to give evidence at the trial of an offender who obtained a portmanteau from the parcels office at Bathurst by false pretences. A detailed article about this incident at the railway station  appeared in the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal 10 October 1893. 

The next mention of George and Elizabeth is when their son, George Victor, was married in 1901 when their address was listed as  Albion Terrace in Annandale.

The Sydney Morning Herald (3 August 1908) reported that George Moses, late of Windsor, died on 2 August 1908 at a private hospital at Waverley after a long and painful illness. He was 70 years old. George was buried at Waverley Cemetery.

George Moses was my great grandfather.