Sarah McCallum was born in Glasgow, Scotland, possibly in 1839. Sarah came to Australia with her family in 1855. I did not have information about this when I first wrote this post but additional information is now available in another post - Sarah MacCallum Part 2. When she was twenty Sarah married Charles Septimus Smith in Drayton (now a suburb of Toowooba) on the Darling Downs in Queensland. The following notice appeared in The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser 23 June 1859:
MARRIED, By special license, at St. Matthew's, Drayton, on the 22nd instant, by the Rev. Benjamin Glennie, Mr. Charles Septimus Smith, of London, to Sarah, third daughter of Mr. John McCallum, of Glasgow.
During the following twenty-one years, Sarah and Charles had fourteen children - eight daughters and six sons.
Ellen Cumming Smith (1860-1939) was born in Ipswich, Queensland. In 1913, at the age of 59, Ellen married James Campbell Thom. James had previously been married to Ellen's younger sister, Anne. James died in 1929 and Ellen died ten years later in 1939.
John Charles Smith (1861-1948), known to the family as Jack, was born in West Maitland when the family was living in Free Church Street. Jack was an accountant and spent most of his life in Glebe where he died aged 86.
Ronald Campbell Smith (1862-1936) was also born in Maitland. In 1895 he married Ruth Bradley at Wyong, New South Wales. The marriage was not a success and in 107 Ronald applied for the dissolution of the marriage on the grounds of the adultery of his wife with John Maguire. The Clarence River Advocate 26 March 1907 provides details of the case. Ronald was a surveyor and was working Dorrigo at the time. A decree absolute was granted in 1911. In 1923, aged 61, Ronald married Matilda Grace Forster and they lived in Glebe. Ronald Died in Liverpool in 1936.
Anne Smith (1864-1911) was born in Singleton. Aged 23, Anne married a solicitor, James Campbell Thom at Marrickville in 1887. Anne and James had five children, though the youngest son, William, died when he was a baby. For much of their married life Anne and James lived in a house named Dunoon in Burwood. Anne was forty-seven when she died in 1911.
Charles D Smith was born in Singleton in 1865 and I have not found any additional information about him.
Robert Dugald Smith (1867-1961) was born in Maitland. He returned to England and in 1889 received his 2nd Mate Certificate in the Merchant Navy. In July 1895 he married Gwyneth Maud Shepard in England. A month later he received his Master of Foreign Going Ships certificate. He then returned to Australia and was captain of ships carrying coal to Sydney from the Wollongong area. Robert and Gwyneth had six children. For much of his life Robert lived in Bartlett Street, Summerhill. He was 93 when he died.
Catherine Waddell Smith (1868-1939) was born in Wollongong. In 1889, when twenty-one, Catherine married Sydney Walter Austin. Catherine and Sydney had four children and the family lived in Randwick. Catherine was 71 when she died.
Mary Elizabeth Smith (1870-1941) was also born in Wollongong and was known as Polly to her family. Polly was a school teacher and her first appointment was as a pupil teacher in 1885. She taught at a number of schools including Balgowlah Primary School in 1927. Polly was 71 when she died in 1941.
Lilly Smith died shortly after she was born in 1871.
Flora Macdonald Smith (1872-1962) was born in Wollongong. A search in Papers Past shows that on 20 May1907, when aged 34, Flora married Clyde Montgomerie Ballantyne in New Zealand. Flora and Clyde had three children. Clyde was an orchardist. Electoral rolls show that in 1903 he was living in Western Australia before he moved to New Zealand. Flora died in New Zealand when she was 90.
Herbert Frederick Smith (1874-1952), known as Bert, was born in Wollongong. Bert was a salesman and according for one family member he worked in the paint department of Anthony Horden's department store. Electoral rolls show that he was living in Brisbane in 1913. In 1914 he married Agnes Mary Donaldson and they had one daughter. Bert died at New Farm, Queensland, aged 78.
Lily Smith (1875-1947) was born in Singleton. She did not marry and died at Ashfield aged 72.
Norman McCallum Smith (1878-1925) was born in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney. Norman travelled back to England and by 1911 he was working as a fisherman on fishing trawlers operating out of Hull. In 1913 Norman married Lily Denby. War intervened and from April 1915 until 1919 Norman served in the Royal Naval Reserve at Dover. Several years after the war, Norman was in the De La Pole Hospital (asylum) in Hull. A Norman M Hull died in Hull in 1925, aged 47.
Elsie Smith (1880-1934) was also born in Newtown and in 1913 she married Albert Richard William Massey, a patent attorney. For many years they lived in Manly until Elsie died from TB in 1934.
As can be shown from the birth places of the children, Sarah and Charles lived in a number of regions of New South Wales at various times. It must have been quite a challenge moving home with all those children though the older children were possibly fending for themselves when the younger children were born.
As can be seen from the above summary of the lives of the children, a number of the children moved to different countries - Flora to New Zealand and Norman and Robert to England, though Robert returned home, and Bert moved to Queensland to live. From the information we have, they also followed a range of occupations, Norman as a fisherman and his experience with the British Naval reserve during the First World War, Robert as a captain of a coal steamer, Ronald as a surveyor, Polly as a school teacher, Jack as an accountant and Bert as a salesman. Elsie married a patent attorney and Anne and Ellen both married the solicitor, and later barrister, James Campbell Thom.
Sarah's later years were spent at her home, Dunoon, at Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains. The house may have been named after the town of Dunoon in Scotland. As we have no information about Sarah's family it is not known if there were family associations with that area. However Sarah's Scots ancestry is shown in the naming of some of the children - Dugald, Campbell, Flora Macdonald and Sarah's family name of McCallum.
Sarah was 85 when she died at Dunoon in April 1924.
Sarah McCallum was my great (x2) grandmother.
No comments:
Post a Comment