#52Ancestors - Week 45 - Bearded

When I undertook the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project in 2014 a number of the men featured in that series had prominent facial hair. Sometimes sporting beards, sometimes moustaches, portraits of these ancestors appear in this post.

I do not have images of all my ancestors, of course, however there are photos of four of my 2nd great-grandfathers.

Simeon Lord (junior) 1810-1892 would probably win the prize for the hairiest of my more recent ancestors. In this portrait he is shown with a splendid beard and moustache blending with his thick longish hair.

Simeon Lord 1810-1892

Simeon Lord was born in Sydney but moved to Tasmania in 1826, no doubt to look after his father's business interests. In 1831 he married Sarah Birch and they established the property Bona Vista at Avoca. In the 1870s Simeon and Sarah moved to Queensland where he had interests in a number of properties though he and his wife mainly lived in Brisbane.

Another gentleman with extensive facial hair was William Forbes Hutton (1816-1896). In the portrait below he has a rounded bushy beard, a moustache and thick sideburns.

William Forbes Hutton (1816-1896)

Colonel William Forbes Hutton was born in England but spent much of his life in the British Army in India. In 1871 he decided to settle in Australia and eventually purchased a property and built a large home for his family at Lilydale in Victoria.

John William Hillcoat (1828-1907, in the photo below, although he does not appear to have much hair on the top of his head has a thick rounded beard, prominent moustache and sideburns.

John William Hillcoat (1828-1907)

John William Hillcoat was born in Bath, England. He remained in England until November 1851 when, with his wife, he travelled to South Australia. John appears to have had a number of careers. In England his occupation was listed as Fundholder in the 1851 census. In South Australia he leased a property but was not successful at farming and was declared insolvent. The family returned to England and then some years later reappeared in Australia - this time in New South Wales where he owned a music store. He then tried his luck mining at Gympie in Queensland and must have made some money as he eventually purchased a property and raised cattle.

William Clifton Weston (1833-1889), in this photo which was later coloured, does not have a beard but he certainly has an impressive moustache and sideburns.

William Clifton Wilson (1833-1889)

William Clifton Weston was born in New South Wales. He was initially a surgeon and coroner at Sofala, a gold mining town. He also held a number of other public offices, including Clerk of Petty Sessions at Coonamble, and finally moved to Parkes where he was Coroner.

There are also photographs of two of my great grandfathers who had impressive moustaches.

Alfred Percy Lord (1852-1927) is the distinguished looking gentleman with the moustache in the photo below.

Alfred Percy Lord (1852-1927)

 Alfred Percy Lord was born at Avoca, Tasmania, and was the youngest son of Simeon Lord junior. In 1869 he headed to Queensland where he worked on family properties. With two of his brothers he became involved in a number of mining ventures. They also purchased a cattle property but he had to look for other employment due to a series of droughts in the 1870s. He found work in a bank and eventually became manager of the Gympie branch of Australian Joint Stock Bank. The 1890s depression saw him back on the land and he had a number of properties before eventually purchasing the sheep station, Victoria Downs, in south west Queensland. He also purchased a number of other properties for his sons. He spent the last years of his life in Manly.

James Campbell Thom (1863-1929) has a most impressive moustache in the photo below.

James Campbell Thom (1863-1929)

James Campbell Thom was born in Dunoon in Scotland and travelled to Australia with his family in 1877. He became a lawyer and in 1893 became the first Solicitor for Railways in New South Wales. He tried his hand at journalism for a time but eventually was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court. As the uniform in the above photo suggests James was also involved in the NSW military forces where he eventually became a Major. I also have a later photograph of James showing him clean shaven.

As can be seen from the above photos, the nineteenth century and early twentieth century certainly provided some men the opportunity to experiment with facial hair with a variety of styles are on show.

#52Ancestors - Week 18 - Up Close

When I saw the prompt, Up Close, this week I immediately thought of the story recalled by my great grandfather, George Hutton, in the 1930s when George wrote an account of his father's encounter with an elephant in India. William Forbes Hutton was an officer in the British Army when this event occurred and the story was later told to his son who recorded it many years later.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_elephant

W. F. Hutton had an adventure in India when a young man, that few men have had and lived to speak of. He was chased, when on foot, by an elephant and escaped and this is how it happened.
He was camped with a few troops near a village at the foot of the hills and the natives complained that a rogue elephant was destroying their crops - a rogue elephant is usually an old bull that has been driven out of the herd by younger and stronger males and is invariably savage and bad tempered. 

W F heard of this brute and, being keen on sport, determined to go after him. This was a serious undertaking as he had to go on foot through a thick jungle to get near the elephant, and his weapons were two single barrelled smooth bore guns. Rifles were practically unknown in those days (1840-1850) so he had to get within at least 80 yards to make sure of his shot. Accompanied by a native carrying his second gun, he followed a track up a hill to a spot where the elephant  was known to frequently camp in the day time, a little open space on the top of a hill.

They made as little noise as possible when approaching this place and found their quarry standing sideways to them under a tree about 70 yards away. W. F. took careful aim at a spot just behind the elephant's ear and fired. The elephant did not fall but appeared dazed and he (W. F.) turned for his second gun, to find that the native had bolted taking the gun with him and making such a noise in his flight that he attracted the notice of the elephant who charged straight for the pathway.

W. F. ran for his life down the path, but his pursuer was gaining on him fast, when he tripped over the root of a tree and fell, rolling behind the tree. The elephant was going too fast to stop and thundered past down the hill. W. F. got up as soon as he got his wind and made down the hill to the village, where he picked up the native and retrieved his second gun.

Two days later he was told the elephant was dead, so went out to collect the tusks, but found the natives had carried them off, so all he got out of the adventure was a tooth and a determination to let the natives kill their own elephants in future.

The above story, of course, describes events that occurred in another era when some of the attitudes and values were different from today, but it is still part of the family story. 

#52Ancestors - Week 15 - Taxes

Rate books can provide useful information regarding land owned by family members however, as with most resources, it is important to read the information carefully and also not take every piece of information at face value.

William Forbes Hutton purchased 640 acres of land at Lilydale,Victoria, in the early 1880s. Cooring Yering, the two storey brick family home with thirty rooms, was built by David Mitchell, the father of Dame Nellie Melba. The Hutton family moved to their new extremely large home in 1885.

Cooring Yering 1885

The Shire of Lillydale rate books provide a record of owners of land in their area, amount of land owned by each person plus a record of annual rates to be paid on that land. These records can be researched at the rooms of the Lilydale Historical Society.

During the years parcels of land were purchased and sold. For the years 1879-1880 the rate books record that William Forbes Hutton owned 1,607 acres. For the years 1876-1877 the records show William owning 238 acres in one entry and 1,371 acres in a second entry. In the late 1880s the parcels of land were recorded as being 540 acres plus house and 322 acres.

An interesting exercise can be trying to decide exactly where parcels of land were located in different parts of the Shire. In the 1870s William purchased 482 acres at Rowes's Mount and also land referred to as Jamiesons. Until 1876 he owned another 189 acres leased to James T Cashin, Miller. This land was eventually absorbed into William's property. William also leased land to market gardeners - Lee Hoy and Tun Key. I spent several hours at the historical society looking at maps to try and work out where the land was located.

Click image to enlarge

One hundred and forty-nine acres of the Cooring Yering land was used as a vineyard and when William's wife, Eleonora, died in 1900 this land land was left to Walter and Maurice Hutton to own and manage. The rest of the land and the house was sold. Robert Black who purchased Cooring Yering also purchased the land at Rowe's Mount.

Showing land for Cooring Yering before subdivision

Although the records in rate books can be extremely useful for providing information about an ancestor's land holdings, errors can occur as shown in the sample of rate records provided above. In March 1873 William returned to England for twelve months to make arrangements for his family to follow him to Australia and also purchase some farming supplies required for the new property. During that time George, his son who had arrived in Australia in 1869, looked after the properties including paying the land rates. The clerk entering the information in the rate book recorded George's name as he paid the rates that year. This would not have become an issue except that a researcher checking the rate books for 1873-74 noted George's name and, not checking other rate books, assumed that George was owner of the property. This information was copied into other sources.

Cooring Yering today - Google Maps

The house, Cooring Yering, still exists. When I last visited it there was still land at the back of the property (110 acres according to the sale information when it was sold in 2005) but entrance to the property is via a narrow road between houses in a residential area.

The records in the rate books were collected to record part of local government financial operations in an area. However they can also provide valuable source material for family history and local history research if used carefully.

The bakery in Windsor

This was the fourth of six short pieces of writing, with a reflective statement, which was part of the first assessment for Writing the Family Saga. In this piece we were to write about a setting that was important to the family saga.

When Uriah Moses moved into his stone cottage, he had no way of knowing that he was starting a family business that would last for 150 years.

It was the mid-1820s and the house was located in the business centre of Windsor, bordering Thompson Square. It was close to the Macquarie Arms Hotel, the Court House and other government buildings, including the Government Stores. It was also a short distance from the wharf on the Hawkesbury River.

After twenty-five years in the colony, life in East London had become a blur. After being assigned to work on land near Windsor, Uriah eventually acquired his own land and was soon selling wheat to the Government Stores. Now his new project was to open a bakery at the rear of his house.

After marrying Ann Daley, Uriah and his expanding family lived in the front rooms of the cottage while operating their business from the back. No doubt the children helped in the bakery from an early age. Not satisfied with just a successful bakery, Uriah bought and sold land and was also a money lender.

Ann took charge of the bakery when Uriah died until their son, William, could manage the business. Two adjoining cottages were acquired and eventually demolished, replaced by a large two story building. This became the Moses Bakery and General Stores.

As Windsor continued to grow the town centre moved. Therefore, in the 1920s, a new generation of the Moses family built a new store in the new town centre.

Reflection:
In England Uriah faced the death penalty. In New South Wales he had the opportunity to start again. Establishing a bakery in Windsor was the beginning of a Moses family dynasty in Windsor until recently.

Writing this story has led to investigating life in Windsor in the early years of the town: useful information when writing about this family in the future.

However there are questions – the major one being: Why did Uriah become a baker? It was obviously a business opportunity, but there is nothing in the records to indicate any previous experience.

References:
New South Wales and Tasmania Convict Musters

New South Wales Colonial Secretary’s Papers

The buildings in this story still stand are located at 62-66 George Street, Windsor. Information about the buildings is available on a number of websites relating to the heritage of Windsor.

Point of no return

University of Tasmania Family History course - Writing Family History

Assessment Task 2: Write a short narrative focussing on one person, place time or event from your family history. I wrote about Uriah Moses.
Word limit 1,000 words.

Point of no return

One silly mistake changed my life. It should have been easy. Just cut a hole in the window, retrieve as many items as possible, then take the goods to the Benjamin house.

When Mrs Benjamin suggested the idea to the three of us we jumped at the opportunity to earn a little money. Finding a job was not an easy task. For three years I worked for Henry Jacobs learning about glass, including how to cut glass with a diamond. But once I turned fifteen I was out on the street looking for work once more.  

The chosen time was six o’clock on Friday evening, 8 December 1798 to be exact. A date I will not forget. Being winter, it was totally dark as sunset was before four o’clock. Most people were indoors, especially in this Jewish community where the Sabbath was usually strictly observed. It was unlikely that we would be noticed. Cutting a hole in the window with a diamond rather than breaking the glass would also reduce the chance of anyone hearing us. 

What could go wrong?

I cut the glass and reached through the hole to collect items to pass to the other two lads who were my accomplices. It all went well until I misjudged the opening in the glass and cut my hand. There was blood everywhere. The other two disappeared into the night but I decided to finish the job. Taking as many items as I could carry I hurried to the Benjamin house as planned.

Mrs Benjamin ran a lodging house and I rushed upstairs to hide the items in the designated spot. I then set out to find Mrs Benjamin. When she saw my cut hand she cursed as she bandaged it quickly in an old, not too clean, shawl and told me to hurry to the hospital.

I managed to make my way to the river, crossed the bridge and finally arrived at Guy’s Hospital. My hand was cut in several places and there was a lot of blood on the shawl. I was in bed in a room with many other people when a constable arrived to arrest me. Mrs Benjamin had told him where I had gone.

Someone must have seen me leave Mr Holmes’ shop and followed me to the house where most of the stolen items were found. The constable asked me how I cut my hand and I told him that I had had a fall when crossing London Bridge. The teapot I was carrying broke when I fell and I cut my hand. He did not believe me.

When I arrived at the hospital I hid the one card of lace that I kept under the mattress. I did not see it again.

Newgate Prison was a dismal place. Although the prison building had recently been rebuilt, for those of us incarcerated within these walls it was dreary, crowded and dirty. And then there was the noise and the smell… So many people crowded together in unsanitary conditions. I was used to crowds in the streets and laneways in Whitechapel. I was used to living in crowded lodgings. But in here there was no escape from people. Occasionally we were allowed out in the prison courtyard for a short time and no matter what the weather it was good to have some fresh air. Food in the prison was also an issue. Prisoners with money were given better treatment and food while the rest of us had to exist on the slops provided.

It took a while for my family to find out what had happened and where I was.  My father visited me but I did not know what to say. We did not know what would happen to me but the future did not look good.

I had been in prison for a month when one morning a group of us was called to go to court. We were taken down a narrow passage connecting the prison to a dingy, crowded room beneath the court where we waited to be summoned.

The courtroom was a different world compared to the prison. The room was huge and from the high ceiling hung four chandeliers. I had never seen anything like it. I was told to stand where everyone could see me. Mrs Benjamin was there too.  A mirror was angled to reflect daylight on my face. During the trial there were lots of people talking about what had happened at Mr Holmes’ shop, at the Benjamin house and at the hospital.  They asked a lot of questions. When I was asked about events I said, 'I know nothing at all of it'.

Kitty Jacobs and three other witnesses were called to testify about my character. I don’t think that they knew that Kitty is my sister. Kitty said that I was honest when I worked with her husband. 

Then the verdict was given - Guilty with Death as the penalty. I stood there shaking and was hustled back to prison.

We had all seen prisoners leave down a narrow passage leading to the gallows outside the prison, never to return. We also knew that watching a hanging was considered a public entertainment. So this was to be my fate. I as only eighteen and would lose my life because I stole a few cards of lace and some cloth.

Then my luck changed. I was to be transported to another country for the rest of my life. I knew I would never see my family again but I was to be given a second chance.

Another year and the prison gates are closed behind us. Chains on, we are loaded into a cart. Our destination is a hulk in Portsmouth. Eventually a ship will take us to the other side of the world with no hope of returning to England, home.

Trial of Uriah Moses (part 3)

 London hospitals in the eighteenth century

The website, London Lives 1690 - 1800, contains an article on hospitals in the eighteenth century.

There is also a detailed article on Guys Hospital in British History Online.

Guy's Hospital was founded by Thomas Guy who in 1721 purchased land for the building in St Thomas Street opposite St Thomas' Hospital. The hospital opened in 1726 with 100 beds and 51 staff. In 1735 one staff member received an annual salary of £20 for killing bed bugs. In 1738-9 an east wing was added to the building. Many alterations occurred over the years, some necessitated after bombing during World War II. In 1993 Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital amalgamated. (The London Encyclopaedia, 3rd ed. 2008 p366)

Engraving from British Library collection

Reading the description of eighteenth century London hospitals in the twenty-first century they generally sound like places to avoid.

Uriah's accident
On 8 December 1797 Uriah Moses, who was seventeen or eighteen, was involved in robbing the premises of a linen draper and mercer in Whitechapel. It was approximately 6 o'clock on a Friday evening in winter so not only would it be dark there would not be many people around in this predominantly Jewish area. The trial notes from the Old Bailey Proceedings suggest that Uriah may have been one of three boys taking part in the robbery.

The robbery did not go to plan. As a lad Uriah had worked for three years for Henry Jacobs, the owner of a glass business in Petticoat Lane, so he was able to cut glass using a diamond. To gain access to the merchandise in the shop Uriah cut an opening in the glass. Unfortunately when he reached through the glass to retrieve some of the merchandise he cut the back of his hand resulting in considerable loss of blood.

During the trial William Holmes, the owner of the shop stated that a piece of diamond was left by the window frame and 'some of the glass remained in the inside of the window, and some out'. Mr Homes said that he did not hear the window being broken.

Items stolen according to William Holmes included 'four or five cards of black lace, some is what is called British lace, two pieces of silk handkerchiefs, and two pieces of calimanco, one was brown, the other drab colour; the whole of them were worth, I suppose, seven or eight pounds'.

Uriah raced to the nearby lodging house of Ann Benjamin and her husband where he hid most of the items, except for one card of lace, under a mattress in an upstairs room. He then looked for Ann Benjamin. She was out of the house during the robbery but returned shortly after to discover Uriah and his badly cut hand. She wrapped a shawl around the hand and told him to go to Guy's Hospital which was not far away.

Uriah had been in bed in the hospital for only a short time when he was arrested. According to the man arresting Uriah, the back part of Uriah's was cut in several places and the shawl which he found in the bed was 'very, very bloody'. There were a great number of other people in the room when Uriah was arrested. I hope that he had received some treatment for the cut hand. After Uriah was taken from the hospital a nurse found a card of lace in his bed.

The rest of the items retrieved from Ann Benjamin's house had blood on them.

Trial of Uriah Moses (part 2)

 On the surface the record of the trial of Uriah Moses and Ann Benjamin is just an account of the many trials heard at the Old Baily at the end of the eighteenth century. However when you carefully read the trial notes and investigate, where possible, some of the people mentioned in the trial it is possible to gain a better understanding of Uriah and his life so far.

We knew that Uriah Moses was Jewish and a closer look at the Old Bailey Online trial notes indicate that the area around Whitechapel, where Uriah appears to be living, had a large Jewish population at the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Reading the trail notes shows a number of contradictions, however there may be some clues providing information about Uriah and his family.

Kitty Jacobs
In a previous post I wrote about the possible connection between Uriah and Kitty Jacobs, one of Uriah's character witnesses. A major reason for the assumption that this Kitty Moses might be Uriah's sister is that her husband, Henry Jacobs, had a glass shop and she stated that Uriah had worked with her husband for three years. Uriah would have been about twelve when he started working for Henry Jacobs. Kitty stated that Uriah worked worked with Henry for three years. Uriah's ability to cut glass windows was probably the reason he was involved in the robbery. Unfortunately for Uriah his skills let him down on this occasion.

There are many references online, including forums, to the Jacob family and the glass business. British Genealogy and Family History Forums has a section Jacob's family, china and glass merchants.

Kitty married Henry Jacobs in June 1793 at the Great Synagogue. The marriage record (GSM 011/7) in Synagogue Scribes shows Kitty's Hebrew name as Keila and that her father's Hebrew name was Moshe Cohen.  Moshe is another form of Moses.

Family Search wiki provides information on Hebrew names in England at this time. The Ashkenazim Jews initially used a patriarchal system of names where a child was the son or daughter of the first name of the father. In this case Moses.

The actual transcription for the marriage of Kitty and Henry Jacobs reads:
Source: S2996 Title: Marriage: Henry Jacobs & Kitty Moses, London 1793 Type: Marriage Record Publication: Transcript in Marriage Records of the Great Synagogue, London 1791-1885, Lewin, H and M, (privately published, 2004)
Text:
Husband: Jacobs, Henry. Hebrew Name: Hirsch b. David Litsim (or Letson)
Father's Hebrew Name: David Litsim (or Letson)
Wife: Moses, Kitty. Hebrew Name: Kelia b. Moshe Cohen (daughter of Moshe Cohen)
Father's Hebrew Name: Moshe Cohen
Date of Marriage: 19th June 1793 NB: Other transcripts give the date as 5th June 1793.
Ref 94666/77/G115 Repository: #R75 Data Changed: Date: 21 JUN 2011 Time: 11:12:05

At the turn of the eighteenth century the Jews in England were forced to accept a more uniform naming pattern. Consequently tribal names were often used. Cohen was a form of Kohanin, a priestly tribe. Another common Jewish name, Levi, was chosen for similar reasons.

Suffice to say researching Jewish names at the end of the eighteenth century for family history research is next to impossible.

Uriah's parents
During the trial the constable who had arrested Uriah reported that on asking Uriah how he had cut his hand he answered that he had been at his father's in Petticoat Lane and had cut his hand when he tripped, carrying a teapot, on London Bridge. Needless to say this information was not accepted as the truth by the judge but the mention of his father in Petticoat Lane may be true.

There is also mention of Uriah's mother during the trial. A character witness, Elizabeth Hicks said that she did not know Uriah but she knew his mother as ' a very honest hard working woman'.

This suggests that Uriah's parents were living in London by the time of his arrest and that they probably lived in Petticoat Lane. Petticoat Lane has been Middlesex Street since 1830. Prior to the early 1600s it was called Hogs Lane. This blog post in Londonist provides some information on the history of the street.

1720 map showing Petticoat Lane at the top

Middlesex Street (on left) and Whitechapel High Street (Google Maps)

Earlier today I located the Hambro Synagogue Register in the Susser Archive.

The Hambro Synagogue was an independent synagogue founded as an offshoot of  the Great Synagogue in the early 1700s. The Synagogue building, opened in 1725 in Magpie Alley, was demolished in 1892-3 and then rebuilt in another location in Whitechapel in 1899. It closed in 1936 when it merged once more with the Great Synagogue.

The register includes the following entry:
274 The widow of Moses COHEN THIRD FEMALE STRANGER buried on Wednesday 19 Iyar '570 [= 23 May 1810] Petticoat Lane

Could this be Uriah's mother? The name of her husband and the street where they probably had lived are the same. If so, Uriah's father died prior to May 1810.

The 'third female stranger' refers to the class of the person in the record. At this time Anglo-Jewish cemeteries ordered their seating and congregations into classes. Third class referred to strangers or guests and were usually poorer people who would sit at the back of the synagogue and have no regular seat. Jewish burials were also arranged in classes. The woman in this record was therefore buried in the poorer section of the cemetery.

Ann Benjamin
Another mystery in the trial notes is Ann Benjamin who was accused of being the receiver of the stolen goods.

Ann lived with her husband in a house where they let out rooms. The trial notes suggest that the boarders were women though Uriah appears to have known his way around the house. There is no suggestion in the trial notes that he actually lived there. Hannah Smith. Mrs Benjamin's servant, saw Uriah enter the house and race upstairs. She later said that Uriah wanted to speak to Mr and Mrs Benjamin who were not home at the time. Mrs Benjamin then arrived back home.

It is probable that Ann Benjamin was the organiser of the robberies. Once again, from the trial notes, it is suggested that Uriah was not the only boy involved in the robbery. Three boys are mentioned but Uriah appears to have been the only one to go to the Benjamin house.

Ann, when questioned, knew where the stolen items were hidden though initially she said she was unable to accompany the peace officer upstairs as she was observing the sabbath. Ann also admitted to wrapping Uriah's cut hand in a shawl and sending him to the hospital. At the trial Ann Benjamin was found guilty of stealing goods but she was not guilty of breaking and entering. She was sentenced to fourteen years transportation to New South Wales but stayed in England.

Uriah
During the trial Uriah's defence was 'I know nothing at all of it'. Although his three character witnesses were all positive it is not a surprise that he was found guilty of stealing the goods and breaking and entering the premises of Mr Holmes. As a large number of items were stolen the sentence was the death penalty.

Fortunately, possibly because of his young age, this was commuted to transportation to New South Wales for the rest of his life.

Trial of Uriah Moses (part 1)

Old Bailey Online is a great resource for information if you have family who were tried at the Central Criminal Court in London, better known as The Old Bailey. One of the convicts in my family, Uriah Moses, was tried at the Old Bailey on 10 January 1798. Old Bailey Online provides a copy of the original trial document plus a transcript of the trial.

The report of Uriah's trail is detailed, though some statements are contradictory. Like most documents used for family history research it is important to read the document thoroughly as there may be information that could be easily overlooked. I had included the main information provided in the trial in my 52 Ancestors post on Uriah Moses elsewhere in this blog. However since then my brother has been doing some research on Uriah and found a possible lead from the trial proceedings.

Currently I am doing the University of Tasmania Writing Family History course so for the first assignment, which was to be no more than 250 words, I submitted the following piece in the Discovering the Hidden Past discussion group:

Discovering the hidden past – Who was Kitty Jacobs?

At the Old Bailey on 8 December 1797, Kitty Jacobs was called as a character witness at the trial of Uriah Moses. 

Seventeen year old Uriah had been arrested for stealing 7 silk handkerchiefs, 30 yards of lace and 58 yards of calimanco from William Holmes’ Drapers Shop in Whitechapel.  Using a diamond to cut a hole in the shop window, Uriah (probably with the assistance of other boys according to the trial notes) grabbed the goods and took them to the lodging house of Ann Benjamin. During the robbery Uriah cut his hand on broken glass and Ann Benjamin gave him a shawl to wrap around it before he went to Guys Hospital for treatment. Uriah was later arrested at the hospital.

At the trial Kitty Jacobs stated that Uriah worked with her husband at her glass shop in Petticoat-lane for three years, several years previously, and that she considered him honest.  

 I had always accepted this as just a witness statement but recently a transcript of a Great Synagogue record for the marriage of Kitty (Keila) Moses to Henry Jacobs in June 1793 was made available online. Could Kitty Jacobs therefore be related to Uriah? Perhaps she was a sister or an aunt.  This has opened up a new area for investigation which may lead to information about Uriah and his family in England.

A postscript: Uriah was transported to NSW where he successfully ran a number of businesses in the Hawkesbury region.

The next step in this investigation will be to look at the trial notes again more carefully in order to collect all the clues that may provide, not just information about the crime but also about the people who Uriah knew and worked with. This may result in an insight into Uriah's life in London before his arrest and if we are lucky provide information about members of his family.

Synagogue scribes provides a collection of transcripts of Jewish records including some of the  records of the Great Synagogue in London.

Future posts will provide information about the Jewish community in which Uriah was possibly involved.

52 Ancestors #39 John William Hillcoat

John William Hillcoat was born 28 May 1828 in Bath, Somerset, England. His father was the Reverend Henry Brougham William Hillcoat (1791-1859) while his mother was Susannah Rowe (1791-1833). John had two brothers Henry Brougham Hillcoat (1823-1858) and Theophilus Hillcoat (1833-1833). In 1835 his father married Catherine Pyme and they had three children - Alfred Hillcoat born in 1840, Catherine Susannah Hillcoat born in 1841 and Theophilus Pym Hillcoat (1843-1903).

The Hillcoat family lived in Bath where the Rev. Hillcoat was the incumbent of St Mary's Chapel, Queens Square, although there was a dispute for many years regarding who had the right to conduct services. The 1841 census shows the family members - Henry (clergyman), Catherine, Henry and John - living at Chapel Row.

On 26 August 1848, John William Hillcoat married Sarah Anne Collins at St Mary's Church Bristol. In the 1851 census John was living at 13 Ashley Road in Box, a village near Bath. His occupation was listed as Fundholder - someone who received an annual sum of money from an investment. The other person listed as living in the house was his groom. John's wife, Sarah had died in the middle of 1850. A son, John Henry Edwin Hillcoat, was also born in 1850 with his death is recorded in the same year.

On 26 August 1851 John William Hillcoat married Catherine Ellen Mant in Bath.

On 8 November 1851 John and Catherine left England for Australia aboard the ship, Adelaide, arriving at the Port Adelaide on 1 February 1852. Aboard the ship they met Mr Alexander Grant whose family owned land in the Gawler area including the property Tyeka. The Hillcoat family stayed with Mr Grant on his property for a while before leasing for twelve months another property, Tenafete, owned by Mr Grant. Finding farming not a particularly successful pursuit, in 1854 John Hillcoat began dealing in cattle and sheep. An article in the South Australian Register 30 May 1856 confirms the issuing of Depasturing Leases for fourteen years to a number of recipients. One lease was in the name of P E Warbuton and J W Hillcoat for 18 square miles at an annual rent of £9. John had formed a partnership with Major Peter Edgerton Warburton - there was a family connection as Major Warbuton had married Alicia Mant, the sister of Catherine's father. The commencement of the lease had been from January the previous year and the land was used raising and selling cattle, sheep and horses. The property may have been known as Stradbroke. This arrangement only lasted until October of 1856 when articles in Trove show that a Mr J W Hillcoat was declared insolvent. A number of articles show cases where J W Hillcoat was trying to obtain money from other insolvents. Over the next few years furniture,  produce, land and any other assets were sold to pay off creditors. The final advertisements appear in the South Australian newspapers in October 1865. One newspaper article in December 1864 about the case noted that the insolvent had long left the colony.

The family appear to have left the colony of South Australia at the end of 1857 or early 1858 and returned to England. In June 1858 Ethel Maria Hillcoat was born at 40 York Terrace, Everton, Liverpool, the address of her grandfather Rev. H B W Hillcoat. They returned to Australia in 1859, this time to the colony of New South Wales. They settled in Maitland where Catherine's uncle and his family had established a successful retail business - E P Capper & Sons.

From September 1859 advertisements appear in the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser advising of the proposed establishment of a school for young ladies by Mrs Hillcoat at Box Cottage, Devonshire Street. Subsequent issues of the newspaper include advertisements showing the development of the school and term dates.

It is not known what John Hillcoat was doing during the first couple of years in New South Wales but on 23 August 1862 the following advertisement appears in the Maitland newspaper - MUSIC— Vocal and Instrumental—for Sale J W HILLCOAT, Devonshire street, W Maitland. John had now established a new career.

A subsequent advertisement in December provided additional information:

MUSIC ALWAYS ON HAND

MR J. W. HILLCOAT begs to acquaint the gentry, principals of schools, resident governesses, and the public, that he is prepared to EXECUTE THEIR ORDERS for all kinds of MUSIC-Classical (ancient and modern), Sacred (vocal and instrumental), fashionable and popular Dance Music, &c.-and respectfully solicits their patronage. New Music received by every mail from England. Country orders promptly attended to. High-street, next to Thomas', Printer, West Maitland.

Over the months the business expanded as this advertisement in January 1863 shows:

NEW YEAR'S GIFTS

ALBUMS for 1863, and other WORKS suitable for NEW YEAR'S G1FTS. 

Exhibition PIANOS, by Cadby and other eminent makers.

J. W. HILLCOAT, Musical Repository, High-street, West Maitland

As well as selling music John produced a regular publication -

THE MAITLAND MUSICAL BIJOU

ON WEDNESDAY, 4th, the FIRST NUMBER of the above Publication will be issued.

No 1 - "THE NIGHT PARADE WALTZES," Dedicated to Lieut. Wolfe and Officers of the W. M. Volunteer Rifles, Composed by Marmaduke H. Wilson

Published by J. W. HILLCOAT, Music Seller and Stationer, High-street, West Maitland.

Notices for John's music business regularly appeared until this advertisement appeared:

NOTICE            

I HAVE THIS DAY SOLD to MR. S. MITCHELL the STOCK OF MUSIC, FIXTURES, &c. 
in the Shop lately occupied by Mr. J. W. Hillcoat.

JAMES WOLSTENHOLME,     Acting Trustee.     West Maitland, April 1st, 1868.

The family was on the move again, this time to Gympie in Queensland. Gympie was experiencing a goldrush and articles in Trove from September 1868 show that John William Hillcoat was supervisor at Trelkeld's where they were crushing ore from a number of reefs. By January 1871 he was manager of Hope Machine at Black Creek. In a letter to the newspaper concerning information provided in a previous article John wrote - 'I am erecting a plain cottage of three bedrooms and a sitting room, just large enough to contain my family (eleven in all), having no pretension in any way to an architectural elegance, and at the very smallest possible outlay'.

The money that John Hillcoat now earned allowed him to purchase two properties in the Gympie area - Ashley and Wodonga.  He now returned to farming and the land was passed on to family members. John had some success showing cattle from his property at the Gympie Agricultural and Pastoral Society Annual Exhibitions. John William Hillcoat appears to have made two other trips back to England, returning to Australia in 1874 and 1886.

Eventually John and Catherine moved to Sydney to live in a house named Ormah. John William Hillcoat died on 17 February 1907 and was buried at Gore Hill Cemetery the following day.

John William Hillcoat was my great (x2) grandfather.

John William Hillcoat - Gympie

Selection of articles from Trove re John William Hillcoat in the Gympie area.

LATEST FROM GYMPIE
Threlkeld's quartz crushing machine is now ready to commence operations, but the first crushing has been postponed to Monday next. Through the courtesy of Mr Hillcoat, the superintendent, I am in a position to give you some particulars concerning the establishment, which I took an opportunity of inspecting this morning. The site is admirably chosen at a convenient part of the first pocket, scarcely a mile from the Post Office and just beyond the Chinese camp. The Victoria, Golden Currie, and Boulton reefs run directly towards it to the south. There are ten stampers, and the engine is of eight horse power nominal, the whole machinery being from the foundries of Messrs P N Russell and Co, in Sydney. Steam was got up for a trial on Monday and Tuesday last, and everything worked most satisfactorily, no jarring or vibration of any kind being perceptible. The tank is fed by a pump worked by the engine, and the first well, thirty three feet deep, is forty feet below. The pipes pass from the base of this well through a tunnel 4 feet 6 inches in height, and 3 feet 6 inches in width. At distances of forty feet from well No 1 down to the river bank, are other slabbed wells or shafts, to enable the pipes to be periodically examined and repaired with facility, whenever necessary. The tunnel is very well constructed, having set props every four feet from the main well at the river side to the first well at the lower shed. Taking a glance at the whole premises, it is at once palpable that all the works are completed throughout in the most substantial manner. The engineer's laboratory is in the enclosed yard, and that department is under the supervision of Mr Bennett, of Sydney. It has been questioned whether the onging is sufficiently powerful to efficiently work the ten stampers and the pump simultaneously .There is, however, little doubt that it will perform the double duty satisfactorily, as three men turning the pump wheel with wooden spokes not regularly fitted to, are able to send the water in large quantities to the tank.
Brisbane Courier 11 September 1868

KILKIVAN
The serpentine allurements of the Black Snake succeed in concentrating in that locality about 150 persons, who are all engaged in reefing. The Shamrock, Black Snake, Mariners', and Table Land are exclusively the lines of reef operated on, whilst returns ranging from 5dwts. to 11 ozs. to the ton continue to afford requitement and hope to the owners. In connection with this section of the mining interest, Mr. Hillcoat, manager of the Hope Machine, kindly furnished me with interesting statistics which, as compiled from the machine register, show that from February, I870, the date of commencement, to December 31st, 1870, there were crushed 1208 tons of quartz for a yield of 1507 ozs. 15 dwts. gold, or an average yield per ton of 1 oz. 4 dwts. 23 grs. Nothing can better demonstrate the value of the reefing interest in this district than the plain rendering of these few figures. In consequence of there not being sufficient employment, the Hope Machine is engaged only 12 hours a day. The reefers have a decidedly satisfied look, whilst the machine manager, Mr. Hillcoat, by way of offering a guarantee for the future, is erecting spacious and costly dwelling, which bids fair to surpass in architectural elegance most ordinary bush habitations.Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 26 January 1871

CORRESPONDENCE.                  
OUR KILKIVAN CORRESPONDENT.   (To the Editor of the Chronicle.)   Black Snake, February 1, 1871.  
Sir, — I have just seen your issue of the 26 th ult., and must beg to be allowed to say a few words in reference to your correspondent's remarks on Kilkivan, especially as far as it refers to the Black Snake. Your correspondent has been wrongly informed with regard to the number of persons located on the Black Snake. If he had left out the 1 before the 50, he would have been nearer the mark, and even then he would have over-estimated the number. The quantity of stone crushed at the machine, as also the average yield per ton, is correct; and I fully endorse your correspondent's ideas with regard to the mineral resources of the district, and I believe that with capital to open the different reefs which are known to contain gold, silver and copper in payable quantities, this would be one of the richest districts in Queensland. It would be useless for men to come here without money, thinking they could get a payable reef at once, for they would only be disappointed. It is by companies alone that this place can be worked with profit. The Shamrock line of reef is one that in my opinion would well repay a capitalist. The crushings have averaged from 6 to 8 dwts. to the ton. No. 3 south has yielded from 1oz. to 2½ozs. to the ton. This line, with the exception of No. 8, is abandoned, the men engaged not having sufficient money to sink a deep shaft and test the ground at a depth of 150 to 200 feet. The tailings are valuable, containing a large percentage of gold in the iron pyrites, which can not be extracted by the ordinary crushing mill. The gold is of very superior quality, and realises from £3 12s. to £3 14s. 3d. per ounce in Gympie. I have no hesitation in saying that in Victoria such a line of reef would not be vacant a day, but would be made to return a handsome dividend to shareholders. The success of the trial of 3 tons -of ore from the prospectors claim , Marina's Reef, first crushed at the machine, and the concentrated tailings treated in the trace, and afterwards manipulated by Mr Cossins, has been so satisfactory that ground adjoining has been taken up, and formed into a small company, and will be tested in the same manner for gold, silver, and copper. With regard to the postal communication, it would be a very great convenience if the Post-master would have a bag made up for Black Snake. The mail contract is for a weekly mail to Kilkivan, via Black Snake if required. The road for a horse-mail is good, and one or two miles nearer than by Mullally's, and it would save the inhabitants a ride of 25 miles for their letters, a delay of a week in answering, and another ride of 25 miles, to post letters. One more remark with reference to your correspondent's idea of a "spacious and costly dwelling being erected by the manager as a guarantee for the future." I am erecting a plain cottage of three bedrooms and a sitting room, just large enough to contain my family (eleven in all), having no pretension in any way to an architectural elegance, and at the very smallest possible outlay. Yours, &c.,         J. W. Hillcoat,         Manager Hope Machine.
Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 7 February 1871

LAND
At the monthly sitting of the Gympie Land Court, on the 2nd instant, the following applications were conditionally approved by the. acting  Commissioner:
homestead. J. W. Hillcoat, 160 acres, pastoral, Noosa River;
Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 12 October1872

THE Gympie Times of Saturday last, says   "At the usual monthly sitting of the Land Court, held on Wednesday last, twenty-two   applications for 4192 acres of land were conditionally approved by the Lands Commissioner:
The following are the applications:  J. W. Hillcoat, 1280 acres, second class pastoral, Tinana Creek;
Brisbane Courier 11 October 1873

52 Ancestors #35 William Clifton Weston

William Clifton Weston was probably born in New South Wales in 1833. His father's name was possibly John Bennett Weston. It has been difficult to pinpoint family information as there is more than one John Weston at this time and official birth records were not available. There is therefore lots of information to uncover about William's family and William's early life.

His brother, John W D Weston was born in 1832 and died the same year. Another brother, John Bennett Weston, according to the Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate 1 April 1911, died in Lancashire on 27 January 1911. I have so far been unable to locate a date of birth for him but as there had been another child called John he was possibly younger than William. I am also still looking for information about William's parents.

William was 26 when he married Jane Cox at the Wesleyan Church, Sofala, New South Wales, on 11 May 1859. Sofala is 46 km north of Bathurst and was a goldmining town. On the marriage certificate William's occupation is listed as being a surgeon.

In October 1859 a note in the Sydney Morning Herald reported that 'the following gentlemen have been appointed coroners for the districts specified, in connection with their names respectively ... Rylstone - William Clifton Weston, Esq., surgeon. (Sydney Morning Herald 22 Oct 1859). Rylestone was a small settlement to the west of the Blue Mountains. While in Rylestone, their first child, Percy Clifton Mckay Weston (1860-1947)  was born. By July 1860 there was to be another move, this time to Kiandra, a goldmining town in the Snowy Mountains  - William Clifton Weston, Esq. has been appointed coroner for the district of Kiandra (Australian Home Companion & Band of Hope 14 July 1860). Jane may have remained in Rylestone as her second child, Mary Mornington Weston, was born in Rylestone in 1861. The next move was to Coonamble, on the Castleragh River 569 km north west of Sydney, where the family lived until about 1878. Six more children were born to William and Jane while they lived at Coonamble.

William held a number of other positions in the town as well as Coroner. The first public school was built in 1869 and William had been appointed to form the Public Schools Board for Coonamble in 1868. He was also a JP and from 1870 could consent to the marriage of minors in the Coonamble, Dubbo districts. He was also the Clerk of Petty Sessions at Coonamble.

The Sydney Morning Herald 13 December 1876 reported that William Clifton Weston, Clerk of Petty Sessions, Coonamble, was to be Clerk of Petty Sessions and Registrar of the District Court, Hill End so the family was on the move back to where William had begun his career, as Hill End was not far from Sofala. Another notice in the Sydney Morning Herald 3 February 1877 confirmed that Mr William Clifton Weston has been appointed assistant registrar of births deaths and marriages for the district of Tambaroora, at Hill End, from the 1st instant. The stay at Hill End was short as the family moved to Parkes the following year when it was reported that Mr. William Clifton Weston has been appointed 'Assistant Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages for the district of Forbes, at Parkes, from the 1st instant' (Australian Town & Country Journal 27 July 1878). In August he was also appointed to be 'warden's clerk and mining registrar at Parkes, and to issue miners' rights, business, and mineral licenses' and a year later the Australian Town & Country Journal announced that 'Mr. William Clifton Weston, to be coroner at Parkes, and for the colony generally'.

William worked in Parkes for eleven years until his death in 1889. According to his death certificate he had been ill for a month before his death on 14 April 1889. There were a number of reports of his ill health and subsequent death in a number of newspapers. Below is the obituary from the Molong Express and Western District Advertiser 20 April 1889:

Death, of Mr W. C. Weston, C.P.S., Parkes. — This gentleman, we learn, died at Parkes on Sunday night last. It appears that the bones of the foot had begun to decay, and amputation was resorted to on Thursday, the 11th inst. Mortification, however, set in and the patient expired on the day above mentioned. The deceased was a very old public officer, having entered the public service 25 years ago, and was highly respected; he had been C.P.S. and Crown Land Agent at Parkes for over 10 years. Being a member of the Masonic brotherhood, the remains were buried on Monday afternoon with Masonic honours, the funeral being largely attended.

William Clifton Weston was my great (x2) grandfather.

52 Ancestors #31 William Forbes Hutton

William Forbes Hutton was born in Westerham, Kent, England on 25 February 1816. His parents were Thomas Hutton (1772-1856, a merchant in India and Janet Robertson (1781-1862).

Janet and Thomas were married in Calcutta, India, on 22 July 1802. They had ten children with William being the seventh child and the second son. He had two younger brothers and one younger sister. For a number of years Thomas and Janet lived in Penang where their first two children were born. The next five children were born in England between 1808 and 1816 while the last three children were born in Calcutta, India between 1818 and 1822. It is probable that the older children, including William, would have remained in England being looked after by family when Thomas and Janet went to India. Unfortunately census data was not collected until 1840 so it is not possible to confirm this, but it was customary for many English families in India to have their children brought up in India. This was a tradition continued by William with his children being cared for by his wife's family in England when he was in India.

William Forbes Hutton was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and according to notes written by his son, George, in the 1930s ‘he studied for an army surgeon but did not like the doctoring part of the profession, threw it up and entered the East India Company’s army’.
When he was 19 William applied for a cadetship in the Honorable East India Company Service Army for 1835-1836. On 3 February 1836 he left Portsmouth aboard the Malcolm for Madras where he arrived on 11 May.William Forbes Hutton was a member of the 34th Madras Native Infantry from 1836 until the early 1870s though he spent much of this time in England. Research undertaken by Peter Hutton in the 1960s established that William became an Ensign on 17 January 1836, a Lieutenant on 26 November 1837 and a Captain on 18 June 1845.

William Forbes Hutton served with the Field Force at Kurnool in 1839 and was present at the affair at Zorapore on 18 October 1839. Peter Hutton's research showed that William was stationed at Mercara from 1 January 1842, Mangalore from February 1845, Vellore from 1848, Dacca also from 1848, Moulmein from 1850, Vizagapatam arrived September 1851, Secunderabad arrived January 1854 and Trichinopoly arrived April 1857. Records show that he returned to Europe on furlough in November 1847, 1849, 1850, 1854 and 1855 and he was on sick leave in 1853. He officially retired as Major on 1 March 1873. The records regarding William Forbes Hutton’s service in the army are sketchy and additional research may provide more information.

As George Hutton's notes show life in India could be eventful. He describes how, on one day in the 1840s, his father was chased by an elephant when he was camped with some troops near a village in the foothills. The villagers complained that a rogue elephant was destroying their crops so a decision was made to hunt the elephant for a bit of sport. They walked through the jungle to locate the elephant. The weapons to be used were two single barrelled smooth bore guns so it was necessary 'to get within at least 80 yards to make sure of his shot'. When the elephant was located William fired the first gun and although the elephant was hit he just appeared dazed and then charged his attacker. The native soldier carrying the second gun disappeared leaving William to run back down the path pursued by an angry elephant. As the elephant gained on William, he fell and rolled behind a tree as the elephant raced past. George Hutton noted that after this experience his father was determined 'to let the natives kill their own elephants in future.'

From Bath in Time website

On 27 June 1849 William Forbes Hutton married Eleonora Mackillop at St Saviour's Church, Bath. The birth of the first six of their eleven children shows the frequency with which William and Eleonora travelled between England and India during the first ten years of their marriage. George was born in Bath in May 1850, Jean was born in Bangalore in November 1851, Eleonora was born in Bath in May 1854, Alice was born in Secunderbad in January 1856, Arthur was born in Ootacumund in July 1857 while Dorcas was born in Bath in June 1859. The remaining five children were born in England between 1861 and 1869. In the 1860s William appears to have spent more time in England than in India. 

On 13 May 1871 William Forbes Hutton arrived in Melbourne aboard the ship, Geelong, where he met his eldest son, George, who had arrived in Victoria in August 1869. In June William and George travelled to Launceston to view the Castra settlement, a project to encourage retired British Army officers who had served in India to settle in Tasmania, but weather so bad they continued to Hobart by coach before returning to Melbourne. Instead William purchased property, Cooring Yering, in Lilydale and proceeded to build a large home for his family. William officially retired from the Army on 1 March 1873 and later that month returned briefly to England. William arrived back in Australia in February 1874 with Jean and Arthur. Eleonora and the other children arrived later that year. Initially the family lived at Blythswood in Kew and then next door at Rockingham, until the house on Cooring Yering was completed and ready to move into in 1885.

The land acquired in Lilydale was used for farming - sheep and and crops - with one hundred and fifty acres set aside as a vineyard. According to William's obituary in the Lilydale Express December 4, 1896, 'The Colonel lived a somewhat retired life but was held in high esteem for his charitable deeds.' At a 'Back to Lilydale Reunion' in 1931 it was recorded that William Forbes Hutton had been interested in geology and owned a collection of rocks and minerals which were later donated to the local library. Marian Aveling in her book, Lilydale: the Billanook country 1837-1972  wrote that the large landowners in the area maintained close ties to Melbourne society and made visits to the city for shopping and entertainment especially after the arrival of the railway in 1881. No doubt members of the Hutton family travelled into Melbourne from time to time.

William Forbes Hutton died on 28 November 1896 at the age of 80 and was buried at Lilydale Cemetery.

 He was my great (x2) grandfather.

52 Ancestors #28 William Pendergast

William Pendergast was born in the Hawkesbury area in 1808. He was the son of convicts John Pendergast and Jane Williams. John Pendergast was a farmer with a number of small land holdings in the Hawkesbury district and later at Campbelltown. His sons would therefore have worked on the properties as they grew up. In 1832, when he was 24, William had been given property in the Cornwallis area by his father.

On 26 July 1837, William married Sarah Holland at St Matthew's Catholic Church, Windsor. William was 29 and Sarah was 17 when they married. William and Sarah had six children - Jane (1838-1903), John (1840-1928), Margaret (1842-1891), Mary (1844-1845), Elizabeth Penelope (1846-1942) and William (1849-1920).

William built up his land holdings. When he died his will showed that part of the estate that he owned included Shredrick's Farm consisting of 30 acres near Windsor, Whyte's Farm consisting of 30 acres near Windsor, John Pendergast's Grant of 80 acres at Currajong (Kurrajong), Fitzpatrick's Grant and Henderson's Grant at Currajong (Kurrajong),  Allotments 30, 31, 32 and 33 of Campbellfield Estate with a combined total of approximately 136 acres at Campelltown.

William was 42 when he died at Campbelltown on 6 October 1850. His will of fourteen pages, dated 19 September 1850, included a codicil dated 4 October 1850. William had divided part of his land between his children entailed and in trust until they were 21. The rest of the property was to be sold and the money invested to be distributed among the children when the youngest child was 21. The codicil removed the name of his eldest daughter, Jane, from inheriting land from the will. It is thought that other provisions may have been made for her.

The land that formed the Campbellfield Estate was originally granted to William Redfern by Governor Macquarrie. When Redfern died in 1833 allotments of the land were put up for sale. The Pendergast family appear to have acquired some of the allotments though they may already have had other land in the area. The National Library has a map of the area showing allotments on Campbell Town Road adjoining Mr Pendergast's Farm.

A rich inheritance volume 1 pages 41 and 42 provides details of the will. 

William Pendergast was my great (x2) grandfather.

52 Ancestors #23 Charles Septimus Smith

Researching a family member with the name of Smith can be a challenge.  We can only be grateful that, in this case, the parents provided their son with a distinctive second name that he regularly used.

Charles Septimus Smith was born on 9 February 1833 at Newington, England. His parents were John Smith (1800-1885) and Ann Dodson. Charles had two older sisters and four younger brothers. On 9 March 1834 Charles was baptised at St Peter's Church, Walworth in Surrey and the family address on the register was given as Beresford Street, Walworth. In the 1841 census the family address was Vauxhall Street, Walworth and in 1851 the address was 52 Chryssell Road in London, around the corner from Vauxhall Street. So Charles' early life was spent living in London. The occupation of his father in 1851 was listed as warehouseman - silk while Charles' occupation was warehouseman - woollen.

Notes to my father from a cousin stated that Charles came to Australia (Sydney) as a representative of Wilcox & Gibbs chain stitch sewing machines. He probably arrived towards the late 1850s as on 22 June 1859 Charles Septimus Smith married Sarah McCallum at St Matthew's Church of England, Drayton, now a suburb of Toowoomba, Queensland. On 22 June 1909 the following notice appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald under the heading Golden Wedding Anniversary:

SMITH-MCCALLUM - By special licence at St Matthew's Church, Drayton, Darling Downs, Queensland, on Wednesday June 22, 1859, by the Rev. Benjamin Glennie, Charles Septimus Smith, of London, to Sarah McCallum, of Glasgow. Present address Glen Rest, Glenbrook.

Locations where Charles and Sarah lived can largely be determined by the birth place of their fourteen children. They must have lived in Queensland for a while as their first daughter, Ellen Cumming Smith, was born in Ipswich, Queensland on 9 May1860. By the birth of their second child, John Charles, on 20 April 1861 they were living in Maitland, New South Wales.  When their fourth child, Annie, was born on 10 April 1864 they lived in Singleton. (In August 1863 Charles purchased two blocks of land in Singleton). When their sixth child, Robert Dugald Smith, was born on 27 August 1867 they were back in Maitland. The next five children were born between 1868 and 1874 in Wollongong. Lily was born in Singleton in 1875 while the two youngest children were born in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney in 1878 and 1880. Some of the birth entries have the name, Patricks Plains, which was an earlier name for Singleton. Charles name appears in a number of the Sands directories for Sydney initially in Campertown (on Newtown border) from 1890 until 1887 when addresses appeared in the Marickville area until 1897. When Charles died in 1912, he and Sarah were living at Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains.

 As we have seen Charles' occupation at age 18, in London, was a warehouseman dealing with woollen cloth. Charles possibly sold Willcox & Gibbs sewing machines in Australia but this may not necessarily have been the reason he came to this country. The Wilcox & Gibbs Company was started in the USA in 1857 and the first machines were in production in 1858. Machines were quickly exported to England and from there to Australia. Searching in Trove provides numerous advertisements plus some articles about these machines. The Wilcox & Gibbs Company ceased production in 1973. When Annie was born in 1864 Charles' occupation in Singleton was listed as a warehouseman. A Notice in the Sydney Morning Herald, 29 April 1875, referred to Charles as a draper in Newcastle. A similar notice published in the Sydney Morning Herald 20 November 1884 referred to him as a draper in Parramatta Road, Leichardt, near Sydney.

Charles was not the only member of his family to come to Australia. Some years after the death of his wife, John Smith (Charles' father) came to Australia, sometime in the 1850s.  Elizabeth, Charles' sister, came to Australia as an assisted migrant aboard the Java arriving in 1853. Articles in Trove show that Charles' brother, Robert Hancock Smith, was living in Australia at Windeyer, gold mining town, between 1861 and 1872. Frederick Smith was living in Sydney in 1885. Other family members may have also come to Australia but that has not yet been established.

Charles Septimus Smith died at his residence, Dunoon, Glenbrook on 8 July 1912. He was 79 years old.

Charles Septimus Smith was my great (x2) grandfather.