CRAIGS, HURRELLS AND THE BEEJAPORE

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CRAIGS AND HURRELLS AND THE BEEJAPORE ?

WHEN AND WHERE DID THE SANDERS COME INTO THE PICTURE?

WHERE DID THE CRAIGS COME FROM ?

PAUL FERGUS AND ANN MORAN AND JOHN CURTIS

 

Dear Lynne
I also am descended from John Curtis and Ann Moran through their daughter Catherine and George Eccleston. I am their third great-grandson.
In two weeks, my wife and I will be visiting Ireland and I am hoping that I might be able to do a bit more research on the ground about Ann as she certainly seems to have been a remarkable woman.
I am trying to resolve a number of discrepancies between various items of information in my possession.
The best information seems to indicate that she was convicted in Trim in Co Meath in 1797 (coincidentally the year that John arrived in Sydney)in connection with political activities and that she was held in jail in Ireland for five years before being transported to Australia on the Hercules in November 1801, arriving here on 26 June 1802. One record in the State Library implies that the prisoners on the Hercules were convicted for offences in the “late rebellion” which can only mean the United Irishmen in 1798 from the context.
I should be grateful for any information you can provide that might assist with my research in Ireland.
While visiting my son and his family in London after Ireland, I intend to return to Bristol to undertake more research into John Curtis. I obtained a lot of information 18 months ago including records of the marriage of John Curtis and Jane Purrier and of the baptisms of all 11 of their children in St Philip and St Jacobs Church in Cheese Lane, Bristol. From these records, I managed to visit the three streets in which they lived at the times of the births of different children. For most of their married life they lived in Cheese Lane, near the Church. I suspect that as his accountancy practice failed and he got into financial difficulties, the family was forced to move to less salubrious accommodation.
I also managed to obtain copies of one press report of John’s conviction and death sentence at Gloucester Assizes for coining. The judge must have been feeling sympathy for John because another man convicted and sentenced to death at the same sittings was immediately taken for “execution of the sentence” but the judge commuted John’s sentence to transportation for life.
After returning to Australia in April 2008, I managed to locate descendants of John’s and Jane’s youngest child in New York.
Paul Fergus

COLONIAL MOTHERS

THE SAG Newsletter reports that Dr Tanya Evans, now of Macquarie University, is engaged in researching the history of motherhood in early Colonial Australia and Britain between 1750 and 1850. The focus has caught my fancy. My Mind seems to have taken a disproportionate amount of time in recovering from the Change of year and the Summer Season and I haven’t been able to get my mental historical  hard drive functioning at all but this little article has begun to bring the ghosts back to life again. Dr Evans is asking for assistance from any who have worked extensively on their family histories and have details of mothers from these early times. Dept of Modern History at Macquarie University, Sydney would have the contact details for you.

As for me, it has me thinking of all the Mothers of Mine who and the folkore I have been given. The Scottish Widow who was asked to be Laird of the Clan but came out here with her children instead.  Johannah Ready Prendergast, whose son John was sent as a convict to Government House at Windsor where his mother was Housekeeper. I wonder often about Johannah who was 47 when convicted in Ireland. She tried to have another son and his family sent out but failed. When John’s marriage failed and he became excessively odd in his behaviour and was sentenced to Moreton Bay, Johannah disappears from the records. I like to think she followed him.

Ann Moran and Hannah Hutchings/Hitchens. What was it like for them to be mothers here in the early 19th Century ? Young convict women. Ann had 5 children to John Curtis who was already husband and father to a family in England and had attempted to have them brought to him.  Hannah was recorded as a ‘ loose woman’ on the convict ship THE BROTHERS. How did her life as a mother develop from that starting point and from the death of her first husband in the Lunatic Asylum, Liverpool ?

READY OR NOT – FOREWORD

		‘GEORGE’ PETER READY M 15/11/1882 JULIA JACKSON
	CHILDREN OF GEORGE AND JULIA READY	DATE BIRTH	DATE DEATH
1	UNNAMED	7/11/1883	7/11/1883
2	MABEL	25/9/1884	????????
3	GEORGE PETER MARK	18/10/1885	25/10/1955
4	FRANK	8/5/87	9/12/87
5	SYDNEY	11/5/1888	4/5/1964
6	ETHEL ELIZABETH MAY	20/9/89	12/2/1890
7	WILLIAM HENRY	1/11/1890	18/2/1964
8	JESSIE SARAH	30/5/1892	18/12/1971
9	FREDERICK BENSON	7/9/1894	10/8/1895
10	ESMA JACKSON	12/7/1896	29/8/1898
11	ARTHUR CHARLES	10/7/1899	29/3/1953
12	ALFRED JAMES	29/4/1901	10/8/1954
	FLORA AND SYD READY – PARENTS OF PHIL	ESMA AND JESSIE READY APP 1898 REDFERN	ARTHUR FR L ALF BACK R
	ALF READY , ARTHUR READY , MICK BELL AND MORE AT LAURIETON	JESSIE SARAH READY	BILL AND EM READY

 

THIS IS THE FOREWORD PHIL READY WROTE FOR HIS BOOK – “READY OR NOT “. I AM REPRODUCING IT FOLLOWING HIS EMAIL RE MY PUBLISHING HIS FINDINGS. PERMISSION GRANTED.

When I decided in 1981 to research the history of my family, i believed that we were on my father’s side, descended from an average English, Protestant  family with nothing very exciting to be found.

How wrong I was for I have found that we are descended from Irish Roman Catholic  convicts, that there are numerous skeletons in the family closet and that there existed adventure and romance that I for one never dreamed of and my father, as far as I am aware, never realised.

My mother, would have been shocked, for my earlier memories of her are that she was rather biased against Irish Roman Catholics and judgemental about people’s moral values but as she got older, in line with the changes going on, she mellowed and became more tolerant of other people’s points of view.

The detective work necessary to ferret out the information has taken my wife,Lois, and I to many parts of NSW and VICTORIA whilst the rest of the family have waited to see what would be the next discovery.

The pleasant surprise of receiving phone calls from others researching the READY family has introduced me to Doug Howe and Betty Alford, grandchildren of Catherine Louisa and Sarah Ann, my grandfather’s sisters who married Joseph Howe and William henry Watson respectively. This has opened up more information and has not only led to a continuing friendship with Doug but introduced me to several more cousins on his side of the family. Research by Doug also led to a meeting with Ken Eccleston, great grandson of George Eccleston and his wife Catherine, sister of my great,great grandmother Elizabeth Curtis. Ken’s contributions on the Curtis Family have been invaluable.

Each time I find more information I get a thrill, for there are times when I despair of ever finding the information I want, such as; WHAT HAPPENED TO THOMAS and ELIZABETH HOGAN and to JOHANNAH PRENDERGAST?  I thought that release of the Victorian Records might help but a search of these records has also proven fruitless. Time and further research may find the answer.

Finding my ancestors and researching their history has helped fill in some of my genetic heritage and what has helped in making me the way I am, for each member has added their contribution. I well remember strange feelings I had when I read JOHANNAH’s letter to Governor Darling, and also the story of HANNAH HUTCHINS or HITCHINS ( for there are many variations to the spelling of her name.)

Reading the Surgeon’s account of the voyage of the ‘Dorothy’ gave me some idea of what it was like to travel out on one of the Convict Transports, although the Dorothy apparently had a much better trip than many others.

In some ways I feel that I may have deprived those who come after me of the fun I have had but there is still a lot left untold and each day I guess, we are making history. I hope  that later researchers will enjoy it as much as I have. be careful of what you throw out for, I believe, that although we are not responsible for our ancestors, who incidentally wen through situations that I,for on, would not like to have gone through, we are, as guardians of our heritage, responsible to our descendants.

Phil Ready. July 1988. 

 

LiveJournal Tags: genealogy,phil ready,ready or not,heritage,australia,colony nsw,convicts,irish roman catholics

MCLEOD ON CONDONG PLAINS

So far we have placed John and Normal Bell with their families on the TWEED RIVER. We also have their sister Wilhelmina who married GEORGE DINSEY. There is a MR BELL christian name unknown supervising at ABBOTSFORD MILL( I don’t yet know which mill that was. ) Now a JOHN MCLEOD appears and McLeod is the maiden name of the mother WILHELMINA who came on the JAMES MORAN in 1839. She had other children with her whose names I don’t as yet have.

WANTED to Let, on Clearing Leases, Seven FARMS, of from forty to fifty acres each; fine scrub land; river frontage, Tweed River ¡ eight miles from the Heads. Apply to Mr. JOHN M’LEOD, Condong Plains, Tweed River ; or E. W. S. HAYLEY, Southgate, Clarence River. 2575

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1295006

The Brisbane Courier Friday 30 August 1872, page 1.

This is 3 years after JOHN BELL acquires his land and 6 years before he married MARY ANN MCNEIL.

 

And in 1881;

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article919217 he Brisbane Courier Saturday 30 April 1881, page 5 “Unique” writes from the Tweed River: ” On the evening of Easter Monday the rather monotonous course of life on the Tweed was broken by a ball given by the employes of the C.S.R. Company, and which, under the kind auspices of Mr. and Mrs Isaacs, bids fair to become one of the annual events of the neighbourhood. A range of the barracks had been prepared for the festive occasion, and, although the weather was unpropitious, a goodly array of the votaries of Terpsichore assembled. The room had  been most effectively decorated by the hands of f$air neighbours-wreaths, crowns, and pendants of varied colours relieved tbe sombre green of the foliage with which the walls and roof had been profusely ornamented, and with the brilliancy of the lights and the bright eyes and flowing drapery of the ladies, combined to produce a tout ensemble seldom seen in the neighbourhood. Dancing commenced at 8 o’clock to the enlivening strains of three musicians, and dance succeeded dance in rapid succession till long past the small hours of the morning. At a late hour the party broke up with many expressions of pleasure on the part of the hosts that their guests had been sufficiently enterprising to brave such stormy weather, and of hope that on a future occasion Condong might again be honoured by their presence.

THE COTTAGE BILAMBIL 2008

James had been born to John and Mary Ann by this time and Norman was born in 1881.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3429862 FROM BRISBANE COURIER THURSDAY MAY 8 . In 1884, Mr T Steel from the CONDONG MILL sent a large series of animals to the QUEENSLAND MUSEUM for nomenaclature.and two of those were included in science and named as follows;

1. a tree frog resembling in coloration an American  species. Now named HYLA FENESTRATA and
2. a fish of the GENUS GALAXUS which was to be described as GALAXIAS BREVIANALUS

The ABBOTSFORD MILL I find in the BRISBANE COURIER 5 AUGUST 1882 was erected near the JUNCTION – the village now called TUMBULGUM. This one did not belong to the massive COLONIAL SUGAR REFINING COMPANY to which CONDONG belonged. It belonged to PRINGLE, SHANKY and CO. Small but enterprising beginners.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3412851

 

IN 1886 the schooner CONDONG, of the TWEED RIVER, was carrying logs of beech, cedar and pine into BRISBANE. In the same year a general servant was wanted for the CONDONG MILL at 15s per week.

IN 1889 E DOWLING of Condong won 900 pounds in the  TATTERSALLS MELBOURNE- CUP SWEEPS.

And in 1892, the BELLS went south to LAURIETON. Some of the family remained. Wilhelmina Dinsey for one.

AND FROM TUMBULGUM, where I lived from 2002-2005;

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3701412

The Brisbane Courier Tuesday 12 September 1899,

A correspondent of a New South Wales
top-country paper questions whether the
Hunter district is entitled to the credit of
producing the largest pumpkins. He says :
-” I read an account of prolific pumpkins
in the Hunter. The Hunter may be a won-
derful place for pumpkins, but a neighbour
of mine, at Tumbulgum, lost a sow not long

since. He searched everywhere for several
days without success, and at last came to
the conclusion that she was dead.- But one
day, while riding across his farm, he no-

ticed something peculiar about one of his
pumpkins. He rode over to see, and was
surprised to find his sow. She had eaten
her way into the pumpkin, made a bed, and
had a litter of thirteen young ones all inside
the pumpkin

 

the DEATH OF GEORGE DINSEY http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3963005

BACK ON THE TWEED RIVER

 

WHATEVER it was the BELLs were doing, they are listed as landholders from 1869-1890 , Norman and Agnes have JANET LAURIE and WILLIMINA here in 1871 and 1872, JOHN and MARY ANN have children on the Tweed between 1879 and 1890 and at least JANET LAURIE marries in Murwillumbah in 1898.

JAMES and WILHELLMINA BELL’s children  are listed at the time of Wilhelmina’s death 2 March 1903 as;

NAME	AGE	COMMENTS ON NSW BDM LISTINGS
MARY(LAURIE)	57	MARY’s marriage is listed as 1866 to ALEXANDER J  LAWRIE in DUNGOG . DOD Stroud 1918
WILHELMINA(DINSEY)	56	MARRIES GEORGE DINSEY IN 1865 IN DUNGOG. This would indicate that Wilhelmina was Mrs Dinsey by the time the Bells moved north. Dinsey Creek is between Condong and Tumbulgum. She dies in 1911 in Murwillumbah.
NORMAN	54	Married AGNES in 1870 at DUNGOG
JOHN	52	Marries MARY ANN MCNEIL in 1878 at TAREE
MARGARET(MCEACHRAN)	50	Listed as an 1880 marriage to  MACEACHRAN JOHN IN LISMORE Death recorded in 1920 at MURRUMBURRAH.
ELIZABETH(WALKER)	48	I cannot find a WALKER marrying a BELL as yet but ELIZABETH WALKER does die in 1948 in GLOUCESTER.
CHRISTINA(QUIRK)	47	Nor for CHRISTINA as yet but I do have her death In Murwillumbah in 1944 so she was a Tweed woman.

 

 

JOHN and MARY ANN’s 9 children with places and years of birth;

JAMES
1879
TWEED RIVER

NORMAN
1881
TWEED RIVER

ANNE MCLEOD
1883
TWEED RIVER in 1918 married STANLEY WITCHARD in TAREE.

JANET
1885
TWEED RIVER

LESLIE DONALD RAYMOND
1887
TWEED RIVER

MARY HENRIETTA
1890
MURWILLUMBAH married THOMAS MCLENNAN IN TAREE 1914

ROY MCNEIL
1895
LAURIETON

WILHELMINA ELIZABETH
1897
LAURIETON

WILLIAM ALLEN MARRIED JESSIE SARAH READY

 

JOHN BELL LANDHOLDER PRIOR TO 1892

 

ALONG THE TWEED RIVER NEAR CONDONG	EARLY 2008
IN THE VICINITY OF THE BELL LAND	ON TWEED VALLEY WAY

 

 

 

JOHN BELL’S land survey is dated 1869. His marriage to MARY ANN MCNEIL took place 27 June 1878 down South in the Taree district. Was he in the north before that or did he not come north until that time ? 

From ROY BURTON; at the time of the marriage John gave his place of residence as RAWDON VALE district of GLOUCESTER. Witnesses to the marriage were JOSEPH LAURIE and MARGARET BELL. JOSEPH LAURIE Senior owned property in the RAWDON VALE locality. The witness Joseph was probably the 5th son of Joseph Snr. Refer to the Early History of the Camden Haven p 16. “THE LAURIES”. He was probably best man and was living at PEACH GROVE now known as LAURIETON at the time of the marriage. MARGARET BELL is possibly JOHN’S SISTER. It is possible John worked for the Lauries at Rawdon Vale. After the wedding they moved to the Tweed River where John was cane farming. he was invalided after an accident and the family move from the Tweed to Laurieton in 1892. John died in 1919 and Mary Ann died in 1935.

We still have not located JOHN’S birth in BDMS.

 

CONNECTIONS FROM MURWILLUMBAH AND THE TWEED – BELLS, BIGNELLS, LAURIES AND MORE

NORMAN BELL was the older brother of JOHN BELL wife of MARY ANN MCNEIL. They had adjoining land at CONDONG on the TWEED.

Their parents were JAMES AND WILHELMINA as noted elsewhere. James was the housebreaker transported from Glasgow in 1831 on the YORK and WILHELMINA was the daughter of WILLIAM MCLEOD and JANET MACKAY who came on the JAMES MORAN in 1839. They married in 1839 at MAITLAND when WILHELMINA was 17 years old. Check in the search engine to the right for further details. It appears at this time that the Mcleods and Mackays came as a result of the ruthless clearances of the Sutherland Shires in the HIGHLANDS of Scotland. In the 1860s the BELL boys have land on the TWEED. The NSW BDM records indicate that their father JAMES died in 1859( to be verified). I do not know what brought the boys ( and perhaps more members of their family north from the Maitland Area). Land is also indicated to belong to WILHELLMINA BELL – mother ? sister ? daughter ?

NORMAN BELL was born 1845 and died 15 June 1924 . He is buried in BARRINGTON CEMETERY. His occupations are listed at TWEED RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY as farmer/grazier. Whilst on Tweed he was resident at CONDONG. Norman married in 1870 at DUNGOG NSW. His wife was AGNES FRASER HIGGINS and her mother was JANET LAURIE. As my mother used to tell me the BELLS and the LAURIES were ‘tied in somehow”. Her father was JOHN HIGGINS. Agnes Higgins was born at Pt Stephens in 1846 and died in CHATSWOOD, SYDNEY in 1929.

Their children;

names	birthdate and place	marriage date and spouse	death date and place
JANET LAURIE	1871 TWEED RIVER	1898 GEORGE BIGNELL MURWILLUMBAH
WILLIMINA A	1872 TWEED RIVER	JOHN A. GUNN COPELAND 1895	1911 STROUD NSW
JAMES WALTER	1874 PORT STEPHENS		15-8-1886 NSW
AGNES MARY	1876 PORT STEPHENS	GORDON A D CLARK STROUD 1915
ELIZABETH J	1878 PORT STEPHENS	JOHN STACE	PORT STEPHENS 1903
MARGARET CHRISTINA	1881 BARRINGTON	THOMAS FARLEY CRICK SYDNEY 1907
MARY HENRIETTA	1883 COPELAND	WILLIAM JAMES MARTIN STROUD 1907	22-8-1938 KRAMBACH NSW
JOHN JAMES	1889 COPELAND		1923 BARRINGTON
NOREINE F	1893 COPELAND

From these dates it appears Norman left the Tweed district by the early 1870s whereas John’s Children are born on Tweed between 1879 and 1890 with the youngest being born at Laurieton in the early 90s. Hmm. A rethink required again.

THE INFORMATION I HAVE IS THAT NO 49 IS JOHN BELL’S LAND . ( YET TO BE VERIFIED AS ONE MAP INDICATES CONDONG AND ONE IS FURTHER ALONG NEAR STOTTS CREEK)

 

_____________________________________________________________

GEORGE  BIGNELL. IN 1898 AT MURWILLUMBAH MARRIED JANET LAURIE BELL DAUGHTER OF NORMAN BELL WHO WAS BROTHER OF JOHN BELL, GRANNY’S HUSBAND.  http://www.aif.adfa.edu.au:8080/showPerson?pid=22518

 

______________________________________________________________

FROM THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA HISTORIC NEWSPAPERS

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1368785 There is mention of a MR BELL managing the ABBOTSFORD SUGAR MILL on the TWEED.

 

_______________________________________________________________

MURWILLUMBAH LINKS

http://www.mit.edu/~dfm/genealogy/sercombe.html Sercombe Families

GRANNY BELL IN LAURIETON 1892 – NOV 5 1935

JOHN BELL WAS INJURED IN A CANE ACCIDENT -so we are told- on the Tweed. By 1892 the land at Condong is no longer in his name and John becomes known only as the INVALID MR BELL. The Bells then move to LAURIETON and Granny lives there till her death on Nov 5 1935.

THE CHILDREN OF JOHN AND MARY ANN BELL :

NAME	DOB	PLACE OF BIRTH
JAMES	1879	TWEED RIVER
NORMAN	1881	TWEED RIVER
ANNE MCLEOD	1883	TWEED RIVER
JANET	1885	TWEED RIVER
LESLIE DONALD RAYMOND	1887	TWEED RIVER
MARY HENRIETTA	1890	MURWILLUMBAH
ROY MCNEIL	1895	LAURIETON
WILHELMINA ELIZABETH	1897	LAURIETON
WILLIAM ALLEN	1898	LAURIETON

 

_____________________________________

LINKS TO THE BELLS IN LAURIETON.

SON OF JOHN AND MARY ANN BELL ( GRANNY).

ROY MCNEIL BELL.

Regimental number
1785

Religion
Presbyterian

Occupation
Baker

Address
Laurieton PO, Laurieton, New South Wales

Marital status
Single

Age at embarkation
20

Next of kin
Father, John Bell, Laurieton, New South Wales

Enlistment date
14 March 1916

Rank on enlistment
Private

Unit name
34th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement

AWM Embarkation Roll number
23/51/2

Embarkation details
Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A15 Port Sydney on 4 September 1916

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

LAURIETON IN THE 1890s

Marshalls of Laurieton – A Family Who Gave More Than Most for King and Country http://www.alchin.info/volume5/volume5_007_sawyers_east_indoa_docks_descendants_william_alchin.html

 

On 5th November 1891, James STACE who was 67, died in the De Frains Timber Mill at Laurieton. Twelve (12) years later, Mary also passed away with the couple buried at Laurieton Cemetery.

http://www.whatismyname.zoomshare.com/2.html

 

Sussex to New South Wales:
- the Fairhall Family

http://www.fairhall.id.au/families/web/p391.htm

 

John Flynn http://www.midcoast.com.au/~rotohous/john.htm

 

WAUCHOPE PUBLIC SCHOOL http://www.bebo.com/Blog.jsp?MemberId=4044601510

COMMENTS AND AKISMET

IF YOU HAVE PLACED A COMMENT HERE AND IT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN IGNORED – MY APOLOGIES – AKISMET SPAN SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN FAR MORE VIGILANT THAN I SUSPECTED AND HAS EATEN A LARGE NUMBER OF YOUR ENTRIES. NOW THAT I UNDERSTAND IT BETTER I WILL BE CHECKING IT MORE THOROUGHLY. PLEASE WRITE AGAIN AS LONG AS ITS LEGIT AND NON ABUSIVE IN WHICH CASE I SHALL SACRIFICE YOU TO AKISMET. YRS. NELLIBELL49.