TRAVELLING THE MID NORTH COAST

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.

 

TWEED RIVER

THANKS TO THE TWEED RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY, I HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BELLS ON THE TWEED. AT CONDONG CREEK.

TWEED RIVER AT TUMBULGUM NEAR THE BELL LAND.	MT WARNING FROM BILAMBIL.	TUMBULGUM STORE.

 

James Bell’s widow, Wilhelmina Bell (b 1820) did not remarry. She died in 1903 under the name Bell as a widow. She was 83. She was the daughter of William McLeod and Janey McKay. She died on the 2nd March 1903. She married James Bell at age 17 years at Maitland.

At the time of her death her children were:

Mary (Laurie) 57	Wilhelmina (Dinsey) 56
Norman 54	John 52
Margaret (McEachran) 50	Elizabeth (Walker) 48
Christina (Quirk) 47

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Now John it was who was married to Granny Bell ( Mary Ann Mc Neill) . He had land on the Tweed from 1869 till app 1890 when they went South and Laurieton became the centre of our Bell universe. My own Grandfather Mick Bell ( William Allen) was one of their children. Mick ( Poppa Bell) and Jessie Sarah Ready ( Nana Bell) spent most of their married lives in Redfern and then in TWEEDMOUTH Avenue , ROSEBERY . Coincidence ?

Now in the 21st Century , Lynne Bell Sanders, lives in Bilambil on the Tweed and lived from 2002-2005 in TUMBULGUM which is within 5 kilometres of where the 3 BELLS had their land grants . That was Norman, John and Wilhelmina. Susan Sanders Pomroy lives in Port Macquarie within kilometres of LAURIETON. ( Note that Mary Bell married a LAURIE) . 

http://lynnesheritage.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/bells-and-dinseys-and-tweed-pt-2/

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THE TWEED FROM THE NATIONAL LIBRARY AUSTRALIA NEWSPAPERS DIGITISATION PROJECT.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2186819 SYDNEY GAZETTE 1826	It is thought by some, that the river lately discovered by Captain Logan, 50 miles to the South  of Moreton-bay, and immediately under Mount Warning, designated the DARLING RIVER, is the same of which the late Mr. Uniacke speaks, in Judge Field’s compiled work on this Colony Mr.Uniacke accompanied Mr. Oxley in a tour to Moreton-bay, and it appears that they fell in with a bay, or river, to the south of Moreton-bay, to which the name of the Tweed was given, but we cannot bring ourselves to believe that the Tweed and the Darling are one and the same, READ ON.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2188791 THE STORY OF CAPTAIN LOGAN’S EXPLORATION SOUTH OF MORETON BAY AND DOWN TO MT WARNING The Sydney Gazette and… Friday 17 August 1827, page 2	June 13th. Continued my route eastward, over a very diflicult and mountainous country ; at length perceived Mount Warning, direct in my course   READ ON
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2193237 The Sydney Gazette and… Saturday 22 August 1829, page 2.	EXTRACT FROM THE DIARY OF CAPTAIN BARBUS HM COLONIAL SCHOONER “ALLIGATOR” : AS HE SEARCHES IN 1827 FOR THE WRECK OF THE “ELIZABETH”, POWDITCH. BETWEEN CAPE BYRON AND THE SOLITARY ISLES. COMING ACROSS  RIVER ENTRANCES AND BARS AND NOTING THE LATITUDES ETC. THE HEADLANDS OF CAPE BYRON AND POINT DANGER PROVIDE THE PRIMARY SIGNIFICANT LANDMARKS FOR THESE RIVER MOUTHS.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2193497 The Sydney Gazette and… Saturday 26 September 1829	THE CONCLUSION OF AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY A MEMBER OF CAPTAIN LOGAN’S PARTY  EXPLORING THE NORTHERN RIVERS. HE TELLS OF PIERCING COLD AND A PLAIN COVERED WITH EMU.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2201896 The Sydney Gazette and… Saturday 26 December 1835, page 2.	A PROSPECTUS IS ISSUED FOR A COMPANY WHICH ENCOMPASSES MUCH OF THE NORTH. “……..the territory within the limits specified in the Prospectus, possesses no less than five large beautiful rivers; viz. the M’Leay, or the Trial of Cunningham, the Brimbo, or the Big River, the Brisbane, one unnamed as yet, which empties itself into the sea near Double Point, and the Boyne, besides the Tweed, and a multiplicity of minor ones; and that it possesses numerous harbours, bays, and roadsteads for the anchorage of shipping; some of them as yet but very imperfectly known ” READ ON This article has implications for many matters including immigration which is the method by which Wilhelmina Mcleod and her mother Janet Mackay later came from the SUTHERLAND SHIRE ( arriving in 1839 ) . THIS IS THE STORY OF A GRAND VISION.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article678614 The Maitland Mercury… Wednesday 28 January 1846, page 3.	The Barque, GOLDEN FLEECE, 120 tons , CAPTAIN JOHNSON,arrived in Sydney from the RIVER TWEED with 70,000 feet CEDAR.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article680149	The steamer, THISTLE, making its way between SYDNEY and MORETON BAY spotted a large boat on the beach. Unable to land a boat due to conditions the Thistle proceeded into Moreton Bay to discover that two of the crew had arrived there. The boat belonged to Mr Burgess and had been making its way from TWEED to MORETON BAY. READ ON
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article682934 The Maitland Mercury… Saturday 11 July 1846,	THE death of two sawyers is reported on THE TWEED RIVER. A murder it was. READ ON
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article683611 The Maitland Mercury… Saturday 8 August 1846, page 2	THE barque Golden Fleece and the cutter Catherine still remained bar-bound at the Tweed ; the crew of the latter had been overland to Brisbane to obtain supplies.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article684452 The Maitland Mercury… Wednesday 2 September 1846, page 2	Loss of the ” Coolangatta.”-The Tamar, steamer, which arrived on Sunday from Moreton Bay, brought intelligence of the loss of the schooner Coolangatta, which vessel was driven ashore from her anchors in a gale of wind a short distance to the northward of the River Tweed
1846	ARRIVAL IN SYDNEY Golden Fleece, barque, 120 tons, Captain Collins, from the Tweed, with a cargo of cedar.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article696503 The Maitland Mercury… Saturday 9 February 1850, page 4	A NUMBER OF NEW POLICE DISTRICTS ARE FORMED. ONE OF THESE IS : 47:  Tabulam-In the squatting district of Clarence, and embracing the county of Rous, and part of the county of Richmond, bounded on the north by the range dividing the waters of the Logan, and other rivers from those of the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed Rivers, from Point Danger to the great dividing range , on the west by the great dividing range, and a Line bearing south crossing the Rocky River at a point where the banks close in abruptly, about miles east of “Frocester,” Mr Bloxsome’’s station, to a line bearing east from the Bolivia Range , on the south by that line to the Clarence River, thence by a line bearing north-east to the range dividing the waters of the Clarence and Richmond Rivers, and by that range to the sea , and on the east by the sea to Point Danger aforesaid
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article680846 The Maitland Mercury… Saturday 23 August 1851, page 3.	The Effort, from the Tweed River, reports the Ocean Queen, schooner, ashore on the North Head of the Tweed Bar, on the 12th instant, and not likely to be got off
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article679073 The Maitland Mercury… Wednesday 8 October 1851	ARRIVALS OF STEAMERS IN SYDNEY Naughten, from the Tweed River, with 34,000 feet cedar
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article667445 The Maitland Mercury… Saturday 28 May 1853,	ARRIVALS OF COASTERS. Flirt, from the Tweed, with 30,000 feet cedar ;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article682053                        1853	EXPORTS TO LONDON FROM THE NORTHERN RIVERS
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2458489 The Courier (Hobart,… Saturday 21 March 1857, page 2.	LOSS OF ANOTHER SHIP ON THE TWEED BAR – THE “FAVOURITE ” .
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1279444 The Brisbane Courier Saturday 30 September 1865	A HARD CASE – A story  of mistaken identity as Mr William Smith of the TWEED RIVER assists a friend in tracking down a horse thief.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1302592 The Brisbane Courier Saturday 24 April 1869, page 4.	The ketch Maid of the Mill has arrived, with a small parcel from the Tweed River
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1297593 The Brisbane Courier Saturday 2 October 1869, page 4.	CLEARANCE. October 1.-Sarah and Jane, cutter, 15 tons, Captain W. Griffin, for the Tweed River. Passengers : Mr. and Mrs. W. Jones and family (3), Mr. and Mrs. Hy. Carey and family (4).
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1297561 The Brisbane Courier Saturday 2 October 1869, page 4.	THE MAIZE TRADE BECOMES BIG ON TWEED
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1303128 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1300217	THE KETCH MAGGIE LOGAN 1869
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1302073 The Brisbane Courier Saturday 20 November 1869, page 4.	Maize maintains its price, but the supply seems to be small The shipment from the Tweed River by the Sarah and Jane realised 4s 3d per bushel

 

 

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