Thomas Hardy – A Brush With Fame

My husband Terry has the one and only famous person that graces either of our trees. He is Terry’s 3rd cousin 3 x removed – you could say the connection is not close!

Thomas Hardy – painted by William Strang, 1893

Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet, was born on 2 June 1840 in Dorset, England and is Terry’s 3rd cousin 3  times removed. I must say that the only one of his works that I have read was Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), but he has a very large number of poems and novels to his credit.

Thomas was well educated, highly regarded for his poetry and novels both during his lifetime and since, and lived a long life. He is linked to rumours of an affair with his cousin Tryphena Sparks as a young man, but went on to marry Emma Gifford whom he is reported to have loved dearly. When Emma died he married Florence Emily Dugdale who was 39 years his junior, however he continued to write works dedicated to the memory of Emma which Florence found embarrassing.

Emma Lavinia Gifford – First Wife

Florence Emily Dugdale – Second Wife

Tryphena Sparks – Cousin & Possible Lover

Thomas died on 11 January, 1928, his body was cremated and then interred in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey amongst others such as Chaucer and Dickens. His heart, though, was buried with his first wife Emma Gifford at Stinsford Cemetery.

Unfortunately, the literary arts have not travelled down the branch of my hubby’s tree.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy , https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Hardy

TROVE Tuesday-It Happened in Tamworth in 1909 – Fire

I wonder if my grandparents, Edward Thomas Bailey and Ines Maud nee: Smith, knew the newly married Frederick Schwartz and his wife?  Fire in 1909 was almost always totally consuming of it’s target, with very limited fire fighting resources available to home owners.  The loss of their newly built home and wedding presents must have been a dreadful blow to the young couple.

Sources:

1. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15037032

2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113346521

3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238202969

The Australian Bullocky Postcards

Australian Bullocky with his Bullock Team

These 3 postcards from my grandfather’s postcard collection show an occupation from a long gone era, that of a Bullock Team Driver. In Australia they were call Bullockies and they operated before the building of the railway system .  The cards show the bullock teams working in the Australian bush and hauling timber during the mid to late 1800’s but Bullockies were driving bullock teams as early as the mid 1790’s in the Sydney area.

Bullock Team in Australian Bush

Bullock teams were essential in hauling food and other supplies to remote country areas.  They forded streams and rivers and navigated perilous tracks over the Great Dividing Range.  On the return journey they took with them heavy loads of wheat, wool and sugar cane – along with timber.  A bullock team with a heavy load could only travel roughly 3 miles a day, which is approximately 5 kms.

Bullock Team Crossing Stream

 

Sources:

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

http://www.glenedenorganicfarm.com.au/bullock-team-information/bullock-teams.php

TROVE Tuesday – It Happened in Tamworth in 1909 – Tamworth Hospital

As always I am interested in what was happening at Tamworth Hospital, having been an employee there myself. It would appear that there was another outbreak of Typhoid Fever, seriously affecting the accommodation at the hospital. A request was made for temporary tents and beds to be sent to accommodate the sufferers. Interesting to note that the hospital had 39 patients, 50% of whom were suffering with Typhoid.

The last article show the intention of the board of the hospital to enlarge the facility and request the Government of the day to assist with expenses. I found it quite amazing that the hospital had never received assistance prior to 1909!  I think it shows a very committed community to fund their own hospital.  My Grandparents, Edward Thomas Bailey and his new wife Ines Maud nee: Smith would have been happy to know that medical care in Tamworth was easily accessible.

 

extension article

Edward Bailey-Concealing the Birth of a Child

There is a dark story in everyone’s family tree, and this is ours.  Edward Bailey is my 2 x great grandfather.  He is the son of James Bailey and Ann nee: Knight, and he arrived unlisted in Australia with his brother and mother on 26 Jun 1844.

Edward moved to Scone, New South Wales, with his mother, who followed their convict father about 6 years after the conviction.  The family moved on to Tamworth in the New England area of New South Wales soon after Edwards father James received a conditional pardon in March of 1848.  Edward would have been around 14 years of age at the time the family moved.

Edward married Sarah Ann Dorrington in Armidale, New South Wales, on March 10, 1856. Shortly after the wedding they moved to Tamworth. They had 3 children, the first of which was Henry Watts Bailey b. 1 Feb 1857 in Tamworth. Two daughters followed – Agnes Letitia Bailey b. 1858 and Sarah Ann Bailey b. 1860 – both in Tamworth.

Edward was granted a butcher’s licence in 1859 and he worked for his father, James, in the family butcher shop in Peel Street, Tamworth (story of butcher shop HERE).  He also spent time as a pound keeper in Wallabadah which is a small village near Tamworth.

Edward was involved in a scandal in February 1861 when he, along with 15 year old Margaret Cush who was in his employ, were charged with concealing the birth of a child. The teenager, had worked for the couple for around 3 years and left about 7 months before giving birth to a baby boy over a water closet (toilet). Edward was the only witness to the incident and there is a report of the incident in the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Adviser on 14 Mar 1861. Sarah, Edward’s wife, stated that she had no knowledge of the birth until approximately two weeks later.

Edward was apparently not charged over the incident as just 5 months later in July of 1861 a warrant for his apprehension was issued on a separate matter. He had supposedly stolen a bullock and was last seen heading toward the Armidale area. A good description of Edwards’s physical appearance is given in the warrant as follows: About 28 years of age, 5 feet 7 inches tall, fair hair, thin face and long nose.

Sarah stayed in Tamworth, having not been an accomplice to Edward at any time. She remarried in Tamworth around 4 ½ years later to Peter Heinrich Ernest Stuve, a policeman.

Source:

nla.news-article18680782

TROVE Tuesday – It Happened in Tamworth in 1909 – A Gale with Hail!

These days Nemingha is a tiny village on the very outskirts of Tamworth heading toward Armidale but in 1909 it was a stand alone village, and on the 17 Feb 1909 it was hit by gale force winds. I’m assuming that much damage was also done to crops in the area as well as the buildings that were damaged and the trees that were uprooted.

Only days later the little village was hit by yet another storm of enormous hail and it would seem that the township of Tamworth proper missed both events, although there were rain storms reported.

Sources:

1. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15036898

2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218477602

3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15037185

Thomas Chipp – Our Norfolk Island Connection

Terry & Julie Preston on Land of Thomas Chipp – Norfolk Island – Look at that View!

Thomas Chipp was a private marine in the 42nd (Plymouth) Company. He was born on 1 Feb 1754 to John & Hannah nee: Bows in Kiddeminster, Worcester, England. He sailed to New South Wales with the First Fleet aboard the Friendship and served at Port Jackson in the detachment of Watkin Tench. Thomas was my husband Terry’s 4 x great grandfather.

At the end of his marine service Thomas decided to become a settler and went to Norfolk Island aboard the Atlantic in early November of 1791. He marries convict Jane Langley on 5 November 1791 on Norfolk Island. At the time of her marriage Jane already had 1 daughter, however she and Thomas had 2 children born on Norfolk Island – Robert b. Nov 1792 and Ann b. Nov 1793. Robert was just 3 weeks old when he died.

Thomas was granted 2 lots of land (No. 8 & 93/95) on 28 November 1791. By July of 1794 Thomas is recorded as selling maize to the Government Stores and receives 14 pounds for 97 bushels. Interestingly, Thomas’s occupation is listed as a Baker.

Thomas, Jane, Jane’s daughter Henriettta and their daughter Ann leave Norfolk on the Daedelus in November of 1794, returning to Sydney. Thomas once again joined the NSW Marine Corps and was discharged in 1803. During this time he was allocated a number of land grants finally selling his farm – “Chipp’s Farm” – in 1806.

Thomas and Jane went on to have 6 more children – Mary b. 1795, William b. 1797, Sarah b. 1799, Sophia b. 1803, Eliza b. 1805 and Thomas b. 1807

Thomas’s name appears in the earliest lists for the NSW Police force which was established on 1 Jan 1811 and in 1814 he is listed as a constable in the Sydney district. He was discharged from the 102^nd Regiment of Foot in 1821 and is described as “a man worn out in the service and with a disabled right arm”. It is unclear if the injury was sustained during his Marine service

In 1822 Thomas and Jane are listed as bakers in Pitt Street, Sydney and were still there in the 1828 Census.

Thomas died on 3 Jan 1842 at the age of 88 (which is supported by documentation supplied by Thomas himself). His age at death is also officially recorded as 93 yrs.

I visited Norfolk Island with my husband Terry earlier this year, and roughly 227 years on we stood on the land that Thomas had owned.

Terry standing on Thomas Chipp’s Allocated Land – Stockyard Road – Norfolk Island

Sources:

KAVHA Research & Interpretation Centre

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

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tench-watkin-2719

https://firstfleetfellowship.org.au/marines/thomas-chipp-jane-langley

The Founders of Australia – A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet, Mollie Gillen, 1989

Norfolk Island 1788 – 1813 – The People & Their Families, James Donohoe

A New Beginning. The Story of 3 First Fleeters and Their Descendants.

TROVE Tuesday – It Happened in Tamworth in 1909 – Assault

I found this article on Trove recently and was interested in the piece because I have 2 Joseph Nay’s in my family. Joseph Nay Snr was born at Moore Creek which is near Tamworth in 1853 and would have been approximately 56 years old at the time he was assaulted. He is the husband of my great, great Aunt – Mary Ann Smith!   Joseph and Mary Ann had a son, also named Joseph, who was born in Tamworth in 1886 and would have been 23 yrs. old at the time of the assault on his father.

It’s quite amazing what information can be found when trawling through old newspapers!

Sources:

Joseph Nay http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238202988

Joseph Nay – Senior http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113343067