This is another of my posts that branches off from just telling the stories of my direct ancestors. The main motivation for these 'Spotlight' posts is my desire to share some of the many wonderful photos I've found of my extended family (not too many degrees of separation from my direct ancestors).
These photos deserve to be in the spotlight, so I thought long and hard about an interesting way to do this. Hence the decision to put together collections of photos that all share a common thread.
For the thirteenth collection post, the spotlight is on ... Bearded!
Looking through my family tree photos, it's become apparent that there were not many men on either side of my extended family tree who were fans of beards, and there was a definite time period for those men who are bearded in the family tree photos. These bearded men were born between 1814 and 1861 and all seemed to have preferred the full beard style.
He married my paternal 3rd great-aunt Elizabeth Hukins in Woodchurch, Kent and then emigrated to Australia the following year with his wife and baby son.
They went on to have another ten children and Edward died in 1897 after living a long life of 83 years.
Common ancestors: (with Edward's wife Elizabeth) James Hukins and Susannah Fullagar, my paternal 3rd great grandparents.
James Exton, my paternal 3rd great grandfather, was born in Lincolnshire, England in 1816.
He married Susannah Lancaster in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1835. They went on to have nine children, but after the arrival of their fourth daughter, they emigrated to Australia, arriving in 1844.
James went on to become a prominent pioneer in the Richmond River area. He died in 1876 at the age of 59.
Common Ancestors: John Hukins and Elizabeth Crittenden, my paternal 4th great grandparents.
Richard King, the husband of my paternal 3rd great-aunt, was born in 1818 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England.
He emigrated to Australia on his own in 1841, married Sarah Brown in 1847 and they went on to have a family of ten children.
Richard died in 1903 at the age of 85, having worked most of his life as a farmer.
Common Ancestors: (with Richard's wife Sarah) Henry Johnson Brown and Eleanor Gowen, my paternal 3rd great grandparents.
James Wright, husband of my paternal 3rd great-aunt.
He married Hannah Browning in 1848 and they went on to have eighteen children over the following twenty years.
James died in 1875, aged 53. Sadly he had been killed by a falling tree when he and two of his sons were out in the bush looking for a bee's nest to harvest its honey.
Common Ancestors: (with Frederick's wife Hannah) William Henry Browning and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns, my paternal 3rd great grandparents.
They married in 1865 and soon after, moved to north-eastern England where their nine children were born.
In 1887 Michael emigrated to Queensland, Australia with his wife and seven of his children, as two of his daughters had already emigrated.
Michael died in 1917 having lived a long life of 83 years. In the year before his death, 1916, his three youngest sons had enlisted to serve in WW1 and were all fighting overseas in 1917.
Sadly one of his boys was killed in action in September of 1917 and Michael died two months later.
Common Ancestors: Thomas Farrell and Anne Conoly (or Conway), my maternal 3rd great grandparents.
John Potter Davis, my paternal 3rd cousin 4x removed, was born in Kent, England in 1834.
He emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1849 with his father, mother and siblings, when he was 15 years old.
John married Mary Mack in 1855 and they went on to have three children.
John and his wife Mary were induced by the Poor Commissioner of Wisconsin to undertake the management of the Poor Farm in Walworth County, and all its inmates.
Their administration began in 1882, ended in 1901 when they retired and earned them the approval of the Commissioners, the County Supervisors and the community, earning a place in the history of the county.
Common Ancestors: my paternal 6th great grandparents John Fullagar and Elizabeth Potter.
He married Eliza Jones in 1871 and they went on to have twelve children.
He was regarded as a pioneer of the Richmond River District, establishing a dairy farm in an area where timber getting and maize growing were the principal industries.
Common Ancestors: (with Francis's wife Eliza Jones) my paternal 3x great grandparents James Exton and Susannah Lancaster.
Edward Hocking Edwards, the husband of my paternal 2nd great-aunt.
Born in 1840 in Cornwall, England, he emigrated to Australia with his parents and siblings when he was 16 years old.
In 1871, at the age of 30, he married Anna Caroline Penelope Brown. They went on to have 12 children
Edward was one of the first converts to the Salvation Army Corps in Lismore, New South Wales, serving as Treasurer, Colour Sergeant and Corps Sargeant Major during his lifetime.
He died in 1920, aged 80.
Common Ancestors: (with his wife Anna) my paternal 2x great grandparents Henry Johnson Brown and Caroline Penelope Browning.
Michael James Hickey, my paternal 3rd great uncle.
Michael was born in 1842, the year after his parents and older siblings had emigrated to Australia from Ireland.
He was born in the Maitland area of New South Wales.
He married Mary McCarthy (known as Ellen) in 1862 when he was 20 years old. They went on to have six children.
Michael died in 1916, aged 73.
Common Ancestors: my paternal 3x great grandparents James Hickey and Margaret McNamara.
Francis Thomas McQuilty, the husband of my paternal 3rd great-aunt.
Born in 1843 in Sydney, New South Wales. His pioneering parents moved to the Richmond River area when he was six months old.
He married Elizabeth (Betsy) Exton in 1866 when he was 23 years of age.
They lived in the Richmond River area for their entire married life, and went on to have ten children.
Common Ancestors: (with Francis's wife Betsy) my paternal 3x great grandparents James Exton and Susannah Lancaster.
Richard Dawes, my paternal 1st cousin 3x removed, was born in 1845 in Marshall Mount, New South Wales.
He married Mary Pearson in 1868 and they went on to have a family of eight children.
Richard died in 1920 at the age of 75 and was recognised as one of the "great pioneers of the fertile district" of Lismore, having established a large dairy farm near Eltham in the Lismore District.
Common Ancestors: my paternal 3x great grandparents James Exton and Susannah Lancaster.
William Henry Barber, the husband of my paternal 1st cousin 3x removed.
William was born near Goulburn, New South Wales in 1847.
He married Hannah Maud Wright in 1868 when he was 21 years old. They had a family of eleven children.
During his lifetime, William turned his hand to any form of work he could find, from timber cutting to gold digging.
He died in 1941 at the ripe old age of 94.
Common Ancestors: (with William's wife Hannah Maud Wright) my paternal 3x great grandparents William Henry Browning and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns.
He was known as Sandy for his entire lifetime, and claimed to be the first white child born in the Lismore area.
Alexander (Sandy) was known to have an extensive knowledge of the dialects of all Aboriginal groups living from the Tweed River to the Clarence River at that time.
He was the first timber consignor in the Richmond River district to brand his cedar logs, and his was the first branded timber to be sent to the Sydney market.
During his lifetime, Alexander worked as a timber cutter, a publican, a mail contractor and a farmer. He married Margaret Jane Bustard in 1871 when he was 22 years old. They went on to have a family of twelve children.
Alexander died in 1931 at the age of 82, just a few months after the death of his wife.
Common Ancestors: my paternal 2x great grandparents Henry Johnson Brown and Caroline Penelope Browning.
William Consett Proctor, husband of my paternal 2nd great aunt, had a distinguished career in the law and public office, but quite a messy private life.
William was born in Lancashire, England in 1850, but came from a long and quite prominent lineage of Irish Proctors.
He was the son of a police constable John Proctor J.P.; the grandson of a Henry Proctor, manager of the Northern Bank in Galway, Ireland; the great grandson of a Major William Proctor, Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms; and the great-great-grandson of the Very Rev. Dr. Quarrie, who was the Dean of Cork in Ireland.
William emigrated to Australia with his parents and siblings in 1851, at the age of 1. He passed the preliminary examination in law in 1867 when he was just 17. He was invited to "the mysteries of the Masonry" in 1873 when he was just 23 years of age, and was appointed Junior Deacon the following year. He was a member for 15 years, went on to become Senior Warden, and 'Worshipful Master of Lodge Harmony' No.5 in Sydney.
William became a solicitor in 1875. He was elected Mayor of Armidale in 1877 and held office until 1879. William was then elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Member for New England in late 1880, and served for three terms of office - from Dec 1880 to Nov 1882, Dec 1882 to Oct 1886, and then for a few weeks in 1887.
In 1886, William had became a Director of the Mercantile Building, Land and Investment Society as well as the Universal Land Building and Investment Society.
William's private life was complicated and the subject of a number of headlines in local newspapers at the time. He married twice. His first wife was Kathleen Roberts whom he married in 1878 when he was aged 28. A warrant for wife desertion was placed on William in 1897, and Kathleen was granted a divorce later that same year on the grounds of drunkenness and desertion.
William and Kathleen had two children, a son named Frederick William Proctor and a daughter named Alethea Mary Proctor (who went on to become a well-known artist by the name of Thea Proctor).
William had begun an affair with my paternal 2nd great aunt, Julia Cusack, before he divorced his first wife though. William and Julia had four children together, the first born in 1896, and the last born two months after William married Julia in 1903. At the time of their marriage, William was 53 and Julia was 36.
Sadly, William died just two years later in late 1905 at the Hospital for the Insane in Gladesville, New South Wales. Interestingly, there's a short page on Wikipedia dedicated to William!
Common Ancestors: (with William's second wife, Julia Cusack) my paternal 2x great grandparents Patrick Cusack and Eliza Exton.
William Edward Wright, my paternal 1st cousin 3x removed, was the son of James Wright (pictured above) and the older brother of Hannah Maud Wright (the wife of William Henry Barber, and pictured above).
William was born in the Armidale district in 1852.
He married Mary Jane Aspinall in 1873 when he was 21 years old. They went on to have a family of six children. William died in 1931 at the age of 79 in the township of Alectown, which was within the Parkes Shire of New South Wales. He was well-known as one of the pioneer miners in that area.
Common Ancestors: William Henry Browning and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns, my paternal 3rd great grandparents.
Oliver Richard Jones, my paternal 1st cousin 3x removed, was the son of a convict named John Michael Jones and the daughter of a pioneering family, Harriett Lancaster-Exton.
Oliver was apprenticed to the shipwright trade at a young age. He was employed at William Yabsley's shipbuilding yard during the boom days of the timber and shipbuilding industries.
He married Elizabeth, the daughter of his employer William Yabsley, in 1878 when he was 22 years old, and they went on to have a family of ten children.
William died in 1951 at the age of 99. He was survived by seven of his children, 40 grandchildren and 83 great grandchildren.
Common Ancestors: my paternal 3x great grandparents James Exton and Susannah Lancaster.
Andrew Thomas, the husband of my paternal 1st cousin 3x removed, was born in Molong, New South Wales in 1856.
He married Harriet Matilda Wright in 1876 when he was aged 20. They went on to have thirteen children.
Andrew died in mid 1915 when he was 59 years old.
Common Ancestors: (with Andrew's wife Harriet Matilda Wright, William Henry Browning and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns, my paternal 3rd great grandparents.
Thomas Atkin, husband of my paternal 1st cousin 3x removed, was born in 1857 at Wiseman's Ferry, New South Wales.
He married Hannah Jones (the brother of Oliver Richard Jones pictured above) in 1882 when he was 25 years old and they went on to have a family of five children.
Thomas spent his life framing in the Blakebrook area and lived until he was aged 71. He died in Lismore in 1929.
Common Ancestors: (with Thomas's wife Hannah Jones) my paternal 3x great grandparents James Exton and Susannah Lancaster.
Edwin Cusack, my paternal 1st cousin 3x removed, was the son of convict John Cusack and Frances Seale.
He was born in Tabulam in 1861, married Jane Cochran in 1882 when he was 21, and went on to have a family of eight children.
Edwin was a farmer and spent most of his life on his property on the Dunoon Road, north of Lismore.
He died in 1931 at the age of 70.
Finally, one of Edwin's older brothers John Thomas Cusack.
John Thomas was also born in Tabulam, like his brother Edwin, but earlier, in 1858.
When he was 22 years old, he married Emma Bridget Lofts. They went on to have six children.
John died in 1933 at the age of 75 in Lidcombe, New South Wales.
Common Ancestors: (with brothers Edwin and John Thomas) my paternal 3x great grandparents, Michael Cusack and Mary Green.
