The Story of Hannah Browning

This post tells the story of my paternal second great grand-aunt, Hannah Browning (1825-1883).  Many of my family tree stories tell of the most resilient, strong, loving, resourceful females whose lives may seem small to many, but I will never lose sight of their valuable roles as wives and mothers to my ancestors and their extended families.  Hannah Browning, one of my great great grandmother's older sisters, is one of those women.  She wasn't famous or indeed, all that well-known, but left a legacy that was remarkable.

Our Common Ancestors are:  William Henry Browning and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns, my great great great grandparents, and Hannah's parents.

Transcription of Baptism Record 1825

Hannah Browning was born in July of 1825 in Launceston, Cornwall, England.  Whilst the information on her immigration record indicates she was born in 1824 and stating that she would be turning 16 on her birthday in 1840; the baptism transcription from the Cornwall Family History Society shows her baptism occurring in 1825.  

Unlike the experiences Hannah would go through trying to get her own children baptised in Australia, waiting sometimes for nearly a year or longer until a clergyman or priest would visit the area on horseback; in England, children were generally baptised quite soon after their birth because churches, clergymen or priests were close by and easily accessible.  I feel it's more accurate to say that Hannah was born in 1825.

At the time of her birth, Hannah's father William was aged 24 and her mother Anne (known as Nancy) was 23.  There was only one other sibling then, but over the following 22 years Hannah was to become an older sister to nine more. 

In 1825, Hannah's father was working as a labourer, and the family was living at the 'Fish Market'.  I don't think much imagination is needed to understand exactly what that meant!  Poverty!  Life would have been extremely difficult and it's likely they all experienced hunger and deprivation on a daily basis. 

The family had moved to Devon by the time Hannah's brother John Thomas was born in 1827.  It seems likely that Hannah's father had moved back to his birthplace, perhaps seeking assistance from his family and/or seeking work.  

Within five years however, the family was back in Launceston, Cornwall, where my great grandmother Caroline, Hannah's sister, was born in the poor house.  I guess that Hannah would have been living with her family in the poor house at the time, when she was only four years old.  Times were obviously extremely tough for the family and this no doubt left an indelible impression upon the young Hannah.

Hannah's parents remained in Launceston where they welcomed the birth of William Henry in 1832, when Hannah was 7.  At this time the family were living in Fore Street, Launceston and there's an extremely vivid picture of life on that street, written by a man by the name Richard Robbins in his text "Reminiscences of Launceston Town 1820 to 1830".   In the section titled 'Sanitation', Richard wrote:

Another daughter, Dinah, was born in 1835, when Hannah was aged 10;  and Mary Anne came along in 1837.  By the start of 1838, Hannah was twelve years old and had five siblings.  By this time it appears the family was once again living in the poor house, where three-year old Dinah died the day before Christmas.  Hannah was 13 years old, and I suspect her vision for her future was dire indeed.

Hannah's parents made the decision at the start of 1840 to look elsewhere for their future and the future of their six children.  This decision coincided with the introduction of the Bounty system of migration to Australia.  

The Browning family fitted the scheme very well as the colonial government was looking for healthy young couples with children, and preferably daughters of a marriageable age which would benefit a colony filled to the brim with young men looking for a bride.  In 1840, when the family arrived in Australia, they had two such daughters - Susannah, aged 16 and Hannah, aged 14.  

Hannah lived in an age when women were generally considered as property and their sole purpose was to breed, care for the family and the home (if they had one!).  I'm sure her father and mother made the decision to leave their home and family ties at great cost, firmly believing that there was a better future in the colonies.  No doubt, they knew that marriage prospects for their daughters were significantly better in the colonies, but I do wonder if Hannah fully understood the implications of the move to Australia.  

She did go on to make a very, very significant contribution to the populating of the expanding colony and went above and beyond the expectations that sat firmly on her shoulder when she disembarked the ship 'Premier' on July the 2nd, 1840, just a few days before her 15th birthday!

In January of 1842, Hannah married Thomas Norton, an employee of the A. A. Company.  Thomas was a convict and required the permission of the Government to marry as he was still serving his sentence, although he had received his ticket of leave during 1841 and was working on the same property as Hannah's family.

Permission was granted on December 17th 1841, and then the marriage took place at Stroud, in northern New South Wales, the following January. Thomas was 37 and Hannah was 16. Hannah's elder sister Susannah and her new husband Joshua Craven acted as witnesses.  

A year and a half later, sadly Hannah's beloved older sister Susannah died in late 1843. 

Not much is known about Hannah's life with Thomas apart from the fact they welcomed a baby daughter named Mary Ann in May of 1846, when Hannah was aged 20.  Hannah and Thomas were living in Singleton at this time, still moving around wherever Thomas's work with the pastoral company took him.  Tragically, Thomas died not long after and Hannah was widowed at the age of 21.

2nd husband, 

James Wright  c. 1870

Widowhood did not last long though, and Hannah married again in August of 1848.  Her second husband was James Wright, aged 26.  

They would have married at the sheep and cattle station where they were both employed.  It's highly likely they were married in an open-air ceremony as there was no nearby church or place of worship.  

The Anglican clergyman who performed the ceremony was a travelling minister, attached to the St. John Parish based in Brisbane.  He engaged in long pastoral tours around the Darling Downs region and people took advantage of his intermittent visits to arrange special events such as a wedding. 

Marriage Record 1848
James Wright and Hannah Norton nee Browning
Witnesses: Charlotte Sutton and William Browning (Hannah's father)
Celebrant:  Rev. Benjamin Glennie

Hannah and James had met while both were working at Maryland Station.  Hannah was working alongside her parents as shepherds on the station.  Shortly after her second marriage, Hannah moved to the neighbouring property, Ballendean, with her husband.  That's where she gave birth to her first set of twins ... yes, I said 'first', because there several more sets to come!!

Twins James and Jane were born in May of 1849, but by the time daughter Emily was born in 1850, Hannah and her husband were working in the Armidale district.  Throughout their married life, Hannah and James lived in several different places across the north of New South Wales and, what would later become southern Queensland.

In all, Hannah gave birth to 18 children, 17 of whom were fathered by James between 1849 and 1867.  Hannah gave birth to four sets of twins!!  That must have been some sort of record for those times.

Looking at the diagram above though, you can see that Hannah lost many of these twins.  Her twin sons, Francis and Joseph, died soon after their birth in 1862.  Another set of twins died in 1863 and were unnamed, so I suspect Hannah lost them before her due date.  Twin sons, Matthew and Thomas, died not long after their birth in 1864; and one of the twins born in 1867, Sarah, also died the year after her birth.  Hannah had already lost a daughter named Catherine in 1865.

I am at a lost for words at this point in Hannah's story!  Imagine being pregnant every year or two over a period of 18 years and losing 8 children, including three sets of twins, and two other children, one of whom was also a twin.  All that time she was moving around with her husband, no doubt working alongside him on the various properties where they found employment, and of course, looking after the surviving children.

By 1867, it appears that the Wright family were working in the western district of New South Wales, around Kangaroobi, Mudgee, and Cowra; finally settling in the Eugowra area.  Then, in 1875, Hannah's second husband, James Wright, died in a tragic accident.  

James's name was recorded as Frederick James Wright.  Having not found a record of birth or baptism, I have no definitive proof that his name was indeed Frederick James.  The name recorded on his marriage certificate was simply James.  Perhaps his children, when reporting his death, had more accurate information and evidence about his full name.

According to an entry in the Register of Coroners' Inquests, James died "from injuries accidentally received."  

A newspaper article, titled "Killed By The Fall Of A Tree" and published in the Riverine Grazier on Wednesday, May 19, 1875 stated:

Newspaper article -Riverine Grazier Wed 19 May 1875 p4

(Again, James's name was recorded as Frederick James Wright!)

Poor James!  In an attempt to help out his sons when they were felling a tree to retrieve a bee's nest, James misjudged the direction of the fall and was killed instantly by the falling tree.  Hannah was 50 years old at this time, with 10 children still living (a contradiction to what was stated in the newspaper article above) ranging in age from 29 to 8.   I imagine she remained living at Nanima, the station where her husband and some of her sons were working on at that time.

At the age of 57, Hannah married for the third time.  She married Daniel Carr in October of 1882.  They were both living in Eugowra Creek at the time and Daniel was also a widower.  Sadly, this marriage was short-lived and only lasted eight months.

Hannah Carr / Wright / Norton nee Browning died in June of 1883, aged 58.  The cause of death listed on her death certificate was "inflammation of the liver".  She was survived by her third husband, nine of her children, and seven of her siblings - her brothers John, William (known as Bill), James, Joseph and Matthew; as well as her sisters Caroline (my 2x great grandmother) and Mary Anne.

The legacy of her small life included a generation of around 65 grandchildren: 

• Eldest daughter Mary Anne married Henry Burne Little and they had nine children, eight of whom survived to adulthood.

• Daughter Jane Caroline married Joseph Francis Cash. They went on to have nine children as well, all of whom survived to adulthood. 

• Daughter Emily Elizabeth married Henry Wallace. I'm unsure how many children they had.

William Edward Wright
Photo shared by hlgsq2
on Ancestry.com

• Son William Edward married Mary Jane Aspinall and six children resulted from that union.  Five survived to adulthood.

Hannah Maud Barber nee Wright
Photo shared by alanwingfield1
on Ancestry.com

• Daughter Hannah Maud married William Henry Barber.  They had twelve children, eleven of whom survived to adulthood. 

• Daughter Matilda Catherine married Thomas Lee and they went on to have nineteen children.  At least thirteen survived to adulthood.

• Son Charles Wright married Emily Seddon.  I'm unsure about whether or not they had children.

• Son Alfred John married Elizabeth Allbranch and went on to have five children, all of whom survived into adulthood.

Harriet Matilda Thomas nee Wright
Photo shared by helenmayne0
on Ancestry.com

• Daughter Harriet Matilda married Andrew Thomas.  They had thirteen children together, ten of whom made it to their adult years.

• Son Arthur George married Hannah Moore.  They went on to have at least five children who survived into adulthood.

I have still so much research to do to find out how many great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren followed, but I think it's a safe bet to say ... hundreds!

....  and dare I say it, we can underestimate the value of a small life!

I'm very appreciative of the family treasure, a book written by Esme Smith titled 'The Browning Story: Tracings From The Past', published in 2001; and I acknowledge this as the source of much of the information shared in this post.

 

Special Note to any family members:  If you have memories to add, photos or information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so.  Please use the comments box below or email me.  It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.

The Tale of Two 'Adelines' - Adeline Amelia Browning and Adeline Amelia Kean

Branching out from telling the stories of my direct ancestors has led me down some fascinating paths of family tree research. Along the way, I've sometimes been puzzled by the choices parents have made for the first names of their children, especially during the 1800s and early 1900s when it was usual practice to choose familiar family names. 

This post tells the story of two relatives named 'Adeline'. It's quite an unusual name on my family tree. Amongst the 2,700-odd individuals listed on my family tree so far, there are only two who have the first name of Adeline.  That makes them eligible to be added to a group I've created - The Lonely First Names Club!  

Curiously, not only are there only two women relatives on my family tree with the first name of Adeline, but both of these women have the same middle name as well.

The name Adeline is apparently of French and German origin, and means "noble, nobility."  It derives from the French name Adele, which comes from the Germanic root adal, meaning "noble."

Interesting random fact:   The famous British modernist author, Virginia Woolf, was actually christened Adeline Virginia.  

Adeline  Amelia  Browning  (1878 - 1953)

Adeline Amelia Crowley / Lumley nee Browning
(photo courtesy of Darrell Crowley)

Adeline Amelia Browning was my paternal 1st cousin, three times removed.

Common Ancestors: my 3x Great Grandparents, William Henry Browning and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns

Adeline Amelia was born in 1878.  Her parents were William Henry (known as Bill) Browning (my 2nd great uncle), an English immigrant, and his wife Sarah Jane Chillingworth, born in Australia to convict parents.  Adeline was the youngest of eleven children born to William and Sarah, although by the time Adeline was born, only six of those children were still living. 

 

Having researched the Browning family line quite extensively, I have found no evidence of the name Adeline anywhere on that side of my family tree.  I wonder if perhaps the name came down from my 2nd great uncle's wife's family, the Chillingworths?

When Adeline was baptised many, many years later, in her adult years, she stated her birth place was Woods Reef, Barraba, which is where she grew up.  On her birth certificate however, her birth place is listed as Mount Lourie Creek, near Bundarra.  These places are not all that far apart, so it's likely Adeline was born during the family's wanderings whilst her father worked as a 'bushman'/ shepherd / grazier.

Gold was discovered at Woods Reef in the late 1850s, and a thriving village existed there for around ten years.  However, when many of the miners left in the late 1860s, the village's population declined significantly and there was a corresponding decline in shops and services.  

Adeline's parents however stayed on and raised their family there. In 1896, when Adeline was 18 years old, her father declared bankruptcy.  I'd venture to say that Adeline's early family life was likely rather impoverished.

Interestingly, in December of 1900, just a few years after Adeline's father had declared bankruptcy, both Adeline and her mother Sarah were convicted of sheep stealing!!  Yes, sheep stealing.  I think it's probably true to say that the choice to steal had likely been born out of utter necessity and I really do hope this event was a one-off!

Adeline and her mother Sarah really made a solid attempt at the stealing of sheep though.  They stole 10 of them!  Now that's a decent effort.  

Unfortunately, they were not all that successful.  They were caught, arrested and charged, although by the time they were arrested. there were only sheepskins left!!! 

 

I'd hazard a guess to say that the sheep were slaughtered for their meat, and then the ladies were intent on selling the sheepskins and fleece.  

Mother and daughter were arrested in December of 1900.  The Police Gazette, dated Jan 1901, recorded their apprehension and stated they were to be committed for trial in Bingara, New South Wales.

Adeline's sentence was to be twelve months light labour at Tamworth Goal.  This sentence was suspended however, under the provisions of a new Crimes Act, which had only just come into existence in 1900.

So, an entry appeared in the Police Gazette, published in March of 1901, stating that both mother and daughter had been granted bail.  What a lucky break.  It's interesting to note that this article identifies Adeline as Adelaide, which was probably a much more common name at that time.

What has made me chuckle about this whole episode in their lives is the fact that Adeline is related to a direct ancestor of mine, who also attempted to steal sheep and got caught.  My paternal Great Great Grandfather, Patrick Cusack, had been transported to Australia for the crime of sheep stealing.  He and his brother John were sent to Australia as convicts in 1848, just 30 years before the birth of Adeline. 

Patrick Cusack was the father-in-law of Adeline's 1st cousin, Richard Joseph Brown (my great grandfather).  Richard Brown married Ellen Cusack, the daughter of Patrick Cusack. 

Now while the Cusacks settled and lived in the Richmond River District, outside Lismore, and the Brownings lived in Barraba on the Manilla River, outside Armidale; there may have been a chance that the families got together and shared stories.

I wonder if Adeline and her mother knew about the sheep-stealing Cusack brothers from Ireland?

After her criminal experience, it seemed Adeline was intent on turning her life around, or at the very least, giving the impression she was off to a fresh start and on her best behaviour .  Just a couple of months after her release, she was baptised and married on the same day!  Impressive!

John Humphrey Crowley
(photo courtesy of Darrell Crowley)

She married John Humphrey Crowley in May of 1901 and they went on to have 10 children together.  Sadly their first born died in 1902 and then two of their children died in 1906, one aged 7 and the other aged 1.

By the time Adeline's last child was born however, in 1919, it seems that married life for Adeline was not at all happy.  John appears to have been a bit of a cad and a bounder, and there was a warrant out for his arrest for failing to support his wife and children. 

At that time their children were aged from 15 to a newborn, and Adeline was caring for at least four of them at home.  Her mother Sarah had died the year before, and her father had died back in 1905.  Many of her brothers and sisters were still living in the Barraba area, where her parents had been buried, so hopefully they were of some support for Adeline through these tough years.

Adeline's husband John was arrested in 1920, but even after his discharge from jail, he did not attempt to contribute supporting Adeline and her children.  There was a series of warrants issued over the following five years or so, and John was arrested more than once during that time.  

By 1924, when yet another warrant was issued, John was using an alias.  I'm not sure what Adeline's life was like during these years, or for the next twenty when John passed away.  He died in 1940, after accidentally falling from his horse while riding.  What an end.  

Adeline married again the very next year.  In 1941 she married John Isaac Lumley.  At the time she was 63 years old, and he was 42.  Way to go, Adeline.  She died just over ten years later, and I do so hope her married life with her second John was a lot happier.

Adeline died in June of 1953, aged 74.  She was buried at the Inverell Cemetery in New South Wales.

 

The only other person with the first name of Adeline on my family tree was related to the Adeline Amelia Crowley / Lumley nee Browning mentioned above.  

Adeline Amelia Browning grew up with two older sisters, Caroline Maria and Ann Eliza.  Sadly, Ann Eliza died in 1894 at the age of 24.  Adeline Amelia would have been 16 years old at the time.  Her other sister, Caroline Maria, however lived a much longer life. She also married twice and survived into her 80s.  One of her daughters was named Adeline Amelia and was (of course) Adeline Amelia Crowley / Lumley nee Browning's niece.

Adeline  Amelia  Kean  (1892 - 1909)

Possibly Adeline Amelia Kean
- awaiting verification
(photo courtesy of Val Kronk)

 Adeline Amelia Kean was my paternal 2nd cousin twice removed.

 Common Ancestors:  my 3x Great   Grandparents, William Henry Browning   and Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns.

Adeline Amelia Kean was the daughter of Adeline Amelia Browning's sister, Caroline Maria Browning, and her first husband, Thomas Matthew Kean.  Born in November of 1893 at a place named Swamp Oak, near Tamworth, in New South Wales; Adeline Amelia Kean was the second youngest of 5 children born to Caroline and Thomas.  It's clear that Adeline Amelia's mother, Caroline, named her daughter after her sister, as it wasn't a typical family name.

Sadly Adeline Amelia Kean's father Thomas died in 1896, when Adeline Amelia was only 3 years old.  She had also lost an older sister when she was 1.  Her sister Caroline Ann died in 1889 at the age of 3, apparently from eating poisonous fungi.

(photo courtesy of Lily Lawrence)

This is a photo of Adeline Amelia's mother, Caroline Maria Kean nee Browning, and Adeline's older siblings, taken before the birth of Adeline.

Adeline's oldest sister Elsie is standing on the right side.  Caroline is standing on the left side, and baby Sidney is sitting on his mother's lap.

This photo would have been taken just before Adeline's sister Caroline Ann died in 1889.

It was only months after the death of her father that her mother re-married a man who had three children of his own.  Adeline's mother and step-father went on to have another three children.

Adeline Amelia became a step-sister at the age of 5, 8 and 11, but tragically, two of her half-siblings had died by the time Adeline had reached the age of 12 in 1904.  At the start of 1905, Adeline only had one older sister, two brothers, and a step-sister remaining.

She herself passed away in December of 1909, at the very young age of 17.  Causes of death were listed as typhoid fever and pneumonia. There had been a widespread outbreak of typhoid fever in several areas of northern New South Wales from the start of 1909, and at that time it was difficult to control.  

Adeline Amelia died in the hospital at Tamworth and was laid to rest in the cemetery in that town.  

She was survived by:

- her mother Caroline Maria Kean/Carter nee Browning, aged 49 at that time.  Caroline was to live until 87 years of age, four years after the death of her second husband.

- her step-father William Carter, aged 47 at that time of Adeline's death.  He lived until the age of 80, passing away in 1942.

Headstone - Adeline Amelia's mother, Caroline, and step-father William.

- her sister Elsie Eugene Maria Kean, who lived until the age of 74.  She married Harry Price and they had five children together, only 3 of whom survived into adulthood.

- and her step-sister Elizabeth Ann Ivy Pearl Carter, who died in 1996 at the age of 92.  She married Frederick Stallard and they had three children together.

Caroline Maria Kean/Carter (nee Browning), seated on the far right;
with her daughter Elsie Eugene Maria Price (nee Kean) on the far left,
her step-daughter Elizabeth Ann Ivy Pearl Carter in the middle,
and granddaughters Rachael Price (on the left) and May Price (on the right) - daughters of Elsie.
Photo taken c.1923  (photo courtesy of Dorothy Smith) 

Adeline was also survived by:

- her brother Sidney Matthew Kean, who passed away in 1953 at the age of 63.  He married Louisa Weston and they had six children together,

- her brother Louis (Luis) Manning Kean, who was killed in action in 1918, near Villers-Bretonneux in France, at the age of 23.

Louis (Luis) Manning Kean
Service No: 3391
Regiment/Service: Australian Infantry, A.I.F., 31st Bn.
(photo courtesy of Lily Lawrence)

That is the sum total of the information I've discovered about the two Adelines.  I wonder if the name continued on in other branches of the family?

Special Note to any family members:  If you have memories to add, photos or information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so.  Please use the comments box below or email me.  It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.