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 would take 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 married at St. John's Church in Brisbane, which was then a converted carpenter's shed behind the Military Barracks and was the only church in Brisbane at that time. 

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
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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.