The Story of Eliza Duncan Brown / Memories ... July 2

This is the story of my paternal Great Grand Aunt, Eliza Duncan Brown  (1863 - 1938).

Our Common Ancestors are:  Henry Johnson Brown and Caroline Penelope Browning.

I'm publishing this post on the anniversary of her birth.

Anniversary  of  a  Birthday:

(also for my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

Today is the anniversary of a birthday.  My paternal great grand-aunt, Eliza Stevenson / Duncan Brown, was born on the 2nd of July in 1863.  

• Eliza was one of my paternal grandmother's, Grace Brown's, aunts.  

• She was the ninth of eleven children born to Henry Johnson Brown and Caroline Penelope Browning, English immigrants who both arrived in Australia in the year of 1840.  All of Henry's and Caroline's children were born in Australia, in the state of New South Wales.

What has always made Eliza stand out for me, amongst the many great grand aunts on my family tree, is the on-going debate about her middle name amongst extended family members.

• Eliza's birth certificate states her name as - Eliza Stevenson Brown but that middle name - 'Stevenson' - does not ever appear on any other records for Eliza.  

It's not on her baptism record, death certificate or probate record.  The middle name that does appear on those other records is 'Duncan'!

So, Stevenson ... Duncan ... confusion reigns!  Some say that whatever appeared on her birth certificate should be regarded as the correct middle name. 

Others in the family argue a different point of view.   

Eliza's older brother James was also given the middle name of Stevenson, so perhaps Eliza's father made an error when offering information for the registration of Eliza's birth - confusing her middle name with that of her older brother!  

Perhaps it should have been - 'Duncan' - from the beginning as that is the middle name that appears on any record about Eliza after her birth.

Whichever it is, I do have to wonder at the origin of both. Both are seemingly rather random choices. Neither of the names were traditional family names handed down through the generations.  I have searched back many generations on both the Brown and Browning sides of the family and found no evidence of either names used as first or middle names for members of the previous generations!

There have been a few cases in my family tree where children were given their mother's maiden name as a middle name, but this is not the case with Eliza.  I also know that some children were given a middle name in honour of an employer or business partner of the father.  I have not found any evidence of Eliza's father working for or with anyone with the surname of Duncan though!

There is also the fact that both names, Stevenson and Duncan, seem so out of place for a girl's name in that period of time!  It's usually the case, in my family tree at least, that middle names relating to a mother's maiden name or a father's employer or business partner, are given to boys.  It is just so unusual for a girl's name in my family's history.

• Eliza Stevenson or Duncan (or both) Brown was born in Lismore, New South Wales.  By the time of her birth, her brothers Henry Johnson, Alexander Johnson, John Thomas, Elias, William Norman, James Irving Clarke Stevenson, Richard Joseph (my great grandfather), and her sister Anne Caroline Penelope, had all been born; although her brother Elias had died at the age of 2.

• Eliza was baptised on the 17th of May, 1864, when she was ten months old.  Her name is registered as Eliza Duncan Brown, not Eliza Stevenson Brown.  Her brother Richard Joseph Brown (my great grandfather) and her cousin Henry Joseph Browning were all baptised on that same day.  It was an extended family event.

• When Eliza was 2 years old, her brother Francis Somers Hayes Brown was born.  When Eliza was 3, her brother Robert Frederick Bayley Brown came along.  

• By this time, Eliza's father, Henry Johnson Brown, had been running the Cedar Cutters Arms Hotel in Lismore for over ten years and was well-known in the region.  Eliza's mother Caroline had been working alongside her husband at the hotel all that time and looking after their ever-growing family.

• Things were about to change significantly though for Eliza, her mother and siblings. Around the time of Eliza's 3rd birthday, her father filed for bankruptcy and was about to lose the hotel and some of the various properties he had amassed in Lismore over the previous years.  

• Sadly, when Eliza was five years old, her father died, leaving her mother living in drastically different circumstances and caring for quite a number of young children.  I have not yet been able to uncover information about exactly what happened to the family immediately after the death of Henry, but I imagine Eliza's mother took on whatever work was available and the eldest boys would no doubt have found labouring jobs as soon as possible to help support the family.

• When Eliza was aged six, her mother re-married, and Eliza gained an elderly step-father named Nathan Taylor.  Sadly, that was only to last a few months, as Nathan died that same year.  Eliza's mother was widowed once more and continued to look after her family on her own.  

• Four years later, Eliza's mother married for the third time, in 1878.  Eliza would have been ten years old when she gained another step-father named Thomas Collins.  This step-father was only in Eliza's life for around three years though, as he died in 1881.

• That same year, Eliza married.  On the 29th of December, 1881, Eliza married Robert Gall.  Eliza was 18 years old, and Robert was 23.  They married at Saint Luke's Church in Sydney, New South Wales.

• Eliza and husband Robert went on to have seven children, working farmland near Nimbin, north of Lismore, New South Wales and raising their family.

• At the age of 50, Eliza is found on the 1913 Australian Electoral Roll, and her name is recorded as Eliza Duncan Gall. Her place of residence is listed as Nimbin, and her husband Robert (Snr.) along with three of her children who were of voting age, are listed as living there as well. 

Eliza and Robert's eldest son, Robert Henry Johnston, was 31 years old at the time.  

Son Cecil Frederick would have been 23 years old, 

and daughter Alice Florence would have been 26.

Eliza and Robert's eldest daughter, Caroline Jane Penelope (known as Janet), had married a farmer three years previously and was living at Lillian Rock, near Lismore.

Daughter Ethel Ivy (known as Ivy) was about to turn 21, leave home and marry.  

I'm assuming Eliza and Robert's other two children were all living at home with their parents on the farm at Nimbin at this time as son James Alexander would have been 14 and youngest son Alan Leslie Stewart would have been aged 10. 

• By the time Eliza was in her 60s, she and husband Robert had moved to Lakemba, a provincial suburb south west of Sydney, New South Wales.  Robert's occupation was listed as 'dairy farmer', and they were living on Croydon Street.

• This photo was apparently taken at Lakemba, so I'm assuming both Eliza and Robert would be in their mid to late 60s.

'Northern Star', Tuesday 10 May 1932 p9 

• This photo was also taken around the same time, but was printed in a newspaper to accompany an item mentioning Eliza's and Robert's golden wedding anniversary in 1932.

• Eliza is listed as Eliza Duncan Brown, yet again

• Eliza passed away at the age of 75, apparently dying at her home on Croydon Street, in Lakemba in 1938.  

• Her death certificate has her name listed as Eliza Duncan Gall, and the cause of death was lobar pneumonia (which she had suffered for nearly two weeks), but chronic myocarditis was also listed and she had apparently suffered this for four years.

• The funeral notice placed in the newspaper by her family in 1938 records her name as Eliza Duncan Gall,

as did the memoriam notice placed in a newspaper one year later.

• The deceased estate file for Eliza also lists her name as Eliza Duncan Gall.

• Eliza was buried at Moorefields Methodist Cemetery, at Kingsgrove, New South Wales, under the name Eliza Duncan Gall.  She was survived by her husband and all her children.

• I think from now on I'll refer to Eliza as only Eliza Duncan Gall nee Brown, and let the 'Stevenson' slip, given the preponderance of records that only use 'Duncan'!  I will always wonder about the origin of this name though, and wonder if it is just a random choice!