Memories ... February 6

Anniversary of a Birthday:   

(For my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

Today is the anniversary of the birthday of my Great Great Grandfather, Henry Johnson Brown.

I have written a longer, more detailed post about Henry previously (those who are interested, please follow this link: The Story of Henry Johnson Brown  )  ...

but for this 'Memories' post, I will shorten his story considerably to just include the more important events in his life.

Whitehaven, by the sea, in England

• Henry was born in 1820 in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England.

• His parents were Henry Johnson Brown and Eleanor Gowan.

• When Henry was born his father Henry was aged 38, and his mother Eleanor was 30.

• Henry was the third of five children born to Henry (Snr.) and Eleanor.

Assisted Immigrant List

• At the age of 20 Henry emigrated to Australia.  He and his younger sister Sarah came as bounty immigrants aboard The Royal Consort in 1840.

• Back in England, Henry had worked as a printer but on arrival in Australia, he found employment with Clark Irving on Ellengowan Station in 1841.

• Henry then went on to obtain work as a cook on Ward Stephen's Runnymede Station. 

• He met Caroline Browning, an English immigrant, while working at Runnymede and they were married in 1846.

• There was a considerable age difference between the spouses ... Henry was 25 and Caroline was 15.

• They went on to have 12 children over a twenty-year period.

• In early 1849, Henry and Caroline left Runnymede Station and found work at neighbouring Lismore Station with William Wilson for a little while.  

• They did not stay long at Lismore Station however.  Between the end of 1849 and the end of 1850, Henry and Caroline had moved to several areas including Stanthorpe (which as the time was part of New South Wales) where Henry worked on Maryland Station as a watchman.  He was also working as a part-time hawker.

• By the end of 1850 they had returned to the Richmond River area and Henry began work at Bald Hill (later known as Bexhill) as a timber cutter and dealer.

• Timber cutting was notoriously hard, dangerous work and the lifestyle associated with this work was also difficult.  Henry and his family, like others at the Bald Hill camp, had to live in huts or tents without basic amenities.

• Henry lost interest in this life and became interested in becoming a timber dealer.  He had taken his family back to the Lismore area by 1852 and had set up a saw pit on the river back, engaging men to work with him.

• He purchased logs, milled them and then sold the timber locally as well as out of the district.

• Henry built a home for his family and a few years later, around 1854, extended it into Lismore's first hotel named the Cedar Squarers' Arms.

• He obtained a liquor licence but continued working as a timber merchant.

• Henry became the proud owner of several more blocks of land in the town of Lismore, before debt problems raised their ugly head in 1867.

• Tragically, Henry died quite suddenly in 1868, aged 48, before his insolvency case could be settled.

• Most of the land Henry had bought was lost to creditors, and his family was left in rather dire circumstances.