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
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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.

The Story of William Henry Browning

This is the story of my paternal Great Great Great Grandfather, William Henry Browning (1800 - 1867).

William was born in Launceston, Cornwall, England.  His father was John Browning and his mother was Elizabeth Jackett.

William was baptised at the Wesleyan St Mary Magdalene Church, in Launceston in September.

The baptism record does not indicate a date of birth, but I'm assuming William was born in that same year - 1800.



By the time William was born, his mother had given birth to four other children but sadly, two of them had already died.

Hannah had been born in 1792, but died in 1795.
John had come along in 1794.
The first son named William had been born in 1796.  He died a few months later.
Another girl was born in 1798 and she was also named Hannah.
After the birth of my 3x great grandfather, another daughter named Mary was born in 1803.

I have not been able to discover anything much about my 3x great grandfather William's childhood whilst growing up in Cornwall.  His hometown Launceston was a fairly busy little market town, apparently known for its wool industry and straw hats!  The population would have been around 1,500 whilst William was growing up.

William's father, John Browning, died in 1820 when William was 19 years old.  It does seem that the family had fallen on hard times by then, as the death record for William's father listed his residence at that time as the 'Poorhouse'.  I do wonder what William's life was like at that point.

When his father died, William's mother Elizabeth would have been aged 58.  William's brother John would have been 26, William's sister Hannah would have been 22, and sister Mary 17 years of age.  I wonder if they were all still living together, or perhaps some of William's siblings had already married and/or moved away looking for a way to make a living?

In July of 1822, at the age of 21, William got married at St. Sidwell Church in Exeter, Devon.

Exeter is about 42 miles to the east of Launceston, William's place of birth; so I've hypothesized that William, and perhaps other members of his family, had moved from Launceston in Cornwall to Exeter in Devon, perhaps in search of work.

William wed Nancy Littlejohns (although she had been baptised as Anne).


Nancy (Anne) was 20 years of age and had been born in Exeter, so the wedding appears to have taken place in her home town.






Over the following eighteen years, life appears to have become more and more difficult for William and his growing family.  The clues can be found in the places of birth and baptism of his first six children.

First-born, Susannah, was born in Exeter, Devon in 1823, when William was 23 years old.   (Susannah - Exeter)




By the time the second daughter Hannah was born, in 1825, it appears that William and his family had moved back to Launceston in Cornwall.  That is where Hannah was born and baptised.   (Hannah - Launceston)




It's likely William had moved back to Cornwall to be with his mother and extended family, perhaps because he had found it hard to support his wife Anne and his youngest child Susannah while living in Devon, or perhaps because his mother had fallen on hard times as well.

Sadly, William's mother passed away the following year, in 1826, and it appears that William once more left Cornwall.  When his son John Thomas came along in 1827, the family was back in Exeter, Devon.  (John Thomas - Exeter)


The family had again moved back to Launceston in Cornwall by 1830 however, and it appears they remained there for the following ten years.

Daughter Caroline Penelope (my great great grandmother) was born there in 1830.  Records of my 2x great grandmother's birth indicate that she had been born in the Poor House in Launceston, so it seems the family were destitute as this time and relying on parish funds.  My 3x great grandfather William was 29 years of age by then.

Son William Henry came along in 1832.
Daughter Dinah was born in 1835.
Daughter Mary Anne was born in 1837.
All of these children were born in Launceston.

(Caroline, William, Dinah and Mary Anne - Launceston)

Tragically, William and Nancy's daughter Dinah died in 1838, aged just 3.  William was now 38 years old.

Life was in general very, very difficult for William and his family during this time.  I know this because of information taken from an article published in the Northern Star on the 21st of July 2015 based on a book written by Esme Smith titled "The Browning story: tracings from the past".  

This book traces some of the history of William Browning and his wife Anne, and according to the author:

"Over the next few years the young couple found work difficult to find and on several occasions they had to resort to parish relief. By the end of the 1830s, and with six children, they apparently decided that they should look somewhere else for their future. They chose Australia."

William was no doubt feeling that the difficulties finding work and simply trying to exist and feed his family must have seemed insurmountable in his home country.  There had been lots of changes happening in the economy around that time. 

Launceston, Cornwall  circa 1830

Launceston was witness to a period of industrial decline in the early 1800s, with the closure of much of the wool industry in the area due to industrial revolution advances happening in the north of England.  The wool spinning factories closed down, along with the serge mill which ended over 200 years of serge production in the area.  Agriculture was also facing mounting difficulties during this period with the loss of most of their labourers due to low wages.

So it seems, like many others before and after him, William had started wondering about other options that might lead to a better life for himself and his family.  At the same time, the Bounty Scheme had come into existence in the Colonies and would have seemed quite enticing.

This scheme allowed settlers in the penal colony of New South Wales to recruit their own workers in the United Kingdom.  

Under the Bounty Scheme, settlers who needed workers paid the emigrants' passages.  They employed agents to recruit suitable workers in many of the embarkation ports of the U.K.  

Upon arrival in New South Wales, these workers were examined by a Board, and if the Board was satisfied with the condition of these workers, the settler would be issued with a certificate entitling him to claim back the bounty money he had paid from the Government.  



Very often it was the poor house / workhouse inmates who were encouraged by the parish to take up the opportunity of emigration, as the burden of providing for increasing numbers of people needing parish relief became overwhelming.  It's likely that William and his family, who were often in and out of the poor house, had taken heed of the advice of the parish and prepared for a new life elsewhere.

New South Wales, Australia 1828 - 1842: Bounty Immigrants List:  1840

William and his family boarded the ship 'Premier' at the port of Plymouth on April 2nd 1840.  

At the time William was 39 years of age.  His occupation was recorded as 'Gardener', which is an interesting turn of events.  I wonder if he did indeed have a job as a gardener at that time?  

It was noted on the Assisted Immigrants Passenger List that William was a Protestant and could both read and write.

William embarked on this journey with his wife Anne (it seems she no longer went by the name Nancy) aged 38, whose occupation was recorded as 'House Servant'; along with his children John aged 13, William aged 8, Caroline (my great great grandmother) aged 9, and Mary Anne aged 3.  

William's other two daughters were recorded on the passenger list separately under the single female section.  Susan's age was recorded as 16 (but my records show she was actually aged 18) and her occupation was listed as 'Childsmaid', whilst Hannah was aged 16 and her occupation was listed as 'Kitchen Maid'.

William and his family had been bought out by the Australian Agricultural Company, sponsored by a Mr. Capper who had paid an 18 pound bond for William and his wife, a 10 pound bond for the 13 year old John, the 8 year old William and the 9 year old Caroline; as well as a 18 pound bond for both the older girls, Susan and Hannah.

The journey from Plymouth to Port Jackson turned out to be quite a short journey for that time period - only 90 days!  The ship Premier left with a total of 159 immigrants and only four infants were lost during the voyage.  

It turned out to be a memorable trip for all on board, but for reasons other than the usual - which included being at the mercy of the weather (unrelenting heat when crossing the Equator), being stuck in the doldrums, existing for lengthy periods in stinking cramped unhygenic living conditions, poor food, the risk of being seasick or possibly suffering life-threatening illnesses; and of course the more interesting events such as the sighting of islands, sea creatures, phosphorus water, sharks, flying fish and magnificent sea birds. 

As if all that wasn't enough for William and his family, they were also involved in a mutiny!  The headlines of the day read:  Mutiny on Board the Emigrant Ship Premier.

The Sydney Herald, Friday 3rd Jul 1840, p.2

All of the newspaper articles written at the time explained the events in this way:

The ship's captain, Captain Were was on his first voyage to the colonies and his authority was tested when a few of the crew acted with insubordination and total disrespect. It appears that about a fortnight before the ship arrived in New South Wales, some of the seamen went on strike (which was a mutinous act back then), according to one newspaper article "owing to some discontentedness on their part", although the exact nature of this discontentedness is never really explained.  

The Captain then enlisted the aid of emigrants to work the vessel for one day.  Following this there appears to have been a confrontation between the seamen on strike and the Captain, one of them called the Captain "a liar, and struck him".  The Captain, with the assistance of the officers and some of the emigrants, rounded up the man who had hit Captain Were and the other three "ringleaders" and shackled them in irons for the remainder of the voyage.

The viewpoint of all the articles published at the time is definitely in favour of the Captain, with decidedly persuasive language used to talk about the crew and their actions.  Phrases such as "vile notions of the seamen", "extreme indolence", "crimp taught fellows", were obviously intended to skew the viewpoint of the readers against these lowly seamen.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Thursday 2nd July 1840, p. 2

Upon arrival, the four men were incarcerated in the Sydney Gaol and bought before the Court to answer the charges laid.

The Court case was reported in the newspapers of the day in great detail.  One of the reports of the incident on board, recorded by the Surgeon Superintendent Mr. John Turner, was presented at the trial and published in the newspapers.  In that report my 3x great grandfather was mentioned:

"Towards evening a report was circulated by an Immigrant. William Browning that " bloody work" would be the consequence if the Immigrants persisted in assisting the Captain. The man Browning himself acquainted me of this, wishing me to use my influence with the Captain to prevent his further notice of the mutinous transactions and pardon the offenders.   This I contemptuously refused to do, and having that most of our recruits had deserted from fear, and others wavering I again assembled them for the purpose of banishing their fears, in which I was successful, as also adding a few to their number."

So it seems that my 3x great grandfather, William Browning, actually stood up for the seamen and thought that the the assistance given to the Captain by the immigrants was "bloody work"!  He actually asked the the "offenders" be pardoned!  Obviously this was not a popular opinion and he was standing up to the beliefs of not only the Captain, but the officers and many of the immigrant passengers.  

I just love the fact that William was an advocate for these so-called mutineers!!  Why would he do that?  Well, if you looked closely at the emmigrant record for William, you would see that the occupation of his father was listed as: Sailor.  It seems that William had a very good idea of the working life and conditions of the seamen on board the ship, and was firmly placed in their corner!

I find another sentence in the report written by the Surgeon Superintendent very interesting indeed!  After the initial mention of my 3x great grandfather's involvement in the 'mutiny', Mr. John Turner goes on to say:

"The conduct of two of the immigrants William Browning and James Leek, during the progress of the mutiny, was most disgraceful - exciting their companions to add fuel to the already ignited flame; their expressions were also very disgusting. (Signed,) JOHN TURNER. M.R.C.S.L. Surgeon Superintendent."

I think the statement that William's (and James Leek's) "expressions were also very disgusting" is designed to paint my 3x great grandfather in a very bad light, but says more about the person of John Turner than William.  William is a bit of a legend to me!

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
Tue 18 Aug 1840 p 2

Interestingly, as a side note, the mutineers were "discharged on their own recognizances" once Captain Were had left port on his ship!


William Browning was to spend most of his life in Australia working as a shepherd.  

He initially worked for the Australian Agricultural Company at Carrington, Stroud and Goonoo Goonoo on the central coast of New South Wales.  These properties were mostly around 1000 square kilometres or more, which were massive at the time.

Information gleaned when researching the lives of shepherds during the 1840s to the 1850s, indicates that the life of a shepherd was tough, very tough indeed.

Their duties included looking after the flock during the day, and flock sizes were mostly quite huge in the days of colonial Australia - in the hundreds, sometimes thousands - so that would have been challenging.  

The stations were unfenced so there would have been frequent loss of livestock when sheep wandered off and became separated from the flock.  Other threats would have included attacks by dingoes and theft by the Aborigines living on the same land.

A shepherd would take the flock of sheep out to graze before the sun rose in the morning.  He would have carried his meagre ration of food with him and spent the long day keeping watch, trying to prevent sheep from becoming lost, injured, or becoming food for dingoes or the indigenous population.  

In the summertime, the shepherd would have to see that the flock had water in order to survive the heat of the day; and would likely have tried to herd sheep under the shade of trees when the heat became unbearable.

At night the shepherds would pen the flock in 'folds', which were basically enclosures made with 'hurdles'.  These were movable as the flock would be constantly on the move.

Shepherds generally lived in makeshift huts on the stations, in close proximity to the position of the flock, and living conditions would have been quite primitive.  

Their diet would have been poor and monotonous, and they would have been exposed to attacks from the indigenous population.

This was the everyday life of William, his wife Anne and his growing family.  No doubt Anne and the children would have helped out with looking after the sheep.  Having arrived in Australia with a family of six children, William and Anne went on to have another four children and they basically lived a tough life, working under very poor conditions. 

James Francis was born in August 1841, a year after the family had arrived in the colonies.  He was baptised in Port Stephens, central coastal New South Wales.

William's eldest daughter Susannah was married the following month, September 1841, at the age of 18.  Sadly, she passed away a mere two years later in 1843.

William's second eldest daughter Hannah married in December of 1841, not long after her eldest sister.  Hannah was aged 16 when she married a convict.  She was widowed just a year later.


My 3x great grandfather William and 3x great grandmother Anne had a son Joseph Edward born in 1845.  By this time William was 44 years old.  He had been employed by Ward Stephens and had worked on Runnymede Station.

William's and Anne's third eldest daughter, Caroline Penelope (my great great grandmother), was married in January of 1846 when she was aged only 15.

Another daughter, named Elizabeth, was born in 1846 in October, but sadly died the following month.

The last born child of William and Anne, a son named Matthew, was born in 1847.  By this time William was aged 46 and was working for Matthew Marsh at Maryland on the Darling Downs in Queensland.

I have very little information about William's life after this apart from the fact that he selected land at Rosehill, near Lismore in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, and lived out the rest of his life there.

William died in 1867 and was buried at Rosehill on the Richmond River, near Lismore.  It appears that William's son Joseph, who was completing the details of the death record, gave an incorrect age for his father.  Given that William's age was recorded on the immigrant passenger record for 1840 as 39 years of age, then I think William would have only been 66 years of age when he died.  That would also match with the baptism record showing William was baptised (and likely born) in 1800.

The Story of Caroline Penelope Browning

The story of my paternal Great Great Grandmother, Caroline Penelope Browning (1830-1894), is yet another story of determination, resilience and true grit.  It is also a story of an Australian pioneer, a strong woman!

In the year of Caroline's birth, 1830, the poem "Mary Had A Little Lamb" by Sarah Josepha Hale was published; the first passenger rail service began in the United States; the Port Arthur penal settlement was established in Tasmania, Australia; Charles Sturt and his party discovered the mouth of the Murray River in Australia.

When Caroline was born in April 1830, her father William Browning was 39 and her mother Anne Littlejohns was 28. Caroline Penelope Browning was born in the Poor House of the St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Launceston, Cornwall, England.


When I discovered that fact, I had to sit with it for a while and let it sink in.  My great great grandmother had been born in a poor house!  That was her start in life.

My knowledge of 'poor houses' was limited I have to admit, so I went searching for information.  Parish poor houses preceded what were to become known as 'work houses'. They were generally small establishments, and often in rented existing buildings rather than specially built premises. Families who were completely destitute could lodge at the poor house that belonged to their parish.  Unlike the 'work house' the family members were not put to work within the walls of the poor house.  They were able to come and go as they pleased, but it provided somewhere to sleep and to have a meal, although the food was reputedly terrible.

The Browning family must have entered the Poor House sometime around 1828-1829 because Caroline's slightly older brother had not been born in the poor house back in 1827. Obviously, by the time Caroline was due to be born, father William and mother Anna had found work hard to come by, and were in need of parish relief.  Families only usually entered the poor house when there was no other alternative and they were close to starvation.

At the time of her birth, Caroline already had three siblings.
Susannah had been born in 1822.
Hannah was born in 1825.
John Thomas was born in 1827.

So the Browning family was a family of five when they entered the poor house, and grew whilst residing there. I wonder if there were any more experiences of living in the poor house during Caroline's childhood? 

After the birth of Caroline, there were three more children added to the family.
William Henry was born in 1832 when Caroline was 2 years old.
Dinah was born in 1835, when Caroline was aged 5.
Mary Anne was born in 1837, and Caroline was 7 years old at the time.

The following year unfortunately, Caroline's sister Dinah died before her third birthday.  Caroline herself was only aged 8.

Now a little context is needed to provide background for what happened next to the Browning family.

1800s England had suffered a post war depression, a terrible famine and massive unemployment, caused by industrialisation and changing farm practices. Many thousands of people were desperate enough to take free or subsidised one-way passages to the ends of the earth.  By the end of the 1830s, with six children to feed, and few employment prospects, William Browning took advantage of the opportunity presented by the recently introduced Bounty Immigration Scheme in Australia.

The Bounty Immigrant Scheme allowed settlers in New South Wales to recruit their own workers from England, through the services of an agent.

The settler paid the immigrant's passage, and this was paid back by the Government upon the emigrant's arrival.

Preference was given to skilled workers such as tradesmen and mechanics, agricultural labourers, dairy maids or some form of worker that the settlers particularly wanted for their business or farms. 

Australian authorities were also looking for healthy young couples with children, preferably daughters who were of a marriageable age because the numbers of men far outweighed the numbers of women in the colony.

Bounty Immigrant List - 'Premier' 1840 

In 1840, at the age of 9, Caroline and her family boarded the ship Premier in Plymouth for the voyage to Australia.  The trip only took 90 days, which was a bit of a record at that time. 

Sydney Herald, Friday 3 July 1840, page 2-a

During the voyage, there had been a little mutiny.  Four of the crew had to be subdued and then chained for the rest of the voyage.

Caroline's father had apparently stood up and spoke up about the mis-treatment of the crew, and had thereby incured the wrath of both the Captain and the Surgeon, along with many of the other bounty emigrants who were asked to crew the ship.


There might have been an unfriendly response from the other emigrants towards the Browning family for the rest of the journey.

 

Upon arrival in Sydney, Caroline's parents were sent to work for Ward Stephens on his property, Lismore Station.  Caroline and her brothers, William and John, worked alongside their parents as shepherds for a number of years. That would have been an extremely rough life, living outdoors, tending to the sheep in all weather and in unknown countryside. 

Another brother was born in August of 1841, when Caroline was aged 11.  Susannah, the eldest sister married just a month later, when she was aged 19.

Two years later, tragedy struck though and Susannah died at the age of 21. 

By this time, it appears Caroline's parents had moved to Runnymede Station to continue working for Ward Stephens after he had sold Lismore Station to a man named William Wilson.

Another brother was born in 1845.  Joseph Edward came along when Caroline was 14 years old.

Just one year later, Caroline got married.  She married Henry Johnson Brown in January of 1846 when she was just 15.  This was another point in Caroline's story where I had to just had to sit and take that in!  15!  Her husband was ten years older.

Henry Johnson Brown and Caroline Penelope Browning were married at The Settlement on Clarence River.  Henry had emigrated with his sister in 1840, the same year as Caroline's family but on a different ship.  Back in England his occupation had been 'printer', but by 1845 he was working as a cook on Runnymede Station.  That is where he met Caroline.  

They were to be married for 22 years and had twelve children over a span of 20 years.  In the beginning, they both continued working for Ward Stephens at Runnymede.

Caroline's and Henry's first born, a son named Henry Johnson was born in March 1847, but died the following year.  That appeared to be the catalyst for their decision to leave the employ of Ward Stephens in early 1849. They packed up their belongings, and started heading towards Mr. Wilson's property on foot. 

According to an article published in The Northern Star, the story as told by Henry and Caroline's son many, many years later in 1929 went something like this:

"They came across to Mr. Wilson's to seek employment and arrived on the opposite bank of the river. On arrival my father swam over the (Richmond) river to Mr. Wilson's and was engaged. On his return he made ready to take my mother over the river the following day by collecting some logs and tying them together with lawyer cane. During that night, my father had to take his little raft over the river and bring Mrs. Wilson back across. My brother Sandy was born on that night."

So, Caroline was giving birth to her second son, Alexander (known as Sandy), on the bank of the Richmond River in the middle of the night!  I suppose she hopped on the raft the next day and went across to Mr. Wilson's property to begin work alongside her husband.

Alexander Johnson was born in 1849, when Caroline was 18 years old.

Caroline and Henry remained working for Mr. Wilson until around 1850.  After that it appears that Caroline and Henry, with their young son, moved around to several different areas in northern New South Wales, as Henry plied his trade as a part-time hawker.


By 1850 they had returned to the Richmond area and Henry began work at Bald Hill (later Bexhill) as a timber cutter and dealer. At this time Bald Hill was a major cedar camp, but it would have been a hard life for both Henry and Caroline.  Henry soon lost interest in the life of a cedar cutter though, and decided he was more interested in trading. The family went to the small settlement of Lismore and Henry set up a saw pit on the river bank and began his business milling and selling timber locally and out of the district.

He built a small slab house for the family to live in.  It would have been very similar to this:

Their family grew, as Caroline gave birth to another 10 children.
John Thomas was born in 1850.  Caroline was aged 20.
Anne Caroline was born in 1853.  
Henry Johnson was born in 1855.
Elias came along in 1856, when Caroline was 26.
William Norman was born in 1858.

Tragically, Elias died the same year at the age of 2.

By this time, the family home had been extended into Lismore's first hotel, the Cedar Squarers' Arms. Henry had obtained a liquor licence and had then purchased several more blocks of land in the area surrounding the home and hotel. 

Brown's Creek Bridge over Brown's Creek,
named after Henry Brown.

He had established a large garden near the creek that ran nearby.  That creek was known as Brown's Creek for many, many years.

The garden was most likely established to provide food for the family.  Caroline would have tended the garden and used the produce for the family meals.

Perhaps she also cooked meals for patrons of the hotel, as well as for her growing family.

Son, James Irving Stevenson was born in 1859.
Richard was born in 1861, when Caroline was 31.
Eliza Duncan was born in 1863.
Francis Summers Hayes came along in 1865.
Robert Frederick Bayley was born in 1867.  Caroline was 37 years of age.

1867 was a bad year for Caroline.  Her father, William Browning, passed away, and her husband Henry had to appear before the Insolvency Court in Sydney.  He had quite large debts and he was now bankrupt. 

Unfortunately, 1868 was another bad year.  Caroline's husband, Henry, died suddenly that year, before the insolvency case was settled. Much of the land he had bought was then lost to creditors.  Caroline was only 38 at the time, but she had been married for 22 years and was now a widow left with 10 children aged between almost 1 and 19.

I haven't been able to find much information about what Caroline did to support her large family at this point in time, but I suspect she carried on with the business of running the hotel.  No doubt her eldest children, Alex aged 19 and John, aged 17, would have started working as well to contribute income and support the family.

Six years later, in 1874, Caroline married again at the age of 44.  Her husband was Nathan Taylor, who had been sent out to Australia as a convict around 27 years previously.  He was now aged 62.  They were married on the 23rd of May, but unfortunately he died just a few months afterwards.

Caroline then lost her mother early the following year, in 1875.   

In 1878 Caroline married again.  She was now aged 48 and her spouse, Thomas Collins, was also aged 48.  Unfortunately, her third marriage was to last only three years as Thomas died in 1881.

Once again, Caroline was widowed, but by now most of children were adults.  Both her eldest boy, Alexander and John, had married.  Then at the end of 1881 Eliza, aged 18, and James, aged 22, also married.

Frances, the youngest daughter, married the following year in 1882 when she was aged 16.  Then in 1883 William and Richard married sisters.  That was also the year that Caroline's sister, Hannah, passed away.

Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 12 March 1887, page 5

Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser, Friday 18 March 1887, page 2

In 1887 Caroline applied to have a parcel of land bought under the Real Property Act.  This was the plot of land on which her home and the hotel stood, so I guess my understanding that Caroline had supported herself and her family by continuing the hotel business was correct. 

That particular plot of land had been granted to the settler William Wilson many, many years before, and the application effectively meant that Caroline would then hold a title of ownership for that land.  Of course, William Wilson was the employer she had worked for long ago when she was first married.

Just a few short years after that application though, in 1894, Caroline died at the age of 64.  It appears she was living in Sydney with her daughter Eliza and son-in-law Robert Gall.  He was listed as the sole executor of her will.

I wonder why none of her own sons were named as the executor?  Perhaps the son-in-law was trusted to take care of all the remaining family members' interests.  Caroline was survived by all ten of her children.

It speaks volumes that there was an article printed in the Northern Star newspaper in Lismore, upon her death.  Obviously she was a well-respected, well-known woman in that community.

Northern Star (Lismore), Wednesday 23 October 1929, page 16

  

Two very interesting points however:

One ... the article was title "Early Pioneer:  Late Mrs. Henry Brown".

Despite the fact that she had been married twice briefly after Henry had died, she was obviously known in the Lismore area as the wife of Henry Brown.


Two ... not once in the short article is mention ever made of her Christian name.  She's only referred to as Mrs. Henry Brown! 


A sign of the times during which she lived. 

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.