The Story of Mary Ayears (Airs)

My post this week tells the story of my paternal Great Great Great Great Grandmother, Mary Ayears  or Airs  (1770 - 1858).

Before proceeding with Mary's story, I'll add a cautionary note ... she has been a troublemaker when it comes to my ability to uncover loads of definitive, accurate information about her life.  

First of all ....

Researching an ancestor who was born in England the same year as Beethoven and Wordsworth can be a very hit and miss affair, as civil registration was only introduced in 1837.  

The period before 1837 is often referred to as the pre-Victorian era (as Queen Victoria ascended the throne mid-1837) and anyone attempting to trace their English ancestors during this period basically needs to rely on church registers.  

Unfortunately these church records contain far less genealogical information than the civil records and were handwritten, making them quite hard to decipher most of the time.  

Second of all ...

I've found that the surname Ayears appears to have different variations, spelt in a few different ways including 'Ayers' and 'Airs'.  This has led to a long, long road of assumption and guessing when it comes to records relating to my 4x great grandmother!  I've spent many, many, many months trying to cross-reference with family trees on Ancestry.com and as many records as I could find on several sites such as Family Search and Find My Past.  It's been a messy and confusing journey.

Thirdly ...

I've found that researching female ancestors going back two generations and more is always a little troublesome.  The details of their lives are rarely captured in the records that are available, unless you're fortunate enough to have treasures such as diaries or family stories passed down.  All I've managed to uncover are a few facts from a couple of very short periods of time - between 1797 and 1808, and then between 1851 and 1858.  So here's what I think I know about parts of Mary's story!

When Mary Ayears was born around 1770, her father Samuel Ayears was around 20 years of age, and her mother Mary Vicary was about the same age.  

Old Church of St Mary Major - with the square tower
By Beatrix F. Cresswell (1862-1940) - httpwww.archive,orgdetailsexeterchurches00cres, 
Public Domain, httpscommons.wikimedia.orgwindex.phpcurid=41190059

My research led me to a baptism record showing a Mary Airs was baptised at the Church of Saint Mary Major in Exeter, Devon, England in August of 1770.

I don't have an exact date of birth for this Mary, and I admit I followed information from family trees on Ancestry.com to track down this record.  

Whether or not it's really my 4x great grandmother is probably debatable, but other information leads me to believe it's quite likely.

Later records, which are definitely more reliable,  indicate that Mary was likely born around 1768, so that places the Mary Airs from this baptism record at approximately the right time.  Records of Mary's marriage later on and the baptism records for her children show that all these events happened in Exeter, so again I think it's highly likely that Mary herself was born and baptised in that same town.




Around 1770, Exeter was a economically powerful city with a very strong trade of wool.  The reigning monarch at this time was King George 111, and it was in August of 1770 that Captain James Cook claimed the entire east coast of New Holland for Great Britain.  It was of course later to become Australia, and the home for descendants of one of Mary's daughters Anne (known as Nancy) my 3x great grandmother, and for descendants of her grandson Joseph Hutton.


Apart from a possible birth year, baptism date, baptism place, and parent names, I have no information at all about Mary's childhood.  The next fact I do know, and am sure about, is that Mary Airs/Ayears married John Littlejohns in December of 1797 when she was around 27-29 years old.  On the marriage record, Mary's maiden name was spelt as 'Ayears'.

According to information sourced from other descendants' family research, Mary and John already had three children before they married.

Well, the assumption is that these are John's children as well as they were given the surname of Littlejohns.

Son Henry was born in 1794, but sadly died when he was less than a year old.
Daughter Frances, known as Fanny, was born in 1795.
Daughter Mary Ann was born in April of 1797.

Interestingly, Mary's father, Samuel Ayears, died on the 14th of December 1797; and Mary married on the 19th of December.

I could make all sorts of assumptions about this fact, one of which would be that Mary had been living out-of-wedlock with John for a number of years likely as a result of her father's objection to the match.  Mary was however old enough to marry without her father's consent, so I'm not sure that would be an accurate assumption.  Anyway, very shortly after father's death, Mary seems to have married the father of her children.

After the marriage of Mary and John in December that year, the family grew.

Jane was born mid-1800, but unfortunately passed away in September.
Anne, known as Nancy, Littlejohns (my 3x great grandmother) came along in November of 1801, when Mary was aged around 31-33.
John was born in May of 1803, but he died in February the following year.
John Edwin was born in 1807.  Mary was now around 37-39 years old.

By the year 1808, out of the seven children that Mary gave birth to, there were three daughters and one son who had survived their infancy.  

It's very difficult to glean information about Mary's adult life around the time of and after the birth of her children, but clues from records later on point to the fact that it's likely Mary, her husband John and their family of four, had a hard life and were probably amongst the poorer class in Exeter society.

John worked as a 'fuller', often referred to as a 'tucker', which was not a well-paying job and the conditions of employment were very tough.  A fuller (tucker) worked long hours every day.  It was their job to clean wool cloth during the cloth making process to eliminate dirt and oil, and make it thicker.  Before the cloth got to the fullers (tuckers) it was soaked in urine!  John's job would have been back-breaking and extremely unpleasant.

I imagine Mary worked in some lowly, poorly paid job in the mills of Exeter as well, but I have not yet found any proof of that, and likely never will. Records of women's working life from that era are rare.

Mary and John were married for about 44 years until John died sometime around 1841.  Mary was aged around 71-73 at that time.

By then, Mary's eldest daughter Fanny was a widow as well.  She had married Joseph Perkiss Hutton, and had given birth to three children, but only two had survived into adulthood.  Fanny's son Joseph, Mary's grandson, had been transported to the colonies ten years earlier at the young age of 17.  He had in fact been sentenced to death, but his conviction had been commuted to transportation for a period of 14 years.  In reality, transportation to Australia really was a life sentence.  He lived out the rest of his life in Australia and probably had very little contact with either his mother or his grandmother Mary.

Mary's youngest daughter Anne (known as Nancy) had married William Henry Browning almost twenty years before, in the same church as Mary and John.  By 1841 though, Anne was in Australia, having migrated with her husband and six children.  She lived the rest of her life in the colonies, far away from her mother.

By 1851, ten years after the death of her husband, Mary was living in the Almshouses in Exeter, with another daughter Mary Anne Harris (nee Ayears).

1851 Census - St David's, Exeter, Devon, England

Mary was recorded as being an "Almsperson / Tucker's Widow".  Almsperson basically meant "one who is dependent on the receipt of alms", a "a pauper". The census record indicates she was now aged 83.  She was living in the Atwills Almshouses on New North Road in Exeter, with her daughter Mary Anne who was listed as an "Upholstress".  It seems that daughter Mary Anne's husband had died by this time, as she was now living with her mother.

An excerpt from the book 'A Topographical Dictionary of England' published in 1833 states:

"Atwill's almshouses were founded and endowed by the corporation, with the arrears of Mr. Atwill's charity in 1717, for fifteen aged woollen manufacturers, appointed by the corporation:  the annual income of this charity amounts to about £320."

Almshouses were generally houses or property left to a parish by a community-minded benefactor who was acting philanthropically, and were outside government control.  People who were accepted into these almshouses were approved in some way.  They would no have been vagrants or outcasts, but were likely to have been regarded as respectable and part of a network of obligation which ensure their admission.  

In Mary's case, she was the widow of a 'tucker', another name for a fuller, and the Atwill's Almshouses were by that time earmarked for "poor and aged" woollen trade workers as mentioned in the excerpt from information on the website Genuki: Almshouses, Devon, Exeter, 1850:

ATWILL'S ALMSHOUSES, in New North road, are neat stone dwellings on an elevated site. In 1588, Lawrence Atwill left about 320 acres of land, and several houses, &c., in the parishes of St. Thomas, Whitstone, and Uffculme, to the Corporation of Exeter, upon trust to apply the yearly profits thereof in setting the poor to work. As the charitable intentions of the testator could not be strictly or beneficially carried into effect, a new scheme was sanctioned by the Court of Chancery in 1771, directing that in future the rents and profits of the charity estate should be applied in the erection and support of almshouses for the reception of poor aged woollen weavers, &c., of the city, who should be provided with looms, &c., and small weekly stipends. Accordingly, 12 almshouses were built in 1772. In consequence of the increased income of the charity, these almshouses were enlarged in 1815, at the cost of £425; and again in 1839, at the cost of £160. They are now occupied by 24 almspeople, who are provided with coals in winter; but only 16 of them have weekly stipends of 2s. 6d. each, and none of them are provided with looms. The charity estate is let to fifteen tenants, at rents amounting to about £250 per annum, and large sums are occasionally received for the renewal of leases and the sale of timber.

I believe that Mary and her daughter Mary Anne were two of the 24 almspeople mentioned as living in the Atwill's Almshoues in 1850, and it's likely neither of them were receiving the weekly stipend.  It's more likely that Mary was relying on the income of her daughter to provide food and other essentials.  On a positive note though, at least they had a home, more or less guaranteed, and were provided with coal in winter!

This is photo of the almshouses from around 1900, which is a little while after Mary was living there but certainly gives an idea of what the almshouses looked like during Mary's time as a tenant.

There were 24 houses (more akin to flats) in 3 blocks that were designed in a gabled Tudor style.

The 'houses' were likely to have consisted of one or two rooms with a fireplace.  It would have provided Mary and her daughter with a private space so they would have been able to live quite independently, despite their economic dependence.

Mary died at the Almshouses in April of 1858 at the age of 90, as indicated on her death certificate.  The cause of death was listed as "natural decay", so it sounds as though she was not ailing in any way or suffering at the end of her long tough life.

She was buried five days later in the Parish of St. David and her death notice, albeit brief, does describe her as "greatly respected by all who knew her".

Mary was survived by her three daughters, Frances Hutton nee Littlejohns, Mary Anne Harris nee Littlejohns, Anne (known as Nancy) Browning nee Littlejohns; and her son John Edwin Littlejohns.

The Story of Anne (Nancy) Littlejohns

This is the story of my paternal Great Great Great Grandmother, Anne (known as Nancy) Littlejohns (1801 - 1875).

My 3x great grandmother was baptised Anne, but was known as Nancy for most of her life.  This is apparently quite a common tradition for those of Irish heritage.

Huh???

The many peculiarities in Christian names in Ireland can apparently be divided into five different classes:
- names that can apply to both sexes
- names that are usually given to one sex, but are applied to the other
- diminutives that differ substantially from the original given name
- names which are different but for varied reasons are used interchangeably
- Irish equivalents for English names and English equivalents for Irish names


In the case of my 3x great grandmother, it seems that a common variation used for the given name of Anne, is 'Nancy'!  I just can't see the logic in it, and it seems that 'Nancy' was often used for the given name of Hannah as well!!!  It's confusing, and it certainly didn't help my research efforts.  For many years, I felt as though I had hit a brick wall, until a distant family member enlightened me about the use of 'Nancy' for those actually christened Anne.

For the purposes of this post, I shall refer to my 3x great grandmother as Anne (Nancy), using both names so it's clear for all who might be reading this story.

Anne (Nancy) was born in November of 1801.  Her father John Littlejohns was aged 29 at the time, and her mother Mary Ayears was aged 31.

St Sidwell's Parish Register - Baptisms and Burials 1772-1804

Anne (Nancy) was baptised at the same church where her father and mother had married in Exeter, Devon, England.

page from St. Sidwell's Parish Register - last entry

She was baptised at St. Sidwell's Church in Exeter on the 29th of November, 1801.

So far my research has only produced records showing six other children born to Anne's parents, John and Mary.

A boy named Henry was born in 1794, but died a month before his first birthday.
Frances (known as Fanny, which makes a whole lot more sense!) was born in 1795.
Mary Anne came along in 1797.
Jane was born in 1800 but died the same year.
John was born in early 1803, when Anne was only 1 year old.  Sadly, he died the following year, in 1804.
John Edwin was born in 1807, when Anne was 5 years old.

With the deaths of three of the Littlejohns children before Anne (Nancy) had turned 6,  Fanny, Mary Anne and John Edwin were to be Anne's (Nancy's) only siblings as she grew from a young child to an adult.  It appears that the family were quite poor and lived in impoverished circumstances for most of Anne's (Nancy's) childhood.  Father John worked as a fuller in the woollen cloth-making industry, which was not a well-paying job.

By the time Anne (Nancy) was born, in 1801, Exeter had a population of around 20,000 and was considered an important town in England.  This however changed very quickly as the industrial revolution more or less passed Exeter by, and other towns grew enormously in terms of size and economic importance.

Exeter decreased in size over the following sixty years and dwindled to becoming just a market town.  This coincided with the decline in its wool manufacture and tanning industries.  As a result, it ceased to be an important manufacturing centre and rates of unemployment grew, along with the numbers of impoverished people.

I imagine Anne (Nancy) and her siblings would have been sent out to work at a very early age.  Most likely my 3x great grandmother would have worked in one of the woollen manufacturing factories or worked as a servant / household staff.

When she was 20 years old, Anne (Nancy) married William Henry Browning in Exeter, Devon on the 28th of July 1822. On this record her name was recorded as Nancy.

You can see that Anne (Nancy) had not learned how to write her own name, as she signed her marriage record with a mark - an X.  My 3x great grandmother had not benefited from an education during her childhood, which would indicate her family was indeed very poor and most likely had no fixed address for any great period of time.  It was probably a tough childhood for Anne (Nancy).

The obligatory banns had been posted three times previous to her date of marriage, on three consecutive Sundays.  Obviously there were no objections made, so their marriage was solemnized in the presence of a James Legitt and John Marwood in 1822.



Anne (Nancy) and William Browning went on to have 11 children over the next 24 years.  The first seven of their children were all born in England, and the records of their births indicate that Anne (Nancy) and William moved quite often between Exeter in Devon, Anne's (Nancy's) home town, and Launceston in Cornwall, William's home town.  It's possible that this was the result of a constant search for work and the means to support their growing family, hence the constant moving between Anne's birthplace and William's.

Daughter Susannah was born in 1823.  She was born in Exeter.
Hannah was born in 1825, but the family had moved by then as she was born in Launceston, Cornwall.
John Thomas was born two years later in 1827, but the family was back in Exeter by then.
Caroline Penelope (my great great grandmother) was born in 1830, when Anne (Nancy) was 28 years old.

The family had fallen on really tough times by then though, as Caroline was born in the Poor House, and the family were once again back in Launceston, Cornwall.  The next three children were all born in Launceston, so it seems the family stopped moving for a while as they were likely dependent on parish relief.

William Henry was born in 1832.
Dinah was born in 1835.
Mary Anne was born in 1837.

Sadly, daughter Dinah was to pass away the following year, in 1838, when she was only aged 3.  Anne (Nancy) at the time was 37, and it appears that the family was once again living in the work house.  The living conditions they had to endure at this time might have contributed to the decline in the health of daughter Dinah, and ultimately caused her death.  I can imagine the heartache that Anne (Nancy) endured during these years as she and her husband tried to find work wherever they could, and when they couldn't, were forced to rely on parish relief and life in the poor house.

The workhouse that was in operation at this time in Launceston housed up to 40 inmates.  It was a building that had originally been a prison and the day-to-day life of the workhouse inmates would have been harsh, to say the least.

A mere 30 years previously the Quaker and prison reformer James Neild visited the workhouse in Launceston and reported that there was:

"a scene of filth, rags and wretchedness ... The large room below stairs has a mud floor; and whole families, men, women and children, pig together.  The upper room had several bedsteads in it, with the most ragged and dirty bedding I ever saw; the windows were small and close, the want of ventilation and decent cleanliness produced a stench almost insupportable.  I was in the room but a few minutes before I was seized with sickness, which obliged me to withdraw."

Nothing would have changed much by the time Anne (Nancy) and her family were living in that same workhouse.  It wasn't until 1838 that a new workhouse was built on acreage just outside Launceston.  The Browning family would not have known this newer, much larger and cleaner workhouse.

By early 1840, Anne (Nancy) and her husband William, had made the decision to take the opportunity to emigrate under what was known as the 'Bounty Scheme', leaving their country of birth to face the challenges of a new life in the far-off colony of Australia.

Anne (Nancy) and her husband were both in their late 30s when they made the decision to leave home and family and travel to the other side of the world.

I've been fortunate enough to have benefited from a lot of family tree research compiled and published by Esme Smith in her book: The Browning Story: Tracings From The Past, published in 2001.


Esme is a descendant of Anne's (Nancy's) daughter Mary Anne, whilst I am a descendant of Anne's (Nancy's) daughter Caroline Penelope.

According to Esme's book, Chapter 1 p.1 "It may have been the prevailing adversity of being poor that drove them to leave England.  Perhaps the conditions in the Poor Houses, where they had spent a number of years, were so difficult for the family that the parents were prepared to forego the known for the unknown.  The harshness of their circumstances may have caused them to believe that there was nothing to be lost in taking this journey."

Bounty Immigrant List showing William and Anne Browning and four of their children. 
 Their eldest daughters were listed separately under 'single females'.

The Browning family were members of a party of 158 assisted immigrants on board the ship 'Premier' which set sail from Plymouth, England on the 2nd of April, arriving at Port Jackson on the 1st of July 1840.  Assisted immigrants were individuals who were paid for or subsidized by another person or through an agency working on behalf of an employer in the colony.

At the time of their journey to Australia, Anne's (Nancy's) six children would have been aged between 16 and 3 years of age.  What strength of resolve and fierce willpower would a mother need to ensure the health and happiness of her children while undertaking such a voyage?

The ship did not touch land at any point on the journey, so the family would have endured a tedious three-month long trip on a crowded ship, with little food to eat and very cramped living conditions, although this would not have been a totally new experience for any member of the family really, given the time they spent living in the workhouse.  Sickness and disease were rife as well.  There was an outbreak of measles one week into the journey and the epidemic lasted for five weeks!

I can imagine the worries Anne (Nancy) must have had about whether or not her children would succumb to the disease.  Four babies did die on the journey, so Anne (Nancy) would no doubt have been particularly concerned about the health of her youngest, Mary Ann, who was aged 3 at the time.  Given that Anne (Nancy) had already lost a daughter when she was three years old, it must have weighted on Anne's (Nancy's) mind a great deal.

View of Sydney Cove - 1838, by Conrad Martens

Thankfully all of the Browning family survived the trip and landed safely in Port Jackson on the 1st of July, 1840.

Although both Anne (Nancy) and her husband William were really close to the cut-off age for eligibility for assisted migration (40 years of age), they had a family which included four daughters, two of whom were close to a marriageable age.  This was considered an asset, as the colony had very large numbers of young men looking for brides!  No surprise then that Anne (Nancy) and her husband were accepted for the assisted immigrant scheme, despite their ages.

Map from Esme Smith's book: 
The Browning Story: Tracings From The Past p.17

Even after three months of sailing, the travelling continued for the family after they had arrived in the colony.  The Browning family were all employed by the Australian Agricultural Company on the company's holding at Carrington, Port Jackson.  

This was a fifteen hour journey on another smaller ship further north.  It was here that William began working as a shepherd.

Map showing some of the sheep stations
the Brownings worked on as shepherds - including Carrington

Anne (Nancy), and the younger children, would have worked alongside William while it's likely the two older daughters were employed as servants in one of the large property houses at either Carrington or Stroud.

While at Carrington, another son was born to Anne (Nancy) and William.

Francis came along in August of 1841, just over a year after Anne (Nancy) and her family had arrived in Australia.  My 3x great grandmother was aged 39.

During the next month, September 1841, Anne (Nancy) saw her eldest daughter Susannah married to Joshua Craven, a convict assigned to the AA Company.

Just four months later, in January of 1842, the second eldest daughter Hannah was also married. She wed Thomas Norton, also a convict who had been assigned to the AA Company.

It seems that Anne (Nancy), her husband and the rest of the family left the AA Company and Carrington sometime after the weddings of the two eldest daughters.  By the end of 1842 her son John Thomas would have been 15 years old; daughter  Caroline Penelope (my 2x great grandmother) would have been 12; son William Henry would have been 9 years old; daughter Mary Anne would have been aged 5; and baby James Francis would have been 1 year old.

Over the next few years, Anne (Nancy), husband William, and the children that were still living with them, moved around a lot.

George Bishop, Surveyor-General's Office, New South Wales 1872 [Public domain]

According to the information in Esme Smith's book, "it's likely that the Brownings moved, initially to Ward Stephen's holdings in the Hunter River District (marked in red), and then to the New England area (marked in green) and finally to the Richmond River District. (marked in yellow)" (p. 22)


By June of 1842 Anne (Nancy) and husband William were employed as part of a family team of shepherds who drove Ward Stephen's flock down from the highlands of New England, to the rich plains of the Richmond Valley on the coast (later to become known as the Lismore area).

Ward Stephen's station 'Runnymede' highlighted on map

It was here that Ward Stephens moved to Runnymede where he built his homestead, and the Brownings went there as employees.  Sadly, whilst Anne (Nancy) was working alongside her husband at Runnymede, her daughter Susannah passed away back up on the highlands of New England, in Stroud.  Susannah was only aged 20 at the time and had been married for just two years.

It appears that Anne (Nancy), William and their younger children remained working for Ward Stephens for at least another five to six years.  During this time in the Richmond River district Anne (Nancy) and William had another three children.

Joseph was born in 1845.
Elizabeth was born the following year, in 1846, but died just a few weeks later.
Matthew came along in early 1848.  Anne (Nancy) was aged 45.

By this time however, Ward Stephens, their employer, had sold his property Runnymede and the Brownings had moved on once more.  They had taken another shepherding job, together with members of their family, at Maryland Station back up on the New England Tablelands.  Maryland, then owned by Matthew Henry Marsh, was in the Darling Downs area, which was still part of New South Wales at that time.

According to Esme Smith's 'The Browning Story: Tracings From The Past:

"The family's employment at Maryland commenced on 4 May 1848." (p. 30)  ...
"When William and Nancy arrived at Maryland Station, they had with them their children, John, William, Mary Ann, Francis, Joseph and Matthew.  There they worked as shepherds and watchmen at a wage of  £70 per annum.  This is a rather large annual wage given the times. ...so it probably meant that it included the work of the other members of the family."  (p. 31)

By 1848, their daughter Caroline Penelope (my 2x great grandmother) had married.  She was aged 15 when she wed Henry Brown in 1846, and was now a mother herself.  It appears Anne (Nancy), her husband William and six of their children, had followed their daughter Caroline and her husband Henry to Maryland Station, as Henry had started work there in March of 1848.

1848 was also the year that the second eldest daughter, Hannah, re-married.  She had been widowed around 1846, when she was aged just 21, and soon after becoming a mother for the first time.  It's likely that Hannah, with her daughter Mary Ann, had also joined the family soon after the death of her first husband and had moved onto Runnymede Station when the family had been working there.  Hannah then followed the family to Maryland Station where she met her second husband.

Anne (Nancy) and her husband William left Maryland Station sometime between 1851 and 1853.  When their daughter Mary Ann married in late 1853, when aged 16, the family were living in the Armidale area.  It's possible Anne (Nancy) and William were working on one of the other properties owned by March, either Salisbury Court or Booralong, which were both in the Armidale district.

By early 1855, Anne (Nancy) and William were living in the Tamworth area, on Goonoo Goonoo Station, a property owned by the A. A. Company.  This is where their son William Henry married.  Their daughter Mary Ann and her husband were also living and working on Goonoo Goonoo, and were witnesses at the wedding.  As Esme Smith stated on p. 38 of her book "It is likely that various members of the family were again working for the A. A. Company at that time."

Sometime between 1858 and 1859, the family appears to have moved back to the Richmond River District / Lismore area.  Then in mid-1864 Anne's (Nancy's) husband William made an application for the purchase of some land, a block of 40 acres, on the western back of Terrania Creek.  This is where Anne (Nancy) and William built their own home and where they finally settled.  Their property was known as 'Rosehill'.

Their son Francis bought a block of 40 acres right next door to his mother's and father's block, and both William and son Francis, along with the other younger sons Joseph and Matthew, began working as timber-getters.

Anne's (Nancy's) husband William died at Rose Hill a mere 3 years later, in 1867.  He was buried at the Rosehill burying grounds.  Anne (Nancy) remained living at Rosehill until her death in 1875, when aged 74.

The years between 1840, when the family arrived in Australia, and 1864, when the family finally had their own home, would have been years of back-breaking hard work with quite austere and challenging living conditions for Anne (Nancy), as the wife of a shepherd.

Information gleamed from an article titled:  Shepherding in Colonial Australia, written by John Pickard in the 2008 edition of 'Rural History' indicates that there was no idyllic life for a shepherd,  "the reality in colonial Australia was brutally different.  ...  They worked in isolation, with poor accommodation and rations, exposed to a range of diseases, and were relatively poorly paid."  (pp. 55-56)

Replica of a bark gunyah

Living conditions would have been quite primitive (by our standards!)  It's likely that the first type of accommodation for Anne (Nancy) and her family would have been a tent or a bark gunyah - a temporary structure made with bark and tree branches - until a proper shepherd's hut was erected.  They may have even lived out in the open for a time.

Shepherding was a nomadic lifestyle and Anne (Nancy) went with William wherever work could be found; living, working and raising their family in temporary homes quite a long way away from towns and settlements.  They would have lived quite an isolated existence, apart from the day-to-day presence of their own family and perhaps the occasional meeting with other shepherds and their families.

"The logistics of shepherding in the Australian colonies varied somewhat, but most often ... shepherds were based at an outstation which consisted of a hut with a set of yards made of moveable hurdles for each shepherd (where the sheep were penned at night).  Some outstations had fixed yards made of brush or logs.  These outstations were five to twenty-four kilometres from the head station." (Shepherding in Colonial Australia p. 56-57)

"A well-established outstation had a pole-frame hut, perhaps eleven feet wide by twelve or fifteen feet long, covered with bark stripped off suitable Eucalyptus trees, or shingles.  The bark roof would be held down with a framework of logs pegged together.  The fireplace would be lined with stones and clay, and smoke dissipated up a bark chimney."

The artist impression shown here was an idealised version of a well-established outstation.  It's highly likely the artist never ever saw one for himself!

A more commonplace hut would have been "slabs with bark roofs about twenty-four by ten feet, with two rooms ... and there would be a slab fireplace for cooking, a three-legged pot and a bucket would be all the household business.  The floor was just the ground."  (Shepherding in Colonial Australia p. 65)  This is likely to have been the home that Anne (Nancy) would have been familiar with.

It was usual that when married couples were employed, the husband shepherded and the wife was the hut-keeper.  Children were expected to look after sheep from an early age as well. It's likely that Anne (Nancy) and the younger children would have slept in the hut at night; whereas her husband William and the older boys most likely slept in a watch-box or even in the open near the yarded flocks of sheep, keeping guard against predators such as the native dogs, the dingoes.


There would have been the constant dangers of snake bites and accidents, and no chance of  prompt medical assistance.  There is likely to have been the constant fear of Aborigines as well, as relationships between the white settlers/squatters and the indigenous people were strained, to say the least.


The diet would have been extremely monotonous, based essentially on meat, damper and tea.  "Shepherd's wages included rations which would most likely have been:  ten a half pounds of meat, ten and a half pounds of flour, seven ounces of sugar, three and a half ounces of soap, two ounces of salt per man per week.  (Shepherding in Colonial Australia p. 66)


Throughout all of this it would have fallen upon Anne's (Nancy's) shoulders to keep the family together and to keep her family fed, housed and healthy.  Given that the entire family remained close-knit and close-by for her entire life (and onwards with the following generations), it seems Anne (Nancy) was the rock on which this family built their lives.

When Anne (Nancy) left her homeland and her own family far, far behind, I have no doubt she would have had some trepidation about the future.  I can't imagine what it would have been like to leave everything behind, including your own mother, father and siblings, to travel so very far away.  Did she keep in contact with her family back in England?  I doubt that very much, given the life she experienced as the wife of a shepherd and the fact that she never learned to write.

It's unlikely she would have known about the deaths of her father and her mother.  It's unlikely she would have known much about the lives of her sisters Fanny and Mary Ann, her brother John Edwin.

Anne (Nancy) passed away in early 1875.  The details on Anne's (Nancy's) death certificate were recorded by son Matthew, but are not all correct - Anne's (Nancy's) father's name was listed as Thomas, whilst her mother's name was listed as Martha Killark.   Neither of these pieces of information are supported by the details provided by Anne (Nancy) herself upon emigration to Australia.

New South Wales Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists - 1828-1896
- Anne Browning (nee Littlejohns) 1840

The assisted immigration passenger list for those arriving on board the ship Premier in 1840 shows Anne's (Nancy's) parents listed as John and Mary.  Perhaps an explanation of the mismatch between the details on these records can be found in the fact that it's unlikely there was much communication between Anne (Nancy) and her English family, so therefore it's unlikely her son Matthew would have been in possession of the true facts.

At the time of her death, Anne's (Nancy's) family was quite large.  Eight of her children were still alive, and there were around 44 grandchildren living at that time ... with many more to come!

Her daughter Hannnah had married twice and still had 8 surviving children.
Her son John Thomas had married and had 8 children by then.
Her daughter Caroline Penelope (my 2x great grandmother) had married twice by this time, and still had 10 surviving children.
Her son William Henry (known as Bill) had married and had 5 surviving children.
Her daughter Mary Ann had married and had 10 children.
Her son James Francis had married, but had no children at that time.
Her son Joseph Edward had married and had 3 children by then.
Her son Matthew had married just the year before.

The Browning (Littlejohns) dynasty had been well and truly established in the land downunder!


Some of Anne's (Nancy's) children or grandchildren:

Top row:  granddaughter Caroline Maris Kean nee Browning with her children
Middle row L to R:  granddaughter Harriett Thomas nee Wright, granddaughter Sarah Ann Smith nee Bustard, and grandson John Thomas Brown.
Bottom row L to R:  grandson James Irving Stevenson Brown, granddaughter Eliza Stevenson Duncan Brown and grandson William Edward Wright.

Top row L to R:  grandson Thomas Charles Bustard and wife, grandson Arthur John Browning and wife
Middle row L to R:  grandson Richard Joseph Brown ( my great grandfather), his brother Richard Brown, and grandson William Henry Browning Jnr. with his mother Sarah.
Bottom row L to R: daughter Mary Ann Bustard nee Browning with her husband, granddaughter Martha Ann Reeves nee Bustard, grandson William Francis Browning.

Top row L to R:  grandson Joseph W Browning and family, and son Matthew Browning.
Bottom row L to R:  granddaughter Margaret Alice White nee Browning, and grandson Alexander Johnson Brown.


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.