The Story of Ellen Cusack

This week I'm telling the story of my paternal great grandmother Ellen Cusack  (1862 - 1942).

In the year of Ellen's birth, the first railway opened in New Zealand, Victor Hugo's French historical novel 'Les Miserables' was published, Westminster Bridge was opened in London, and the Scottish explorer John McDouall Stuart successfully crossed the Australian continent from north to south on his third attempt.

Born in July of 1862 in New South Wales, Ellen's father Patrick Cusack (an Irish-born convict) was 31 years old and her mother Eliza Exton (an English-born immigrant) was 24.  Ellen's birth certificate states she was born in a place known as Rose Hill in the Richmond River region.

At the time Ellen's father was working as a cedar cutter and Rose Hill would have been a cedar cutters' camp beside one of the Richmond River creeks where the cedar was being felled, cut and transported down the river to be sold.

Ellen's father, Patrick Cusack, was part of the second wave of cedar cutters that came to the Richmond River region.  These men settled with their families in the areas where they were working.  

The easily accessible trees, close to the river, would have all been harvested by this time, and the second wave of cedar cutter's would have had to move further inland into the thick forests beyond the river.  

The families of these cedar cutters were living in temporary camps set up in the forests. The Rose Hill camp was located about halfway between the townships of Goolmangar and Blakebrook, north-west of Lismore in New South Wales.


It's interesting to note that Ellen's maternal grandmother, Susannah Exton, was listed as a witness on the birth certificate.  At that time Ellen's maternal grandmother Susannah, maternal grandfather James Exton, her parents Patrick and Eliza, and several of her maternal aunts and uncles were living close by.


There were already five children in the family when Ellen was born.
Thomas had come along in 1853.
Susannah came along in 1855.
James was born in 1856.
Then came Patrick in 1858.
Ann was born in 1860.

After Ellen was born, there were another five children added to the family.

Eliza was born in 1864, when Ellen was 2 years old.
Julia was born in 1867.
William came along in 1869.
Sarah was born in 1871.
Then finally, Mary was born in 1874, when Ellen was aged 12.

Ellen and her siblings grew up in cedar cutter's camps, which would have been a harsh way of life for the families of the men who spent long days sawing wood.

This photo shows an example of a cedar cutters home in one of these camps.  

Sadly, in May of 1876, when Ellen was only 13 years of age, her father died.  Her sister Mary, who was only 2 years of age, also died the same year; as did her Grandfather James.


I haven't been able to find out what happened to Ellen, her widowed mother and her siblings in the immediate aftermath of all this tragedy.  I imagine that Ellen's mother Eliza would have found comfort and support within her extended family, the Extons, during this time.

In 1883, at the age of 21, Ellen married Richard Gordon Brown in Lismore, New South Wales.  He was aged 22.  As a point of interest, Richard's occupation was listed as 'timber cutter', which had been Ellen's father's occupation as well.

It's also interesting to note that details on the marriage certificate indicate that Ellen and Richard were married at the residence of one Rev. Hugh Livingstone, according to the rites of the Presbyterian Church.  They were not married in a church or chapel, but that was quite commonplace in those days in the Richmond River area, where churches/chapels were very light-on-the-ground.

What's so interesting though is that Ellen was the daughter of a Catholic father and a mother baptised in the Church of England faith.  Her husband had been baptised in the Anglican faith, so was it a case of just going with whichever priest/pastor/clergyman was available at the time, or was it a deliberate choice to be married in the Presbyterian faith?  Food for thought!

It's also very interesting to note that Ellen's younger sister Eliza, aged 18 at the time, had married the brother of Richard in July that same year.  

Ellen and Richard went on to have four daughters during their marriage.

My paternal Grandmother Grace was born in 1885, when Ellen was 22 years old.
Lillian was born in 1887, when Ellen was aged 25.
Elsie came along in 1890, when Ellen was 28.
Marcella was born in 1892, when Ellen was 30.

By 1885 Ellen's husband was no longer working as a timber cutter.  On the birth certificate of their first daughter, Richard's profession was recorded as 'labourer' and the family were living in the township of  Lismore.  

Ellen and her husband Richard lived in Lismore until around 1912, at which time they moved further south-east to Broadwater, a small town in the Richmond Valley area of New South Wales.

Sadly for Ellen she experienced quite a deal of loss from the time of her marriage until her own passing.

She lost her brother Thomas in 1886 when she was 24 years old.

Her brother William died in 1901 when she was 38 years old.

Ellen's eldest daughter Lillian died in 1911, when Ellen was aged 49.  It was shortly after this that Ellen, her husband Richard and daughter Marcella moved to Broadwater.  (Her other two surviving daughters had married by then).

Ellen's mother Eliza passed in 1914.  By this time Ellen was 52.

Ellen's brother James died in 1915.

Ellen's nephew Ernest Thomas Cusack died of influenza while he was overseas fighting during World War 1.

Ellen's sister Eliza died in 1921.

Ellen's brother Patrick died in 1924.

Her sister Ann died in 1941.

Ellen herself died in 1942 at the age of 79.

Obituary -The Northern Star Jun Mon 29 Jun 1942 p6 

The cause of death listed on her death certificate was 'cancer'.

Ellen was survived by her husband Richard, three of her daughters and three of her sisters.  She was privately interred at the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery and Crematorium in Sydney, New South Wales.  Unfortunately I have not yet been able to locate the site of her internment at this location. 

Special Note to any family members:  If you have and further 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 Henry Johnson Brown

This post tells the story of my paternal Great Great Grandfather, Henry Johnson Brown (1820 - 1868).

Photo from an article in the 'Northern Star' (Lismore), Wednesday 23 October 1929, page 16

When Henry was born in 1820 his father Henry Brown, a shoe maker, was aged 30 and his mother Eleanor Gowan was also 30 years of age.

My great great grandfather Henry was born in a town named Whitehaven situated on the west coast of Cumbria in the north-west of England.

England & Wales, Non-Conformist & Non-Parochial Registers 1567-1970  (1820)

The record shown above indicates that Henry was baptised on July 9th, 1820.  He had been born on the 6th of February that same year.   Henry was baptised according to the rites of the Wesleyan theology.  

Before the birth of Henry, there had been two other children born.

William had been born in 1814.
Alexander had been born in 1816.

When Henry was aged 2, a sibling named Sarah was born in 1822.
Ann was born in 1829, when Henry was 9 years old.

Sadly, when Henry was aged 18 in 1838, his mother Eleanor died.  

By this time Henry was working as a printer in Whitehaven, but it seems he thought his future looked rather bleak if he stayed in the town of his birth.  Indeed, Whitehaven's prosperity, which had been built on tobacco and coal in the 18th and early 19th centuries, was beginning to wane by the middle of the 19th century.

Just a year and a half after the death of their mother, Henry and his sister Sarah made the decision to leave home and head off to a new life in Australia.  What enticed this life-changing decision?  Why did only these two of the Brown children decide to emigrate?  Why did the other siblings decide to stay?  My curiousity knows no bounds!

New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists 1828-1896  (1840 Record)

Henry and Sarah boarded the ship Royal Consort under the assisted immigrant scheme (known as the Bounty scheme) in 1840.  The passenger list states that Henry was aged 20, a native of Whitehaven, the son of a shoemaker named Henry and his wife Eleanor.

Henry's occupation was listed as 'printer' and he was being bought out from England by a Mr. John Marshall for the bounty of £19.  His religion was listed as 'Protestant' and it was noted that Henry could both read and write.

Henry's sister Sarah was listed as a 'housemaid'.  She was also being bought out by Mr. John Marshall for the bounty of £19.  Her religion was listed as 'Protestant'.  Her native place was listed as 'Whitehaven', and it was noted that she could read.

The Royal Consort left Plymouth, England on July 15th 1840 with 245 emigrants aboard, arriving in Sydney on November 9th, 1840 - a trip of just less than four months.

I have managed to find references to the 1840 voyage of the Royal Consort in the newspapers of the time.  I just love finding out about the voyages of my immigrant ancestors if it's at all possible.  It adds another dimension to their story.

Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW),
Tuesday 10 November 1840, page 2

Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser (NSW),
Tuesday 10 November 1840, page 3

This particular article gives an interesting picture of the voyage.  It tell of the ships that the Royal Consort "spoke" to along the way.  I'm guessing that meant saw in passing and perhaps sent a signal to!

The crew and passengers saw the Ann Mary on the 29th of August; the Dutch ship Prince Hendrick on the 13th of September; the French ship Le Amelie on the 25th of October.


What is fascinating to me though is the reference to spotting the possible remains of an wrecked ship floating on the surface of the ocean.


Apparently, on October 24th, they passed a "ship's bowspirit ... which seemed to have belonged to some vessel of about 350 to 400 tonnes.  It was painted white with bowspirit shroud and dead eyes."  What a scary sight!


This particular article also makes mention of the immigrants on board.  "The immigrants ... appear to be a respectable and industrious set of people, and being mostly agriculturists, will be a valuable acquisition to the settlers, as the harvest and wool season are just setting in."

Given that my great great grandfather Henry was a printer and not an agriculturist, I wonder what he thought would be his fate when he arrived in the colonies.  It's doubtful that a man with a working background in printing would be considered valuable to the settlers looking for farm labourers.  How was he going to find employment?  This must have been weighing on his mind during the voyage.

Another short article mentions that the crew and passengers also saw quite a number of sperm whales, and two whaling boats attempting to make a catch.  That would have made the long arduous journey a little more enjoyable!

As mentioned, Henry and Sarah arrived in Sydney in November of 1840.  Henry found employment with Clark Irving on Ellengowan Station, in the Richmond River District, in 1841.  (I'm unsure of what happened to Sarah and have found it difficult to follow her story any further.)

By 1845, Henry had found employment as a cook on the station of Ward Stephen, known as Runnymede. I'm unsure about exactly when he had begun to work there.  He must have been an enterprising man to land a job as a cook, as I doubt he'd had much experience with that up until he arrived in Australia!

It was there, at Runnymede, that he would have met the Browning family, father William Browning, the mother Anne Littlejohn, sons John and William, and daughters Mary Anne and Caroline, who had been working as shepherds for Ward Stephens for around five years.

In 1846 Henry aged 25, married Caroline Penelope Browning who was aged 15. They married at what was known as 'The Settlement' on the Clarence River in New South Wales, and would have been married out in the open, as there would not have been a church or chapel built in the area at that time.  Henry and Caroline were married according to the rites of the Church of England.  

It's interesting to note that Caroline, Henry's new wife, could only make her mark on the marriage record.  She was not able to write her name.

In their life together, Henry and Caroline went on to have 12 children born over a period of 20 years.


I've been lucky enough to find out most of Henry's and Caroline's story from a couple of articles printed in newspapers many years later where some of their children recalled the details of their parents' lives.

This great article published in the Northern Star (Lismore) newspaper on Tuesday 10th of September 1929, re-tells the memories of a Mr. James Brown about the history of his father Henry Brown and his mother Caroline Browning.


It has provided a lot of valuable information about the early married life of Henry and Caroline, although some of the details are not entirely correct.  After loads of research, I can say that many of the dates are incorrect.  For example, James stated that his parents married in 1844, but that is clearly incorrect according to the record of their marriage.


I still consider the information shared by Henry and Caroline's son to be quite valuable though.
He recalls how they met at Runnymede Station where both were living and working.


He goes on to say that they both continued to work for Ward Stephens after their marriage.


James mentions the birth of his parent's first child, a boy named Henry.  Again, the date of Henry's birth was incorrect, as his record of birth shows he was born in March of 1847, not 1845.

Sadly, baby Henry did not survive, and passed away in 1848.

Just two years later, in early 1849 (not 1847 as told by James!) they decided to leave Runnymede Station, and the employ of Ward Stephens.  They had made the decision to apply for work with a William Wilson on Lismore Station, which was situated on the northern arm of the Richmond River.  At the time, Caroline was heavily pregnant with their second child.


The next part of the story is truly a tale of brave pioneering stock who faced challenges with determination and grit!


In order to get to Lismore Station, Henry and his new wife Caroline would have to get across the Richmond River.  There was no bridge across the Richmond at that time, so Henry swam across!!


He left pregnant Caroline on one side of the river, swam across to the other bank, walked onto Lismore Station, met with William Wilson ... and secured work!


Henry then walked back to the river and swam across to let Caroline know he had been successful in gaining employment.


In order to get Caroline across the river safely, Henry cut down / collected logs and tied them together with lawyer cane to assemble a makeshift raft.  Unfortunately the trip over the river was delayed slightly as Caroline gave birth to their second born son that night, beside the river.   (Alexander's birth date is recorded as March 1849 on his record of birth, so again James had the incorrect date).


Apparently, the very next day Henry, Caroline and newly born Alexander crossed the Richmond River on the raft and began their life on Lismore Station.  My great great grandfather Henry would have been 29 years of age.


Caroline and Henry remained working for Mr. Wilson for only a very brief time though, and it appears they made the decision to move on once more.  This is borne out by the details on the baptism record for Henry and Caroline's son Alexander.

This record shows that Alexander had been born on March the 9th in 1849, but Henry and Caroline didn't have him baptized until March of 1850.


Alexander was baptised in the Brisbane County of Stanley, which is those days would have been part of New South Wales.  Queensland didn't become a state of its own until much later, and that's when Brisbane became part of Queensland.

Between the end of 1849 and the end of 1850, Henry and Caroline moved to several different areas, including Stanthorpe (which was part of New South Wales then) where Henry worked on the Maryland Station as a watchman.


You can also see from his son's baptism record that Henry was working as a 'hawker' at this time as well.  It sounds like the family were travelling around, most likely in a horse- or bullock-drawn dray, like gypsies.  No doubt the family would have just set up camp beside the dray at night and then moved on in the morning from station to station and township to township, allowing Henry to find jobs on the various stations in the region and to sell whatever goods he had stashed on the dray.


Printer ... cook ... watchman ... hawker!  Henry appears to have been a very resourceful young man who could turn his hand to almost anything in order to make a living!


By the end of1850 however, Henry, now aged 30, had tired of travelling and hawking, and he began work as a cedar cutter at Bald Hill (later known as Bexhill).


At this time Bald Hill was a major cedar camp, and it would have been a hard life for Henry and Caroline and their baby.  Cedar cutters were not permitted to purchase land, so they lived in temporary makeshift tents or slab huts in cedar cutters' camps.


Henry's son John Thomas was born in late 1850, when Henry would have been aged 30. Sometime around the end of 1851 or the start of 1852, it seems that Henry lost interest in the life of a cedar cutter as well, and decided to begin another new job and life. He and his family moved to the small settlement which would later become known as Lismore.


Henry built a small cedar slab house, setting up a permanent home for his family to live in.  He also set up a saw pit on the river bank and began a business, milling and selling cedar.

Red cedar floated, so creeks near the cedar cutters' camps were used to float the timber down to the settlement that would later be known as Lismore. Logs would be stacked on the banks and marked with a branding iron to identify who they belonged to. When the rains came they would be pushed into the deep flowing water and carried downstream.  It was Henry Johnson Brown who sent to Sydney for a very large rope that was placed across the river at Lismore and caught all the logs coming downstream.

He would have sold locally but he also engaged sawyers to flitch the wood and then sent loads down the river to markets in Sydney.  Henry's business must have been successful almost immediately because he bought quite a large parcel of land not long after beginning this new life.

Register of Town and Land Purchases 1843-1854

Record of Returns of the Colony 1852

I have found a couple of records that show Henry bought a parcel of 50 acres of land in 1852.   It appears he then began to extend the family home into quite a much larger building, using slabs of cedar from his sawpit.


In 1853 it's likely that Henry, now aged 33, would have received news that his father Henry had died back in England.  His daughter Anne Caroline Penelope was also born that year.

Records from the year 1854 show that Henry applied for and was granted a Publican's License to operate a hotel (known as a public house in those days).


By this time, Henry had added on 36 rooms to the family home which had become Lismore's first hotel, known as the Cedar Squarers' Arms. 


In 1855 surveyor Frederick Peppercorne had been sent by the Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell to determine a suitable site for a township at the junction of the Wilson and Richmond Rivers. Peppercorne chose the site of Wilson’s homestead paddock and this was proclaimed the Town of Lismore in the Government Gazette on 1 May 1856.  According to Peppercorne's report, Henry Brown's public house, named Cedar Squarers' Arms, was already established and consisted of 36 rooms all made of cedar.

In 1855, another son was born to Henry and Caroline.  They named him Henry Johnson, the same name as their first-born who had tragically died as a baby.

Elias was born in 1856.

Henry went on to purchase several more blocks of land in the area surrounding the home and hotel.   

New South Wales, Australia, Land Records 1811-1870  (1857 Record)

The record above shows he purchased eight parcels of land in 1857.

Brown's Creek Bridge

He established a large garden near a creek that ran nearby (known as Brown's Creek for many, many years), most likely to provide food not only for the family but also for the customers who stayed at his hotel.  

Mention was made in the Northern Star newspaper, dated Wednesday 10 February 1954 p 12, of the school built by Henry.  This is an artist's impression from that article.

Henry also built Lismore's first school and arranged for the employment of the school's first teacher, Mr. Hayes, from Sydney.


More children were born to Henry and Caroline over the next ten years.


William Norman was born in 1858.  Sadly, Henry's son Elias died the same year, aged just 2.
James Irving Clarke was born in 1859.
Richard Joseph (my great grandfather) was born in 1861.
Eliza Duncan came along in 1863.
Francis Summers Hayes came along in 1865.
Robert Frederick Bayley was born in 1867.

Northern Star (Lismore, NSW), Saturday 23 March 1929, page 4

Another article that mentions Henry Brown established a small store during the early days of Lismore's history as well.


Unfortunately, by late 1866, Lady Luck was no longer smiling on Henry and things had begun to turn sour.

New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW ), Tuesday 12 March 1867 (No.44),
page 690

This notice had appeared in a Sydney newspaper in March of 1867.  It seems that Henry had been declared bankrupt by a sequestration order in December of 1866.  Family stories passed down indicate that Henry had taken on too many promissory notes from his debtors, believing that they would pay him back what they owed.  This proved to be untrue.

The notice provided two dates for meetings to discuss the debts that Henry had incurred.

Bankruptcy Notice 1867 -
Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser 12 March 1867 

This tiny little notice appeared in two newspapers in March of 1867 as well.  It seems that Henry's debts were enormous, although the value of his assets appear to have covered the amount of the liabilities at this stage.


Unfortunately things appear to have deteriorated even further when the following notice appeared in a Sydney paper in May of 1867.

New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW ), Friday 10 May 1867 (No.75), page 1180

This notice talks about arranging a third meeting to discuss whether or not Henry could keep "his household furniture, wearing apparel, beds, bedding and tools of trade"!  How degrading it must have been for him.  He must have been feeling quite desperate and depressed with the thought of losing everything and only being allowed to keep some furniture, his clothes, beds and bedding and some of his tools!


There is no mention at all in this article of being allowed to keep the family home!  What would that mean for the family?  I've been unable to find out so far exactly what happened after all this.  I assume that Henry lost just about everything.  I'm certain that most of his land acquisitions were sold off to pay his debtors, but I'm uncertain about the family home and hotel.

Henry sadly passed away the following year, in 1868, aged only 48.  His death certificate states that he had been suffering from something called 'erysipelas' for 10 weeks.

Further research led me to find out that 'erysipelas' is an acute bacterial infection that affects the upper dermis and the superficial lymphatics.  It was also known as "St. Anthony's Fire" because of the intense red rash associated with it.


It apparently predominantly affects the skin of the lower limbs which turn bright red, hard, swollen and sometimes blistered.  Having seen photos of it, I can say that it looks quite ugly and extremely painful!  Apparently onset is also accompanied by fevers, chills and shivering.


Given that Henry suffered with it for a period of ten weeks, I think I can safely say that the last few weeks of my great great grandfather's life would have been quite painful and extremely uncomfortable.  Today of course, an extended period of infection such as that experienced by Henry, would be treated with penicillin.  No such treatment would have been available for him back in 1868.


I can only imagine how scary it might have been for Henry's wife, my great great grandmother Caroline, and all his surviving children - Alexander aged 19, John 17, Anne 15, Henry 13, William 10, James 9, Richard 7 (my great grandfather), Eliza 5, Frances 3, and Robert aged just 1.

Sadly, my 2x great grandfather, Henry Johnson Brown, was buried in an unmarked grave at the North Lismore Cemetery (also known as the Pioneer Cemetery Memorial Park).


Extra note:
Interestingly, the name 'Henry Johnson' was passed down through many generations in the family.

It all began with Henry's father - Henry Johnson Snr, my 3x Great Grandfather, born in 1782.
⬇
He named his third-born child Henry Johnson, my 2x Great Grandfather (the subject of this post), born 1820.  I'll call him Henry the 2nd.
⬇
Henry Johnson named his first-born Henry Johnson, but sadly the infant died not long after in 1847.  He can be Henry 3rd, even though he lived such a short life.
⬇
Henry Johnson then named his fifth-born child Henry Johnson, born in 1855.  I'll call him Henry the 4th.  Unfortunately this particular Henry Johnson never married.


That wasn't the end of the family name however.

Henry the 2nd, my Great Great Grandfather (the subject of this post) had a few grandsons also named Henry Johnson.

His second-born child Alexander, named his second born Henry Johnson.
His third-born child James, named his second born Henry Johnson.
His fourth-born child Anne Caroline, named her second born Henry Johnson.


It seems just a tad strange that all the grandchildren who were named Henry Johnson were second-born!!!   An odd detail ... these are things I love finding out though.

Special Note to any family members:  If you have 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 Richard Joseph Brown

This post tells the story of my paternal Great Grandfather, Richard Joseph Brown (1861 - 1947).

Image taken from "The Browning Story: Tracings From The Past" by Esme Smith

                              

When my great grandfather Richard was born in May of 1861, his father, Henry Johnson Brown, was 41 years old and his mother, Caroline Penelope Browning, was aged 31.

(The details of the ages of Richard's parents as recorded on my great grandfather Richard's birth certificate appear to be incorrect, according to my research on both my great great grandparents, Henry and Caroline.  This seems to be a common occurrence on my ancestor records from this time!  It makes me wonder whether or not these people actually knew the date of their own birth, or whether the people recording the details were completely inept!  It certainly makes family research a complicated process sometimes.)

Both of Richard's parents, Henry and Caroline, had been born in England and had become pioneers alongside their parents in the area around the Richmond River in New South Wales, after emigration to Australia.  My great grandfather came from tough, resilient and courageous pioneering stock.

Richard was born in the town of Lismore, which sits beside a tributary of the Richmond River known as Wilson's River, in the state of New South Wales.

A major flood in Lismore in the late 1800s

Periodic flooding was part of life on the Richmond River, but strangely, in the year of Richard's birth, there were three major flooding events on the Richmond.  It was an historic year for the small town!

At the time of his birth there were already six siblings who had survived, and one sibling who had sadly passed away.

Henry Johnson (named after his father) had been born in 1847.
Alexander Johnson (known later as Sandy) came along in 1849.
John Thomas had been born in 1850.
Anne Caroline was born in 1853.
Elias had been born in 1856.  Sadly, he passed away two years later in 1858.
William Norman was born in 1858.
James Irving Clarke Stevenson came along in 1859.

By the time my great grandfather Richard was born, his father Henry was a hotel keeper and quite a prominent and well-known man in the Lismore community. He had built the first hotel in Lismore.  Henry had first established himself though as a cedar cutter and had then become a cedar dealer in the area.

Example of a cedar slab home

Working with huge planks of cedar, he had built the family home himself, and had then extended it to set up Lismore's first hotel.


Richard's father had apparently owned a number of plots of land around Lismore whilst his children were growing up, so I have made the assumption that they had quite a comfortable life during these years.

After Richard was born, there were to be another three siblings added to the family.


Eliza Duncan was born in 1863.
Francis Summers Hayes was born in 1865.
Lastly, Robert Frederick Bayley came along in 1867.  My great grandfather Richard was 5 years old by that time.

Tragically, Richard's father died in 1868, when Richard was only 7 years old.

Unfortunately, by this time, the family had fallen on hard times. Richard's father had been in bankruptcy court just the year before, as he had amassed quite large debts. Upon the death of Richard's father, most of the land and assets were sold off to pay off the creditors.

Richard's mother Caroline, now a widow with ten children, apparently held on to the family home and most likely carried on the hotel business so she could support her family.  I think I could rightly assume that my great grandfather, even at this young age, would have been helping out doing chores in the hotel and at home.

Richard's mother Caroline married again in 1874, when Richard was aged 13.  Sadly, his step-father died just a few months later, and Caroline was left a widow once more.  Four years later, Richard's mother married for the third time, in 1878.  By this time Richard was 17 years old.

History kept on repeating itself though, and Richard's second step-father died just a few years after he had married Caroline, in 1881 when Richard was 20 years old.  By now, Richard was working as a timber cutter, as his own father had done in his early adult years.

Two years later, in December of 1883, Richard married Ellen Cusack in Lismore. He was 22 years of age.

I will digress slightly once more to make mention of yet another difference in the details found on records pertaining to my great grandfather, Richard.

The record of Richard's marriage states that his name was Richard Gordon Brown, and not Richard Joseph as it had been recorded on his birth record. This name - Richard Gordon - also pops up on the birth certificate of his last daughter, and on a couple of his children's death certificates as well.

I found this a little confusing, and thought that once again there might have been an error made on the original birth certificate.  I then thought that perhaps, like a couple of the siblings born around the same time as Richard, he might in fact have had two middle names!  Both the sibling born the year before Richard, as well as the last-born brother, had two middle names.  Perhaps Richard actually had two middle names as well, but decided to just go with Gordon once he had become an adult!  It's all a bit of a mystery!

Richard (Gordon, or Joseph, or perhaps Joseph Gordon!) and his new bride Ellen, were married at the residence of one Reverend Hugh Livingstone, according to the rites of the Presbyterian Church.  Ellen, my great grandmother, was aged 21.  They went on to have four children during their marriage, all daughters!


During my family tree research I've found that most of my direct ancestral line had rather large families with a mix of sons and daughters ... apart from the family of my great grandfather Richard.  He is the only direct ancestor of mine to have such a small family, only four children, and he is the only one who had all daughters.  It's a bit of a record!

My grandmother Grace Olive was born in 1885.
Lillian Rae was born in 1887.
Elsie Myrtle was born in 1890.
Marcella May came along in 1892.

I've been unable to find out much information about the years of Richard's married life.  His name doesn't turn up in census records at all, which is slightly unusual, given that he lived until a ripe old age! 

I've also tried finding his wife Ellen, my great grandmother, in the census records between their marriage in 1883 and the year of her death, but have been unsuccessful there as well.

On their first daughter's birth certificate, it's recorded that the family were living in Lismore and Richard's occupation was listed as 'labourer', which seems to indicate that he was no longer working as a timber cutter a mere two years after his marriage.  'Timber cutter' was recorded on his marriage certificate as his occupation at that time.

It's true that by the mid 1880s, the timber cutting industry had slowed down and was not the prosperous field it had been in the early 1840s.  It's likely that Richard had been unable to find regular work as a timber cutter after his marriage, and had been attempting to find work wherever he could.  'Labourer' was also recorded on the birth certificates of his other daughters as well.

Can I perhaps deduce that Richard moved around a lot looking for work - hence no census records - and perhaps didn't live with his family much at all!  Did the girls grow up without the presence of their father in their lives?  How I wish I could have a conversation with my grandmother and ask about her childhood years.  Sadly, that is not possible, given that she died when I was quite young.

When Richard's last daughter Marcella was born in the early 1890s, he was aged 31.  Two years later, his mother Caroline passed away, and that was the beginning of rather a long period of grief and loss for my great grandfather.

After the death of his mother in 1894, Richard then lost his sister Anne in 1910.  In the very next year, 1911, Richard's second-born daughter died, Lillian, died.  She was only 24 years old!  It appears that she died shortly after childbirth. That would have been heart-breaking for all the family.  At the time, Richard was aged 50.

It seems that it was around this time that Richard moved from Lismore, where he had been born and had spent the first 50 years of his life.  He moved to an area known as Stanmore, an inner suburb of Sydney, New South Wales (as mentioned in his death notice and listed on his death certificate).

Richard's brother John Thomas died in 1918.  His brother Alexander died in 1931.  Brother William died in 1937.  Brother Henry Johnson died in 1938.  Sister Eliza Duncan died in 1938.  Both brother Robert Frederick and sister Frances Somers died in 1941.

Richard's wife Ellen died in 1942.  They had been married for 58 years.  By this time in his life, Richard only had one brother still living and three of his daughters (and their families).

Richard himself passed away in mid 1947, aged 87.  At the time he was visiting his niece in Lismore, as noted in his obituary.

The cause of death noted on his death certificate was a heart attack.

Sadly, my great grandfather was laid to rest in an unmarked grave at the East Lismore General Cemetery.



Special Note to any family members:  If you have 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 Eliza Exton

This week's story is about my paternal Great Great Grandmother, Eliza Exton (1838 - 1914).

Born in 1837 in the small village of Manthorpe in Lincolnshire, England; Eliza's father James Exton was aged 21 at the time, and her mother Susannah Lancaster was aged 22.

Eliza was their second born, and their second daughter.

Sister Sarah had been born in 1835, and there were to be another two siblings born in England.


Sister Ann was born in 1840.
Sister Emma came along in 1842.

Interestingly, the 1841 Census document for the township of Manthorpe in the borough of Grantham shows Eliza's father James and mother Susannah living with six-year old Sarah, four-year old Eliza (my great great grandmother), two-year old Ann, a Sarah Lancaster (who was Eliza's aunt, her mother Susannah's sister) and a Harriet Lancaster, aged 8.

Harriet was later listed as 'the daughter of Susannah before her marriage' in other records, and James Exton was listed as her stepfather.  That made her my great great grandmother Eliza's half-sister, so there were 4 daughters in the family at that time.  Then Emma came along the following year.

The village of Manthorpe, where my great great grandmother Eliza was born, was an estate village established near the estate of Belton House, built for the Brownlow family and completed in 1689.  Manthorpe lies around 1 mile to the north of Belton House.  I think it would be safe to make the assumption that many of the men and women living in Manthorpe would have worked on the estate of Belton House.

At the time of the 1841 English Census, Eliza's father's and mother's occupations were listed as 'labourer', so I will make the quantum leap and guess that they were both working as farm labourers on the estate, and not working for themselves.  Times would have been tough for the family, attempting to live on poor labourer's pay.  It would not come as any surprise therefore that Eliza's parents made the decision to emigrate, lured by the prospect of a better life.

The introduction of the 'assisted immigration' scheme, often referred to as the Bounty System, enabled many people, primarily from Ireland, but also from Scotland and England, to migrate to Australia.

Indentured immigrants were bought out to Australia as contract labourers for employers who paid the Government for their passage.

The 'Briton' set sail from Liverpool on March the 15th 1844, bound for Australia.  There were 269 bounty immigrants aboard, including the members of the Exton family.

James, aged 27; Susannah, aged 28; Harriet (listed as their daughter) aged 11; Sarah, aged 8; Eliza, aged 6; Anne, aged 4; and baby Emma, aged 1; left England on a three-month voyage to Australia.

As 'assisted immigrants' they would have been packed into steerage aboard The Briton, and conditions would have been tough. They would have been living in cramped shared spaces, with no privacy.  Aboard The Briton it's likely they slept on hammocks instead of beds. Illnesses would have spread quickly, and no doubt sea-sickness would have afflicted many.

My mind immediately turns to the boredom that must have set in.  There wasn't much to do every day in such conditions, although I'm sure James and Susannah would have taken the five girls up on deck for some fresh air and to provide some space to play a little.  Would that have happened every day?  I wonder.  I also wonder what impression it all left on my great great grandmother Eliza, who was only six years old when sailing on this voyage to Australia.

Australian (Sydney, NSW), Thursday 27 June 1844, page 2.

I always try hard to find out as much as I can about the voyages of my immigrant ancestors, but in the case of the Extons' voyage in 1844, I have been unable to find out any details at all, other than the fact that the ship arrived in Sydney on the 26th of June; as noted in The Australian newspaper dated June 27th.

The family went to live and work in the Richmond River district, as Eliza's father had been employed to work as a farm labourer in that area.  Eliza's mother would have worked as a farm servant as well, and there is no doubt at all that all the daughters would have worked alongside their mother and father every day.

The following year, in 1845, brother William was born when Eliza was 7 years old.
Brother Thomas was born in 1847.

Eliza's older sister (her half-sister) Harriet married that same year, 1847.  She was aged 14, and married a convict who had been transported out to the colonies, nine years previously.

Elizabeth (known as Betsy) came along in 1849.
Lucy was born in 1851, when Eliza was aged 13.

In December of 1852, my great great grandmother Eliza married.  She was aged 15 and married a convict named Patrick Cusack who had been transported out from Ireland.

Marriages at such a young age were not uncommon in the colonies at that time.  There had been a severe imbalance of white men and white women in the colonies since the First Fleet had arrived.  The population had been critically short of women for about a century. Under the assisted immigration scheme, the ratio between men and women had reduced significantly by the 1840s.  By then, it was 2 to 1.  Of course, for the women who were living in Australia in the 1840s onwards, there were very limited opportunities for them to support themselves and marriage was really their only option.  There was no better future for them.

For many couples wishing to marry while living in places such as the Richmond River area at this time, there was no church or chapel nearby to attend on their wedding day, and very often the minister was just too far away unless the wedding was planned to coincide with one of the minister's expected twice-yearly journeys around the area baptising, marrying or burying.

Luckily for Eliza and Patrick however, the minister Coles Child was obviously in the area in December and was able to conduct the event.  As can be seen on the marriage record above, they were married in the 'usual place of public worship' at a place named Tunstall.

Tunstall was in fact a pastoral property, what we refer to here in Australia as a station.  It was around 19,000 acres in size with about 1200 cattle grazing on the land, close to what would become known as the town of Lismore. Whilst there would have been a house on the station, it's highly unlikely that religious services were conducted inside that house.

It's far more likely that worshippers gathered under a tree somewhere nearby, perhaps by the creek on the eastern side.

That is where Eliza and Patrick would have been married ... out in an open space under the blue sky ... an open-air chapel.  There would have been no special wedding dress and no wedding reception.






At the time of Eliza's marriage, her father was working as a cedar cutter as was her prospective husband.   They were in fact working alongside each other. Cedar cutting was a dangerous occupation and the families of these men lived in quite harsh conditions.

Cedar cutters required a licence, paid every year, that allowed them to fell trees on unallocated crown land.  While it gave the cutters the right to cut down and export the timber, they could not settle or build permanent homes on this land.  As a result, the sawyers and their families lived in temporary camps.  Eliza would have been living in such a camp for at least a couple of years before her marriage.

As I have stated, Patrick Cusack, now Eliza's husband, and her father were known to each other, so Eliza would have met Patrick whilst living in one of the cedar cutter's camps in the Richmond River area with her family.

Eliza and Patrick went on to have 11 children over a period of 21 years.  Most of these children were born in similar timber cutter's camps to the ones Eliza had lived in before her marriage.  The family moved around to wherever Patrick was able to find work as a cedar cutter.

Thomas was born the year after Eliza had married.  She would have still been 15 years of age at the time.
Daughter Susannah (named after Eliza's mother) was born in 1855.
James was born in 1856.
Patrick came along in 1858.
Ann was born in 1860.  By this time, Eliza was 23 years of age.
Ellen (my great grandmother) was born in 1862.
Daughter Eliza came along in 1864.
Julia was born in 1867.
William came along in 1869.
Sarah was born in 1871.
Mary was born in 1874.

The years between her marriage and the birth of her last child would have been years of hard work for Eliza, often on the move, living in camps in non-permanent shelter, taking care of the children and the daily chores.  I have a vision of a weather-beaten face, sunburnt arms, wrinkled and calloused hands, but great inner strength and resilience.

Example of a slab hut in the 1870s

At some point around the early 1870s, it does appear that Patrick and Eliza were living on a small landholding in a more substantial permanent type of home, likely made of hand-hewn wooden slabs.

It may have looked something similar to this example shown here, although perhaps a little larger given that it would have housed 13 people.





Unfortunately for Eliza, the next few years would test her considerably.  Her husband Patrick died in early 1876 at the age of just 47.  They had been married for 23 years.  Eliza's father James passed away just a couple of months later, aged 59.  That was not the end of the horrors for Eliza in 1876 however, as her daughter Mary, her youngest child, died the same year at the age of 2.  What a terrible year for Eliza.  One blow after another.



By this time her daughter Susannah was 21, had married and had begun her own family.  Eliza's eldest sons, James and Patrick, were aged 20 and 18 and were already out working, beginning a life of their own.  Eliza's other children would have been still living at home with her as Ann was 16, Ellen 14, Eliza was aged 12, Julia was 9, William was 7 and Sarah was 5 years old.  I have found no evidence as yet to indicate just how Eliza supported her family at this time.  I would assume her family, her mother and siblings, would have provided much needed assistance to help her deal with such heartbreak.

Sadly, Eliza's mother Susannah passed away just three years later in 1879.  By this time Eliza was 41 years of age.  The next period of her life would have been filled with joy, as she watched her other children leave home and begin families of their own; but also filled with further sadness, as she experienced the loss of several other family members.

Her daughter Ann had married in 1878 and began her own family.
Her son James married in 1882.
Sisters Ellen and Eliza married brothers in 1883.

Sadly Eliza lost her son Thomas in 1886, when he was 33.
Eliza also lost her sister Sarah in 1891.

Her daughter Sarah married the following year, in 1892.

Then Eliza's son William passed in 1901.

Daughter Julia married in 1903.

Eliza lost her sister Lucy in 1904.

By this time Eliza was aged 66, and was living with her unmarried son Patrick.  It appears that she had moved in with him sometime shortly after all her daughters had married.  So that could possibly have been around 1901.

There is a census record for 1913 that shows her living at Crown Street in Lismore, with her son Patrick.  By this time however, she was ill.  She had been quite ill for around two years, and Patrick had been looking after her.

Not long after this census however, Eliza became completely bed-ridden and moved in with her daughter Ellen.  Eliza remained in Ellen's house for eight months, until she died in March of 1914.

Eliza's death certificate lists chronic endocartitis (which she had apparently suffered with for several years), senility and heart failure.

Eliza's obituary appeared in the Northern Star newspaper on Friday the 13th of March.  It stated:

"THE LATE ELIZA CUSACK.

One by one the links forged with the past are dropping out, and now another has gone in the passing away of the late Mrs. Eliza Cusack in her 79th year at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. R. Brown, Woodlark Street, Hospital Hill. 

The deceased, the third daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. James Exton, was a native of Lincolnshire, England, coming to Australia with her parents in 1844 when she was nine years of age. After landing in Sydney they came up to Tomki under engagement to the late Mr. Clarke Irving. 

Early in the fifties she married Mr. Patrick Cusack who predeceased her nearly 40 years ago. After her marriage she resided for some time at Bungabee, her husband being engaged in the timber trade. Then they went to Boorie and Terania Creek. Since all her daughters married she has been living with her youngest son, Patrick, till eight months ago, and then resided with the daughter above mentioned who nursed her to the last. 

The deceased was one of the oldest residents of the district, and many have been the tales told by her of the early pioneering days, its difficulties and trials, encounters with the blacks, etc. During her long illness of 2 1/2 years, the last eight months of which she has been bed-ridden, her spiritual wants were attended to by the Rev Canon Whyte, Church of England, of which church she was an adherent."






The part of her obituary I particularly loved was the last section, which detailed the legacy she had left behind.

"Four generations of descendants has she lived to see born into the family fold, iv., two sons and six daughters .
James (Byron Bay)
Patrick (Lismore),
Susannah (Mrs H Harris, Kerrong),
Annie (Mrs. W J Cooke, Broadwater).
Ellen (Mrs. R. Brown, Lismore),
Eliza (Mrs. W. Brown, Keerrong),
Julia (Mrs. Proctor , Sydney ),
and Sarah (Mrs. Noonan, Mullumbimby).

Then fifty-two grandchildren, forty great grandchildren, and the great great grandchild."

What a wonderful legacy!  Eliza was survived by two of her sons, six of her daughters, fifty-two grandchildren, forty great grandchildren, one great great grandchild, four of her sisters and two of her brothers.  Most of this large family lived nearby and it's likely Eliza would have seen them quite regularly.

So ended the story of my great great grandmother.  Eliza was buried in the Church of England section of the new Lismore cemetery in 1914.  Despite her age being recorded in her obituary as 79, and then recorded as 75 on her cemetery headstone, Eliza was in fact aged 77.

Ten years later, her son Patrick, whom she had lived with and been cared by in her latter years, was buried beside her.

Special Note to any family members:  If you have 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.