This week I want to tell you about a family which split to the two corners of the globe and which, only because we are now so curious about our ancestors, have been reunited by the wonders of the internet and genealogy.
My 3 x great grandfather on my adopted tree, George Wareham, a butcher, died in 1851.
On 28th September 1854 George's wife, Mary Ann Wareham (senior) (b1795), emigrated to Australia with three other of her eleven children :
- Mary Ann Wareham (junior) (b1821)
- Jemima Wareham (b1829)
- Frances Norman nee Wareham (b1832)
They left London arriving in Sydney, Botany Bay on 13th January 1855. The emigration was arranged as part of the 'Caroline Chisholm Family Migration Scheme' on board the barque Bangalore which had been chartered by The Family Colonization Loan Society.
- Eliza Wareham (b1830) - she emigrated with her husband, John Swanston, and their 9 surviving children to Wellington, New Zealand on the "Firth of Forth" arriving 4th July 1878.
Although the majority of Mary's children emigrated, four of her boys remained in England :
- George Wareham (b1823) - he was a pawnbroker who later became a toy dealer.
- William Wareham (b1824) - he was my 2 x great grandfather on my adopted tree. He drowned in the Ilfracombe leisure boat tragedy which I wrote about in week 51. Two of his sons, George and Edward emigrated to NZ and arrived in New Plymouth in 1879, followed by a daughter, Emily in January 1880.
- James Wareham (b1827) - he disappeared once he reaches the age of 23 although I will find him eventually.
- Edward Alport Wareham (b1838) - he became a missionary and I will be telling his story very shortly.
With four of her eleven children now in Oz, two others also arrived in about 1855. Although I haven't found which ship they were on it is likely they travelled together :
- Sophia Mary Wareham (b1820)
- Thomas Beaumont Wareham (b1836) - the only male member of the family to emigrate (strange).
Now we have the internet I have been able to piece together some of the lives of those whose decided to leave Blighty and have been in touch with some of their living relatives ....... probably the first contact one side of the tree has had with the other half for 150 years. So, what became of them ?
- Frances was heavily pregnant on the voyage She gave birth to a baby girl, Frances (junior), a week after arrival and went on to have a total of 12 children, all of whom lived. At some point, I may blog about her husband who became one of the leading cabinet makers in Australia ..... not to mention him doing a spot of undertaking.
- Jemima married Thomas Bell, from North Shields, in 1865 and may not have had any children.
- Mary Ann (junior) married George Broomfield from Essex on Christmas Day 1857 and they had three children together.
- Jane, as I mentioned above, was the first to leave - I will be blogging about her very shortly.
- Sophia Mary was a draper and had married Archibald Gray in London 1841 before they both emigrated.
- Thomas Beaumont married Theresa Connolly (from Birmingham) in Sydney in 1860.
They all died in New South Wales. Jane died of typhoid in West Maitland in 1869, aged just 42, and was buried by her undertaker brother in law (Frances' husband) William Norman. Thomas Beaumont died in Ryde in 1880 aged 44 (his story will be interesting when I find out some more about his death in a hospital for the insane). Sophia Mary was 63 when she died in Sydney in 1883. Mary Ann was 69 when she died in Singleton in 1891. Jemima was 63 and died in Redfern in 1892. Frances was 76 when she died, also in Singleton, in 1906.
If only we could speak to our ancestors I would like to ask Mary Ann Wareham (senior) why she took half her family 9,500 miles away to Australia in 1854 ........ I will be writing more about her particular story soon !