Eileen Brennan (1905-1969)

This is my paternal grandmother, Eily. My memories of her are minimal, as she died when I was very small, but I had a sense of her being gentle and loving. For a long time, we knew little about Eileen's life, but recently I have learned a lot more, and have a new found strength of admiration for this woman.  Despite growing up in a loving, hardworking and supportive family, Eily found herself in a very difficult marriage, with 9 children to support. Dealing with domestic violence and the needs of a growing family, Eileen eventually made the decision to move to Melbourne with her children, and forge a new career for herself. At 49 years, she began training as a psychiatric nurse, and spent her free time travelling around Melbourne visiting each of her children who resided in care. It was along haul, but eventually she purchased a block of land in Blackburn, and built a new family home for them all. There is so much to admire about Eileen; her devotion to her family, her sacrifice, perseverance, courage and  determination. Her story reminds me that it's never too late to steer your life in the direction you want. I'm inspired by her vision for a new life, and by the love and support she received from her brothers and their families. Sometimes family love can provide the force to overcome life's difficulties, and deliver a happy ending. It's a shame that Eily didn't live long enough to meet all her grandchildren, but I reckon her last years were happy, peaceful and rewarding. Most definitely, her legacy lives on.

A Sheep Rustler in the Family!

Sylvester Cox was the uncle of Martha Cox , who married William Stevens in 1858 and emigrated to Victoria. I dont know a lot about the COX family. Martha's father was Robert Cox, a butcher..

John Flower- The Leicester Artist

John Flower 

JOHN FLOWER, 14th Oct, 1793 - 29th Nov, 1861

John Flower's only child, Elizabeth married William Kempson, our Henry's brother. Flower was known as 'The Leicester Artist', and produced many well known paintings and sketches of life around Leicester in the 19th Century, focusing on landscape and architecture. As well as producing many, many pieces of work, John Flower also taught painting and drawing, and was known as a good-natured, friendly man. William and Elizabeth Kempson were evidently close to her parents, sometimes sharing their home, and attending the same Church community.

Here is a taste of his work..

Old Buildings on the West Bridge, Leicester. 1826

Kirby Muxloe Castle, Leicestershire

An exhibition of John Flowers'work was held in Melton Carnegie Museum, Leicester in 2011, entitled  'A Self Taught Genius'. Google John Flower in images for more examples!

Cousin Charles Darwin, and the Wedgwood family.

Our link to Charles Darwin, and the Wedgwood Family.

The Kempson-Wedgwood- Darwin connection...

{How my mother, Norma would have LOVED discovering this connection!}

In April, 1864. Major William John Kempson married Louisa Frances Wedgwood, in Pembrokeshire, Wales. 

William's grandparents were John Kempson and Mary Boultbee, the brother and sister of our William Kempson and Elizabeth Boultbee, and so the Major was a cousin of our Thomas Kempson.

William KEMPSON and Susannah ROPER

          -William KEMPSON b 1753, Birmingham m Elizabeth BOULTBEE b 1755

                          *   -Thomas KEMPSON b. 1778 m Charlotte Sophia STOKES 1778

          - John KEMPSON b 1761, Birmingham m Mary BOULTBEE b 1757

                            - William Brooke KEMPSON b 1795 m Elizabeth ROBERTSON
                                             - William John KEMPSON b 1835 m Louisa Frances WEDGWOOD b1834

Louisa Wedgwood was the granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood II, himself the son of the Staffordshire Potter. Josiah Wedgwood was close to Erasmus Darwin, and their families became intertwined by marriage.
Erasmus'son, Robert married Josiah's daughter, Susannah Wedgwood, and their son, Charles Darwin married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood. Charles Darwin was therefore both Uncle and Cousin to Louisa.

On 20th June 1867, Louisa wrote a letter to her Aunt Emma, in which she appears to be providing Charles with observations regarding her new baby's tears.Evidently, Darwin had been making enquiries regarding baby's tears for his work on Expression. The baby she writes about is Jessie Kempson b 1867.

My Dear Aunt Emma,Will you please tell Uncle Charles, that I have been making enquiries in my nursery about the tears. but I can only give him hearsay evidence as I cannot see such small a thing as a tear. My nurse says that tears begin to stand in a baby's eyes when they are a few weeks old & that they begin to run down the cheeks at about 6 weeks. My baby is just 4 months & the tears run down her cheeks in a piteous manner when she crys, which I am happy to say is very seldom. of course I need not say that there was never such a baby since the world began! but I have never seen such a happy, good tempered little soul. The whole house is-(2 pages missing).....my private secretary has gone out boating so Amy fills his place..

www.thedarwinproject.ac.uk

Charles Darwin

Louisa's husband, Major William Kempson, was the brother of a renown Hereford Architect, Frederick Robertson KEMPSON b 1838. Frederick's granddaughter, Rachel b.1910 married Sir Michael Redgrave, and became Lady Rachel Redgrave, actress and matriarch of England's most famous acting dynasty.

Eliza Ann Rowe ( 1864-1923 )

Millie's mother, Eliza

Eliza Ann Rowe was born in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, in 1864. Her mother was Caroline Rowe, but although she grew up with George Bliss as her father, Eliza's parentage isn't clear, and she refers to herself as a Rowe. In fact, the issue of parentage is rather confusing throughout Eliza's family, across generations of Rowes. Surnames are used fluidly in this family!

Regardless, Eliza grows up as the eldest child, with a younger brother and sister. George works as a labourer, and Caroline as straw plaiter, a trade which Eliza also takes up.Straw plaiting is very prominent in this district, and the work is plentiful and paid well in these years. At 20 years, Eliza gives birth to a son, Frederick William Rowe in 1885. His birth certificate gives father as 'unknown', and Eliza as a single straw plaiter. She marries a local labourer, George Rainbow, in 1887, and settles down to family life in Two Waters Rd, Hemel Hempstead. She and George have 2 girls, Annie (1891) and Lily (1893).

Eliza and George Rainbow

Eliza Ann Rowe/Bliss  c1884

Of course, tragedy strikes, as it usually does for working class families in the 19th century, and George dies in 1895, leaving Eliza to raise 3 children alone. The straw plaiting industry suffered a sharp decline through the 1880s, and the work for this trade had all but dried up in Hertfordshire, so Eliza's plaiting skills are probably not much value to her family anymore. She must have found work however, because in 1901 she and her girls are still living in Two Waters Rd, along with a new partner, labourer Tom Cave, and their baby, Thomas.

Frederick, Eliza's illegitimate son, is no longer living with her, and there is no clear evidence of him elsewhere. Perhaps Frederick also died, or maybe he just moved away? There's a photograph of a young man on a bicycle, taken in Newport, which was kept with the portraits of Eliza and the Cave family.There is I think, a family resemblance and it's possible that this was Frederick. Definitely some further research required here.

Eliza and Tom don't appear to have married, and the 1911 census record confirms this. Although they claim married status, Tom has left blank the column for length of marriage in years. In this census, they have 4 children- Annie and Lily Rainbow, Thomas, now 11, and Millie, aged 6.  Tom is working as a groom, and the older girls in the paper mill. In 1911, the Cave family were living at 153 Lower Marlowes, still in Hemel Hempstead.

The  1911 Census included for the first time, information about the length of the marriage, and number of children both dead and surviving. It was completed by the householder themselves.

View here-   Cave's household census

As head of the house, Tom Cave completed the census form, and was clearly  a bit confused by it. Perhaps he wasn't fully literate, as there are several spelling errors, including his own name. Although the numbers of children are confused, it appears that there have been two of Eliza's children die before this time. In fact, given that all 4 living children are accounted for in this household, it would appear that Frederick and one other child had died.

Elizabeth Parker (1817-1848)

Elizabeth (Bessie) Parker was the daughter of William Parker, a London Ironmonger, and Sarah Bark. Born in 1817, Bessie was the second of ten children, and the only daughter.

William's ironmongery was not doing well, and in September 1824, he was declared bankrupt. Fairly well connected, William fell on his feet, and by 1826 held the position of church sexton at St George's Hanover Square, London.This was certainly a strong position in a wealthy parish of West London. The young family moved residence to Northbank, Regents Park, a more upmarket area than their earlier home.

When Bessie was 13, her mother Sarah became very ill, and died when her 10th child Decimus (!) was just a newborn. As the only daughter, it would have fallen largely on young Bessie's shoulders to care for her mother, and perhaps her baby brother. Unfortunately, at 3 months baby Decimus too passed away. The following year another brother, John died, aged 13.

Despite this tragic time, the Parker family lived a fairly comfortable life, in a nice home, with 2 servants. In November 1834, William had his domestic servant, Ann Coates and her mother, charged with theft. Ann had been working for the Parkers for almost a year, and had confided in young Elizabeth of her desperate situation. Bessie had given her some household items to help her out, which had evidently been pawned by Ann's mother, and had kept the secret from her father. When the servant confessed to William that she had taken some items in her distress, he declared "I said she robbed me to a great extent and I could not listen to her". Ann Coates and her mother were sentenced to 7 years transportation to New South Wales.

In 1839, Bessie decided to leave her family, and England. She applied for free passage to South Australia, registering as an emigrant labourer, and listing herself as a governess. On the 19th May, she boarded the ship Recovery, and arrived in Port Adelaide on the 19th September 1839. On board was also the new Surveyor General of South Australia, Colonel Light and his family. There is some oral history in the family which suggests that one of Bessie's brothers worked for Col Light, and this may have been her motivation to travel so far.

Probably, Bessie did work as a governess for some time in Adelaide. Young women were very much in demand in the fledgling town. In 1840, however, she is recorded as a 'sick and destitute emigrant' receiving government medical relief, so clearly she didn't have the support of a family employer at this time.

Soon after, Bessie met Henry Kempson, another recent emigrant, and married him in 1842. She probably didn't know that Henry had a wife and son back in England. Bearing 2 healthy sons, Henry and Frederick, they settled for a time in Walkerville and Mount  Lofty. Henry Sr joined the Police Force, and began working some land, but their settled family life didn't last long. In July, 1848, Bessie died at age 31, in childbirth with twin daughters. It seems such a shame that Elizabeth wasn't able to fulfil her dreams of a new life in Australia, when she had been so courageous to travel alone and so far from all that she knew.

To view the Old Bailey transcript of William Parker's case against Ann Coates and her mother, follow this link:

Parker-Coates Court case

Charles Dixon (1812-1882) A Convict Story.....

Charles Dixon was my g-g-great-grandfather...

Born in London in 1812, Charles was caught in August 1830 stealing a handkerchief from a man's person, on a London street. When arrested, he claimed to have "eaten no bread for 3 days". He was tried at the Old Bailey, found guilty and sentenced to 14 years transportation.

Prisons were hopelessly overcrowded, so although Charles was first sent to Newbury Gaol, he was held in a hulk for a couple of weeks, before boarding the John 1 which left Plymouth on the 9th October, 1830, carrying 200 convicts to Van Dieman's Land. Charles' conduct records on both the hulk, and the ship passage are very good.

In January, 1831, John 1 arrives in Hobart, and upon arrival, Charles is indentured as a labourer to T. Nowland. His conduct report for this period shows only one misdeameanor, 'neglect of duty and disobedience of orders' for which he is ordered 25 lashes.Ouch!!

In 1837, having worked for his employer for the required 6 years, Charles immediately applies for his Ticket of Leave,  which is granted in January. This allows him to travel for work within a given district, and find his own work. He is also allowed to acquire property. In return, the TOL requires that Charles attend Church regularly, report to the Magistrate when required, and apply for permission to travel outside his district.

In October 1840, Charles fronts up to the magistrate again, for 'misconduct in tippling in a public
house out of hours', and is sentenced to 10 days hard labour on the treadwheel. This was a machine like a water wheel used to punish convicts. Prisoners undergoing punishment took turns to propel the wheel by stepping up constantly on the revolving treads. The energy generated may have been used to grind wheat, but generally it served no purpose other than as a form of punishment.* On December 28 that same year, Charles is again in trouble, this time reported for 'having black eyes in Church' (a reference to presenting as angry at Church). His punishment is 48 hours in solitary confinement, I think. It's almost impossible to be sure from the handwriting, despite my trusty reference aid.

In August 1841, a few months before the obligatory 5 years as a TOL holder, Charles is granted a Conditional Pardon which basically makes him a free man. (The condition being that he never returns to England or Ireland.)
His Free Certificate is granted in 1844, at the completion of his original sentence.Charles is now 32 years old. This same year, he marries 15 year old Ann McVeagh, the daughter of Frances Topp and Irish convict, William McVeagh. They begin a family, and soon leave Tasmania for a promising beginning in Victoria, putting the convict past behind them.

Convict Description List- Charles Dixon , top right.

,

It is my suspicion that young Charles Dixon intended on being transported out of England, and planned a better life. His crime was obvious and purposeless, he did not appear to defend himself, and he conducted himself throughout in the manner of someone with a plan. Life in London was dreadfully hard in 1830, and there is no mention of family in any of Charles' trial or convict records. Many people who found themselves in hopeless circumstances at this time committed crimes with the intention of being sentenced to transportation, in the hope of a better life.

* Explanation of Treadwheel taken from Susan Hood's wonderful resource: Transcribing Tasmanian Convict records, (Port Arthur Historical Site Management Authority), 2003. p56.

Like to look at some original convict records?
If you are unfamiliar with Convict records, then start on-line with the Tasmanian Archives Office. It's dead easy to plug in your convict's name, and perhaps ship or date, and begin viewing some of their original records (our Charles Dixon is Convict #18888).
http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au

For felons transported to NSW try:
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/indexes-online/indexes-to-convict-records

To view the Old Bailey court transcript of Charles' 1830 crime, click on the link
Dixon 1830 trial...