Pittwater

My Family and Agricultural Shows

Miss W. 1821-1850, 1851-1880, Early families , , , , , ,

Thanks to Helen White for this post as part of the #OnePlaceShows

When an application addressed to the Lieutenant Governor and signed by Mr Edward Lord and others, to hold a public meeting with the intention of forming an Agricultural Society, was published in the Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser on Saturday 8 December 1821, the signature of my 3 x great grandfather, Horatio Mason, was affixed to it.

Horatio William Mason arrived in Van Diemen’s Land aboard “Saracen” on 25 April 1820. He was not a farmer, although he had applied for and was granted land at Pittwater; 2000 acres between the Coal River and Orielton Rivulet, he was a trader and soon divest himself of the property.

Another 3-x great grandfather, George Marshall arrived in Hobart Town aboard the brig “Thalia” on 22 April 1822, twelve months after the formation of the Van Diemen’s Land Agricultural Association in 1821 and just days after the meeting on 15 April 1822, which resolved to hold the first Annual Show.

Read newspaper article for further information.

The intention to hold the first Annual Show of the Van Diemen’s Land Agricultural Society might have been the ‘talk of the town’ when he first arrived the week after that meeting. It may have been then that he resolved to participate as an exhibitor at his first opportunity.

Mr. Marshall immediately set about applying for grant of land, but there was some delay in his grant being approved. While awaiting the results of his application he took up a lease on “Noble Farm”, at Pittwater (now Sorell).

The Annual Show to be held on 10 January 1824, gave George Marshall his first opportunity to exhibit and he did so and won the medal for the best boar bred in Van Diemen’s Land. I am unaware if the medal survived in the family, the desire to exhibit certainly did.

Click article to read rest of results

To the best of my knowledge this was his only entry in an Agricultural Show in Hobart Town, but George Marshall was one of the group of farmers in the Richmond/Pittwater District to establish the Richmond Agricultural Society in December 1835, later to become the Southern Tasmanian Agricultural Association. While I have found no record of him exhibiting himself, he remained on the Committee for many years and judged occasionally, but his sons competed regularly entering prime stock and horses in the competitions.

My 2-x great grandfather Thomas Marshall (“Noble Farm”, Sorell) had some success exhibiting draught horses. His brothers, George Marshall Jnr (“Sunnyside”, Sorell) and Edward Marshall (“Cornhill”, Sorell) both exhibited and won prime cattle classes. Thomas’s principal interest was the breeding of draught animals and in order to promote the sires he used and the sale of horses he bred, he travelled to and exhibited at the first Melton Mowbray Agricultural Association Exhibition in December 1864.

Thomas Marshall – click to read rest of article

The family involvement with shows has continued to the present day with Life Member Paul Marshall and his family, who stewarded the Commercial Lamb Section of the Royal Hobart Show for many years.

My grandfather, Joel Harvey (he married Kathleen Letitia Marshall) exhibited ‘Fat Lambs’ for many years during the 1930’s and won 3 Jubilee Cups (one for each son). It is quite possible that a relative of mine has been a member of an Agricultural Society in Tasmania since the formation of the Richmond Agricultural Society in 1835, there is certainly been Marshall’s farming in Tasmania since the arrival of George Marshall Snr in 1822.

Readers: Have any of your ancestors been mentioned in results from Agricultural Shows in the district?

J for James Gordon

Miss W. 1821 and prior, 1821-1850, Early families , , , ,

James Gordon is mentioned often in newspapers both in Sydney and within the Sorell Municipality.

But first a bit about the man and his arrival in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).

James was born in 1779 in the town of Forcett in Yorkshire, England. At age 27, he emigrated to Sydney and became a well known trader.

Marriage in 1814

In January 1814, he married Elizabeth Arndell and by April that year, he was appointed Naval Officer in Hobart Town. As he had good connections back in England, he was also appointed as a magistrate and as part of the Lieutenant Governor’s court.

Appointments of James Gordon

But by late 1815, he was working his farm in the Sorell municipality rather than being a Naval Officer.

When researching James Gordon and his influence in the Sorell municipality, I looked in Trove on the National Library Australia at how often he was mentioned in newspapers. Up to 1842 at his death, he was mentioned about 750 times. Below are some of the interesting events he was mentioned in.

1816 supplying fresh meat to the commissary

Fresh meat

1819 Sheep speared by aboriginals – to read the rest of the report, click on the image.

Sheep speared

1821 Cautioning trespassers on his property

Don’t trespass!

1822 Contracting for bricks – maybe to start his house?

Bricks wanted

1823 Building his house – click on image to read the rest of the article

Building his house

1824 Agricultural meeting also mentions Robert Gard, a servant of James Gordon – click on image to read more

Agricultural meeting

1824 Offering reward after killing of property

Reward offered

1829 New appointment in the district of Richmond

New appointment

1833 A ‘Native Youth’ wrote a letter to the editor about James Gordon 

1834 James Gordon had problems with the government

Government problems

1836 Letting a farm

Letting farm

1837 Chairing meeting of Sorell residents – click on link to read more of the meeting

Chairing meetings

1840 Judging at the Hobart Town Horticultural Society – widely respected in the farming community – click image for more

Horticultural Society

1841 American aloe at Forcett

Aloe at Forcett

James Gordon’s death and funeral in August 1842 was written about by  The True Colonist Van Diemen’s Land Political Despatch, and Agricultural and Commercial Advertiser..

Death notice

In his will, everything is left to his wife Elizabeth and upon her death it goes to her relatives as the Gordons did not have any children. A copy of the will can be read here – such beautiful handwriting.

H for Hannah Green

Miss W. 1821 and prior, 1821-1850, Early families , , , ,

Thanks to Jo Hopkins for writing this post for the A-Z challenge.

Blue links will take you to the digitized images from Libraries Tasmania website.

 

Hannah Green’s story in Sorell begins around the time the small settlement at Pitt Water became Sorell, and her tale would mirror that of many early settlers of the district. While she is not a noted figure, she is a piece of the patchwork.

In September 1819 in London, Hannah Green was arrested carrying a forged £1 bank note. She was convicted and sentenced to be transported to Australia for 14 years. After a brief time in Newgate Prison, she sailed on the Morley, departing on 20 May 1820. The Morley arrived in Hobart Town at the end of August 1820 and Hannah was one of the 50 convict women to be offloaded and assigned. The remainder of the convict women sailed on to Sydney.

Hannah was assigned to Thomas Lascelles who was at that time the secretary to Lieutenant-Governor Sorell. Lascelles had properties in Hobart Town and in the Pitt Water district. Could Hannah have worked at Pitt Water?

When Governor Macquarie visited the Pitt Water settlement on 20 June 1821 and renamed the township Sorell, was Hannah present? It would be lovely to imagine her in the small crowd, sharing the excitement of the vice-regal visit.

On 7 January 1822, Hannah married free settler John Stacey who resided at Sorell. Just 15 months after her arrival and assignment and just 27 months since her arrest, Hannah is re-assigned to her husband and is effectively free. She only needed to attend muster and be of good behaviour to keep out of officialdoms eyes and serve out her sentence.

While minimal documentation is available for Hannah – her marriage registration, some musters, the baptism records of her children – it does show her living in Sorell going about her life.

St Georges Church where many Stacey events occurred

As the family grew, so did Sorell. The family had a house in Arthur Street across the paddock from where the mill was built. The children were baptised at the newly built St Georges Church and were attenders at the Sorell School. For a few years John was a Constable and would have worked with Alexander Laing at the new watch house. John was also a licenced ferryman who plied the route from the Pitt Water Bluff (around where the causeways now span the two arms of Pittwater). Could John have even rowed the official party across when Macquarie visited?

In April 1840, aged 43, Hannah Stacey was buried in Sorell, just days after the birth of a son.

Many local families can connect back to Hannah Green and John Stacey, and their story at the founding of Sorell.

Jo Hopkins is descended through the Jones line from Hannah and John’s daughter Charlotte.