THE STORY OF ANN GROVER & WILLIAM HENRY ORGAN.

EDITED: OCTOBER 4, 2009


INTRODUCTION.

This is my record of my great-grand mother, Ann Grover. She was born to Edward and Martha Grover at Brighton, Sussex on 3 September 1829.

Little is known of her younger years in Brighton. But like many English of the time, she and her younger brother, Edward, born 1833 with his wife, Eleanor Baldook decided to migrate to NSW. Edward, a carpenter/joiner by trade, had married Eleanor Baldook in Brighton in 1852.

They joined 323 other emigrants aboard the barque "Meteor" on 27 March, 1853 at Southampton to travel to Sydney. On arrival at the semi-completed Circular Quay in Sydney on 3 July they were each “paid one pound for self” as they stepped ashore. Her ship’s landing papers show her as a “dressmaker / milliner” and a Baptist by religion.

The three spend a short time together in Sydney before, for some unknown reason, Ann left her family and moved south to Wollongong, a rapidly growing new town about 80 kilometres south of Sydney. Edward /Eleanor remained in Sydney to start their family with Charlotte arriving in 1856 and Mary in 1860.

THE ILLAWARRA


By 1853 the Illawarra district butts onto southern Sydney and extended a further 50 kilometres south between the coast and the coastal ranges. The population had grown considerable from its early days in the 1820s. The region was composed basically of working class free settlers, emancipists, soldiers and convicts. It presented many opportunities to anyone who wanted to settle there. It had many beautiful beaches and a temperate climate with an expanding economy. The area had been sub-divided and Wollongong township rapidly developing.

It is unknown why Ann moved there but being a dressmaker / milliner she would have a ready market. She met William Henry Organ, son of George and Maria whose family had been in NSW since 1839. George and family including his parents, a brother and two sisters and his own wife and two children arrived in Sydney on the Bussorah Merchant. They joined two of George’s brothers and one sister-in-law in Wollongong.

The family settled into the pioneer coastal area very well with George leading the way with many successful outgoing business ventures.

George and family rented a farm from a James Brooker at Fairy Meadow, the area then extending from the Wollongong Township to present Bulli.
Young William Henry joined his father with the farm work whilst his younger sister, Emily settled with her mother, Maria who retrieved her dressmaking materials.

In the oncoming years, George initialling carried on his farming at Fairy Meadow but gradually devoted more to developing his assets by the purchase of land at Wollongong and the surrounding districts. William Henry took more control of the farm as he matured into adulthood.


THE MARRIAGE

On the 3rd January 1855 Ann married William Henry Organ of Wollongong, the ceremony was performed by Cunningham Atchinson, the local Presbyterian Minister and took place in George's house of Fairy Meadow.


THE BRIDAL PAIR.

Ann was 25 years old, a seasoned dressmaker / milliner and a mature young woman. She had been raised in the busy English south coast town of Brighton.

William Henry was 21 and had arrived from the rural North Dursley, Gloucestershire at the age of 7 and since had helped his father on their farm at Fairy Meadow. George bought the 152-acre farm in 1849 for a paltry 164 pounds and as his fortunes increased he with Maria and Emily moved closer to the actions in Wollongong leaving William Henry with control.

ANN’S REALITY.

One of George’s newer estates was a farm at Bellambi on the Towradgi Creek, which he developed into a dairy farm meantime building “a comfortable cottage fit for a respectable tenant”.

William Henry and Anne settled here into their matrimonial home.

I wonder what Ann’s thoughts were at that time. She had wed a young hard working English man with no financial worries in a lovely coastal area. Her new family was rather large and very busy and the environment was so different to what she had been raised.

Alright, it was very rural and quiet but still she had her own dressmaker/milliner business to organise and get going.

THE FIRST FEW MARRIAGE YEARS.

The first year at Towradgi was busy for the household: George with his business commitments, William with the farm upkeep, Maria and Anne with home duties and the initial stages of the millinier / dressmaking business. Change occured in 1856 with George and Maria moving to their house in Barella Street, Wollongong and Ann delivering the first of her family and named after William Henry's sister, Emily. George was very busy with his first major project relating to a proposed hotel on the corner of Crown & Corrimal Streets, Wollongong. This was a prime site being at that time part of the main route connecting Wollongong harbour to Dapto Road.

George also sold the Towradgi farm so William and family moved to another of George's farms at Bulli. For some unknown reason this seemed to unlock a feature within William's future life when he summoned a Mrs Mark Hanks for violent behaviour. She was found guilty and bound over to keep the peace for six months.

Year 1858 was also a busy one for George and his immediate family.Initially, George had opened a general store in Bulli which is believed to be the first in the area. William with Ann's great assistance managed the store for George. Ann's second child, another girl, Ann Maria arrived and George's hotel in Crown Street was nearing completion.

TO BE CONTINUED