O'NIAL AND BEAMAN OF TULLAMARINE AND MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.
itellya
This journal was prompted by my attempt to establish that Charles John Beaman who married Elizabeth Neil Knox was the only son of Richard Beaman and the widow of David William O'Nial who was born at the Lady of the Lake Hotel in Tullamarine on 23-5-1855 (The Argus 26-5-1855 page 4, accessed through TROVE.)
There is extensive information about the O'Nials and Beamans under the heading of the Lady of the Lake Hotel in my journal about hotels near Tullamarine. The purpose of this journal is to assist the person who posted details about Andrew John Beaman on Ancestry.com pages.
This post stated that Andrew John was the son of Charles John Beaman and Elizabeth Knox. When I clicked on Charles John, the post stated that he was born on 23-5-1855 to Richard Beaman and Ellen Theresa Fitzgerald. It seems possible, even probably, that Fitzgerald was the maiden name of David William O'Nial's wife. Why this is so will be discussed later. The big, big mistake is the statement that Charles John Beaman was born in Mauritius. I can only imagine (if no human error was involved) that another Ellen Theresa Fitzgerald/Beaman had given birth in Mauritius to a child with exactly the same name on exactly the same date as the boy born at Tullamarine. As this scenario is a bit far fetched, Mauritius may have been mentioned during Ellen's voyage to Australia and has somehow been attached in relation to another event, as a result of human error.
Very few of our early pioneers arrived in Australia on their own, except for sailors who jumped ship before (such as many of the lime burners at the Heads) and during the gold rush. Many came with relatives or sent encouraging reports and money to bring them later. A typical example is Robert Cairns who settled at Boneo in 1852. His wife's parents came with him and pioneered the other side of the bay, at Drysdale which is named after them. Within a couple of years, his brothers, Alexander and David had joined him at Boneo.
John Pascoe Fawkner's mother's maiden name was Pascoe and Moreland City Council accepted my suggestion to name Hannah Pascoe Drive (Melway 16C3) after her. Hannah lived at her son's Belle Vue Park (renamed Oak Park by Glenroy flour mill owner, Hutchinson) and as there were Pascoes among the area's early pioneers, it is reasonable to assume that they were relatives of Hannah's.
The 1863 rate book of the Broadmeadows Road Board (the oldest available in 1988) showed that pioneers with the surnames of Foster and Fitzgerald had small holdings on the east side of what is now Melrose Drive, north of the Mickleham Rd corner. They were probably on one acre blocks on John Carre Riddell's Hamilton Terrace, bounded by the road to Bulla, Derby St and the closed Greenhill St (formerly officially Victoria St but known locally as Nash's Lane after Charles Nash of "Fairview".)It is reasonable to assume that they were poor relatives of William and John Foster brought out to work on their property of almost 2000 acres. If Ellen Theresa Fitzgerald was indeed the wife of David William O'Nial and then Richard Beaman, she was probably a distant cousin of the rich Fosters. William returned to the old country to inherit and later John Vasey Lesley Foster did the same, his name changed to JohnFitzgerald Leslie Foster in order to inherit.
by itellya
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Itellya is researching local history on the Mornington Peninsula and is willing to help family historians with information about the area between Somerville and Blairgowrie. He has extensive information about Henry Gomm of Somerville, Joseph Porta (Victoria's first bellows manufacturer) and Captain Adams of Rosebud.
Comments
Darleith on 2012-01-17 14:09:30Your journal makes an interesting read, however I was looking for the references to which you were basing your information. On Ancestry there are three documents (actual certificates) which support the detail provided on Ellen Fitzgerald and also on Charles Beaman. Yes the Mauritius birthplace may seem odd but nonetheless it IS ON THE MARRIAGE certifcate, to which both parties have signed. So if there is some alternative physical proof of his actual birthplace then the marriage certificate must stand in preference to some suppositions. Shouldn't it??
itellya on 2012-01-18 09:02:56Robert Henry Adams of Rosebud stated on the certificate of his marriage to Miss Hopcraft (Gentlewoman)that his parents were married beforehe was born, but they weren't, according to his parents' wedding certificate. Oops!
I doubted before that the Beamans would have had a motive or opportunity to be in Mauritius and that was why I was so sceptical.
J.F.L.Foster, who had followed his older brother, William (the grantee)as owner of section 3, parish of Tullamarine, began proceedings against Richard Beaman in mid 1856. Richard Beaman's lease of the Lady of the Lake Hotel from J.F.L.Foster was probably ended on 1-5-1856 because of his insolvency. Foster obviously still owned the hotel and the four acres on which it stood because the advertisement on page 8 of The Argus of 17-4-1856 states that title was from the Crown.
Richard Beaman leased the 33 acre "Broombank" to John Cock in 1867 and later the lease was of 37 acres so Beaman must have also bought the hotel block. "Broombank" was so named because of the Cape broom hedge that grew along the frontage of David O'Nial's second Lady of the Lake hotel. Catherine and Minnie O'Nial peered through this hedge to watch the Burke and Landsell party pass by on the way to the second encampment on the site of the Inverness Hotel in 1860. These two girls refused to sell Broombank when ownership passed to them and the Misses O'Neil (sic) of Docker St, Richmond were still listed as owners into the 1930's.Ray Loft had leased the property for many years until the last spinster died (in 1933?)and subdivided the land in 1952.
Now for some supposition. By the time that the wife of Richard Beaman gave birth to a son on 23-5-1855 at the Lady of the Lake Hotel (The Argus 26-5-1855 page 4), she had experienced the death of her brother, farrier Charles Fitzgerald at her residence. (Another brother, John Fitgerald, was proprietor of the Empire Hotel in Errol St, North Melbourne according to the death notice on page 4 of The Argus of 13-4-1854.)
With poor trade from the hotel, pressure over debts from Foster and the recent tragedy adding to his wife's troubles, Richard may have snatched an opportunity to make some quick money. There was frequent trade with Mauritius; our flour for their sugar. There had been a cholera epidemic in Mauritius in 1854 and Beaman may have possessed skills that were in demand; perhaps as a builder as there was a builder called Beaman in Collingwood in 1856.Would he have risked taking the toddler? He and his mother may have stayed with Uncle John.
But why say that the child was born in Mauritius? Shame of course. My Great grandfather, John Cock, said that he arrived in 1867 (instead of 1864) just to hide the fact that he had been an indentured labourer, so it easy to understand why the Beamans would want to divert attention from Richard Beaman's insolvency.
I thought at first that Richard may have been arson around and paid for a honeymoon with insurance money but the hotel was still operating (The Argus, 17-4-1856, page 8; 25-5-1857 page 3; 14-8-1858 page 8 etc) and was owned by Foster anyway.
I am grateful for the comment because it caused me to find proof that David O'Nial's wife was a Fitzgerald instead of just supposing as I did when inspecting the rate books so many years ago.