janilye on Family Tree Circles

Charles EATHER and his twin brother Thomas EATHER were the first of the EATHER family born in the Hawkesbury district.
On 1 October 1800, three years after they had settled on their thirty acre grant of land at Green Hills, Thomas EATHER formerly HEATHER 1764-1827 and his wife Elizabeth, nee LEE 1771-1860 became the proud parents of twin sons, whom they named Charles and Thomas.
The forename Charles had not appeared in the Heather family in the four previous generations, but Thomas EATHER had had a good friend in one Charles MARTIN 1769-1797. They had been fellow inmates of the prison at Maidstone and had come out to the colony together on the "Neptune".
Thomas had attended Charles Martin's wedding at Parramatta on 2 August 1792 to SARAH GITTENS (1772-1845) and had been recorded as a witness to that event.
Sadly, Charles Martin had been murdered on the 25th.October 1797. There was a dispute over money between Charles and John Morris, Morris kicked Charles in the groin and left him to die. MORRIS was later charged and convicted of manslaughter. Perhaps Thomas named the first-born of his twins after his late friend.

Just after Charles EATHER turned five he was baptised on 11 October 1805, along with his twin brother Thomas and their infant brother John, who was eight days old, by the Reverend Samuel MARSDEN, during his visit to the Hawkesbury.
Charles spent his childhood on the EATHER farm. He saw the floods which innundated much of his parents' farm in March 1806, and worse floods in the winter of 1809, when hundreds of pigs, sheep and cattle and countless stacks of hay were washed away . He saw too the gradual development of a small township on Green Hills and was quite a big boy when Governor MACQUARIE visited the district and named it Windsor.

During his teenage years Charles undoubtedly learned many of the skills of farm labour as he assisted his father and brothers in various tasks on the family farm. Nevertheless, Thomas EATHER evidently believed that it was important that his twin sons should learn the skills of a useful trade. As teenagers, both trained to be shoemakers, probably under an apprenticeship to a local artisan. When the General Muster was taken in 1822 both Charles and Thomas were recorded as being shoemakers. It seems unlikely that they practiced their trade for long for being brought up on a farm in what was a rich farming district, they probably felt that agriculture offered a better future than a trade.

On 20 June 1820 their father, Thomas, had sent a petition to the Governor, seeking a second grant of land. About the same time Charles and Thomas also made applications for grants. Ten months later, on Saturday, 28 April 1821, the "Sydney Gazette" carried a long list of names of 'new tiers' who were to receive grants of land, and old settlers, who were to have "additional lands located for them in the year 1821". The list included the names of Charles EATHER , Thomas EATHER and Thomas EATHER Snr. The exact District of Charles EATHER's block of land has not been verified, but it was evidently on the river flats at Cornwallis, quite close to the Hawkesbury River. Records show that Charles farmed at Cornwallis for many years, and that in the next generation his sons had also farmed there.
Although flood-prone, the land at Cornwallis was very fertile and only a short distance from Windsor. The area of his grant was probably 50 acres, that being the area that his father received.
By 1822 Charles was most likely farming his land rather than practicing trade of shoe-making.

The EATHER sons belonged to the increasing proportion of the population which consisted of offspring of the emancipists, soldiers and settlers, born and bred in the colony and recognizing Australia as their native land. By the time they were in their early twenties most of the males naturally casting around for likely spouses, and the EATHER's were no exception in this respect. Males were still far more numerous than females in the colony, but eldest brother Robert EATHER had succeeded in finding a marital partner in young Mary LYNCH , and by 1823 they were the parents of three young children.
By then Thomas EATHER had formed a romantic attachment with Sarah McAlpin, the daughter of blacksmith, Peter McALPIN, and sister to Peter McAlpin, William Glas McAlpin and Catherine McAlpin. Thomas and Sarah married in the following year on the same day that Robert and Mary married.
In 1823 Charles also found a lifelong marital partner in Ann GOUGH, at three years his senior, recently separated from her husband, and at the age of 26 years the mother of 7 children.
What took her to the Hawkesbury district is uncertain, because she had lived at Sydney until she and her husband had parted late in 1822. Charles showed her compassion in her unfortunate situation and provided a home for her and several of her young children.

Ann's maiden name was CAIN. She had been born in Ireland about 1797 to Mary CAIN and husband whose forename has not emerged from records researched. When she was sixteen Ann CAIN came to Australia as a free woman on the ship "Earl Spencer", which sailed from England on 2 June 1813 under the command of Captain MITCHELL. On board were 200 male convicts (of whom 4 died during the voyage),free passengers, and a detachment of the 73rd. Regiment, together with their wives and children. During the long voyage, the vessel called at only one port, Madeira, where it stayed for ten days and took on supplies. After a voyage of over four months, the ship dropped anchor in Sydney Harbour on 9 October 1813.
Ann's name was not listed amongst the passengers on board the ship "Earl Spencer". There was one passenger, Mr D MALER , who had four servants accompanying him. Their names were not listed and Ann might have been one of them, or she might have been the daughter of one of the Soldiers. One of the convicts on board was Patrick KANE, age 40 years, a native of county Derry in Ireland. There is no reason other than the similarity of surnames to suggest that he was Ann's father. Amongst the passengers on the ship "Earl Spencer" was one who later won himself a place in the pages of history as an explorer. He was William HOVELL, who was accompanied on the voyage by his wife and children. In 1824 he accompanied Hamilton HUME on the historic first journey of exploration from the settled areas near Goulburn south to Port Phillip. On 25 November 1813, only six weeks after her arrival in the colony, Ann CAIN (spinster married to George TRAITS (bachelor), a seaman, at St Phillip's Church, Sydney.
She was age sixteen years. Her signature on the Church record of the marriage was not in running script, so she might have been able to write her name without being literate. Subsequently her name appeared in records with a number of variations such as Trails, Traitis, Fraites and even Streets. No further mention of George TRAITS has been located in any records after the wedding, so what became of him remains a mystery.
In March 1814, five months after her marriage, Ann TRAITS was charged and found guilty of theft. She received a short sentence and, when the Muster was taken later that year , she listed as a convict and was on Government Stores at the hospital at Parramatta. By 1815 Ann TRAITS had gone to the Hawkesbury district and was residing at Windsor with a convict, James GOUGH, when she gave birth to a son who was named James after his father. On 11 February 1817, at the age of 20 years, Ann was married to 26 year-old James GOUGH at St John's Church of England at Parramatta. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend Samuel MARSDEN. Both the bride and groom were listed as being of that parish, which at that time took in the Hawkesbury district as well as the Parramatta district. Permission for the marriage had been granted on 8 January 1817. It showed James as a prisoner and Ann as free. She had evidently completed the sentence imposed upon her in 1814. Both were recorded as having come to the colony on the ship "Earl Spencer".

James GOUGH had been born in London in 1790, and at the age of 22 years was living with his wife in a room over a stable when he was arrested and accused of breaking into a house on 24 April 1812 and stealing. Tried at the Old Bailey on 13 May 1812, he was found guilty and sentenced to death . This had been commuted to transportation for life and he had been one of the 200 male prisoners who made the voyage to New South Wales on the ship "Earl Spencer" in 1813. He was described in convict records as age 23 years, 5'10" tall, with brown hair and eyes and a fair to ruddy complexion. He was a joiner by trade. At the time of the 1814 Muster he was in gaol at Sydney. In April 1815 he was listed in the "Sydney Gazette" as having absconded. However, there is no record of his apprehension or punishment. After their marriage in 1817, he and Ann were residing at Windsor again when their second child, Mary, was born. James had been appointed overseer of Government carpenters and was involved in the construction of St.Matthew's Church at Windsor as superintendent of brickwork. About 1819 James GOUGH was overseer of the lumber yard at Parramatta, and it was there that their second son, Alexander, was born. About 1820 a second daughter, Louisa, was born and she was followed by another daughter, Ann, about 1821 . On 26 January 1821 James was granted a conditional pardon and was described as a carpenter, 5'11" tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes and fair complexion. At the time of the Muster in September 1822, James GOFF (sic) and wife Ann were residing in Sydney and had with them their children , James 7, Mary 6, Alexander 4, and Louisa 3. Their infant daughter, Ann, had died in June that year at Sydney. Towards the end of 1822 marital disharmony erupted in the GOUGH household and Ann and James parted.
The "Sydney Gazette" of 22 November 1822 carried the following announcement: NOTICE: I,the undersigned, do hereby give this public Notice (Deeds of Settlement and Separation having been made and executed between myself and my Wife, Ann GOUGH, whereby we have mutually agreed to live separate and apart from each other), that I shall not hold myself responsible for any Debt or Debts that my said Wife may contract, ample provision being made in the said Deeds, by me, for her future support and maintenance. James GOUGH."
It seems that in the break-up of the family, James kept the eldest three children, James, Mary and Alexander, and Ann took little Louisa. To add to her problems caused by the domestic upheaval, Ann was pregnant again at the time of their parting, and during the early months of 1823 she became the mother of twins, Stephen and Phoebe. It was some time during that year or in 1824 that Charles EATHER offered her a home and she had become his wife. What had caused her to return to the Windsor district after her separation from James GOUGH is unknown. Perhaps She returned to friends of the days when she had lived there a few years before .

Charles and Ann lived together for the next 48 years, but they never married because Ann was not legally free to do so as long as her husband James GOUGH was alive, and he outlived her. With Ann's three infants Charles began married life with a ready-made family. It increased about 1825 when his first son, Charles, was born. At the time of the 1825 Muster Ann's daughter Phoebe was listed as a child age 2 years. Three years later, when the 1828 census was taken, Ann, age 31 years, was listed as the housekeeper to Charles ETHER (sic) of Cornwallis, farmer. had with her Louisa (age 8 years ) and Stephen (age 5 years). For some reason daughter Phoebe was not listed anywhere in the census records. She had not died, so it can only be presumed that she also with her mother and had somehow missed being recorded. All three were recorded as being Roman Catholics. Charles and Charles Jnr (age 3 years), were listed as Protestants.
In 1824 James GOUGH acquired an inn about ten miles from Parramatta on the Windsor Road and he remained there it 1828, but when the census was taken he was a builder living in Cambridge Street, Sydney. With him were James (age 13 years), Mary (age 11 years), and Alexander (age 9 years), and also John (age 5 years) and Thomas (age 1 year). The last two were the children of James and Mary ALLEN (nee SHERWIN). All were listed as Protestants. Another son, Thomas, was born to Charles and Ann soon after the census was taken. They continued to farm at Cornwallis and more children were added to their family. William, born 1831, was followed by Charles ' first daughter, Frances, about 1833. Another son, George , born about 1834, and finally another daughter, Rosina, was born on 13 December 1836. Ann was almost 40 and Rosina was her thirteenth and last child. The break-up of her marriage to James GOUGH and the division of their children did not result in Ann's losing contact with her three eldest children. During the years that James had been inn-keeping on the Windsor-Parramatta Road, she had undoubtedly seen them from time to time. Then as they grew up they tended to return to the Hawkesbury district .
By 1836 James GOUGH was living at Berrima and had a carrying business between Liverpool and Goulburn, but the three children had been with him from the days of his marriage to Ann, were probably all in the Hawkesbury district by then.

The EATHER farm at Cornwallis probably saw frequent coming and going of Ann's older children as they called from time to time. Charles' six children would have come to know all their halfbrothers and half-sisters well as the years passed. Ann was a grandmother by the time Rosina was born. Her eldest daughter, Mary, had married Edward Roberts in St Matthew's Church at Windsor on 28 March 1835. It was a ceremony that Ann and Charles would have attended. Mary's first child, William, was born at Windsor on 29 January 1836.
Thereafter, there were frequent additions to Ann's growing number of grandchildren. On 8 January 1838 at Pitt Town Ann' s eldest son James, age 22 years, married Amelia BRINCHLEY WARD, daughter of Michael and Sophia Jane Elizabeth Ann WARD. Amelia's young brother was Frederick Wordsworth WARD 1835-1870 CAPTAIN THUNDERBOLT the bushranger and horse thief.
Amelia and James lived at Windsor, where James worked as a carpenter, and the first of their eleven children was born in December that year. Three months after James married, his brother, Alexander, was married in St Matthew's Church at Windsor on 5 April 1838 at the age of 19. His bride was 17 year old Jane ROBINSON, daughter of Richard and Mary ROBINSON. Alexander took his bride to live at Clarendon near Windsor, and he earned his living as a cooper. Their first child was born early in 1839.
On 25 February Ann's second daughter Louisa, age 18, was married at Portland Head to George FORRESTER, a son of Henry FORRESTER and Lucy UPTON. George's grandfather, Robert FORRESTER, had arrived in the colony on the ship "Scarborough" with the First Fleet. After their marriage Louisa and George lived at Grose Vale near North Richmond. Their first child was born on Christmas Day 1839.
In 1826 Charles's brothers-in-law, Joseph ONUS and Robert WILLIAMS, had been amongst the first wave of pastoralists who had taken stock onto the Liverpool Plains and had "squatted" on runs in the region outside the defined limits of settlement. During the next few years many other pastoralists followed their example, and amongst these were Charles and his brothers, Robert and Thomas. In partnership they established a run called "Benial" on the Namoi River and grazed cattle there. The role that Charles played in this partnership is unknown. He undoubtedly contributed some of the cattle and some of the men whom the partnership employed. He probably visited the station on occasions. In July 1836 the Legislative Council passed the first Act to legalise an d control the practice of squatting, and the very first application for a licence to depasture stock 'beyond the limits of District' was made by the three EATHER brothers.

The joint memorial of Thomas EATHER, Robert EATHER and Charles EATHER, brothers of Richmond, to the Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, read as follows:- "That your Memorialists are Natives of the Colony and Landholders residing at Richmond. That your Memorialists are possessed of a Considerable Numb er of Horned Cattle as their joint stock which for some tim e past and now are depasturing at a Place called 'Benial' on the Banks the Namoi River. That your Memorialists acting in conformity with the meaning of the Act of the Legislative it recently passed for the prevention of encroachment on the Waste Lands in the Colony will be permitted to Graze their Cattle on the Waste Lands unless your Memorialists shall obtain a licence from the Government permitting them so to do. That your Memorialists therefore most respectfully solicit that Your Excellency will be pleased to Grant them a licence to Depasture their Cattle at 'genial' on the Namoi River and that Memorialists as in duty bound will ever pray etc ." The licence was duly granted and renewed in the years that followed. Charles did not capitalise on this early interest in the pastoral industry. The partnership was soon dissolved. Thomas retained the station on the Namoi River and passed it down to his sons. Robert went on extend his pastoral interests away out on Narran Creek, and involved some of his sons in the venture. Charles did not further his early interest and is not recorded as holding any other station in the north or north-west. He seems to have been content to limit his farming and grazing the Hawkesbury district.

In 1822 Robert, Charles and Thomas had each been allocated an allotment of land in Cox's Lane in Windsor at a time when the settlers were being encouraged to build themselves homes out of the flood-prone areas. None of them had made use of their allocation in the years that followed.

Then, on the same day, 22 November 1841, all three wrote separate memorials to the Colonial Secretary seeking deeds of grant for their respective allotments. The requests were refused on the grounds that little or no attempt had been made to use or improve the ground in the intervening years. Having failed in this attempt to obtain an allotment in Windsor. Charles looked to other means of satisfying his requirement, and on 4 July 1842 he purchased an allotment in George Street from his brother Robert. It was the south-western third of an allotment which Robert had purchased about twenty yeas previously. Charles paid 50 for it, as it was an allotment without any house upon it.
On 1 June 1842, another of Ann's children married. Phoebe GOUGH and Dio BALDWIN exchanged vows in the Presbyterian Church at Windsor. Dio was the youngest of the twelve children of Henry Baldwin and Elizabeth RAYNER. The young couple resided at Wilberforce for the first few years of their marriage and their first two children were born there. During the 1840's Ann's grandchildren increased in number at a rapid rate, and by 1850 numbered 22 living out of 25 born. All of her five married children were living in the Hakesbury district, within ten miles of the EATHER farm, so she saw them frequently and watched the infants grow to children and the children to teenagers. On 3 December 1849 there was another wedding in the family when Charles, the first child of Charles and Ann, was married in the Wesleyan Chapel at Windsor to Frances Emma WATT, a young migrant girl who had been born in London, England and had come to the colony as a child with her parents, John and Maria WATT.
Five months later, Thomas, the second son of Charles and Ann, married Emma Mary STAPLES on 2 April 1850.

In 1853 Charles EATHER gave up farming when he was granted a publican's licence for the "Woolpack Inn" at North Richmond. His sureties were his nephews, William Onus and Joseph ONUS, sons of his sister Ann. He spent several years in business there as an inn-keeper. On 2 October 1855 William , his third son, was married to Catherine MCMAHON, a daughter of John and Mary MCMAHON of Kurrajong. Catherine had been born in Ireland and had came to Australia with her parents and brothers and sisters on the ship "Charles Kerr" in 1839 when she was still a small girl.
Four months later there was another family wedding, when Rosina, the youngest of the family, was married on 19 February 1856 to Alfred DALTON in St Matthew's, Church of England, Windsor.
More family weddings followed during the next few years. In 1857 there were two marriages with which Charles and Ann were connected. Jane, the wife of Alexander GOUGH, had died in 1853, and on 2 May 1857 he remarried in St Matthew's Church. His second wife was Elizabeth WALKER, she was over twenty years his junior. Just prior to Christmas, on 19 December 1857, Rosina's elder sister, Frances 1833-1869, married John BATEMAN.
The last of Charles and Ann's children to marry youngest son, George. He was 24 when he married Dorothy KINSELA, daughter of Martin KINSELA 1793-1860 and Ellen Henlen/HENDLING/HANLON 1794-1862, in St Matthew's, Roman Catholic Church at Windsor on 17 April 1860. None the four sons of Charles EATHER and Ann GOUGH had had any formal schooling and therefore grew illiterate. At their respective weddings each signed the marriage register with a cross.

During the many years that Charles EATHER had farmed at Cornwallis the Hawkesbury River not been flooded to the extent that it had in 1809, when he had been a boy. Then in 1864 there was a major flood, and land along its banks that had not been inundated for over fifty years covered by flood waters and much damage done to crops, fences and buildings, while numerous head of stock were drowned. In June 1867 heavy rain fell over the catchment area of the Hawkesbury and its chief tributaries, the Nepean and the Grose Rivers. The river rose and by Thursday 2Oth the farmers knew that another major flood was upon them. At that time three of the sons of Charles and Ann: Thomas, William and George, together with their respective wives and children, were living on adjoining farms at Cornwallis.

The rising water flowed across the flats, creating an island of some land near the river where their farms were situated. On the Thursday afternoon a boat under the direction of one George CUPITT was taking some men away from the area in a boat, when one of the men said to Mrs George EATHER (Dora), "You had better go up in the boat to your sisters and take the four children with you." At first she refused, saying that she would have to bake some bread and get everything into the loft before the next morning, but the men succeeded in persuading her to go. Just as they were getting into the boat, George's brothers, Tom and Bill, arrived from their farms with their wives and children, planning to take refuge in George's house, which was fairly new, and which they believed would be sturdier than their own houses. Mrs Bill EATHER ( Catherine, nee McMahon) remarked to the men, " You won't forget us if the waters come over the ridge". She was asked to get in the boat too, but refused. The boat departed.
That night the flood waters rose fast and the two families climbed onto the roof of George EATHERs house and stayed there for the remainder of the night. On the Friday morning, Mrs George EATHER another lady and Mrs Smith, went into Richmond from Clarendon and spent all day trying to get a boat sent over to rescue the two families stranded at the farm. Men were out in boats in various parts of the district, rescuing people who were stranded by the floods, and the ladies had no success in persuading anyone to go out to the Cornwallis farms.
At nightfall, they gave up trying to arrange a rescue and went back to Clarendon. About 1 am they saw a signal light away over the water in the direction of the house. Believing that it was from the families still at the farm, they returned the signal by tying papers and rags to the end of a fishing rod and lighting them. Then they rushed down to a man with a boat and told him. A dozen men were standing around, but none offered to go.
It was dark and raining. Mr DIGHT's' coachman, a man named RILEY, came along and upon being told of the trouble, passed the information on to Mr DIGHT's, who sent him galloping away to try to secure the public boat when it reached the shore, and to offer the crew 50 to go at once and rescue the EATHER's. He succeeded in getting the message to the crew and three men volunteered to go out. The signal had been a last desperate effort by the EATHER brothers to get help. The waters had risen so high that on the Thursday night they had been forced onto the roof of George EATHER's house. There the sixteen souls waited all day on Friday,expecting a boat which didn't arrive, and there they stayed into a second night.
The waters continued to rise and, reaching a record height, were over all the roof except the last three rows of shingles when the signal light was lit.
In the cold and the rain the families waited until, after twenty hours on the roof, it collapsed and all were swept away amid screams and cries. Thomas, William and George EATHER and Thomas's eldest child, sixteen year-old Charles Frederick, managed to reach a tree to which they fastened themselves. About half an hour later the boat arrived and rescued them. Tom's wife Frances and their other five children, and Bill's wife Catherine and their five children, were all drowned. The news of the tragedy spread through the district the next day and hearts went out to the survivors and their relatives. It has gone down in history as the worst single disaster of all Hawkesbury floods of all time.
The 1867 flood still remains a record for the river. Charles and Ann shared the grief of their sons. They had lost two daughters-in-law and ten of their grandchildren in one single disaster.

Over the years Charles had retained ownership of the large allotment in George Street, Windsor that he had bought from his brother Robert in 1842. When he had moved to the "Woolpack" Inn, he had rented the allotment to tenants.
On 1 July 1868 he gave it to his son George out of "natural love and affection" for the use of the said George his heirs and assigns forever". William BEDWELL was appointed trustee.
Two years later Charles and Ann suffered another bereavement when on 22 September 1869 their daughter Frances died, age of 36 leaving two small sons and a husband to grieve their loss.

Ann suffered a great deal of ill-health during the early months of 1871, and in the winter of that year became seriously ill. She was attended by local doctor, Dr. DAY but despite his efforts she died at Windsor on 18 July from natural causes. Dr Day had last visited her on the previous day. On 20 July she was buried at Windsor with the Reverend Charles F GARNSEY of the Church of England officiating at the graveside, and Thomas Primrose and Son performing the duty of undertakers. Her death was registered by her daughter, Louisa FORRESTER of Richmond Road. Ann's age was recorded as 74 at the time of her death. She had been born in Ireland and had spent 58 years in New South Wales. It was recorded also that she had been married in Sydney at the age of 16 to James GOUGH. Her father's name was not known and her mother's was stated as having been Mary CAIN . Ann's children were recorded as six males and four females living. Their names were not recorded on the death certificate, but the sons were James and Alexander GOUGH and Charles, Thomas, William and George EATHER; and the girls were Mary ROBERTS, Louisa FORRESTER, Phoebe BALDWIN and Rosina DALTON.

Ann spent almost 58 years spent in the colony and lived her last 48 years with Charles EATHER.
Her first husband, James GOUGH, was still alive and was residing in the Gundagai district.

At the time of Ann's death, 80 grandchildren had been born and eventually the number reached the enormous total of 113.

Charles continued to live in the Richmond district. Further sadness came his way when his daughter Rosina, died at Windsor on 20 January 1875 from a liver complaint. He was 75 then, but he lived for another fifteen years.

Little is known of how he spent his declining years. In his old age he resided with his youngest son George and family in March Street, Richmond. It was there that he died on 30 May 1891 at the age of 90. According to family oral history he dropped dead at the table while dining with the family. He was the only child of Thomas and Elizabeth EATHER to reach the age of 90, and his youngest brother James was the only one of their children to survive him. He had outlived his twin brother Thomas by over 4 years. He was survived by his four sons and over 30 grandchildren, as well as several great-grandchildren.
Windsor and Richmond Gazette, Saturday 6 June 1891
A very old resident of the district Mr. C. Eather, died on Sunday at the ripe old age of
91. Mr. Eather was born in Windsor at the residence now occupied by Mr. Wall. He resided
there for a great many years,and then removed to Richmond where he resided up to the
time of his death.
NOTE: Mr. Wall is James B. Wall who lived in the house in George Street up till his death on Monday 29 July 1895.

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The children Of Charles EATHER and Ann GOUGH nee CAIN:-

1.Charles EATHER b: May 1825 Richmond, NSW. d: 7 September 1899 at Blackall, Queensland. m. Frances Emma WATT 1829-1866. In the early 1890's he moved to Queensland to live and his many decendants have since made the name familiar in that state. Although by trade a cabinetmaker, he spent much of his life in Farming.

Charles age 74 died at the Blackall Hospital from the effects of arsenic poisoning. He was camped at Ravensbourne Station at Blackall and it was supposed that arsenic was accidently mixed with the flour supplied by the station. Several others in the same camp were taken ill after eating damper made with the flour.

His children of the marriage between he and Emma WATT were:-

Edward Charles EATHER 1850 1937 never married
John James EATHER 18521920 m. 1. Victoria TAYLOR 2. Emma YATES
Frances Emma Eather 18541946 m. Henry Alban GRAY
Albert E EATHER 1857 1857
Maria W EATHER 18581939 m. Charles Frederick ROSE
Louisa EATHER 1860 1860
Charles Olenzo EATHER 18641949 m. Emma ORBORNE

Next Charles 1825 had a relationship with Maria NORRIS, the children of this relationship were:-

Annie EATHER 1867 1867
Emily EATHER 1867
Lavinia Eliza EATHER 18681955 m. Hugh MCINTOSH
Frederick Charles EATHER 1872 m. Ellen RICE
Eva Louise EATHER 1881
Ada Florence EATHER 1883 1958

Frances Emma 1854-1936, had married Captain Henry Alban Gray, a ship's pilot in Sydney, and they seem to have led the migration to Queensland for they were living at Bundaburg in 1889. In that year, Mrs. Gray's sister, Lavinia Eather, visited them and met another shipping man, Capt. Hugh McIntosh from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, whom she married at Bundaberg on 26 December 1889

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2.Thomas EATHER b: 1828 Hawkesbury, died 14 November 1916 at Windsor, NSW. m.(1).Emma Mary STAPLES 1828-1867 Emma and all but Charles died in the 1867 Flood of the Hawkesbury
The children of this marriage were:-

Charles Frederick EATHER 18511885 m. Mary Ann MCKELLAR 1857-1925 his stepmother's youngest sister.
Ann Emma EATHER 1853 1867
Elizabeth Frances EATHER 1856 1867
James Rowley EATHER 1856 1867
Angelina EATHER 1862 1867
Emma Maud Mary EATHER 1865 1867

(2) Thomas next married Caroline Margaret MCKELLAR 1847-1915 the children of this marriage were:-

Thomas EATHER 18701944 m. Lillian Elizabeth BRADLEY
Arthur E EATHER 1872 1916
George William EATHER 18751961 m. Maria HOLLAND 1864-1931
Henrietta EATHER 1877 1878
William Henry EATHER 18791968 m. Hilda M MAHONEY 1892-1926
Harry EATHER 1881 1945
Leslie James EATHER 18831940 m. Charlotte Matilda HANN 1890-1967
Alice Maud EATHER 18851965 m. Francis Joseph PYE 1883-1974
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3.Frances EATHER 1833 1869 m. John BATEMAN the children of this marriage were:-
John H Bateman 18591926 m Josephine M F DOWNES 1870-1942
George Bateman 1862 1945
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4.William EATHER 1833 Richmond, NSW d: 8 September 1899 Rockdale, Sydney. married;
(1) Catherine MCMAHON 1831-1867 Catherine and All their children their children apart from John died in the Hawkesbury flood of 1867.
The children from this marriage were:-
Mary Ann Eather 1856 1867
Catherine Eather 1858 1867
Charles Eather 1860 1867
John Eather 1862 1866
Clara Teresa Eather 1864 1867
William Vincent Eather 1866 1867

(2) On the 2 September 1869,William next married Emma DODD 1830-1911. The daughter of Johh DODD and Isabella BEVITT. Emma was the widow of Joseph JASPER 1807-1862 who had been killed when a heavily laden dray he was driving ran over him at Green Swamp near Mudgee leaving Emma with 9 children.
William EATHER and Emma had only the one child:-
Sarah Eather 1871 1872

A further act of tragedy played out for William, for he met a violent death, when he was run down and killed by a locomotive at Rockdale railway station.
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5.George EATHER b:1834 Richmond, NSW died 17 May 1912 Richmond m. Dorothy 'Dora' Kinsela 1839-1915 the youngest child of Martin KINSELA 1793-1860 and Ellen HENDLING 1794-1862. George and Dora were married at St.Matthews Catholic Church Windsor on the 17 April 1860.
The children from this marriage were:-

Louisa Eather 18611950 m. Arthur Frederick CARR 1872-1936
Arthur G Eather 18621901 m. Florence HUNT
Helen Eather 1864 ?
Walter Leslie Eather 1865 1940
James William Eather 18671949 m. Sarah H WRIGHT 1874-1952
Ambrose M Eather 1869 1941
Emma M Eather 18721961 m. Allan MCNIVEN 1872-1949
Florence Ann Eather 1873 1901
George Raphael Eather 1875 1877
Henry V Eather 1877 1878
Dorothy May Eather 1879 1924 m. Richard Thomas FAHY 1886-1969
Charles George Eather 1881 1881
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6.Rosina EATHER 13 December 1836 (birth reg. Rosina GOUGH) 1875 Rosina died of liver disease after a long illness on the 20 January 1875 at Windsor. m. Alfred DALTON 1830-XXXX
The children from this marriage were:-
Lavinia Ann Dalton 1857
William Henry Dalton 1862 1919
Linda Rosina Dalton 1862
Sloper Edwin Dalton 1865
Alfred Ernest Dalton 1868
____________________________

The children of Ann GOUGH, nee CAIN and James GOUGH 1791-1876:-

1.James Alexander Gough 1815 1898 m. Amelia Brinchley WARD 1820-1872 the daughter of Michael Hanley Thompson WARD 1788-1859 and Sophia Jane CROLSTON 1788-1874. James and Amelia married in the Presbyterian church at Pitt Town on the 8 January 1838.

The children from this marriage were:-

Sophia J Gough 1838
James Alexander Gough 1841 1923
Harriett Gough 1846
John T Gough 1850
Charles Edward Gough 1852 1921
Amelia A Gough 1854
William G Gough 1857 1857
Emily J Gough 1858 1872
Victoria L Gough 1862 1863
----

2.Mary Gough 1817 1890 m. Edward ROBERTS 1813-1890 The children from this marriage were:-

William Roberts 1836
Ann Roberts 1837 1914
Kezia Roberts 1838 1920
Maria Roberts 1840 1913
Robert Roberts 1843 1909
John Roberts 1845 1913
George Edward Roberts 1849 1930
Edward Richard Roberts 1851 1899
Henry Roberts 1852 1935
Mary Jane Roberts 1856 1887
Charles James Roberts 1859 1942
Laura Luoisa Roberts 1861 1945

----

3.Alexander Gough 1819 1885 m. (1)Jane ROBINSON 1820-1853 The children from this marriage were:-

Emily Gough 1839
Jane Gough 1840 1841
John Gough 1842 1912
Alexander R. Gough 1845
Ann Gough 1848
James Gough 1851 1910
(2) Alexander next married Elizabeth WALKER 1840-1899 The children from this marriage were:-
Louise Gough 1860 1943
Jane Gough 1862
Letetia Gough 1865 1927
William Gough 1867 1945
Gough 1869
Charles A Gough 1871 1943
Sarah Gough 1873
Emily Matilda Gough 1876 1943
Edith Ellen Gough 1878 1937
George Samuel Gough 1881 1940
----

4.Louisa Gough 1820 1897 m. George FORRESTER 1821-1878 on the 25 Feb. 1839 at Portland Head, NSW. The children of this marriage were:-

Henry F Forrester 1839 1853
William James Forrester 1841 1913
Robert H Forrester 1850 1915
Fanny Forrester 1853 1854
George Henry Albert Forrester 1857 1861
----

5.Ann Gough 1821 1822

6.Elizabeth Gough b:1 December 1822 Sydney. d:1865 Mittagong m. Richard SOUTH 1814-1851 on the 10 December 1841 at St.Andrews Scots Church, Sydney

7.Phoebe Gough TWIN 1823 1905 m. Dio BALDWIN 1818-1878 The children from this marriage were:-

Elizabeth Baldwin 1843
Mary Ann Baldwin 1845 1884
Louisa Baldwin 1846 1851
Emily Baldwin 1848 1892
Henry Baldwin 1850 1920
Edwin Baldwin 1852 1852
Phoebe Baldwin 1854 1938
Wellow Baldwin 1858 1930
William Wynn Baldwin 1860 1944
Georgina Baldwin 1862
Victoria A Baldwin 1866 1947
----

8.Stephen Gough TWIN 1823 1863 died in Hobart ?
____________

Notes:

Ann Cain Married in the name Ann Fraites to James Goff
Reg no. v18172006 3A/1817 by Reverend Samuel Marsden at St John's C of E Parramatta.

Charles had the nickname 'Holy GO'

Charles was my third great grand uncle.




written by Janilye using research notes from newspapers, Hawkesbury Family records, my own family records and several sources within the Eather family and the Society of Genealogists Australia
Alt Ancestral Ref#: 1SGN-D8L S.O.G aust.

The son of Robert EATHER 1795-1881 and Mary LYNCH 1802-1853.

On his father's squattages near Wee Waa in the north west of New South Wales, and further north on the Narran River, James gained much of his early bush experience at the price of having almost every bone in his body broken at various times.

One of his early reminiscences illustrates the hardships of bush life as well as the toughness of those who undertook it: After a drought the stray cattle were rounded up on a high river-bank and each man was entitled to claim any beast which he could cut off from the herd. James's choice, in trying to evade capture, leaped over a cliff into the river but he pursued and caught it, still on horseback, for bullocks were too precious to be let escape so easily.

Despite his many adventures in the outback, his residence was at North Richmond until 1861 when he took over Thomas's farm at Richmond Bottoms.

James married Bridget Harriet HONAN the daughter of Patrick HONAN and Margaret FLANAGAN, she was born in Croagh a small village about 20 miles north of Limerick city in Ireland. James and Bridget married at St.Matthews Catholic Church in Windsor in 1855.

The benefits of North Richmond, where normal amenities were close at hand, would have been much appreciated by Mrs. Bridget Eather.
She could read, write, sew and play the piano. All accomplishments which were much appreciated after she left the civilisation of Richmond with her husband and several small children for the barely explored wilds of the Bellinger River district. The date on which that difficult journey was undertaken was in 1863 when the Richmond Bottoms proved as unrewarding to James as it had to his brother.

They arrived at Urunga Heads in a sailing vessel and from there on it was hard travelling with a horse and three slides for twenty three miles up the river to the spot where they settled, at Boat Harbour near the later town of Bellingen.

The attractions of the district to which the Eathers came, among the very first who accepted the invitation of paying off their farms under the Free Selection legislation of 1861, were the lush river flats, temperature climate and limitless expanses of virgin land.

At first, however, the only economic use to which the land could be put was cedar-getting. The earliest settlers cut the cedar from the foothills of the valley, axing their way finally onto the Dorrigo plateau and sending out the precious logs on the boats which brought in their supplies.

The land was in it's virgin condition requiring much toil before crops could be sown and it was 1864 before the first blocks, including the Eather's could be surveyed.

There, on what became the "Orange Grove" property, the Eather children grew to sturdy adulthood, the daughters were taught sewing by their mother who had somehow managed to bring both sewing machine and piano to the little clearing in the frowning forrest, and both boys and girls finding their recreation in the Irish jigs which she taught them. She was obliged likewise to instruct the elder children in reading and writing, for a provisional school was not yet established on the Upper Bellinger until 1869 when James Eather became one of the members of the local board.

One of the other members of the board was William Jarrett, reputed to be the first settler on the river. Before many years the link between the two families was made even stronger with the marriage of the eldest Eather daughter, Mary, to Thomas Jarrett.

The Children of James Joseph EATHER and Bridget were:-

1. Mary Eliza EATHER 1856?1933 m. Thomas W Jarrett 1851-1935 in 1875 at Bellingen, New South Wales

2.James Joseph EATHER 1858?1920 m. Millicent Sarah BATH 1867-1960 at Walcha, New South Wales, on 31 August 1885.

3. Abraham Robert EATHER 1860?1860

4. Matilda Sarah EATHER 1861?1942 m. Joseph MURPHY 1860-1940 at
Boat Harbour Bellinger River, New South Wales on 5 March 1889.

5. Teresa Jane EATHER 1865?1886 m. Michael MCCRISTAL 1861-1921 at Bellingen, New South Wales on 25 November 1885.

6. Margaret Charlotte EATHER 1868?1932 m. Charles P KEEBLE 1867-1932 at Bellingen, New South Wales, in 1893.

7. Thomas Charles EATHER 1869?1958 m. Anne BROWNLEE 1879-1933 at
Bellingen, New South Wales in 1899.

8. Abraham R EATHER 1872? XXXX

9. John Louis EATHER 1876?1954 m. Ruth F TAYLOR 1880-? (Queensland) at Glen Innes, New South Wales in 1915.

10. George EATHER 1878 ? XXXXI can't find any record of him apart from an attestation paper on enlistment into the A I F where he claims Mrs. Margaret Keeble is his sister. She is listed as next of kin.

Bridget Harriet died at Bellingen on the 3 May 1886.
James Joseph EATHER died at Bellingen on the 21 November 1906.

The wife of James Joseph Eather 1821-1906, son of Robert Eather 1795-1881 and Mary Lynch 1802-1853

The benefits of North Richmond, where normal amenities were close at hand, would have been much appreciated by Mrs. Bridget Eather, an Irish woman of some culture, originating from Limerick. She could read, write, sew and play the piano. All accomplishments which were much appreciated after she left the civilisation of Richmond with her husband and several small children for the barely explored wilds of the Bellinger River district. The date on which that difficult journey was undertaken was in 1863 when the Richmond Bottoms proved as unrewarding to James as it had to his brother.

They arrived at Urunga Heads in a sailing vessel and from there on it was hard travelling with a horse and three slides for twenty three miles up the river to the spot where they settled, at Boat Harbour near the later town of Bellingen.

The attractions of the district to which the Eathers came, among the very first who accepted the invitation of paying off their farms under the Free Selection legislation of 1861, were the lush river flats, temperature climate and limitless expanses of virgin land.

At first, however, the only economic use to which the land could be put was cedar-getting. The earliest settlers cut the cedar from the foothills of the valley, axing their way finally onto the Dorrigo plateau and sending out the precious logs on the boats which brought in their supplies.

The land was in it's virgin condition requiring much toil before crops could be sown and it was 1864 before the first blocks, including the Eather's could be surveyed.

There, on what became the "Orange Grove" property, the Eather children grew to sturdy adulthood, the daughters were taught sewing by their mother who had somehow managed to bring both sewing machine and piano to the little clearing in the frowning forrest, and both boys and girls finding their recreation in the Irish jigs which she taught them. She was obliged likewise to instruct the elder children in reading and writing, for a provisional was not yet established on the Upper Bellinger until 1869 when James Eather became one of the members of the local board.

One of the other members of the board was William Jarrett, reputed to be the first settler on the river. Before many years the link between the two families was made even stronger with the marriage of the eldest Eather daughter, Mary, to Thomas Jarrett.

Robert EATHER The son of Thomas EATHER 1764-1827 and Elizabeth LEE 1771-1860, was born on the 29 April 1795 at Parramatta, New South Wales.
On the 24 August 1824 at St.Matthews Church of England, Windsor, Robert married Mary LYNCH the daughter of Dublin couple Thomas LYNCH 1769-1831 and Celia Catherine DALEY 1768-1826.

Thomas LYNCH, was born in Ireland in the parish of St Paul's, Dublin in February 1769.
He joined the 61st regiment of foot (South Gloucestershire) on 1 May 1790, and served in it until 5 February 1791. He then transferred to the 56th regiment of foot (West Essex) & served in it until 26 June 1794. He joined the New South Wales corps (102nd regiment) in London on 15 August 1796 & for 2 years helped overseer convicts in the hulks on the Thames.
On 6th August 1798 he sailed from London to Cork in the transport ship "Minerva".
The ship was delayed at Cork by the Irish Revolution and other causes and it took over six months to embark 191 prisoners. Of these, 78 were political prisoners.
The ship "Minerva" finally sailed from Cork on 24 August 1799 under the military command of William COX, the later builder of the road over the Blue Mountains.
On the ship "Minerva" Thomas met Celia Catherine DALEY who, born in Dublin in 1768 & convicted at the same place in May 1798 for an unknown offence, had been transported for seven years. The date of their marriage is not known although the settlers muster book of 1800 records that they were living together at that time. Their only surviving child, Mary, was born in 1802/03 but it is possible that an infant named Thomas LYNCH who died in 1801 was an older child. In the Indents Thomas is described as being 5'7" in height, of swarthy complexion, with grey eyes, dark brown hair and a long visage.

Celia died in 1826 age 58 years & was buried on 16 November 1826 with the rites of the Roman Catholic Church.
Private Lynch's total military service of 31 years and 27 days included 4 years and 56 days in the 61st Regiment, 13 years and 222 days in the 102nd. Regiment, and 13 years and 214 days in the Royal Veterans.

( His military career, by later confusion of ancestors, seems to be the origin of a common belief that Thomas Eather, the pioneer, was a soldier).

On discharge in 1827 Thomas Lynch was granted one hundred acres of land which he unsuccessfully endeavoured to select at the Hunter River. Taking up his residence with Robert and Mary Eather in George Street, Windsor, he made a further attempt to select his grant, this time at Kurrajong, but he was again frustrated and his death occurred before he could choose his land. The grant was finally secured by Robert Eather in the Field of Mars district (Ryde) and named "Eather's Retreat".

Robert Eather received his first grant of land from Governor Macquarie at Mittagong.

The stony, scrubby land of the southern highlands, then so remote from the settled districts and so unfamiliar to a Hawkesbury native, induced him to exchange it for a small herd of cattle which he took to a sixty acre farm which he leased at Cornwallis.

He was prospering for in one year, 1828-1829, his stock increased from 20 cattle and 6 horses to 100 cattle, 11 horses and 40 pigs.

Shortly afterwards he spent a brief period in Tasmania, presumably in company with Jonathan Griffiths, an old family friend who had come out to New South Wales at the same time as Robert's father and who was by that period engaged in some very important pioneering work in Launceston.

Before the Tasmanian interlude, he moved with his wife and six children in 1829 onto the Cornwallis farm where he had constructed a comfortable dwelling.

Ten years later he was living at Richmond, having obtained a six years lease of the farm of Jonathon Griffiths from the beginning of 1836 and taking as wards three of Griffith's orphaned grandchildren as part of the arrangement.

He was also interested in land in the north, across the forbidding mountain ranges which his brother, Thomas EATHER, had been one of the first to penetrate and tame.

He used land between the Bulga Road and the Colo River; he leased an area near Howe's Valley a little later, and was lessee at various times of a number of runs in the far north west of New South Wales.

The children of Robert EATHER and Mary, nee LYNCH were:-

1. Thomas EATHER 1820 ? 1874 m. Susannah MERRICK 1812-1894 on the 26 August 1844, St.Matthews Catholic, Windsor.

2. James Joseph EATHER 1821 ? 1906 m. Bridget Harriet HONAN 1833-1886 at St.Matthews Catholic Church, Windsor.

3. Elizabeth EATHER 1822 ? 1874 m. Thomas GRIFFITHS 1820-1856 on 3 Feb. 1840 at St.Matthews Presbyterian Church, Windsor

4. Robert Vincent EATHER 1824 ? 1879 m. Ann CORNWELL 1831-1889 on 29 May 1847 at Richmond, NSW.

5. Cecilia Teresa EATHER 1826 ? 1913 m. Michel Thomas DESPOINTES 1815-1865 at St.Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, on 14 Sept. 1848

6. Abraham Joseph EATHER 1828 ? 1906 m. (1) Margaret MCELLIGOTT 1830-1856 at St.Matthews Catholic church Windsor,17 June 1851 (2) Ellen FARRELL 1842-1928 on 16 September 1863 at Windsor.

7. Mary EATHER 1830?1902 m. (1)Mathias GRIFFITHS 1823-1863 at St.Matthews Catholic church Windsor, in 1850 and (2) Thomas COOPER 1823-1902 at St.Matthews in 1865.

8. Charlotte Cecilia EATHER 1835 ? 1862 m. Michael Benedict HEFFERNAN 1835-1877 at St.Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Sydney in 1858

9. Rachel Teresa EATHER 1836 ? 1912 m. William John KING 1829-1905 at St.Matthews Catholic church Windsor, on 18 June 1855.

10. William EATHER 1839 ? 1842

11. John Joseph EATHER 1841 ? 1842

12. Sarah Mary EATHER 1843 ? 1921 m. James EATHER 1838-1935 on the 16 September 1863. James was 1st cousin, son of James EATHER 1811-1899 and Mary Ann HAND 1815-1894

Mary EATHER nee LYNCH died on the 9 June 1853 at North Richmond. She was buried the next day at the Windsor Catholic Cemetery.

Then on 6 December 1856 at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Parramatta, Robert Eather married Elizabeth BROWN, the widow of one Mark BROWN and the mother of three children.
She had been born in Dublin in 1801, the daughter of Martin CREAGH and Mary O'ROURKE, and came to Australia as a convict on the ship 'Hooghly' which reached Port Jackson on 27 September 1831. She had been tried at Limerick on 13 March 1831 and the indents describe her as being 5' 2?" in height with hazel eyes and brown hair and having a sallow, freckled appearance.
By occupation she was a 'dress maker and house keeper' and her crime was stealing money from her master.
On arrival she was assigned to James COX at Parramatta and, at the time of her marriage to Robert, she was managing four boarding houses in York Street, Sydney behind the present B.B.C. Hardware (formerly Nock and Kirbys). Robert appears to have assisted her in this occupation for some time during the 1850's and in 1858/1859 is listed as the manager of a boarding house at 98-104, York Street, on the east side, two doors from Market Street.
Elizabeth died at North Richmond on the 22 April 1873 and is buried at Windsor Cemetery.

janilye? 2009

Andrew Henry EATHER alias Alain John COOPER,the son of Andrew Eather 1875-1965 and Enid King 1886-1931 -
The James EATHER Line.

For some unexplained reason Andrew Eather changed his name. Perhaps it was to get away from the law or perhaps a Mrs. Andrew Eather for it seems Andrew enjoyed a good wedding.

His new name began as Alan John Cooper and under that name he went to Grafton and married Monica Ruth BURNS in the Catholic Church at South Grafton on the 12 April 1941

The next year on 19 May 1942 under the name of Alain John Cooper he joins the 1st Armoured Regiment and gets shipped off to New Guinea as a driver. After the war he remains with the army till 1946 when he is discharged.

Before his discharge on the 22 August 1945 he marries again. This time using the name Alain John Cooper he goes all the way down to Goulburn and marries Jean LANHAM in the Church of England.

This 'wife juggling', doesn't last very long for the wives find out and on the 20 December 1945 Jean LANHAM hands him an annulment for Christmas. Not to be outdone, the following week on the 27 December Monica Ruth up in Grafton wishes him a Happy New Year with a divorce.

On a sad note Monica Ruth had a son in 1941, which they named Alain John Cooper, who died in infancy.

1946 rolls around and on the 13 July 1946 Alain John Cooper ties the knot again. This time with Dulcie Elizabeth NEIL. However this time Alain sticks and remains true, for they produced 10 children.

Alain John Cooper formerly Andrew Henry Eather died at Redcliffe, Queensland in the year 2000.

As a footnote I'd just like to add, that if you happen to be a decendant of Andrew Eather 1914-2000 and you were brought up wondering what happened to him. Now you know!

When Andrew Eather left home, he left a family, to live out their days wondering whatever became of him.

written by janilye from several sources:
NSW State records,
NSW.BD&M
National Library of Australia

The Family Name:

EATHER, the family name, has it's origin in Australia. All EATHER's are related.
Thomas and Samuel, the uncle and nephew who were the progenitors of the Australian EATHER's both arrived with the surname of HEATHER. The subsequent evolution of the family name from HEATHER to EATHER can be attributed to the poor standard of literacy existing in New South Wales during the early years of the colony. It is amongst the HEATHER's of England, therefore, that we must look for the ancestral background of the EATHER family.

Early Background

The HEATHER family seems to have roots in England going back at least to Norman times. When the convention of family names developed in the twelfth century, the names adopted came from a variety of sources, such as place names, occupations, skills, colours, plants, and others. It does not necessarily follow that the family name HEATHER was derived from the shrub of that spelling. It appears that the family name was not pronounced the same as the name of the shrub, but as "Heether" and sometimes even as "Heefer". This would account for the spelling variations such as "Heyther", "Heither", and "Hether" which appeared from time to time in the period before spelling was standardised in the middle of the eighteenth century. It would also account for the current pronunciation of the EATHER family name in Australia. It is interesting to note that there is a village named Heather a few miles west of the city of Leicester in the English Midlands, and it's name is pronounced "Heether".

The earliest known appearance of the HEATHER family name in English records is to be found in the Subsidy Rolls for the county of Worcestershire, where in the year 1327 the name John Henry le Hether is recorded. This is well back into Feudal times and only a few generations after the convention of family names had become the practice in England. The Heather family name does not figure prominently in English medieval history, so it is likely that the Heathers were people of fairly humble circumstances who did not rate highly in the feudal hierarchy of their day. Nevertheless, one branch of the family did achieve the distinction of Armorial Bearings.

When researching ancestors, be aware of the illiteracy of the previous generations. Names were written as they were pronounced, sometimes on birth and death certificates, often on marriage certificates and in many cases legal documents such as the case before the Supreme Court below (which I have posted merely as a matter of interest).


[ Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales, 1788-1899
Published by the Division of Law Macquarie University
[murder - domestic violence - Wollombi]
R. v. FINNIE
Supreme Court of New South Wales
Stephen J., 6 August 1839
Before Mr. Justice STEPHEN and a Military Jury.

Thomas FINNIE was indicted for the wilful murder of Elizabeth FINNIE, his wife, at Wollombi, or Cockfighter's Creek, in the district of Hunter's River, on the 23rd of April last.

The prisoner was a small settler at the Wollombi, and having conceived that his wife was in comply with a bullock driver, or some person who was staying at a neighbour's hut occupied by one Samuel Ether, went there and enquired for his wife, who had just escaped out of the back door, having by some means heard that her husband was coming; he went out afterwards and found her about six or seven rods from Ether's hut, beat her with fists for about ten minutes, then returned home, fetched a musket, and beat her about the head and body until he broke the musket; then dragged her by the hair of her head to the threshold of ETHER's house, and dashed her head against it; threw her down again, and lifted up a tub of water standing in the verandah and threw the tub and all over her face, then dragged her by the hair again to an iron-bark tree about seven rods, where his conduct was disgustingly indecent and brutal. After this he beat her dreadfully, and on taking her home threw her down and jumped upon her; ultimately, with assistance, he took her home, where she died.

These facts were sworn to by Ether's wife and her servant LOUGHLIN, and although there were some slight discrepancies, their evidence was corroborative on all the material points. Guilty.
His Honor, in passing sentence, told the prisoner that it was totally impossible that any mercy could be extended towards him.
The prisoner was defended by Messrs. FOSTER and WINDEYER.
Source: Sydney Herald, 9 August 1839

The ETHER's in the above were:-
Samuel HEATHER born 17 MAY 1795 • Saint Paul's Cray, Kent, England
TRIED at Maidstone, Kent in 1817, sentenced to 7 years for Larceny
departed England on the 'Morley' 18 July 1818 and Arrived at Port Jackson
on the 17 November 1818. He received his Certificate of Freedom on the 20 January 1825.
His wife Mary HEDGES alias DONOVAN was born in Cork, Ireland in 1807
Tried on the 26 March 1806 and found guilty of House Robbery and sentenced to 7 years.
She departed England on the 'Brothers' on the 3 October 1826 and arrived in Sydney Cove
on the 2 February 1827. Mary and Samuel were married on the 15 February 1828 at Newcastle
New South Wales, The marriage was registered as Samuel HEATHER and Mary DONOVAN.
Their first daughter born 22 April 1828 was registered as EATHER.
Samuel HEATHER died at Warkworth on the 10 September 1841 the Death registered as EATHER
NSW.BD&M.DEATHS/ V18411756 25B/1841 EATHER SAMUEL AGE 54
The sudden change between Heather and Eather in this case was due to the fact that after the marriage they moved to an area where cousin Thomas EATHER and the EATHER/ETHER family well known.
Thomas's twin brother Charles EATHER residing south in Cornwallis near Windsor was, according to the 1828 Census, Charles ETHER.

The Family of Rachel Eather 1807-1875
and
John Norris 1803-1864

Rachel Eather, youngest daughter of the pioneers, Thomas EATHER and Elizabeth nee, LEE
On the 17th December, two months after she turned sixteen, she was married to John Norris, the eldest son of Richard NORRIS 1776-1843 and Mary Norris, nee WILLIAMS 1778-1863 who had a farm at Cornwallis. Witnesses at the wedding were John's brother Richard, Rachels brother Thomas Eather and Sarah McAlpin, who became her sister-in-law the following year.

John Norris was a Catholic and the wedding was conducted at Cornwallis by the rites of the Roman Catholic faith. The wedding was registered at St.Mary's in the register of Roman Catholic Marriages.


John NORRIS met a violent death at Sally's Bottoms, Kurrajong, on the 26th. September 1864 when he was thrown from a loaded cart and crushed beneath the wheel. His widow later went to Spring Creek, near Orange, where Rachel died on 3 August 1875.

One of the NORRIS children Rebecca (who married John COOK) spent nearly 40 years after their marriage at Coonamble where they kept the "Morning Star" hotel.

1. Maria NORRIS b: 1824, married (1) Patrick DUNN 1823-1850, on 30 January 1843. The children of this marriage were:-
Elizabeth Leticia Dunn 1843 ? 1845
Rachel Anne Dunn 1845
(2) Peter PAGE 1816-1878 on the 4 September 1859. The children of this marriage were :-
Maria Amelia Page 1851 - 1924
Peter John Page 1856 - 1922
Thomas Page 1862
Catherine Emma Page 1865 - 1869


2. Harriet NORRIS b:15th. December 1824 d:10 October 1841. buried 11 October 1841 Windsor Catholic Cemetery.

3. Michael John NORRIS b:1832 in Cornwallis, NSW and died 1909, Wellington New South Wales married (i) Jane COLBRAN 1838-1875 at St.Matthews Catholic Church Windsor in 1854 The children of this marriage were:-
John Joseph Norris 1854
Thomas Norris 1856 - 1857
Mary Jane Norris 1858 - 1948
James M Norris 1860 - 1943
Dominick J Norris 1862
Agnes R Norris 1864 - 1865
Francis S Norris 1866
Herbert Norris 1868
Walter Norris 1872
Alice Lavinia Norris 1874 - 1970
Garrett Norris 1875 - 1877
Abraham Norris 1876 - 1971
Unnamed Norris 1877 - 1877
(ii) Barbara Ellen PASCOE, nee GRUBB 1842-1895 married in 1878 in Orange NSW one child Kathleen Ada b:1881

4. Elizabeth NORRIS b:27 October 1834 in Hobart, Tasmania. d: 25 August 1894 at North Richmond. Married in 2 November 1854 Cornelius MCMAHON b:1824-1894 at St.Matthews Catholic Church, Windsor. The children were:-
Thomas McMahon 1855 - 1890 John McMahon 1857 ? 1865
Mary Elizabeth McMahon 1859 - 1919
Rachael Louise McMahon 1862 - 1950
Michael Stephen McMahon 1864 - 1914
Peter Matthew McMahon 1866 - 1922
James Joseph McMahon 1868 - 1940
Catherine Jane McMahon 1871
Abraham Michael McMahon 1873 - 1954
Harriet Cecelia McMahon 1876 - 1932
George Stephen Cornelius McMahon 1878 - 1949

5. Thomas NORRIS b: 17 July 1836 Derwent, Tasmania d: 26 July 1903 married Catherine London 1843-1911 on 30 October 1861 in Richmond New South Wales. The children of this marriage were:-
Percival Norris 1865 - 1926
Henrietta Norris 1868 - 1899
Frederick Joseph Norris 1869 - 1940
Nell Norris 1869 - 1869
Marie Josephine Norris 1873 - 1959
Rachel L Norris 1875 - 1957
Thomas H Norris 1878 - 1903
Ada Alice Norris 1880
John Norris 1882

6. Rachel NORRIS b:3 November 1839 Tasmania d:1 July 1915 in Dubbo, married John Michael COLBRAN 1836-1914 on the 27 June 1855 the children of this marriage were:-
Michael John Colbran 1857 - 1934
Robert Colbran 1859 - 1929
Mary Jane Colbran 1861 - 1911
James Colbran 1863 - 1864
Rebecca Colbran 1866 - 1866
Stephen Colbran 1867 - 1870
Emily Colbran 1868 - 1937
Sarah A Colbran 1871
Caroline Colbran 1873
Angelina Colbran 1876 - 1947
Thomas Henry Colbran 1878 - 1948
Clara L Colbran 1881 - 1883
Frederick William Colbran 1884 - 1962

7. Ann NORRIS b:19 March 1842, Kurrajong, d:25 August 1931. Married Henry F. GREEN 1839-1916 on 27 May 1862 at Richmond. The children of this marriage were:-
John H Green 1863
William T Green 1865 - 1944
Robert Michael Green 1867 - 1949
Mary Ann Green 1869
Margaret R Green 1871 - 1934
Eva Jane Green 1873
Ernest Sydney Green 1875
James Stephen Green 1877 - 1927
Minnie Emma Green 1880 - 1968
Esther Cecelia Green 1883 - 1971

8. Rebecca NORRIS b: 30 June 1844, Kurrajong and died in Oatley,26 January 1936. Married John COOK 1843-1915 on 31 May 1865 at Richmond. Yhe children of this marriage were :_
Michael William Cook 1866 - 1928
Agnes Rachel Cook 1868
Ada Cook 1869 - 1949
Amy Cook 1871 - 1953
Amos John Cook 1872
Emily A (Bette) Cook 1874
Minnie Ann Cook 1877 - 1957
Esther Cecilia Cook 1879 - 1882
Richard Henry Cook 1881 - 1924
Louisa Jane Cook 1883 - 1953

9. Stephen NORRIS b:1846 Kurrajong and d: 18 September 1888 in Dubbo N.S.W. married Ellen MCGUINESS 1855-1962 in Dubbo in 1875. The children of this marriage were:-
Stephen John Norris 1876 - 1959
Caroline Amelia Norris 1879
Ethel M Norris 1882
James Norris 1885
Stephen Norris 1887

10. Susannah Mary NORRIS b:7 March 1852 Kurrajong and died 9 September 1940 married (1) Isaac Cook 1846-1895 on the 13 September 1870 in Orange N.S.W.The children of this marriage were:-
Frederick Cook 1871 - 1947
Libby (Matilda)Ann Cook 1873
Isaac John Cook 1874 - 1953
Esther Cook 1876 - 1877
Albert Stephen Cook 1877 - 1925
Michael Amos Cook 1880 - 1941
Elsie Eva Rubina Cook 1892 - 1969
(2) Susannah Mary next married Alfred T DRUITT 1859-1934 in 1898 at Dubbo, New South Wales.