Walter and Martha married on 16 Jan 1892 in All Saints Church, Saint Kilda, no address was given for Martha at the time, but Walter was living in Hawthorn according to the marriage certificate. From the time of his marriage, and for the birth of his first two children Walter worked as a blacksmith. Their eldest daughter, Martha Todman (later known as Ruby) arrived on 24th December in 1894 at the Women's hospital.

On the 14th September 1895 Walter Todman and his wife welcomed Ivy Florence Todman into the world. Life must have changed dramatically for the family by 1895, with 2 small children life must have been busy for the Todman household. The family had been living at 27 Arthur St, South Yarra, Victoria when Ruby was born. During the intervening 18 months between their first and second child the family had shifted to 3 Palmero Place, South Yarra , They may have also resided at Hancock St, South Melbourne for a short time as well.

Walter was still pursuing his inventions and continued to register new patents. In April 1894 he made an application for a patent for "an improved machine for saving gold" In October 1895 Walter was granted a patent for "An improved automatic check for venetian blinds." . He appears to have left his occupation as a Blacksmith and is working as a casual waiter perhaps to allow more time to focus on his inventions. But October 1895 saw the last of his applications for patents, earlier in that year in January he had even abandoned one.

Things appear to have hit boiling point for Martha as we next find the couple in the Prahran Police Court . Martha alleges that her husband Walter Todman left "her without any means of support at South Yarra on the 3rd inst." December, 1895. She had two children and "her husband was a job waiter and earned about 11 pound a month. Her parents were in England." The couple had a violent domestic argument, resulting in Walter being struck with a poker . It was resolved by the court an order being issued "for a I pound a week maintenance, and one surety of 25 pounds to be found for a due observance" She has been quoted as saying "her husband, who was a waiter, was in the habit of handing her his earnings each week, but on Sunday week be refused to give her any money, and since then she could not live with him on account of his temper and disgusting language."

After all this angst and excitement things appear to settle at least for the next few years until 1901.

For sources see Originally published at Link: Sandra's Ancestral Research Journal on the 4 October 2015