Regimental number: 4433
School: State School, Victoria
Religion: Church of England
Occupation: Hairdresser
Address: Lava Street, Warrnambool, Victoria
Marital status: Single
Age at embarkation: 18
Next of kin: Brother, G Baker, Lava Street, Warrnambool, Victoria
Previous military service: Nil
Enlistment date : 17 July 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll: 19 July 1915
Rank on enlistment: Private
Unit name : 14th Battalion, 14th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number: 23/31/4
Embarkation details: Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A70 Ballarat on 18 February 1916
Rank from Nominal Roll: Private:
Unit from Nominal Roll: 14th Battalion
Fate: Killed in Action 8 August 1916
Place of death or wounding: Mouquet Farm, Pozieres, France
Place of burial: Serre Road Cemetery No. 2 (Plot III, Row D, Grave No. 3), France
Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial: 71
Miscellaneous information from cemetery records
Parents: Walter and Mary Ann BAKER, Born at Warrnambool, Victoria
Other details
War service: Western Front
Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Known as "Charlie", Charles William Baker was the grandson of John Everard and Jane Sanders, being the son of their daughter Mary Ann Everard. Prior to his enlisting, he was working in Warrnambool as a hairdresser, apprenticed to J. Fisher of Warrnambool.
On July 19, 1915, both Charlie and his older brother, Henry Draper Baker, enlisted to serve with the AIF . Being only 18 years old, and with both of his parents deceased, Charlie had to seek the written permission of an elder brother, George Baker, to endorse his enlistment with the 14th Battalion.
Henry "Harry" Baker was 21 years old, and had spent five years in an apprenticeship with a local Warrnambool tailor before enlisting. The brothers did not serve in the same Unit...whilst Charlie was in the 14th Battalion, Harry enlisted as a trumpeter with the Field Artillery Brigade 4, Battery 10.
Harry left for overseas service first...his Unit embarked from Melbourne on board HMAT A18 Wiltshire on 18 November 1915. Charlie sailed from Melbourne with his Unit in February of the following year.
Harry served in Egypt and France, but despite sickness and shellshock, was fortunate enough to be able to return to Australia in April of 1919. His younger brother Charlie was not so lucky... after serving his country for less than six months, 18 year old Charlie Baker was killed, along with three mates, by a German Officer in a trench on the Western Front.
The circumstances of Charlie's death are heartbreaking and horrifying in equal measures. An eyewitness report, filed by the Red Cross, reads as follows:
" 14th Battalion, A.I.F. Baker. C.W., 4433.
MISSING 8-8-1916.
In front of Moquet Farm in the trenches early in the morning of the 7th, the Germans counter attacked, and cut five of us off. We could not have got away, we were wounded. One German officer was going to take us back as prisoners. A second officer came up, but seeing that they would have some difficulty to remove us, the second officer shot us, as we were resting in the trenches.
C. Baker, H. Carroll, George Booth and L. Handley were killed, but the bullet he fired at me hit a testament in my pocket and only just went through it, and did not kill me.
Reference: J.C.A Findlow, 5375,
Ward 22, Harefield Hospital.
September 30, 1916.
P.S. I saw the Testament and have no doubt the story is true.
- D.P. Dickson, London, October 6, 1916."
" 14th Batt, A.I.F. Baker, C.W. 4433 "B" Coy.
Missing August 1916.
Witness saw soldier's body lying in No Man's Land between Pozieres and Moquet Farm on August 7, 1916. On examination of the body, the witness saw that the soldier had been hit in the head with a bullet and was quite dead. Does not know if soldier was buried. Knew him well, being in the same company.
Description: Height 5 feet 10, sharp features. Called "Snowy".
Witness: Wynne, L/Cpt 1307, 14th Batt, "B" Coy.
March 29, 1917, Wergret Camp, Wareham."
" A.I.F 14th Batt. Baker C.W. 4433. Missing 8/ 8/ 1916.
I was wounded in the same action. His name was Charlie. We came from Warrnambool together.
Ref: Inf. R. Fisher, 4483. Dartford, 21 March, 1917."
This soldier was Warrnambool man Raymond Owen Fisher, a 24 year old tailor who had enlisted with the 14th Battalion on July 12, 1915, and sailed with Charlie Baker on the ship 'Ballarat' in February 1916.
There was one conflicting report from another witness:
"14th batt. A.I.F. Baker, C.W. 4433
Missing August 8, 1916.
Witness saw soldier wounded in our own front line trenches at Pozieres, on the 8th August 1916, around 9:30 P.M. A shell exploded, wounding soldier badly in the back, and he was carried by stretcher-bearers to a dressing station in the rear. Does not know what happened to him afterwards. Witness knew soldier well, and was in the same company.
Description: 5ft 9 inches. Fair complexion. Medium build.
Witness: Burnett, C.C. 702, 14th Batt., "A" Coy.
April 7, 1917. Worgret Camp, Wareham."
I would think that the eyewitness account of what happened would be more reliable than the second version given by the soldier Burnett. The first account is also backed up by the fact that the bodies of the four soldiers who were killed by the German Officer in the trench- Charlie Baker, George Booth, Lionel Handley and Horace Carroll- were all exhumed together from the same unmarked grave in 1927, and reburied in separate plots, but next to each other, in the Serre Road Cemetery near Beaumont Hamel in France.
A witness who saw Horace Carroll's body after he had been shot also supports the first account by John Findlow:
" Witness says he came across soldier's body in No Mans Land between Pozieres and Moquet farm. He had been hit in the head by a machine gun bullet, and was dead when witness saw him. Witness took the soldier's identity disc and handed it to the Coy. Sergeant Major, "B" Coy, 14th Battalion,.(Trewheeler). Does not know if soldier was buried.
Witness: Lt. Corp. Wynne, 1307, "B" Coy, 14th Battalion.
This witness was Nathaniel Thompson Wynne, from Box Hill, near Melbourne, who had also provided information regarding Charlie Baker's death.
At the time of their deaths in a trench on the Western Front, Charlie Baker was aged 18, Lionel Handley was 19, George Booth was 21 and Horace Handley was 23 years of age.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Mary Ann Everard, daughter of John Everard & Jane Sanders.
Above: This photo of Mary Anne Everard thrills me, because it is the only photo of an Everard that I have ever seen. It was cropped from a beautiful photo of Mary Ann Everard and her husband Walter Baker, surrounded by children and grandchildren, which was taken c. 1910, which is the year Mary Anne died. The photo was very kindly sent to me by Mary Ann Everard Baker's great-great granddaughter, Heather Purdy, who also gave me permission to use the photo in this blog.Mary Ann Everard was the third child and second daughter born to John Everard and Jane Sanders. Like her elder siblings Eliza and John, no record exists of her birth or baptism, but information given on later certificates point to her birth year as being c. 1854...Her brother Tom's birth certificate stated that Mary Ann was aged 2 at his birth in 1856 = birth year c. 1854. Her sister Annie's birth certificate stated Mary Ann was aged 7 in 1863, but her father got the ages of Mary Ann and her brother Thomas mixed up, saying that Tom was 9 and Mary Ann 7, when in reality their ages were the other way around. Again, this places Mary Ann's birth year as c. 1854-55.Her death certificate puts her age at 56 when she died in 1910= birth year 1854. Her marriage certificate says that Mary Ann was aged 20 in 1871 when she married, suggesting that she was born in c. 1851. This is most definitely not true, as her elder brother John David was not born until 1852, and Mary Ann was two years younger than him. Mary Ann would have actually been aged about 17 when she married, the same age as her eldest sister Elizabeth when she had married in 1867.
Mary Ann Everard's education in Warrnambool must have been very limited, or indeed non-existent, as she was not literate, signing her name on her marriage certificate with a cross. At the age of 17 prior to her marriage, she was already employed as a domestic servant. Mary Ann Everard married London-born Walter Baker on November 27, 1871, at the residence of the local baptist minister, Ebenezer Henderson, in Raglan Street, Warrnambool.
Walter was the son of John Baker and Mary Ann Turland, and according to information given on Walter's marriage and death certificates, he was born in c. 1846. His death certificate gives his mother's name as 'Jane' Turland in comparison to 'Mary Ann Turland' which appears on his marriage certificate. The latter must be favoured as being correct, since it was Walter himself who was giving the information on the marriage certificate, as opposed to an informant on his death certificate. In addition to this point, there is a marriage of John Baker to Mary Ann Turland on May 28, 1826, at St. George, Middlesex, which is most likely that of Walter's parents.
"Mary Ann Turland married 28 May 1826 to John Baker, parish of St George in the East."
Mary Ann Turland was born on October 29, 1807, to parents William Turland and his wife Mary Chamberlain, who had married at St. Johns, Hackney, on Christmas Day, 1806.
I do not know when and how Walter emigrated to Australia, as I can't locate a shipping record to match his age. His occupation as given on his marriage certificate was baker, but later in life was a printer. Mary Ann gave birth to her first child seven months after her marriage.
On June 22, 1872, daughter Louisa Mary Anne Turland Baker was born at Warrnambool. She was followed by twelve siblings:
Alfred Edward Baker born 29 March, 1874.
George Alfred Turland Baker born 1876 .
Walter David Baker born 1878
Hilda Jane Baker born 1880
Amy May Baker born 1882 died 1882
Clara Emma Baker born 1883
Emma Elizabeth born 1886
Florence Annie Baker born 1888
John Thomas Baker born 1889
Violet Sarah Baker born 1892 died 1900 aged 8 years
Charles William Baker born 1897.Killed in action, France,August 8, 1916
Henry Draper Baker born 1899
Mary Ann's little daughter Violet Baker died when she was eight years old after being severely scalded in an accident. The newspapers reported:
" WARRNAMBOOL: A little girl named Violet Baker, while playing with her brother, fell against a kerosene tin of boiling water, which capsized over the lower part of her body. She was terribly scalded, and was removed to the hospital." -Argus, 21 August, 1900.
Mary Ann Everard's education in Warrnambool must have been very limited, or indeed non-existent, as she was not literate, signing her name on her marriage certificate with a cross. At the age of 17 prior to her marriage, she was already employed as a domestic servant. Mary Ann Everard married London-born Walter Baker on November 27, 1871, at the residence of the local baptist minister, Ebenezer Henderson, in Raglan Street, Warrnambool.
Walter was the son of John Baker and Mary Ann Turland, and according to information given on Walter's marriage and death certificates, he was born in c. 1846. His death certificate gives his mother's name as 'Jane' Turland in comparison to 'Mary Ann Turland' which appears on his marriage certificate. The latter must be favoured as being correct, since it was Walter himself who was giving the information on the marriage certificate, as opposed to an informant on his death certificate. In addition to this point, there is a marriage of John Baker to Mary Ann Turland on May 28, 1826, at St. George, Middlesex, which is most likely that of Walter's parents.
"Mary Ann Turland married 28 May 1826 to John Baker, parish of St George in the East."
Mary Ann Turland was born on October 29, 1807, to parents William Turland and his wife Mary Chamberlain, who had married at St. Johns, Hackney, on Christmas Day, 1806.
I do not know when and how Walter emigrated to Australia, as I can't locate a shipping record to match his age. His occupation as given on his marriage certificate was baker, but later in life was a printer. Mary Ann gave birth to her first child seven months after her marriage.
On June 22, 1872, daughter Louisa Mary Anne Turland Baker was born at Warrnambool. She was followed by twelve siblings:
Alfred Edward Baker born 29 March, 1874.
George Alfred Turland Baker born 1876 .
Walter David Baker born 1878
Hilda Jane Baker born 1880
Amy May Baker born 1882 died 1882
Clara Emma Baker born 1883
Emma Elizabeth born 1886
Florence Annie Baker born 1888
John Thomas Baker born 1889
Violet Sarah Baker born 1892 died 1900 aged 8 years
Charles William Baker born 1897.Killed in action, France,August 8, 1916
Henry Draper Baker born 1899
Mary Ann's little daughter Violet Baker died when she was eight years old after being severely scalded in an accident. The newspapers reported:
" WARRNAMBOOL: A little girl named Violet Baker, while playing with her brother, fell against a kerosene tin of boiling water, which capsized over the lower part of her body. She was terribly scalded, and was removed to the hospital." -Argus, 21 August, 1900.
"A little girl, eight years old, named Violet Baker, met with a terrible accident at Warrnambool on Saturday. She was playing marbles with her brother when she ran against and knocked a pot of boiling water over, the water saturating her clothing. She was severely scalded, and grave fears for her recovery are entertained." - Portland Guardian, 22 August, 1900.
" WARRNAMBOOL: Violet Baker, the child who fell into a tin of hot water, died in the Warrnambool Hospital on Thursday." -Argus, Monday, September 17, 1900.
Mary Ann Everard Baker passed away in her sleep in June 1910, aged 56 years. Her death certificate stated that her parents were John Ignatius Everard and Jane Sanders. The Argus newspaper of June 27, 1910, carried a small article regarding Mary Ann's death:
" WARRNAMBOOL: Mrs Baker, wife of Mr. Walter Baker, a well-known resident, was found dead in bed on Sunday morning, death being due to heart failure. She leaves a family of six sons and five daughters."
Walter Baker died three years later, in 1913, aged 67.
" WARRNAMBOOL: Violet Baker, the child who fell into a tin of hot water, died in the Warrnambool Hospital on Thursday." -Argus, Monday, September 17, 1900.
Mary Ann Everard Baker passed away in her sleep in June 1910, aged 56 years. Her death certificate stated that her parents were John Ignatius Everard and Jane Sanders. The Argus newspaper of June 27, 1910, carried a small article regarding Mary Ann's death:
" WARRNAMBOOL: Mrs Baker, wife of Mr. Walter Baker, a well-known resident, was found dead in bed on Sunday morning, death being due to heart failure. She leaves a family of six sons and five daughters."
Walter Baker died three years later, in 1913, aged 67.
John David Everard, My Great-great Grandfather.
John David Everard was the second child and first son born to John Everard and Jane Sanders. No record has been found of his baptism, and civil registration in Victoria did not start until mid-1853, so John's birth date is uncertain. All evidence points to him having been born in c. 1852, at Warrnambool. He would often state that he was the first white child to be born at Warrnambool, but this is yet to be authenticated!
John David Everard was my grandmother's grandfather, so he was in turn my great-great grandfather.My grandmother was in her twenties when John David Everard died in 1931, but because she had grown up away from Warrnambool where most of the rest of the Everard family remained, she did not know her maternal grandparents at all well.In fact, I know absolutely nothing of John Everard's life beyond the fact that he earned his living as a plasterer.
He must have received some basic education at the very least, because he could read and write, unlike his sisters Elizabeth and Mary Ann. Years ago I was in contact with a terrific bloke by the name of Tony Everard, one of John David's grandsons who had known his grandfather well. Tony described him as follows:
" He was a man of medium build, with a friendly nature. His hobbies were fishing and card playing, and he was Captain of the Warrnambool Fire Brigade from 1895 to 1900."
Tony also transcribed for me several newspaper notices that were published in the local Warrnambool paper after John David's death in 1931. I copy them for this blog as follows:
"DEATHS: EVERARD- On the 9th inst., at his residence, 95 Timor Street, Warrnambool, John David, beloved husband of Sarah Everard. Aged 79 years.(The funeral will move from his late residence, This Day(Friday) at 2:30 p.m for the Warrnambool Cemetery. BEATTIE & PHILLIPS, Undertakers. Phone 165 (day or night)."
"WARRNAMBOOL: Mr. John Everard, one of the pioneers of Warrnambool, has died after a short illness. he was born in Warrnambool seventy-nine years ago. He was a member of the Fire Brigade for nineteen years."
" Another link with the early history of Warrnambool has been broken by the death of Mr. John David Everard, which occurred at his home, 95 Timor Street, on Wednesday last after a comparatively short illness.Mr Everard was born in that part of East Warrnambool known as The Gully, 79 years ago, and the claim has been made that he was the first white child born in Warrnambool.Even though this is open to some slight doubt, it appears to be substantiated by the fact that Warrnambool, according to Osburne's 'History of Warrnambool', started as a township in 1847, five years before Mr. Everard's birth. The locality was discovered in 1844 by a party of sealers from Port Fairy. Living in Warrnambool all of his life, Mr Everard could tell some very interesting tales of the growth from......(rest of article torn and missing."
"The funeral of Mr John David Everard, who died on Wednesday evening last, took place at the Warrnambool Cemetery yesterday afternoon and was attended by a representative gathering of friends and citizens with whom deceased had been associated over a long period of years.Among the numbers were members of the Warrnambool Fire Brigade, Warrnambool Anglers' Club and the Victoria Lodge, U.A.O.D. Members of the latter institution acted as coffin bearers at deceased's late residence and also at the cemetery. The burial service was conducted by the Rev. W.G Bower, Vicar of the Church of Christ, and Brother L.H Jewell, A.D., read the Druid's Funeral Service.A number of beautiful floral tributes were...(torn and missing)."
So then...John David Everard seemed to be a community-minded man, and he most certainly was family minded as his family grew to 13 children, including two baby sons who died in infancy, a stillborn son and a daughter who passed away aged 16 years. He and his wife Sarah also raised a son who was actually their grandson, born out of marriage to their daughter Hannah, and raised as Hannah's brother to avoid scandal.
John David Everard married Sarah Mary Joyce on March 25, 1873, at "the residence of the bride's father, Lava Street, Warrnambool". John was a 21 year old labourer, the son of John Everard, carpenter, and Jane Sanders, who stated that his present and usual residence was Warrnambool.His wife Sarah Mary Joyce was 19 years old, the youngest daughter of stonemason John Joyce and Elizabeth Graham. She had been born in Newcastle, England, in 1854, and was a baby when with her parents and two siblings, 7 year old Robert and 5 year old Elizabeth, she boarded the ship 'Athletae' and set sail for Victoria.The local Baptist minister, Ebenezer Henderson, conducted the ceremony, and the bride's parents, John and Elizabeth Joyce, witnessed the event. Sarah could not read or write, and so signed the marriage certificate with a cross.
Their first child, a daughter named Elizabeth Jane,was born in 1873. Other children arrived as follows, all being born in Warrnambool:
Sarah Ann Everard born June 19, 1875 (my great-grandmother)
John Robert Everard born 1877
Hannah Marie "Annie" Everard born 1878
Thomas Henry Everard born 1879
Justina Matilda Everard born 1881
David George Everard born 1883
Isabella Everard born 1885
Beatrice Everard born 1887
Albert George Everard born 1889
Ernest Everard born 1889 (twin of Albert)
Stillborn child Everard born and died 1891
Ethel May Everard born 1892
As mentioned previously, another child named Albert (but known always as 'Mick') was born on June 19, 1897, to 19 year old Hannah 'Annie' Everard after she fell pregnant to 23 year old coach builder Thomas Randall. For whatever reason the young couple did not marry, and the baby was raised as the son of John David and his wife Sarah.
After John David Everard's death in 1931, his wife Sarah Mary Joyce Everard lived for another nine years.She died on June 27, 1940, at 83 Koroit Street, Warrnambool, aged 84 years. Her children were listed as being:Elizabeth Jane 65; Sarah dead; John Robert 63; Hannah 61; Thomas dead; David George dead; Justina Matilda dead; Isabella 52; Beatrice 50; Ethel May 47 and Albert 43.Her twin boys, Albert and Ernest, who had died in infancy were not mentioned. At John David's death, his children were named as:Elizabeth Jane; John Robert; Sarah Ann dead; Hannah; Thomas Henry dead; ? dead; David George dead; Isabella; Beatrice; Albert Ernest dead; Ethel May and Albert. I have not included ages, as the copy of the death certificate that I purchased was particularly terrible, and it is impossible to make out ages and in one case, the child's name.
John David Everard was my grandmother's grandfather, so he was in turn my great-great grandfather.My grandmother was in her twenties when John David Everard died in 1931, but because she had grown up away from Warrnambool where most of the rest of the Everard family remained, she did not know her maternal grandparents at all well.In fact, I know absolutely nothing of John Everard's life beyond the fact that he earned his living as a plasterer.
He must have received some basic education at the very least, because he could read and write, unlike his sisters Elizabeth and Mary Ann. Years ago I was in contact with a terrific bloke by the name of Tony Everard, one of John David's grandsons who had known his grandfather well. Tony described him as follows:
" He was a man of medium build, with a friendly nature. His hobbies were fishing and card playing, and he was Captain of the Warrnambool Fire Brigade from 1895 to 1900."
Tony also transcribed for me several newspaper notices that were published in the local Warrnambool paper after John David's death in 1931. I copy them for this blog as follows:
"DEATHS: EVERARD- On the 9th inst., at his residence, 95 Timor Street, Warrnambool, John David, beloved husband of Sarah Everard. Aged 79 years.(The funeral will move from his late residence, This Day(Friday) at 2:30 p.m for the Warrnambool Cemetery. BEATTIE & PHILLIPS, Undertakers. Phone 165 (day or night)."
"WARRNAMBOOL: Mr. John Everard, one of the pioneers of Warrnambool, has died after a short illness. he was born in Warrnambool seventy-nine years ago. He was a member of the Fire Brigade for nineteen years."
" Another link with the early history of Warrnambool has been broken by the death of Mr. John David Everard, which occurred at his home, 95 Timor Street, on Wednesday last after a comparatively short illness.Mr Everard was born in that part of East Warrnambool known as The Gully, 79 years ago, and the claim has been made that he was the first white child born in Warrnambool.Even though this is open to some slight doubt, it appears to be substantiated by the fact that Warrnambool, according to Osburne's 'History of Warrnambool', started as a township in 1847, five years before Mr. Everard's birth. The locality was discovered in 1844 by a party of sealers from Port Fairy. Living in Warrnambool all of his life, Mr Everard could tell some very interesting tales of the growth from......(rest of article torn and missing."
"The funeral of Mr John David Everard, who died on Wednesday evening last, took place at the Warrnambool Cemetery yesterday afternoon and was attended by a representative gathering of friends and citizens with whom deceased had been associated over a long period of years.Among the numbers were members of the Warrnambool Fire Brigade, Warrnambool Anglers' Club and the Victoria Lodge, U.A.O.D. Members of the latter institution acted as coffin bearers at deceased's late residence and also at the cemetery. The burial service was conducted by the Rev. W.G Bower, Vicar of the Church of Christ, and Brother L.H Jewell, A.D., read the Druid's Funeral Service.A number of beautiful floral tributes were...(torn and missing)."
So then...John David Everard seemed to be a community-minded man, and he most certainly was family minded as his family grew to 13 children, including two baby sons who died in infancy, a stillborn son and a daughter who passed away aged 16 years. He and his wife Sarah also raised a son who was actually their grandson, born out of marriage to their daughter Hannah, and raised as Hannah's brother to avoid scandal.
John David Everard married Sarah Mary Joyce on March 25, 1873, at "the residence of the bride's father, Lava Street, Warrnambool". John was a 21 year old labourer, the son of John Everard, carpenter, and Jane Sanders, who stated that his present and usual residence was Warrnambool.His wife Sarah Mary Joyce was 19 years old, the youngest daughter of stonemason John Joyce and Elizabeth Graham. She had been born in Newcastle, England, in 1854, and was a baby when with her parents and two siblings, 7 year old Robert and 5 year old Elizabeth, she boarded the ship 'Athletae' and set sail for Victoria.The local Baptist minister, Ebenezer Henderson, conducted the ceremony, and the bride's parents, John and Elizabeth Joyce, witnessed the event. Sarah could not read or write, and so signed the marriage certificate with a cross.
Their first child, a daughter named Elizabeth Jane,was born in 1873. Other children arrived as follows, all being born in Warrnambool:
Sarah Ann Everard born June 19, 1875 (my great-grandmother)
John Robert Everard born 1877
Hannah Marie "Annie" Everard born 1878
Thomas Henry Everard born 1879
Justina Matilda Everard born 1881
David George Everard born 1883
Isabella Everard born 1885
Beatrice Everard born 1887
Albert George Everard born 1889
Ernest Everard born 1889 (twin of Albert)
Stillborn child Everard born and died 1891
Ethel May Everard born 1892
As mentioned previously, another child named Albert (but known always as 'Mick') was born on June 19, 1897, to 19 year old Hannah 'Annie' Everard after she fell pregnant to 23 year old coach builder Thomas Randall. For whatever reason the young couple did not marry, and the baby was raised as the son of John David and his wife Sarah.
After John David Everard's death in 1931, his wife Sarah Mary Joyce Everard lived for another nine years.She died on June 27, 1940, at 83 Koroit Street, Warrnambool, aged 84 years. Her children were listed as being:Elizabeth Jane 65; Sarah dead; John Robert 63; Hannah 61; Thomas dead; David George dead; Justina Matilda dead; Isabella 52; Beatrice 50; Ethel May 47 and Albert 43.Her twin boys, Albert and Ernest, who had died in infancy were not mentioned. At John David's death, his children were named as:Elizabeth Jane; John Robert; Sarah Ann dead; Hannah; Thomas Henry dead; ? dead; David George dead; Isabella; Beatrice; Albert Ernest dead; Ethel May and Albert. I have not included ages, as the copy of the death certificate that I purchased was particularly terrible, and it is impossible to make out ages and in one case, the child's name.
Certificates pertaining to Elizabeth Everard's first marriage.
Above: The death certificate of poor little Samuel Mansfield, step-son of Elizabeth Everard, who died of neglect after his father deserted his three small sons and new wife in January 1868.
Above: Birth certificate of Elizabeth Everard's first child, Elizabeth Mansfield. Although John Mansfield, Elizabeth's husband, was named as the baby's father, he had deserted his wife more than a year prior to the child's birth. Also, when the baby died in December of the same year, no father was named, suggesting that Elizabeth was illegitimate.
Above: Death certificate of Elizabeth Everard's first child, Elizabeth Mansfield. The baby's age was given as 6 months, but in fact she was 11 months old.
Above: The death certificate of Elizabeth Everard's second child, a tiny premature son whom she named Francis Mansfield. Born weighing just 2 and a half pounds, Francis lived for four days. His father was named as John Mansfield, but could not have been as John never returned to the family he had deserted.
Marriage certificates of Elizabeth Everard
Above: The marriage certificate of Elizabeth Everard to the first of her three husbands, John Mansfield.
Above: After being deserted by her first husband, who left her with three little boys from his first marriage, Elizabeth was remarried to James Gilmartin. Officially, this was a bigamous union, as John Mansfield was not dead...he had scarpered to Queensland where he lived for years.
The children of John Everard & Jane Sanders
Of John Everard's and Jane Sanders' two surviving sons and three daughters, we know that four of the five definitely married and had families. Of younger son, Thomas Everard, I have no knowledge at all..even the information given on his parents' death certificates is conflicting...the 1895 death certificate of his father states that his son Thomas is dead and other children are still living. When his wife Jane died in 1908, on her death certificate Thomas has risen from the dead and is stated as being 48 years old (he would have been 52 if he was still alive)I will start first with the eldest child of the family, Elizabeth Everard, who was also known as 'Eliza' or 'Elizabeth Jane'. Her life story is one of immense struggle and courage, and at the completion of my research into her life I had found a great deal to admire about her character and strength.
1. ELIZABETH EVERARD: Elizabeth Everard, also known as ‘Eliza’, was the first child born to Irish-born John Everard and his English partner Jane Sanders in c. 1850. It is unknown how and when John Everard arrived in Victoria. His death certificate stated that at the time of his death in 1895 he had been in the Colony of Victoria for 48 years, putting his year of arrival as c. 1847.John Everard’s profession was always given as ‘carpenter’, and after initially working around Melbourne he found himself in Warrnambool. First daughter Elizabeth was born in Melbourne, but all future siblings were born in Warrnambool. Jane’s brother, Thomas Sanders, and his family had also eventually settled near Warrnambool, in a town called Framlingham where Thomas ran a pub.Jane Sanders had received no education, and could not read or write. John Everard could at least sign his name, whereas Jane signed her name when required for official documents with a cross. Daughter Elizabeth was the same- in all documents pertaining to her family, she signed her name with a cross also. Her brother John David Everard could both read and write, but sister Mary Ann signed her marriage certificate with a cross. Youngest child, Annie Everard, was able to sign her own name on her marriage certificate when she married William Sparkes in 1881.In 1867, aged only 17 years, Eliza Everard married 28 year old John Mansfield from County Cork. John brought to the marriage a ready-made family for Eliza...his first wife Catherine Luddy had died on March 19, 1866 ( information provided on the marriage certificate of John Mansfield to Eliza Everard) and left behind three little sons aged between one and four years. John had married Catherine Luddy in 1862,and their children were: John Mansfield born 1863, William born 1865 and Samuel born 1866. Samuel’s birth and his mother’s death both occurring in 1866 suggests that her demise may have been childbirth-related, as was so often the case in that period. I cannot find a trace of Catherine Luddy Mansfield’s death in the Victorian BDMs, but she does have a gravestone in the Mortlake Cemetery. Details from the‘Cemeteries of South-West Victoria’ dvd state: “ 178. Catherine Mansfield, b c.1840(?). Died May 26, 1866(?)26 years (?) wife of John. Last digit of year inscription difficult to read.”John’s details on his marriage certificate state that he had been born in Mitchell’s Town, County Cork, Ireland, in c. 1839 to parents William Mansfield, horse dealer, and Mary Ann Fennessey. His occupation was given as ‘horse dealer’ his age 28 and his present and usual abode as ‘Mount Gambier’.Because she was only seventeen years old, Elizabeth had to obtain her father’s written consent to the marriage. She married John Mansfield at the Wesleyan Parsonage at Warrnambool on January 31, 1867, with both of her parents acting as witnesses to the marriage. Elizabeth and her mother signed their names with a cross, while the bride’s father and husband scribed their names. Elizabeth’s occupation was given as ‘sempstress’, and her present and usual residence as Warrnambool.
It has come to light that Elizabeth’s first choice of a husband was a very poor one...the South Australian Police Gazette of January 17, 1868, and April 1, 1868, carried the following notice:“A warrant has been issued at Mount Gambier, 6th January, 1868, for the apprehension of John Mansfield, charged with deserting his family.Description- about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, medium build, about twelve stone weight, 30 years of age, dark hair and whiskers, small, active appearance.”It seems that John had ditched 18 year old Eliza and left her with his three small sons. Youngest child Samuel died in Victoria the same year, so Eliza must have gone back to her home state after her husband left her.The purchase of Samuel Mansfield’s death certificate tells a very sad tale, but throws up more questions. He died at Warrnambool Hospital on May 25, 1868, aged only 2 years 3 months. His parents were noted as being John Mansfield, horse breaker, and Catherine Mansfield, and the cause of his death “debility caused by neglect, six weeks duration” as certified by R.H Harrington, coroner.The little boy’s death was registered by Edward Wilson, master of the hospital,Warrnambool, and he was buried in the Warrnambool Cemetery the following day.Now for the questions...after being deserted by her husband early on in her marriage, Elizabeth must have made her way from Mount Gambier back to Warrnambool where her family resided. The fact that her stepson Samuel Mansfield died in Warrnambool in May shows that Elizabeth took the three children back with her.The coroner stated that the debility which caused Samuel’s death was of six week’s duration- was that the period during which he had been neglected to such an extent that he died, or the period in which he had been treated by the hospital, with the neglect starting prior to this date? Six weeks before his death takes the time period to around mid-April 1868. This is roughly the time period in which Elizabeth fell pregnant with the first of her own children.An article published in the Melbourne newspaper ‘The Argus’ solved the mystery of what happened to Eliza Everard’s two remaining stepsons after little Samuel died:" "A most deplorable scene", writes the Examiner, was witnessed in Warrnambool on Tuesday last. Four magistrates were on the bench, when two young boys, named John Mansfield, aged six years, and William Mansfield, aged four years, were presented by Mrs Everard, residing in the gully, with a request that the children might be sent to the Industrial School.The application was backed up by the police, and Sergeant Archibald stated that several warrants had been issued for the apprehension of the father without effect, as he is supposed to be in New South Wales. It appears that they are the children of John Mansfield, who worked on Mrs Robertson's station at Connewarren. His wife (the mother of the children named) died about three years ago, and he has since married the daughter of Mrs Everard, and deserted her. The stepmother was unable, through illness, to appear in court, and the bench forthwith granted the application.The same man, Mansfield, whilst on the station, seized James Murphy, who murdered Constable Boyle, in the Warrnambool Court-house in August, 1863. John Mansfield was then praised for his courageous conduct; but if he had seen his two innocent children as they prattled along from the court-house to the gaol on Tuesday morning, under the protection of the police, it might have induced a feeling of remorse, as none but a callous heart could witness such a spectacle without pity. The children were sent to Melbourne by the steamer Edina. We hope that the police will still hunt up the delinquent who has so cruelly neglected those whom he had sworn to provide for and protect."-From the 'Argus', Monday 26 July, 1869, page 4 & 5.Mystery surrounds the events which followed next. According to records, Elizabeth Everard gave birth to two children to her husband, even though the marriage certificate to husband number two stated that she only had one. On January 27, 1869 – just over a year after John Mansfield had been publicly named as a deserter of his family- Elizabeth Everard Mansfield gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Mansfield. Her father was named as John Mansfield, 30 years of age, horse dealer, born Sydney NSW. The reasons for the discrepancy between John’s places of birth as given on his marriage certificate (County Cork) and the baby Elizabeth’s birth certificate (Sydney NSW) are not known.The interesting thing about Elizabeth Everard’s first child is that she gave birth to her at the Lying-In hospital, Melbourne. Founded as a place where underprivileged women could give birth and receive proper medical and nursing attention, the original title of the hospital was the 'Melbourne Lying-In Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases of Women and Children'.A brief history of the Lying-In Hospital is as follows:“The Women's was initially a ‘charity’ hospital, serving the needs of women unable to afford private medical care. Melbourne was marvellous for some but the allure of gold had left many women without support or the means to care for themselves or their children.Most sought assistance when giving birth or recovering from its after-effects,or when plagued by troublesome or life-threatening gynaecological conditions later in life.The hospital was a benevolent institution dependent on donations and subscriptions from the successful and comfortably-off sector of society – these were not people who wanted be seen to be supporting an institution that assisted the morally lapsed.However, that is precisely what happened. Whether by doctors admitting women in labour without abiding by the requirement for the Ladies' Committee to first vet candidates, or whether the ladies were more generous than they were purporting to be, a large proportion – occasionally as many as half – of the women giving birth at the hospital were unmarried.The hospital is located in an inner suburb of Melbourne and many of the suburbs around it were already slums by the end of the 19th century. Demand for the hospital's services was strong and sustained and in its first decade nearly 3,000 women were admitted and many more treated as outpatients. “From: http://www.thewomens.org.au/PatientRecordsThis background of the place of Elizabeth Everard Mansfield’s first labour and birth makes me confident in thinking that John Mansfield perhaps was not the father of Elizabeth’s child as she suggested. There is no indication that John ever returned to his family, and in the South Australian Police Gazette of July 1872 the following was published:“Missing Friends: John Mansfield, born in Sydney, aged 35 years, 5 feet 11 inches high, dark complexion, black hair, dark eyes, round shoulders, a horse breaker. He left Warrnambool in January 1867 and went to Mount Gambier, and from there to Penola. It is reported that he afterwards went to Queensland, and was trading in horses between there and Adelaide.”In an amazing bit of luck, I discovered that the Lying-In Hospital records are online for the period which concerned Elizabeth Everard’s time there, and I was able to view her records for the two occasions that she gave birth in the hospital.In baby Elizabeth’s birth, the entry reads as follows:Number of case: 3418Date: 27th January, 1869Name: Elizabeth Mansfield Age: 18Country: Victoria No. Child: 1st If married: Yes Date confined: 27th January Child alive: Yes Presentation: Head Duration of labour: 6 hours Weight of child: 7 ½ pounds Length: 18 inches Dismissed: 5th February.
For Elizabeth’s second child I could find no birth certificate- only the certificate for his death 4 days later. Fortunately, the record for this birth also appeared in the Lying-In Hospital records :“Number of case: 4151Date: 27th November, 1870.Name: Elizabeth Mansfield Age: 22 Country: Victoria No. Child: 2nd. If married: Yes Date confined: 27 November Child alive: yes Presentation: head Duration of labour: 10 hours Weight of child: 2 ½ pounds Length: 16 inches Observations: Premature Dismissed: 9th December.
Elizabeth’s tiny baby was a boy whom she named Francis Mansfield, and he lived for only four days because of his prematurity. He died at the Lying-In Hospital on December 1st, 1870. Again the baby’s father was given as John Mansfield, horse breaker, and the informant was a messenger at the Lying-In Hospital, Melbourne North. He was buried in the General Cemetery, Melbourne, on December 2nd, 1870.The death of Elizabeth Everard’s first child, Elizabeth Mansfield, took place on December 30, 1869, at Saint Patrick’s Right of Way, West Melbourne. The information on her death certificate, or lack thereof, speaks volumes...there was no father listed, only the mother ‘Elizabeth Mansfield, servant’. Baby Elizabeth’s age at death was given as 6 months, even though she was eleven months old. The informant on the certificate was Caroline Durrant, dry nurse in attendance on deceased, St. Patricks Right of Way, West Melbourne. Caroline signed her name with a cross. Little Elizabeth was buried in the Melbourne Cemetery on December 31, 1869.I can find no information on this ‘St Patrick’s Right of Way’ in West Melbourne, but it was obviously a charitable institution where Elizabeth Everard as a deserted wife with a small child could seek help. Caroline Durrant declared that she was the baby’s ‘dry nurse’, which is someone who cares for a baby but does not breast feed it as a wet nurse would do. Elizabeth Everard was working as a servant while her baby was attended. Elizabeth must have fallen pregnant with her second child somewhere around Autumn of 1870( for a baby to be born full term around late November 1870 it would have been conceived around February...a premature 2 1/2 pound baby would have been conceived around March to May 1870.)
By the end of the year Elizabeth was twenty years old and had seen the deaths of two babies and the desertion of her husband. Her movements over the next four years are unknown, until in February of 1874 when she turned up in Sandhurst to marry her second husband, James Gilmartin. She stated on the marriage certificate that she was a widow as of 1871, but the fact is that John Mansfield was not dead... he did not die until 1913, up in Queensland!The Queensland Pioneer index has the following entry:1913 C207 John Mansfield parents William Mansfield and Mary Ann Finese.(“Finese” is written as “Fennessey” on John Mansfield’s marriage certificate)Did Elizabeth know he was still alive and marry anyway, or had John Mansfield disappeared so completely that he was believed dead to those who knew him? Whatever the case, he must have been a terrible husband and father, and Elizabeth would have been hoping for a better life’s partner in her second marriage.Unfortunately for Elizabeth, her second marriage also had its problems, although they were of a different nature than those she had with John Mansfield.
She married Irishman James Gilmartin, a 26 year old labourer, at Sandhurst on February 9, 1874. Aged 22 (actually more like 24), Elizabeth stated that she was a domestic servant from Echuca, and that she had been widowed in 1871, with one child of that marriage deceased.Elizabeth was in her early stages of her third pregnancy when she married James Gilmartin in early February of 1874. She gave birth to a daughter on July 10, 1874, five months after her marriage, and named her Blanche Ada Gilmartin. Like her first two pregnancies, Eliza chose to deliver at the Lying-In Hospital in Melbourne. The details of her delivery were as follows:Patient number: 5798 Date” 9th July, 1874Name: Eliza Gilmartin, 24 years.Country: Victoria Number child: Second Married: YesDate confined: 10 July, 1874Child alive: Yes Presentation & sex: head female Duration of labour: 8 hours Weight of child: 7 lbs Length: 20 inches Dismissed: 28th July.On the child’s birth certificate, her parents’ details were given as “Father:James Gilmartin, labourer, 26 years, born Limerick, Ireland (incorrect birthplace- he was born in County Tipperary). Mother: Eliza Gilmartin late Mansfield, mn Evride, 24 years, born Melbourne.” The doctor who attended Eliza’s labour was Dr Thomas Rowan, the nurse Mrs Dewar and a witness named Miss Harvey also attended.Eliza and her baby daughter returned to the Echuca district, where James had taken a lease on just over 148 acres of land at Kanyapella. Eliza surely must have thought her luck had finally changed as she settled into a stable home and farm with a new husband and baby, but unbelievably fate was not done with her yet.The following year, in December of 1875, Eliza’s daughter fell ill. A great grandson of Eliza, Nick Grumley, shared the following sad tale of what happened when Eliza found her child ‘s health rapidly declining:-“A story my mum told me about Elizabeth, told by mum's dad to her. When Elizabeth was married to James on the farm at Kanyapella, her child was sick (possibly the first by James) and she walked the 13kms to see the doctor in Echuca carrying the child all the way. Unfortunately, the doctor pronounced the child dead, so she carried the child back to the farm for burial. A plaque recently placed is supposed to mark the spot under a mulberry tree.”This story just enforces the strong, courageous woman that Eliza Gilmartin was. It is impossible to imagine the heartbreak of carrying her third child, dead in her arms, back to the farm to bury her close by. Her daughter Elizabeth and son Francis were both buried in Melbourne, almost certainly in unmarked graves- at least Eliza could visit the resting place of her little girl.Confusion exists over the death certificate of Eliza’s and James’s first child...James registered the event in Echuca on the same day that it occurred, but stated that his daughter’s name was ‘Edith Gilmartin’ rather than ‘Blanche’ or ‘Ada’. Her age was seventeen months, and the cause of her death was given as “teething and diarrhoea”. She was named as 'Ada Blanch' on her mother's death certificate.Eliza Gilmartin went on to have a large family of eleven other children-seven daughters and four sons- all born on the farm at Kanyapella. Their names and years of birth were as follows:1876: Mary Jane1877: Margaret Gilmartin 1879: James Edward Gilmartin 1881: Elizabeth Bridget Gilmartin 1883: John Patrick Gilmartin 1884: Sarah Ann Gilmartin 1886: Ada Ellen Gilmartin 1888: Michael William Thomas Gilmartin 1890: Silas Alfred Gilmartin 1892: Angelina Etterell Ambug Gilmartin.1894: Ethel Gilmartin ???(this last child is not found in the Victorian BDM index or on her parent’s death certificates, but her details come from her granddaughter Kathy Riley). I actually think that this child was baptised Angelina and known as 'Ethel', but more about that theory later!)In August of 1885, the Gilmartins ran into some financial trouble when James was declared insolvent. A notice published in the Argus stated:" New Insolvents: James Gilmartin of Kanyapella, selector. Causes of insolvency-Inability to collect debts due to him, and having lost by disease cattle which he had purchased on a bill. Liabilities 124 pounds 1 shilling. Assets fifty pounds. Deficiency of seventy four pounds and 19 shillings. Mr. A.W.H White assignee."
Eliza was the mother of ten children aged between 19 and 3 when her husband James suddenly died on June 9, 1895. The event was reported in the Riverine Herald of July 10, 1895:
" A SUDDEN DEATH: Yesterday morning Mr John Gilmartin, vigneron, residing on the Goulburn, near Stewart's Bridge, died very suddenly. The deceased, who leaves a wife and family of little children, had been ailing for some days, but a fatal termination was not suspected. The usual inquiry will probably be held today, as the deceased was not attended by any medical practitioner." (NOTE: The newspaper incorrectly named James Gilmartin as 'John') The Riverine Herald of Tuesday, June 11, 1895, gave the following report of the Magisterial Enquiry into James Gilmartin's death:" MAGISTERIAL ENQUIRY AT KANYAPELLA.Yesterday afternoon Mr. H. McKenixie, J.P., held a magisterial enquiry at Kanyapella touching the death of James Gilmartin, who died suddenly on the previous day. Elizabeth Gilmartin deposed she was the wife of deceased. He had been ailing, and on Sunday morning she askied him if he would take his medicine. He replied "No;I would prefer a drink of wine." Witness said she would make him some gruel, and did so. She subsequently saw her daughter taking him a cup of wine, which deceased drank. Shortly after, wirness again entered the room and she saw that her husband was in a dying state.He got out of bed, but witness caught hold of him, and he sank back and died in her arms. Her husband had been in delicate health during the past two or three years from excessive drinking. She had been married to him for 21 years. James Edward Gilmartin and Sarah Ann Gilmartin, children of the deceased, gave evidence coroborative of the leading statements of Mrs Gilmartin. The daughter stated that she had never seen her father ill treated by either her mother or her brother, but he (the father) behaved harshly to them when under the influence of drink. Senior-constable Love gave evidence to the effect that Mrs Gilmartin informed him of her husband's death. He found no marks of violence on the body."
A week later, one of James Gilmartin's vigneron associates-and presumably friend- went before the local court to attempt to convince them to reopen the investigation into James's death. His name was Felix Brouard, a Frenchman, and he was apparently quite a character.In 1892, Felix had fallen foul of the law in Bendigo when he was caught selling his wine in quantities less than allowed under a vigneron's license...the minimum amount was two gallons or one dozen bottles, and Felix was letting his customers buy less. It was stated in a report in the Argus that Felix had "a small vineyard at Boilleau, some few miles eastward from Echuca, on the road to the Lower Goulburn." He also admitted that his wine was made not only from his own grapes, but of those of his neighbours which he had purchased, which was also a breach of the law. Perhaps James Gilmartin was one of those who sold some of his produce to the Frenchman. Whatever the case, the bench did not take Felix seriously, as another report in the Riverine Herald suggested:" ...of the business at the local court yesterday morning, Felix Brouard, a well-known resident of the district, went before the bench and said he had an application to make. As the bench apparently did not understand the nature of the application on account of Brouard's faulty English, Senior-constable Love explained that he wished to ask for a fresh inquiry into the cause of death of James Gilmartin of Kanyapella, who died on Sunday last. Brouard said he could not understand how deceased went off so sudden and expressed his determination to wire to the coroner. Mr Dwyer, P.M., informed Brouard that there was no need for any such action as Mr McKenzie, J.P, who conducted the inquiry, was perfectly satisfied. Brouard did not appear to relish the idea that his wishes were to be thus put aside and he spoke rather angrily to the bench. The P.M., however, quitened him rather suddenly by informing him that instead of his going to the "head fount" as he threatened to, he would go to gaol unless he was less impertinent. The interview then came to a conclusion."
It seems as though there were some in the district who were suspicious of James Gilmartin's sudden demise, and perhaps turned their eyes towards Elizabeth, who as an abused wife may have had a motive to "do away" with her violent husband. James Gilmartin’s death certificate states his cause of death as being “General causes accelerated by excessive intemperance. Magisterial Inquiryheld at Kanyapella on the 9th of June, 1895, by Hugh McKenzie, Esquire, J.P.” Again there was no mention amongst his issue of final child Ethel-could she and Angelina have been one and the same child, known by a nickname ratherthan her birth name? It was certainly very common in those times, and it certainly seems very unusual that Ethel would have been left off both parents’death certificates as well as not being officially registered at the time of her birth. James Gilmartin’s issue was named as follows:Blanch Ada dead; Mary Jane 19 years; Margaret 18 years; James Edward 17 years; Elizabeth Bridget 14 years; John Patrick 12 years; Sarah Ann 9 years; Ada Ellen Grace 9 years; Michael William Thomas 7 years; Silas Alfred 4 years; Angelina Etterell Ambug 2 years.
Elizabeth Everard Gilmartin was 45 years old, and probably for the first time in her life she was in a position to take control of her own future, as well as ensuring a good life for her children.Victorian Gazettes for the years 1887, 1888 and 1889 show Eliza Gilmartin paying one pound five shillings per year for a license to run a rural store on 3 acres of land in Kanyapella. How she managed this while raising so many children, and with the added burden of being illiterate, is incredible.In 1889 and 1890, there is evidence of James Gilmartin transferring the ownership of parts of his land, two parcels to his wife Elizabeth and another to Joseph Brown. With the help of her elder children Elizabeth continued to farm her land atKanyapella, and do it successfully. She had to contend with local gossip and inuendo after her husband's death. A small article in the Argus from October 20, 1897, paints a telling picture of what Elizabeth had to face in the local community:
" A SLANDERED WIDOW: ECHUCA, Tuesday.In the County Court today, before Judge Casey, Elizabeth Gilmartin sued a farmer of Kanyapella, named James Peck, for 250 pounds damages for making a remark reflecting on her chastity as a widow at Stewart's-bridge Hotel, in the presence of the landlady and several men. The evidence showed that the defendant interrogatively told the plaintiff that she was habitually intimate with a man named McNair. The jury returned into court with a verdict for the plaintiff for a farthing damages, carrying costs."
On November 8, 1897, the Riverine Herald also carried an article regarding this case:"ONE FARTHING DAMAGES: In the County Court, recently held at Echuca, Mrs Gilmartin proceeded against James Peck for slander and a verdict was given in her favour, the jury fixed the damages at one farthing. On Saturday the defendant called in at the office of his solicitor, Mr C.H Campbell, and handed over a farthing, for which he received a receipt. Today the farthing will be formally handed over to Mrs Gilmartin's solicitors."
Unfortunately, Eliza remained a single mother for only two years after JamesGilmartin’s death...perhaps she gave in to the gossiping and inuendo and gladly entered into a marriage again. She married Robert Newby in 1898 at the age of 47, and thankfully bore no children to her third husband. I was hoping that after being deserted by her first husband and ill-treated by her second, Eliza may have found happiness and serenity with her third husband. Apparently this was not the case...her great-grandson Nicholas Grumley wrote the following:
“From what I can gather, my grandfather thought a lot of his mother, so she must have been a devoted mother given her life and her Gilmartin children received the education she didn't. The school was practically next door, close enough to hear the bell, for when the last ring sounded for the morning, James allowed his kids leave for school, keeping them at home till the last minute doing farm work. Naturally they were always late.When Eliz. remarried, my grandfather left home after a while (about 8 or 9 years old), because of mistreatment from his stepfather. He lived off the land with the help of the neighbours.”My heart sank when I read this...after welcoming another man into her family circle, Eliza would have found herself again having to protect her children from abusive treatment at the hands of the head of the family. The thought of her young son Michael having to live off the land with neighbours helping him survive is heartbreaking.I have discovered nothing about Robert Newby, and am disinclined to do so because of what I have been told about his treatment of young Mick Gilmartin.The Port Phillip Herald of 1895 carried an article concerning two “lucky” miners recently returned from the Coolgardie gold fields, one of whom was a man named Robert Newby, but I have no idea if it was Elizabeth Gilmartin’s future husband or not.
Eliza survived ten years of marriage with her third husband. Her mother Jane Sanders Everard had moved to Kanyapella to live with her eldest daughter towards the end of her life, and she died at Kanyapella on June 1, 1908, aged 78. Eliza herself passed away the following year, on April 21, 1909, from peritonitis. She was about 58 or 59 years old, although her death certificate gives her age as 57. Her children were aged from between 31 and 15, and four daughters had already married and provided Eliza with grandchildren by the time of her death: Mary Gilmartin married Herbert Owen in 1904, and their son Clifford Owen was born in the same year. Margaret Gilmartin married Duncan McNair in 1896, and had children Christina and John in 1898 and 1904 respectively. Elizabeth Bridget Gilmartin married Thomas Gardner (which explains why a ‘Thomas Gardner, friend’ was the informant on Jane Sanders Everard’s death certificate!) , and had Robert in 1904 and Bertram in 1909. Finally, Sarah Gilmartin married Thomas Smith in 1906, and siblings Gladys andAlfred were born in 1906 and 1909.
Eliza/Elizabeth Jane Everard Mansfield Gilmartin Newby had 14 children, lost three in infancy and raised the others to be strong and survive the tough times like she did throughout her life full of hardships. She was my great-great-great aunt, elder sister of my great-great grandfather, John David Everard, and my research has revealed a woman whom I am very proud to include in my family tree. She overcame illiteracy, abusive marriages and the loss of beloved children,and ensured that her surviving children were well educated to gain a chance at a better life. I applaud her courage and tenacity, and look forward to adding even more to her story in the future.
1. ELIZABETH EVERARD: Elizabeth Everard, also known as ‘Eliza’, was the first child born to Irish-born John Everard and his English partner Jane Sanders in c. 1850. It is unknown how and when John Everard arrived in Victoria. His death certificate stated that at the time of his death in 1895 he had been in the Colony of Victoria for 48 years, putting his year of arrival as c. 1847.John Everard’s profession was always given as ‘carpenter’, and after initially working around Melbourne he found himself in Warrnambool. First daughter Elizabeth was born in Melbourne, but all future siblings were born in Warrnambool. Jane’s brother, Thomas Sanders, and his family had also eventually settled near Warrnambool, in a town called Framlingham where Thomas ran a pub.Jane Sanders had received no education, and could not read or write. John Everard could at least sign his name, whereas Jane signed her name when required for official documents with a cross. Daughter Elizabeth was the same- in all documents pertaining to her family, she signed her name with a cross also. Her brother John David Everard could both read and write, but sister Mary Ann signed her marriage certificate with a cross. Youngest child, Annie Everard, was able to sign her own name on her marriage certificate when she married William Sparkes in 1881.In 1867, aged only 17 years, Eliza Everard married 28 year old John Mansfield from County Cork. John brought to the marriage a ready-made family for Eliza...his first wife Catherine Luddy had died on March 19, 1866 ( information provided on the marriage certificate of John Mansfield to Eliza Everard) and left behind three little sons aged between one and four years. John had married Catherine Luddy in 1862,and their children were: John Mansfield born 1863, William born 1865 and Samuel born 1866. Samuel’s birth and his mother’s death both occurring in 1866 suggests that her demise may have been childbirth-related, as was so often the case in that period. I cannot find a trace of Catherine Luddy Mansfield’s death in the Victorian BDMs, but she does have a gravestone in the Mortlake Cemetery. Details from the‘Cemeteries of South-West Victoria’ dvd state: “ 178. Catherine Mansfield, b c.1840(?). Died May 26, 1866(?)26 years (?) wife of John. Last digit of year inscription difficult to read.”John’s details on his marriage certificate state that he had been born in Mitchell’s Town, County Cork, Ireland, in c. 1839 to parents William Mansfield, horse dealer, and Mary Ann Fennessey. His occupation was given as ‘horse dealer’ his age 28 and his present and usual abode as ‘Mount Gambier’.Because she was only seventeen years old, Elizabeth had to obtain her father’s written consent to the marriage. She married John Mansfield at the Wesleyan Parsonage at Warrnambool on January 31, 1867, with both of her parents acting as witnesses to the marriage. Elizabeth and her mother signed their names with a cross, while the bride’s father and husband scribed their names. Elizabeth’s occupation was given as ‘sempstress’, and her present and usual residence as Warrnambool.
It has come to light that Elizabeth’s first choice of a husband was a very poor one...the South Australian Police Gazette of January 17, 1868, and April 1, 1868, carried the following notice:“A warrant has been issued at Mount Gambier, 6th January, 1868, for the apprehension of John Mansfield, charged with deserting his family.Description- about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, medium build, about twelve stone weight, 30 years of age, dark hair and whiskers, small, active appearance.”It seems that John had ditched 18 year old Eliza and left her with his three small sons. Youngest child Samuel died in Victoria the same year, so Eliza must have gone back to her home state after her husband left her.The purchase of Samuel Mansfield’s death certificate tells a very sad tale, but throws up more questions. He died at Warrnambool Hospital on May 25, 1868, aged only 2 years 3 months. His parents were noted as being John Mansfield, horse breaker, and Catherine Mansfield, and the cause of his death “debility caused by neglect, six weeks duration” as certified by R.H Harrington, coroner.The little boy’s death was registered by Edward Wilson, master of the hospital,Warrnambool, and he was buried in the Warrnambool Cemetery the following day.Now for the questions...after being deserted by her husband early on in her marriage, Elizabeth must have made her way from Mount Gambier back to Warrnambool where her family resided. The fact that her stepson Samuel Mansfield died in Warrnambool in May shows that Elizabeth took the three children back with her.The coroner stated that the debility which caused Samuel’s death was of six week’s duration- was that the period during which he had been neglected to such an extent that he died, or the period in which he had been treated by the hospital, with the neglect starting prior to this date? Six weeks before his death takes the time period to around mid-April 1868. This is roughly the time period in which Elizabeth fell pregnant with the first of her own children.An article published in the Melbourne newspaper ‘The Argus’ solved the mystery of what happened to Eliza Everard’s two remaining stepsons after little Samuel died:" "A most deplorable scene", writes the Examiner, was witnessed in Warrnambool on Tuesday last. Four magistrates were on the bench, when two young boys, named John Mansfield, aged six years, and William Mansfield, aged four years, were presented by Mrs Everard, residing in the gully, with a request that the children might be sent to the Industrial School.The application was backed up by the police, and Sergeant Archibald stated that several warrants had been issued for the apprehension of the father without effect, as he is supposed to be in New South Wales. It appears that they are the children of John Mansfield, who worked on Mrs Robertson's station at Connewarren. His wife (the mother of the children named) died about three years ago, and he has since married the daughter of Mrs Everard, and deserted her. The stepmother was unable, through illness, to appear in court, and the bench forthwith granted the application.The same man, Mansfield, whilst on the station, seized James Murphy, who murdered Constable Boyle, in the Warrnambool Court-house in August, 1863. John Mansfield was then praised for his courageous conduct; but if he had seen his two innocent children as they prattled along from the court-house to the gaol on Tuesday morning, under the protection of the police, it might have induced a feeling of remorse, as none but a callous heart could witness such a spectacle without pity. The children were sent to Melbourne by the steamer Edina. We hope that the police will still hunt up the delinquent who has so cruelly neglected those whom he had sworn to provide for and protect."-From the 'Argus', Monday 26 July, 1869, page 4 & 5.Mystery surrounds the events which followed next. According to records, Elizabeth Everard gave birth to two children to her husband, even though the marriage certificate to husband number two stated that she only had one. On January 27, 1869 – just over a year after John Mansfield had been publicly named as a deserter of his family- Elizabeth Everard Mansfield gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Mansfield. Her father was named as John Mansfield, 30 years of age, horse dealer, born Sydney NSW. The reasons for the discrepancy between John’s places of birth as given on his marriage certificate (County Cork) and the baby Elizabeth’s birth certificate (Sydney NSW) are not known.The interesting thing about Elizabeth Everard’s first child is that she gave birth to her at the Lying-In hospital, Melbourne. Founded as a place where underprivileged women could give birth and receive proper medical and nursing attention, the original title of the hospital was the 'Melbourne Lying-In Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases of Women and Children'.A brief history of the Lying-In Hospital is as follows:“The Women's was initially a ‘charity’ hospital, serving the needs of women unable to afford private medical care. Melbourne was marvellous for some but the allure of gold had left many women without support or the means to care for themselves or their children.Most sought assistance when giving birth or recovering from its after-effects,or when plagued by troublesome or life-threatening gynaecological conditions later in life.The hospital was a benevolent institution dependent on donations and subscriptions from the successful and comfortably-off sector of society – these were not people who wanted be seen to be supporting an institution that assisted the morally lapsed.However, that is precisely what happened. Whether by doctors admitting women in labour without abiding by the requirement for the Ladies' Committee to first vet candidates, or whether the ladies were more generous than they were purporting to be, a large proportion – occasionally as many as half – of the women giving birth at the hospital were unmarried.The hospital is located in an inner suburb of Melbourne and many of the suburbs around it were already slums by the end of the 19th century. Demand for the hospital's services was strong and sustained and in its first decade nearly 3,000 women were admitted and many more treated as outpatients. “From: http://www.thewomens.org.au/PatientRecordsThis background of the place of Elizabeth Everard Mansfield’s first labour and birth makes me confident in thinking that John Mansfield perhaps was not the father of Elizabeth’s child as she suggested. There is no indication that John ever returned to his family, and in the South Australian Police Gazette of July 1872 the following was published:“Missing Friends: John Mansfield, born in Sydney, aged 35 years, 5 feet 11 inches high, dark complexion, black hair, dark eyes, round shoulders, a horse breaker. He left Warrnambool in January 1867 and went to Mount Gambier, and from there to Penola. It is reported that he afterwards went to Queensland, and was trading in horses between there and Adelaide.”In an amazing bit of luck, I discovered that the Lying-In Hospital records are online for the period which concerned Elizabeth Everard’s time there, and I was able to view her records for the two occasions that she gave birth in the hospital.In baby Elizabeth’s birth, the entry reads as follows:Number of case: 3418Date: 27th January, 1869Name: Elizabeth Mansfield Age: 18Country: Victoria No. Child: 1st If married: Yes Date confined: 27th January Child alive: Yes Presentation: Head Duration of labour: 6 hours Weight of child: 7 ½ pounds Length: 18 inches Dismissed: 5th February.
For Elizabeth’s second child I could find no birth certificate- only the certificate for his death 4 days later. Fortunately, the record for this birth also appeared in the Lying-In Hospital records :“Number of case: 4151Date: 27th November, 1870.Name: Elizabeth Mansfield Age: 22 Country: Victoria No. Child: 2nd. If married: Yes Date confined: 27 November Child alive: yes Presentation: head Duration of labour: 10 hours Weight of child: 2 ½ pounds Length: 16 inches Observations: Premature Dismissed: 9th December.
Elizabeth’s tiny baby was a boy whom she named Francis Mansfield, and he lived for only four days because of his prematurity. He died at the Lying-In Hospital on December 1st, 1870. Again the baby’s father was given as John Mansfield, horse breaker, and the informant was a messenger at the Lying-In Hospital, Melbourne North. He was buried in the General Cemetery, Melbourne, on December 2nd, 1870.The death of Elizabeth Everard’s first child, Elizabeth Mansfield, took place on December 30, 1869, at Saint Patrick’s Right of Way, West Melbourne. The information on her death certificate, or lack thereof, speaks volumes...there was no father listed, only the mother ‘Elizabeth Mansfield, servant’. Baby Elizabeth’s age at death was given as 6 months, even though she was eleven months old. The informant on the certificate was Caroline Durrant, dry nurse in attendance on deceased, St. Patricks Right of Way, West Melbourne. Caroline signed her name with a cross. Little Elizabeth was buried in the Melbourne Cemetery on December 31, 1869.I can find no information on this ‘St Patrick’s Right of Way’ in West Melbourne, but it was obviously a charitable institution where Elizabeth Everard as a deserted wife with a small child could seek help. Caroline Durrant declared that she was the baby’s ‘dry nurse’, which is someone who cares for a baby but does not breast feed it as a wet nurse would do. Elizabeth Everard was working as a servant while her baby was attended. Elizabeth must have fallen pregnant with her second child somewhere around Autumn of 1870( for a baby to be born full term around late November 1870 it would have been conceived around February...a premature 2 1/2 pound baby would have been conceived around March to May 1870.)
By the end of the year Elizabeth was twenty years old and had seen the deaths of two babies and the desertion of her husband. Her movements over the next four years are unknown, until in February of 1874 when she turned up in Sandhurst to marry her second husband, James Gilmartin. She stated on the marriage certificate that she was a widow as of 1871, but the fact is that John Mansfield was not dead... he did not die until 1913, up in Queensland!The Queensland Pioneer index has the following entry:1913 C207 John Mansfield parents William Mansfield and Mary Ann Finese.(“Finese” is written as “Fennessey” on John Mansfield’s marriage certificate)Did Elizabeth know he was still alive and marry anyway, or had John Mansfield disappeared so completely that he was believed dead to those who knew him? Whatever the case, he must have been a terrible husband and father, and Elizabeth would have been hoping for a better life’s partner in her second marriage.Unfortunately for Elizabeth, her second marriage also had its problems, although they were of a different nature than those she had with John Mansfield.
She married Irishman James Gilmartin, a 26 year old labourer, at Sandhurst on February 9, 1874. Aged 22 (actually more like 24), Elizabeth stated that she was a domestic servant from Echuca, and that she had been widowed in 1871, with one child of that marriage deceased.Elizabeth was in her early stages of her third pregnancy when she married James Gilmartin in early February of 1874. She gave birth to a daughter on July 10, 1874, five months after her marriage, and named her Blanche Ada Gilmartin. Like her first two pregnancies, Eliza chose to deliver at the Lying-In Hospital in Melbourne. The details of her delivery were as follows:Patient number: 5798 Date” 9th July, 1874Name: Eliza Gilmartin, 24 years.Country: Victoria Number child: Second Married: YesDate confined: 10 July, 1874Child alive: Yes Presentation & sex: head female Duration of labour: 8 hours Weight of child: 7 lbs Length: 20 inches Dismissed: 28th July.On the child’s birth certificate, her parents’ details were given as “Father:James Gilmartin, labourer, 26 years, born Limerick, Ireland (incorrect birthplace- he was born in County Tipperary). Mother: Eliza Gilmartin late Mansfield, mn Evride, 24 years, born Melbourne.” The doctor who attended Eliza’s labour was Dr Thomas Rowan, the nurse Mrs Dewar and a witness named Miss Harvey also attended.Eliza and her baby daughter returned to the Echuca district, where James had taken a lease on just over 148 acres of land at Kanyapella. Eliza surely must have thought her luck had finally changed as she settled into a stable home and farm with a new husband and baby, but unbelievably fate was not done with her yet.The following year, in December of 1875, Eliza’s daughter fell ill. A great grandson of Eliza, Nick Grumley, shared the following sad tale of what happened when Eliza found her child ‘s health rapidly declining:-“A story my mum told me about Elizabeth, told by mum's dad to her. When Elizabeth was married to James on the farm at Kanyapella, her child was sick (possibly the first by James) and she walked the 13kms to see the doctor in Echuca carrying the child all the way. Unfortunately, the doctor pronounced the child dead, so she carried the child back to the farm for burial. A plaque recently placed is supposed to mark the spot under a mulberry tree.”This story just enforces the strong, courageous woman that Eliza Gilmartin was. It is impossible to imagine the heartbreak of carrying her third child, dead in her arms, back to the farm to bury her close by. Her daughter Elizabeth and son Francis were both buried in Melbourne, almost certainly in unmarked graves- at least Eliza could visit the resting place of her little girl.Confusion exists over the death certificate of Eliza’s and James’s first child...James registered the event in Echuca on the same day that it occurred, but stated that his daughter’s name was ‘Edith Gilmartin’ rather than ‘Blanche’ or ‘Ada’. Her age was seventeen months, and the cause of her death was given as “teething and diarrhoea”. She was named as 'Ada Blanch' on her mother's death certificate.Eliza Gilmartin went on to have a large family of eleven other children-seven daughters and four sons- all born on the farm at Kanyapella. Their names and years of birth were as follows:1876: Mary Jane1877: Margaret Gilmartin 1879: James Edward Gilmartin 1881: Elizabeth Bridget Gilmartin 1883: John Patrick Gilmartin 1884: Sarah Ann Gilmartin 1886: Ada Ellen Gilmartin 1888: Michael William Thomas Gilmartin 1890: Silas Alfred Gilmartin 1892: Angelina Etterell Ambug Gilmartin.1894: Ethel Gilmartin ???(this last child is not found in the Victorian BDM index or on her parent’s death certificates, but her details come from her granddaughter Kathy Riley). I actually think that this child was baptised Angelina and known as 'Ethel', but more about that theory later!)In August of 1885, the Gilmartins ran into some financial trouble when James was declared insolvent. A notice published in the Argus stated:" New Insolvents: James Gilmartin of Kanyapella, selector. Causes of insolvency-Inability to collect debts due to him, and having lost by disease cattle which he had purchased on a bill. Liabilities 124 pounds 1 shilling. Assets fifty pounds. Deficiency of seventy four pounds and 19 shillings. Mr. A.W.H White assignee."
Eliza was the mother of ten children aged between 19 and 3 when her husband James suddenly died on June 9, 1895. The event was reported in the Riverine Herald of July 10, 1895:
" A SUDDEN DEATH: Yesterday morning Mr John Gilmartin, vigneron, residing on the Goulburn, near Stewart's Bridge, died very suddenly. The deceased, who leaves a wife and family of little children, had been ailing for some days, but a fatal termination was not suspected. The usual inquiry will probably be held today, as the deceased was not attended by any medical practitioner." (NOTE: The newspaper incorrectly named James Gilmartin as 'John') The Riverine Herald of Tuesday, June 11, 1895, gave the following report of the Magisterial Enquiry into James Gilmartin's death:" MAGISTERIAL ENQUIRY AT KANYAPELLA.Yesterday afternoon Mr. H. McKenixie, J.P., held a magisterial enquiry at Kanyapella touching the death of James Gilmartin, who died suddenly on the previous day. Elizabeth Gilmartin deposed she was the wife of deceased. He had been ailing, and on Sunday morning she askied him if he would take his medicine. He replied "No;I would prefer a drink of wine." Witness said she would make him some gruel, and did so. She subsequently saw her daughter taking him a cup of wine, which deceased drank. Shortly after, wirness again entered the room and she saw that her husband was in a dying state.He got out of bed, but witness caught hold of him, and he sank back and died in her arms. Her husband had been in delicate health during the past two or three years from excessive drinking. She had been married to him for 21 years. James Edward Gilmartin and Sarah Ann Gilmartin, children of the deceased, gave evidence coroborative of the leading statements of Mrs Gilmartin. The daughter stated that she had never seen her father ill treated by either her mother or her brother, but he (the father) behaved harshly to them when under the influence of drink. Senior-constable Love gave evidence to the effect that Mrs Gilmartin informed him of her husband's death. He found no marks of violence on the body."
A week later, one of James Gilmartin's vigneron associates-and presumably friend- went before the local court to attempt to convince them to reopen the investigation into James's death. His name was Felix Brouard, a Frenchman, and he was apparently quite a character.In 1892, Felix had fallen foul of the law in Bendigo when he was caught selling his wine in quantities less than allowed under a vigneron's license...the minimum amount was two gallons or one dozen bottles, and Felix was letting his customers buy less. It was stated in a report in the Argus that Felix had "a small vineyard at Boilleau, some few miles eastward from Echuca, on the road to the Lower Goulburn." He also admitted that his wine was made not only from his own grapes, but of those of his neighbours which he had purchased, which was also a breach of the law. Perhaps James Gilmartin was one of those who sold some of his produce to the Frenchman. Whatever the case, the bench did not take Felix seriously, as another report in the Riverine Herald suggested:" ...of the business at the local court yesterday morning, Felix Brouard, a well-known resident of the district, went before the bench and said he had an application to make. As the bench apparently did not understand the nature of the application on account of Brouard's faulty English, Senior-constable Love explained that he wished to ask for a fresh inquiry into the cause of death of James Gilmartin of Kanyapella, who died on Sunday last. Brouard said he could not understand how deceased went off so sudden and expressed his determination to wire to the coroner. Mr Dwyer, P.M., informed Brouard that there was no need for any such action as Mr McKenzie, J.P, who conducted the inquiry, was perfectly satisfied. Brouard did not appear to relish the idea that his wishes were to be thus put aside and he spoke rather angrily to the bench. The P.M., however, quitened him rather suddenly by informing him that instead of his going to the "head fount" as he threatened to, he would go to gaol unless he was less impertinent. The interview then came to a conclusion."
It seems as though there were some in the district who were suspicious of James Gilmartin's sudden demise, and perhaps turned their eyes towards Elizabeth, who as an abused wife may have had a motive to "do away" with her violent husband. James Gilmartin’s death certificate states his cause of death as being “General causes accelerated by excessive intemperance. Magisterial Inquiryheld at Kanyapella on the 9th of June, 1895, by Hugh McKenzie, Esquire, J.P.” Again there was no mention amongst his issue of final child Ethel-could she and Angelina have been one and the same child, known by a nickname ratherthan her birth name? It was certainly very common in those times, and it certainly seems very unusual that Ethel would have been left off both parents’death certificates as well as not being officially registered at the time of her birth. James Gilmartin’s issue was named as follows:Blanch Ada dead; Mary Jane 19 years; Margaret 18 years; James Edward 17 years; Elizabeth Bridget 14 years; John Patrick 12 years; Sarah Ann 9 years; Ada Ellen Grace 9 years; Michael William Thomas 7 years; Silas Alfred 4 years; Angelina Etterell Ambug 2 years.
Elizabeth Everard Gilmartin was 45 years old, and probably for the first time in her life she was in a position to take control of her own future, as well as ensuring a good life for her children.Victorian Gazettes for the years 1887, 1888 and 1889 show Eliza Gilmartin paying one pound five shillings per year for a license to run a rural store on 3 acres of land in Kanyapella. How she managed this while raising so many children, and with the added burden of being illiterate, is incredible.In 1889 and 1890, there is evidence of James Gilmartin transferring the ownership of parts of his land, two parcels to his wife Elizabeth and another to Joseph Brown. With the help of her elder children Elizabeth continued to farm her land atKanyapella, and do it successfully. She had to contend with local gossip and inuendo after her husband's death. A small article in the Argus from October 20, 1897, paints a telling picture of what Elizabeth had to face in the local community:
" A SLANDERED WIDOW: ECHUCA, Tuesday.In the County Court today, before Judge Casey, Elizabeth Gilmartin sued a farmer of Kanyapella, named James Peck, for 250 pounds damages for making a remark reflecting on her chastity as a widow at Stewart's-bridge Hotel, in the presence of the landlady and several men. The evidence showed that the defendant interrogatively told the plaintiff that she was habitually intimate with a man named McNair. The jury returned into court with a verdict for the plaintiff for a farthing damages, carrying costs."
On November 8, 1897, the Riverine Herald also carried an article regarding this case:"ONE FARTHING DAMAGES: In the County Court, recently held at Echuca, Mrs Gilmartin proceeded against James Peck for slander and a verdict was given in her favour, the jury fixed the damages at one farthing. On Saturday the defendant called in at the office of his solicitor, Mr C.H Campbell, and handed over a farthing, for which he received a receipt. Today the farthing will be formally handed over to Mrs Gilmartin's solicitors."
Unfortunately, Eliza remained a single mother for only two years after JamesGilmartin’s death...perhaps she gave in to the gossiping and inuendo and gladly entered into a marriage again. She married Robert Newby in 1898 at the age of 47, and thankfully bore no children to her third husband. I was hoping that after being deserted by her first husband and ill-treated by her second, Eliza may have found happiness and serenity with her third husband. Apparently this was not the case...her great-grandson Nicholas Grumley wrote the following:
“From what I can gather, my grandfather thought a lot of his mother, so she must have been a devoted mother given her life and her Gilmartin children received the education she didn't. The school was practically next door, close enough to hear the bell, for when the last ring sounded for the morning, James allowed his kids leave for school, keeping them at home till the last minute doing farm work. Naturally they were always late.When Eliz. remarried, my grandfather left home after a while (about 8 or 9 years old), because of mistreatment from his stepfather. He lived off the land with the help of the neighbours.”My heart sank when I read this...after welcoming another man into her family circle, Eliza would have found herself again having to protect her children from abusive treatment at the hands of the head of the family. The thought of her young son Michael having to live off the land with neighbours helping him survive is heartbreaking.I have discovered nothing about Robert Newby, and am disinclined to do so because of what I have been told about his treatment of young Mick Gilmartin.The Port Phillip Herald of 1895 carried an article concerning two “lucky” miners recently returned from the Coolgardie gold fields, one of whom was a man named Robert Newby, but I have no idea if it was Elizabeth Gilmartin’s future husband or not.
Eliza survived ten years of marriage with her third husband. Her mother Jane Sanders Everard had moved to Kanyapella to live with her eldest daughter towards the end of her life, and she died at Kanyapella on June 1, 1908, aged 78. Eliza herself passed away the following year, on April 21, 1909, from peritonitis. She was about 58 or 59 years old, although her death certificate gives her age as 57. Her children were aged from between 31 and 15, and four daughters had already married and provided Eliza with grandchildren by the time of her death: Mary Gilmartin married Herbert Owen in 1904, and their son Clifford Owen was born in the same year. Margaret Gilmartin married Duncan McNair in 1896, and had children Christina and John in 1898 and 1904 respectively. Elizabeth Bridget Gilmartin married Thomas Gardner (which explains why a ‘Thomas Gardner, friend’ was the informant on Jane Sanders Everard’s death certificate!) , and had Robert in 1904 and Bertram in 1909. Finally, Sarah Gilmartin married Thomas Smith in 1906, and siblings Gladys andAlfred were born in 1906 and 1909.
Eliza/Elizabeth Jane Everard Mansfield Gilmartin Newby had 14 children, lost three in infancy and raised the others to be strong and survive the tough times like she did throughout her life full of hardships. She was my great-great-great aunt, elder sister of my great-great grandfather, John David Everard, and my research has revealed a woman whom I am very proud to include in my family tree. She overcame illiteracy, abusive marriages and the loss of beloved children,and ensured that her surviving children were well educated to gain a chance at a better life. I applaud her courage and tenacity, and look forward to adding even more to her story in the future.
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