My Rodgers Ancestors

Sometimes there are ancestral lines in your family that you can find very little about. From the time my grandmother told me, as a teenager, nearly fifty years ago, that her mother's name was Henrietta Rodgers, I have wanted to know more about this family. Despite my best efforts over the years and having my DNA done all I could come up with was Henrietta's father's name and his possible parents. After a concentrated effort in the last couple of months, I haven't been able to add anymore names, but I have at least been able to add more "meat to the bones" and confirm the names I had.

Edward John Rodgers was Henrietta's father and he had married her mother, Ellen, about six months after her first husband had died, suddenly, leaving her with five young children to bring up alone. Henrietta was born twelve months later in Jan 1877 in Nairne, South Australia. A marriage of necessity perhaps, but Edward turns out to be a poor choice of husband. Within two months of the marriage, whilst he was running a lodging house in Hindley St, Adelaide, an altercation occurred with one of the lodgers, Mary Ann Nutt, who was charged with unlawfully and maliciously wounding Edward after he rather too forcefully chastised her screaming child. She had attempted to empty a basin over his head and in the process hit him in the eye, resulting in him losing the sight in that eye. Evidence was given that Ellen had told him he should not have chastised the child and that he had pushed her away as well. Mary Ann Nutt was found not guilty.

The further back on a family tree you research, the harder it becomes to find some ancestors, and even rarer to know what they looked like. However sometimes you can be lucky and find a description. This happened when, unfortunately, a warrant was issued for Edward's arrest, six months after Henrietta's birth, for deserting his wife, Ellen and his description appeared in the South Australian Police Gazette, Aug 1877:-

Edward was arrested five months later in Jan 1878 at Caltowie, South Australia. It is unlikely that he ever provided for or saw much of Henrietta, as by May the following year he was admitted to Adelaide Hospital where he remained for 163 days before he died on 29 Oct 1879. He died of exhaustion and suppuration of the knee joint and was only 43 years old. The details on his death certificate were provided by George Witcombe, a cabinetmaker who knew nothing of his marital status, place of birth or time in South Australia as these are all blank. When Ellen died she was buried with her first husband's surname. Hospital admission records, however, show Edward was born in Hampshire and had only been in South Australia for 5 years. The ship he supposedly came on the Earl Craig has proved to be elusive and no record has been found of his arrival. Equally his first wife which he alluded to on his marriage to Ellen, saying  he was a widower, has also yet to be found, but I have had more success with his named father, Patrick George Rodgers.

The baptism of Edward John Rogers (above) in Alverstoke, Hampshire in Apr 1835 show his parents as Patrick and Mary and that his father was a soldier. Patrick Rodgers and Mary Slevin had married in the Gosport Roman Catholic Chapel on 23 May 1834.

Lewis's Topograhical Index 1837

From Regiment Discharge Papers and Chelsea Pensioner Records for Patrick Rodgers, I have been able to learn more about him. He was born in the Parish of Blaris, County Antrim in 1815. Blaris Parish is also referred to as Lisburn Parish as it encompasses the town of Lisburn. Lisburn is on the River Lagan which divides the Counties of Down and Antrim and is only 6 miles(9.6Kms) from Belfast. The parish includes parts of both counties. Patrick enlisted in 86th Regiment of Foot under the leadership of Lieut. General Sir Arthur Brooke KCB at Belfast on 3 Jan 1833 as Private No. 814. Records at the National Army Museum show the regiment in 1827 had its first posting to the West Indies and other British possessions, a posting which lasted ten years. The regiment were also at Haslar Barracks in Hampshire in 1834/35, according to a Conservation Area Appraisal in 2018, at the time when Patrick married and Edward was baptised.

Model of Officer of 86th Regiment

c.1858

The 86th Regiment had the nickname, The Irish Giants. Legend has it, when they first began recruiting for the regiment in Ireland, many of its earliest recruits were very tall. This made me wonder was Patrick tall for an Irishman? On his discharge papers, I found a description (below) that showed he was 5ft 6ins(168cms) tall. Was this tall at the time? The Irish Times (13 Nov 2021) reported the average Irish male born in 1980 is 5ft 9ins(175cms) tall, 3 and half inches(9cms) taller than a hundred years ago. On that premise, considering Patrick's birth was 65 years earlier again, he was probably tall for the time, but definitely not a giant! Both he and his son had dark hair.

Patrick was discharged from the regiment on 22 Aug 1837 after 4years and 232 days of service. A board had granted him a discharge and pension of 6/- per day for 3 months due to him being medically unfit for duty. The surgeon's report said Patrick had an enlarged testicle and obscure thoracic disease. He most likely had trouble breathing when he exerted himself, with the cause unexplained. His conduct report stated he was "a good soldier, much in hospital". What happened to the family after his discharge is unknown.

Sometimes you can find lots of details about an ancestor's life, but have no idea what they look like, but in this instance it has been the reverse, with descriptions of both Edward and his father. It made me wonder if the the mop of brown hair, hazel eyes and olive complexion my youngest brother was born with was inherited from Patrick!

#Blaris

#Rodgers

 

Numurkah Pubs

Above you can see a few advertisements from The Numurkah Leader in the 1890's. Today we think of Pubs as drinking and entertainment establishments, but they were so much more in the early development of towns in Australia. They were a place for communtiy activities when few other buildings existed.

Peter McCaskill (1840-1882)
from Numurkah by W. H. Bossence

The first Pub in Numurkah was run by Peter McCaskell. He and his wife, Catherine, were the first people to take up residence in the town and even named their daughter Florence Numurkah McCaskill to honour the fact. Peter McCaskill dispensed beer and lemonade from the back of his cart on his arrival in the town in 1877. The cart quickly progressed to a bark hut, the first building in the town, then work began on a more permanent weatherboard structure, which opened as the first Numurkah Hotel on the corner of Melville and Quinn Street (the site of the State Savings Bank in the picture below, next to the now Numurkah Hotel). In November 1877, a grateful traveler reported sleeping in the partly built Hotel that existed of a roof and walls, but, no windows or doors. He was protected from the rain that fell that night and slept well using his saddle as a pillow and a rug to cover himself. Peter McCaskill had put this traveler's horse in a paddock and provided the weary traveler with tea and breakfast. The early buildings of Numurkah were wooden structures and fires were a constant problem and many burnt down including several of the earliest hotels. 

Numurkah Hotel, built 1910, Rose Stereograh Co (1920)
(State Library of Victoria)

Although the town of Numurkah was proclaimed on 8 Feb 1875, the first land sales didn't occur until January 1878 and even then Peter McCaskill's block wasn't offered for sale, he had to wait until the middle of 1878 to buy the block his Hotel stood on. He also bought the adjacent block and two other corner blocks on Quinn Street. The Numurkah Hotel opened on a hot day in early 1878, to coincide with a race meeting that took place. It supplied refreshments to all despite the lack of a licence and a ball finished off the day. As the first permanent building in the town, it served many purposes. It was a post office, a place to hold socials and magic lantern shows, the site of the first Protestant service, as well as the first public meeting, and the first sale, whch was held in the yards of the Hotel. It was the centre of early community life in Numurkah. In 1881 an agency of the Commercial Bank of Australia opened in the dining room of McCaskill's Numurkah Hotel. By the end of 1881, there were four other Hotels in Numurkah, the Farmers'Arms, the Commercial, the Royal Mail and the Globe. Both the Farmers' Arms and the Globe were burnt down.

The Globe Hotel 1888 before it was burnt down.
from Numurkah by W. H. Bossence

The extension of the railway line from Shepparton to Numurkah opened in 1881 and with it the people came too. Numurkah boomed as the service centre for the area. Unfortunately Peter McCaskill didn't live to enjoy the benefits of this boom, dying, aged 42, on 23 Jan 1882 only five months after the railway had opened. From 1881 to 1891 the population grew from 96 to 1011. When farmers brought wheat to town, they required a stopover of 2 days. More hotels opened. As part of their licence, hotels were required to have a light at the main entrance, if the street was unlit, have feed available in their stables, provide meals if asked for, ensure the safety of their patrons and if the hotel was more than 2 miles from a police station or morgue, receive a body for the purpose of an inquest if requested. The Telegraph Hotel, built in 1882, was the first two storey building and is the oldest surviving Hotel in Numurkah. It was built of red brick, in a Victorian Classical style, and represented the booming Hotel trade at that time.

Telegraph Hotel - The oldest, surviving Hotel in Numurkah

Another Hotel originating back to 1882 was the Railway Gate Hotel built on the south-east corner of McDonald and Knox Streets owned by a Mr Thomas McTighe, who was also an original selector of land in the area like my great, great grandfather, Jeremiah McAuliffe and a close neighbour of his.

The Farmers Arms was the second hotel in Numurkah, originally a wooden structure that burnt down in July 1890.  The building that replaced it unfortunately was demolished before it's heritage value was realized. For those interested in VFL history, an early 1900's licencee of this hotel was the father of Dave McNamara, well known local and St.Kilda footballer, who was noted for his long kicking, one kick in particular of 84 yards, a place kick!

The Farmers'Arms - now demolished

In 1901, Numurkah had a population of 1,125 and 10 hotels operated, showing the importance of these venues for the community.

#OnePlacePubs

References: Numurkah by W. H Bossence, The Numurkah Leader newspaper.

Mary Anne McAuliffe ( 1867 - 1905 )

                Woman                

Let woman keep her sphere; Why should she strive

With man for mastery in the rough life,

Formed not as he, but subtler in strength

To move to mightier ends in homely ways.

  The Numurkah Leader, Sat 4 May 1895, Pg 3.

In 1891 a petition had been presented to the Victorian Parliament with nearly 30,000 signatures and addresses, demanding the right for woman to vote in the colony of Victoria. Of the 64 woman of Numurkah who signed this petition, there is not one I can link to my family. It was a time when many woman were finding their voice, but the newspapers were still publishing articles like the poem above and this below entitled The New Woman

Our Melbourne correspondent thus writes on the above subject:- I am not personally an advocate of woman's suffrage and I give my reasons: the best and most womanly woman do not ask it, and if it were given to them, would not exercise it; and those who demand it would not ( for the most part) improve the tone of the Community or the character of legislation by votes.... The Numurkah Leader, 19 Sep 1895

Against this backdrop, Mary Anne McAuliffe married James Sullivan in Numurkah on 25 May 1894. She was a month off her 27th birthday when she married James, eight years her senior. Mary Anne was my great, great Aunt, the second of eight children, the first of her family, to be born on Australian soil at a place called Ballard's Camp near Toowoomba, Queensland. Her Catholic, Irish, immigrant parents, Jeremiah McAuliffe and Kate Ford, both from County Cork, had married in Southwark, Surrey in 1864, only a month before they boarded the ship Elizabeth Ann Bright that brought them to Moreton Bay, Queensland. Mary Anne's elder sister, Johanna was born at sea during the voyage. A nod to the family's Irish heritage can be seen in the naming of the girls, Johanna after her paternal grandmother and Mary Anne after her maternal grandmother. 

Railway Tunnel near Ballard's Camp 1894
Queensland University of Technology

Being born at Ballard's Camp was an indication of what Mary Anne's early childhood was like, her father constantly moved around the country to find work and took his young family with him. Ballard's Camp had been established on a rounded knoll on a ridge as a construction camp for the building of a difficult section of the railway at 2300ft above sea level. The one consolation to the family living there, unlike Ireland, the climate was the mild with not even a frost. 

By the age of three, Mary Anne and her family were living at Glengallan Swamp near Warwick, still in Queensland where her brother, Cornelius was born in 1870. Glengallon Swamp was the site of another railway camp at that time. However by 1872 the family had ventured further afield to Avenel in Victoria where her sister Margaret was born. A report in The Age newspaper, four days after Margaret was born, stated if favourable weather continued the tracks of the North-Eastern railway would reach Avenel in a fortnight, suggesting her father still had something to do with the railways. By 1874, the family were in New South Wales where my great grandfather, John, was born near Forbes and duly named after his maternal grandfather. Mary Anne now seven and a half had spent much of her young life moving about the country. This came to end in February 1878 when her father was granted over 300 acres of land at Katunga on the outskirts of Numurkah.

Mary Anne and her siblings were finally settled. When Numurkah State School officially opened for the first time on 4 March 1879, Mary Anne and her two siblings, Johanna and Cornelius, were on the enrolment list. Mary Anne was about to turn 12 in the April. Whether they actually attended was a contentious point, as the route to school was some distance, heavily wooded and difficult to navigate, their names may have been used just to make up the numbers to open a school.

By the age of fourteen, Mary Anne and her family were well settled on their farm in a log and iron house, 30 x 14 feet with a fenced and planted garden and 112 foot well for water. Eighty three acres had been cleared and planted to wheat and oats. The property also had a bark hut, bark stable and a bark and log Dairy. Life was comfortable for the family.

Jeremiah McAuliffe, sadly, didn't live to see his daughter marry, having died of influenza four years before the wedding. Not quite six weeks after the wedding, Mary Anne gave birth to her first child, Michael McAuliffe. He was born at 39 Henry St, Hawthorn according to the birth certificate filled out by her mother, Kate, and named the father as 30 yr old, Jeremiah McAuliffe of Shepparton, with the marriage date of Mary Anne and James Sullivan. For whatever reason, Mary Anne did not keep her first son, but gave him to her Aunt Margaret, her mother's sister to raise. Margaret Ford was nearing 60 years of age and had never married. There was a Jeremiah McAuliffe of the same age, who lived in Shepparton at the time, but was he really the father or a convenient way to give Michael the McAuliffe surname. Michael was known in Numurkah as Mick Ford, which came to light in an article written in the local paper, when he was given a rousing reception on his return from WWI. A little over twelve months after Michael was born, Mary Anne, gave birth to her second child, another son, who she also called Michael!

As with most women of this time period their are no records of her life except when she had or buried her children. Mary Anne had ten children in her eleven and half years of marriage, only six lived to adulthood. Michael McAuliffe, her eldest child, never married and spent his final years with John Sullivan, who certified his death, as his brother, and that Michael's parents were James Sullivan and Mary Anne McAuliffe. Mary Anne gave birth to twins in Nov 1905, only one of whom survived. At the time she was suffering influenza that developed into pneumonia. She passed away eight days after the birth as described in this newspaper article.

The Numurkah Leader, 10 Nov 1905

Sadly, Mrs J Sullivan suffered the same fate as her father and brother, dying of influenza. A sign of the times and illustrating the difficulty of researching woman ancestors, she was not mentioned by her own name but in terms of being the wife of James Sullivan. Mary Anne Sullivan (nee McAuliffe) was buried in an unmarked grave at Numurkah Cemetery at only 38 years old. In roughly a two and half year period between 1900 and 1902, Mary Anne had given birth and buried three children, Kate, John and Margaret and her last baby, Thaddeus was buried only six days prior to her own death. Gone, but not forgotten. 

Mary Sullivan (nee McAuliffe 1867-1905)
Thaddeus Sullivan (1905-1905)
Margaret Sullivan (1902 -1902)
John Sullivan (1901-1902)
James Sullivan (1860 - 1932)
Numukah Cemetery
Graves 483 & 484

#OnePlaceWomen

Numurkah Railway Tragedy

Numurkah Railway Station c.1908
State Library of Victoria

Numurkah Railway Station opened in 1881 as the terminus of the railway line from Shepparton. The town expanded as the farmers of North-East Victoria brought their wheat harvests into town to be transported. The railway line was further extended in 1888 to Strathmerton, Cobram and Nathalia and then further to Picola in 1896. With the development of the railways, there came the inevitable accidents. Local papers reported many mishaps. A nine year old girl survived a fall from a moving train after she lent on a door with a faulty catch, a train ran into a laden coal wagon, when a switch hadn't been changed back to the main line, a train ploughed through gates narrowly missing the lady trying to open them and a drunk fell from the platform, smashed both ankles and survived being run over by a wagon. Another drunk wasn't so lucky.

Railway Lines c.1930

By far the saddest report, which was picked up by newspapers around the country, was the tragedy that occurred on 5 October 1905. On this hazy Thursday evening, with only a half moon for light, a buggy carrying six people was hit by a train at Allan's Crossing, about two and a half miles from Numurkah, resulting in the death of three people. The buggy, pulled by two horses, was being driven by Mr. George Russell, with him were his two daughters Edith, 20 and Winnie 16, Annie and Lily Callender and Orlando Purton, 14. Mr. Russell, Winnie and Orlando died whilst being taken by the train for treatment after the accident, Annie and Lily suffered serious injuries and Edith survived unscathed. The bodies of the deceased remained in the waiting room of the Numurkah Station until released by the Coroner on the Friday evening, despite a request by police for an earlier release to their families. 

The town of Numurkah mourned. Mr. Russell was from a local firm of Auctioneers & Commissioner Agents. His partner, Mr. Reynoldson was the representative for Deniliquin in the State Assembly. Annie Callender was the daughter of Numurkah Butcher, Robert Callender and Lily was the daughter of Samuel Callender, also of Numurkah. George Russell had lived in Numurkah for 27 years and was well known not just for his work, but his invovlement on several boards and his charitable endeavours. A large funeral for George and Winnie Russell was held 7 October 1905 and Orlando Purton's on the following day. Orlando's parents were not well off and generous donations paid for the the funeral and more.

Funeral of George & Winnie Russell
The Numurkah Leader, Fri 13 Oct 1905

An Inquest was held, before the funeral, on the Saturday morning, 7 October by the Coroner, Mr. Read Murphy, P. M. where Edith Russell, the surviving daughter, the engine driver, William Welsh and the Fire Guard all gave evidence. There were representatives for the Russell family, the Railway Department and the Crown. As the evidence unfolded, it appeared this was an accident that could easily have been avoided. Edith stated they were all aware of the train as they travelled in the same direction along the road parallel to the railway line, although she was unsure whether the train whistle had blown. They were returning from a day at the Nathalia Show. As they drew closer to the crossing which was at an angle to the road, her father whipped the horses as he believed he could beat the train, which they had also thought and it wasn't until the last minute when they turned to cross the track that they realized the danger and yelled to stop. It was too late, the train hit them. Edith said she was seated between her father and Orlando and remembered a big bump and coming to on the ground. She also added her father was a good driver and perfectly sober. The engine driver and the guard both said the whistle had been sounded, the lights were in good order and they were travelling at a rate of 30 miles per hour.

"Mr. Read Murphy said it was perfectly clear that Mr. Russell had seen the train a long distance off. The whistle was sounded and the lights in good order. No blame was attachable to anyone. Mr. Russell had formed an inaccurate idea of the distance. He (Mr. Murphy) did not intend to make any comment. Nothing had any effect on the public who regarded too highly the danger connected with these crossings. He found the deceased came by their death by being run over by a train at Allan's Crossing." The Argus (Melbourne) 9 October 1905.

It was considered an accident, but one can't help but wonder whether the same verdict would be given today.

 A chilling postscript to this story appeared in the Euroa Advertiser, 20 October 1905. Winnie Russell had recounted a bad dream to her mother on the morning of the accident. "Oh mother, I have had such a terrible dream. I dreamt that father and I were killed." When her mother asked how, her reply was " I don't like to tell you, it is too terrible." Another daughter, Elsie, away at school in Melbourne, had made an unexpected visit home on 28 September, the week before the accident, because she too had had a bad dream. In her dream she had been summoned home because Winnie and her father had been killed, which is exactly what happened a week later! 

#OnePlaceTragedies

Brick Water Tower - A Landmark of Numurkah

Brick Water Tower, Numurkah c.1890
unknown photographer, State Library Victoria

This year I have decided to follow the monthly blogging prompts of the Society of One Place Studies. Prompts will be a different topic each month. My One Place Study is Numurkah, a town in north eastern Victoria. It was declared a town in 1875, and the first land sales occurred in 1878, the same year my Irish great, great grandfather, Jeremiah McAuliffe selected land and settled with his family at Katunga on Numurkah's outskirts. The prompt for January is Landmarks and I have chosen the Brick Water Tower.

The Brick Water Tower was built in 1888 on the west bank of the Broken Creek. Initially Numurkah's water supply had come from a lagoon in the Creek (sometimes referred to as Baala Creek, the aboriginal name) and a well on the south-west corner of Gray and Quinn Streets outside the Bible Christian parsonage. The lagoon was often dry and, with the population growing from 96 in 1881 to 1011 in 1891, a more reliable water supply was needed. Tenders were called for in October 1888 for a water tank, tower, engine house and settling tanks. The 70 foot tower was constructed using 70,000 bricks and was finished with an iron tank on top.

The height of the water tower also made it a useful vantage point to take photographs for postcards of the growing town as can be seen below:-

Numurkah from Water Tower, c.1907
Shirley Jones collection of Victorian postcards
State Library Victoria

Broken Creek in Flood from Water Tower, c.1908
Shirley Jones collection of Victorian postcards
State Library of Victoria

Moira Shire, Stage Two Heritage Study 2007, identified the Water Tower, a footbridge and the showgrounds as culturally significant places built between 1880 & 1900 in what they classified as the Recreational Precinct of Numurkah. They noted the Water Tower demonstrated original and early design qualities associated with water infrastructure development of Numurkah. The Study also stated:- 

"The materials and workmanship seen in the significant timber bridge and brick and iron water tower infrastructure are technically important and increasingly rare examples in Numurkah."

This Recreation precinct now has a Heritage Overlay and it is Shire policy to retain the significant buildings in the precinct, so the Brick Water Tower should be a landmark for many years to come.

The Footbridge over the Broken Creek
 with Brick Water Tower 

#OnePlaceLandmarks