28/7/1867;East Brighton, Victoria, Australia.
George and his wife Mary came to Australia aboard the ship "Atalanta", on her maiden voyage. With George and Mary were their children, Francis, Henry, John, Anna, Eliza, and Lydia. their eldest daughter, Caroline was working as a cook and did not come until 1863. The eldest son William had come to Australia the year before with his wife Elizabeth. George and his family went to East Brighton where they rented a property with a cottage on it and worked as market gardeners.
William and Elizabeth arrived in Australia on the 4/5/1855. They were met by Thomas Dowling of Merrie Creek (great uncle of William's father) .It is believed William worked for Thomas Dowling for about 9 month, then purchased a property with a cottage in Jasper Rd. East Brighton (now Ormond). They prospered as flower growers and merchant, while nurturing 13 children. Family members lived in the cottage until 1919, when it was leased to Mr. Reitman, who purchased the property in 1935. The cottage has now been restored to it's original state, less than 100 meters from it's original position, by the Morrabbin Historical Society. It is still known as Box Cottage.
Family of William and Elizabeth. Ester B.1855, D.1856; Fanny B.1857,married Arthur Downard; Eleanor B.1859,married 1879 William Herbert D.1879; Alice B.1861, married George Dale; Thomas B. 1863, D.1906; Ann B. 1865,married Charles Rogers; Arthur B.1868,married Dagmar Nelson; George B.10/6/1870,married Elizabeth Tippet; Cecilia B.10/6/1870,married Jas Asinger; Emilie B. 1872,married Hugh Couper; Ada B.1874,married Jas Lyall; Ernest B.1877,married Annie Sharp; Violet B.1879,married Mr. Woodman, moved to Sydney.
Francis Box (my G. Grandfather), was the second son of George and Mary. He seems to have been a bit of a wanderer in his early years, he went off seeking his fortune on the gold fields around Heathcote, where he met and married Jane Thompson. They later went to East Brighton and also established a market garden.
Children of Francis and Jane; Francis George B.12/2/1874, D.7/3/1875; William H. G. Born14/1/1876,married Emily Jane McCurry; Mable Alma B. 22/12/1878, married 1/ Ernest Hembrow, 2/ Amos Batchelor; Lena Caroline B.12/1/1880, D24/3/1882; Charles Francis B.19/3/1882,married Ethel Wells; Louis John B.17/3/1884, D 22/4/1884; Fredrick Edward B. 31/10/1885, D. 5/4/1887;Jessie Melinda B.26/3/1888,married William Robinson; Edith FlorenceB.14/5/1890,married Jack Clay.
Henry worked with his father at first ,later establishing his own market garden on an adjoining property in Tucker Rd. He married Elizabeth Ward in 1861, later retiring to Murrumbeena.
Children of Henry and Elizabeth; Caroline Alma B.1863,married Edgar Purdue; Lydia Elizabeth B.1867; Christina Olive B.1867,married Donald Ernest Watt; Emma Elizabeth Ellen B.1875, married Fredrick Mitchell; Archibald Ward B. 1882,married Helena Maria Treacy lived in Queensland; Mary Anne B.1865,married Mr. Jenson; George Francis B.1871, D.1875; Herbert Edward B.1873, D.1875.
John , like his brothers also worked a market garden in Tucker Rd. He married Martha Louise Sheldrake in 1861 , they had 9 children, they separated and John Married Eleanor Amelia Codrington Rushall in 1900, they had another 4 children and adopted another daughter.
Children of John and Martha; Rebecca Anne B.1863,missonary in China, later married Silk Merchant Nicholas Vildoudaki; William George B.1865,married 1/ Alice Agnes Howard, 2/ Marian Leighton Phillips; Alfred Amos B.1868, married Gertrude Chives Thompson; Amy Alice B.1871, married Mr. Strovuns; Ernest Spencer B.1872, D. 1873; Eunice Hester B.1873, married Timothy Leigh; Louis Spencer B. 1876, married Lena Ann Wyte; Florence Evaline B. 1877 married Charles Burges; Alonso Sheldrake B.1881, married Mary Loise Closter; Walter Stanley B. 1885.
Children of John and Eleanor; Jack Rushall B.1904; Alex Gordon B.1906; Thelma (adopted), married Mr. Hart; Raymond; Nellie Gladys, married William Harold Andrews. Some of the descendants of John and Martha still live in Jasper Rd. East Bentleigh.
Anna married Henry William Pay, They had three children Beatrice Anna B.17/6/1883, married Stanley Robert Mitchell; Norman HenryB.22/7/1885,married 1/ Jessica Isabella Colman, 2/ Nellie Eva Sellick; Laura Eliza B.13/1/1887, D.1951.
Eliza married James Gurr, who operated a Blacksmiths shop in Centre Rd., near Tucker Rd. They only had one child Jabez Henry Tasman B. 1883, D 2/2/1889.
Lydia died 4 days after the ship set sail from England. She died of Whooping Cough, as did 8 other children during the voyage, 2 adults also died of other causes. It was a sad start for all, as it was the maiden voyage of "Atalanta".
At this point I will only concentrate on my immediate family. The family of William Henry George Box.
14/1/1876 East Bentleigh, Victoria.
15/6/1953, Cheltenham, Victoria.
William H. G. Box (my grandfather) was always known as George. He married Emily Jane McCurry on the 13/12/1899, like his father and uncles before him, he also worked a market garden in Tucker Rd. East Bentleigh. (East Brighton now having been divided into more suburbs). George and Emily had 5 children at Bentleigh, and in about 1916 they sold up and moved to Strezlecki to try their hand at cattle farming, while here they had another two children. In about 1936, they left the Strezlecki property in the care of their son Francis and they moved to Cheltenham.
Children of George and Emily Box; Dorothy B.2/1/1901,married Albert Seabrook, lived and farmed at Strezlecki; Francis B.15/7/1902, married Gladys Battersby continued on the farm at Strezlecki and later moved to Wangaratta; Henry B.23/2/1904, D. 10/5/1904; George (my father)B.8/3/1905, married Ada Pearl Pickering, worked at many jobs before settling on market gardening in Bernard St. Cheltenham; Jean B. 11/11/1906,married Neil Wolf, they lived in Cheltenham; HazelB.13/10/1913,spent some 3 years in England where she met and married Harold McLeod in Scotland before returning to Australia to live in Cheltenham; Jessamine B.24/4/1917, married Leonard Maxwell, lives in Wagga- Wagga; Lindsay B.18/9/1918, married Fredrick Spencer, lives in Cheltenham.
28/7/1986, Surry Hills, Victoria.
Charles B. 24/7/1929, married Cora Cassanover; Peter B. 22/3/1932,married I/ Joanne Barns, 2? Peggy; Beryl B.4/6/1933, married Des Walker; Avis B.22/6/1934, married Robert Polglase; Norman B. 1/4/1941, married Denise Warhurst.
The marriage of Avis Box and Robert Polglase, makes the Box, Pickering, Polglase connection. I will now concentrate on the Pickering Family History
05 November, 2009
