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Information contained in these pages is intended for genealogical research only,
and I ask that you respect the privacy of those mentioned.
Please
acknowledge the source of any information used from these pages. Thomas Lutherborough and Emily Hawkins © The third child of Paul Lutherborough and Ann Jackson, Thomas was born on the 6th January, 18121. He was baptized in the Windsor Parish Church on the 2nd February, 18121 along with his older siblings Elizabeth and William. Thomas appears on the 18232 Muster of NSW, living with his family at Field of Mars. Recorded as 13years of age and Born in the Colony. He next appears on the 18283 Muster of NSW, the surname now recorded as Lutherborrow. Age 17 years, and the son of Paul, the Parish Clerk, this record indicates the family's religion as Presbyterian and they were living at Kissing Point, NSW. By 1850 he was residing in the Parish of Wollombi, over 100km north of Kissing Pount. It is not known when Thomas went to Wollombi nor why he was there. However, it is assumed he was a farm labourer. On the 29th January, 18514 in the Wollombi Parish Church, Thomas, a Bachelor, married Emily Hawkins, a spinster, by Banns and consent of Parents, probably Emily's parents as she was not of full age. Both Thomas and Emily made their mark. The minister was John F. R. Whinfield, and the witnesses Henry Brown and Ann Hawkins, both who signed their names. It is assumed Ann was Emily’s mother, and that Henry Brown may have been the husband of Emily’s younger sister Elizabeth. Born in 1832 in Sussex England, Emily was baptised in the Parish Church, Ashburnham, Sussex England on the 22nd July 18322. Baptised just 10 days after her mother Anne Quaife married William Rudlan Hawkins. The record indicates Emily was the illegitimate daughter of daughter of Anne. However, it is believed she was the daughter of William Rudlan Hawkins and possibly born shortly before Anne & William married. Believed to have been named from the Saxon ‘Ashbourne, the local stream, and ‘ham’, an enclosure, so becoming ‘the enclosure on the river Ashbourne’, Ashburnham is a scattered village, approximately 12km north-north-west of Hastings in East Sussex. Appearing in the Domesday Book as Esseborne, the village included three salt houses, salt being a valuable commodity, and was recorded as having a value of £6 before the invasion, but only £1 after, the Normans had pillaged and laid waste to the village during the battles. Ashburnham has a long industrial history and was well known for its iron furnace (closed 1813), its iron forge (closed 1826) and its brickworks (closed 1968). It is now best known for Ashburnham Place, the former home of the Earls, now a Christian Conference centre. St Peter's, the Parish Church was originally built in the 14th Century, but in 1665 was totally rebuilt, except for the tower, by John Ashburnham. Prior to 1667 the church was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. Thomas, age 17, appears on the 1828 Census with his family in Kissing Point, New South Wales9. The next record we have of Emily is the 1841 Census5, her surname is recorded as Hawkins and she is 11years old. The family is living St Paul, Deptford, Greenwich. She is listed as Emily Hawkins, age 16, a Farm House Servant, on the Shipping Records6 when the family immigrated to Australia in 1848, travelling on the Emperor, which arrived Sydney on 4th November. Records indicate the family settled in Wollombi shortly after their arrival, possibly visiting her father’s Uncle at Williams River first. Williams River is about 45km north-north-west of Wollombi. Very little is known about Thomas and Emily's life, apart from their marriage, the births of their children and their deaths. It is assumed that Thomas was a labourer and possibly working with, or for, Emily's father on the same farm. However, there are no records to support or disprove this assumption although it is believed Emily's father owned property in the area. Thomas and Emily's first child William was born in Wollombi, in 1851, but sadly he died on the 21st November, 1852, aged just 12 months7. He is buried in the local cemetery, and his grave is marked with a headstone bearing the words:
Sacred to the Memory of Thomas and Emily had three more children1; George (1852), Roseanne (1853), and Thomas (1857), all the children were born in Wollombi. At some stage Thomas must have moved the family nearly 100km north to Wallabadah Station, in the Tamworth region, possibly following work. Tragically, Emily died on the 21st April, 1859, at Wallabadah in NSW8, the cause of death being 'Exhaustion in Child Bed'. No record of the child has been located, and it is assumed the baby possibly died with Emily, or shortly after, it was born. Wallabadah is approximately 100km north of Wollombi. Agriculture was, and still is, the dominant industry in the area with livestock, especially beef cattle and some sheep being reared there. It is assumed Thomas re-located to the area for work. According to her death certificate, Emily is buried in the Haydonton Cemetery. Haydonton is approximately 20km south of Wallabadah. When the government laid out the township of Murrurundi in 1840, Thomas Haydon decided to create the adjacent private village of Haydonton which serviced the local estates, government officers and travellers. In time the name Haydonton fell into disuse, and is now just known as Murrurundi. Unfortunately it is not known exactly where Emily is buried, as there is no marker for her grave, nor any record of her burial in the local records. This leads to the speculation that it may have been Emily's family who provided the headstone for son William in 1851. We visited the Haydonton / Murrurundi Cemetery in 1999 and it is sad to see that this old cemetery, which contains many of the early settler's in the area, falling into a state of total disrepair. Overgrown, with falling Headstones and collapsed graves, it is difficult to find any evidence of the people buried there, many of them the early explorers and notable pioneers. We were told that the local Historical Society were making some efforts to restore this valuable and historical site, but while some progress was being achieved, they are few and the work difficult and time consuming. It is not known how Thomas managed his three, or possibly four, young children after Emily's death. No record has been found of the movements or occupations for Thomas. The only other information is his death, aged 86, at 'Ukolan Station', Manilla, NSW, on the 7th March, 19028, cause of death is given as Senile Decay, his occupation given as General Labourer, although it is not known how long he had worked there. The name of his spouse on the death certificate is given as Eliza Hawkins, but this has to be questioned. Although family story tells that Thomas married Emily's sister, Eliza, no record of this marriage has been found. It is recorded that at the time of his death, Thomas' children George, Thomas and Roseanne were all still alive, yet the informant was the Ukolan Station Manager, George A Higgins. Thomas' death certificate states that he was buried at Ukolan the same day of his death, however there is no record of the exact spot.
References:
3. General Musters of NSW via State Archives
NSW Anglican Parish of the Wollombi Valley, The http://www.parishofthewollombivalley.org/ Ashburnham History http://www.ashburnham-past.co.uk/ FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/search/ Murrurundi NSW http://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/murrurundi-nsw Murrurundi North Cemetery http://austcemindex.com/cemetery?cemid=523 Parish Records Ashburnham, Sussex, England
Thank You Mother England: Paul Lutherburrow and Families. by
Gweneth Bruen (1986) Wollombi Valley. Wollombi Historical Association |