Arrival in Australia, Marriage to Elizabeth.

Charles Martin's home page
  1. 1853 Marriage to Elizabeth.
        1. 7th September. Married to Elizabeth Hitchcock
        2. Registration Record of Marriage
        3. On 12th November, 1853, Henry and Eleanor were married
      2. 1854 His Parents and Sisters (with families) Migrate.
        1. Shipping List for the Aberfoyle

1853 Marriage to Elizabeth.

7th September. Married to Elizabeth Hitchcock

This was at the Independent Chapel, Prahran, Melbourne. He was 25 years of age at the time, and she was 16 (almost 17).
    It was a double ceremony, as Elizabeth's mother, Charlotte Carolyn (nee Cox) was also married in the same church on the same day. Charlotte was a widow, her husband having died two years earlier at Stepney, near London. Her new husband was a widower by the name of Charles Clay, who was 40 years of age at the time. He had had two children by his former wife, both of whom had died. Charlotte's age as stated on the wedding certificate is 45, which is a bit of a puzzle as she is listed on the shipping list 12 months earlier as being 36. I cannot explain this large discrepancy, but as she has had eight children, (3 of whom had died) I would imagine that the wedding certificate is closer to being correct.
    (NOTE - There is also a slight puzzle here regarding Elizabeth's age, as it is stated as 17, but in fact she was only 16, and would not turn 17 until an­other 6 weeks had elapsed. The authority which I have for her date of birth is that it is written on her headstone in the Melbourne Cemetery. It is difficult to see how Charles and Elizabeth calculated it wrongly at the time of their marriage. Difficult also to see, with their Christian ideals, that they would have deliberately changed it for some reason. So it's a bit of a puzzle - made more puzzling by the fact that Elizabeth's age as given in August the previous year when her ship left England is 16. It should have been 15. Didn't they know how old they were in those days, as there are a number of discrepancies right throughout all these records? I would imagine, however, that they did. Or did Charles get her date of birth wrong when he had it inscribed on her tombstone? This also seems unlikely. So all in all, it's a bit puzzling.)
    Charles' address is given as Little Collins St, and Elizabeth's as Charles St, Prahran. They both declare that they "hold communion with the Independent Denomination of Christians" and they were married according to the "usages of the Independent Denomination". This was most likely a very fundamentalist, "Bible-believing" group (although most churches were fundamentalist in those days.) The church was in Albert St, Prahran, and the minister was a W.R.Scott. Charles lists his occupation as "Clerk".

Registration Record of Marriage

On 12th November, 1853, Henry and Eleanor were married

This was at "a minister's house, Smith St, Collingwood". Henry's occupation is listed as "Foreman in a timber yard". He is 21 at the time and Eleanor is 23. He also declares on the certificate that he is a "member of the Independent Denomination". Henry and Eleanor were to have 11 children, who settled in and around Melbourne, and many of their descendants are still living there today.
    Also in 1853, back in London, his sister Loiusa (Crump), gave birth to her eldest child, James (obviously named after his father).

1854 His Parents and Sisters (with families) Migrate.

    His parents, Charles and Frances, then aged 54 and 53 according to their shipping record (but probably 57 and 54), migrated to Melbourne, along with his two younger sisters, Hannah (FARR), and Louisa (CRUMP), and their four children (a third child, Charles, had been born to the Farrs on 29th June, two months prior to their leaving London). They sailed on a ship of 965 tons called the "Aberfoyle" which left London on 24th August 1854 and arrived in Melbourne in December.
    (NOTE - The ages of Charles, Frances, and Thomas as stated on the shipping list are all incorrect. Charles was born on 9th October, 1797, and was thus 56, and turning 57 on the trip (not 54 as stated), Frances was born on 26th April, 1800, and was thus 54 (not 53 as stated), Thomas was born on 28th March, 1824, and was thus 30 (not 29 as stated). This is slightly puzzling but there seems to be no other explanation other than the unsatisfactory one that they didn't know exactly how old they were and thus calculated their ages incorrectly.)

Shipping List for the Aberfoyle

    When the parents and the other two families arrived, one would imagine that both Charles and Henry (and their wives) met them and that it was a happy family re-union. One would also imagine that the two brothers helped them settle into their new surroundings.
    I do not know what Charles did during this year so far as employment is concerned, but it would appear that he was either working as a reporter (possible - but unlikely), or as a bookkeeper (more likely), or a short-hand writer. He may also have moved house by now from Little Collins St in the city, to Charles St, Collingwood.
    The Farrs (Hannah) moved fairly quickly to Ballarat (their infant son, Charles, died there the following year,1855) and stayed there until the 1880's when they moved to St. Kilda (Melbourne). Hannah died of T.B. in 1890, and Thomas in 1901 (both buried in the St Kilda cemetery). They had 11 children, all born in Ballarat except the first three in London. Thomas was a carpenter.
    The Crumps (Louisa) appear to have stayed in Melbourne for a short time, as their second son was born there on 9th Feb 1855, but as their next child was born at Heathcote on 6th November, 1856, it would appear that they fairly quickly moved into the Central Victoria/Castlemaine area, where they lived in Wimble Street, Castlemaine and had 11 children (7 boys and 4 girls), of whom 8 survived. Louisa died in 1904 aged 71. James was a railway porter with the Victorian Railways and died in 1917 aged 87. They are both buried in the Heidelberg cemetery (Melbourne).
     The parents - Charles and Frances. As to their early movements I have no in­formation, but they eventually settled in Castlemaine, with the Crumps, where they joined the Church of Christ (it appears Frances did so at any rate). It appears likely that Charles may have become involved in his trade of butchering. He died on 13th June, 1878 aged 79 (according to the death certificate, but probably 80), and Frances a year later on 15th September, 1879, also aged 79. Both are buried in the Castlemaine cemetery.
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