William Burton Mitchell and Margaret
Hawton
Parents
: Thomas
Mitchell Margaret (Peggy) Burton
Francis (Frank) Hawton and Jane
Dingle
William Burton Mitchell (b 1825 Tregorrick St Austel Cornwall , m
Margaret Hawton 1846 Stoke Climsland Cornwall, d 1913 Ascot Vale,
Vic)
Margaret Hawton (b 1828 Stoke Climsland, 1922 Essendon Vic)
Jane Hawton Mitchell (b 1847
Stoke Climsland, d 1862 Osborns Flat Vic)
William
Mitchell (b 1850 Stoke Climsland Cornwall, m Ellen Adelaide Cubit 1880 Sandridge
Melb, d 1889 Bethanga, Vic )
Ernest Harold Mitchell
(b 1887 Whiteford, m Liela Muriel Roach
1914 Kew, d 1960 Wodonga)
Selina Mitchell (b abt 1852
Stoke Climsland, m Matthais Oats 1877, d 1940)
Braddon (Brad) Mitchell (b
1854 Stoke Climsland, m Annie Parnaby 1896, d 1918 Sunbury
Vic)
Margaret Ann (Dinah) Mitchell
(b 1858, m Arthur Welshman, d 1944 in
Victoria)
Fred Mitchell (b 1863 Osbornes
Flat, m Lottie Barnes, d 1944 in Victoria)
Clara Jane (Minnie) Mitchell
(b 1865 Osbornes Flat, m Jack Flenjte, 1954
Essendon)
Link for photos of Fred
and Lottie, Fred and Minnie
Two of Brad's sons died in WWI. Link to service records Hawton
Fred
Chronology
1825 William Mitchell born Tregorrick St Austel
Cornwall
1828 Margaret Hawton born Stoke Climsland
Cornwall
1846?
William and Margaret marry in Tregorrick (?)
1850 William Mitchell and brother
James arrived in Victoria on the
Samuel Boddington (22 Apr)
We have not yet found their return to England
1851
James in in England for the census in April, living with his
parents
1851 James marries in Stoke Climsland,
aged 22, on
24 Jul
1851 Aug is about the latest date for
Selina's conception, if her age of 9 in the 1861 census is
correct, ie Wliiiam was in Stoke Climsland by mid 1851
So James and probably William had left Australia for England by
January 1851
1858 William Mitchell
arrived on
the Morning Light.
1861
James is a draper and grocer in Stoke Climsland in the census
1861 Prince of Wales
arrived December with rest of family. James
stayed in England and prospered. One would like to have sat in on
the discussions as they weighed up the merits of moving families to
the other side of the world.
1863 William is listed as a butcher when Fred
baptised Yackandandah,
1868 William is in the Victorian Directory as a
farmer at Osbornes Flat
1913 William dies in Melbourne
1928 Margaret dies in Melbourne
Chronology
Update
based
on
input
from
Hawton
Clarnette
and Fred Mitchell
Where does this leave us?
Alma Dillon says that William and James came
to Australia in the early 1850s, found gold at Ballarat, then
returned to England. This tallies with the chronology above,
except for a timing discrepancy, understandable 120 years later.
But gold was not officially discovered in Australia till 1851.
However gold was being found earlier than that. See the website
~ Gold ~ . (Go to
Early Gold Discoveries) The Early Discoveries section starts
with the quote
"Put it away Mr Clarke, or we shall
all have our throats cut". - Sir George Phillips, 1844 after
Reverend WB Clarke presented his gold discovery.
So perhaps they did find gold as Alma says, kept it very
quiet, and headed back immediately to England. They were
able to set up nicely in business, William as a butcher, James
as a grocer.
But all this raises further questions
(1) What
prompted them to make the journey to Australia? Particularly
William who was married with two young children.
(2) How come they were so lucky as to find substantial
gold so quickly (if they did)?
(3) What
prompted William to uproot his family ten years later and come
back to Australia?
Update after responses from Di Gibbs, Stoke Climsland OPC
(1) William Mitchell was baptised 14 Oct 1849. As his father
arrives in Melbourne 22 April 1850, he could not have
stayed long with his new (2nd) child.
(2) On the baptisms of Jane, William and Brad, the parents
abode is referred to as Village, Tailors Shop, and
Stoke. In each case William's profession is given as miner.
This is news, as on the ship out he said "agricultural
labourer". But it does add some credibility to the
theory they found gold. (Di Gibbs : Thes bapts were Church
of England)
Di comments that the missing baptisms
could be accounted for by William B's family being
non-conformist. Certainly William's son was a staunch
Methodist later in Australia. There was a William Mitchell
on the committee that was formed to build the Wesleyan
church in Bethanga in 1878, but while it is likely on age
grounds (53 vs 28) to have been William senior, it is hard
to tell from the minutes. And Di's baptism list has Jane and
William being baptised by Rector and Curate respectively,
which sounds like C of E?
Di Gibbs :Occupations of emigrants often
reflected the needs of the new country, ie they probably had
more need of agricultural labourers than miners, at that time.
I am intending to have another look at the parish church
baptisms for MITCHELL in Stoke Climsland as I may have missed
Selina. There seems to be a nice little gap for her bap
between William and Braddon.
Update Post Visit to
Stoke Climsland April 2008
We had
a very productive day with Caroline Vulliamy in the Stoke
Climsland Archives. She found lots of material for us. We
spent a couple of hours studying the Mitchells in the 1844
Tithe records and the 1841 census. They probably worked at the
Winsor copper mine, one of the earliest in the area. It
was first from the road towards Kit Hill .Most of the
product of that visit is on a special page - Link to it.
Tregorrick
William Burton Mitchell
was born in Tregorrick in 1825. We visited the small village
in April 2008. We had the good fortune to meet Michael Flemen,
who lives in what was Tregorrick Farm. Michael identified the
various original buildings for us. I suspect the farm was all
that there was in 1825 - the rest of the small village looked
more modern. Some research on census records could clear this
up. The farm has now been converted to about four very
attractive homes.
Tregorrick is 18 miles east of St Agnes where William's father
was born, and 25 miles SW of Stoke Climsland wher The family
was living in 1841.
General Comment from Les Rowley
The first thing that strikes you on reading the
pages for the two William Mitchells, is that these guys enjoyed
themselves. Travelling widely round NE Victoria, and
further, prospecting for gold and finding it and literally building
prosperous farming properties. But it must have been very hard work.
Brad mentions 644 tons of dirt processed from the Welcome mine in a
year. And later William B took a contract to raise 100 tons quartz
at the Bon Accord mine, starting July and finished in Nov 72. I
suspect they did the work themselves, or Brad's bookkeeping would
have recorded the cost of wages. Can do people - if you need a
school or church in the community, organise a committee and build
it. If you need another house - build it yourself.
I suspect the women enjoyed the northeast less.
Margaret (nee Hawton) seems to have had long term ill health. She
must have missed Cornwall and her family support, particularly
in those long periods in summer when the temperature reached
35 centigrade day after day. And Ellen must have felt much the same
growing up in Tasmania, ant then living in the city from her late
teens. The isolation on the farm in the Mitta valley must have been
a shock. And Leila grew up in suburban Melbourne - again country
life must have been a shock,
There is a whole lot of stuff about Hillsborough
on the Australian Locations page
(follow the links). This includes an account of the school committee
(which included William Burton Mitchell) trying unsuccessfully to
remove the school teacher Emma Anderson. Arthur Welshman - William
B's future son in law was an applicant for the position.
Maybe there is enough material here to get a feel
for some of the characters - William senior brought his family to
the other sude of the world, not because of poverty, but because he
saw opportunity. His brother James was more cautious, as I suspect I
would have been. William junior who cemented the family fortunes
with a serious gold find. Who wrote poetry because he was missing
home on their horseback ride to Queensland. Who was meticulous in
recording his desparate attempts to control his diabetes.
Churchgoers and temperance advocates all.
One interesting character is the brother Fred. We
know little of him, because there are no surviving descendants. But
he was the person Wlilliam turned to for executor, for what he knew
would be a long and difficult job. And what do we make of Brad? The
contrast in diaries with his brother's is interesting, as is Alma
Dillon's strory of the falling out with his father.
|
|
William Burton Mitchell
|
Margaret Hawton
|
Notes Supplied by Fred Mitchell
It is believed
the original of this is a Daguerreotype of William Burton Mitchell
taken some time in the 1850's. For a better image (500KB), click here.
In 1850 the Samuel Boddington
arrived in Melbourne with brothers William Mitchell and J.
Mitchell on board. They went to the goldfields (which one is not
known) and found gold. The date of this is not known nor is the
date both returned to England, but the time elapsed could not be
great as the Mitchell's next child was Selina (b about 1852).
The family sailed on the Prince of
Wales in September 1861 and arrived in December. Fred has
produced a map of the ship's voyage from England. It is interesting
to see how they went right acros to Africa, and how far south they
went. See the map
Comments from Hawton Clarnette (Descendant of Brad)
Hawton has produced an extensive history of Brad's family - I have
edited it to remove information covered elsewhere in these pages.
Also information about living or recently living people has been
removed . Link to edited document. The
following extraxts are of more general family interest
"Len and Ern worked Climsland for some
time. Brad and family moved to Sunbury 1917, and Hannah was left
with the property when he died Brad named the house Bailabbe (in
Wodonga) after the place where their two sons died in WWI
(Baileau and Abbeville)
Location of
the Welcome mine. It was above the Methodist church, old
location up the hill - rubbish on hill above church to the left.
(Les Rowley - om mu computer - search the Bethanga photos
directory for Welcome mine)
Selina
married Matthias Oates of Stanley (which is about 10 kms.
S-E of Beechworth or 8 kms west of Hillsborough) and it is most
likely that they set up home at Stanley. They had
one son Desmond , who unfortunately died a few weeks before his
wedding day. Matthias took Selina to England about
1913-1914 where she was able to meet all her parents’relatives.
However World War 1 broke out and they had to catch the first
ship home. They settled in Beechworth on return, but Matthais
died soon after. Selina then spent the winter months with her
brother Brad and Annie.
Dinah
(Margaret Ann) married Art Welshman of Hurdle Flat (about 5km
north of Stanley on the Beechworth road). They had two
sons Arthur and Morton, and two daughters Ilma and Miriam.
Arthur, Morton and Miriam went to the first World War. Dinah and
family eventually moved to Melbourne .
Minnie, the
youngest, married Jack Flentje and had two daughters Alma and
Rita. I can’t find the date of their marriage, but the nearest
time would be say between 1888 and 1892, i.e.24 to 28
yrs. Alma married twice , the second time to a
Mr. Dillon . She had two children , Perl and Bert.
Robert
Hawton lived with the family at Osborne Flat and
Hillsborough until Jan. 1872 when he left and went to Hill End.
Robert married on 3 May 1873 and had four children - Robert,
Emma, William, and Russell. William stayed with him on trip Nth
Samuel
Hawton lived with the family at Osborne Flat and
Hillsborough and possibly also at the property owned by the
family on the Mitta Mitta near Bethanga. He did not
marry."
Alma Dillon's Recollections
Alma Dillon was Clara's daughter and William Burton's grandaughter.
She died about 1988. The notes of a meeting with
Jenny Mitchell in 1975 are interesting reading. Extracts
follow
.
In about early fifties, William (Burton) and his brother James
came to Australia and went mining at Ballarat. They made money
and returned to England. James then had a grocery shop and
William a Butcher shop in Stokeclimsland (border of Cornwall
and Devon). After two or three years William returned to
Australia alone and went to Osmonds/Butchers Flat
(Yackandandah). His wife and children plus two of her brothers
- Sam and Bob - followed. They sailed from Plymouth Sound on
11 September 1861
William met them at Port Melbourne and with two drays they
walked to Osmonds Flat. Selina's assessment was Grandmother
drove, i.e.., we walked. (Grandmother was Margaret; Selina was
talking to Alma, Margaret's grand-daughter). The house at
Osmonds Flat had a dirt floor with bags on it.. William had a
butcher's shop for 8 or 9 years — the mines were no longer
working at Osmonds Flat. Jane died the year the family came
out, aged 15. She was buried in Yackandandah Cemetery. William
(son) used to tend her grave till he died. One day he found
some red roses growing by it. He took cuttings which were
planted at Climsland. The plant finally died a few years ago
in Essendon (Home of Minnie and Jack Flentji).
From Osmonds Flat the Mitchells moved to Hillsborough where
the mines were operative. William built a house (in those days
people shifted with mining booms). Bethanga had opened up
between c1868 to early 1870s (Minnie was only a little girl).
William built a hut in Bethanga and the men used to camp up
there and work. Sometimes Margaret would stop up there and do
the cooking. William (son) found a mine that they called
"Welcome," which was situated at the top of the hill near the
old Methodist Church. The mine was said to have more copper
than gold in it. William (son) was interested in buying land
and in 1879 he and Brad rode on horseback as far north as
Queensland, checking out the country (see diaries). On the
trip they stayed with Bob Hawton (Margaret's brother) who had
gone mining at Hill End - top of New South Wales. But in 1879,
after his return, William's diary revealed interest in land
outside of Bethanga.
To
finance the landbuying, the mine "Welcome" was sold. William
(son) got half the money and his father William and brother
Brad who also had shares in it each got one quarter of the
money. .... The land taken on by William (father) and Brad was
called Woodlands. This was later changed to Climsland by
Brad's wife. Brad later bought William's share in the
Woodlands property.
On
Selina's wedding day [1877] she was sitting on the front
verandah at Hillsborough. It was pouring rain. Minnie said
"You going to get ready?". "Thinking about it"' she did. The
man she wanted had "married his cousin at the end of a
shotgun." William (son) used to take the collection. He got
really sick of threepences and he wouldn't put them in the
church funds but took them home and locked them up. When
Selina got married William told Art I've got five pounds
worth of threepences. You can have them to pay the minister if
you want to? So he did. William gave Minnie three pounds
worth of threepences to buy herself a locket; she bought a
nice pearl one.
William
and Fred met Ellen and sister Alice at the Victoria in Melbourne (This
must be Ellis?, but she was 14 when Ellen married?) Fred was engaged to Alice, but she
returned his ring and went to Sydney. Fred went to Eldorado
outside Bright..
Art
Welshman taught at Rutherglen <1910, West Wodonga,
headmaster G??? school, Dederang 1888 teaching there when married.
ie mostly primary. Longfellow book - presented to him by
school kids
Grandfather
lovely old chap
Arsenic in
mines used to kill horses and cattle
Margaret Hawton in her old
age couldn't stand music - "didn't want anybody to enjoy
themselves". She said it made her head bad. A fella who had a
bike came to pick up Alma's sister and he started playing the
piano while he waited to take her back to his folks place.
Grandma came down and said to him "go home and bang your own
hurdy-gurdy and don't bang on ours."
Selina
had money and "things" all better than anyone else. She had a
silver teapot which she put on the sideboard, and she said to
Alma's mother "Now you can use this when you get some visitors"
One day it was gone and Minnie said "Where is it?" Selina
answered "I've given it to Lottie. They have lots of visitors
down there". Alma bought her Mum a silver teapot, so Selina went
down to Lottie's to get hers. But they said she'd given it to
them and the wouldn't give it back. (Selina was very put out). Poor Auntie, never happy, jealous of
everybody. Selina
kept her stuff in an iron safe in her room. he made a lot of
fuss about her will and was always going to "cross people off" -
"Your not going to get anything". In 1914 Selina and Matt went
on a trip to England. War broke out and coming home they were
chased by the Emden. Tthey were off course and ran into a
terriffic storm.
Selina always
lived at Hurdle Flat (just near Stanley - other side of lake).
When Des died bought house in Beechworth and lived there
Oates - mine manager +owned mine
in finished. Just left +closed down before died.
1926 Selina came to Melb, married
guy in Croxford, lived there 2nd Husband died
Desmond making preparations for
wedding, felt crook, went to Drs + died while getting ready to
examine
Fred and Lottie
lived in Bright
Brad
Father and Brad bought Woodlands. Parents + Brad still at Woodlands.
twins born and Annie did not like living with inlaws, so Brad found
claypot made bricks - straw and clay, made a kiln. built v nice
brick house next door. Annie (nee Parnaby) changed name to
Climsland. Brad and Grandfathewr bought some other land, old man
Cole said hey Bill you know of the land in Brad's name. Big row also
Annie always selling cattle. Grandfather said "Whose?". Brad
said her father gave her a cow. Grandf - all those cattle out
off one cow . (5 calves a year! Told Brad he'd been cheating him
(granf) for years. Brad gave Grandfather £3,000 for his share
in farm (lot of money but Brad got thousands).
Minnie 33 and Jack Flentje (writing unclear) 22 both sang
in church choir, + he took her home. girls after him because good
looking and a singer. He was a shift boss in the Bethanga mines.
Grandfather gave mother (Minnie) money to pay deposit on house
(Ascot Vale) then he got money on fixed deposit + she paid
house off. Grandfather died there, buried in Footscray, also Grandma
1902 they built the house in Bethanga - last one in street down to
Mitchell's paddock, street near mine (Alma 4 yrs)
Brad Mitchell's Diary
Hawton Clarnette kindly provided a typed version of Brad Mitchell's
diary, which he has in his possession. Extracts follow
At the start of the Diary the family were living
at Hillsborough which was a small village about 10 km.south of
Beechworth
1871 . 7 Jan.
William (brother) went to Eldorado (gold mine west of Beechworth)
and got work on 17 Jan. came home to Hillsborough on 1 May
1872 .Robt. Hawton left
for Hill End ( today a suburb in south Brisbane) on 15 Jan. 1872. He
got married 3rd April 1873.
22 July William and Sam ( Samuel Hawton)
went to Running Creek to work. Started
for the rush ( gold or tin rush ) at Koetong on Sept 16, ‘72.
10 July William Burton Mitchell took a
contract to raise 100 tons quartz at the Bon Accord mine ( near
Hillsborough) at 6s8d per ton.
finished on Nov 6, 72. 154 tons. made wages.
11 Oct William applied applied for 30 acre
Tin lease at Dinna Creek, Koetong.
20 Nov Father and I reached Koetong .
19 August 1873
Father and I went to work at Hawke’s View , driving 10 feet
at £3:5:-
Cure for drunkards; Sulphate of Iron 5 grains;
Magnesia 10grains; Peppermint 11drachms; spirit of Nutmeg
1drachm; twice a day.
Claim registered at Bethanga for four men on 13th
March 1876 by William
Mitchell. (This was on the North Gift Line. The four men were
William Mitchell, his father William Burton Mitchell, his brother
Braddon, and the fourth could have been either Sam Hawton or
the youngest brother Fred, who would have been 14 at that time)
Obtained 644 tons of dirt; which yeilded
923ounces13dwt5grains of gold worth £2860:6:1
Sold the claim on 1st March 1878 to Harris and Hollow for £3000
1 April 1878 William and I left Bethanga for
Gippsland; reached Drouin on10th, Brandy on 11th, Little Moe 12th at
noon. Started for the Sarwick on 17th, pegged out 3 blocks on the
18th.
Arrived at Little Moe second time on
25 April, got back to Bethanga 4th May.
9 Jan 1879 Left
Bethanga for good. 18
Jan. Went to
Melbourne, sailed for Sydney in the Cheviot on 21 Jan. Arrived
Sydney on Friday 24Jan. and put up at James Temperance Hotel in Kent
st.
10 Dec. 1879 Will Father and I went to Bethanga to examine
Finlay’s land. 11Dec.---went all over the land and
formed a bad opinion of some of it. 12Dec.---went
to the Sale. William bought Section I containing 324 acres at
£4:12:6 per acre. We bought Section B containing 412 acres , between
at £4:12:6 per acre. I bought 200 acres, Will 90 and Father 128
acres. 13Dec.---I pegged out about 60 acres
of river frontage, being the frontage of Section B, at 10.54am; and
applied for it at Beechworth under the 19th Section of the Lands Act
1869, on Mon. 15th Dec 1879.
17Dec.---pegged out 20acres at 1.40pm, and applied for it under the
49th Section on
19Dec. Called on
Fred Brown, the lawyer, on Mon.15 Dec. and instructed him to
ascertain the correctness of Title of the land that we bought.
19 Dec. Father and Will bought 134 head of cattle at
Palmerston. Will bought a filly by young barbarian for £5, 36
bullocks at £2:17:0, 78 steers at £1:19:0, and 20 cows at£1:15:0;
total £294:14:0. Discount taken off for cash £7:7:0, net cost
£282:9:6. Lost two of the cattle on the road coming
home. 22Dec----took the cattle to
Bethanga, made the trip from paddock to paddock in 12.5 hours.
14 May 1880 at
Tallangatta land board, my application for 60 acres in Parish of
Berringa, which had been recomended on 2 April, was refused, and
recomended to be put up at auction at an upset price of £3:0:0 per
acre. Will got his long toe in front of the pre-emptive
recomended; McNick objecting to both; I appealed.
15 June 1880, Tue. Went to Melbourne.
16June---attended at the Boardroom at the Land’s Office; Duffy
presided. When my case was called on he looked at the map for a
while and then said he would postpone the matter for a report from
Skeane the Surveyor General; he would not hear what I had to say;
said if I was not satisfied he would decide it at once and give
against me; Finlay did not appear; came home on 17th.
13 Feb. 1882.
Went to a bush fire up Spring creek, took all the week to put it
out.
6 Jan. 1886 went
to Bethanga , lent Will £400
24July----home again, been away about 21 weeks, cost about £23
--Josephson’s Australian ointment for
inward piles--
---To cure Queensland Fever, get a lot of cobwebs
from a dwelling or old house (those from the bush will not do being
poisonous), roll them up in the hand in a roll ball (hard) like a
marble, then cut the ball in four pieces, put them in a cup of warm
tea or water and drink the lot; after the emetic has worked take a
dose of opening medicen.
2 August 1887
Went
to
Bethanga
to
help
put
in
fruit trees. 9Sept------bought 40 head of store
bullocks in Wodonga from Gibson at £6/10/- a head.
12 Oct. Mother and Min(sister Minnie)
shifted to the Paddock to live( that from their long time home in
Hillsborough).
28 Nov.1890 Went
to Dart River,registered 2 Claims 19Dec; came back 22Dec.
18 Jan.1891 went
back to Dart.
Crushed 5.5 tons quartz for 20oz18dwt of gold (16Feb.’91)
15 June 1896
Took
first samples of water from Bethanga Creek.
Mr.c.R.Blakett.
F.G.S.
Laboratory, 360 Swanston St. Melbourne
Report on analysis of a sample water
submitted by Mr C. Ellen The results obtained were as follows--
Reaction----alkaline.
Total solid residue , in grains per gallon
at 110C ---------165.10
Appearence after
settling------------clear
Loss on ignition water of
crystallization-------27.10
Fixed
constituents------------138.00 , consisting of Silica,
Alumina, Calcium Carbonate 10.5;
Calcium Sulphate 55.08,
Magnesium 15.10, Sodium
Chloride 20.76, Sulphate of
Sodium 36.56.
This water contains too much Sulphate of Lime to
be fit for either human or animal consumption. I would advise
its discontinuance.
C.R.Blakett.
F.G.S.
Fee £2/2/-.
1 Sept 1897
Brought Annie and the boys home. (This is the first and only time
that Brad mentions his wife or family. In 1896 Brad visited the
Parnaby family in Wodonga and met Hannah ElizabethParnaby, who he
subsequently married and brought to his propertyon the Mitta Mitta.
Their first children were twin boys, namd Matthew and Hawton)
14 March 1907
Wilson surveyed frontage pegs.
This is the last entry in the Diary of a chronological
nature. Below are shown other entries which
pertain to various costs and income which Braddon recorded, and
these show that he was a very good record keeper, probably more so
than his Father or brother.
The following information sets out the costs and income from working
the Paddock, as Braddon refers to it throughout theDiary. The
Paddock was the land that William B., William, and Braddon bought
from Finlay in Dec.1879 about a year after they had sold their gold
mine in Bethanga.
Date
Paid
Received
B
Mitchell
W.B.Mitchell W
Mitchell
23July1881
371.1.10
518.19.1
70.12.6
45.4.0
31.15.6
19July 1882
352.19.3
793.10.0
191.5.0
122.8.0
86.1.0
..............
30Sept 1889
186.12.4
664.18.11
228.17.0
146.9.10
102.19.9
.......
7Oct 1897
138.12.10
393.14.10
180.11.
0
74.11. 0
_________________________________________________________
Totals
3860.14.11 9061. 9.
7
3023.12.
1
1541. 1. 6
1n 1887 I received about £70/ rent from Father and Will.
For 18 years the Paddock has paid me £171:17:0 per year; plus the
rent from Father and Will.
Father has made £85:12:0 per year.
......
16Aug 1901 345. 6.
5 555.19.
6
149. 1.
9
61.11. 4
Will died in July 1889, hence the cessation of distributions in his
name after Nov of that year.
Braddon also entered some costs in his diary of building a separate
dwelling on their land in preparation for his marriage in 1896. It
is interesting to read of the various items that he needed and I
have shown these below.
Railway freight
11.4.8; Murray pine J Bulmer 1.8.6;
Foy and Gibson-wallpaper 2.6.2 white
lead
6/6 Railway
freight,bedstead ,washstand , chest, bedding and linoleum
1.10.3; freight -lime and tar
12/10; staying town 1.9.0; railways
fares 1.12.0; Richards and Co.-drapery
3.0.11; Mates-lime and tar 5.17.0;
Ackman-furniture 26.12.5; Cobb and Co-
ironmongery 18.18.9; ditto 8.1.3;
advertising for bricks 3/-; freight for
ironmongery,Cobb and Co 4.2.2; Ackman-perambulator and
sundries 2.9.6; Wolf-making bricks--36.7.9;
coloured glass 5/3; iron for arches 6/6;
ironmongery, sundries 11/0; Stone-pine timber
4.2.4; Turnbull-pine timber 21.17.8;
Foy and Gibson-bedstead and other furniture
13.7.6; Nisbet-sawn timber 15.3.0;
freight-Bulmers pine 3/2; Stratton-chopping wood
2.5.0; White-bricklaying 5.8.0; Darmody-carpenter
3.10.0; P.O.Callaghan 3.0.0; Armstrong-pine
cupboard 17/10; sewing machine 2.0.0; stove
3.0.0; chest o
Notes by Jenny Mitchell
Welcome MineRoyal Comission, Peter Wright's Evidence. Says 3 years
earlier the Mitchells had applied and been rejected because it was a
red gum reserve. Not mining before 1876
Ovens and Murray times: 13/3/77 - Principle mines are New Years
Gift,, Excelsior and Mitchells and the welcome
Mitchells getting up to two ounces a ton - very high yeild
Written somewhere Welcome 29 June 1876
Venterden was the family home of Margaret Hawton
and had been in the family for many generations. I saw it when I
visited StokeClimsland village. Venterdon was also the name of the
hamlet in which the house is located. These days it is part of
StokeClimsland but i think in the days of margaret hawton it was
probably almost like a kind of manor/farm holding. I met the
guy who owned it in about 1999, He was very friendly and
had recently done renovations but the building itself was quite
old ie. like a couple of hundred years anyway.
While at Stoke Climsland I also saw the school
which William jnr attended. It is now run by the local
historical society but wasn't open the day I was there. goddamit.
I'm sure there would be stuff about Hawtons and Mitchells there.
Interestingly William Burton's parents were buried in the SC
graveyard. Yet William was seemingly married at Tregorrick, which we
also visited. It is close to an old tin mine which has a very big
mullock heap. Seeing how young William and Margaret were when they
married I wondered whether they had made themselves scarce for a
while before Jane was born, with Margaret returning to her family
home while William went out to Australia. Must have been quite big
things to deal with.
Recollections from Muriel Clarnette (about 1975)
William B
started butchers shop in ...... near Stoke Climsland. James
-> grocery
Margaret Hawton suffered from headaches. She used to put acetic
acid oh her head - her room stank of it - and on walks with MC she
would stop and put her head under the tap
Selina - when
MC remembers her - had lovely wispy grey hair. she used to put a
circular pad on her head; then put her own hair over it; then put
a toupe over that; then pin a transformation - lots of little
rolls on top. One day MC went with Selina to Albury to buy a hat.
The shop lady said after several tries "They won't fit". Selina
said " won't have me hair to fit me hat, I'll have my hat to fit
my hair."
Recollections from Gladys Barnes
"You may not
know that Grandfather took an interest in phrenology (reading
bumps on heads), and Mum had his textbook on this, whish we, when
children, used to love to get and try and read each other's
bumps". The book has been lost.
"... the orange
demonstrations he went to would be Orangemen from the Orange
Lodge. I know mum's two brothers were Orangemen. " (these would be
Parnaby boys)
Gladys had Jane Mitchell's Bible,
"When I was in
my teens and going to Bible Class, I was very proud of my Bible,
and showed it to one of the chaps, saying it was over seventy
years old at the time. He said, looking down his nose, and much to
my chagrin, "No Bible should last more than TWO years". Meaning of
course, it wasn't used." Gladys intended to pass it on. Perhaps
Jodie now has it?
Emily Cubitt
also not listed. She married a Stratton. Jack Stratton, a son
married Margaret Wray of Tallangatta ......Mum came to NZ to care
for Jack Stratton (her cousin)'s family when Margaret died
in childbirth (Dinah). there is an older brother and sister
Aunt Selina I
feel sure married twice. M Oats firstly, and I think she was a
Whittaker when I knew her
Recollections from Norm Martin (2004)
Wiliam Burton and son worked on a mine at Running
Creek for Martin in 3/7/1874.
Note from G.F.Craig 's Book
Brad registered a claim at
Hillsborough in 1873, and William Burton was subscribing to
the Ovens Hospital Appeal (Beechworth)
Acknowlegements:
Particularly Fred Mitchell (Ernest Mitchell's son) and Jenny
(Fred's daughter), but also Bob Mitchell (Ernest's son), Norm Martin
(Florence's daughter). and Hawton Clarnette (Brad's descendant).
Many thanks to Caroline
Vulliamy of the Stoke Climsland Archives (held in the Old Svhool).
She spent the best part of a day finding material for us, and
trying to work out where the Mitchells lived in Venterdon from the
Tithe and Census records. She also took a group (including us) on
an historical ramble of Venterdon in the evening.
Doug Nichols has supplied material on the Hawtons.. Thanks in
particular to his wife Jan for retyping the Hawton documents:.
The Hawton Family Tree and History
The Hawtons of Stoke
Climsland
This material mentions Venterdon and Whiteford. This material may
have come from Tony Reese.
Public Records Office of Victoia Index to Inward
Passenger Lists Foreign Ports) 1852-1889. supplied shipping
information
Documents
Hillsbourough Area Maps
Research Notes
Osmonds flat was known to
Fred Mitchell as Osborns flat on way to Yackandandah.
William Burton M and Margaret's grave Section 2A/377 Footsgray
general cemetery. Brad is in the Methodist section of Sunbury
Cemetery.Indexes Brad's will 164-4, 2-12-18, bur 17/3/19 probate.
Hannah 195-898, 4 apr24 probate 13jun24 (Hawton
Clarnette)
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