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Frank Wood's family history

Francis Frederick Wood (1887 - 1954)

Whilst constructing the fence at Nara, near Nyngan, Frank met and married Florence Down and soon moved to Wagga where their first three children were born. He became a champion shearer before moving to Tumut where he bought a garage. He assumed the dealership for Hudson and Essex cars and conducted tours to the Yarrangobilly Caves. Their son John was born in Tumut. Frank then moved to Kogarah, then Brighton, then to several houses in Arncliffe, finally settling in Gertrude Street. The house had a large pigeon house in the back yard which he converted to a workshop, and he and his brother Jack used to make screen doors there. Flo worked in the Merco Rubber factory that was next door. He died peacefully in his favourite lounge chair on the front verandah. 

Florence

                                                ┌Joseph Hellier b ~1760 d 14.2.1789 West Pennard Somerset
                                     ┌ John Down b ~1785 Sonerset d 20.4.1826 Somerset m 31.12.1804 West Pennard
                                     │         └Ann Down d 15.4.1830 West Pennard (not married)
                           ┌ Joseph Down b 30.1.1814 West Pennard Somerset
                           │       │        ┌Thomas Grey b 1.12.1751 Glastonbury d 23.2.1800 Glastonbury m 30.12.1776 Glastonbury
                           │       └Rachael Grey b 28.11.1784 Glastonbury Somerset d 23.2.1855 West Pennard
                           │                  └Martha Bartlett b 6.8.1760 West Pennard d 5.4.1841 West Pennard
             ┌ John Joseph Down b ~1839 Somerset d 21.11.1922 Nyngan m 3.1.1878 Nyngan
             │           │                  ┌William Naish b ~1743 d 30.1.1830 West Pennard m 10.1.1775 West Pennard
             │           │        ┌George Naish b 29.3.1790 West Pennard d 25.6.1842 West Pennard m 5.9.1811 N Wootten Som.
             │           │        │       └Sarah Earl b 31.8.1755 West Pennard d 6.4.1809 West Pennard
             │           └ Elizabeth Naish b 25.12.1812 West Pennard Somerset d 13.11.1877 West Pennard
             │                      │        ┌James Masters b 8.10.1748 Shepton Mallet Som d 28.2.1828 Pilton Som m 7.2.1780 Pilton
             │                      └Margaret Masters b 27.12.1780 Pilton Somerset d 1859 Wells Somerset
             │                                 └Margaret Griffin b ~1735 d 16.3.1828 West Pennard
Florence Edith Down b 4.8.1889 Nyngan d 2.7.1964 Sydney m 19.12.1910 Nyngan
             │                    ┌ Richard Norris b 1776 Cork d 19.2.1843 Norfolk Island
             │         ┌ Christopher Norris b 8.12.1811 Cornwall d 18.5.1898 Orange m 1834 Windsor
             │         │        │         ┌John Williams
             │         │        └ Mary Williams b 1782 Bath d 26.1.1863 Cornwallis
             │         │                    └ Elizabeth ?
             └Maria Matilda Norris b 1842 Windsor d 28.3.1892 Nyngan
                         │                     ┌ Edward Shrimpton d 25.12.1768 Wiltshire m 7.10.1762 Wiltshire
                         │         ┌ Richard Shrimpton b 1762 Wiltshire d 12.7.1827 Wilberforce m 24.6.1791 Parramatta
                         │         │         └ Jane Sparowville
                         └ Mary Shrimpton b 1.8.1814 Sydney d 1854 Windsor
                                     └ Ann (Margaret) Keyes

Florence is descended from an interesting group of convicts, some directly and some indirectly.

In 1797, Richard Norris was sentenced to transportation for life in Dublin reportedly for being an Irish rebel, but more likely as a member of the Crumlin Gang, a group of robbers who terrorised the burghers of Dublin, carrying out armed robberies. The gang was apprehended in December 1797 and most were hanged after trials. Only Richard Norris and possibly another one of the 11 members were transported, while one or two turned King's evidence. He sailed to Sydney on Minerva, the so-called rebel ship, arriving 11 January 1800. In 1801, he was granted a provisional ticket of leave which was common as farming was proving to be a major problem.

By 1805, he was renting Barrington's Farm of about 8 acres near Green Hills raising wheat. Mary Williams, who had arrived in 1801 on the 'Nile', was described as his housekeeper, and they had two children. By 1814, Richard was described as a landholder. Mary Williams was his wife (although I can find no evidence that they were married) and the number of their children had increased to six. At that time, Richard had two convicts assigned to him. By 1822, he was a landholder with a farm of 50 acres near Windsor growing crops and raising cattle. He and Mary then had a family of 11. Finally, Richard owned two 30 acre farms at Cornwallis, plus a town allotment in Windsor as a place of refuge in time of flood.

There are strong indications that Richard was involved in the 1804 Vinegar Hill rebellion, but not sufficiently for him to be executed or flogged. He is listed amongst the 36 who were "granted conditional pardons as it was difficult for the New South Wales Corps to prove who was who or their involvement. Some returned to settle in Windsor, Toongabbie and Parramatta. They were all pardoned on condition that any breach saw them transported to Norfolk Island to serve the original sentence plus a sentence for suspicious involvement in the castle hill uprising". At the time of Richard's death, Norfolk Island was still a penal colony for re-offenders who were to be given "severe punishment short of death".

He later supposedly committed some outrageous crime relating to a pig and, on 3 May 1838 in the Sydney Supreme Court, was found guilty and sentenced to death. This was later commuted to life on plea, and he was transported to Norfolk Island on the Phoenix and died in the hospital there on 19 Feb 1843. No grave appears to exist. It is hard to believe that a man who owned two successful farms and a holiday house in Windsor would do what he was accused of, especially as his eldest son had been sent to Port Arthur several years earlier. However, these were the days when the rules of evidence were observed infrequently, especially for Irish Catholics.

Mary Williams had been convicted of stealing four handkerchiefs and three aprons in the Somerset court on 16 August 1800 and sentenced to seven years transportation. She arrived in Sydney on the Nile on 14 December 1801.

Richard had 11 male and 3 female children with Mary. Of these, the fourth son Christopher was the grandfather of our Florence.

Richard’s eldest son, John Norris, had married Rachel Eather, had three children and was working a ten acre farm near those of Richard, growing wheat and corn and raising pigs. In 1833, the police arrived and found some meat on his property that they claimed was from a stolen calf. He was sentenced to death which was later commuted to seven years in Port Arthur. At Port Arthur, he was soon joined by his wife and had another three children before returning to Cornwallis, there to learn that his father had been transported to Norfolk Island.

Christopher Norris married Mary Shrimpton and continued to farm at Cornwallis. They had nine children, the fifth being Maria Matilda, the mother of Florence. Mary Shrimpton was the daughter of Richard Shrimpton and Ann Keyes.

Richard Shrimpton arrived on the Scarborough in the second fleet. He had been sentenced to seven years transportation in Berkshire, arriving in Sydney in June 1790. The second fleet differed from the first fleet in that it was handled by private contractors. 278 people died on the voyage and those who survived were in a terrible state. As was reported at the time:

The landing of those who remained alive despite their misuse upon the recent voyage, could not fail to horrify those who watched. As they came on shore, these wretched people were hardly able to move hand or foot. Such as could not carry themselves upon their legs, crawled upon all fours. Those who, through their afflictions, were not able to move, were thrown over the side of the ships; as sacks of flour would be thrown, into the small boats. Some expired in the boats; others as they reached the shore. Some fainted and were carried by those who fared better. More had not the opportunity even to leave their ocean prisons for, as they came upon the decks, the fresh air only hastened their demise. A sight most outrageous to our eyes were the marks of leg irons upon the convicts, some so deep that one could nigh on see the bones.

Richard was granted a conditional pardon 15 November 1797 and seems to have escaped further attention from the authorities until his death at Wilberforce 12 July 1827.

Richard’s first wife Ann (Margaret) Keyes does not appear to have been a convict.

Although not related to Florence, Richard’s second wife, Charlotte Bishop also had interesting parentage, Mary Davis and Samuel Day.

Mary Davies aka Bishop was sentenced to death for burglary on 28 December 1785. This was later commuted to seven years transportation. She joined the first fleet on the Lady Penrhyn. Eight months after arrival, she broke a bottle over a John Mara’s head, but was acquitted because he had called her a bitch. Two months later she married Samuel Day, another first fleet convict. They moved to Norfolk Island in 1790 in its earlier milder days. In 1792, she separated from Samuel Day and adopted Mary Davies whom she renamed Charlotte Bishop who would later marry Richard Shrimpton. On 9 March 1993, Mary returned to Port Jackson. In the 1806 census she was working as a servant in Government House. In 1809, she was granted land at Bringelly but that may not have worked out as she returned to being a servant in Parramatta.

Samuel Day was sentenced to death on 23 March 1785 in Gloucestershire for stealing 134lb yarn. On 28 December 1785 this was commuted to 14 years transportation and he arrived with the first fleet. Five months later he was charged and acquitted of stealing goat meat. Soon after marrying Mary he was sentenced to 150 lashes and to wear leg irons for a year for an unprovoked attack on aborigines at Botany Bay. He and Mary were subsequently transported to Norfolk Island where, soon afterwards, he was sentenced to a further 200 lashes for doing his own thing when he was supposed to be working for the Overseer. This was all probably too much for Mary as she left him and Norfolk Island. In 1794, he married Mary Bolton. He remained on Norfolk Island until it was closed due to inadequate port facilities and the inhabitants transferred to Tasmania in 1813. In 1818, he was appointed town constable at Port Dalrymple.

Phyllis Moore (1911 – 1939)

Phyllis died during an operation for appendicitis in a private hospital in Sydney in the same year as her marriage. She had been living in Coolah, formerly of Goulbourn and Sydney. She was a school teacher and, for four years, she had taught at North Goulburn Public School where she was known for her enthusiasm in organising girl’s sport. She was a keen tennis player and was a member of the Potteries Club.

In the year of her death, she had been transferred to a Sydney school, but resigned at Easter to marry Allan, who was the manager of the Bank of NSW at Coolah where they had recently settled after a lengthy honeymoon in New Zealand. She was cremated at Woronora.

Frederick Luke Wood (1914 - 1972)

Fred was a restless soul. At the age of fourteen he fell in with Errol Flynn (the future movie star) who had just returned from an unsuccessful search for gold in New Guinea. Errol, five years Fred’s senior, was totally dissolute and led Fred into a series of misadventures that led Fred’s father to banish him to his Uncle Herb’s Dunlop Station near Bourke. In later years he became a boxer with Jimmy Sharman snr’s group boxing under the name of Frank Murphy. His boxing years ended when he was punched in the left breast which grew to a very significant size and he had to strap it for the rest of his life to avoid embarrassment.

He met his first wife, Nancy while he was wood cutting in Kangaroo Valley. I can’t imagine how it happened, but they exchanged love letters where he signed himself F Wood, not explaining what the F stood for, Nancy assumed it was Frank and he didn’t argue, so he became Frank for the rest of his married life to Nancy.

Fred always pined for the bush, finding the city an uncomfortable place. Schooling for his son Ian became a problem. For several years, correspondence school and local tiny one-teacher schools sufficed, and Fred was employed across NSW as a boundary rider where he thrived on being by himself with his horse in the bush for days on end. He had no fear of brown snakes and I have seen him despatch five-footers either by removing their heads with a shovel, or trapping their heads with a forked stick, grabbing them by the tail and cracking them like a whip. His restlessness is reflected in his never staying at one job in the country for more than six weeks, although he later worked for Otis Elevators for many years. When Ian reached the age of 8 he was forced to move to the city where he took on the job of an unqualified lathe operator, but his restlessness remained.

After his marriage to Marie, he seemed to settle down and had two daughters whom he adored. He died of emphysema due to heavy smoking combined with bronchitis.

Nancy

After marrying Fred, Nancy acted as a housekeeper for the cockies for whom Fred worked as a boundary rider, or as a secretary when in the city. She was the fastest typiste I ever saw. She constantly suffered from kidney problems, requiring several emergency trips to hospital. She eventually succumbed to the disease at the tender age of 45.

                                                         ┌William Surkett b 1646 Brading IOW d 13.2.1704 Brading m  7.2.1764 Brading
                                                  ┌John Sothcott snr b 27.9.1679 Brading IOW d 1762 m  20.12.1709
                                                  │   └Elizabeth How b 1650 Brading IOW d 1713
                                            ┌John Sothcott jnr b 1.2.1715 Brading IOW d 7.9.1762 Brading m  25.12.1738 Brading
                                            │   │   ┌John Holloway
                                            │   └Ann Holloway b 30.5.1679 St Helens IOW d 28.11.1717 Brading
                                            │          └Joanne ?
                                      ┌William Sothcott b 29.11.1747 St Helens IOW d 7.2.1798 St Helens m  19.7.1769 St Helens
                                      │   │   ┌Joseph Bamfield b 1679 Brading IOW
                                      │   └Elizabeth Bamfield b 10.2.1717 Brading IOW d Oct 1785 St Helens
                                      │          └Mary Joseph b 1683 Newchurch IOW d 1754
                                ┌James Sothcott snr b Mar 1772 St Helens IOW d Mar 1852 St Helens m  24.1.1793
                                │   └Jane Matthews b 1748 St Helens IOW d 1804 St Helens
                         ┌James Sothcott jnr b 10.11.1794 St Helens IOW d June 1865 St Helens m  11.5 1817 St Helens
                         │   │         ┌James Rout b 1725
                         │   │   ┌William Rout b 1752 Portsmouth
                         │   │   │   └Mary Clark b 1730
                         │   └Rebecca Clark Rout b 1773 Romsey IOW d 1847
                         │         └Rebecca Button b 1749 Portsmouth
                   ┌Ashford George Sothcott b 1836 St Helens IOW d Sept 1869 Cowes IOW m  1862 IOW
                   │   └Mary Ann Russell b 1795 IOW d July 1838 IOW
             ┌Louis Ashford Southcott b Jan 1863 St Helens IOW m  1884 IOW
             │   └Leana Jonkers b 1833 Carisbrook IOW
      ┌Louis Ashford Southcott b Sept 1886 St Helens IOW d 18.2.1969 Caulfield Vic m  14.7.1909 South Yarra, Victoria
      │   │                      ┌William Neale b 1706
      │   │                ┌Thomas Neale b 1737 Otterbourne d 1821 Hursley m  1773
      │   │                │   └Mary ? b 1706
      │   │          ┌John Neale b 1780 Hursley d 1824 Hursley m  1811 Compton
      │   │          │   │   ┌William Baker b 1767
      │   │          │   └Mary baker b 1752 Hursley d 1790
      │   │          │         └Sarah ? d 1757
      │   │   ┌Charles Neale b Jan 1814 Hursley d 1858 m  1852
      │   │   │   │   │         ┌John Churcher b 1865 Hursley d 1725
      │   │   │   │   │   ┌James Churcher b Feb 1720 Hursley d 4.4.1795 Fareham m  25.4.1745
      │   │   │   │   │   │   └Elizabeth Ewen b 1635 Hursley
      │   │   │   │   ┌Charles Churcher b 1758 Hursley d 1826 m  9.9.1777 Hursley
      │   │   │   │   │   └Ann ? b 1721 Hursley d 1.12.1773 Wickham
      │   │   │   └Sarah Churcher b 1790 Compton d Mar 1863 Winchester
      │   │   │          └Mary Bailey b 1761 Hursley d 1811 Hursley
      │   └Agnes Caroline Neale b Mar 1864 Ampfield Romney d 1948 IOW
      │          │                                   ┌Thomas Poole b 1645 Bramdean d 6.12.1720 Bramdean m  17.10.1670 Bramdean
      │          │                            ┌Robert Poole b 1686 Bramdean d 31.8.1751 East Meon m  23.12.1708 Portsmouth
      │          │                            │   │   ┌Stephen Turner b 1639 m  18.5.1646 East Meaon
      │          │                            │   └Mary Turner b 28.12.1652 East Mean d 14.6.1716 Bramdean
      │          │                            │          └Ann Brissent b 1630
      │          │                      ┌Robert Poole b 16.11.1709 Portsmouth d 23.10.1748 Hursley m  18.8.1736 Romney
      │          │                      │   │   ┌Joseph Follett b 1662
      │          │                      │   └Rebekah Follett b 14.1.1682 Portsmouth d 1708
      │          │                      │          └Elizabeth Hurst b 1662
      │          │                ┌Thomas Poole b 30.4.1748 Hursley d 12.5.1831 Ampfield m  23.10.1771
      │          │                │   └Ann Cooper b 1715 d 2.11.1797 Gloucestershire
      │          │          ┌William Poole b 1779 Hursley d 1831 Ampfield m  20.3.1798 Hursley
      │          │          │   └Ruth Long b 1746 d 30.1.1827 Ampfield
      │          │   ┌John Poole b 1805 Hursley m  25.11.1830 Hursley
      │          │   │   └Martha Pike b 1780 Hursley d 1812 Hursley
      │          └Emily Poole b 1832 Hursley d 1875 Hursley
      │                │   ┌Walter Appleby b 1764 Hursley d Sept 1849 m  3.4.1804 Hursley
      │                └Harriett Appleby b 1814 Hursley d June 1842 Hursley
      │                      │   ┌William Trodd b 1743
      │                      └Amelia Trodd b 1778 d 1833
      │                            └Jane ? b 1743
Nancy Rose Southcott b 1915 N Sydney d 23.5.1959 Campsie m  Frederick Luke Wood 24.3.1938 N Sydney
      │          ┌William Byrnes m  21.4.1834 Emly Tipperary
      │   ┌Michael Byrnes b 14.10.1836 Tipperary Ireland d 6.5.1882 Shepparton Vic m 10.6.1870 Kilmore Vic
      │   │   └Bridget Coleman b Ireland
      └Katherine Byrnes b 1882 Echuca Vic d 23.10.1936 N Sydney
             └Margaret Dwyer b Bansha, Tipperary Ireland

Note; All UK locations are in Hampshire unless otherwise stated, mainly on the Isle of Wight.

Kevin Loseby Wood (1919 - 1943)

Kevin married Dot Russell shortly before he want to war against the Japanese. He served as gunner NX26685 with the 2/15th field regiment in Malaya and Singapore, and was captured in Singapore in February 1942. Soon afterwards he was transferred to the northern section of the infamous Burma-Siam Railway. He died at in September 1943, just one month before the two halves of the lines met. His remains were subsequently reinterred at Thanbyuzayat cemetery in Myanmar.

Dorothy

Following the birth of Colleen and the subsequent learning of Kevin's death, Dot lived with relatives until Legacy found her accommodation at Henley in Sydney. She married Arthur Cato in 1953, having two more children Lyle and Sue.

                                      ┌Henry Russell b County Down Ireland
                            ┌James Russell b 1847 Geelong
                            │      └Esther b County Down Ireland
                   ┌James Robert Russell b 22.5.1884 Kyneton Vic d 1955 Echuca Vic m 1906
                   │      └ ??
         ┌Arthur Albert Russell b New Zealand
         │       └Ella Mary Fisher b 1891 Zeehan Tas d 1954 Kyneton
Dorothy Elizabeth Russell b 21.3.1920 d 7.12.2001 Sydney m 15.11.1940 Rockdale
         │                ┌Thomas Painter b 30.12.1797 Cheshire d 22.1.1866 Goulburn m 9.8.1840 Goulburn
         │       ┌Joseph Painter b 18.7.1849 NSW m 11.4.1882
         │       │      └Sophia Goulding b 1821 Gloucestershire d 1.7.1889 Goulburn
         └Nellie S Painter b 1884 Ryalstone d 1927 Marrickville
                   │                                   ┌John Beacroft b 1750 Hertfordshire m 25.11.1770 Hertfordshire
                   │                         ┌John Beacroft b 17.3.1771 Hertfordshire d Hertfordshire m 5.12.1790 Hertfordshire
                   │                         │      │      ┌Thomas Hobbs b 1730 Hertfordshire m 11.10.1750 Hertfordshire
                   │                         │      └Rebecca Hobbs b 1751 Hertfordshire
                   │                         │                │       ┌Isaac Bracey b 1710 Buckinghamshire
                   │                         │                └Rebecca Bracey b Dec 1727
                   │                         │                         └Jane b 1710
                   │                ┌Edward Beacroft b 12.5.1799 Cheshunt, Hertfordshire d 21.5.1857 Sydney m 18.8.1823 Sydney
                   │                │      │      ┌Thomas Randall b Hertfordshire m 30.4.1759 Hertfordshire
                   │                │      └Sarah Randall b 17.9.1761 Hertfordshire
                   │                │               └Ann Venables b 1738
                   │      ┌Edward Beacroft b 30.5.1827 Windsor NSW d 8.5.1880 Wilberforce
                   │      │      │                          ┌William Maskey b England d Feb 1781
                   │      │      │                ┌John Maskey b 17.11.1765 Lincolnshire d 27.10.1786 Lincolnshire m 1783 Lincolnshire
                   │      │      │                │      │       ┌Elisha Bird
                   │      │      │                │      └Mary Bird b 1745 Lincolnshire
                   │      │      │                │                └Mary
                   │      │      │       ┌John Maskey b 25.2.1785 Lincolnshire UK d 3.7.1849 Windsor NSW m 28.8.1826 Castlereagh
                   │      │      │       │      └Elizabeth Fisher b 1755 Lincolnshire d Lincolnshire
                   │      │      └Corah Terry Maskey b 16.3.1809 Wilberforce d 1.6.1881 Werrington NSW
                   │      │                └Mary Pritchard b 10.12.1786 Monmouthshire d 11.12.1865 Coonabarabran
                   └Eliza Ellen Beacroft b 23.4.1849  Wilberforce NSW d 1908 Sydney
                            │                ┌Alfred Bushell b  England d  England
                            │       ┌Paul Bushell b 1769 Warwickshire d 5.2.1853 Wilberforce NSW
                            │       │      └??
                            └Mary Bushell b 2.12.1787 Windsor NSW d 6.3.1904 Windsor NSW
                                      │       ┌David Brown b 1772 Glasgow d 10.1.1826 Wilberforce NSW m 31.12.1800 Parramatta
                                      └Isabella Brown b 1901  d 14.8.1883 Wilberforce NSW
                                                │      ┌Joseph Fleming b 1753 England d 1794 Concord NSW m 8.7.1788 USA
                                                └Eleanor Fleming b 1780 England d 10.4.1865 Wilberforce NSW
                                                         └ Mary Fleming b 1763 USA d 15.5.1838 Hobart Tasmania

Paul Bushell

Paul was tried in Warwick in 1789 aged 20 and sentenced to life which was reduced to 14 years transportation. He arrived on the Surprize with the second fleet on the 26th June 1790.

He was a trusted assigned servant on Williamson's farm and was eventually allowed to launch out on his own. He was granted land across the river by a lagoon then known as Robinson's. This lagoon is, still to this day (as far as we know), known as Bushells Lagoon. Paul was pardoned in 1801 and with his family of four worked this land until he returned to Williamson's service as farm superintendent.

With his first wife Jane Sharpe (Kitty 1792), he entertained missionary Crook at their home in Wilberforce and gathered together many of the like minded families to hear him preach. Paul became one of the founders of the Ebenezer church, an inaugural member of the Wilberforce Bible Association, a collector for the Waterloo fund of 1816 and a supporter of the Benevolent Society. He also represented Wilberforce on the Committee of Emancipated Colonists of 1821.

After Jane died in 1820, Paul married 21 year old Isabella Brown, daughter of David Brown and Eleanor Fleming. They raised a family of 11 children, the last one born when Paul was 76.

By 1828 he owned 310 acres of land around Wilberforce where he had become a most exemplary citizen.
 

David Brown

David was convicted at Glasgow, Scotland in 1788 of House-breaking, and was sentenced to life.  He came to Australia as a convict aboard Pitt in 1792. He received a pardon in 1799. 

Soon after his arrival in NSW he was made a constable. He resigned from his duties as constable in 1809, so that he could concentrate more on his own business interests.  David received a 30 acre land grant in 1798 at York Reach.  Through both grants and purchases,, David's landholdings grew to beyond 1000 acres by the time of his death in 1826.
 

Eleanor Flemming

Eleanor was born in America, when her father (a soldier with the 29th Regiment of Foot), was stationed there. She came to Australia free aboard William & Ann in 1791 with her soldier father Joseph Fleming and mother Mary. At the end of the year 1800 she married David Brown at St John's Parramatta. Later Eleanor gave testimony at the inquest into the death of her servant, a woman (probably aboriginal)  named Nenny Cabbage, who was found dead near her doorstep.

Eleanor apparently had some marital problems, and it appears that she left home.  A notice appeared in the Sydney Gazette in 1824, courtesy of David Brown, stating that she had left home 'without provocation' and that he will not be held responsible for any debts that she may incur. Eleanor's husband died in 1826, without having left a will.  His eldest son inherited all of his possessions, according to the British law of the time.  He gave his mother a generous portion of land for her own.

In 1826  after Eleanor's husbands death, a woman by the name of Catherine Johnston began to spread a rumour that Eleanor and a man named Stephen Dunstan, had plotted and poisoned David Brown.  This woman apparently followed Eleanor and attempted to assault her.  Eleanor took this woman to court at Windsor  and consequently won the case.  

Eleanor must have been a strong woman of great pioneering character, as she did not remarry and worked the family farm.  The 1828 Census shows Eleanor as being a Widow Farmer.  Her landholdings are listed as being 1,280 acres, and she had 3 horses and 120 cattle.

John Joseph Wood (1925 - 2009)

In his youth, John was an accomplished bicycle racer, and was chosen in the NSW state team but was prevented from competing in that team when war broke out.

Knowing that Kevin had been captured, John enlisted at the age of 16 with the romantic idea that he would save Kevin. He trained as a commando and did actually get to Malaya towards the end of the war. He learnt of Kevin’s death as he was guarding a group of Japanese prisoners with a Bren gun. He says it was the hardest thing in his life not to pull the trigger.

After the war, John worked as a carpenter and a truck driver. Later, he spent most most of his time as a Government driver.

Marie Therese Bedwell

Marie is descended from the Bedwell family who had an abattoir in Kent, and the Gray family which settled in Tingha where they were involved in tin mining.

                            ┌John Bedwell b 1823 Deal, Kent
                   ┌Thomas Frederick Bedwell b December 1851 Deal, Kent
                   │      └ Caroline Knowles ? b 1823 Dover, Kent
         ┌Alfred Ernest Bedwell b December 1883 d 1965 Sydney m 1912
         │       └Kate??
Marie Therese Bedwell b 12.4.1926 m 18.1.1947 Leichardt
         │                ┌Michael Gray b 1811 cty Longford Ireland d 4.10.1892 Tingha m 1842
         │       ┌Michael E Gray b 1851 Inverell d Bundarra m 31.12.1881 Bundarra
         │       │      └Anne Clark b 1822 cty Cavan Ireland d 26.11.1896 Buddarra
         └Josephine Violet M Gray b 1891 Tingha d 7.6.1928 Forest Lodge
                   │                ┌William Corban b Ireland
                   │      ┌Edward W Corban b 1822 Cork Ireland d 7.12.1875 Bundarra m 18.5.1856 Armidale
                   │      │      └Johanna O’Brien b Ireland
                   └Johanna Corban b 15.11.1860 d 1.1.1957
                            │                ┌John Wicks
                            │      ┌James Wicks b 1806 Mansfield, Sussex d 21.12.,1885 Manilla, NSW m 28.10.1844 Sussex
                            │      │       └Sarah ?
                            └Eliza Jane Wicks b 1839 Lewes Sussex d 28.5.1915 Tingha
                                      │       ┌Willian Page
                                      └Frances Page b 1816 Brixtead Sussex d 1877 Armidale
                                               └Phillis ?

 Beryl Elaine Wright (1930 - 2006)

Beryl was born at St George’s Hospital at Kogarah and lived most of her childhood at Gertrude Street, Arncliffe. She attended Arncliffe Public School and won a place at Fort St, a selective high school. Despite being quite bright, she was a child of the times and left school at Intermediate level, worked for a while as a secretary until she married and had children, with no thought of a career of her own.

At the age of 18 she met Bruce Sleap, a sheet metal worker, at a local dance and they were married the following year at St David’s Church Arncliffe. The happy couple began married life in a rented house at Aird Street Parramatta (the house was demolished around 1974 to make way for the Westfield’s Shopping Centre car park).

In 1955, the family included two children, Carolyn and Steven, and they moved in with Beryl’s mother at Campsie to save money, only to discover that her brother Fred and his family had already done so for the same reason.

After the birth of Paul, Beryl secured a job at Harris Park railway Station as clerk and ticket handler and was about to be given the supervisor’s position, when in October 1959 the family moved to Lalor Park to avail themselves of a housing commission house. To mind the children, Beryl had to leave her job. After the birth of her fourth child, Debra, she worked at RCA Record Company as a process worker and later as a quality control clerk. After about 15 years at RCA, she left her job to care for her ailing husband.

In 1981 Bruce passed away and in 1983 Beryl married Harold Wright. About 1985 after Harold retired they moved to Smiths Lake, Forster and both became very active in the Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade for many years and earned the respect of the local community. In 2000, unable to maintain such a large home any longer they moved into Forster and lived happily until December 2006 when Beryl passed away from lung cancer aged 67.