Category: Welsh Ancestors of the Hazell Family

Roeddent yn bobl dda, weithgar   “They were good, hardworking people”

Around about the time I was born in Newcastle in 1951, each day a steam engine would pull a line of loaded coal trucks through our suburb and quite near our house.  It then continued on to The Junction and Cooks Hill, through Civic Park and past the Town Hall.  It then crossed Hunter St and arrived at Newcastle harbour where the coal would be loaded on to the waiting ships.

Our family home in Merewether was on the border with the adjoining suburb of “The Glebe” where my grandmother, two uncles (David and William Wilmott), and other Wilmott relatives lived.

The Glebe was originally an area of land that had been allocated in the early days of the colony to the Church of England, to use to generate income for the support of the clergy and the upkeep of church(es).  The area was first used as market gardens and the produce sold.  Later, the land was sub-divided to create a new housing estate.  Blocks were leased or sold to early residents of the area.  The Wilmott family were some of these early residents who lived on “Glebe lands”.

The suburb name “Glebe” had virtually fallen out of use by the 1980s and the area is now more commonly referred to as ‘Merewether West’.  Nevertheless, we are reminded that, through the Wilmott family line, our family has directly benefited from the appropriation of Aboriginal land in the 1800s.

Throughout almost all of the 19^th century and the first half of the 20^th century, coal was mined below the surface of the suburbs of Merewether, The Glebe, Adamstown, Hamilton South, Lambton and New Lambton, all near where we lived.  In those early days, many of the bread-winners of those suburbs (married women did not work) worked in the underground pits.  Many were “assisted immigrants” brought to Newcastle under the NSW Bounty Scheme (employers paid for the passage to Australia and were then reimbursed by the Government) specifically to work in the mines; and many of these immigrants came from Wales.

Among the Welsh miners who were brought to Newcastle’s mines was David Daniel Jones, who emigrated with his wife Mary Anne Jones (nee Davies) and their four young children John (aged 7), Evan (aged 5), Mary Jane (2 years) and Thomas Abel (a baby).  The following simple family tree shows who they were, and how they are related to me and my siblings.

David Daniel Jones was born around 1844 in the small town of LLandysul (roughly pronounced as to ‘Clan-disul’) in Cardiganshire, just inland from the south-western coastline of Wales.  His parents were John Jones and Rachel Biven.  His wife, Mary Ann Davies, was also born in Cardiganshire in the hamlet of Cilcennin (pronounced ‘Kill-kenin’) around 1849.  Her parents were Thomas Davies and Mary Evans.  The two villages were about 20 miles apart.  It is not known how the couple met.  Perhaps through church activities?

David and Mary were married in Rhymney (pronounced “Rumny”) in Monmouthshire, near the eastern border of Wales with England, on 30^th October 1869.

The British government collected comprehensive census data during the 19^th century and I have been able to access these records on-line.  As a result, we know that in 1871 the couple (and their first baby John) were living at 47 High Street in Rhymney, sharing the house with a Mr. John Morris and his daughter.  The first child, John had been born back in Cardiganshire in 1870, while the second son Evan, daughter Mary Jane, and third son Thomas Abel were all born in Rhymney and the family were living there at the time of their immigration to Australia.

Rhymney is the birth place of great grandmother Mary Jane Wilmott (nee Jones).  It is also the place where her parents lived in their early married life before emigrating to Australia and where her father and younger siblings returned after their mother died.

The village of Rhymney, located about 80 kms north of Cardiff in eastern Wales, was founded in 1801 with the establishment of an iron works on what had been, up until then, a purely pastoral area.  The iron works was established here due to the availability of coal, limestone and iron ore, all in the local area.  Although the iron works closed in 1891, coal mining continued and was the almost exclusive source of employment for the township well into the 2oth century. Continue reading “Rhymney – where the Welsh Ancestors came from”

The Jones family arrived in Sydney on Sunday the 10^th March 1878 aboard the immigrant ship “Northbrook”.

The photo of the Northbrook shown above left was downloaded from the website of the Royal Museums Greenwich which holds the copyright.  On this trip to Australia, the ship was mastered by Henry Peirce.  It was an iron-hulled ship of 1820 tons, built in 1874 at Stockton UK.

The ship’s log tells us something about the Jones family. Firstly, they were members of the Church of England.  David Daniel Jones, then 34 years old, was a blacksmith, was literate in English and could speak both English and Welsh.  His wife, Mary Anne (then aged 29 years) was not literate but presumably (probably) could also speak both languages.  The couple were my grandmother’s grandparents and, so, were my 2^nd great grandparents.

Living and working in Lambton

Soon after their arrival in Sydney, the family then sailed to Newcastle.  Their first Australian-born child (Rachael Ann) was born the following year (1879) and two further daughters, Margaret Ellen and Sarah Elizabeth, were born in 1881 and 1883 respectively.  All three births were registered in Lambton where, we may presume, the family would have been living.

Coal had been discovered  in the Waratah hills north of Lambton in 1860 by Thomas Grove.  Within a couple of years it was found that the seam continued further south near what is now Howe and Chilcott Streets in Lambton.  The Scottish Australian Mining Company was given a crown lease to undertake mining in this area and immediately began recruiting experienced miners from England, Wales, Germany (among other places) and from other areas of Australia such as Bendigo.  First exports of coal from Lambton began in 1864 (5,900 tons) and this had risen to 159,000 tons by the time the Jones family arrived.

Initially, miners built makeshift housing on un-surveyed land but by 1871 the area had been surveyed, had gained the status of a municipality, and the orderly construction of streets and mainly timber housing had begun.

Upon arrival, David was most likely working at the Lambton Pit (see photo below).

This is an early photo of Lambton (1900), looking north towards Waratah from Russell Road, New Lambton.  The pit and line of coal trucks  across the centre of the photo were located adjacent to Howe Street.  The rail line having already been constructed It was taken by Ralph Snowball from New Lambton and I downloaded it from the Newcastle Region Library Photo Bank

One source, (John Turner “Coal mining in Newcastle 1801-1900”) estimated that, at Lambton , “a miner producing the district average would
have earned £92.15.0 per annum, not a large sum compared to the incomes of other workers in regular employment at daily wages of from 5s 6d. for labourers to 1 1 s for skilled tradesmen”.

Unfortunately, I have very little information to add about Mary Anne other than what can be gleaned from records of births, deaths and marriages (which I am still in the process of gathering).  I have no idea of her personality, or her temperament, or her quality of life.  I do know that for some years before she died she was diagnosed as having Bright’s disease, which is now known to be a form of auto-immune condition causing chronic inflammation of the kidneys.  She would probably have experienced considerable abdominal pain, swelling in her ankles and legs, breathlessness and fatigue.

Tragically, Mary Anne died on the 30^th June 1888 as a result a stroke which had occurred some months before her death.  She was just 39 years old having borne seven children in a period of 13 years.

Her husband David was left to look after the young family alone and it is quite likely that our great grandmother (Mary Jane Jones), being around 12 years of age at that time, was called upon to play a big role in helping to raise the younger children.  The older brothers John (aged about 18 years) and Evan(aged 15 years) would most likely have been working in the mines at this stage .

We also know very little about David other than that he was a blacksmith and worked in the mines, presumably near Lambton, New Lambton, Jesmond or possibly Waratah.

At some time after his wife died, David returned to Wales with the four youngest children although I can’t find evidence for exactly when they went of how.  We know this because his younger daughters, Rachel (Rachael) Anne, Margaret Ellen and Sarah Elizabeth, all of whom were born in Australia and were young girls when their mother died, were later married in Wales, raised families there and, except for Rachel who returned to Australia, died there.  The Welsh census record for 1911 shows that the third son, Thomas Abel Jones who was a baby when the family left Wales, was living as a boarder in the same house in Rhymney (remember this is pronounced “Rumny”) where Rachel and her husband and children were living.

I believe that David died in Rhymney in 1899, but I don’t have a primary source for this at the moment.

Mary Jane Jones was born in Rhymney in 1876 and emigrated to Australia when she was just 2 years of age.  Being so young it isn’t clear whether she was fluent in Welsh when she arrived, but clearly English was her first language for the rest of her life.

She was known by my brothers and sisters (and cousins) as ‘Grandma Wilmott’; Dad called her “Gran”.

Mary Jane was, by all accounts, a very intelligent and competent woman.  Dad referred to his Gran as “a very modern woman”.  Unfortunately, I never really pressed him on what he meant by that but what I think is that she was a very forward-looking and enterprising person who was actively involved in her community.

She lived all but 2 years of her life in Australia, her mother died when she was only 12, and her father and younger siblings went back to Wales.  Along with her brother Evan and possibly John (whose life history is yet to be uncovered), she was the only member of her family in the new country.  She would have needed to be very self-sufficient; becoming her own person and working out her own solutions to life’s challenges. Continue reading “Welsh Ancestors – Great grandmother, Mary Jane Jones (Grandma Wilmott)”

Grandma Wilmott and Goll lived in The Glebe (Newcastle) throughout their married lives.  For many years their address was 84 Wilton Street, but I am not sure when they first took up residence there.

After their marriage, the couple had two more children.  Granduncle William (Will) was born in 1898.  He married Mary Griffiths and lived in Wilton Street just a few blocks away from his parents.  They had two children Joan and Trevor (could I have been named after  my 1st cousin once removed?).  Next, granduncle David (Dave) was born in 1901.  later he married Edith Brownhill and the couple lived in the house next to Grandma Wilmott in Wilton Street.  They had one child, Colleen. Continue reading “Welsh Ancestors – Mary Jane Wilmott’s Married Life”

As mentioned above three of our great grandaunties and one great granduncle went back to Wales after their mother died in Newcastle in 1888.  Eventually Uncle Thomas and Aunty Rachel later returned to Australia as adults.  Briefly, this is what we know of all of Grandma Wilmott’s siblings:

Evan Daniel Jones

(2^nd great) Uncle Evan was born in Rhymney in January 1873 and was 5 years old when the family arrived in Australia in 1878.  While Evan had no natural children of his own, he married a widow Esther Payne (nee Thomas) and became stepfather to her children Gertrude, William and Thirza Payne.

Evan and Esther lived in Pelaw Main, near Kurri Kurri, where he worked in the local mine.  Esther died in 1928 and Evan, after he retired, moved to Newcastle to live with his sister Grandma Wilmott.  He died here on the 11^th June 1949, aged 76 years.

Evan Jones was a volunteer in World War I and his war story is briefly told below.  He and “Essie” are buried at Sandgate Cemetery in the Church of England section.

See following post on Evan’s war record.

Continue reading “Welsh Ancestors – Aunties and Uncles (Brothers and Sisters of Grandma Wilmott)”

There is one of Grandma Wilmott’s brothers that I know almost nothing at all about after the emigration; that is her oldest brother John.  There is no indication of his death in Australia in the NSW records and he is not referred to in the funeral notices for his other siblings, Evan, Rachel and Grandma Wilmott.  It was usual for such notices to refer to those close family members still living;  John is not mentioned in any of these indicating that he was dead already by 1949.

One possibility is that John returned to Wales with his father.  I haven’t been able to detect any further trace of him in Welsh records.  As you can imagine, there are quite a few records for a person of the name of John Jones in the records of marriages and deaths in Wales and it is near to impossible to further determine whether any of these relate to our great granduncle John., without spending a fortune buying detailed details of the death of a “John Jones”.

If any relatives or friends of the Jones family can enlighten me on this I’d be happy if you could leave a comment or contact me at trevorhazell5@gmail.com

At the age of 41, Evan Jones enlisted in “Newcastle’s Own” 35^th Battalion of the 3^rd Division of the Australian Infantry Force that was formed to support Britain in the First World War.  This was in December 1915.  After training in Australia, he left for England aboard the “Benalla” on the 12^th May the following year, arriving in Plymouth on the 9^th December 1916.  There he undertook further training before embarking for France on the 16^th January 1917.

While waiting to play his part in the war, Evan was stationed at the British camp at Étaples which from all accounts at the time was a very unpleasant experience.  The drawing above, by an Australian artist Iso Rae, depicts the Anzacs arriving into the camp.  (Details: Iso Rae, Troops arriving at ANZAC Camp (June 1916, pastel on grey paper, 50 x 65 cm, AWM ART 19601)).

Continue reading “Welsh Ancestors – Uncle Evan Jones – his War Service”