1851
James Simpson (1832–1898), an Englishman from Witham, Essex was the third direct ancestor in the author’s family tree to migrate to the Australian colonies. James, born at Witham on 25 August 1832 to John Simpson, agricultural labourer, and Sarah French, was the eldest of four Simpson brothers–James, Charles, John, and Henry, who were to migrate to New South Wales and make their way to Victoria in the 1850s.
James embarked on the ship, Sarah, from Plymouth, England on 19 April 1851, arriving at Port Jackson, Sydney, New South Wales on 14 August 1851. The Sarah brought 269 immigrants–114 adult males, 99 adult females, 26 male children, 21 female children under 14 years of age and nine infants. Two thirds of the passengers were from Ireland, one third from Scotland and England. Two adults and an infant had died during the Sarah’s passage and four children were born enroute. (Shipping Gazette and Sydney General Trade List, Saturday 16 August 1851, p. 237)
Aged 20, James Simpson, was one of 68 unmarried agricultural labourers who prospective employers were invited to hire in the New South Wales Government Gazette of the same date. Back in Witham, James had most likely worked at farming pursuits. Where he was first employed in New South Wales is so far unknown, however, James spent about 15 months there before moving to Beechworth where he became a gold miner.
In 1855, at the parish priest’s house Albury, New South Wales, James, aged about 24, married an Irish lass, Bridget Connors (c. 1838–1871), who would have been about 16 or 17 at the time. Bridget, a dairymaid, came from Cahir, Tipperary. This was an unusual marriage as James, according to the passenger list for the Sarah, was an adherent of the Church of England while Bridget was a Catholic. In fact, the Witham Simpsons were non-conformist protestants who attended the Newland Street Independent Chapel, not the local Church of England, where James had been christened on 13 January 1833. Marriages between protestants and Catholics were highly frowned upon in Britain, although such unions were not unheard of in the colonies where men often chose brides who would be useful in whatever pursuit they followed. A young woman with experience and skills in a dairy would have been a very useful asset to a man like James who took up farming on his own account at Tarrawingee the same year. James’ and Bridget’s eight children were all apparently born at Tarrawingee between 1855 and 1868.
Younger brothers Charles Simpson, 20, and John Simpson, 17, agricultural labourers, embarked at Southampton, England on the Rose of Sharon for Sydney on 2 January 1855. Charles and John arrived at Port Jackson, Sydney on the Rose of Sharon on 14 August 1855 after a reputed 92 days at sea during which there was a ‘fearful hurricane’ that damaged the ship’s masts and sails. The ship’s carpenter, Alexander Maxwell, drowned when he was washed off the forecastle during the storm. At some stage Charles and John joined their elder brother James and were partners with him and younger brother Henry, who migrated separately, in the sawmills that James operated in the Stanley district of Victoria for many years.
After Bridget Simpson’s early death, aged about 33, from tuberculosis on 14 February 1871, James Simpson was left with seven children, cared for by the eldest girls. Ten years later in 1881, he married Emma Louisa Thorley (1859–1943). The couple had two daughters, Hannah, and Martha.
Charles and John married the English Nott sisters, Elizabeth, and Ann. After James bought out his brothers’ share in the sawmilling business, Charles and John took up land at Nariel, Victoria where they lived and farmed with their families for many years. Henry took up land in the Chiltern district. Henry Simpson’s wife was Eliza Keeble whom he married in 1873. Tragically Henry, who was involved in the local dairy industry, died aged 47 on 3 November 1893 at Gooramadda after a fall from a horse.
On 31 January 1898, James Simpson died in Beechworth, Victoria at the residence of his son-in-law, William Henry Ellis, who was also the manager of the Simpson sawmills at Back Creek, Stanley and other locations. James Simpson was buried in the Beechworth Cemetery on 1 February 1898 in the Weslyan Section, plot A 486. There is no headstone.
Research into the Simpson family’s story in England and Australia is ongoing. A publication about the four brothers and their lives in Victoria is forthcoming.