Anne Dixon

John DAVEY

Miss W. Biography, Davey, Dixon , , , , , , , , , ,

John Dav(e)y was born 21 Jan 1834 as the 4th out of 12 children. His parents were John Dav(e)y (1800-1874) and Mary Anne Jennings (1807-1883). He was born at Clyst Honiton, in the county of Devon in England. A year later, his older brother Thomas passed away aged 7. In 1836, another brother was born and given the name Tom. In 1837, he lost another sibling Mary his oldest sister.

Local church and graveyard at Clyst Honiton

Siblings

  • 1828 – Thomas – died in 1835
  • 1830 – Mary – died in 1837
  • 1832 – Selina
  • 1836 – Tom
  • 1838 – Herman – died in 1843
  • 1840 – Mark
  • 1843 – Luke (DNA match to a descendant)
  • 1845 – Herman
  • 1848 – Matthew Adam
  • 1851 – George
  • 1854 – Michael

Looking at the various births of John’s siblings some are born in Clyst Honiton, others in Heavitree and Clyst St George. The following is from Whites Devonshire Directory published in 1850 found on the relevant village pages at GENUKI.

  • CLIST HONITON, a village and parish on the east side of the river Clist, 4 miles E. by N. of Exeter, contains 467 souls, and 1760 acres of land.
  • The village of HEAVITREE, one mile E. of Exeter, has many neat houses, and is said to have derived its name from having been formerly the place of execution for the city.
  • CLIST ST. GEORGE, or Clyst St. George, a scattered village and parish, 1½ miles E by N. of Topsham, and 4 miles S.E. of Exeter, has 370 inhabitants, and 1001 acres of land.

In the 1841 English census, the family, including the children Selina, John, Tom, Hermon and Mark, were living in the village at St Georges Clyst. John senior was a carpenter.

By the 1851 census, John senior was aged 45 and his occupation was a master carpenter. John junior was an agricultural labourer. Living at home with their parents and John were Mark, Luke, Herman and Matthew. They were living in South Wonford in the parish of Heavitree.

John junior set sail on barque Wanderer under a bounty immigrant scheme. The ship master was John Woodcock. They left London 31 October 1854, the Downs on 3 November 1854, finally arriving in Hobart Town 13 February 1855. A total of 182 souls arrived safely from England and Scotland.

According to the shipping records John was 20 years old, religion Church of England and he could read and write. His occupation was farm servant. George Meredith was the name of the person on whose application John was sent out. Three other single men were also employed by George Meredith who would be reimbursed by the government for part of the cost of the bounty ticket.

John was occasionally mentioned in the ‘Meredith papers’ which are housed in the State Library Archives in Hobart.  He was recorded last at ‘Cambria‘ in January 1857.  His wages at this time were 7 pounds and 10 shillings per quarter.

Marriage and children

John Davey and Annie Dixon were married at the Manse at Evandale, Tasmania on 18 July 1859. John was a bachelor aged 26 while Anne was a spinster aged 18. Witnesses to the marriage were Hannah Dixon and William Costley.

Over the next 29 years until John died, the couple raised seven sons and five daughters to adulthood. They lived in English Town, near Evandale, Tasmania. The photo shows the newspapered walls inside the house as taken in 1987.

 

  • 1860 – William John – grandmother Mary was the informant from Evandale
  • 1861 – Mary Elizabeth – father John, labourer from Nile was informant
  • 1863 – Hannah Selina – father John, labourer
  • 1865 – George – father John, farmer
  • 1867 – Emma Louisa – father John, labourer
  • 1869 – Adam – father John, farmer from Camperdown
  • 1872 – Charles Wesley –
  • 1873 – Frank Thomas aka “Thomas” –
  • 1876 – Samuel Percy aka “Frank” – John Griffin, constable from Deddington was informant
  • 1878 – Harry – father John, farmer from Blessington
  • 1880 – Eliza Amy – Adam Burston, constable Deddington
  • 1885 – William – George Wills, constable Deddington
  • 1885 – Ellen Anne –

Searching through the Tasmanian Names Index, the births of Charles, Frank and Ellen Anne are not found.

Sometime in the 1870’s John’s younger brother George also immigrated but he headed to New Zealand.

On 6 May 1873, John was charged with larceny and spent three months in gaol in Launceston. A report of the crime was written up in the local paper and he was named in the police gazette for 1873.

In February 1874, his father John senior passed away at Heavitree, Devon, England. His mother Mary Anne passed away in 1883 also at Heavitree.

John must have had a tough life in Tasmania as he worked for many farmers around the Evandale area and would have had to ride a horse or walk to get to each farm.

John passed away in 1888 aged 55 years old. He died from jaundice according to his death record. He left his wife Annie to bring up 6 children under the age of 15. What a sad Christmas in 1888!

 

Ann DIXON

Miss W. Biography, Davey, Dixon , , , , ,

Ann Dixon was the second child born to free settlers David Dixon and Mayday (Mary) Pickering. Ann’s parents and her older sister Elizabeth had arrived in Launceston on 30 August 1841. They arrived as bounty immigrants on the ship Andromeda from London. David and Mary were working for their master, Henry Stephenson on the property at Curraghmore (Curramore) near Launceston, Tasmania when Ann was born on 31 December 1841. It was Henry who registered her birth on 27 January 1842.

On 1 April 1843, Mary and her two young children were robbed at their home at Spring Plains by three runaway convicts from a road gang at Ross. David would have been out working as a shepherd on the Curraghmore property.

Ann and her new baby sister Rachel, born in October, were baptised together on 10 December 1843 at Evandale. The surname is often written as Dickson in government records.

Siblings:

  • 1838 – Elizabeth – born in England
  • 1843 – Rachel – informant was Henry Stephenson
  • 1846 – Hannah
  • 1850 – Thomas
  • 1852 – Sarah – born and died from influenza in same year in Evandale

In 1852, a D Dixon departed Launceston on the ship William, bound for Melbourne. He had arrived on the Andromeda so this was probably Ann’s father. Maybe he decided to try his luck on the goldfields. He took two horses and a dray with him.

By September 1852, David must have returned as he was signing a letter to James Cox re the evils of transportation and his praising of immigration.

In 1855, David, Elizabeth, Rachel, Hannah and Thomas were mentioned as giving money to the Patriotic Fund. I wonder where Mary and Ann were at this time? But this might have been another Thomas Dixon who gave 5 shillings compared to only 1 shilling from the three girls.

In 1858, Hannah is listed as a subscriber at Snake Banks which was a property near the town now called Powranna. Maybe she was employed as a servant by Captain Wood.

Marriage and children

Davey home at English Town

At age 18, Anne married John Davey on 18 July 1859 at the manse at Evandale. One of the witnesses was her sister Hannah.

  • 1860 – William John – grandmother Mary was the informant from Evandale
  • 1861 – Mary Elizabeth – father John, labourer from Nile was informant
  • 1863 – Hannah Selina – father John, labourer
  • 1865 – George – father John, farmer
  • 1867 – Emma Louisa – father John, labourer
  • 1869 – Adam – father John, farmer from Camperdown
  • 1872 – Charles Wesley –
  • 1873 – Frank Thomas aka “Thomas” –
  • 1876 – Samuel Percy aka “Frank” – John Griffin, constable from Deddington was informant
  • 1878 – Harry – father John, farmer from Blessington
  • 1880 – Eliza Amy – Adam Burston, constable Deddington
  • 1885 – William – George Wills, constable Deddington
  • 1885 – Ellen Anne –

Searching through the Tasmanian Names Index, the births of Charles, Frank and Ellen Anne are not found.

But there is a Charles Davey marrying Lilian Ada Colgrave in 1895 aged 24.

Annie’s sister Rachel married Richard Burton in 1862 and John Davey was one of the witnesses.

Raising thirteen children in that small house in the photo must have been very tough on Annie especially after her husband died when the youngest child was only 3 years old. Annie is not mentioned in any newspaper articles that I have searched for.

Nothing more is known about Annie’s father since his mention in the papers in 1855, but her mother re-married at the age of 55 to George Histead in 1869. Annie’s sister Hannah married Jesse Lloyd on the same date as her mother in 1869. Her sister Rachel’s husband Richard Burton was one of the witnesses for both marriages.

Mary Elizabeth married Adam Brown at the home of John Davey in January 1879 according to Presbyterian religion.

Annie’s mother died in December 1883 from inflammation of the lungs. She was living in Longford area at the time and was registered under Istead for the death record.

Selina Anna married Alladean Maru in Ulverstone in 1887 by Church of England license. This family later moved to New Zealand.

Annie’s husband died in December 1888 and she had letters of administration given to her in June 1891. There was nearly 700 pounds.

Emma Louisa married Daniel Sullivan in Latrobe in 1889 under license of the Catholic Church.

George married Martha Jane Colgrave at the home of her parents also in English Town in 1890. Annie was present and it was under license of the Presbyterian church ceremonies.

When Annie died in October 1892, letters of administration were granted to her eldest son William. There was 95 pounds.

Sudden death of Mrs Davey 1892

Annie was very well liked in the district as shown at her funeral.

Funeral description

 

Trying sea journey

Miss W. Dixon, Pickering , , , , , ,

Mary Dixon nee Pickering was a very strong woman who travelled from London to Tasmania, a three month journey over seas and oceans, when she was pregnant with my great great grandmother Anne Dixon. Mary and her husband David also had a child under three years old with them.

Through possible DNA matches, it appears both David and Mary lived and met near Hull in East Riding of Yorkshire. I have found possible births matching them both in Hull area at the right time period.

So far there is no marriage record found but on the arrivals index held at the Tasmanian Archives and found online through Libraries Tasmania, there is one married male adult, one married female adult and one female child under 3 arriving under the name David Dixon, aged 24 and a farm servant.  Source CB7/9/1/1/ page 15 – TAHO

They were supposedly 45 bounty immigrants on board (but I think children were counted twice under age and sex) and David and his family went to the property of Mr Stevenson at Curramore near Launceston. The date of the application for bounty immigrants was 22 June 1840 and they arrived in Launceston from London on the ship Andromeda on 30 August 1841. Four months later my great great grandmother was born.

It was in 1840 when the assignment system for convicts was changed to a probation system. Settlers now didn’t have convicts assigned to them immediately so many needed to have skilled farm servants, blacksmiths etc brought over from England to work their farms. Working as a farm servant or shepherd could be difficult in Van Diemens Land (VDL) at that time with many reports of attack by bushrangers, escaped convicts or aboriginals. Mary, who was three months pregnant, and her two young daughters were involved in one robbery incident early in their time in VDL as mentioned in this newspaper report.

Over the next 11 years four more children were born to the couple Eliza Rachel in 1843, Hannah 1846, Thomas 1850 and Sarah 1852. Sadly Sarah only lived three weeks and died of influenza in mid December in Evandale where the family were now living.

In 1853, there was a David Dixon departing on the ship Clarence to Melbourne from Launceston. I could only find one David Dixon residing in Tasmania at that time, so am assuming he is my great great great grandfather. Elizabeth Dixon, the eldest daughter, was married in 1862 near Ballarat in Victoria so maybe this is where David headed to.

By 1869, David had either disappeared maybe to the goldfields of Victoria or had died and Mary was now considering herself a widow. She had a double wedding with her daughter Hannah. Mary Dickson married George Histead who was a widower, while Hannah Dickson married Jesse Lloyd a bachelor. The event took place at the manse in Evandale. Richard Burton, the husband of Rachel, was also there as a witness.

After 14 years of her second marriage, Mary Istead died age 69 in Perth, Tasmania in 1883 from inflammation of the lungs, and two years later George followed with death from disease of the liver.