This is a brief story of the William Turnbull family in the Illawarra District.
It encompasses two generations with some descendants and is a work in progress.
Originally Written: Thursday, 1 February 2018
William Turnbull === Mary Wilson
- Robert born 1821 died 1891 in St Peters, Sydney === married Elizabeth Wilson
- Isobel born 1823 died 1827
- Ann born 1825 died 1901 in Tasmania === married William Weedon
- A female child (assumed to have married Mister Elliot) born 1826
- James born 1828 died 1908 in Thirlmere=== married Christina Hoskins (nee McKay)
- George born 1833 died 1894 Albion Park=== married Victoria Smith or Schmidt, possibly a widow, sister of Francis (Frank) Smith or Schmidt of Marshall Mount
- John Pott born 1834 died 1912 March(near Orange) === married Eliza or Elizabeth Griffiths or Griffin (descended from Warringtons) in Dapto area
William’s parents – Robert Turnbull and Mary Laidlaw (though there is some contention regarding Mary Laidlaw as an Elizabeth and an Agnes are also contenders as Robert Turnbull’s wife).
William Turnbull – born around 12 July 1799 in Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland
The first confirmation of the existence of William Turnbull, my third Great Grandfather (3GGF), is in the 1841 Scotland Census, where he is shown with his wife Mary and three sons, Robert, George and John, as living in the Cavers Ecclesiastical Parish, with an address of “Backwater”.
My relationship with William is via my mother
- William Turnbull and Mary Wilson
- Robert Turnbull and Elizabeth Wilson
- Jane Turnbull and Henry Miller
- Harry Frank Turnbull Miller and Isabella Sarah Hardy
- Elsie Enid Miller and Mark Tilley
- Megan Tilley(me!)
- Elsie Enid Miller and Mark Tilley
- Harry Frank Turnbull Miller and Isabella Sarah Hardy
- Jane Turnbull and Henry Miller
- Robert Turnbull and Elizabeth Wilson
The Miller family anecdotes say that William was a very religious Presbyterian, and I have no doubt that he was baptised into the Presbyterian Church. However, during my trip to Hawick in June 2016, and with the help of three archivists in the “Hawick Hub”, the Hawick Local History Archives, we were unable to identify the correct and relevant William Turnbull, son of Robert Turnbull and Mary Laidlaw (or of ‘Elizabeth’ or ‘Agnes’), and thus were unable to confirm a birth and/or a baptism date for William.
William’s wife Mary Wilson was the daughter of James Wilson and Isabella Newberry.
James and Isabella had 4 children:
- Ann baptised 22 Jul 1787
- James baptised 29 Jun 1789, who died 02 Jan 1824 in the service of Her Majesty as a member of the 91st Highlanders in Jamaica
- Francis baptised 11 Sep 1791, who married Jane Knox, and Francis and Jane were the parents of Elizabeth Wilson, wife of Robert, the son of William Turnbull and Mary Wilson – thus, Robert and Elizabeth were first cousins. Francis was a Master Shoemaker and Master Bootmaker in Hawick.
- Mary baptised sometime between 1793 and 1796, who married William Turnbull.
The second confirmation of William’s existence is the 1851 Scotland Census:
He and wife Mary appear to be still living in “Backwater, Cavers”, but this time only their grandson, John Elliot, is living with them.
William and Mary had a female child born in 1826. I have made an assumption that this woman married a Mister Elliot, thus producing son John Elliot shown in the 1851 Scotland Census as the Grandson of William and Mary.
William Turnbull’s parents are almost certainly Robert Turnbull and Mary Laidlaw. Robert was born between 1762 and 1770. Mary was born about 1761 in Denholm, Roxburghshire.
Robert Turnbull and Elizabeth Wilson
Robert Turnbull and his wife Elizabeth Wilson do not appear in any Census for 1851 as they had emigrated to New South Wales as assisted immigrants, departing Scotland, or at least the UK, on 19 Sep 1849 and arriving in Sydney on 27 Dec 1849, per the ship BLONDE, by the time of the 1851 Census.
Accompanying Robert and Elizabeth on the Blonde was Elizabeth’s sister Jane Wilson (born 20 Sep 1828 in Hawick, daughter of Francis Wilson and Jane Knox), who ended up marrying another traveller on the Blonde, William Thorne. Robert’s occupation at the time of his emigration was shown as “Gardener”.
Robert and Elizabeth’s trip on the Blonde was not without some trauma:
They were categorised as one each of the 28 Married Men and 29 Married Women on board the Blonde, which reported three deaths during the journey from the UK to Australia.
Ann Turnbull
William and Mary’s daughter Ann was also absent at the time of the 1851 Scotland Census. She had been arrested and convicted for “Precognition … for the crime of child murder, or culpable homicide, or concealment of pregnancy near Mackside farm house, Southdean, Roxburgh” in 1848. She was then working as servant to Potter Elliot, a tenant and widower, living at Mackside, Southdean, Roxburghshire. The situation was a sad one: Ann firstly claimed she was unaware she was pregnant, and then indicated that the child, a boy, was stillborn. As she had no witnesses to the birth, which occurred in a field, she had no support for her statement that the child was born dead. Obviously, the court decided that the child “could” have taken a breath, thus making it a live birth, and so Ann had murdered the child, possibly unintentionally.
Ann was convicted on 10 Apr 1848 at the court in Jedburgh. It is believed she was either held in Jedburgh or moved to the hulks in the Thames by and from 14 Oct 1848, and eventually was transported on the ship CADET (3) which departed 1 Nov 1848 from Woolwich, and arrived in Van Dieman’s Land on 12 Apr 1849. Ann is reported to have claimed that “James Grave” is the father of the dead child[1]. Others have indicated the father was “John Grane”.
James Turnbull
William and Mary’s son James does not appear in either the 1841 Scotland Census or the 1851 Scotland Census. It is believed that James was working as a servant or agricultural labourer on another property, possibly for one of his Turnbull relations. It is hard to determine the details of an individual without firm base data from which to search!
George Turnbull
William and Mary’s son George is present in the 1851 Scotland Census, and is shown working for the Potts family in Grundistone which may be a property name or a locality near Wilton, Roxburghshire.
George appears as an Assisted Immigrant on the ship ANN THOMPSON departing London, England on 01 Sep 1852 and arriving in Geelong, in Port Phillip on 25 Dec 1852.
John Pott Turnbull
William and Mary’s son John Pott (at the present time, my family can only speculate that the “Pott” in his name is some reference to the family that James was working for in the 1851 Scotland Census), is also absent from the 1851 Scotland Census. It is possible that he is working for someone else, but again, without the firm base data from which to search it is difficult to be certain where he is located in 1851. It is possible that both he and his brother James have made their way to NSW by this time, but that, too, is an uncertain assumption.
Family Anecdotes
My grandmother, Isabella Sarah Hardy Miller, wife of Harry Frank Turnbull Miller, related a family anecdote that Robert Turnbull and his wife Elizabeth Wilson emigrated from Scotland to New South Wales in 1849 on the ship BLONDE and that Robert’s parents, William and Mary, followed them to New South Wales about 5 years later and settled at Marshall Mount, near Dapto.
As of January 2018, there have been no arrivals in Australia of:
- A married couple, William and Mary Turnbull
- Two separate individuals arriving separately as a William Turnbull and a Mary Turnbull
- William Turnbull travelling with one or more of his sons
- Mary Turnbull travelling with one or more of her sons
- As Assisted Immigrants to New South Wales
- As Assisted Immigrants to Victoria
- As Unassisted Immigrants to New South Wales
- As Unassisted Immigrants to Victoria
- As Unassisted Immigrants to Queensland
- As Assisted Immigrants to Queensland
It remains a puzzle as to how and when William and Mary Turnbull arrived in New South Wales.
Research
During a visit to the Illawarra District in January 2018, I managed to find one piece of correspondence with relevance to the Turnbull family in the area from the Illawarra Family History Group.
A lady, Mrs Young, had written to the Research Officer of the Illawarra Family History Group (hereafter “IFHG”) in July 1986, requesting assistance in finding out more about the Turnbull family in the District. A series of letters were exchanged as details were found in the IFHG archives. Suffice to say, it was determined by Mrs Young that the brothers James, George [2]and John Turnbull all arrived within a few years of each other – between 1855 and 1856.
There is some confusing information regarding a William and Mary Turnbull in the Hawkesbury Region (reference “Hawkesbury Pioneer Register”) but I have managed to discount that with reference to ‘my’ Turnbulls as the ages do not fit, nor do the family names.
Son Robert and wife Elizabeth are shown to be in the Wollongong area on the 17 Feb 1853, for the birth of their daughter, Jane (my Great Grandmother) at Marshall Mount. Robert is 32 years of age, and wife Elizabeth is 23. In the next few years, William (1855), Isabella (1857), Mary (1860), Alexander J (1862), Elizabeth “Lizzie” (c1863), Francis “Frank” (1864), Robert (1867), and George (1870) are all reported to have been born or registered in the Wollongong area, with Robert specifically being born or registered in Dapto. It is interesting to note that Mrs Young mentioned in one of her letters to the IFHG that Robert was a farmer in Dunheved near Penrith in 1860.
My assumption is that Dunheved was a property near Penrith.
By 30 Oct 1879, Robert was in St Peters as the Sexton of the St Peter’s Anglican Church (Now known as St Peters (Cooks River) Anglican Church). The family resided in Brown Street, St Peters.
Again, Mrs Young states that William Turnbull, who was alive and living in Marshall Mount in 1872, wrote a letter to his son, John Pott Turnbull, on the 10 Jan 1872. It was a very religious letter, and that possibly William was connected with one of the local churches (in the Illawarra District) due to his religion. This information supports the Miller family anecdote of William being fiercely Presbyterian!
Brother James is obviously still in the Marshall Mount area by 1866 as there are is an advertisement in the local newspaper:
James also registered a livestock brand on 18 May 1868 while located at Marshall Mount. James married a widow, Christina McKay (who had previously married a Hoskins) on 03 Feb 1886 at the Registrar’s Office in Sydney. James died in Thirlmere on 28 Aug 1908 suffering from Cancer of the Stomach & Asthenia (wasting away). Christina died on 30 May 1913 in the family home at St Elmo, Thirlmere.
Brother John Pott married Eliza Griffin on 20 Jul 1864 in Dapto. Eliza was also known as Elizabeth Griffith. She was born in Albion Park on 23 Aug 1844 and was baptised 22 Oct 1844 again at Albion Park, most probably at the Presbyterian church there. Eliza was the daughter of James Griffith, who had changed his name to Griffin to avoid confusion between him and his brother John.[3] James married Mary Warrington on 18 Oct 1842 in Sydney. Mary had been born in Aghabog, Monaghan, Ireland around 1820 and had arrived in New South Wales with her parents, John Warrington and Jane Williamson, in 1840 per the ship LORD WESTON.
By about 1865, John Pott Turnbull and his wife Eliza (nee Griffin/Griffith) relocated to March near Orange with most of the Griffith family, as the land holdings in that area register many Griffin, Griffith, and Warrington names, which was mother Mary Griffin’s maiden name.
George Turnbull married Victoria Smith or possibly Victoria Schmidt on 11 Sep 1878 at Dapto. Victoria was the widow of Francis J “Frank” Schmidt and had had 7 children with him. Victoria and Frank had married before 1860, and it is thought they were both of German origin. This is yet to be proved.
It appears that the Turnbull farm and the Smith farm were co-located in the Marshall Mount area. It was known in the Marshall Mount area that George had acquired land in somewhere in Albion Park.
Figure 1 – 1890 Land Sketch Map of the Marshall Mount Estate sale showing Turnbull and Smith leases
Figure 2- enlarged area of map showing co-location of Turnbull and Smith leases
George was involved in his own sale at Marshall Mount on 16 May 1890, where he advertised:
George appeared in the 1891 Australian Census living in his Albion Park home:
| Albion Park – Geo Turnbull – (No of Householder’s schedule) 100 – 2 males – 4 females |
This household was apparently comprised of George and Victoria and four of Victoria’s children. This information has not been proved.
George died 27 Apr 1894 and Victoria provided a headstone for his grave, which was in the Presbyterian Cemetery at Albion Park, now the Pioneer Cemetery.
George’s Will was probated 7 Jun 1894.
Victoria died 11 Jan 1911, and her son, John Smith entered an “In Memory” item in the South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus a year to the day after Victoria’s death:
William Turnbull died on 01 Apr 1876 at Marshall Mount.
Wife Mary Wilson Turnbull died 5 months later, on 08 Oct 1876.
Son Robert died 30 Sep 1891 at Brown Street St Peters and is buried in the St Peter’s Anglican Churchyard.
Elizabeth died 26 Apr 1911 at her home at 46 Brown Street St Peters, and is buried at St Thomas’ Enfield; one of her daughters was living in Enfield at the time of Elizabeth’s death.
Their daughter Jane Turnbull married Henry Miller (born Henry Miller Dixon in Coventry in Jan 1836) on 30 Oct 1872 in Redfern. They had three children:
- A girl born and died about 1873
- Harriet Maude Miller born 06 Sep 1874 at Thompson Street, Darlinghurst, married Charles Valentine Munro in 1894:
- Alice Munro born 1895
- Edmund (Ted) Harry Munro born about 04 May 1899
Sadly, Harriet Maude died from septicaemia at Ted’s birth.
- Harry Frank Turnbull Miller born 05 Jun 1881, married Isabella Sarah Hardy on 20 Oct 1906 at Kurri Kurri, and they had:
- Mildred Elizabeth Isabel Miller born 1907
- Henry Edmund “Harry” Miller born 1909
- Stanley Robert Miller born 1912
- Elsie Enid Miller born 1914
- Jessie Maud Miller born 1917
- Lorna Hazel Miller born 1918
- Alan Edgar Miller born 1921
- Denison Hunter Miller born 1923
- Harold John “Jack” Miller born 1927
Harry Frank enlisted in the 2nd NSW Mounted Rifles in 1901 and fought in the Boer War in South Africa. He died in 1950. His wife Isabella Sarah died in 1971.
Henry died 28 Jul 1906 and Jane married again to Edmund Williams, a miner from Cornwall on 10 Sep 1906.
Jane Turnbull Miller Williams died at the age of 89 on 16 Jun 1942 at Mayfield and is buried in Sandgate Cemetery. She and Henry had moved to Newcastle after their marriage. Jane had bought quite a lot of property in the Newcastle area, especially land along Railway Street in Hamilton.
Oh, and I’ll bet you’re asking about William and Mary’s daughter Ann, who had been transported to Van Dieman’s Land!!!
Ann had been sentenced to 10 years transportation. Having arrived in VDL on the ship CADET (3) on 12 Apr 1849, she was in/at the Brickfields Hiring Depot 06 Apr 1852. The next day, 07 Apr 1852, she was assigned to J Webb of “Little Hampton”. After that, she was assigned to William Crooke of Elizabeth Street, Hobart.
She had her Ticket of Leave granted on 22 Feb 1853 and her Conditional Pardon granted 21 Feb 1854, then approved 19 Dec 1854. On 14 Apr 1858, she was considered “Freed by Servitude”.
On 22 Jun 1853, she married another convict, William Weedon, in Bishopbourne, having been granted Permission to Marry.
Ann and William had five children:
- William born 01 Apr 1854 in Oaks, Tasmania
- John born in 1855
- James born 20 Apr 1857 in Oaks
- Ann or Annie born 21 Nov 1858 in Westbury
- Robert George born 19 Oct 1867
Ann died 02 Jan 1901 in Glenore, Tasmania. It was said that her children were all named for the men in her Turnbull family – William, John, James, Robert and George. Someone once commented that they thought her brother, John Pott Turnbull, had visited her regularly in Tasmania, but I have not found any proof that any of her Turnbull family made contact with her.
Footnotes
[1] Data from “Female Convicts in VDL database” – Ann TURNBULL – Id 3187 – Police ID 347
[2] As indicated previously, George Turnbull arrived in Geelong on 25 Dec 1852 per the ANN THOMPSON.
[3] James Griffin had a brother JOHN GRIFFITH (hence the change to Griffin to avoid confusion on having two J. GRIFFITHs).