| A genealogical presentation of the life and times of the ancestors and descendants of William Henry Mathews (1880 – 1964) and his wife Sarah Louisa Florence Mitchell (1889 – 1972). |
| THE MITCHELL FAMILY LINEAGE |
| John MITCHELL (1818 – 1895) John was the son of William James Mitchell (1785 – 1839), a carpenter in Bury, Huntingdonshire, England, and Frances Parsons MARSHALL (1788 – 1856). It is known that he had an elder sister Mary, born one year earlier. Like most lads of the time, John apprenticed with his father and by the time he was a teenager the family had moved to Shoreditch, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Here he met and married Susan ANDERSON (1818 – 1889), the daughter of a bricklayer [1]. Susan, christened Sarah Susannah, had also come to London with her family from Ramsey, Huntingdonshire. Their marriage took place at St. Matthew, Church of England, Bethnal Green on the 20th of March 1836. |
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The young couple set up home in inner London where a little over a year after their marriage son William (1837 – 1927) was born - his baptism record stating that John and Sarah lived at Curtain Road, Shoreditch. Three years later daughter Emma Ann (1840 – 1909) was born with her baptism record stating that John and Sarah lived at Kingsland Road, Shoreditch. England's first census in 1841 recorded the family residing at Elizabeth Place, Hoxton, Middlesex, in the parish of St Leonards, and it was in this Central London area that they raised five more boys in the next decade; Henry John (1842 – 1912), Robert, (1844 – 1876) John (1847 – 1892), Marshall (1849 – 1893) and Francis Anderson (1851 – 1936). In early 1851 [2], leaving his wife Sarah pregnant and with three of the younger boys in England, thirty-seven-year-old John, along with his two eldest boys William (14) and Henry (9), departed London in search of a better life and greater opportunities in the antipodes. Most of his fellow immigrants arrived seeking their fortune in the goldfields but John was different preferring instead to establish a business foothold for his building skills in this new city. As well as being a skilled tradesman and builder, John was a shrewd property speculator and within the year of his arrival he had acquired the freehold of a residence at Arthur Street, South Yarra. |
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The 1853 map of an estate sale in South Yarra (above) shows that one Mitchell allotment – shaded pink, that became Number 22 – has two small dwellings (likely one cottage and one shed). Although this was a house with a roof, it was barely sufficient space to accommodate the whole family. The four allotments shaded blue – not yet in the Mitchell name – were devoid of buildings and likely an orchard given that William Watson, the owner at the time was a fruiterer [3]. On his arrival in the colony John Mitchell had become associated with Thomas Wallis, a property and land agent of Punt Road, South Yarra and it was from him that he obtained a leasehold on a dwelling in Caroline Street, South Yarra – a property large enough to accommodate the arrival of Sarah and the remaining children the following year [4]. The first Australian Electoral Roll of 1856 records that John Mitchell is a carpenter in Collins Street, Melbourne and is the freeholder – but NOT the occupier – of Arthur Street, South Yarra. Sarah is keen to develop their Arthur Street property and encourages the family to get started. In the next two years John, William and Henry remodel the humble cottage into a five-roomed brick residence and acquire the freeholds on another four neighbouring Arthur Street lots. |
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Whilst Sarah and the younger children now have a home in Arthur Street, the 1860 Sands and Kenny’s Commercial and General Melbourne Directory (State Library of Victoria) records John being a builder and son William a brick worker in Caroline Street, South Yarra. 1860 also saw a significant change in the family’s financial situation with Sarah reaching a settlement [10] in the Supreme Court over ownership of all the Arthur Street properties. As much as Sarah loved her Arthur Street home, it was quickly apparent that it was too small for 2 adults, 4 growing teenagers, and 3 infants under the age of ten. A family decision was made whereby John and sons Henry and John Jnr. would travel further afield to New Zealand, leaving Sarah, William, Emma and the younger children in Melbourne. In the ensuing two years another three Arthur Street allotments were built upon and became available as rentals. |
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The date of Sarah and the Mitchell family's arrival in New Zealand is unknown, but their presence is confirmed in Andersons Bay, Dunedin in 1865 [5]. The local newspaper, The Otago Daily Times, reports on the 24th of April 1865 about a court case whereby Sarah Mitchell is named as the keeper of the Bay View Hotel in Anderson Road, Dunedin. The 1865 New Zealand Electoral Roll shows that the Mitchell family of Caversham, Dunedin, leased several properties [6]. They had a 21-year lease on the Bay View Inn on Andersons Bay Road. Son William held a 10-year lease in Tainui, which became the Taieri Village Inn [7], while son Henry leased the Parkside Hotel. Son Robert owned a house in Central Dunedin, and two years later, they acquired sections 24, 25, and 26 on Mornington Road for John Jr. John Mitchell, now in his fifties, shifted his focus to innkeeping and held the licence for the Bay View Hotel in Anderson Bay, Dunedin, for a decade. This ended abruptly during a visit to Palmerston North in 1874 to see his grandchildren. |
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Effectively the loss of the Bay View Hotel licence persuaded the Mitchell elders to move on. |
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John faced more issues than just selling his property. He tried to recover some credit from the liquor he had bought for his hotel by trading it illegally [8]. Unfortunately, he was caught, as reported by the Dunedin Evening Star on the 13th of November 1874. The 1875-76 New Zealand Electoral Roll lists the Mitchell elders as residents of Palmerston, and subsequent Rolls showed that they remained there until 1882. Although their return to Melbourne isn't digitally recorded, Sarah’s handwritten will, dated January 1885, and registered in Melbourne, confirms she was living in Arthur Street, South Yarra at the time. Sarah died there in 1889 at age 72, her death certificate noting that fatty liver disease and fatty heart degeneration being the likely causes of her heart attack. Following Sarah's passing, John was supported solely by his son, Marshall, and daughter-in-law, Annie, as his other children either resided in Palmerston North, New Zealand, or New South Wales. John also found comfort with Louisa COOPER (née Boston; 1829 – 1900), a sixty-year-old widow. Louisa, originally from London, had previously been married to a jeweller and had moved to Australia in 1883. They married in 1890 and lived at 22 Arthur Street, South Yarra until John's death on September 9th, 1895. |
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Probate on John’s will, for which Louisa was executrix, was granted on the 4th of November 1895. It valued his estate and assets at £2453. At the time of his death, he was the owner of SIX properties (Numbers 22, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18) in Arthur Street, South Yarra, TWO properties (Numbers 7 and 9) in Tyrone Street, South Yarra, ONE property (Number 22) in Moss Street, Prahran and ONE property (Number 145) in Moray Street, South Melbourne. All of these were previously owned by Sarah and had been bequeathed to him following her death six years earlier. In accordance with Sarah's wishes in her will, John outlined instructions for the disbursement of his assets. 22 Arthur Street, John's by bequest, now passed to Louisa for the term of her life, BUT was to be subsequently bequeathed to John’s granddaughter Frances Marshall Mitchell and her subsequent heirs. Numbers 10,12,16,18 Arthur Street were left to Louisa until her death, but then to be sold and the proceeds to be divided equally amongst his living Mitchell children and daughter-in-law Ann Mitchell. Note: These properties were NOT sold following Louisa's death but fell into the hands of Louisa's eldest son Edwin COOPER (1852 – 1912). When he died, he bequeathed numbers 10,12,16,18 Arthur Street to his niece Louise Frances BRIDEN (1852 – 1912). Number 14 Arthur Street was left to his granddaughter Esther Mitchell and her subsequent heirs. Number 7 Tyrone Street, South Yarra was left to his daughter Emma (Mrs Robert Goodisson) until her death, then Emma’s daughter Mary Jane White and her subsequent heirs. Number 9 Tyrone Street, South Yarra was left to his son Henry John and his subsequent heirs. Number 2 Moss Street, College Lawn (Prahran) was left to his daughter-in-law Annie Cowen Mitchell and her subsequent heirs. Number 145 Moray Street, South Melbourne was left to his son Francis Anderson and his subsequent heirs. |
Other specific disbursements were:
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Louisa survived her husband by five years and was resident [9] at Arthur Street, South Yarra when she died. Probate on Louisa’s estate was granted on the 10th of December 1900, nine days before John’s granddaughter Frances Marshall Mitchell married William RODD (1876 – 1960). The couple immediately moved into 22 Arthur Street. The following year Arthur Street was renumbered, and 22 became 26. Francis and William Rodd remained there for the next decade, three of the next generation of “Mitchells” being born there. |
References
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