 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
John BALCHIN m 1849 Sarah BRAGINTON
|
Sarah BRAGINTON b abt 1820-22 Cornwall, England (from shipping and age at death)
1841 British Census taken 6/7 June
[HO107, Piece: 267, Book: 5, Civil Parish: St Mary Major, County: Devon, Enumeration District: 15, Folio: 33, Page: 67, Line: 20, GSU: roll 241331] Civil Parish of St Mary Major, Registration district of Exeter, Sub-registration district of St Sidwell, Hundred of Exeter City, County of Devon, England
Emigration 1844
Dwelling Rack Street, Left side.
Elizabeth HANCOCK age 40, Independent means, born Devon.
Sarah BRAJINTON age 20, Independent means, born Devon (b abt 1821)
This is the only Sarah BRAGINTON I could find in all England of about the right age. On the image of the original census record the surname is clearly BRAGINTON but the 'g' has been misread as a 'j' in the transcription.
The Lord William Bentick a barque of 443 tons sailed from London, England on 17 Apr 1844 and from Cork, Ireland on 2 May 1844 and arrived at Port Phillip on 22 Aug 1844 after a voyage of 112 days, with no ports of call, under Master Alfred SAINTHILL and Surgeon Superintendent John H BROWN. Making the long sea journey were 39 families consisting of 155 souls, 24 unmarried females and 38 unmarried males, in all 169 and a half statute adults, which consisted of 78 married adults, 61 single adults, 62 children aged between 1-14, and 15 under one year. All seven deaths on board were children, one aged 8 and six infants aged 2 or under. One baby girl had been born on board on 6 Jul 1844. At Port Phillip in Hobson's Bay a total of 216 souls were landed.
Passenger Number 4 in the list of Unmarried Females is Sarah BRAGINTON, age 23, House maid, Native County: Cornwall, Protestant, Read only, Bounty: £18.14s. It seems that Sarah did not have relatives or friends to go to as she was employed from the Melbourne depot. The Disposal List shows that she left the ship to work for James Montgomery as a General Servant for a term of 3 months at a rate of £12 - - wages of per annum with rations. Such a short term of employment was unusual so it was likely that Sarah's intention was to sail on to Adelaide as soon as possible to join relatives there but she was not mentioned in the following report.
|
Melbourne 16th Sep 1844
Sir We beg to inform you, that since we had the honor of making our report to you of the 4th inst. on the ship "Lord William Bentick", it has within the last ten days come to our knowledge that two families and one single man Immigrant by this passage came to the Colony not with the intention of remaining in it, but for the purpose of proceeding to other Colonies as soon as oppoortunity would permit. |
As the particulars connected
with the occurence may serve to show that it was undoubtedly the intention of the Immigrants in question when they left their native place, not to remain in this Colony we beg to state that Thomas Henderson his wife and child, and Charles Ferguson a single man took their passage for Adelaide, South Australia in the Hawk Schooner which sailed hence on the 5th inst. thus embracing the earliest opportunity of carrying their purpose into effect. His Honor, C A LaTrobe Esq Superintendent, Melbourne |
The report went on to speak of the injustice of this Colony paying the expenses of importing immigrants, such as the two families and the single man at a cost of of £149.12.0, from whose services it was intended she should derive no benefit.
It was noted in the Disposal List of the Lord William Bentick that the HENDERSON family from Northumberland, consisting of Thomas age 36, Labourer, Wife Ellen 24 and son David 16 mos, sailed for Adelaide in the Schooner Hawk which left Port Philip on the 5th of Sep 1844. His destination per certificate of passage was Pt Philip. As a matter of interest to me, the next family listed: George HEFFER age 44 Carpenter, Wife Elizabeth 25 and daughter Eliza 12, from Suffolk were employed by Thomas and Somerville Learmonth of Boniyong (later Buninyong nr Ballarat).
There was a David DINNIS age 22, labourer, Protestant, listed as a single male on the Lord William Bentick but as his Native County was Sussex I believe he would not be a relative of Susanna Dinnis SCOWN (ms BRAGINTON) who was from Devon. David left the ship on his own resources.
This passenger list and record of the journey includes a report dated 16 Sep 1844 by John PATTERSON, Immigration Agent. He noted that some passengers did not have christening papers but on inspection they did appear to be the age they said they were and he gave the approval for the bounties to be paid, except in one case of deception where a lad called David RYAN claimed to be a son of a couple, was discovered to be a nephew of the wife. The agent also related the sorry tale of this family who wished to join relatives in Launceston as soon as possible. They had been wrongly informed that the final part of their journey would be a passage of just thirty hours and that the passage money was but a mere trifle. As this was not the case, the family came into the depot and was facing hardship on their arrival.
Sarah arrived in the Port Phillip District of the Colony of New South Wales. It was not until 1851 that the Colony of Victoria came into being. There is another record of her immigration to NSW in 1844 as Sarah BRAGGINTON. The other information was the same - that she was aged 23, a House Maid, Native County: Cornwall, Protestant, could read but not write.
The coastal schooner Hawk commanded by Captain BROWN came from Sydney to Port Phillip bound for Adelaide via Portland Bay.
Sarah BRAGINTINE was among the thirty or so passengers who left Melbourne on the 11th of Dec 1844 and arrived at Port Adelaide on the 20 or 22 Dec 1844 after a journey of about ten days. (Di Cummings, Bound for South Australia)
Sarah would have felt much more at home among the many Cornish Cousin Jacks and Jennies who had settled in South Australia since the Colony was founded in 1836. It was more than eight months since she left her home in Cornwall and finally her journey had ended just in time for a Christmas celebration with her 'cousins' Elizabeth and Mary Ann SCOWN. We are not yet sure of what Sarah's relationship was with Mrs Susannah SCOWN (ms BRAGINTON) but we think perhaps niece (child of older brother Thomas) or maybe even a daughter born out of wedlock. Susannah would have been about 23 years of age when Sarah was born say in 1821. It is likely that the name Sarah was chosen because Susannah's 15 yr-old sister had died on the 11 Jan 1818. It might just be possible that their mother Elizabeth BRAGINTON (ms MATTHEWS) chr in 1772, who would have been 49 in 1821, was still of child-bearing age in 1821 but we know only of the chr of the last child born in 1806. That is an unlikely gap.
Susanna Dinnis BRAGINGTON chr 2 Sep 1798 Ashburton, Devon, England d/o William BRAGINTON/Elizabeth [IGI Batch C050201 extracted from parish records]
Susanna Dinnis BRAGINTON m 7 Oct 1832 St Mary Magdalene, Launceston, Cornwall, John SCOWN [entry no 306] They arrived in South Australia on 13 Dec 1840 on the Royal Admiral with two young daughters. In 1845 a son John Jr was born to them at Willunga.
Susan SCOWN d 25 Mar 1888 aged 89 yrs Deep Lead, Shire of Stawell, Victoria, Australia d/o William BRAGENTON, Soldier, and Elizabeth ms MATTHEWS [Vic Index 3966]
1849 Marriage
Sarah BRAGINTON age 27, single, m 22 Jan 1849 Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Adelaide, South Australia, James BALCHIN age 36, single, Witnesses: John SCOWN and Elizabeth (herXmark) SCOWN. [SA Bk/Pg 3/16] (Jenny Appelby)
BALCHIN James res: Gyres Flat, rel: Bc m 22 Jan 1849 SA chn: John Jas (1851-1926), others (not mentioned) [BISA 1, Vol 1, A-E, pg 64]
Sarah BALCHIN (b abt 1820) d 15 Apr 1907 age 87 Widow, James BALCHIN (Deceased Husband), Residence and Death Place: Murray Bridge, District of Nairn [SA Bk/Pg 324/383] It is interesting that her death notice in the Adelaide Chronicle stated that Sarah Matthews BALCHIN died at Murray Bridge. (Jenny Appelby) This is further evidence of a family connection to Susannah Dinnis BRAGINTON whose mother's maiden surname was MATTHEWS.
James BALCHIN b 12 Nov 1812, chr 15 Nov 1812 St Nicholas, Surrey, England (Jenny Appelby)
James BALCHIN (b abt 1813) d 12 Jul 1885 age 72 Status N (not recorded) Residence and Death Place: Kangarilla, District of Morphett Vale [SA Bk/Pg 147/431]
Children of John BALCHIN and Sarah BRAGINTON
