This story is a true family pioneering, ancestral fact concerning my Great Grandfather William Robert Brown. Born near Margate in Kent in 1828, he was one of a family of eight, having seven sisters.
William Robert married an Anna Green in 1853. Two months later he set off for Australia to better his situation leaving his new wife behind, not knowing he would not see her for another 10 years and the unborn child she was carrying, Willie.
Anna and Willie duly arrived in Australia in 1863. William Robert had secured a land grant, part of the station property "Norwood", near Maryborough, owned by Alfred Joyce who he had worked for for a number of years as a flour Miller when he first came to Australia.
Father and son never got on very well and Willie moved out as soon as possible. By the late 1870's he had married a lady from White Hills near Bendigo and fairly soon was settled on land near Seymour. By 1914 they had a large family including five sons. One of these sons was married and had five small children.
Now Willie's five sons all enlisted in World War I. They all returned safely.
While the son who was married with five small children was away all the children died from influenza. What a tragedy.
As he and his wife were still quite young and still wanting a family, they started again. They had five more children in the same gender order and they were named after the first five. What a brave and heartfelt thing to do!
This story was confirmed to me by their descendants at an elderly relative's 90th birthday at Timor West in 1990.
Ian Burkinshaw,
March 2016
William Robert married an Anna Green in 1853. Two months later he set off for Australia to better his situation leaving his new wife behind, not knowing he would not see her for another 10 years and the unborn child she was carrying, Willie.
Anna and Willie duly arrived in Australia in 1863. William Robert had secured a land grant, part of the station property "Norwood", near Maryborough, owned by Alfred Joyce who he had worked for for a number of years as a flour Miller when he first came to Australia.
Father and son never got on very well and Willie moved out as soon as possible. By the late 1870's he had married a lady from White Hills near Bendigo and fairly soon was settled on land near Seymour. By 1914 they had a large family including five sons. One of these sons was married and had five small children.
Now Willie's five sons all enlisted in World War I. They all returned safely.
While the son who was married with five small children was away all the children died from influenza. What a tragedy.
As he and his wife were still quite young and still wanting a family, they started again. They had five more children in the same gender order and they were named after the first five. What a brave and heartfelt thing to do!
This story was confirmed to me by their descendants at an elderly relative's 90th birthday at Timor West in 1990.
Ian Burkinshaw,
March 2016
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