Elizabeth Sherwood nee Smith
(c.1791-1850)
Her Family
Last update: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
AUTHOR’S RELATIONSHIP TO ELIZABETH SHERWOOD
INTRODUCTION
This is the story of the Smith family of Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, the family of Elizabeth Sherwood c.1791-1873. She was born in Fowlmere about 1791 and lived there for over sixty years. In 1856 she arrived in Port Adelaide with her son Charles to begin a new chapter in her life. Elizabeth lived in Adelaide for 17 years where she worked to support herself. She died in 1873 at Wistow, a small farming community in the Adelaide Hills.
Elizabeth’s maiden name Smith remained a mystery until it was found on her son Charles’ death certificate. Without it, much of her story would have remained untold. While Elizabeth is the central figure in the story, the search for her elusive Smith relatives is the focus. Because there is no record of her birth or baptism, the names of her parents remain unknown. It makes finding her siblings so much harder but not impossible.
There were at least two other Smith children born about the same time as Elizabeth in Fowlmere. They were Thomas and John Smith. Thomas was born about 1780, and John about 1791. Like Elizabeth, no birth or baptism entry has been found for either. Even so, I suspect that both men may have been related to Elizabeth. While there is limited evidence to link Thomas to Elizabeth, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that connects John Smith (1791-1851) to her. I believe they were brother and sister.
The story of the Smith Family of Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire is divided into four parts. Part 1 is Elizabeth’s story. Part 2 focuses on Charles Smith (1826-1908) and how he was instrumental in the search for our Fowlmere Smith relatives. In Part 3 we look at the evidence that links John Smith to Elizabeth Sherwood. In the last section Part 4, we look at the story behind an old family postcard sent to a young man named Stanley Smith.
PART 1 ELIZABETH SHERWOOD NEE SMITH
(1791-1873)
Introduction
Elizabeth’s story begins in Fowlmere, where she was born about 1791. She lived there with her husband, William Sherwood, and their four children, along with her many grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
Not surprisingly, there are gaps in Elizabeth’s story. Details about her Smith parents and when and where she married William remain a mystery.
As far as her marriage is concerned, I have been able to find two marriages between William Sherwood and Elizabeth Smith on FamilySearch.org within the right timeframe. The first took place at St. James, Paddington, London, in 1807.
The second marriage was on August 27, 1811, at Saint Mary-St. Marylebone, London. Very little additional information is included with the two marriages. Certainly not enough to conclude with any certainty that either is the marriage of our couple.
In 1856, Elizabeth left England for a new beginning in South Australia. She was 65 when she sailed on the ship Amazon with her son Charles, daughter-in-law Mary, and 10 grandchildren.
From at least 1811 to 1855, the Sherwood family called Fowlmere home. It was there that William and Elizabeth’s four children were born. Their first child, William, died as an infant in 1811; Charles was born in 1812; Jane was born in 1815; and a second son, also named William, was born in 1819.
Apart from the baptism of her children, Elizabeth was not heard of again until the 1841 Fowlmere census. She appears on the census at age 50, with her husband William 57, and William’s mother Elizabeth Dixon age 82.
Another ten years passed before we hear of Elizabeth again. This time it was on the 1851 census. Elizabeth spent the night of Sunday 30 March 1851, in Broad Green, Chrishall, Essex. Chrishall is about 9 kilometres southeast of Fowlmere.
Elizabeth Sherwood, (spelt Sharwood) was staying with Tom and Lydia Creek and their daughter Laura. Tom Creek 19, was born in Chrishall and Lydia 20, in Fowlmere. According to the census, Elizabeth Sherwood was a widow, she was 59 years old, and worked as a nurse. An important piece of information on the census was that Elizabeth was born in Fowlmere.
There is no record of her birth or baptism in the parish church. This is most likely because Elizabeth was baptised in the Fowlmere Independent Chapel. Three of her children were baptised there. Unfortunately, records for this church around the time of Elizabeth’s birth were lost. Her baptism entry would have her parents’ names, which are needed to trace her family back another generation.
Leaving Fowlmere
By late 1855, the remaining Sherwood family members had left Fowlmere for Australia. The first to leave was Elizabeth’s youngest child William. He married Sophia Stimpson in 1839 and immigrated to South Australia without her in 1847.
Elizabeth’s daughter Jane married Thomas Morley in 1835. They left the village in 1852 for Portland, Victoria.
Charles married Mary Perry in 1833 and raised a family of ten, seven sons and three daughters. Sometime in December 1855, Charles and his family with his mother Elizabeth left the village for the last time. They made their way to the port city of Plymouth in the South West of England. On 2 January 1856, they left for Australia on the sailing ship Amazon. January that year was cold and frosty across most of the United Kingdom. It was also winter and a good time to leave for a warmer climate.
Elizabeth was 65 and the oldest passenger. Ours was also the largest family onboard, with thirteen family members representing three generations. Ninety-seven days later 8 April 1856, the family landed safely in Port Adelaide. It was a new beginning for each of those thirteen family members. The weather that greeted them was more than likely pleasant. It was autumn that Tuesday in April when the Amazon arrived. The daytime temperatures were generally in the low to mid-twenties. A far cry from the cold, wintery weather they left behind in England.
For a description of the voyage of the Amazon to Port Adelaide in 1856, see ‘The Story of Charles and Mary Sherwood.’
Finding employment was no doubt a priority for Elizabeth once she disembarked and found accommodation. Her best chance of finding work was in Adelaide, 15 kilometres southeast of the Port. Elizabeth was living in Adelaide as early as December 1856, just seven months after leaving the ship.
Elizabeth placed an advertisement in the South Australian Register in late December 1856, looking for work as a nurse. She had previously worked as a nurse in Fowlmere after the death of her husband, William, in 1843. According to the paper, Elizabeth lived in Kermode Street, North Adelaide.
WANTED by a respectable Female, who has had 10 years experience, a SITUATION as a NURSE. Apply to Mrs Sherwood, Kermode Street, North Adelaide.
By 1860, Elizabeth had moved from Kermode Street and was now living in Cornwall Street, North Adelaide. She was once again advertising for work. In September 1860, the following advertisement appeared in the South Australian Register newspaper.
Elizabeth remained in Adelaide, where she worked to support herself. Also living in Adelaide at this time was her grandson Alfred Sherwood.
The following information came from Florence Craker a great, a great-granddaughter of Jane and Thomas Morley nee Sherwood.
When Grandfather Sherwood died, Grandma, Charles and Alfred came to Australia and settled in Adelaide. Charles became a farmer and Alfred worked in a bank. Hannah Morley (Jane's fourth child) went to stay with her grandmother Sherwood (Elizabeth) in Adelaide and went to a private school and also taught.
Grandfather Sherwood was William Sherwood 1782-1843, and Grandma was Elizabeth Sherwood (1791-1873) Charles was Elizabeth’s son, and Alfred was her grandson.
When Elizabeth was living in Adelaide, Charles and her daughter-in-law Mary worked as tenant farmers at Wistow, 40 kilometres southeast of Adelaide. Wistow was a small rural community not far from the township of Mt. Barker.
Elizabeth’s death
At some before 1873, Elizabeth left Adelaide and joined her son at Wistow. It was there that Elizabeth died on 11 July 1873. She was 84 years old and buried in the Bugle Ranges cemetery. The cemetery lies on Archers Hill Road, four kilometres from Wistow. The cemetery is now overgrown and hardly recognisable. No headstone or marker identifies Elizabeth’s grave.
Elizabeth lived in Fowlmere for sixty-five years and in South Australia for seventeen. She was laid to rest in a remote grave, a world away from where her life began in Fowlmere. It would appear to be a lonely end to a long and productive life. A life spent raising her family and caring for others as a nurse. Most importantly her memory lives on. She was still remembered all those years later by my grandfather as ‘Granny Smith’ even though she died more than ten years before he was born.
Soon after Elizabeth died in 1873, her son Charles and daughter-in-law Mary moved to Penola, 350 kilometres southeast of Wistow. Around 1876 the couple moved to Victoria. Charles died in 1880 and Mary in 1881.
PART 2
CHARLES SMITH
CHARLES SMITH
(c.1826-1908)
The discovery of a relative Charles Smith of Woorak West, Victoria
Charles Smith and the Fowlmere Charles Smith were the same person.
Charles Smith and Jane Morley were cousins.
Charles Smith was Elizabeth Sherwood’s nephew.
Introduction
In Part 2, we discover Charles Smith (c.1826-1908), a farmer who lived at Woorak West, a small rural community in the Victorian Wimmera. According to my grandfather, Charles was a relative. The prospect of finding a new family member intrigued me. It was also the start of an interesting journey of discovery. The journey begins in Woorak West, and from there we travel back
in time to 1826, the year Charles was born. Much to my surprise he was born in Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire. In 1852 Charles, his wife Mary Ann and his daughter Emily left the village and sailed to Portland, Victoria. The Smith family eventually made its way to Woorak West where Charles lived until he died in 1908. The journey of discovery had come a full cycle, ending where it started. The evidence was convincing, the Woorak West and Fowlmere Charles Smith were the same person. He came from Fowlmere the home of Elizabeth and William Sherwood. It was highly likely, as my grandfather had said, that Charles Smith was a relative.
The Clayton Sherwoods
Arthur Gordon Sherwood (1885-1978) and his four children moved to Clayton a suburb of Melbourne after they left the family farm in NSW. Arthur’s sons Pat, Claude and Doug built the family home on a large block of land in the early nineteen-fifties. Grandfather Sherwood, my aunts Jean and Lorna, and my uncles Pat and Doug lived in the house at 186 Carinish Road.
Around this time, my parents Sydney and Peggy bought their first home in North Coburg. They moved in with their three children Margaret, Valerie and Barry in 1951. I was born in July of that year. Throughout the nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties, we would visit the Clayton Sherwoods on a Sunday and often celebrate Christmas Day with them.
From North Coburg to Clayton was a long, tiring trip without a car. It meant walking to Merlynston station to catch a train to the city and then another train to Clayton. Followed by a walk of another kilometre or so to 186 Carinish Road. And then the journey was repeated when we returned home after dinner on Sunday night. I was the baby of the family and was carried from the train station sound asleep by my father when we returned home after dark.
The visits to Clayton continued when I became interested in our family history. Unfortunately, I left things a little late with the death of my grandfather Arthur Gordon Sherwood in 1978.
An invaluable source of family knowledge was lost with his passing. Fortunately, I had the interest and help of his daughter and son Jean and Pat Sherwood. I am very grateful to them for the information they provided on those visits to their home.
The Appearance of Charles Smith
On one particular visit to my aunt and uncle at Clayton, I told them about my latest discovery; that Elizabeth Sherwood was Elizabeth Smith before she married William Sherwood.
This reminded them of something their father Arthur had said on more than one occasion, that a relative of his was ‘Granny Smith.’ So who was ‘Granny Smith?’ She wasn’t Arthur’s grandmother as she was Mary Sherwood nee Perry. Granny Smith was most likely Elizabeth Sherwood nee Smith (1791-1873)
Jean then showed me a very old memorial card for a man named Charles Smith.
In loving Remembrance of our dear father, Charles Smith, who died on May 3, 1908, aged 80 years.
According to Jean, her father Arthur said that Charles Smith was ‘a relation.’ This caught my interest. Arthur had grown up on the family farm at Woorak West, close to where Charles Smith lived. In all likelihood, the two men knew each other. Arthur was 23 when Charles Smith died in 1908. It was not surprising that Arthur was able to identify Charles Smith as someone related to him.
A Meeting of the Smith & Sherwood Families
Another story told by Arthur was about a meeting that happened at Woorak West between his father Arthur Sherwood Senior (1841-1903) and a man named ‘Smith’.
When his father Arthur Sherwood Senior first selected land at Woorak West around 1880, ‘an old chap came along and struck up a conversation with his father.’ The man's name was Smith. The two men established that they were related and that Smith had worked with Arthur Senior's father Charles Sherwood (1812-1880) in England.
The ‘old chap’ Arthur senior met, was most likely Charles Smith who appears on the memorial card in 1908. Charles and his sons were farmers at Woorak West. Their farm was not far from where Arthur Sherwood Senior lived.
Over the years, I have been amazed at the accuracy of the family stories told to me by my aunt and uncle. They lived with their father Arthur for a large part of their lives and remembered the stories he told them about his ancestors.
Many years later Arthur refers to Mr. Smith in a letter he wrote to his sister Minnie Kelly
It makes me think of the first picnic that was held when they opened the old Woorak West Church. It was there I won my first race, my but what good does it do to dig up the past, no one knows how long it took me there was no stop watches those days but I heard old Mr. Smith say that boy could go on to win the Stawell Gift.
We have two independent family stories, one from my grandfather Arthur and one from his father Arthur that refer to a man by the name of Smith who was related to them.
I later learned that my grandfather’s family at Clayton kept a second memorial card of a Smith family member. In this instance, it was the Memorial card of Charles Smith’s daughter-in-law Ellen Smith. Ellen Smith nee Collins died in 1895. She was the wife of William Smith of Woorak. William was one of Charles and Mary Anne Smith’s sons.
Did our family keep the two Smith memorial cards because Charles Smith and his daughter-in-law Ellen Smith were related? I suspect that may have been the reason.
Charles Smith’s Origins
After seeing Charles Smith’s memorial card and hearing the stories told by my grandfather and great-grandfather, I was keen to learn more about him. I checked the archives of the Nhill Free Press newspaper to see if I could find any mention of Charles Smith’s death. The following item appeared on 5 May 1908.
We learn with regret of the death of Mr Charles Smith, an old and respected colonist, which event occurred last Sunday at Woorak West. Deceased who had attained the ripe old age of 80 years was father of our well-known Woorak farmers.
What I was hoping to find in the newspaper was some mention of Charles Smith’s birthplace. Unfortunately, this wasn't to be.
When Charles died in 1908, he was 80 years old. This meant that he was born about 1828. I looked for a Charles Smith who was born or baptised about that date in Fowlmere. The search proved successful.
The following entry appeared in the Fowlmere Independent Chapel’s records. Things were looking promising.
‘Baptised June 26, 1826. Charles son of John and Jane Smith’
The Fowlmere Charles Smith
The Fowlmere Charles Smith was very close in age to Charles Smith who appeared on the Memorial card. Not only that, he lived in Fowlmere at the same time as Elizabeth Sherwood. He was baptised in 1826, in the Fowlmere Independent Chapel, the same church that Elizabeth and William Sherwood attended.
Charles Smith’s parents were John and Jane Smith, nee Wilkerson.
Charles Smith worked as a farm labourer in Fowlmere. Charles Sherwood was also a farm labourer and about 15 years older than Charles Smith. It was likely that the two men knew each other and may, as my grandfather Arthur said, worked together on the parish farms. If I am correct, the two men were cousins.
In 1841 Charles and his parents were living in South Street, Fowlmere. John Smith was 45 and an agricultural (farm) labourer. His wife Jane was 40. Their five sons were William 19, Charles 15, Thomas 13, Alfred 10, and Watson 5.
Charles Smith and Mary Barker married on 1 May 1848 in Fowlmere. Witnesses to the marriage were James Perry and Charles Course.
In 1851, Charles and Mary Smith lived at 58 Heath Field, Dottrell Hall, Fowlmere. Charles was 24 and worked as a farm labourer. Mary was 23 and their daughter Emily was just two years old.
The Smith and Morley Families Leave for Victoria
Sometime before 1852, Charles and Mary decided to leave Fowlmere for Australia. It was no doubt a difficult decision to make. Charles left his 60-year-old mother Jane and siblings behind. Mary also left family and friends knowing that she would most likely never see them again.
Charles had a younger brother Thomas who may have sailed with him to Australia. Thomas and Susan Smith appear on Eliza’s passenger list. Thomas was 22 and Susan was 20. Like Charles, Thomas was employed as a farm labourer and was also from Cambridgeshire. He was to work for Henry Munro at Crawford Station, Hotspur, 60 kilometres north of Portland.
Charles, Mary and their daughter Emily set sail from Plymouth, England on 30 November 1852. The journey to Victoria on the 682-ton sailing ship Eliza took 130 days, landing in Portland Bay on 9 April 1853. According to the passenger list, Charles was 20, Mary 24 and Emily 3. Charles could read but not write, and Mary was illiterate. Sadly for the family, Emily age died during the voyage as a result of complications from exposure to the cold. It must have been a devastating loss for the young parents.
It was arranged before the voyage for Charles to work for J. P. Young at Glenorchy for 12 months. He was to be paid 45 pounds with rations. His employment with Young was to begin on 12 April, just three days after landing. With Glenorchy 240 kilometres northeast of Portland, it was a tight schedule to keep.
The Morley Family
The Morleys were another Fowlmere family who sailed to Victoria on the Eliza. Thomas and Jane Morley nee Sherwood (1815-1889) and their five children William 16, Sarah 14, Elizabeth 13, Hannah 8 and Charles 3 had also decided to make Australia home. According to Edna Graham, a granddaughter of Elizabeth Morley, Elizabeth age 12, was at risk of contracting tuberculosis, a disease of the lungs caused by a bacterial infection. The doctor recommended that the family move to Australia with its warmer climate. Once the family had disembarked, they travelled north to the small town of Harrow by bullock dray with their belongings and settled on the banks of the river Glenelg.
Charles and Jane may have decided to immigrate together providing much-needed support for the journey that lay ahead.
Life in Victoria
Soon after landing in Portland Bay in 1853, Thomas Morley was employed by David Edgar at Mullagh Station for 12 months. At some stage, Charles and Mary Smith left Glenorchy and moved to Digby, where their daughter Elizabeth was born in 1857. Three children were born at Merino, Alfred in 1859, Charles in 1864, and a second daughter named Emily in 1867. The first Emily died on the voyage to Australia. It was not uncommon in those times to give a subsequent child the name of a deceased child. On the indexes to Victorian births, the children’s mother’s maiden name was Mary Ann Barker. Merino is 74 kilometres south of Harrow where Jane and Thomas Morley were living at this time.
Around 1880, Charles and Mary Smith moved to Woorak West, 11 kilometres from the township of Nhill. It was here that Arthur and Minnie Sherwood had their farm. When Charles’ wife Mary died at Woorak West in 1887, age 59, her maiden name was ‘Mary Barker.’
The search for Charles Smith’s origins was complete. The evidence was compelling. Charles Smith who died in 1908 at Woorak West was from Fowlmere. It was the same small village that was home to the Sherwood family. So who was Charles Smith related to? The most obvious answer was Elizabeth Sherwood, nee Smith.
PART 3. THE FOWLMERE SMITH FAMILIES
Charles Smith was the key to discovering Elizabeth Sherwood’s Fowlmere Family.
Charles’ father John Smith was Elizabeth Sherwood’s brother.
Charles Smith was Elizabeth Sherwood’s nephew
Introduction
In Part 2, we traced Charles Smith’s origins to Fowlmere, where the Sherwood family also lived. His parents were John and Jane Smith nee Wilkerson. In Part 3, we look at the evidence that links Elizabeth Sherwood to Charles’ father John Smith (c.1791-1851)
Elizabeth Sherwood and John Smith
I have no reason to doubt my grandfather when he said that Charles Smith was related. The person he was most likely related to, was Elizabeth Sherwood.
So what was their relationship? Elizabeth was about 35 years older than Charles, too old to be his sister or cousin. She was though, the right age to be his aunt. If I am correct, Charles’ father John Smith was Elizabeth’s brother.
John Smith and Jane Wilkerson were married in Fowlmere on 21 November 1816 by William Metcalf, the Rector of the parish church. John was a bachelor and Jane a spinster. Witnesses to the marriage were Mary Godfrey and John Wilkerson. John and Jane were unable to sign their names, signing instead with an X. Charles was the couple’s fifth child, he was baptised in the Fowlmere Independent Chapel on 26 June 1826.
John and Jane appear on the 1841 census. They were living in Truth Street, Fowlmere. John was 45 and worked as a farm labourer and Jane was 40. They may have been several years older than reported, as ages were often rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5. For example, John’s actual age may have been 48 but rounded down to 45.
According to the 1851 census, John was born in Fowlmere, was 60 years old and still working as a labourer. He died several months later in June 1851, at age 60. John’s age on the census and his age at the time of his death indicates that he was born in 1791.
The Fowlmere Independent Chapel
There are two churches in Fowlmere, the parish church of St. Mary and the Independent Chapel. Members of the Independent Chapel were dissenters. They did not belong to the parish church, which was the Church of England.
The Sherwood and Smith families were Independents or Congregationalists as they were also known. They worshipped and had their children baptised in their churches.
Both John and Elizabeth Smith were born in Fowlmere. Their baptisms would have taken place in about 1791. I am not surprised that there is no record of their birth or baptism in the Fowlmere parish church. I believe they were baptised in the Independent Chapel in about 1791. Unfortunately, records for this church before 1812 were lost. Finding John and Elizabeth’s baptisms would give us the names of their parents. We could then rule in or rule out a family connection.
The Fowlmere meeting house was founded in 1780 and built-in 1782 at the expense of the Wedd family.
According to A History of Cambridgeshire…
A large brick house was built at the southern end of the village, on land given by Benjamin Wedd. It became the centre for dissenters in neighbouring parishes. It was well attended in 1825 when there was also a Sunday school. In 1851 the chapel was attended by 250 adults on Sunday mornings, 300 in the afternoon and 80 in the evening, more than three times the numbers attending the parish church.
It opened for public worship in 1782, when Mr James Harrison was chosen as pastor. The earliest surviving records of the chapel begin on 8 November 1812.
Membership of the church was tightly controlled. Only people earnest in their faith and who made open confessions about their faith could be counted as members. Independents suffered under several Acts of Parliament. For example, it wasn’t until 1806 that marriages and baptisms carried out in their churches were officially recognised. By the nineteenth century, many of the repressive measures against Independents had disappeared.
There were two occasions when John Smith’s children and Elizabeth Sherwood’s grandchildren were baptised on the same day in the Fowlmere Independent Chapel. Elizabeth’s grandson Alfred and John’s son John were baptised on 31 December 1834. The infant John does not appear to have survived as a second son named John was baptised eighteen months later.
On 3 July 1836, Elizabeth’s grandson Charles was baptised the same day as John, son of John and Jane Smith.
Lydia Creek & Elizabeth Sherwood
Elizabeth and her grandson Alfred Sherwood were the only two family members missing on the 1851 Fowlmere census. Alfred was later discovered working in Maldon, Essex. Elizabeth spent census night Sunday 30 March 1851, in Chrishall, Essex. Chrishall is about 9 kilometres southeast of Fowlmere. She was staying with Tom and Lydia Creek and their daughter Laura who was just one month old. Elizabeth provided the following information for the census. She was a widow and 59 years old. Her occupation was a nurse and she was born in Fowlmere.
Elizabeth may have been attending to one of the Creek family members, possibly baby Laura. Sadly, she died at age 5 in 1856. Lydia Creek was also born in Fowlmere. She was baptised in the Fowlmere Independent Chapel on 25 May 1831. Her parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Wilkinson.
Lydia’s father Thomas Wilkinson/Wilkerson was the younger brother of Jane Wilkinson. Jane Wilkinson married John Smith in Fowlmere in 1819. The same John Smith who I believe, was Elizabeth Sherwood’s brother. John Smith was Lydia’s uncle by marriage.
Elizabeth Sherwood staying at the home of John Smith’s niece, Lydia Creek on census night may have been nothing more than a coincidence. Or did she travel the considerable distance from her home in Fowlmere to Chrishall in her capacity as a nurse to attend to an unwell family member?
PART 4. POSTCARD to STANLEY SMITH
(1887-1969)
The story behind a very old postcard
A Smith marries a Smith
In 1878, Arthur Sherwood (1841-1903) selected 316 acres at Woorak West, a small farming community eleven kilometres from Nhill. He worked hard, clearing trees and scrub, fencing the property, and building a home. Arthur ploughed the ground and planted wheat, oats and barley.
In 1882 he married Minnie Fry and the couple raised a family of four, Alfred, Arthur (my grandfather) Mary and Minnie Isabella, who were my great aunts. Minnie Isabella later married Alex Kelly in Culcairn, NSW.
According to Minnie Kelly (1897-1981) …
The Fry's selected land at Woorak West and Minnie (my mother) met Arthur Sherwood. They were married and lived happily ever after in a nice mud brick house.
In early April 1908, a postcard arrived at the Sherwood farm. It was addressed to
‘Mr Stanly Smith, C/o Mr A. Sherwood, Woorak West’
The postcard was kept by Minnie Kelly, nee Sherwood. She was ten years old when it arrived at the family home at Woorak West. Her daughters Doreen and Phyllis of Wodonga, Victoria, had the postcard when I visited them after their mother died in 1981. I neglected to ask them what they knew about it, as it was just one of many old photos we looked at on that visit.
My interest in the postcard resurfaced mid-way through writing this story. I wanted to know if Stanley Smith was related to our Fowlmere Smith family.
The postcard provided some information. It was posted in Goolwa, South Australia, 370 kilometres northwest of Woorak West, in 1908. It was sent to Stanley by his mother. It mentioned other people, who I suspect were family members.
Due to the fading of the date stamp on the postcard, it is difficult to make out the date the postcard was sent. I suspect it may have been 31 March 1908.
Stanley Smith knew the Sherwood family well enough to have his mail directed to their home. He may have been a friend of Arthur Gordon Sherwood or his older brother Alf. Both men were close to Stanley’s age 21.
Was Stanley Smith related to Charles Smith of Woorak West? More information was needed to prove a family connection. I found that information on the FamilySearch, Family Tree website. Stanley’s family were from Goolwa, South Australia, a historic river port on the Murray River, 80 kilometres southeast of Adelaide.
Finding Stanley’s family enabled me to identify some of those mentioned in the postcard. His mother was Sarah Ann Smith nee Dobinson. She married Clement Smith at Goolwa, South Australia in 1882. Their son Stanley James Smith was born on 25 August 1887. Sarah was in her mid-forties when she sent the postcard to her son.
Wallie (Walter) was Stanley’s younger brother. Stanley had a sister Elizabeth who was born in 1891 at Woorak. She may have been the ‘Lizzie’ referred to in the Postcard. Her photo which appears below, was found on FamilySearch, Family Tree.
According to the Southern Argus newspaper, the Smith family left Goolwa and made their home at Woorak West.
In 1886 Mr Smith and his family went to Woorak West (Victoria) but returned to Goolwa 12 years later.
In 1898 his parents returned to Goolwa, while Stanley remained in the district. According to the Victorian Electoral Roll, Stanley Smith was living at Lorquon, 20 kilometres north of Woorak West in 1908. This may have been where Stanley was staying when his postcard arrived at Minnie Sherwood’s farm all those years ago.
The arrival of the postcard at the family farm was just the beginning of its journey. Around 1910, Minnie Sherwood sold the farm and purchased the property ‘Bonny Doon,’ near Henty, NSW. The postcard went with her, perhaps in a suitcase or box with all the other family photos. It rode in a cart or wagon to the station, to be taken by train to its new home in NSW.
About 1925, ‘Bonnie Doon’ was sold. Minnie was in her sixties, and staying with her daughter Minnie Kelly at Walbundrie, NSW. After Minnie Kelly left Walbundrie, she bought a home in Wodonga, Victoria. The postcard accompanied the family on each of these moves. It made its way intact across three Australian states, South Australia, Victoria and NSW. Many years later, when I visited Minnie’s daughters, Doreen and Phyllis Kelly in Wodonga, I was shown the much-travelled postcard.
An Unexpected Twist
The story doesn’t end quite yet. An interesting twist to the tale that took place in 1921. Stanley married Ethel Smith, the granddaughter of Charles Smith (1826-1908) The same Charles Smith whose appearance on the memorial card in 1908, led to the discovery of our Fowlmere Smith ancestors.
Stanley’s new wife Ethel Emily Smith was born at Woorak in 1889, her parents were Alfred and Julia Smith. A Smith had married a Smith.
It was very satisfying to learn the story behind the postcard. To discover who Stanley Smith was, when and where he was born and the names of his mother and siblings. No doubt Stanley Smith was well known to our family and perhaps a frequent visitor to their home so many years ago.
It would have been nice if the postcard led to the discovery of a link between Stanley’s Smith family and our Woorak West and Fowlmere Smiths. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a family connection.
As to why the postcard was kept for all those years. Perhaps there is a simple answer to that. It was placed with all the other family photos and postcards where it remained, waiting to be discovered so its story could be told.
One last thing. Did Stanley see the postcard and get to read the letter from his mother? I guess we will never know.
ENDNOTES
1. "England, Cambridgeshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1538-1983," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZH-QSJN : 17 March 2018), Thomas Smith, 15 Jul 1849; citing Burial, Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Library, England; FHL microfilm 2,112,780.
.2. "England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSF7-MS24-B?cc=3734475 : 29 July 2021), > image 1 of 1; London Metropolitan Archives, England.
3. "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGVZ-XRB : 9 November 2019), Elizabeth Sharwood in household of Tom Creek, Chrishall, Essex, England; citing Chrishall, Essex, England, p. 28, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, Findmypast(http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey
4. 1856 'Advertising', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), 31 December, p. 4. , viewed 17 May 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article497601934
5. 1860 'Advertising', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), 5 September, p. 1. , viewed 17 May 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50025568
6. This information was given to me by Nell Mc. Connell, of Healesville, Vic. in 1983. Nell was a great-granddaughter of Thomas & Jane Morley
7. England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5V9-Z3M : 4 February 2023), Charles Smith, 1826
8. England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5V9-Z3M : 4 February 2023), Charles Smith, 1826
9. "England and Wales Census, 1841," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQRF-V1M : 22 May 2019), John Smith, Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1841 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
10. "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGRW-52J : 12 September 2019), Charles Smith, Foulmire, Hertfordshire, England; citing Foulmire, Hertfordshire, England, p. 17, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey
12.“England, Cambridgeshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1538-1983," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZH-QCZY : 17 March 2018), John Smith and Jane Wilkerson, 21 Nov 1816; citing Marriage, Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Library, England; FHL microfilm 2,112,780.
13."England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5V9-Z3M : 4 February 2023), Charles Smith, 1826
14.”England, Cambridgeshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1538-1983," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZH-Q9P8 : 17 March 2018), John Smith, 06 Jun 1851; citing Burial, Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Library, England; FHL microfilm 2,112,780.
15.A.P.Baggs, S.M Keeling and C A F Meetings "Parishes: Fowlmere," in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 8, ed A. P. M. Wright (London: Victoria County History, 1982), 155-164, British History Online, accessed May 12, 2023, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol8/pp155-164.
16. 1931 'GOOLWA.', Southern Argus (Port Elliot, SA : 1866 - 1954), 23 April, p. 3. viewed 09 May 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97239593
