My farm situated at Jamberoo. The profits of rents for the benefit of Amelia Emily Dennis until she reaches 21 years and then the farm to Amelia.
My cottage and allotment of land in Crown Street, Wollongong. Rents and profits after repairs to for the use and benefit of Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior until they reach the age of 21 years. To be sold within five years of Elizabeth’s demise if necessary with any money arising for the benefit and education of Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior. If not sold the cottage and allotment to Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior as tenants in common when they reach their respective ages of 21 years.
To my three married daughters, Ann Elizabeth Chinnock, Charity Grace King, Mary Ann Whyms 20 pounds each.
To my son John James Dennis 20 pounds. To my grandson John King 20 pounds on attaining 21 years.
Two hundred pounds in trust to apply the interest and profits for the benefit and education of Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior until they reach the age of 21 years at which time they shall receive 100 pounds each.
A portion of 80 acres of land situate at the Bulli Range selected by Eleazar King senior for his son Eleazar King junior. Twenty pounds already paid to the government with the executors to pay the balance when due or before if expedient. Eleazar King permitted to reside on this land until Eleazar King junior comes of age.
Ninety pounds to Eleazar King senior to be paid over three consecutive years after my death.
Allotment of land situate in Barella Street Wollongong to be sold to pay for clearing and burning off wood on the Bulli range land. Eleazar King to supply evidence to the trustees of clearing.
Eleazar King to choose seven cows from among her cattle and have the mare ‘Betsey’ for his own use and to take what furniture he might want.
Remainder of money and interest accruing to be used for the benefit of Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior.
These are the assets that one woman carefully documented in her will written on 15 September 1866. Not an extensive estate, but considerable for a woman of her time who had never married, had spent much of her life bearing children and died at just 46 years old. Her will demonstrates her sense of care for her family and her assets, and of her determination to provide for her children.
Why James Dennis and Elizabeth Spinks formed a relationship that was to last for almost 25 years is a burning question. When James Dennis settled at Fairy Meadow in the 1820s Elizabeth Spinks was a young girl. His neighbours included Mary Wade who was widowed in 1833 when her husband Jonathon Brooker died, and was of a similar age to James. Mary Brooker, Mary Wade’s daughter, lived nearby, was widowed in 1829 and was eight years older than Elizabeth. There weren’t a lot of single women in the Illawarra and travelling further afield was not as simple as it is today. James Dennis may have also felt that he was still married. Although his application for his wife and family to join him was granted they did not come to Australia, but at what point did he give up hope? Elizabeth Spinks was just 16 years old when she became pregnant to James Dennis who was at least 50 years her senior. Employment opportunities for young girls were not abundant in the Illawarra in the 1830s but she may have started out as a housekeeper to James and things progressed from there.
So little is known about Elizabeth that most of her story can only be pieced together by looking at the people around her, their lives, and the few snippets of information about Elizabeth that do exist. This is the unusual story of Elizabeth Spinks and her families.
Clusters of families in Fairy Meadow and Jamberoo
It was not by chance that the grants to Jonathan Brooker and Edward Harrigan, and the purchased land of James Dennis and Henry Angel were side by side at Fairy Meadow. The connections between these families have their origins in Appin and Airds. They continued to maintain strong connections throughout their lifetimes and for generations to follow.
During the 1820s James Dennis and Henry Angel were both convicts assigned to Hamilton Hume at Appin. Just north at Airds lived John Spinks, his wife Ann and their children. Also at Airds were Jonathon Brooker, his wife Mary Wade and their family. A number of the male members of these families were engaged in cedar cutting in the Illawarra. James Dennis is documented as a permitted person to cut cedar for Hamilton Hume but the rest have not been found on any records to have had permission to cut cedar.
The Fairy Meadow families also had strong connections to Jamberoo which had began with John Spinks settling in Jamberoo sometime before 1841.
The marriages of Elizabeth Spink’s daughters Charity Grace, Mary Ann and son John James into the King and Whyms families brought new names and new generations to the Fairy Meadow and Jamberoo clusters.
Fairy Meadow
The part of Fairy Meadow relevant to Elizabeth’s story is now known as Tarrawanna. Fairy Meadow, also known as Para Meadow, was a much larger area in the 1800s extending from Wollongong to Corrimal. The grants of Brooker and Harrigan and the purchases by Dennis and Angel are marked on the map below (the boundaries are approximate).
View a larger map and location map here
Elizabeth Spinks and James Dennis
Elizabeth Spinks
Elizabeth Spinks was born at Airds near Campbelltown about August 1820 to John Spinks and Ann Riley (nee Carne). By 1828 the family were living in the Illawarra making Elizabeth one only 77 females living in the district.1 Her mother Ann died on 3 May 1836 at Fairy Meadow. One year after her mother’s death, on 7 May 1837 sixteen year old Elizabeth Spinks gave birth to her first child, John James Dennis, fathered by James Dennis. More children followed.
James Dennis
James Dennis was baptized on 3 September 1777 at Kentisbury in Devon, England. He was the sixth of ten children born to John Dennis and his wife Grace May2 His mother Grace died in 1789 when the youngest child was just two years old and James was about 12 years old. His father died in 1823 aged about 87 years. James married Elizabeth Gubb on 17 February 1801 at Kentisbury, Devon, England. 3 James and Elizabeth Dennis had seven surviving children between 1801 and 1816 – Susannah b.1804, Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ b.1806, twins John and Mary b.1812, Maria b.1813, James b.1815 and Anne b.1816.
In 1824 James petitioned Governor Brisbane to have his wife and seven children join him in Australia. This request was granted but the family did not make the voyage.4 That same year James’s wife Elizabeth Dennis married again. She described her status as ‘supposed widow’.5 At the time of her marriage she would not have been aware that her husband James had applied for, and been granted, permission for his wife and family to join him in Australia. The process for conveying successful applications to spouses of convicts was slow, and even if the information reached had reached the parish it may not have been passed on or could have been subtly ignored. Six years past her husband’s transportation she would have rightly felt that she would not see him again.
On 16 March 1816 James Dennis was sentenced to death for sheep stealing.6 He is described as a labourer aged 44 years. His sentence was commuted to transportation for life and he departed Portsmouth on 19 July 1818 with 249 other convicts for a five month voyage to Sydney Town, arriving on 31 December 1818.
James was assigned to Hamilton Hume at Appin. Another of Hume’s assigned convicts was Henry Angel who would later become James’s neighbor at Fairy Meadow. Whilst Henry Angel travelled with Hume and Hovell on their 1824 expedition James Dennis also had important work to do for his master Hume. James had been sent to the Illawarra as early as 1821 to cut copious amounts of cedar for Hume.7
No records have been found of James being in any type of trouble during his early years in the colony. In 1834 he and Henry Angel were named as recipients of land transactions at Fairy Meadow. These were adjoining blocks of fifty and sixty acres, portions 98 and 95 of the yet unnamed Parish of Woonona, County of Camden. Both James Dennis and Henry Angel built their homes on portion 98. James Dennis on the western side of portion 98 close to the Harrigan boundary and Henry Angel on the eastern side close to the boundary of portion 95. It is possible that some or part of the money paid for this land was provided by Hamilton Hume.
James and Elizabeth’s children
James and Elizabeth’s family began with the birth of son John James Dennis on 7 May 1837. James was about 60 years old and Elizabeth was 16 years old. The birth of John James Dennis, along with numerous other births and deaths were recorded on pages sewn in to a small Bible.
Please see the Dennis Family Bible for more images from the Bible.
Next born was daughter Ann Elizabeth on 21 March 1839, followed by Charity Grace born on 19 August 1841, and Mary Anne born on 8 March 1845. There then appears to be a gap in children until 1853 when Louisa Jane Beatson Spinks was born on 31 July 1853. Her baptismal record does not name a father and the judgmental Reverend Matthew Devenish Meares notes that the occupation of the mother is ‘living in adultery’. The inclusion of the name ‘Beatson’ which is not a Spinks or Dennis family name is curious. Beatson was the name of an unrelated Illawarra family and whether it had anything to do with Louisa Jane Beatson Spinks’s paternity we will never be known as she died aged five years. The next child was Robert Henry Dennis who was born on 5 December 1855 and died in 1856. His father is named as James Dennis. Next born is Victoria Riley Dennis on 29 June 1858 who has a father named Edward Dennis. [Not wanting to draw conclusions but James Dennis was now around 82 years old…]. Victoria Riley Dennis died in 1866.
But, there is one more birth before James Dennis dies on 2 August 1860… Amelia Emily Dennis is born on 16 July 1860. Her marriage record names her father as James Denny (a variation of Dennis commonly used in the family and also found on a number of documents).
When James Dennis died in 1860 their two eldest daughters, Anne Elizabeth and Charity Grace are already married. Ann Elizabeth and James Chinnock have two children, and Charity Grace and William King have two of their 14 or so children. Not long after James’s death two more of his and Elizabeth’s children marry – Mary Ann marries David William Whyms in 1861, and eldest child John James Dennis marries Elizabeth Whyms, sister of David William in 1862. Mary Anne dies in 1875 leaving numerous children and John James dies in 1873 with four children fatherless.
James and Elizabeth provide for their daughters
In early 1850 James Dennis and Elizabeth Spinks had one son and three daughters aged between 12 and four years. James was over 70 years old. James and Elizabeth were not married and wanted to provide for their daughter’s futures by purchasing some land. Given that James was 54 years older than Elizabeth and that he would most likely pre-decease her it was a certain way to ensure that their intent to provide for their daughters would be achieved. If the land was solely in Elizabeth’s name a future husband could take control of the land.
The sale of the Curramore Estate at Jamberoo took place in January 1850.8 In May of that year James Dennis finalised the purchase of two lots (32 & 33) of the Curramore Estate in the name of Elizabeth Spinks for the price of fifty five pounds ten shillings, ’the said James Dinnis being indebted to the said Elizabeth Spinks in a larger sum of money for past services’. The land is ‘for the use of Elizabeth Spinks and her heirs upon trust for the three children of Elizabeth Spinks namely Ann Elizabeth Spinks, Grace Spinks and Mary Ann Spinks (commonly called Ann Elizabeth Dinnis, Grace Dinnis and Mary Ann Dinnis) their heirs and assigns as tenants in common’. The indenture further details provision for partition into four equal parts being one each for Elizabeth Spinks and her three named daughters.9
The plan below shows the way in which the land was partitioned:
Each of the three daughters – Ann Elizabeth, Charity Grace and Mary Ann married whilst still living at Fairy Meadow and all had their first few children there. They then moved to their respective farms at Jamberoo with their husbands and young families. Until 1860 Elizabeth’s brother Edward Spinks owned and farmed his land adjoining the farms of the daughters. The farms remained with the daughters for their lifetimes and when eventually sold the proceeds were distributed to the daughter’s children. Thus the intent of James Dennis and Elizabeth Spinks to provide for their daughters was fulfilled and also financially helped their grandchildren.
How James Dennis acquired the 55 pounds and ten shillings purchase price and why his son John James Dennis was excluded from the Jamberoo land takes us back to the purchases of land at Fairy Meadow that James made with Henry Angel in 1834. The particulars of the sale do not make it clear if James Dennis and Henry Angel were joint tenants or tenants in common. When the land was eventually sold on by the Angel family one of the documents dated 1891 (PA 9222) includes a declaration by Edward Harrigan that James Dennis was dead which suggests Angel and Dennis were joint tenants and that the land became the property of Henry Angel as James Dennis was dead. However James Dennis had died in 1860 and Henry Angel did not take possession then. Elizabeth Spinks had remained on the property until her death in 1867 and her son with James Dennis, John James Dennis, remained at Fairy Meadow until at least 1871.
In 1844 Henry Angel had moved with his family to what was to become the Hay district and by 1850 was more than comfortable financially. He was also a purchaser at the Curramore Estate sale in 1850. If he and James Dennis were joint tenants of the land at Fairy Meadow then perhaps an agreement was made for Elizabeth Spinks and John James Dennis to remain on the Fairy Meadow land for the term of their lives. Henry Angel had made a similar agreement allowing his sister in law Elizabeth Revill (nee Brooker) the use of 10 acres of portion 98 of the Fairy Meadow land for the term of her life.10
Elizabeth Spinks in the media
Mentions of Elizabeth in the press are rare. The first instance found is when she is mentioned in an inquest into the death of a neighbour’s son in 1859. The newspaper description of the inquest describes the incident. The young boy was John Smithers,11 aged four years, who had been playing in Mrs Denny’s (Elizabeth Spinks) barn paddock with other children when he fell down holding his head. His mother, Mrs Martha Smithers, was at Mrs Denny’s conversing with Grace Denny (Charity Grace Dennis) when she heard her son screaming in an adjoining paddock. Another neighbour, Mrs Mary Ann Bate, who had been nearby in Mrs Lowe’s paddock, was summoned and helped Mrs Smithers take her convulsing son home. Dr Lambert was called but the child died before the doctor arrived. The inquest found that the cause of death was ‘from a great quantity of blood induced by violent exercise under a burning sun, with head uncovered, and the stomach at the time being filled with undigested food’.12
At first glance it might seem that Mrs Denny and her daughter Grace would have been the ones to rush to help Mrs Martha Smithers with her ailing son. But Mrs Mary Ann Bate was in close proximity and she was more than just a neighbour, having travelled on the same boat to Australia with Samuel and Martha Smithers.13
James Dennis’s death
James Dennis died on the 2 August 1860 at Fairy Meadow. After James’s death, Elizabeth has entered into a relationship with Eleazar King, elder brother of her son-in-law William King. Eleazar King had been previously married to a Mary Flanagan who ended up in an asylum and at the same time he proceeded to jail.
Eleazar King was not reported in the press to be of high character. The incident which put his wife in an asylum was described in The Sydney Morning Herald:14
This was the same year that his brother William had married Elizabeth Spinks’ daughter Charity Grace Dennis.
Eleazar’s wife Mary Flanagan died in 1859. It is not clear who brought up their children Edmund and Joseph but they were around when their father died. Eleazar King and Elizabeth Spinks had a child in 1865 who they named Eleazar.
Elizabeth’s death
On the 22 January 1867 Elizabeth Spinks died at Fairy Meadow of phthisis (tuberculosis). There were no newspaper notices about Elizabeth’s death or funeral. It was probably not necessary as her lifelong friends and most of her family still lived at Fairy Meadow or Jamberoo. Her brother James and sister Sarah were at Jamberoo and her brother Edward was at Bulli. Only Elizabeth’s brother Robert (who was married to Elizabeth Harrigan, daughter of her neighbour Edward Harrigan) was further afield at Ulladulla. Elizabeth was buried in the Wesleyan/Presbyterian section of Wollongong Cemetery. Her grave is unmarked.
When Elizabeth died she left two very young children – Amelia Emily Dennis aged six years and Eleazar King junior aged 18 months. Who raised those two children? Although Eleazar King senior was not a model husband or father he may have mended his ways in order stay on the land Elizabeth had purchased at Bulli Mountain for their son. He is recorded as being there in an 1880 list of pupils which names him as the guardian of the Fritz children (he had married widow Elizabetha Mary Fritz in 1875). Presumably Eleazar junior was with him. Amelia probably stayed in Fairy Meadow with neighbor Edward Harrigan and his second wife Jane Wood. Their daughter Alice Clara Harrigan was close in age to Amelia and they later married brothers Cunningham and John Caldwell in the 1880s. When Amelia married in 1881 she gave her occupation as ‘help to Mrs Harrigan’.
Elizabeth Spinks’ Will
For a woman never married and with numerous children Elizabeth amassed a considerable amount of money and property. Her will was written on 15 September 1866. Executors were Samuel Chambers and her next door neighbour Edward Harrigan.
Her assets included:
A farm situated at Jamberoo. The profits of rents for the benefit of Amelia Emily Dennis until she reaches 21 years and then the farm to Amelia.
A cottage and allotment of land in Crown Street, Wollongong (in the occupation of Joseph Burrell).15 Rents and profits after repairs to for the use and benefit of Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior until they reach the age of 21 years. To be sold within five years of Elizabeth’s demise if necessary with any money arising for the benefit and education of Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior. If not sold the cottage and allotment to Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior and tenants in common when they reach their respective ages of 21 years.
To her three married daughters, Ann Elizabeth Chinnock, Charity Grace King, Mary Ann Whyms 20 pounds each.
To her son John James Dennis twenty pounds. To her grandson John King 20 pounds on attaining 21 years.
Two hundred pounds in trust to apply the interest and profits for the benefit and education of Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior until they reach the age of 21 years at which time they shall receive 100 pounds each.
A portion of 80 acres of land situate at the Bulli Range selected by Eleazar King senior for his son Eleazar King junior. Twenty pounds already paid to the government with the executors to pay the balance when due or before if expedient. Eleazar King permitted to reside on this land until Eleazar King junior comes of age.
Ninety pounds to Eleazar King senior to be paid over three consective years after her death.
Allotment of land situate in Barilla Street Wollongong to be sold to pay for clearing and burning off wood on the Bulli range land.* Eleazar King to supply evidence to the trustees of clearing [Seems Elizabeth did not trust Eleazar senior…].
Eleazar King to choose seven cows from among her cattle and have the mare ‘Betsey’ for his own use and to take what furniture he might want.
Remainder of money and interest accruing to be used for the benefit of Amelia Emily Dennis and Eleazar King junior.
*This allotment was sold in late 1866 after the will was written.
Under instructions from the trustees an advertisement for an auction to sell the possessions of Elizabeth Spinks was placed by the auctioneer John Biggar in the Illawarra Mercury on 5 February 1867.16 The auction was to proceed the following day at the premises, described as ‘near the Church of England School, at Fairy Meadow’. The Church of England School was located on the adjoining property of Edward Harrigan.17 It appears that most of the items were not sold and another advertisement appeared ten days later with auctioneer Biggar this time acting on instructions from Mr E King.18
So that was the end of Elizabeth’s life. We don’t know what she looked but she was probably dark haired and tall, her brother Edward was reputed to have been the tallest man in the Illawarra at 6’ 6”. Elizabeth was undoubtedly intelligent, caring and responsible, demonstrated by the capable way she managed her own assets, and in the meticulous manner in which ensured her family were provided for.
1. ↑ Organ, Michael & Doyle, Peter & Illawarra Family History Group (1987). Illawarra residents 1828 & 1841. Illawarra residents 1828 : extracted from the census of New South Wales November 1828 & Index 1841 Census of the Illawarra (2nd ed). Illawarra Family History Group, Wollongong [N.S.W.]. Thirty six of the 77 females were girls under 12 years
2. ↑ Kentisbury Parish Records DFHS. Supplied by Helena Woorich.
3. ↑ Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
4. ↑ One daughter, Betsy, did eventually come to Australia in 1853 with her husband and children and settled in Goulburn. It is not known if she made contact with her father or half-siblings.
5. ↑ Parish register, Combe Martin Church, Devon, England.
6. ↑ Home Office: Criminal Registers, Middlesex and Home Office: Criminal Registers, England and Wales; Class: HO 27; Piece: 15; Page: 102.
7. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary’s Papers, 1788-1856, Series: NRS 937; Reel or Fiche Numbers: Reels 6004-6016.
8. ↑ Brownrigg, W. Meadows. Plan of the Curramore Estate, Jamberoo, Illawarra [cartographic material] : as subdivided into allotments to be sold by Mort on the 11th January 1850 / W. Meadows Brownrigg Surveyor 1850 <https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230002482>
9. ↑ NSW Land Registry Services. Book 18 No.807, 31 May 1850 Thomas Taylor to Elizabeth Spinks.
10. ↑ NSW Land Registry Services Book 193 No. 242 Henry Angel to Elizabeth Revill.
11. ↑ John Smithers was the son of Samuel and Martha Smithers of Stoke Dameral, Devon, England. Samuel and Martha also lost two other children as infants, Richard in 1859 and Selina in 1863. NSW BDM Death index 5845/1958, 6413/1863. They named another son born in 1864 John W Smithers. NSW BSM Birth index 16439/1864.
12. ↑ “COURT OF PETTY SESSIONS.” Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 – 1950) 14 April 1859: 2. Web. 29 Apr 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132224432>.
13. ↑ William and Mary Ann Bate aged 25 and 24 travelled to Australia on the ‘Malvina Vidal’ in 1853. William was a sawyer and both he and Mary Ann were from Plymouth. Both could read and write. Also on the ‘Malvina Vidal’ were Samuel and Martha Smithers aged 27 and 26 with two children, Samuel and Mary. Samuel was a carpenter and both he and Martha could read and write. State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood New South Wales, Australia; Persons on bounty ships to Sydney, Newcastle, and Moreton Bay (Board’s Immigrant Lists); Series: 5317; Reel: 2465; Item: [4/4934]
14. ↑> “CAMPBELLTOWN.” The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954) 14 December 1858: 5. Web. 30 Jun 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13017327>.
15. ↑ A James Burrell of Crown Street, Wollongong, advertised for apprentice painters in 1864. “Advertising” Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 – 1950) 12 July 1864: 3. Web. 16 Feb 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136379673>.
16. ↑ “Advertising” Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 – 1950) 5 February 1867: 3. Web. 15 Mar 2021 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135813274>.
17. ↑ James Dennis and Henry Angel were joint owners of portions 95 and 98 in the Parish of Woonona, County of Camden, purchased in 1834. Edward Harrigan was the grantee of portion 99, adjacent to portion 98 on the western side.
18. ↑ 1867 ‘Advertising’, Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 – 1950), 15 February, p. 3. , viewed 15 Mar 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135810203
The Families Spinks John Spinks was sentenced to death for burglary at the Suffolk Assizes in 1813. His sentence was commuted to transportation for life and he arrived in Sydney on 7 February 1814. John started a relationship with a fellow convict Ann Riley (nee Carne) within a few years of his arrival. Ann had been sentenced to seven years transportation for larceny and arrived in 1810 per Canada(2). John Spinks and Ann Riley had six children between 1817 and 1827, probably all born at Airds: - James – 1817-1884 - Edward – 1818-1880 - Elizabeth – 1820-1867 - Robert – 1823-1908 - John – 1824-? - Sarah – 1827-1900 John and Ann married in 1824 at St Peter’s Church of England, Campbelltown and by 1828 the family were residing in the Illawarra. Ann died at Fairy Meadow in 1836. Brooker/Harrigan Jonathon Brooker was given a seven year sentence for stealing glue and arrived on the third fleet convict transport the Atlantic in 1791. Also arriving on the third fleet was Teague Harrigan who also had a seven year sentence and travelled on the Salamander. Both men were sent to Norfolk Island where a young female convict, Mary Wade, who had been sent to Norfolk Island in 1790 in August 1790. Mary had been sentenced to death which was commuted to transportation for life and had arrived in Sydney on the Lady Juliana in June 1790. Both Jonathon and Teague fathered children with Mary Wade. Initially Jonathon Brooker and Mary were at Windsor and then at Airds before moving permanently to the Illawarra in the 1820s with their younger children John, Mary and James Brooker. Also with them was Edward Harrigan, Mary Wade’s son by Teague Harrigan. Jonathon Brooker had been promised 60 acres of land in 1811 which was the land they moved to at Fairy Meadow. This was portion 100 in the County of Camden. Edward Harrigan was also a promised a grant of 50 acres which adjoined the Brooker land at Fairy Meadow.
At the time of the 1828 Census: James Dennis was a tenant farmer in the Illawarra on 50 acres with ten acres cleared and cultivated. The census does not define where these 50 acres were but it was almost certainly the land at Fairy Meadow that he was eventually able to gain title to in 1834. John Spinks was a tenant farmer in the Illawarra on 19 acres with four acres cleared and cultivated. The location of this land has not been clarified. John Spinks was at Stony Creek Jamberoo in 1841. The available evidence suggests that he was initially at Fairy Meadow and settled at Jamberoo at some time between 1836 and 1841. Jonathon Brooker is listed as a carpenter in the Illawarra on 50 acres with 50 acres cleared and 12 acres cultivated. Henry Angel was spending time at Liverpool Barracks due to his connection with a cattle thief. His ticket of leave had also been cancelled. At the time of the 1841 Census James Dennis was the owner/occupier of a wooden dwelling at Fairy Meadow. Living with James were Elizabeth Spinks and their two children John James and Ann Elizabeth. There were also two unmarried people in the household, both aged 14-21 years who were probably Elizabeth’s younger sister Sarah, and one of her brothers, either Robert or John. The single male was employed in agriculture. All except James were born in the colony and all identified as Church of England. John Spinks is living at Stony Creek, Jamberoo and is a tenant in a completed wooden house. There are six residents. John Spinks is the male 45-60, single and the proprietor. There are two married males born in the colony aged 21-45, and two married females who arrived free aged 14-21. The married couples were almost certainly John Spinks’s sons James and his wife Louisa Clark Fredericks, and Edward and his wife Agnes Henry. The sixth person, a single male 14-21 would have been one of John’s younger sons, Robert or John. Henry Angel is living in a completed wooden house at Fairy Meadow which he owned. Henry’s farm was next to James Dennis on the eastern side. There were eight persons in total – Henry, his wife Mary (Brooker), their four children and two males employed in agriculture. The two males were single, aged between 45 and 60 years, one was free and one holding a ticket of leave. One of the single men was Catholic and the other Church of England. James Brooker was the owner/occupier of a completed wooden house. The only other occupant was his mother Mary Wade. James also owned three other inhabited dwellings: • Completed wooden dwelling inhabited by James Robinson and ten others. Nine had arrived free and were Wesleyan Methodist. • Completed wooden dwelling inhabited by Henry Doncaster and two other single men. • Completed wooden dwelling inhabited by George Organ, his wife and two children, and one male 21-45 employed in agriculture. All were Church of England. Edward Harrigan was the owner/occupier of a completed wooden house. The other occupants were his wife Mary Ann Webber and their children Mary Ann, Elizabeth and James Edward. All were Church of England. Edward also owned three other dwellings: • Completed wooden dwelling occupied by Thomas Tanner and two others. All were Church of England, one male and one female had arrived free and another male held a ticket of leave. • Completed wooden dwelling occupied by Thomas Nash. Nash was 21-45 years old, single, Church of England, employed in agriculture and described as ‘other free person’. • Completed wooden dwelling occupied by John Smith, a single male aged 21-45 working in agriculture. John was Church of England and his status was ‘other free person’.
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