One of the oldest books belonging to Illawarra residents is the Dennis Family Bible. This small copy of the New Testament has remained in the same family almost continuously since the 1830s. The Bible is currently held privately and not available for viewing.
Physical description
The Bible measures approximately 18 cm x 7.5 cm.
It is covered in coarse linen or canvas cloth which has been hand stitched and repaired at least once. Several pages are sewn into the book with details of births and deaths of family members. It appears that there were more sewn in pages at some stage. When the Bible was first viewed by this author over 30 years ago the words ‘James Dennis his book’ were clearly legible but the book’s condition has deteriorated considerably and that phrase, along with other annotations on the original pages, have become very faint. There is also considerable foxing, bowing, worming and mould.
On one of the original pages there are two names ‘Watchmaker London James Berndale’ and ‘Dobson London’, both with numbers adjacent to them. James Berndale was a watchmaker in London 1, there were also a number of watchmakers named Dobson in London. Perhaps this entry in the Bible was James’ record of a watch he owned. It appears certain that someone in the Dennis household was in possession of a timepiece given the precise times of birth in some of the entries.
People named in this Bible
John Spink 1784-1859 – father of Elizabeth Spinks
Elizabeth Spinks 1820-1867
James Dennis 1776-1860 – partner of Elizabeth Spinks
Children of Elizabeth Spinks and James Dennis:
- John James Dennis 1837
- Ann Elizabeth Dennis 1839-1870
- Mary Ann Dennis 1841-1906
- Charity Grace Dennis 1845
- Louisa Jane Beatson Dennis 1853-1859
- Victoria Riley Dennis 1858-1866
- Amelia Emily Dennis 1860
Son of Elizabeth Spinks and Eleazor King:
- Eleazor King 1865-1934
Children of Ann Elizabeth Dennis and James Chinnock:
- Ann Elizabeth Chinnock 1856-1943
- Mary Jane Chinnock 1858-1933
- Eliza Grace Chinnock 1860-1869
- James Chinnock 1861-1949
- George Chinnock 1864-1935
- William Chinnock 1865-1935
- Margaret Chinnock 1867-1950
- Henry Chinnock 1870-1950
Daughter of Mary Ann Dennis and David William Whymes
- Grace Emelia Elizabeth Whyms 1861-1935
The Bible was probably passed down from Elizabeth Spinks 1820-1867 via:
- Daughter Ann Elizabeth Dennis 1839-1870
- Granddaughter Ann Elizabeth Chinnock 1856-1943
- Great granddaughter Nellie Muriel Parsons 1896-1950.
In the early 1970s the Bible was given to a local historian who then passed it on to a family member in the 1980s.
Who wrote the entries in the Bible?
There are a number distinct handwriting styles in the Bible. The earlier entries appear to be in the same hand, but whose hand? Elizabeth Spinks signed land transaction documents with an ‘x’ and the signature on her will appears to be that of the legal clerk and not Elizabeth herself. James Dennis, the owner of Bible could probably read and write but no certain example of his handwriting has been located. He could have written the earlier entries. Most of their near neighbours could not write. The only neighbours known to be nearby in the 1830s and early 1840s that could write were Mary Brooker (wife of Henry Angel) who lived on the next farm east, and Mary’s brother James Brooker who lived two farms west.
Of the children of James Dennis and Elizabeth Spinks only the eldest Ann Elizabeth signed her own name at marriage.2 It could be that it was Ann Elizabeth who wrote many of the entries, especially those relating to her own children. Another clue supporting this is the fact that her youngest child Henry Chinnock, whom she died giving birth to, has his entry in a different hand. Ann had distinctive capital letter formation on the A, E and D of her signature which matches a number of examples of those letters in the Bible.
Ann Elizabeth Dennis as a witness at the marriage of her uncle Robert Spinks and neighbour Elizabeth Harrigan 25 April 1854
Ann Elizabeth Dennis’s marriage register signature 8 April 1856
On the first fly leaf is the name ‘Anne’ which is different to the above Ann writing. It may be of her daughter Ann Elizabeth Chinnock.
John Spinks 1784-1859
John Spinks death entry 17 November 1859
John Spinks and his wife Ann Riley (nee Carne) were the parents of Elizabeth Spinks. John was born about 1781 and arrived in 1814 as a convict per General Hewitt with a life sentence for burglary. He was issued with a ticket of leave in 18193 and received a conditional pardon in 1832. John Spink married Ann Riley at Campbelltown in 1824.4 Ann was born in Stoke Damerel, Devon, England and came to Australia per Canada in 1810 with a sentence of seven years for larceny. The transport register for the Canada lists Ann as ‘Ann ux [wife of] John Riley’.5 Ann Carne had married John Riley on 3 September 1805 at Stoke Damerel.6
John and Ann Spinks were the parents of six children – James b. 1817, Edward b.1818, Elizabeth b.1820, Robert b.1823, John b.1824 and Sarah b.1827. In the 1822 Muster John Spink is listed as a landholder at Liverpool7 and in the 1828 Census as a tenant in the Illawarra with six children. John Spink died at the residence of his son Robert Spinks at Fairy Meadow on 17 November 1859.8
James Dennis 1776-1860
James Dennis death entry 2 August 1860
James Dennis was born about 1776 in Devon, England. He married Elizabeth Gubb on 17 February 1801 at Kentisbury, Devon, England. 9 James and Elizabeth Dennis had seven children between 1801 and 1816 – Susannah b.1801, John b.1805, Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ b.1806, James b.1810, Mary b.1812, Maria b.1813, and Anne b.1816.
On 16 March 1816 James Dennis was sentenced to life. He is described as a labourer aged 44 years. 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 also later become James’s neighbor at Fairy Meadow. Whilst Henry Angel travelled with Hume and Hovell on their 1824 expedition and other trips into the interior, James Dennis had been sent to the Illawarra as early as 1821 to cut copious amounts of cedar for Hume.10
In 1824 James petitioned Governor Brisbane to have his wife and seven children join him in Australia.11 This request was granted but the family did make the voyage.12 James’s wife Elizabeth had remarried on 15 August 1824 stating that she was a ‘supposed widow’.13
No records have been found of James Dennis being in any type of trouble during his early years in the colony, although he was a victim of plundering by bushrangers on 10 November 1828.14 For a convict sentenced to life he seemed to do exceptionally well. In 1834 he and Henry Angel were named as recipients of land purchases at Fairy Meadow. These were two adjoining blocks of fifty and sixty acres, being portions numbered 98 and 95 respectively in the County of Camden, parish of Woonona. James settled on the western boundary of the land adjoining the grant to Edward Harrigan with Henry Angel on the eastern side of James Dennis. It is likely that the money paid for this land was provided by Hamilton Hume.
It was on this land at Fairy Meadow that many of the births recorded in this Bible occurred. The births and deaths at Jamberoo were all at adjoining properties that James Dennis had purchased in Elizabeth Spinks’s name in 1850 for their three eldest daughters.15
Elizabeth Spinks 1820-1867
The entry for Elizabeth Spinks’s death appears on the same page as the death entries for John Spink and James Dennis
Elizabeth Spinks was born at Airds in 1820 but by 1841 her father was a tenant farmer at Jamberoo. She entered a relationship with James Dennis of Fairy Meadow in the mid 1830s. James was at least 44 years her senior but they remained as a couple until James’s death in 1860. Their first child John James Dennis was born in 1837. Three more children were born by 1845 and then after a gap of eight years some more children came along. James died just a few weeks after the youngest child Amelia Emily Dennis was born. Elizabeth went on to have another child in 1865 with Eleazar King, the brother of her son in law William King.
When Elizabeth Spinks died in 1867 at the age of 46 she left a detailed will. Her three eldest daughters were already living on the properties provided for them at Jamberoo. Elizabeth left cash bequests of twenty pound each to her older daughters, son John James and grandson John King. Income from other property would provide for her six year old daughter Amelia Emily Dennis and eighteen month old son Eleazar King. Eleazar King senior was given household goods, a horse, cash for three years and the right to live on land in trust for his son Eleazar.
John James Dennis 1837-1873
There are two birth entries for John James Dennis in the Bible.
John James Dennis was born at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on 7 May 1837. His father James Dennis was about 61 years of age and his mother Elizabeth Spinks was 16 years old, and not to turn 17 until August 1837.
John James Dennis is listed as a farmer of Fairy Meadow at the baptisms of his children and also at the time of his bankruptcy in 1868.16 John’s wife Elizabeth died in 1871 leaving John with five children aged from an infant to nine years old to care for.17
Ann Elizabeth Dennis 1839-1870
Ann Elizabeth Dennis birth entry
Ann Elizabeth Dennis, the eldest daughter of James Dennis and Elizabeth Spinks, was born 21 March 1839 at 3.30pm. Ann was baptised Ann Elizabeth Spinks on 5 May 1839 with no father named. Ann was married on 8 April 1856, just after her 17th birthday, to James Chinnock. James signed with an ‘x’ mark and Ann signed her name. Seven months later their first child Ann Elizabeth Chinnock was born on 6 November 1856. Seven more children followed – Mary Jane b.1858, Eliza Grace b.1860, James b.1861, George b.1864, William b.1865, Margaret b. 1868 and Henry b.1869. Ann Elizabeth died on 24 November 1870. The birth entry for her last child Henry Chinnock gives his birthdate as 24 November 1869 however his birth registration number[18] suggests a late 1870 birth and his mother was believed to have died in childbirth. This could indicate that the entry in the Bible was made a later date.
Deaths of Eliza Grace Chinnock 3 February 1869 and her mother Ann Elizabeth Chinnock (Dennis) 24 November 1870.
Some of later events relating to these children have entries in the Bible, and appear to have been written at a later date in a continuous list as on these facing pages:
Births of Eleazar King 11 June 1865, Ann Elizabeth Chinnock 6 November 1856, Mary Jane Chinnock 15 June 1858. Eleazor King was an uncle of the rest of the siblings on this and the following page. He was a half brother of their mother Ann Elizabeth Dennis (Chinnock).
Births of Eliza Grace Chinnock 26 February 1860, James Chinnock 28 December 1861, George Chinnock 2 December 1863, William Chinnock 30 October 1865, Margaret Chinnock 10 October 1867
Births of Grace Amelia Elizabeth Whyms 23 July 1861, Henry Chinnock 24 November 1869. Grace Amelia Elizabeth Whyms was the eldest daughter of Mary Ann Dennis and her husband David William Whyms thus a first cousin of the Chinnock children on the preceding pages.
The entries on these facing pages record the births of Victoria Riley Dennis 29 June 1858, Amelia Emily Dennis 16 July 1860 and Louisa Jane Dennis 31 July 1853. Also, Louisa’s death 4 February 1859. All were daughters of James Dennis and Elizabeth Spinks.
Charity Grace Dennis 1841-1906
Birth of Charity Grace Dennis 19 August 1841.
Charity Grace Dennis was born at Fairy Meadow on 19 August 1841, the third child of James Dennis and Elizabeth Spinks. When Charity Grace Dennis married William King in 1858 the witnesses were her father James Dennis and her husband’s brother Eleazor King.[19] Eleazor was later to become the partner of Charity’s mother Elizabeth Spinks. Charity Grace was generally known as Grace.
Grace and her husband William King’s first two children were born at Fairy Meadow with a further twelve born at Jamberoo. None of their children have entries in the Bible.
Mary Ann Dennis 1845-1875
Birth of Mary Ann Dennis 8 March 1845.
Mary Ann Dennis was born at Fairy Meadow on 8 March 1845. She married David William Whyms at Fairy Meadow on 26 June 1861. David was a brother of Mary Ann Whyms, who was to marry her brother John James Dennis the following year. Mary Ann’s surname was recorded as Dinnis and her mother Elizabeth Spinks gave consent for the marriage as Mary Ann was only 16 years and three months old. A month later, on 23 July 1861 Mary Ann gave birth to her first child, Grace Amelia Elizabeth Whyms, at Fairy Meadow. Two more children were born at Fairy Meadow and a further four at Jamberoo.
Other Images of the Bible
These are all low resolution images. Full high resolution copies available on request.
1. ↑ For an example of Berndale’s work see https://www.cogsandpieces.com/pocket-watch-0503/
2. ↑ Youngest daughter Amelia Emily Dennis was educated but the Bible had already passed down the family by the time she was an adult.
3. ↑ A replacement Ticket of Leave issued in 1830 allowed John Spink to remain in the Illawarra, altered from Bunbury Curran (Minto). State Archives NSW; Series: NRS 12202; Item: [4/4075]
4. ↑ NSW BDM index 3430/1824 V18243430 3B
5. ↑ Convict Transportation Registers; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO11); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England. Class: HO 11; Piece: 2
6. ↑ Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
7. ↑ Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO10, Pieces 5, 19-20, 32-51); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England. Class: HO 10; Piece: 36. John Spinks had been assigned to John Warby of Airds and was in still in his employ in August 1822 when he applied for mitigation of his sentence. Series: NRS 900; Reel or Fiche Numbers: Fiche 3163-3253
8. ↑ Family Notices (1859, November 24). Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong, NSW : 1856 – 1950), p. 2. Retrieved February 8, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132221552
9. ↑ Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
10. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary’s Papers, 1788-1856, Series: NRS 937; Reel or Fiche Numbers: Reels 6004-6016.
11. ↑ New South Wales Government. Special Bundles, 1794-1825. Series 898, Reels 6020-6040, 6070; Fiche 3260-3312. State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia. Series: NRS 898; Reel or Fiche Numbers: Reels 6020-6040, 6070; Fiche 3260-3312
12. ↑ 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.
13. ↑ Marriage register Combe Martin parish church. William Serwill, widower, and Elizabeth Dennis, supposed widow, 15 August 1824. Both signed with an ‘x’. Wiltnesses John Gubb (signed with an ‘x’) and William Clement.
14. ↑ James Lyllas, in a letter to the editor of The Australian mentioned that James Denny had been plundered. “BUSHRANGERS AND THE POLICE.” The Australian (Sydney, NSW : 1824 – 1848) 9 December 1828: 2. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36866216>.
15. ↑ NSW Land Registry Services Book 18 No.807. Indenture dated 31 May 1850
16. ↑ “IN INSOLVENCY.” New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) 21 April 1868: 1127. Web. 1 Jul 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225467002>.
17. ↑ What happened to the first born of these children, John James born in 1863 in uncertain. A sixth child, James, born in 1867 is not confirmed as a child of John James and Elizabeth Whyms.
18. ↑ NSW BDM index number 11186/1870
19. ↑ Marriage certificate of William King and Charity Grace Dennis. NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages 1858/002903
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