THE IRISH CONNECTION
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INTRODUCTION:
In the process of putting together the Knott and Witt Family Stories it is only natural that the family of Honorah Knott, wife of George James Knott, needed to be put together to finalise that part of our family. As a child I was always told we had Irish ancestry and all through this I could not find the connection. This document then makes up the final corner of the family for the Witt and associated families in Western Australia.
It wasn’t until Catherine Medley stumbled on Honorah’s birth details that the final part of this jigsaw was put together.
This part of our family starts in County Cork and England and reaches back to 1854 when they arrived in South Australia. It starts with John Edmonds and Hanora Tobin.
John Edmonds :
John was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire England around 1826. Details are a bit sketchy and it is quite possible he was born out of wedlock as we cannot find any details of a father in English records. In the descendant chart below, Johns mother Elizabeth married Peter Moore, but no father is shown.
• Thomas Edmonds b c1736 m Elizabeth Cooke o Thomas Edmonds b c1767 d c1836 m Ann Verney Mary Edmonds b c1797 d 1797 Mary Edmonds b 1804 Elizabeth Edmonds b 1808 Buckinghamshire England d 1896 m Peter Moore John 'Edmonds' (sic) b 1826 Buckinghamshire England d 1909 m Honora Tobin Thomas Edward Edmonds b c1856 m Sarah Ann Fry Ada Florence Edmonds b 1883 Jerry’s Flat, South Australia Edith May Edmonds b 1885 Woodside, South Australia Estella Harriet Edmonds b 1893 Forest Range, South Australia Elsie Catherine Grace Edmonds b 1897 Mt Pleasant, South Australia
You will notice that the above chart does not list Hanorah Edmonds or Johanna Edmonds. The reason for this is because no-one had ever been able to link Honorah to John Edmonds apart from his name on her wedding registration in 1882. This chart is from England. You must appreciate Edmonds is a relatively common name.
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I have searched through the Ships List online and the only John Edmonds I can find left England in March 1854 and arrived in Victoria in July 1854. This does fit our family timeline. I can only assume if I have the right John Edmonds, that he travelled across to South Australia very soon after.
Further research into his English heritage would provide further evidence to support this.
Hanora Tobin: Hanora was born in County Cork, Ireland around 1826 to the best of my knowledge. We know Hanora arrived in Port Adelaide, South Australia on 3 rd May 1854 and the only discrepancy is her age is listed as 33. This would have made her born in 1821 but I cannot verify anyone close to that date and have stuck with the age of 28 as it matches her age when she died. To further complicate the matter, she lists her age as 32 on daughter Honorah’s birth entry in 1861, which would have meant she was born in 1829.
In records her name is spelt in several different ways (Hanora, Hanorah, and Honora) typical of the times when many people were either illiterate or of little education and recording was in the hands of the person making the entry. For the sake of this story I have used the name on her Wedding Certificate. She was known by the shortened name Nora.
She arrived at Port Adelaide on the 3 rd May 1854 on the Taymouth Castle, a ship of 680 tons. The ship, skippered by Captain Adam Logan, had left Plymouth, England on the 7 th Feb 1854 so the journey took 86 days.
The journey was the eighth government ship for 1854 to arrive with assisted passengers for the fledgling South Australian colony. There were 6 births and 1 death on the journey, a very satisfying result for the time I would imagine. On the ships manifest Hanora listed her occupation as servant.
. . . so that the total number of souls on arriving was five more than the period of departure from England. We have learned with great pleasure that there has been much harmony during the voyage, and that the emigrants, who appear to be in high spirits, speak very warmly in praise of the Surgeon Superintendent, as also of Captain Logan, his officers, and crew. The Weather is said to have been extremely favourable during the voyage. The Emigrants are chiefly from England, and their healthful condition is highly satisfactory. Source the Ships List.
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Marriage and Children of John Edmonds and Hanora Tobin
They married at Gumeracha, in the Adelaide Hills on the 29 th April 1855. Information from this period is very scant and little can be ascertained from records.
Their first son, Thomas Edward Edmonds, was born on the south coast and the birth registered at Victor Harbor. Thomas was born on the 28 th April 1856.
Their second child born Johanna was born at Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills on the 15 th December 1857. Sadly Johanna passed away at Cudlee Creek on 11 th October 1860 when she was a couple of months shy of her 3 rd Birthday.
Their third and last child was Honorah , born in East Melbourne, Victoria on 29 th August 1861. Whilst there was no second name on the birth certificate, she does tag Elizabeth on the birth registrations of her children later in life. This name was her Grandmothers name on her father’s side of the family so this link is very feasible.
The birth details of Honorah proved to be the key to solving a total dead end. Catherine Medley had a copy of Honorah’s death certificate stating her birthplace as East Melbourne. Years of looking and many hours trolling all regular genealogy sources could not locate Honorah.
Cath had looked at John Edmond/Hanora Tobin link but could never prove or tie in the link. I revisited this scenario and sent an email say that the links seemed really strong, we just needed to prove it somehow.
This led to Cath doing a wild card search on Ancestry and she found a Honorah Edwards, born in Victoria. She sent the information back to me; I promptly went to Victoria Births, Deaths and Marriages, found the details and purchased a birth extract. Like magic everything fell into place and a great family puzzle was solved.
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BELOW: Extract Copy of John Edmonds and Hanora Tobin Wedding at Gumeracha, SA in 1855.
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How long they stayed in Victoria is unknown at this stage and why they went there is also unknown. It seems strange that they called themsleves Edwards on the Victorian records. It could simply be mistaken hearing by the registrar entering the name or they had changed their name for other reasons. We will never know why. It obviously could not have been too serious as Hanora recorded her maiden name on the birth entry.
They lived at Currency Creek on their return from Victoria, an area north of Goolwa on the south coast near the Murray Mouth. There were Edmonds also settled in the area and they may have been related. There is a story which I will relate later in this document from the time we know they did live in the area. Whilst I am not able to determine the years, Honorah Edmonds did regale stories of their time there.
John and Hanora (Nora) later settled at Forest Range, an area only a few kilometres east of Basket Range. I am not entirley sure what they did as an occupation as details are scant and it was only a small family with two children.
Hanora died on Boxing Day 1894. A copy of her death notices below indicate her last days were obviously not as wonderful as they could have been.
Dropsy is now known today as oedema and is an accumulation of fluid which can occur in many parts of the body. It is highly likely Nora’s last days were very unpleasant as her heart would have struggled with the fluid build-up until it would have given way with the strain.
John Edmonds passed away 15 January 1909 at Forest Range when he was 83 years old. Sadly I couldn’t find any more information on John and the search needs to continue.
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The Two Living Children of John and Nora:
Thomas Edward Edmonds:
Thomas, the brother of Honorah Knott, was born at Victor Harbor, South Australia on 28 th April 1856. He married Sarah Ann Fry at her father, Mr John Brock Fry’s residence, at Jerry’s Flat (now known as Lenswood) on 26 th October 1882.
Sarah Ann was born at Stony Creek, Lenswood South Australia. Sarah’s mother, Harriet Brown had arrived in South Australia as an 8 year old in 1840, so they were very much an original South Australian family. This was only 4 years after the settlement of SA. In an article about Harriet when she died in 1917, at the age of 86, it states there were only 6 permanent houses in Adelaide, one shop and not a lot else (in the area we now know as the City block) at the time of her arrival. Bread was very expensive and they collected water from the River Torrens, something you would never do today as it is heavily polluted.
The photograph right, most likely taken around 1885 was provided by Jo Shaw of the Forest Range Heritage Group. Jo is related via his wife’s family, Sarah Ann Fry.
Thomas and Sarah had four girls in the marriage between 1883 and 1897.
On the 18 th August 1892 Thomas wrote to the Editor of the South Australian Register as Chairman of a meeting held on April 19 th in the Forest Range Hotel seeking a better daily mail service from Adelaide. He expressed his disappointment that they finished up with a morning service rather than an evening service they preferred and had petitioned for. Seems Government is no different than today.
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Thomas won contract work with the Onkaparinga District Council to repair roads at Forest range at 11s 6d per chain. A chain is equivalent to the length of 3 cricket pitches; therefore he was paid $1.16 per chain for the work.
There seems to have been some sort of illicit affair in the marriage as there was a child called Dorothea Edmonds Ellis born to Sarah and a William Nankervis on 14 th July 1899. Dorothea tragically died aged 14 months on 20 th September 1900.
This seems to have fractured the marriage as Sarah was living with at Grange, South Australia in 1917. Thomas went on to live at Renmark in the Riverland and died later at Moonta. The article right from the Murray Pioneer and Australian River Record from 2 Apr 1942 shows Tom must have had a good sense of humour.
By 1945 he was living at Highgate in the suburbs of Adelaide.
On the 28 th December 1945 the Governor of South Australia, Sir Willoughby Norrie and the Mayor of Glenelg held a special luncheon as a tribute to the pioneers of South Australia in the Glenelg Town Hall. Thomas was one of the special guests, in recognition of his very early birth in South Australia’s history.
Sarah Ann died aged 77 on 24 th January 1940 and is buried at Mitcham Cemetery in Adelaide. Thomas Edward died at Moonta at the grand old age of 91 on the 27 th May 1947 and is buried in the Moonta Cemetery, South Australia.
Children of Thomas Edward and Sarah Ann:
Ada Florence – born 18 th August 1883. Ada died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in SA on 2nd April 1961 aged 77. Ada never married; she had a son out of wedlock in 1908. Newspaper records of a court case reveal she got pregnant whilst working as a servant for a Charles Hall, shopkeeper, at Magill SA. Ada’s grandmother, Harriet Fry was also involved in the court action. Ada is buried at Mitcham Cemetery with her mother and sister Edith.
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This beautiful photograph is also courtesy of Jo Shaw. This one is of Estella and Elsie Edmonds.
Estella Harriet – was born 20 th August 1893 at Lenswood. Estella married Wilfred Russel Taylor in Port Adelaide in 1923. They had two boys and she died aged 74 on the 12 th February 1968 in Adelaide, South Australia. Wilfred seems to be quite a character with articles showing he lost his license for driving under the influence of alcohol, charged for carrying passengers in the Riverland and other misdemeanours. Their children Brian and Norman both lived their final years in the Adelaide Hills.
Edith May – was born in Lenswood on 19 th April 1895. She never married and died aged 63 on the 29 th August 1958. She worked as a servant for 24 years for Henry Rymill, who was very well known as a Scout Leader, Commodore of the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron held a senior position in General Motors Holden and other senior positions in companies in Adelaide. Edith, who never married, was nursed by Mrs Rymill until she passed away from cancer. She is buried with her mother and sister Ada at Mitcham Cemetery.
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Elsie Catherine Grace – was born at Mt Pleasant, South Australia on 28 th February 1897. She married Charles Leonard James ’Jack’ Pinder in 1920. They had two boys. Elsie died aged only 57 on the 28 th January 1955. Elsie and Jack are both buried at the Mitcham Cemetery on Old Belair Road.
This is another photograph courtesy of Jo Shaw, Forest Range.
****** Honorah Elizabeth Edmonds:
Nora, as she was known in adult life, was born in a Melbourne Hospital at East Melbourne on the 29 th August 1861.
Above are copies of the left and right hand pages of Honorah’s birth entry.
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Apart from the family name of Edwards everything else matched and finally resolved the mystery of where and when exactly Honorah was born. South Australian Births, Deaths & Marriages listed on her death notice as born in East Melbourne, we could just never find the date.
Honorah’s Grand Daughter Mary McGuinness related to me several stories about her early life in South Australia. Mary said she lived at Currency Creek and she thought it was when she was first married. On researching her life I think this time was before she was married for the first time in 1882.
Whilst they were living at Currency Creek near Lake Alexandrina at the Murray mouth, the local Aboriginal families would trade fish for food and other items they needed. On one particular time the family needed wood cut so they asked the Aboriginal families to do this in trade for food etc.
Away they went and sometime later Honorah came back to find a magnificent woodpile stacked in a beautiful dome shape. She was so impressed and thought they had done a lot of hard work that she gave them extra items as part of the trade.
A bit later Honorah went to get some wood and when she took out a couple of pieces the whole pile collapsed as they had stacked it so the middle was totally hollow. The joke was on them and it was talked about for many years afterwards.
Marriage to William Hollow:
On the 15 th November, at the St Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Mt Barker, Honorah married William Hollow (age 25) from the nearby town of Woodside when she was 21. The ceremony was conducted by Father Thomas Lee at the Old Catholic Church on Daddow Road which was built in 1851 from local parishioner subscriptions. This church was demolished sometime around 1912, as a new one had been built closer to the main street of Mt Barker.
For our family it was history repeating itself when my son Bryan started attending St Francis De Sales College 130 years later in 2012. The college is in the same area as the original church. There was also a convent in the same location which closed many years ago and is now a private residence.
William was a miner from St Ives, Cornwall England and was born around July 1857. He was from a large family of 11 children and he was one of only 2 boys. I have been unable find when he came to South Australia but is seems it was around 1880. At the age of 13 he was listed in the 1871 English Census. His father was a Tin Miner, and whilst no occupation is listed against his name, I would imagine he was a Tin Miner as well. It is most probable he came out to Australia late 1870’s or the very early 1880’s.
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William and Nora lived the early part of their married lives in and around the Adelaide Hills as their first three children were born at Glen Osmond and Woodside.
Their first child, William John was born at Glen Osmond on 30 th December 1883. Around 17 months later on 18 th September 1885 their second child Jane was born at Woodside.
Gold mining activity was very active through the Adelaide Hills with gold being found at Forest Range, Glen Osmond and Jupiter’s Creek near Echunga. I found newspaper reports of large nuggets being found at Forest Range around 1882, one weighting 12 ounces and another 4 ounces. This would probably explain how William and Honorah met. Woodside was also only 6 kilometres from Forest Range and it was a larger town where supplies would have been purchased from.
In March 1886 I found court action where William and 7 other miners sued a Godfrey Egremont over some wages issues. The claim was bought to court by WH Charnock. The newspaper records are scant and little detail given. Whatever the outcome it obviously wasn’t beneficial to William because on the 15 th November 1888 he had his first hearing in the insolvency court at Woodside, SA.
On the 31 st August 1887 their third child, Elizabeth Nora was born in Woodside. Elizabeth’s life was very short and she died at the age of 14 months on the 16 th October 1888 and is buried at Woodside. What a terrible time it must have been for the family, first losing a child and then facing bankruptcy in the space of 4 weeks.
It was after this bankruptcy that William and Nora moved to Broken Hill for a few years. Again Mary McGuinness relates a story from her Grandmother about how the dust storms in Broken Hill used to hit town and they used to rush around shutting all the windows and the incessant dust used to seep into everything. Whilst they were in Broken Hill their fourth child Robert was born in March 1891.
Catherine Hollow:
I have also found Williams’ sister Catherine and her husband William Norman Ellis moved to South Australia, via Queensland, around late 1887, early 1888. They had arrived earlier in Rockhampton on the ship Scottish Hero on the 29 th January 1884. They arrived with two small children, Robert and William. A further three boys were born in Queensland between 1884 and 1887. Whilst they were in Queensland one of their sons died when he was less than a year old.
Catherine and her husband settled at Woodside and another 4 boys were born there. As William was a miner, I can only imagine he worked with his brother in law at some time. Sadly for the Hollow and Ellis families, Catherine was to die at the age of 39 on the 9 th January 1896. She died at the Adelaide Hospital. I have been unable to locate her burial site to this time. This was on top of the loss of their eldest son Robert Ellis at the age of 18. He died at Mount Torrens on the 29 th June 1895. William Ellis died at the age of 75 on the 14 th November 1927 at Kensington in South Australia.
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In September 1915 their son Thomas George Ellis enlisted in the 10 th Battalion, AIF and was sent to the Western Front in 1916. He must have had a rather tough time of the war as in 1917 he was sentenced to 5 years Penal Servitude with hard labour for desertion from the front. It seems he left his post and surrendered to the Military Police some 3 days later.
From his military records it seems he was either pardoned of maybe they were hard up for cannon fodder, either way in May 1918 he was pardoned and sent back to the front. From his records a very important link for the Edmonds/Hollow came about. The letter below, written by Estella Edmonds was further proof of the family links. I had been wondering if they ever had anything to do with each other. You must remember that whilst Estella and Thomas had no direct link, her cousin Robert Hollow and Thomas Ellis were first cousins. Maybe Thomas was her sweetheart, we will never know. Sadly Thomas must have never communicated his imprisonment to his family, as they wrote via the YMCA in February 1917 looking for information on his whereabouts. It seems he hadn’t made any contact since August 1916.
On the 10 th October 1918 Thomas George was killed in action and was buried at Heath Cemetery, Harbonnieres, France.
The poor bugger would have been better off staying in gaol.
Another interesting connection came from this information as well. A Gent by the name of Alfred Richard Saunders was living with William Ellis. His granddaughter, Ena Lorraine Saunders married Williams’s nephew, Clifford Lincoln Stewart. It is such a twisted family tree.
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Information from a fellow researcher Geoff Quinn also gives a strong reason why William took his family to Broken Hill after their troubles in Woodside. His Uncle, James Sandow Hollow had come to Moonta to work the mines and he then moved to Broken Hill. James Sandow Hollow died there in 1908. It therefor seems logical that he was in the area when they went there for work. Geoff Quinn’s Aunty, Marjory Quinn married Honorah’s Grandson William Thomas Hollow in 1948. Then blow me over with a feather, Geoff was a descendant of Kate Elizabeth Jennings Hollow, cousin to William Hollow.
By 1893 William and Nora had moved back to South Australia and William was working on the construction of the new Happy Valley Reservoir being built in the southern vales area of Adelaide.
This project included the construction of water pipeline tunnels under the Mt Lofty Ranges from the Onkaparinga River at Clarendon and it came out at the other side at Happy Valley. His mining skills would have been needed for this work. This tunnel was 3 metres in diameter and 5 kilometres in length and is considered one of Australia’s 'milestones in constructional challenges and advancement' by Heritage Australia.
At 7am on the 18 th November 1893 tragedy struck for Nora and her young family. William was buried in a tunnel collapse on the reservoir construction site and by the time they got him out he had died. It was apparent he was hit on the head by some timbers as they were preparing to set formwork for concreting.
He was working on the no 5 Inlet shaft at Clarendon when he was accidently killed.
This left Nora with 4 children, their youngest Child, Edith Mary Sandow, who was born only 6 weeks before at Happy Valley on the 6 th October 1893. I always wondered where the name Sandow came from. It is the maiden name of William’s paternal grandmother and was also shared by his Uncle James.
It is clear now that we know Nora’s family lived at Forest Range, that she most likely moved home or near to her parents so that she could look after her children aged between 10 years and 6 weeks. What a tough time she would have had in the days of no child support whatsoever. William may have been given a payout for his death of some form but I would imagine it wouldn’t have been very much money, if any.
Again I had wondered how she would have met her future husband George James Knott and as they now lived near to each other at the two range towns in the hills it becomes very logical how they met. The Hollow boys are listed as land owners on Blockers Rd at Basket Range around 1910.
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Marriage to George James Knott:
Nora and George married on 9 th September 1899 at the registry office in Adelaide. Nora was 38 and George 27. They lived at Basket Range from 1899 till 1917. Three children were born to this marriage, Doris Victoria, 11 th April 1900, Stella Alice May, 13 th September 1903 and George, 25 th September 1905. All three of these children attended the Basket Range School which had opened in 1885. I have covered their lives in the previous Knott Family Document so will not go over this again.
This photo courtesy of Shirley Cayless nee’ Styles, Perth WA is of Honorah and daughter Stella and was probably taken around 1916 going by the fashions they are wearing. Nora would have been around 55 at this time.
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In 1909 newspaper articles on Trove can be found where a person shot Nora’s cow. It must have been a malicious act as the shooter Frederick Rutzen wanted to apologise and pay for damages and costs. Nora stuck to her guns and proceeded with court action.
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George James proved to be a bit of a lad and was known to be a drinker if left to his own devices. A story from Lena Styles, his granddaughter in WA, goes that whenever he was sent off to market with produce Nora would send one of the children with him otherwise he would stop off at the pub on the way home and spend all the money.
When his son-in-law Fred Witt, daughter Doris and Grandson Eric Witt from WA visited George prior to his death in 1955, they found that George each day walked down to the local Hotel, bought a bottle of fortified wine, came back and went into his room. Here he stayed until it was gone then about 2pm each day he would appear and start to socialise with the world.
In January 1917 Nora and George moved to Burton Rd, Athelstone to a property of 17 ½ acres. It was here that they were to live the rest of their lives. The letter below, from Nora’s son Robert Hollow’s Army records, was written on 23 rd January 1917 advising the Army of their change of address details. Mary McGuinness can remember the property had a small home with the usual outside laundry and toilet facilities. She also remembers that it had a well and that they used to drop rockmelons and the like down in a hessian bag. Later they would pull them up and enjoy an icy cold treat of fresh fruit.
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This is a copy of the Death Certificate for Nora Knott courtesy of Catherine Medley, Mt Burr SA.
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Nora died on the 28 th August 1930 from Liver Cancer and Pyelitis, which is severe inflammation of the kidneys and pelvic area. She was also a diabetic and Diabetes Mellitus is the medical name for Sugar Diabetes listed on her death certificate. It would have been a painful end to a tough life for Nora. Nora is buried at West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide. They list her age as 67 but they would have had the same problem finding her birth details that we had 80 years later and she was actually 68.
George James lived until the 5 th July 1955 when he passed away at the grand age of 83 and he is also buried at West Terrace Cemetery. The Children of William Hollow and Honorah Edmonds :
Because the children of William and Honorah fell outside the Knott Family, I felt it only appropriate to fill in a bit of their life story, especially for the descendant families of George James Knott and Honorah Edmonds.
William John Hollow – was born at Glen Osmond, South Australia on 30 th December 1883. He married Teresa Stella Eglington at Swan Reach, on the Murray River, on 30 th July 1908. They were married in her father Roland Eglington’s house at Swan Reach. The Eglington’s were also originally from Forest Range in the Adelaide Hills. On the 13 th April 1915 Teresa was allocated a block of land, section 85, the Hundreds of Chesson at Mindarie in the Murray Mallee. This block was a small homestead size block of several acres to the northwest of the town site.
Prior to this the Hollow brothers owned Block 93 on Blockers Road at Basket Range. This information is listed in the book about Basket Range Settlers by Dr Geoffrey Bishop.
Mindarie was also where Friedrich Witt was allocated land in 1913 and he would go onto to marry Williams’s half-sister Doris Knott. Bill, as he was known and Teresa (Biddy) stayed in the area until at least 1949 working as a Stock Agent.
Their house is listed for sale by Tender by the State Bank of SA in May 1948. It is described as a 4 roomed stone and concrete residence.
Newspaper reports from June 1916 have Bill being part of the Mindarie Rifle Club. In this article are listed members of his wife’s family and Fred Witt, who was to become his future brother-in-law.
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Bill was an active participant in the local community and I found articles where he was the founding secretary of the Mindarie School in 1929 and was regularly MC for functions held in the local Hall.
Whilst they were farming and living at Mindarie they must have had some tough times as his nephew Bob Witt can remember his mother Doris telling the kids that Uncle Bill was not a good farmer, as he never had any money. If you visit the Mindarie area, it is marginal country, and very understandable they would have had tough times.
The photo of Bill and Stella (Biddie) Hollow is from around 1950 in Adelaide.
After Bill died in 1951 Biddy lived on the Paddle steamer Decoy owned by her son Bill at Renmark until the 1956 River Murray flood.
Bill and Teresa had four children in their marriage. Bill and Teresa retired to Brighton, South Australia. Bill died from cancer at the age of 67 on the 29 th April 1951. Teresa lived on until 1977 when she died at the age of 88. They are buried together at North Brighton Cemetery in Adelaide.
Children of William and Teresa:
Rose Kathleen (Rosie) – was born at Rose Park, South Australia on 6 th December 1909. She won an award at the Wanbi Show in 1921 when she was 11 for fancy writing. Rose married Errol Lionel ‘Jim’ Winton at Loxton on the 29 th May 1926 when she was 16. Their first child Dixie Olive was born 6 months later on the 1 st November 1926 and was registered at Burra. The photograph of Rosie is from 1925.
Records show that Jim and Rosie lived in the schoolhouse at Mindarie when their second daughter Heather Maxine was born in 1929 at the Loxton Hospital. Jim had been head teacher at Mindarie from around 1925 and was replaced by his brother in law Lance Hocking in 1929 when they built the new school. They had their last daughter Berna Kathleen who was born in 1931 at Gladstone when Jim was the Headmaster at Georgetown State School from 1932 to around 1938.
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They moved to Brighton Gardens, an Adelaide beachside suburb sometime around 1947 as all future family activity was in this area. Jim taught at Brighton and was a co-organiser of some very popular soap box derby’s in the late 1940’s.
Rosie then moved to Vinal Street, Dover Gardens for some time and spent her final years in Victor Harbor to be near daughter Heather and her family.
Rosie died in 1999 aged 90 and is buried at Smithfield Cemetery to the north of Adelaide. She had donated her body to science prior to her burial at Smithfield. I had contacted the cemeteries authority about Rosie but details given were vague. Errol died on 8 th August 1965, six weeks shy of his 63 rd birthday and is buried at West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide. Jim had also donated his body to science.
Olive Teresa – was born 17 th January 1912 at Mannum, South Australia. She married Lancelot James Hocking, from Moonta, at the Methodist Church in Pirie St, Adelaide on 22 nd August 1931. I have found records that Lancelot was the teacher at Mindarie, SA in 1929.
In the 1950’s they lived in Renmark for a while as Biddy, Olive’s mother went up there to live after the death of her husband Bill.
They had 3 children, Jim, Neil and Robert. Lancelot died 12 th May 1984 aged 75 and Olive Teresa died aged 86 on the 21 st August 1998. They had retired to Seacliff, a lovely beachside suburb of Adelaide. They were both cremated at Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena SA and are memorialised at North Brighton Cemetery in Adelaide.
William Robert ‘Bill or Willy’ –was born at Swan Reach, South Australia on the 14th April 1914.
From a letter his grandmother wrote to Doris Witt in WA in December 1928, Willy spent 8 months with her at Athlestone. From the tone of the letter it seems he may have been not well as Nora mentions the marked difference in his wellbeing. Ian Hollow, Bill’s son, thinks it was more to do with being able to get work as there was very little going on at Mindarie at the time.
Newspaper reports that Bill was share farming with Mr Shelton at Mindarie in 1938.
In 1939 both Bill and Jim went to Georgetown in the Mid North, working on farms I would imagine. Their sister Rosie was living there with her teacher husband Errol.
He married Valerie May Wilson in the Liverpool District of NSW in 1943 when he was serving in the Army. He left with
21 the Rank of Sergeant in September 1945. Bill and Valerie’s marriage produced 2 children, Ian and Maxine. They retired to Hove, another beautiful seaside suburb near Seacliffe, South Australia. Bill died aged 89 on the 8 th April 2004. Valerie died on the 13 th December 2009 aged 86. Bill and Valerie’s ashes were spread at Mindarie.
The Hollow children all had great long lives ranging from 86 to 94. They all moved to the southern suburbs of Adelaide and all finished up living quite close to each other in the latter parts of their lives.
The Mindarie Football Club Premiership team from 1937. Bill Hollow Jnr is 2 nd from right, Middle row.
James Leon ‘Jim’ born at Loxton on 8 th August 1916. Jim died on the 2 nd October 2002 at Point Pass, South Australian when he was 86 years old.
At the 1926 Mindarie Christmas Tree James was one of four students who were given awards for good work and regular attendance for the year. He was a good footballer in his younger days at Mindarie. In February 1938 Jim was helping his brother Bill remove a well casing on Shelton’s farm when it slipped and his hand was crushed between a clamp and the casing. It resulted in an emergency trip to the Loxton Hospital where they amputated his third finger on his right hand and he suffered a severely crushed thumb.
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He married Gweneth Smallacombe in 1944 and he was a farmhand in the Georgetown area in the Mid North of South Australia on and off for a few years.
He enlisted in the Army in 1940 and served in Syria, Tobruk, El Alamein and New Guinea. Jim was severely wounded in New Guinea in December 1943. He spent many months in hospital and was discharged with the rank of Sergeant in July 1944. They were all very tough campaigns so Jim must have been a man of strong moral fortitude.
Jim and his family lived on Goodwood Rd, Colonel Light Gardens in Adelaide for many years. They then moved to Kings Park for a while before moving to Point Pass, north of Eudunda, South Australia so Jim and Gweneth could be closer to their daughter. Gweneth died in 2004 aged 87. They only had the one child, Pamela Joy born in 1947.
Jim’s ashes were spread at Mindarie.
Jane Hollow:
Jane who was born at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills on the 18 th September 1885 and married Basket Range local, William Thomas Raymond. This was keeping it in the family so to speak as Bills mother was Mary Susannah Knott. This meant that Bill, who was George James Knott’s nephew, married George’s step daughter. Jane and Bill married in George and Nora Knott’s house at Basket Range on 3 rd March 1909.
Jane and Bill stayed in the Basket Range area all their lives. She worked as a midwife and delivered many babies all over the immediate area and was a very popular lady, known by many. Whenever there was a need for medical assistance in the local area, Jane was the person they called for.
Jane died relatively young at the age of 68 In the Uraidla Hospital on the 31 st July 1954. William went on to live another 8 years and passed away aged 77 on the 10 th April 1962. They are buried together at Norton Summit Cemetery.
The marriage produced six children between 1910 and 1930.
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Jane and William Raymond’s Grave at Norton Summit Cemetery. August 2012.
Winifred Jane – was born at Rose Park, SA on 1 st January 1910. She attended Basket Range School and trained as a dressmaker. Around 1940, when she was 30 years old, Winnie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her brother Roy became her fulltime care person. Winifred never married and died on the 19 th September 1964, aged 54. She is buried with her brother Roy at Norton Summit Cemetery in the Adelaide Hills.
Grave of Winifred & Roy, Norton Summit August 2012
Roy William - was born 5 th April 1911 at Basket Range, SA. Roy never married and died exactly one year after his beloved sister Winnie who had died at the same age. He was aged only 54 when he passed away on the 19 th November 1965 and he is buried with Winifred at Norton Summit Cemetery. His niece, Jan McGuigan informed me that the general consensus was that Roy died of a broken heart after Winnie died; such was his love for his sister who he had looked after for 24 years whilst she was ill. Roy was a very large man who was renowned for his strength. He could carry two large bags of bone dust for the market garden straight up the steep hillsides at the bottom of Raymond’s Road where they lived and worked.
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Mavis Pearl – was born 21 st July 1914 at Basket Range. She attended the Basket Range School and taught there for a while as well.
She married John William ‘Jack’ Hanretty, who was a Commercial Salesman for the South Australian Gas Company, at the Archer St, North Adelaide Methodist Church on the 7 th March 1947. They had one child, a daughter Janice in 1952. They spent their early married years in and around Nailsworth and Blair Athol before they purchased a house at 88 Kintore St, Kilburn where they lived for many years. It was during this time they purchased a shack at Christies Beach and eventually around 1978 they moved there to live in retirement.
The photograph right, supplied courtesy of Mavis’ daughter Janice, was taken on her wedding day in March 1947.
In the early 1990’s Jack got prostate cancer and he underwent treatment which enable him to live another 10 years. Sadly at the end he and Mavis were separated as he lived with Janice for a while and spent his last days in a nursing home in Prospect as Mavis was unable to care for him. Jack passed away aged 82 on the 3 rd October 2003 in Prospect, SA. Mavis passed away aged 92 on 21 st March 2007 at Christies Beach. She was cremated at Enfield Cemetery in Adelaide and they both have a memorial plaque at Norton Summit Cemetery.
The original home of Bill and Jane Raymond built at Raymond’s Road, Basket Range around 1937. This photograph was taken in March 2014.
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Robert John ‘Bob’ – was born at Stirling West on 2 nd December 1916. Bob married Doreen Eva Hockham at the Basket Range Methodist Church on 31st May 1941. They had two girls, Kay and Heather and two boys, Brian and John from their marriage. The photo right is of Bob and Doreen, courting at the Adelaide Show.
Bob joined the Australian Army at Aldgate in March 1941. After he completed his basic training he left the army and returned to his work as a market gardener. His son John said it was a standing joke that he was never actually formally discharged from the army. It is most likely he was returned to his job as a lot of agricultural jobs were reserved occupations during the war years.
Bob was a very good fast bowler in his youth and he played for the Basket Range club. He was selected to go down to Adelaide to play District Cricket but he didn’t get there. It must be assumed the War years must have interrupted his opportunity.
Bob was then struck down with polio in 1949, and then to top that off his two sons contracted it as well. Any brush with this terrible disease left people with some form of disability.
In January 1966 Bob and Doreen made the very difficult decision and moved from the Hills, where they had been farming as market gardeners and settled at Clearview in the inner northern suburbs of Adelaide. He spent the years up until his retirement working as a groundsman for the University of Adelaide.
Bob and Doreen lived at Clearview until 1990 and they then moved to Crestview Retirement Village at Hillcrest. Bob passed away aged 91 on the 20 th October 2008, having spent the last few weeks of his life at a Parafield Gardens nursing home. Bob was cremated at Enfield Memorial Cemetery.
Doreen spent her final years at Helping Hand, North Adelaide and passed away peacefully aged 97 on the 14 th March 2014. Doreen was cremated at the Enfield Memorial Cemetery.
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Great photograph from Lyn Pittaway of the Raymond’s. From Left we have Winifred Edie and Jane and Unknown lady with the dog. Help with this photograph would be greatly appreciated.
William Thomas - was born at Basket Range on the 16 th November 1920. Bill and his brother Bob both joined the Army on the same day, 3 rd March 1941. Bill married Majorie Jane Quinn of Broken Hill on the 27 th March 1948.
They lived at Basket Range all their married lives. He was an orchardist growing fruit, mainly cherries, rhubarb, flowers and other horticultural crops. Their son Harold describes the years as very hard and money was never easy to come by.
Bill worked for a while with his father on his orchard and later helped his Uncle, Roy Raymond work his block. Bill also worked for a time with the Bishop family, another very long term Adelaide Hills family.
They had two children June and Harold. Bill died aged 69 on the 23 rd March 1990. Majorie passed away aged 83 on the 14 th May 2006. Their daughter June passed away from cancer in 2005. Harold and his wife Cheryl have retired to Mount Barker after working many years for the Adelaide Hills Council.
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This is the wedding of William Raymond and Majorie Quinn in 1948.
This beautiful photograph of Jane Raymond nee’ Hollow and Hazel, her youngest daughter was supplied by Lyn Pittaway, Northam WA. Jane was Lyn’s Great Aunt. I would think this photograph would be from around 1953. 28
Hazel Mae Raymond – Hazel proved difficult to trace. She was born around 1930 and she married John Leonard (Len) McCullagh on the 3 rd December 1949. They had two children, Margaret and John. They lived for many years at 100 Kintore Avenue, Kilburn which was just up the road from her sister Mavis. They were living at Christies Beach in 1995. Len died on 5 th August 2007 and Hazel not long after on 29 th November 2007. Len was aged 87 and Hazel 78. It is known she kept contact with her cousin Doris Victoria Witt who lived at Reynella and later Strathalbyn, South Australia. Hazel also met her cousin Edna Starcevich, nee Witt in the 1990’s.
############################ Robert Archie Hollow: (Corporal)
Robert (Bob) was born at Broken Hill, NSW in March 1891.
A newspaper report from the SA Register on Thursday, 19 th March 1903 states that Robert spent the night in the Adelaide Hospital. He had sustained a scalp wound after the horse he was riding turned sharply and he fell off.
William and Robert Hollow at Mindarie, SA circa 1925.
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A classic family story we were told is of Robert being a bit of a practical joker. Whilst he was attending school (at Basket Range I would imagine) he had a particular dislike for his teacher. The story goes she was a very strict teacher. Robert in his wisdom decided he would set up a contraption in the toilet. It was a flat piece of board with and a spring and this was held back by a string to the outside. When his teacher went to toilet, he cut the string and the board smacked the lady on the bottom. Apparently she landed out in the play area with her knickers around her ankles, much to the mirth of all the students. I can only imagine the recriminations after the event.
Bob’s 4 th Grade Certificate that advises he has passed and is promoted to fifth grade for 1904 at the Basket Range School.
Bob joined the First Australian Infantry Force on 18 th May 1915 at the Keswick Barracks in Adelaide. He joined the 1 st Reinforcement 27 th Battalion and he listed his occupation as a labourer.
Robert was 5ft 10 inches tall and weighed 142 pounds when he joined. He proved to be a bit of a lad as he has many instances of being charged for being AWOL, drunk and for creating a disturbance in the street in late 1916. He had embarked from Australia on the 26 th August 1915 to go to Alexandrina, Egypt for training. He transferred to France and landed at Marseille on the 21 st March 1916. His record of being AWOL continued throughout his career in the army with many days pay forfeited.
His Battalion fought at Pozieres in July 1916, the Battle of Menin Road in March 1917 and finished the War at Villers-Bretonneux from around July 1918. 30
He was promoted to Lance Corporal on the 23 December 1916 in France. In February 1917 he was demoted back to Private for escaping from Hospital and going AWOL for two days in England.
He was wounded in action on 31 August 1918 and was invalided to England on 4 th September 1918 with a gunshot wound to the right buttock. The wounded in action turned out to be ‘Gassed’ by the terrible mustard gas used by the German Army and was to affect Robert badly for the rest of his short life.
In his time in hospital he complains about his chest, sweating and fatigue after short exertion. On the 31 st December 1918 his level of disability was classified as less than 40%. On the 24 th January 1919 he left England on the ship Delta for home.
At one stage Bob planned to go to Western Australia to visit his sister Doris and her family. My understanding is that he got to around Port Augusta on the train, took a turn for the worse and had to come back to Adelaide. Sadly it was a journey he never got to make as he passed away at the age of 34 on the 8 th September 1925 as a direct result of his WW1 gas wounds. He had been living at the Myrtle Bank Soldiers Home in Adelaide and is buried in the Commonwealth Graves Section of West Terrace Cemetery.
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This photograph is of the 27 th Battalion 3 Reinforcement which was Robert Hollows Infantry battalion when he joined the Army in May 1915. It has to be assumed he is in this photograph somewhere. Edith Mary Sandow Hollow:
Edith, born on 1 st October 1893 at Happy Valley, South Australia was a six week old baby when her father died in November 1893. Edith was known for her long Red hair.
She married Clifford Thomas Stewart who was born on the 16 th Jul 1890 in Hectorville, South Australia. They married at St Ignatius Church, Norwood SA on 21 st June 1919.
Edie, as she was known and Cliff had two children, Clifford and Charles whilst they were married. They separated sometime around the second war and Edith filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion on the 6 th September 1951. It was short lived and Edie and Cliff got back together and stayed this way for the rest of their lives.
The Styles family, which included Edith’s niece Lena, visited her in the early 1970’s and they remember her living in a tiny cottage in the Adelaide Hills at Basket Range. There she lived alone with a milking cow and garden in a very quiet picturesque setting. Edie had scones and tea made for them and a pleasant day was had.
Edith passed away at Basket Range in 1974 at the age of 81 and is buried at Norton Summit Cemetery. Clifford died on the 11 August 1970 aged 80. Members of Edie's family are still living in the area (2014).
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The flat area behind the tree and beside Sixth Creek on Merchants Road at Basket Range is the former site of Edie and Cliff’s house. This photograph was taken in March 2014.
Clifford Lincoln Corry: Their first son was born on the 13 th April 1920 and his birth registered at Norwood. Linc, as he was known joined the Army in WW2 and married Ena Lorraine Saunders of Mount Barker, SA on the 3 rd July 1942 at Semaphore, South Australia. The marriage was conducted by Reverend Curtis.
The marriage produced five boys and they suffered the grief of losing a son, Ian Robert, who was killed in an accident on the 2 nd June 1955. Ian is buried at Norton Summit Cemetery. Linc died in 2003 aged 81 and Ena died in 1992 when she was 71. Photograph was taken August 2012. Two of their sons still live in the area as of March 2014, Malcolm and Alan.
Charles Thomas: Was born in 1921 and again the birth was registered at Norwood.
I have found no record of Charles ever marrying and the only thing found was that his car was hit by a tram at Burnside in November 1945 and he was fined 4 quid for his troubles. Bad luck for Charles as it happened outside the Burnside Police Station and his car nearly hit a constable riding his bike into the station. There were 4 others in the car at the time and two of them finished up in hospital.
Charles died on the 11 th December 1980 the age of 59 in Adelaide and was cremated at Centennial Park Cemetery, Pasadena SA.
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Conclusion:
This closes the bulk research that I plan to do into our family. I will do further refining and clarification but the task is now largely done. I would welcome anyone tackling the English and Irish ends and still welcome the provision of information of each individual family in Australia to add to my tree. I personally thank all the people who have contributed in photographs, time, verbal and written contributions and please keep it coming.
I hope this gives as much pleasure to each of you who have read this as I got from digging into the past.
Graham Witt Mount Barker SA August 2012 Revised July 2013 Revised Mar 2014 Ph. (08) 8398 2889 Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
It is with many thanks to the following people for their valuable contribution.
Catherine Medley – Great Grand Daughter of George James Knott – Mt Burr SA Lyn Pittaway – Great Grand Daughter of Mary Susannah Knott – Northam WA Shirley Cayless nee Styles – Great Grand Daughter of George James Knott – Perth WA Trish Stone nee Styles – Great Grand Daughter of George James Knott – Scaddan WA Keith ‘Sandy’ Taylor – Great Grandson of Mary Susannah Knott and Great Nephew of William and Jane Raymond – Basket Range SA John Raymond – Grandson of William and Jane Raymond, son of Bob Raymond – Mission Beach QLD Harold Raymond - Grandson of William and Jane Raymond, son of Bill Raymond – Mt Barker SA Janice McGuigan nee Hanretty – Grand Daughter of Bill and Jane Raymond – Paralowie, SA Jo Shaw – descendant of the Fry Family – Forest Range SA Kathryn Dennis , nee Barnes – Great Granddaughter of William and Stella Hollow, Goolwa, SA
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