The Jameson Family in Australia–An Irish Heritage
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THE Jameson Family in Australia An Irish Heritage The Story of Hugh Jameson who travelled from Donegal, Ireland to Yea, Victoria where he established a Jameson dynasty By Barry W. Norton Great Grandson of Hugh Jameson First Edition 2011 The Jameson Family in Australia An Irish Heritage Copyright © Barry W. Norton National Library of Australia State Library of Queensland State Library of Victoria Murrindindi Shire Library, Yea, Victoria ISBN 978-0-646-56724-2 Includes Genealogy and Heraldry RRP $65 Published by B.W. Norton “Tamarind”, 3 Ted Street, Mt Glorious, Qld, Australia, 4520 This book is copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission of the Copyright owners. Printed by INKY’S Windsor, Queensland Australia This book is dedicated to my dear parents Mavis and Bill Norton who instilled in me a love and appreciation of family, by example, and through contact with the Jameson family who still have strong family bonds despite the passing years CONTENTS Page No. Preface…………………………………………………………………………………. 1 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………. 2 About the Author ……………………………………………………………………… 2 An Irish Heritage……………………………………………………………………... 3 The First Generation In Australia............................................................................... 11 Hugh Jameson…………………………………………………………………………. 11 Annie Catherine (Kate) Loftus and Family……………………...………………... 19 Michael Loftus………………………………………………………………………… 20 Catherine (Kate) Ryan and Family………………………………………………... 21 The Second Generation in Australia……………………………...…………………. 27 William Jameson……………………………………………………………………….. 29 Ettie Evelyn Hirst and Family……………………………………………………. 29 Hugh Jameson the Son…………………………………………………………………. 33 Michael Jameson……………………………………………………………………….. 35 Alma Mary Ottery and Family…………………………………………………..... 46 Andrew Jameson……………………………………………………………………...... 65 Dorothy Aanensen and Family………………………………………………….... 68 The Third Generation in Australia………………………………………………...... 71 Fanny Rose Jameson…………………………………………………………………… 73 Francis George Touzel and Family……………………………………………..... 79 Andrew Thomas Ottery Jameson…………………………............................................. 87 Claire Elizabeth Hunt and Family………………………………………………... 92 Mavis Jean Jameson……………………………………………………………………. 99 William John Edward Norton and Family……………………………………….. 108 William Charles Jameson……………………………………………………………… 119 Gwenda Grace Munro and Family…….…………………………………………. 125 Lydia May Jameson……………………………………………………………………. 131 Ronald George Rintoull and Family…………………………………………….. 135 Michael John Jameson…………………………………………………………………. 147 Kathleen Hodges and Family…………………………………………………… 154 Neil Bruce Jameson……………………………………………………………………. 159 Olive Pridham and Family………………………………………………………. 162 Leslie Keith Jameson…………………………………………………………………... 169 Annie Dunbabin and Family..…………………………………………………… 174 Alma Grace Jameson…………………………………………………………………... 181 Andrew Henry Smith and Family.………………………………………………. 187 References…………………………………………………………………………….... 199 Index of Names for Jameson Family Tree……………………………...……………… 201 PREFACE Our ancestors, Hugh Jameson and Annie Kate Loftus, migrated to Australia from Ireland during the gold rush of 1850’s, and stayed to build our nation with their pioneering spirit. Hugh drove a Cobb and Co. coach in both Victoria and New South Wales, presenting a romantic image of one who loved horses and the bush. The Jameson family grew up in Yea in country Victoria, and while many later came to the city for work, they all still have a fond and firm attachment to their country beginnings. When my mother Mavis Norton née Jameson celebrated her 90th birthday on 1st December 2008, more than 100 relatives and friends came to share her memories of a long and interesting life. This gathering confirmed for me that, despite the increasing fragmentation of society, the family was still important to the Jamesons and their offspring. However, it was also clear from talking to family there, that the modern generation had little idea of what it was like growing up in my generation, that is, 1940’s, and even less knowledge about the life and times of our parents in the 1920’s. Even our parents knew little about their parents, and regretted now not asking about their heritage when their parents were alive. It seemed that it was now time to capture these valuable memories before they also passed into silent history, and so was born the quest to research and record the history of the Jameson family in Australia from the time Hugh Jameson left Donegal, Ireland and stepped ashore in 1867. The journey has been both fascinating and in some places distressing. It was fascinating to view the records of our Irish forbears on the passenger lists of ships travelling to Australia, and distressing to learn how many children in our family died before the age of five in those days. It was disappointing that we were not able to include the recent history of Hugh Jameson’s other son William, since there has been little contact with this family since 1950’s. It is hoped that this book might encourage a future reunion. There is still more research to be done. We do not know how Hugh Jameson travelled to Australia, nor where his family in Ireland went after the 1900 Irish census nor do we know much about the Loftus family from Tipperary. There is also a message in this book for the fast ageing fourth generation of Jamesons to start writing their biographies soon. While their children may not be interested now, they will ask them sometime in the future the same questions that we asked, “Where did we come from and how did we get here?” Hopefully this book will provide some of those answers. Barry W. Norton October 2011 1 Acknowledgements This book could not have been written without the help and encouragement of many people. Bill Jameson and his son-in-law Noel Jackling started the search for our family roots in the early 1980’s, a time before the internet when writing letters to churches and government bureaucracies was the only means of gathering information. They generously shared their information, providing a firm foundation on which to build the story of our heritage. I was most grateful for the enthusiasm shown by my uncles, aunts and cousins who helped to extract and record the memories of Jameson family life, and particular individuals are thanked at the end of each family section. My mother Mavis was also an endless source of stories about growing up in Yea, although, not all necessarily agreed with her interpretation. Alma Smith and son Russell were also enthusiastic contributors, providing details and photos not found elsewhere in family records. Elaine White, from the Murrindindi Shire Library at Yea, and Alan Thorley from the Yea Historical Society, provided invaluable information on the history of Yea, in particular, a listing of council rate records going back to 1900. Finally, my wife Jan, was a constant source of love and support throughout this journey, providing a critical view of all things literary; logic, sentence construction, spelling and how best to use an imperfect past participle. Any errors remaining are mine, for which I apologise. My sincere thanks to all who thought that this project was important, and supported me so strongly in bringing it to completion. About the Author Barry William Norton was born in Melbourne in 1941. He matriculated from Coburg High School in 1959, and after completing a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree at Melbourne University and a Doctor of Philosophy (in Animal Nutrition) at Sydney took a position as lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Queensland. He retired in 2006 after 33 years at UQ, and now lives with his wife Jan on a small property in the rainforest at Mt Glorious in Queensland. He has two daughters and five grand-children. Writing has always been part of his life, ranging from papers in scientific journals to a recent book on goats in Vietnam. The current book is his first excursion into genealogy, opening a subject which has endless implications, and promises of more books to come. 2 AN IRISH HERITAGE The human condition demands that we strive to make sense of our lives and the search for our ancestors is a first step in understanding and reclaiming our past. The need to know our past only seems to manifest as we grow old and realize that our mortality is non-negotiable. Meaning in our lives is created by a knowledge of where we have come from and what we will leave as memories for future generations. It was not so long ago that families considered talking about the past as an invasion of privacy, and much of our personal history has been lost in this way. It is fortunate that there is now a more enlightened view of the importance of family history, and that there remains a detailed and readily available record of this history through church and census records stretching back more than 200 years. However, these records only represent one facet of human history, that is, a history that can be traced by the names we bear. The new molecular techniques being used now to characterize nuclear and mitochondrial DNA promises to bring a better understanding of our global family and its genealogy. The search for our roots began with the knowledge that our Jameson and Loftus forbears came to Australia from Ireland in the 1850’s. Neither of these names are traditionally Irish, and in seeking their origins, it was of interest to discover the historical significance of these names. Names for the common people in Europe