GEORGE MAWBEY, COLONIALIST

George Mawbey I arrived in what is now Australia in its colonial era.When it was governed entirely by the English government through its ruling representative, the Governor, in the colony of New South Wales.
The last colonial governor was Sir Charles FitzRoy.
After him, a fledgling form of self-government was established and power-sharing began between the former colonialists and the home country.

NSW MAWBEYS PIONEER FAMILY TREE

George (1) & Ann MAWBEY (nee WILLIAMS)
 m. 1838 Sydney, NSW
                 

David Henry b.12-6-1842

Alfred b.20-12-1843

Alice b.17-9-1845

Ann Jane b.23-8-1847

John (1) Thomas b.12-8-1849

James b.23-11-1851

Grace (1) b.22-8-1853

Elizabeth b.7-10-1855

George (2) b.25-12-1858

Mary Emma b.1862

John Thomas & Sarah MAWBEY (nee CLARKE)
 m. 1875 Mudgee, NSW

John (1) Thomas b.1880

Reginald George b.1882

Grace (2) b.1884 d.1900

Percival b.1885 d.1900

Sydney b.1887

Hilda b.1889 d.1900

Albert b.1890

Cecil James b.1893

Garnet Lindsay b.1896

GEORGE MAWBEY, TINMAN

I hit paydirt again today in my research at the Mitchell Library, Sydney, finding a new piece of information about George Mawbey I.
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In the New South Wales and Port Phillip General Post Office directory for 1839, he is listed as a 'tinman' at George street north, Sydney (p.110).
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When he married in July 1838, he was a publican, holding a licence for the Hope and Anchor in Pitt street.
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Prior to that he had been a clerk for an ironmonger in King street.
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In 1839 he went to South Australia where he set up Refreshment Rooms in Adelaide's commercial district.
It would appear he was trying to go 'upmarket', to live a more refined lifestyle in the new, convict-free province, than he had led in New South Wales.
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I want to find out what type of work he did in England before coming to the colony.

George Wright, the author of the Wright's Australian and American commercial directory and gazetteer: a complete handbook of trades, professions, commerce and manufactures in the Australian colonies, with lists of the American exporters and manufacturers, and traders of British India, says he did the bulk of the information-gathering himself!
The volume containing over 2000 pages was meant to appear at the beginning of 1879, but publication was delayed until 1881.
So the entry for John Mawbey, fruiterer, market lane, Mudgee may actually refer to what he was doing in 1878.
The work that has gone into this book is truly extraordinary!
Wright claimed it was the largest commercial directory ever published in the United States.

To all my Aussie followers:
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY
26 JANUARY 2012!
Celebrating the day the First Fleet under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into Sydney Harbour.
The flotilla of 11 ships carried convicts, soldiers, sailors, a minister of religion, servants and others who were the first 'Aussie battlers' of this wonderful country.
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Thank you to Ancestry.com.au for allowing free access to its Australian convict records for three days as an Australia Day gift!

SYDNEY-PARRAMATTA RAILWAY LINE

It was while George Mawbey I and his family were living at Dural that the Sydney to Parramatta railway line was opened.
This was the first government-owned, public railway line to be opened in Australia.
It must have been a momentous occasion, making it much easier for them to visit their relatives in Newtown.
The opening took place in 1854, prior to the last three Mawbey children being born, Elizabeth (b.1855), George (b.1860) and Mary (b.1862).
Steam trains plied the track between Parramatta Junction (Granville) and Sydney (the station then being located near Devonshire Street, between the present Central and Redfern stations).
There were six stations along the line, one of them being Newtown where the Mawbey relatives lived.

This photograph is copyright.
(C) Pamela Mawbey 2011

This photograph is copyright.
(C) Pamela Mawbey 2011

This extraordinary book containing the names and addresses
of a people working on the land and in the cities
in each state of Australia
was published in New York in 1881.
It consists of 2,000 pages
set in hot metal
by printers
on the other side of the world.
What a feat!

It contains an entry on page 166 placed by my great grandfather:

John Mawby, fruiterer, Market lane, Mudgee.

This book is at the State Library of NSW.

DAVID AND ALICE WILLIAMS

I appear to have found more information on Ancestry.com about David and Alice Williams, my great, great, great grandparents, who arrived in Sydney with their five children in October 1833.

They were 'unassisted arrivals', free settlers, who travelled from Liverpool, England via Hobart Town, on the Mary Catharine.
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David was aged 38 at the time, indicating he was born c.1795.
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There is a marriage record on Ancestry for a David Williams and Alice Jones who wedded on 16 September 1816 at St Nicholas church, Liverpool, Lancashire.
If this was my GGGG/GF, he would have been 21.
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One of their two daughters, my GGG/GM, Ann Mawbey (nee Williams), was born in 1819.
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There is a record on the NSW Births Deaths and Marriages register of a David Williams dying in Newtown in 1870.
And a newspaper Family Notice for another one, formerly of Newtown, who died on 5 May 1872 at his daughter's residence in Melbourne.
Was this his other daughter, Margaret?
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David Williams had been a cooper, making wooden barrels, and it is possible he may have worked in one or both of the two breweries in nearby Parramatta Street (now Road).
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There is also a John Williams working as a cooper listed in a trades directory who may have been his son.

ANN MAWBEY IN 19TH CENTURY NEWTOWN

The City of Sydney Archives has a wonderful online website called the Newtown Project.It draws together lots of useful historical information that would take ages to find otherwise.
The site includes Sand's Directories for Newtown, Assessment Books, old maps and even a timeline!
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Studying this site has given me a greater insight into what was happening with Ann Mawbey, after her husband George died in Newtown in November 1862.
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Sand's Directories 1864-1880
I first found her listed in the 1864 Sands Directory, living in Egan-street, Newtown.
But then I noticed that a D Williams, possibly her father, was also living in Egan-street.
I then looked at the 1863 edition and found a more conclusive entry, for Williams, David, cooper, Egan-street, Newtown.
So George Mawbey may have died in his father-in-law's home.
And his youngest child, Mary, may have been born there.
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The next listing for Ann Mawbey is in 1866 as Mrs Ann Mawley, still at Egan Street, but there is no D Williams.
The next time she appears is in 1870 as Mawbey, Mrs Ann, greengrocer, Newtown Road (now King Steet, the main or high street of Newtown).
In 1873 she is living in Albermarle Street, Newtown, on the north side between Denison and Regent Streets.
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Then I had a big surprise!
In 1875, the listing in the directory is for Mawbey, John, carrier, Albermarle-street.
This was the year Ann's eldest living son was married in Mudgee, to Sarah Clarke, in St John's Church of England.
I had assumed he had stayed in the country until he opened a wood shop in Mudgee in 1878.
But he is still in Newtown in 1876, this time listed as John Mawby.
Was his wife Sarah with him, or with her parents in Mudgee?
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In 1878, there is no listing for John or his mother.
In 1879, Mrs Ann Mowbay, is listed as living in Albermarle Street and in 1880, Anne Mawbey was still there.
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Note the variant spellings of Mawbey in the Sand's Directories:
Mawbey, Mawby, Mowbay, Mawley.
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This may or may not be relevant, but in 1878, a William H Williams was renting a shop and dwelling in Newtown (now King) Street.
Could he have been a relative of Ann Mawbey (nee Williams)?
The rate payer and owner of the property, valued at 58 pounds, was Hannah Barrett.
[Ref: CSA023540, ratebook A, p.53, rate no.9]

I did have some success, however, with finding out more about where my great uncle, George Mawbey II, lived in the Assessment Books held by the City of Sydney Archives.
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His name did not come up when I did searches for 'Mawbey' and 'Mawby'.
When I looked at his address, I found his name had been misspelt 'Mawley'.
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In 1907, when he was living at 35 Ann Street, Surry Hills, in the ward of Belmore, the house he was renting was valued at 52 pounds.
It was the second most expensive house in the street.
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The most expensive was the house next door, 33 Ann Street, owned by the same landlord, William Goldsmith.
It was valued at sixty-five pounds.
It also had a stable.
Being a carrier, using a horse and cart for his livelihood, George Mawbey may have kept his horse there.
The name of this next door neighbour was Thomas Wade.
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On the other side was William A Cooper whose rented house was only worth 36 pounds.
The owner of his house, Hugh Dalveen, owned the five adjoining houses, all rated at the same amount.
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Both properties owned by Mr Goldsmith were brick with slate rooves, and two-storey with six rooms.
No 35 had a connecting lane.
[Ref: CSA027476, p.83, line 5, Assessment Book 1641]

OLD SYDNEY BURIAL GROUND

I'm trying to find where the first two children of George and Ann Mawbey, David and Alfred, were buried in 1848.
Alfred died first, on 29 August 1848, buried on 31 August.
David died on 10 October 1848 and was buried the same day.
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I could not find them in the list of burials in the old Sandhills Cemetery at the corner of Elizabeth and Devonshire Streets, Sydney, reclaimed to make way for Central Railway Station.
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Today I looked at the list of burials in Sydney's first cemetery (the one that preceded Sandhills), the Old Sydney Burial Ground at the corner of George and Druitt Streets, Sydney, reclaimed in 1869 to make way for the Sydney Town Hall.
They were not there either.
Then I discovered that this burial ground had only been in use from 1792-1820.
It was too early, closing well before the boys were born.
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The two Mawbey males died in the year after the birth of their sister, Ann Jane, and before that of their younger brother, John Thomas.
To view the list of many of the earliest burials in the colony of New South Wales, click on OLD SYDNEY BURIAL GROUND.
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I have concluded that the two Mawbey boys must have been buried in the Devonshire Street Cemetery, and that their records have been lost.
If this is the case, they were buried in the same place as the mysterious Sarah Barckley Mawbey who was interred in April of the same year, 1848.