Barbara Simpson
Barbara was born in Perth, Scotland and the date is reported as 10 May 1829. Initially it had not been possible to locate records of Barbara, but it was found that her christening on 31 May 1829 was recorded with the name spelled "Simson". Barbara was the daughter of William Simpson, a tailor, and Janet MacIntosh.
As noted elsewhere in regard to her father, it is reported that William Simpson, together with his wife and two daughters Barbara aged 10 and Anne Ramsey aged 2, arrived in Sydney Cove, New South Wales on the ship Hero on 26 September 1839. This is consistent with her death certificate which records that Barbara spent 42 years "in the Australasian Colonies or States".
The family lived in Sydney for some years. At some stage, date unknown, the family moved to the Maitland district of New South Wales.
20 year-old Barbara was unmarried at the time of the birth of her first child named William Robert Campbell Simpson, born 12 August 1849, possibly in the Maitland district. The baby's father was Thomas McClelland, a 19 year old farm labourer from Northern Ireland, who arrived in Sydney in 1839 and who possibly died in 1878. The birth was registered twice NSW 1849 #V1849602-50 identifies the child as William McClelland and the parents as Thomas and Barbara; NSW 1849 #V18496634-45C identifies the child as William Simpson with father unknown and mother named Barbara.
Barbara, identified as a member of the "Presbyterian Church of Scotland", married Ephraim Leggatt on 20 February 1851 in the parish of St Andrew's Church, Sydney.
In that marriage, Barbara gave birth to two more sons and five daughters, as shown below. The infant William was accepted in the family as the child of her husband Ephraim.
Her husband died in 1863, leaving her with seven children under the age of twelve. Barbara remarried a little over one and half years after Ephraim's death. On 7 January 1865, Barbara Leggatt, a widow, married Alexander Cameron, a bachelor, in the Church of the Holy Trinity at Merriwa, New South Wales. Alexander is identified as a labourer; and whereas Barbara was able to sign the marriage register, Alexander made his "X" mark, indicating he was not able to write his name.
Barbara Simpson's children were :
fathered by Thomas McClelland : |
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William Robert Campbell Simpson or McClelland, later used the surname Leggett. Born on 12 August 1849, location not known. According to one report, Sir Clarence Arthur Leggett (1911-1998), well-known Brisbane surgeon, descended from this son of Barbara Simpson. |
fathered by Ephraim Leggett : |
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| * | Emily Leggett, married Robert Jones. It has been reported that Emily did much of the mothering for the family, and gave them a home after her marriage to Robert Jones. Information provided by Betty Grocott (grand-daughter of George Leggatt), through Eric and Nancy Endacott, indicates that the Jones’ home in Hargraves and later in Mudgee was like a second home to many of the Endacott family. |
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Annie Leggett (1855-1928) married Thomas Spratt |
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Barbara Leggett, (1857-1941) married Richard Henry Endacott |
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Ephraim Leggett, born 1859; registration no: 1859/6641; died at early age. |
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George Thomas Leggett |
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unnamed female twin |
| fathered by Alexander Cameron : |
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| * | Christina Cameron, reported to have died in teenage years |
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Alexander Cameron |
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Jane Cameron (1868-1953) married James Hooper Endacott (brother of Richard Henry Endacott) |
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John Cameron (known as "Jack") (1870-1938) Extremely tall, he was a miner in Australia and Malaya. His descendants include Robin Gray, former Premier of Tasmania. |
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Margaret Cameron, reported to have died in teenage years. |
Barbara Cameron (formerly Leggatt,
formerly Simpson) seated with her sister,
Anne Ramsey Price (nee Simpson) standing .
(photograph from Eric and Nancy Endacott).
image source unknown
Barbara Cameron died on 10 May 1882 in the Maitland Hospital (New South Wales), caused by bronchitis of 9 days duration. The official informant of the death was the matron of the hospital and the certificate gives the name of her spouse as "unknown" and children of the marriage as "unknown". This suggests that she died without family being present and that there were no family known to the hospital at the time of Barbara's death. Given the above information that her eldest daughter did much of the work in raising her younger siblings, the children may not have had much contact with her. It is thought that Barbara's father was also living in West Maitland, at a separate address. He died only one month after her. Barbara was buried the day after her death, at West Maitland, in the same grave as her mother, and soon to be shared also by her father.
