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Mary Ann Studds

Mary Ann was the daughter of Thomas Studds and Martha Weston. It is recorded that she was born on 28 May 1851 in London, England. Her birth certificate gives her birthplace as her parents' residence "23 Crescent Mews, Wilton Crescent", which is consistent with her parents address in the 1851 census. Many 19th century London addresses are difficult to identify in the 21st century with many places of the same or similar name having once existed and many changes having occurred over the years. However, on available information it appears that the location of Mary Ann's birth still exists as Wilton Row which is off Wilton Crescent in the fashionable Belgravia area of London.

The date of birth is consistent with shipping records which show that Mary Ann arrived in Victoria on the ship Zenobia in September 1869 at which time she was aged 18 years. Mary Ann's father had died when she was just ten years of age - no doubt, this changed the life she might otherwise have led. With her mother and younger brother, Mary Ann emigrated to the colony of Victoria, leaving at least sibling behind in England.

Richard Eddy and Mary Ann Studds married at Craigie, in the district of Talbot in Victoria, on 14 April 1873. On their marriage certificate, Richard is described as a "miner" while Mary Ann's occupation is "house keeper" living at "Mount Cameron" (this place has not been identified but is probably a mining settlement in the Ballarat/Talbot/Maryborough region of Victoria).

From information on the birth certificate of her daughter, Euphemia, and Mary Ann's death certificate, the children were :

As Euphemia was born and raised in northern Victoria, the family had obviously settled in that area. Information about the family farm at the time of Euphemia's birth is provided with information about Mary Ann's husband. The family later moved to a location identified officially as "Strathmerton" but actually some distance from that town; from the locations of births of children, the move to Strathmerton (close to the NSW town of Tocumwal) occurred in approx. 1890 to 1892.

The farm where Richard and Mary Ann were living when Euphemia married was located right on the Murray River, on the Victorian side, but the nearest settlement was Tocumwal in New South Wales. This farm was where baby Adelaide Dunne was born in 1904. In later years the farm became a recreation resort known as "Time Out", which is accessed from the main road just south of the bridge across the Murray River at Tocumwal, along a couple of kilometres of dirt road. Peter Richard Dunne (1908-1993) was a lifetime resident of the Tocumwal district and occasionally visited the site and showed where the farmhouse had been located.

 


Photograph above taken by Kathleen Kelly
in 2001 and is thought to be approximately
where the Eddy farmhouse once stood.

 

 


Photograph of the Murray River taken from the location of Richard and Mary Ann Eddy's farm in northern Victoria. Photograph taken in 2001 by Kathleen Kelly, their great great great granddaughter.

 

 


Remnants of the old Eddy farm?
Old farming equipment near "Time Out" resort; photograph taken in 2003.
A century earlier, this was the location of the Eddy family farm.

 

 


Mary Ann Eddy (nee Studds)

The testimony of grandchildren :

"One of my fondest memories is coming over with Grandma to take the cream to the depot, just opposite the Terminus Hotel, Grandma was very stylish with her big black bonnet covered in beads. We would sit up in the buggy pulled by 'Pompy' and I used to feel as though it was like going for a drive with the Queen. I used to stay at my Grandparents farm any chance I got and I loved it." 
Peter Richard Dunne

"Grandma Eddy had her own little boat and many times I crossed the Murray with her to visit a friend on the NSW side. She also had her own little pony and sulky and she would drive to Toke, often some of us would be with her. She called her pony 'Pompy', we would call it 'Pig' and she would pretend to be very annoyed with us. She was a lovely lovely lady  ..... "
Adelaide Endacott (nee Dunne)

 

Langton Dunne, grandson of Mary Ann, wrote that he does not recall his grandmother but provided the following descriptions written by his older brother and sister, and obtained through Caroline Dunne. The above reference to "Toke" is the local peoples' affectionate name for the town of Tocumwal.

Peter Richard Dunne's memories as a child of his grandparents' farm :

The further I look back the clearer my memories are: In the 1914 drought the River Murray was very low and at Hennessys Bend there was only a narrow channel of water between two sandbars (the water had stopped running at Swan Hill). At this time I often crossed the river at Hennessys Bend with my father driving a pony and buggy and I would stay with my Grandparents on their farm about two miles down river. (The farm is now Time Out Holiday Village).

My Grandparents house was only about 100 yards from the river and to get water they had a forky log with a couple of pieces of timber across it and a couple of casks tied to it, this was pulled by a horse down through a cutting in the river bank, when it filled, it was taken back and left outside the kitchen.

Like many farms in those days, they had a cellar, it was a big hole with four big corner posts lined with gum slabs to stop the dirt from falling in the roof and was also covered with a mound of earth and had an earthen floor. There was always plenty of fowl meat or rabbit and sometimes beef. When a beast was killed it was divided up between a few families. Some of the beef would be pickled or salted down, there was always plenty of fresh pork, pickled and smoked ham and always plenty of fish.

Like many of the old time places, the kitchen was apart from the living quarters, it was built of logs about the size of telephone poles let in at the end so as to stop them from slipping, it was 30ft by l4ft wide with an earth floor, the fire place in the end was about 6ft wide and about 3ft deep - it had a big iron fountain hanging off a bar for hot water and oh how I remember those big dishes of yellow scalded cream, jars of homemade biscuits and sweets, always plenty of cake and often fresh homemade bread, Grandmother was a great cook but as she seldom got to town she had plenty of practice.

Their woodheap was about 40ft long and about 6ft high and cut into post lengths. The stables were built of heavy posts standing in the ground with forky ones every few feet apart to hold the cross pieces for the roof that was covered with thatched straw, this was taken off and cut into chaff to feed the horses in the 1914 drought.

There were no gates on the place, gaps as they were called, had a big round post on each side of the opening, one post would have two big holes cut into it for rails to fit into, and the one on the other side had the same only that there was a groove cut down into it so that the rails could be slid down into the hole. Then there was the chaff cutter, I forget exactly how it worked but there was a horse walking round and round in a circle, pulling a rail that was somehow connected to the cutter, this acted as the engine and I often got to ride the horse.

One of my fondest memories is coming over with Grandma to take the cream to the depot, just opposite the Terminus Hotel, Grandma was very stylish with her big black bonnet covered in beads. We would sit up in the buggy pulled by 'Pompy' and I used to feel as though it was like going for a drive with the Queen. I used to stay at my Grandparents farm any chance I got and I loved it.

 

Memories of Richard & Mary Anne Eddy (nee Studds)
written by  Adelaide Gertrude Endacott (nee Dunne) :

I keep thinking of my Grandma, Mary Anne. My mother (Effie) was born at Invergordon, so probably her parents did live in the area.

Effie had three sisters:- May, Martha and Myrtle and four brothers Dick, Ellis (known as Bob), Ernie and Ted.

I do not know if they ever owned 'Time Out' or leased it from the Government before they built a home in Tocumwal.

Grandma Eddy had her own little boat and many times I crossed the Murray with her to visit a friend on the NSW side. She also had her own little pony and sulky and she would drive to Toke, often some of us would be with her. She called her pony 'Pompy', we would call it 'Pig' and she would pretend to be very annoyed with us. She was a lovely lovely lady and Grandad Eddy was a dear old man.

I nearly forgot the most important event !!! I was born in the old farm house almost exactly where 'Time Out' is now, my birth is registered at Strathmerton. Last time we were down there in Toke, Ron Heagney drove Peter Richard, Mae (Kelly) Heagney and myself down to have a look.

 

Mary Ann Eddy died on 20 October 1918 in Tocumwal. On her death certificate, her name is recorded as "Marion Eddy". She was buried in Tocumwal cemetery but no gravestone has been located there.

  

Thanks to Beverley Speake of South Australia
and Leigh Prideaux of Victoria
for contributing some of the above information.

 

Mary Ann Studds in the
Family History Index		 family tree brief family tree of
Mary Ann Studds

 

 


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