William Simpson
Born on 18 August 1803 in Perth, Scotland, to Robert Simpson and Ann Douglas.
Perth is a fairly small city (in 1999 its population was approximately 50,000) located in the geographic centre of Scotland, about 40 miles from the capital, Edinburgh, and 60 miles from Glasgow. Perth is a fairly small city (in 1999 its population was approximately 50,000) located in the geographic centre of Scotland, about 40 miles from the capital, Edinburgh, and 60 miles from Glasgow.(http://www.cix.co.uk/~trantor/perth.htm)
On both his own marriage certificate and the death certificate of his daughter, he is described as a tailor (like his father before him). One report is that his shop was located in Skinnergate, in Perth. Apparently one side of the street has been preserved while the other side has been re-developed. Unfortunately, Simpson's tailor shop was located on the side that has been re-developed, so that it cannot now be visited.
click on image for enlargement
According to his marriage certificate he was a member of the St Paul's Church parish of Perth, in Scotland. He married in May or June 1826. According to the extract of an entry in an Old Parochial Register, William Simpson and Janet MacIntosh " .. were regularly Proclaimed and Married on the fifth day of June said year by the Reverend L.G.Kennedy Minr of the West Church Parish Perth. - Perth the Twelfth day of May One Thousand eight hundred and Twenty six years -- Contracted." The significance of the dates 5th June and 12th May 1826 are not understood.
The children of William are listed with information about his wife, Janet MacIntosh.
Three of the first five children died while the family were still in Scotland. With his wife and two surviving children, William migrated to New South Wales. They travelled on a government immigration ship named Hero which sailed from Leith (near Edinburgh) on 7 May 1839 and arrived in Sydney Cove (modern day Circular Quay) on 26 September 1839. The ship carried 84 men, 18 boys, 82 women and 17 girls. One woman died during the journey and two infant boys were born. The ship's surgeon reported that there was no illness on the journey. The occupations of the migrants included, among the men, 7 agriculturalists, 8 shepherds, 9 farm servants, 5 labourers, 3 cart wrights, 1 mill wright, 6 joiners, 6 gardeners, 3 tailors, 1 miller, 3 masons, 2 shoemakers, 2 blacksmiths, 1 engineer and 1 baker. Among the women were 12 dairy maids, 20 house servants, 2 house keepers, 3 nurserymaids. William Simpson was one of the three tailors, and his wife Janet was a dressmaker. In the records of the ship's arrival, William Simpson is stated to be 29 years of age and the space for the signature of person certifying the registry of baptism is blank; from the above information, William would have been 35 when they left Scotland and 36 when they arrived in New South Wales. It is likely that preference was given to younger migrants and he may have been able to comfortably pass as a younger man; the fact that no one bothered to check the baptism records suggests that the government was not strict in enforcing any age restrictions.
In November 1840, Jane Robertson (or Robinson) Douglas Simpson was born and was baptised in the Presbyterian church in the Parish of St Lawrence, in the County of Cumberland, New South Wales. At this time the family were residing in Exeter Place. The exact location of this address is unknown but it would have been in the inner Sydney area. It is possible that the church was on the site of, or close to, the existing Uniting Church in Fountain St., Alexandria, close coincidentally to Lawrence Lane and Lawrence Street.
In the 1841 Census, William Simpson is listed in return 23 as residing in Market Lane, Parish Alexandria, County Cumberland, District Sydney. (NSW State Records item ID X950, page no 29, reel 2223). The Census records the inhabitants of the residence as only 1 male who was aged over 21 and under 45, and 4 females, one aged over 21 and under 45, one under age 2, one aged 2 but less than 7, and one aged 7 but less than 14. The census records that one male and one female were married and three females were single. This record is consistent with the family, in 1841, being William and his wife Janet, and daughters Barbara (who had been born in 1829 in Scotland), Ann Ramsey (born 1837 in Scotland), and baby Jane Robinson (who had been born in Sydney late in the previous year).
It is understood that the Simpsons lived in Sydney for some time and some children were born there.
Kathy Jackson reports that :
"It is thought William started a tailoring business on the site of David Jones in Barrack St, but it failed, and then probably moved up to West Maitland. William used to wear a soft velvet cap according to Mabel Leggett ....
The family then went on to live for a while in West Maitland until William was bitten by the gold bug ...."
At the time, Maitland was a growing city, which even had pretensions to replace Sydney as the major city of the colony. It is thought that William plied his trade as a tailor in both Sydney and Maitland but firm information has not been located.
Gold was discovered in the early 1850s and tales were told far and wide of fortunes made in a single day. Many people who had led hitherto conventional lives were lured by the glow of gold to leave all behind and chase the elusive fortune. William Simpson, tailor, late of Sydney and now of West Maitland, father of five surviving children, left tailoring behind and joined the chase for treasure and riches. By this time Barbara, the eldest daughter had left home, had been living in Sydney and had married Ephraim Leggett. William took his wife and 4 remaining children in a dray drawn by three horse to the Turon diggings (north of Bathurst, New South Wales) and then to Long Creek. The journey by dray from Maitland to the Turon diggings would probably have taken them through Merriwa where Barbara was living with her new husband.
But fortune eluded dear William. One family story relates that his daughters Annie and Jane found more gold in Turon than did their father. Kathy Jackson reports "The children struck a rich patch on the river. Annie rocked the cradle and Jane put in the dirt. They made more than three pounds a week. ... At another gold rush near Mudgee, the two girls found 9 pounds worth of gold in one week."
Discouraged, William returned with his family to Maitland, where the children could attend school and William and Janet could practise their trades. Daughters Annie and Jane were inducted into the family business learning dressmaking and millinery.
In the late 1850, William again yearned for treasure and the family ventured to another gold diggings near Mount Kosciusko. It was here that Jane, in her late teens, "met James Manfield, a bronzed and bearded Englishman who was working a claim and taking from it gold wort about 160 pounds. It was a case of love at first sight. ... The miner and the young milliner eloped on foot
and by coach to Cooma, pursued by Jane's father who was stopped by a snow fall. William reluctantly agreed to the match and the wedding took place with the usual festivities. ... The couple followed their luck to the diggings. This time they went to Buckland (Victoria) and then to the Lachlan River near Forbes. When Jane was lying ill in a camp on the way to the Lachlan, Jack Gardener, the
bushranger, begged a meal and shelter for several hours. Jane was the first woman to ascend the highest point on the Mt Buffalo Plateau." (from a summary provided by Kathy Jackson).
and
"William and the rest of the family returned to West Maitland and lived in at Government Rd., Horseshoe Bend, Maitland. Government Rd is now known as South Street, Telarah."
William died on 20 June 1882 at West Maitland, New South Wales and was buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery, Oakhampton Road, Maitland (approx. 2 km from High Street and 1 km from Scobies Lane). It lies between the road and the Hunter River and has flooded periodically so that the stones have gradually been obscured by silt. Easier access may be obtained via nearby farmhouse, subject to the farmer's permission
Remains of the Wesleyan Cemetery, Oakhampton Road, Maitland, NSW.
(photograph from Eric and Nancy Endacott who wrote " .. the old Wesleyan cemetery .... lies between the road and the Hunter River. We gained access by rolling under the fence. There is a gate just down the road towards the nearby farmhouse. We found the headstone in rather dense shrubbery all overgrown and cattle movements have obliterated lots of graves and headstones. In the photo ... (above) ... the headstone was in the bushes near the road.") The headstone is shown with information about William's wife, Janet McIntosh.
