Sepia Saturday 694

 

Family Portraits

Thomas Sloan and Sarah Jane Walters 

Thomas was born in Geelong, Victoria in 1854 to John Sloan and Marion Jackson. Sarah was the daughter of Mary Bunston and Jacob Walters (aka William Walters aka William Johnston aka Henry Freeman). Tom married Sarah in 1878 - she was 18 and he was 24.  The couple had 12 children and they farmed land near Pyramid Hill.  

Tom was well known in the area for his wheat threshing machine which was pulled by a bullock team.  He employed some other members of the Sloan family as well as Abe and William Johnston, Sarah's brothers.  Tom used to write poems about the people of Pyramid Hill.  He would annomously hang them around town.  When the locals started suspecting him, he wrote one about himself to throw them off track.  Sarah burnt these poems after Tom’s death in 1924.

After her husband died, Sarah moved to Hilston, New South Wales, where several of her children, a sister and brother in law  lived.  She later moved to Culforn, Victoria with her daughter Linda and her family.  They all travelled from Hilston in a Model T Ford with the help of Les Purton, Sarah’s son in law.  They lived with Les and his wife, Mary (Sarah’s daughter) for a while, before finally moving to Koondrook with Linda’s family.  Sarah died in 1935.

James Bunston and Elizabeth Brooks

James was born in Skipton, Victoria in 1864, the eldest child of George Bunston and Elizabeth Lyle Thompson. He was the first cousin of Sarah, mentioned above.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Lawrence Brooks and Hannah Abbott and she was born in Raglan, Victoria in 1865.  They were married in Skipton in 1886.  The couple had around 11 children, several of whom died as infants.  They would make their home at Tolmie, near Mansfield.

Jim and Lizzie farmed land on Bunston Road.  They suffered many hardships as early pioneers in the Victorian high country - bushfires and droughts in summer and snow falls in winter.  Jim turned the rugged landscape into a viable farm that his sons took over after his passing.  They lived with no running water or electricity and only went to town occassionally for supplies or when illness struck.   Jim's brother George and sister Fannie would also settle in the area.   

Jim died in 1931 and Lizzie in 1943.  They are buried together in nearby Mansfield.

John Bunstone

A small piece taken from my upcoming book - Bunston Family Revisited

The youngest child of George Bunstone and Ann Patten was born in West Chinnock likely in December 1847.  His birth was registered in January 1848, and he was baptised there on January 16, 1848.  Like his sister, Sarah, John is listed in the 1851 census with a T in his surname (Bunston) where his parents and brother do not.  He was three years old at the time, with 12 years between him and his sister.

In 1861, 13-year-old John is listed as living with his parents and sister at 30 Higher Street, West Chinnock.  He was working as a yarn bleacher. Ten years later, John is the only one of the children still living at home with his parents.  Like his father, John is now employed as a carpenter.

On May 11, 1880, John married Anna Warry in West Chinnock.  Anna was a local of West Chinnock, being born there to George Warry and Elizabeth Norman on June 30, 1854.  She was baptised a month later in Mosterton, Dorset here her mother hailed from.  Some records list her name as Hannah.  The couple had seven children, though only six were found: William, Joseph, George, Elizabeth, Florence and John.  The seventh child likely was born and passed away between census’ being taken and I haven’t been unable to find birth or death records.  It should also be noted that the two eldest children were born several years before they married.

At the time of the 1881 census, John and Anna with their three eldest children were living in South Street, West Chinnock.  John was a carpenter in a sail cloth factory.  Anna had just given birth to their son, George, 19 days before the census was taken.  John’s widowed mother, Ann, was also living there at the time.  By 1891 the family had moved to Merriott, Somerset.  John was now 43 years old.  He still worked at a sail cloth factory as a carpenter.  His wife still lived with him as did the six children. 

The family was living at the sail mill at West Crewkerne when the 1901 census was held.  John was the foreman carpenter at the mill.  His wife is listed as Hannah, rather than Anna.  Only the three youngest children were still at home with their parents.  They still lived here in 1911 with 63-year-old John now listed as an invalid, with his occupation still as a carpenter.  Their daughters still lived with them and their granddaughter, Hilda, was also at their home at the time of the census.  Anna and John had been married 31 years by this time and this is where the record states that one of the seven children was no longer living.

John passed away nine years later, around March 1920, likely in Chard.  Anna lived in Lower Street, Chard with their daughter Elizabeth when the 1939 register was taken.  Anna also died in Chard, two years later around March 1941.