The Australian Willgoose Family History Page
This page is Garry Willgoose's family history page and contains
information and web links collected by him about the ancestory of the
Willgoose family in Australia. If you wish to provide updated information please email me (g.willgoose@telluricresearch.com)
or snail mail me (100 Barton St, Scone, 2337) with updated
information. I will then update the database and post an updated
version of the tree.
Pedigree: Garry Willgoose
To provide some context for my interest I have created a pedigree for myself. My ethnic descent is primarily English and German, with
minor lines from Scotland, Wales and Canada.
The family surnames in my pedigree (with links
to short descriptions below) are: Anson, Baikie, Binder, Brotchie, Clark, Clouston, Colditz,
Collinson, Davis/Davies, Durham, Dyer, Evans, Forker, Hathaway,
Haywood, Hemming, Hewitt, Hill, King, Laws, McNeall/McNeal/McNeil/McNell/MackNeal, MacDonald,
Mason, Midwinter, Monkton, Monks, Perron, Pick, Pursglove/Purseglove, Saxon, Smith, Thompson, Thornton, Wheat, Willgoose,
Williams, Wilson, Wragg/Ragg.
The known ships that family members immigrated on are "Abergeldie" (Willgoose), "Cesar Godeffroy" (Colditz), "Sultana" (Durham), "John and Lucy" (Williams), "Hillsborough" (McNeal), "HMS Buffalo" (Anson), "Lady Sinclair" (Laws), "Emigrant" (Dyer).
Colditz
The Colditz's come from Hildesheim, Germany. Heinrich (Henry) Colditz
emigrated to Dalby, Qld in 1856 and subsequently moved to Tenterfield,
NSW where he established a tin smithing shop opposite the Saddlery shop
(the entertainer Peter Allen's grandfather featured in the song
"Tenterfield Saddler"). Descendants are concentrated in the SE Qld, and
the Sydney-Newcastle regions. Some of Heinrich's brothers and sisters
are believed to have emigrated to the Detroit/Chicago region of the USA
around the 1860's.
The descendants of Henry Colditz had a family reunion
in Tenterfield, NSW, Australia on the weekend of 14-15 January, 2006. Photos from the reunion are
here. During this event we updated my family tree and the latest version is
attached here.
Since making this page publically available I have removed the family
trees for privacy. If you are a relative, please contact me and I will
create one for you.
Collinson
Thirza Collinson met Herbert Henry Willgoose
while he was an engine driver in Nottingham (she lived around the
corner) and had their first child (Arthur Willgoose, my grandfather)
before emigrating to Sydney in 1884. Thirza died soon after their
arrival in Sydney and is buried in an unmarked grave in Rookwood cemetery.
Herbert continued to correspond with Thirza's sister, Agnes (Aggie), in
Nottingham who appears to have visited the family in Australia in the
early 1900's.
Durham
Thomas Durham and his wife Joyce (nee Thornton) of Hampnett,
Gloustershire emigrated in 1855 and established themselves as farmers
in the Singleton region at First Creek. Subsequently, the family has spread primarily
to Muswellbrook but also to Newcastle (where my family line comes
from). The Muswellbrook clan have been involved in the coal mining
industry and my great grandfather, Francis Durham was killed in a
mining accident in 1927 at Muswellbrook Colliery when he was crushed
between two coal skips.
Dyer
The Dyer family (Thomas Dyer, Grace Hill and their 8 children )
of Longlode, Somerset, England emigrated on the "Emigrant" in 1849.
Their 4th child Ellen Dyer subsequently married Richard McNeall in
Maitland, NSW.
Laws
Mary Ann Laws arrived as a free settler between 1802-1805 (age about
14-16) on the "Lady Sinclair". Free settlers that were not part of the
military were very unusual at that time of colony. She subsequently
married James McNeall, the pardoned convict.
McNeall/McNeal/McNeil/McNell/MackNeal
James McNell (sic McNeall) was convicted of stealing and sentenced to
death at the Old Bailey, London on 23 May, 1798. He was transported
"for life" on the "Hillsborough" (the infamous typhoid ship where one
third of the convicts died on the voyage) to Sydney in 1799. Shortly
thereafter he was pardoned. He and his son established a coach factory
in Philip St, Sydney. After his father's death his son shifted to
Maitland, NSW in the 1820's where he and his descendants established a
coach factory near where the High St railway station currently is. The
factory passed to other lines in the McNeall family. The factory
operated under a name of commercial names including "McNeall and
McPherson" (1867), and "McNeall and Hunt" (1868) and "Great Northern
Coach Factory" (1867, 1888). The spelling of the surname has
changed a number of times and descendants are scattered throughout NSW
(McNeil, Armidale; McNeall/McNeal, Hunter Valley).
Mason
The Mason's arrived in Australia from New Brunswick, Canada, though
they appear to have only been in Canada for one generation, having
immigrated from Midlothian, Scotland. John Wilson
Mason arrived about 1856 from Canada and settled in Newcastle, NSW. His
father (William Mason) and mother's (Susannah Wilson) ancestors are
listed in the "Forest of Trees" which suggest that he is associated the
Loyalists in New Brunswick and New England. The Loyalists fought
against the Republican forces of the US in the American Revolutionary
War 1775-1783. This link is somewhat puzzling because the Mason and
Wilson families immigrated to Canada from Scotland after the
Revolutionary War so could not have fought in it. We have been unable
to clarify this Loyalist link.
We have rcently identified that the Mason family originally eminates from the Orkney Islands, Scotland, with Clouston and Baikie ancestors having been born there. A Clouston family history (Clouston, J S (1948) "The Family of Clouston") traces the Clouston family back to the 12th century and Viking ancestors from Norway (King Magnus the Good of Norway), but to date we have not been able to identify the (likely) link between the two family lines.
The
Mason family appears to have continued to be concentrated in the Newcastle area.
Thornton
The Thorton family had moved around Gloucestershire living in Northleach and Chedworth.
Thomas Durham and his wife Joyce (nee Thornton) of Hampnett,
Gloustershire emigrated in 1855 and established themselves as farmers
in the Singleton region. Joyce's spinster sister, Sarah, and brother, Methuselah, emigrated with
them. They are all buried at Whittingham cemetery just south of
Singleton. We can find no evidence of Methuselah marrying. Accordingly, we believe that it is unlikely that there are
any Thornton relatives from that generation in Australia.
Wheat
Helen Child Wheat married George Willgoose in Sheffield in 1852. Her son Herbert Henry Willgoose
emigrated to Australia, while they remained in England. However,
Helen's older brother, Mathew Henry Wheat, and his son, Benjamin Law
Wheat, migrated (independently or together, not sure which) to Sydney sometime between
1881 and 1886. Their descendants are concentrated in Sydney and
Canberra. Almost all Wheat's in Australia are descended from Benjamin.
Willgoose
The Willgoose's come from Derbyshire (Crich and Whitwell) and Sheffield
(and for a very short time Nottingham) in England. Herbert Henry
Willgoose emigrated to Sydney from Nottingham in 1884. He had been a
engine driver in Nottingham for 4 years, had met his wife (Thirza
Collinson) and they had their first child (my grandfather Arthur
Willgoose) there. After the death of his English
wife, Thirza, in Sydney he moved to Tenterfield and remarried, establishing what is the
"Willgoose" farm on the New England Highway just south of Tenterfield.
Descendants are scattered along the east coast of Australia. Another,
independently emigrated, group of Willgoose's are concentrated in the
Bombala region of NSW.
Photos from a Willgoose reunion in Matlock Bath (near Crich) in March, 2005 are
here.
Williams
Thomas Williams and his wife Charlotte (nee King) of
Cheddar, England emigrated to Sydney in 1857 and established themselves
as farmers in the Singleton region (Dargin Farm; First Creek, Glendon)
of the Hunter Valley. Williams is such a common name we have been
unable to track the family much further, though it seems reasonable
that some of the Williams in the Singleton region are related.
Last Updated October 2007
