Elizabeth (Bean) Shelley (1782 - 1878)

Born 31 Dec 1782 in Westminster, Middlesex, England

Ancestors

Wife of William James Shelley — married 7 Oct 1801 (to 1815) in St Johns Church of England, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 20 Sep 1878 at age 95 in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Elizabeth Bean was born 31 Dec 1782 in London, England and christened 10 Feb 1783 at St James Church, Westminster.

She was 16 when the family emigrated to Australia aboard HMS Buffalo, arriving in Sydney on 3 May 1799. The family lived on their 100 acre land grant at Castle Hill.

On 7 Oct 1801, 18 year old Elizabeth was married to 24 year old William Shelley by the Rev. Samuel Marsden at St John’s Church, Parramatta.

William Shelley was a member of the failed original London Missionary Society mission to Tonga in 1796 and in early 1801 left Sydney and joined the mission at Tahiti. He returned to Sydney to marry Elizabeth in October and they went together to Tahiti the next month. They returned to Sydney in the “Lucy” in April 1806.

William constructed a house adjacent to St John’s Park, Parramatta and in the out-houses on the grounds, William and Elizabeth would conduct the Parramatta Native Institution. The Parramatta Native Institution opened on 18 January 1815. But William died on 5 July 1815, leaving Elizabeth to carry on the work.

William Walker of the Wesleyan Mission Society, at ‘war’ with the established Anglican church and its chaplain to the colony, Reverend Marsden, found an ally in Macquarie’s replacement in 1821, Governor Brisbane, to whom he conveyed his vision for a large, thriving, self-sufficient settlement at Black Town with instruction in both agriculture and Christianity.

By the end of 1823 a large Mission House and chapel, six small cottages and some outbuildings had been built along the Richmond Road, to replace the Parramatta Native Institution. Elizabeth Shelley transferred there in her role as administrator, but relinquished her position in 1826.

Elizabeth was living at “Hanleyville”, which was a church property in Hunter St, Parramatta when she died on 20 Sep 1878, aged 95.

Elizabeth and William are buried together at St Johns, Parramatta.

They had 7 children:

1. Elizabeth Shelley b 1802 Tahiti - m Wesleyan minister Daniel James Draper 1839 Parramatta - no children - both died 11 Jan 1866 aboard the “London” when it foundered in the Bay of Biscay

2. Charles Shelley b 13 Feb 1803 Tahiti - d 22 Mar 1807 NSW, age 4

3. William Shelley b 1 Apr 1805 Tahiti - m Susannah Marsden Hassall (daughter of his father’s old friend) 8 Feb 1827 Parramatta - 8 children - d 13 Jan 1844 Goulburn - Susannah d 1890 Bowral

4. Lucy Emma Shelley b 29 Jun 1806 Parramatta - m Wesleyan missionary Rev Ralph Mansfield 5 Apr 1832, a widower with 4 children - had another 11 children together, 5 dying in infancy - Ralph turned to journalism & was editor of Sydney Morning Herald 1840-54, also a founder of Australian Gas Company and was its Secretary until just before his death in 1880 - Lucy d 5 Oct 1888 Burwood. Two of their sons were Mansfield Brothers, highly regarded architects

5. Mary Ann Shelley b 12 Dec 1810 Parramatta - m George Oakes 25 Mar 1837 Parramatta - 3 children - d 16 Nov 1865. George d 10 Aug 1881

6. George Shelley b 12 Oct 1812 Parramatta m Amelia Matilda Waddy 1 Sep 1835 - 8 children - they became the first squatters in the Tumut district and lived at the “Old Cottage” on the banks of the Goobraganbra River, Tumut Plains until moving to a new home on higher ground known originally as “The Plains”, but later called “Camelot” - one of their younger sons, Rowland Mansfield Shelley, took over at The Plains until 1907, was an alderman and Mayor of Tumut, a magistrate, warden of the Church of England and Master of the Masonic Lodge - George d 1 May 1852 Melbourne hospital, age 40 - Amelia d 1855 Tumut, age 38

7. Rowland John Shelley b 7 Dec 1814- m Maria Louisa Peters 3 Oct 1838 Tumut - d 4 Jan 1888

Sources

• Ancestry Family Trees (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.)

Birth & baptism

Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Christening Index, 1530-1980 Original data: Genealogical Society of Utah. British Isles Vital Records Index, 2nd Edition.

Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 Reference ID: 2:2M6NTKK, Original data: FamilySearch 2013England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975

Bean family arrival in Australia

New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849, Class: HO 10; Piece: 36

William & Elizabeth marriage

NSW BDM 502 / 1801 V1801502 3A

New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Marriages, 1790-1966 Reference Number: REG/COMP/1; Description: Vol 01, Baptisms, 1790-1825; Marriages, 1789-1823; Burials, 1790-1825; Parish: St. John's Anglican Church Parramatta

Death

NSW BDM 8788 / 1878

New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Burials, 1790-1986 Reference Number: REG/BUR/4; Description: Vol 04, 1839-1889; Parish: St. John's Anglican Church Parramatta^[1]

1. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/83168269/elizabeth-shelley: accessed March 12, 2024), memorial page for Elizabeth Bean Shelley (31 Dec 1782–20 Sep 1878), Find a Grave Memorial ID 83168269, citing St. John's Cemetery, Parramatta, City of Parramatta Council, New South Wales, Australia; Maintained by elizabeth (contributor 47692192).

• Elizabeth Bean 1782–1878 from the Australian Royalty website at: https://australianroyalty.net.au/individual.php?pid=I266&ged=purnellmccord.ged

• Elizabeth Bean from the Tree of Us website at: http://www.thetreeofus.net/5/157173.htm

• Elizabeth Shelley (Bean) on GENI at: https://www.geni.com/people/Elizabeth-Shelley/6000000012518193701

• Robert Motes family tree on OZIGEN - Australian Genealogy at: http://www.ozigen.com/

• Elizabeth BEAN 1782–1878 from the Mid North Coast Pioneers website at: http://stuart.scss.dyndns.info/FamilyTree/individual.php?pid=I12076&ged=Gregory-Hudson.ged