Mary (Hawkings) Farnsworth (1811 - 1856)

Born 1811 in Tywardreath, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Lee — married 25 Jul 1831 (to Jul 1841) in Tywardreath, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom

Wife of David Farnsworth — married 23 Oct 1854 (to 8 Nov 1856) in Avoca, Victoria, Australia

Descendants

Died 9 Nov 1856 at about age 45 in Avoca, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

Mary Hawkings was baptised on 1 Dec 1811 at Tywardreath, Cornwall. She was the daughter of Joseph Hawkings and Margery Daddow.^[1][2]

In the 1841 census, she was living at Church-town, Tywardreath as head of a household. She was 25 years old with no profession listed. With her were children Mary (9), Samuel (6), Elizabeth (4), Stephen (1), and Joseph (4 months). Also present in the next entry was her father, Joseph Hawkings (70), an agricultural labourer.^[3]

In the 1851 census, Mary was living at 106 North Street, Tywardreath. She was a widow, head of the household, aged 39, and a housekeeper. With her lived her two sons, Samuel (15), an agricultural labourer, and Stephen (11), an agricultural labourer.^[4]

By 1852 she had lost both her parents along with her husband and five children; this must have factored as a strong incentive to seek a new life abroad with her remaining children. She therefore travelled, at age 45, to Australia in 1852 on the Panama with her three children Mary Ann (age 21), Samuel (age 18, called Thomas on the passenger list), and Stephen (age 12, called William on the passenger list).^[5] The Panama, a 511-ton barque, had departed London on 27 Jun 1852, and arrived in Port Phillip on 11 Oct 1852.^[6] According to family legend, Irishman John King. future member and sole survivor of the ill-fated Burke & Wills Expedition, was also on the vessel and proposed to daughter Mary Ann, who had turned 21 on the voyage. Sadly, the likelihood of this being true is very slim, due to the known facts that King did not arrive in Australia until 1860^[7]. According to the family story, the mystery man gave Mary Ann a sewing box, which she later passed on to one of her daughters, supposedly Ettie.^[8] This was clearly a favourite story of the family's to tell, as Mary Ann's 1912 obituary insists that they travelled with Wills in a bullock cart all the way to Dalyenong Station, near St Arnaud.^[9] Again, this is almost certainly untrue, as Wills arrived in Williamstown in 1853, and went to Deniliquin.^[10]

In Victoria, she first took her family by "bullock cart" (see Obituary reference above) to her brother's property at Dalyenong Station. They later travelled to Avoca, where she married widower David Farnsworth in 1854^[11], and where her sons would establish themselves as farmers. Farnsworth had arrived 1840 in Port Phillip on the Orient, at age 28, and was widowed several times. He died in 1863^[12].

Farnsworth and Mary had one further child together, who died in infancy.^[13] Mary herself died just before her final child, leaving ultimately her 3 surviving children. Sadly, her son Samuel would succumb to tuberculosis in 1862, at age 27, without having married.

Her death registry states that Mary Hawkings died on the 9 Nov 1856 at Avoca. She was 45 years old, and died of fever, from which she had suffered for 15 days. Her father was Joseph "Hawkins" and her mother Margery. The informant was Thomas Farnsworth, son of the deceased [note that I am uncertain who this is as of writing]. She was born in Tywardreath, Cornwall, and had been in Australia for 4 years. She was married at Avoca at age 43 to David Farnsworth. Her children were listed as Joseph (12 months).^[14]

Her gravestone has not been definitively located as of writing. However, the stone marking the memorials for her husband David Farnsworth and her son Samuel Lee has one face that is so badly eroded as to be illegible. I consider it extremely likely that it once had an inscription to Mary Hawkings' memory.

The fourth face of this gravestone most likely contained a dedication to Mary Hawkings.

Children

Mary Hawkings had at least 8 children with her first husband, Thomas Lee. She had an additional son with her second husband, David Farnsworth. Only three of her children lived to adulthood.

1. Elizabeth (1831-1836)
2. Mary Ann (1832-1912)
3. Samuel Hawkings (1833-1835)
4. Samuel (1835-1862)
5. Elizabeth Hawkings (1837-1845)
6. Thomas (1838-1840)
7. Stephen Hawkings (1840-1876)
8. Joseph (1841-1842)
9. Joseph (1855-1856) [NB: Farnsworth]

Of all of Mary's children, only her daughter Mary Ann and her son Stephen produced grandchildren: in the former's case, 10, and in the latter's, only 1 grandson.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JMQD-N2N : 11 February 2018, Mary Hawkings, 01 Dec 1811); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 254,171.
2. ↑ "England, Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGLK-NG6R : 2 February 2018), Mary Hawkings, 1811.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1841," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQB9-YQS : 11 April 2019), Joseph Lee and Stephen Lee and Samuel Lee and Mary Lee and Mary Lee and Elizth Lee, Tywardreath, Cornwall, England; from "1841 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
4. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SG2Z-9N1 : 21 October 2017), Mary Lee, Tywardreath, Cornwall, England; citing Tywardreath, Cornwall, England, p. 35, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
5. ↑ Name: Mary Lee; Estimated Birth Year: abt 1807; Age: 45; Arrival Date: Oct 1852; Arrival Port: Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay, Australia; Departure Port: London; Ship: Panama; Nationality: English. Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839-1923. Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2009. Provo, UT, USA. (Series: VPRS 7666; Series Title: Inward Overseas Passenger Lists (British Ports) [Microfiche Copy of VPRS 947]).
6. ↑ SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1852, October 14). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 4. Retrieved April 27, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4787659
7. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_King_(explorer)
8. ↑ Family story; information obtained from Ancestry.com user Karen Danielsson, originally shared 5 Sep 2013; veracity unconfirmed
9. ↑ OBITUARY. (1912, October 16). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918), p. 3. Retrieved April 18, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89996186
10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Wills#Australia
11. ↑ Victorian marriage registry: 3580/1854. The Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages.
12. ↑ Victorian death register: 5700 / 1863
13. ↑ Victorian death registry: 5418/1856. The Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages.
14. ↑ Victorian death registry: 5418 / 1856. The Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages.