James De La Rue Snr. (1831 - 1893)

Born 19 Aug 1831 in Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Betts) De La Rue — married 18 Feb 1858 in Christs church, Geelong Colony of Victoria

Descendants

Died 1893 at about age 61 in Colac, Colony of Victoria

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Biography

James was born in 1831, the son of Thomas De La Rue and Tabitha Edwards.^[1]

His Parents:

Thomas & Tabitha had 11 children. Their dates of birth were as follows. The first nine of these were born in Surrey, England; the last two were born in Geelong, Australia.

James 19 Aug 1831-1893 Jane 1834 William 1836 Mary Maria 1838 Jemima 1840 Tabitha 1842 Martha 1842 (not listed on shipping register – may have died earlier) Thomas 1845 (no records in Victoria after ship arrival) Daniel Charles 1848 Robert William 1849 (approx) John 1852

James, parents and siblings emigrated to Australia on the Caroline Agnes in 1849.^[2]

In 1858, James de la Rue married Sarah Betts in the Colony of Victoria.^[3]

He married Sarah Betts on February 18, 1858, in Christs Church, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. He died on October 3, 1893, in Colac, Victoria, Australia, at the age of 62. Buried in the Colac cemetry on the 4th Oct.

Arrived in Aus as a 17 year old on the Caroline Agnes with both parents and siblings. 8 children on the ship, as assisted migrants. They arrived in the Colac - Otway area in 1868 from Germantown. Became a farmer and had 15 children. Died of stomach cancer which he had for 9 months and exhaustion. Was a 17 yr old plasterer (ships record), carter (marriage cert) and labourer. Church of England religion. Lived at Paraparap near moriac before Yeo. Was paying rates for dwelling and 150 acres at Yeo from 1869 - 1876. Moved back to Geelong area in 1882. He passed away in 1893, aged 62.^[4]

The name “De La Rue”

The name is French in origin (meaning “of the street” or “of the road”). In the original French it is spelled “de la Rue”; today it is also often spelled as one word in English-speaking countries. Other alternative spellings found include “De La Rew”, “De La Roux” and ”De La Reu”. Some of these variations may be due to varying levels of literacy. Then there is the question of the relationship to “La Rue” and “Rue”. (In some countries, prefixes like “de la” are sometimes ignored.)

The name appears in France, and has also been on the Channel Islands (particularly Guernsey) for some time. There are suggestions that the name may have either noble or Huguenot associations, and that it arrived in England from France as early as the late 11th century. An alternative version of a De La Rue family tree included in Lorna Houseman’s book The House that Thomas Built states that the first recorded appearance of the name in Guernsey was a land grant from a Danish king in the 12th century.

Richard de la Rue (who has commented below) reported recently that the De La Rue Company presented a family tree at an exhibition a few decades ago which included research into the origins of the name in Guernsey. This research reported that there are two distinct families on Guernsey, the latest of which came to the island as Huguenot exiles in the 16th century from the Limoges area of France. He reports that the earliest known record of the name in Guernsey dates back to a document of 1179. Richard also wrote:

“A few years ago [2001], La Société Guernesiaise assisted University College London (UCL) and the BBC in a project called ‘The Blood of the Vikings’ in which they traced the reach of the Vikings according to the DNA in each long lived family in Guernsey. (It made pretty dull TV.) The Viking gene shows up as a particular type of the male chromosome and they tested this against one representative of each old Guernsey family. I had the privilege of being the representative for the De La Rues and was told that I had a gene commonly found in Norway; thus I think this points to me belonging to the older De La Rue family dating back to 1179 rather than the lot that came from southern-central France. All very tenuous I know, but when people ask me how long I have lived in Guernsey, I like the romance of replying that I’ve been here for 800 years!”

No more information is currently available. Can you add to this biography?

Sources

• http://delarue.net/blog/stuff/de-la-rue/

1. ↑ DoB based on age at DoD
2. ↑ Public Records Office of Victoria - Search Terms: DE LA RUE - Ship: CAROLINE AGNES - Date Arrived: 1848 to 1850

   Family name	Given name	Age	Ship	Date arrived	Book no.	Page
   DE LA RUE	THOMAS	39	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	TABITHA	36	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	JAMES	17	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	JANE	15	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	WILLIAM	13	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	MARY	10	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	JEMIMA	8	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	TABITHA	7	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	THOMAS	4	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118
   DE LA RUE	DANIEL	1	CAROLINE AGNES	1849-07	4A	118

3. ↑ Victorian marriage registration 1858: 00132,F,Betts,Sarah,De La Rue,James,, 1858: 00132,M,De La Rue,James,Betts,Sarah,,
4. ↑ Victorian death registration 1893: 13712,M,De-La Rue,James,Thomas,Edwards Tabitha,Colac,62,

• Beattie family history records
• Births deaths marriages Vic
• Aust marriage index
• Vic Assisted and unassisted passenger lists 1839 - 1923
• Victoria wills and probate records 1841 - 2009