Eliza (Farley) McRae (1832 - 1903)

Born 1832 in Devon, England, United Kingdom

Wife of Duncan McRae — married 25 Sep 1855 in Maitland, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 25 Dec 1903 at about age 71 in Boolambayte, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Eliza was born at Bridgetown, Devon, England, and christened in Berry Pomeroy on 8 April 1832.^[1] She was the daughter of an agricultural labourer, John Farley and Sarah Coleman. Eliza emigrated to Australia from Berry Pomeroy, Devon, with her parents and six of her siblings at the age of nine on the barque London, arriving in Sydney on 18 March 1842.^[2]

Eliza lived with her family in the Stroud district, where her father worked as a shepherd for the Australian Agricultural Company. On 25 September 1855, in Maitland, she married Duncan McRae, a resident of Portland Head with family in the Stroud district.^[3] In 1856 Duncan and his brother Christopher opened a general store in Stroud.^[4] Duncan and Eliza’s first five children—Donald, John, Angus, Allan and Christopher—were born between 1856 and 1863 at Stroud. In about 1863 the family moved to the Myall Lakes, where Duncan worked as a sawmill proprietor and their children Janet, Duncan, Alexander, Ellen and Alpin were born. Eliza gave birth to her youngest child, Archibald, in Sydney, where the family resided in 1873-1880. The family returned to the Myall Lakes and lived at Boolambayte^[5] and possibly Barrington, where Duncan died in 1899^[6].

After her husband’s death, Eliza returned to Boolambayte where she took out a conditional purchase on 90 acres of land in 1900.^[7] She died in Boolambayte in 1903 and was buried at Bulahdelah Cemetery^[8].

Sources

1. ↑ Eliza put ‘Bridgetown, Devon’ as her place of birth on all her children’s birth certificates. Her christening record can be found at "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J36J-F91 : 19 March 2020), Eliza Farley, 1832.
2. ↑ PA Pemberton, Pure Merinos and Others: The shipping lists of the Australian Agricultural Company, p. 60. John Farley, age 34, is one of 21 shepherds listed in the passenger list of the London. See AACo records, 1/19/DK/75a–c, Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU.
3. ↑ NSW marriage registration, Duncan Mc Rae, Eliza Farley, 419/1855 V1855419 82.
4. ↑ Duncan’s occupation is Storekeeper on his children’s birth certificates in 1856 to 1863. Empire (Sydney), 2 Sept 1857, p. 6 refers to the brothers as ‘Our storekeepers … Messrs McCrae’.
5. ↑ See, for example, NSW marriage certificate, Alexander McRae and Emily Agnes Ward, 7070/1892, which notes the wedding was conducted at the ‘house of Duncan McRae, Boolambayte’.
6. ↑ NSW death certificate, Duncan McRae, 1287/1899
7. ↑ County of Gloucester, Parish of Bulahdelah, portion 82 (60ac, cat. No. 312, G313, CP00-7) and portion 109 (30ac, cat no 2928, G2928, CP00-7). See NSW Government Gazette, 9 May 1900 p. 3615.
8. ↑ NSW death certificate, Eliza McRae, 3291/1904

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49766547/eliza-mcrae: accessed 03 December 2022), memorial page for Eliza Farley McRae (1832–25 Dec 1903), Find a Grave Memorial ID 49766547, citing Bulahdelah General Cemetery, Bulahdelah, Mid-Coast Council, New South Wales, Australia; Maintained by Frontierkoala (contributor 50543487)