James Fenton II (1820 - 1901)

Born 30 Nov 1820 in Dunlavin, County Wicklow, Ireland

Husband of Helena Mary Ann (Monds) Fenton — married 27 May 1846 in Port Sorell, Van Diemen's land, now Tasmania, Australia

Descendants

Died 24 Jun 1901 at age 80 in 69 Balfour Street, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

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Biography

JAMES FENTON (II) (Fenton-1613)

PARENTS. James Fenton (I) & Martha (Coates) Fenton

BIRTH. 30 Nov 1820, Dunlavin, County Wicklow, Ireland

IMMIGRATION. On the OTHELLO. 430 tons, Master Leggett. Departed Liverpool 26/27 Aug 1833. Arrived Hobart Town 18 Feb 1834.

IMMIGRATION. The ship Othello, 404 tons, Capt. Legett, arrived on Tuesday from Liverpool 27th Aug. with goods. - Passengers Messrs. Murphy, Bryan (2), Grace, Croker, Mrs. Fenton and 6 children, Miss Sarah Rawson, with 104 in the steerage. The Othello was struck by lightning on the night of the 19th Sept, in lat. 10½ degrees N. long. 22¼ west. Jury masts were afterwards got up and the vessel arrived at Rio on the 29th Oct. having sailed 3145 miles since the disaster, the distance in a direct course being 2424 miles. Among the passengers by the Othello, are 2 farmers, 1 mason, 2 millwrights, 2 tanners, 1 chandler, 2 builders, 1 soap boiler, 1 nailer and 4 young women, namely, Janet McIntosh, Jane McKendrick, Harriet and Johanna Fitzgerald.

IMMIGRATION. Tas Gov Archives: Arrival on the Othello:

Name: Fenton, James

Record Type: Arrivals

Arrival date: 18 Feb 1834

Ship: Othello

Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:420790

Resource CSO1/1/702/15368

MARRIAGE. 27 May 1846, Congregational Chapel, River Forth, VDL (Tasmania), Australia

MARRIAGE. 27 May 1846, Helena Mary Ann Monds, daughter of Thomas Monds (1797-1838) & Mary Ann (Carden) Monds ^[1]

MARRIAGE. 27 May 1846

Name: Monds, Helen Mary Ann

Record Type: Marriages

Gender: Female

Age: Minor

Spouse: Fenton, James

Gender: Male

Age: Adult

Date of marriage: 27 May 1846

Registered: Port Sorell

Registration year: 1846

Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:834330

Resource RGD37/1/5 no 548

Children:

(1) Helena Fenton, b. 4 Aug 1847, d. 25 Oct 1913, m. 28 Sep 1866, Henry Owen Taylor Friend, son of Charles Friend & Frances Charlotte (Sutton) Friend

(2) Charles Benjamin Monds Fenton, b. 25 Nov 1849, d. 1 Sep 1908, m. 19 Apr 1869, Rebecca Elizabeth Ditcham, daughter of ??

(3) Flora Australis Fenton, b. 16 Dec 1852, d. 7 Apr 1932, m. 8 Sep 1875, Magnus Medwin Smith, son of George Jackson Smith & Fanny Louisa (Burgess) Smith

(4) Alberta Laura Fenton, b. abt. 1855, River Forth, d. 11 Jun 1907, m. 22 Dec 1900, William Hirstwood, son of ??

Death of Spouse: 10 Aug 1892, (pneumonia) Lenna, Brisbane-street, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

Death of Spouse: FENTON.-On 10th August, at her residence, Lenna, Brisbane-street, Launceston, Helen Mary Ann, dearly loved wife of James Fenton, aged 61 years.

Funeral of Spouse: The funeral of the late Mrs FENTON will leave her late residence, Brisbane-street, on Friday, the 12th Inst., at 3 o'clock. Frlends are invited to attend. Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) Thursday 11 August 1892, p1 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/39470847

DEATH. 24 Jun 1901, 69 Balfour Street, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

DEATH. FENTON. — On the 24th June, at his late residence, Balfour-street, Launceston, James Fenton, in the 81st year of his age.

FUNERAL. The funeral of the late Mr. James Fenton will leave his late residence, 69 Balfour-street, on Wednesday, 26th inst., at 10 a.m., for the General Cemetery. — HILLS, Undertaker.

BURIAL. Charles Street Cemetery, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

OBITUARY. MR. JAMES FENTON. ^[2] Mr. James Fenton, one of the best-known pioneers of Tasmania, passed away at his residence, 69 Balfour-street, at 10 a.m. yesterday. Deceased who was born at Dunlavin, in Ireland, on November 20, 1820, was in his 81st year. He was the fourth and only surviving son of James Fenton, a large landholder, and captain in the local militia in the county of Wicklow, Ireland.

He received a few years' education at Elton Boarding School, a large scholastic institution conducted by the Rev. W. Wesley Harris, M.A. It was here the subject of this notice acquired his first taste for literature. The national poet, Thos. Moore, stayed occasionally in the vicinity, and it was at this place that he composed "The Meeting of the Waters." Although only 12 years of age, the young schoolboy took every chance of studying this and Moore's other productions.

At about this period he was called home with his brothers, preparatory to the removal of the family to Tasmania. The disturbed condition of Ireland had been a continued source of trouble to his father, and he was always dreading an outbreak, with a repetition of the unhappy scenes of 1798. At length he decided to sell out his landed interests and leave his native country.

In September, 1833, the family embarked in an emigration ship for Hobart, but before they were out of sight of land the father succumbed to inflammation, resultant upon violent sea-sickness. His remains were committed to the deep in the Bay of Biscay.

A series of mishaps occurred during the voyage, an account of which reads like a sensational romance. Dismasted and crippled, the vessel put into Rio de Janeiro to refit, and James Fenton, then 13 years of age, improved the opportunity by visiting with his elder brothers all the public places in and around the city, the ships of many nations in the spacious harbour, the gorgeous churches and cathedrals during high masses and celebrations, the imposing burial services, and the curious chambers set apart for the remains of the illustrious dead.

The ship was still in the harbour on the birthday of the Emperor Pedro II., who was then a youth eight years of age. As English visitors, the boys were permitted to enter the palace and observe many of the ceremonies which took place on that occasion.

When the ship reached her destination a relative of the family met them and escorted them ashore. The ten passengers, including the mother, three girls, a lady niece, and a male and female servant, clad in deep mourning, proceeded to the Derwent Hotel, where they remained for a short time.

When the family removed to the country, James became a boarder at Mr. Giblin's school, New Town. At the age of 17 (1837) he went to reside with a brother-in-law at Middle Plain, in the district of Deloraine. At that time the main road from Launceston to Deloraine was merely a bush track through a marsh, and was impassable in the winter.

Mr. Fenton took part in the first clearing, ploughing, and reaping at Middle Plain, the town of Deloraine consisting then of one cottage and boasting one inhabitant. In 1839 Mr. Fenton removed to Port Sorell, where he cultivated some land on the eastern side of the water. Again in March, 1840, he removed to and finally settled down at the River Forth, where he had purchased two blocks of land of 320 and 640 acres each.

At this time there was not another settler in the district of West Devon. There were no roads. The nearest P.O. was at Westbury, and there, too, was the nearest police office. In 1846 Mr. Fenton married the daughter of the late Mr. T. Monds, a colonist of 1822. During the first few years Mr. Fenton had to endure great hardships at the Forth. He had to clear 13 miles of road to the Mersey, at Frogmore, and on his first visit to the Forth had to construct a canoe to cross the river.

Sometimes he travelled on foot to this city, and encountered many risks in crossing the flooded rivers. There was not a single inhabitant from Frogmore to the Mersey Heads, where sometimes he had to camp all night in the absence of a boat in which to cross over.

With the discovery of coal at the Don and Tarleton population began to flow towards the north coast, and many families settled on the fine agricultural lands of West Devon. In 1854 a P.O. was established near Port Sorell, and about the same period a By-roads Act was passed, trustees were elected, and rates levied.

Mr. Fenton took an active part in laying out the roads of the district. He was a member and chairman of the Road Trust for many years, and in 1865 was chairman of the local Board of Works. He held this appointment until the board was dissolved, ten years later. In 1856 Mr. Fenton was appointed a territorial J.P., at which time a police office was established at the Mersey. He was also a member of the Mersey Marine Board.

In 1879 he left the N.W. Coast to reside in Launceston. Mr. Fenton has been "an occasional contributor to the Tasmanian newspapers for the past 62 years, and was at one time editor of the "Daily Telegraph." In 1884 he published his "History of Tasmania," and in 1886 compiled an interesting volume, "The Life of the Rev. Charles Price." In 1891 "Bush Life in Tasmania Fifty Years Ago" completed his literary works in book form, though he has since written many valuable articles to the press.

Mr. Fenton leaves three daughters—Mrs. Hirstwood, Mrs. Magnus Smith, and Mrs. H. O. T. Friend—and one son—Mr. C. B. M. Fenton, residing on the N.W. Coast.

WILL OF JAMES FENTON.

(Jun 1915). LAUNCESTON PRACTICE COURT. INTERPRETATION OF A WILL. LAUNCESTON, June 18. In the Practice Court at Launceston to-day, before Mr. Justice Crisp, certain questions involving the trusts of the will of the late James Fenton, gentleman, of Launceston, who died on June 24, 1901, were submitted by the executors for the consideration of the Judge.

By his will the testator devised all his real and personal estate to his trustees on trust, directing them to let his real estate, known as the Milton estate, and out of the net rents to pay £2 5s. per week to his daughter, Alberta Laura Fenton, and directed the trustees to divide the remainder into five equal parts, to pay two equal parts to his daughter Helena (wife of H. O. T. Friend), two-fifths to his daughter Flora (wife of Magnus Smith), and the remaining fifth to the unmarried daughters of Flora and Magnus Smith.

The testator further directed that in the event of his daughter Helena dying before both or either of her sisters, one half of her share of the net income should be paid to her husband- H. O. T. Friend- and the other to the testator's son (C. B. M. Fenton), or he being dead, to his widow (Rebecca Fenton).

The questions presented for the Court's determination were-

(1) Did the testator die intestate as to the fifth part of the net income of the Milton estate payable to Henry Owen Taylor Friend during his lifetime, or does the same pass to Rebecca Fenton under the provisions of the codicil to the testator's will?

(2) Whether the fifth part of the rents of the Milton estate payable to the unmarried daughters of Flora and Magnus Smith is payable to all the daughters who were unmarried at testator's death, or only to such of them as are from time to time unmarried at the time of the yearly distribution of such result.

The matter was argued by Mr. G. W. Waterhouse on behalf of the trustees, and Mr. W. Tynan on behalf of Rebecca Fenton, widow of the late Mr. C. B. M. Fenton.

His Honor reserved his decision, and agreed to make an order that the costs of the application should come out of the estate.

(Jul 1915). INTERPRETING A WILL. DANGER OF TECHNICAL TERMS. DECISION BY JUDGE CRISP. The following is the decision of Mr. Justice Crisp on questions arising out of the will of the late Mr. James Fenton, of Launceston, historian, who died on June 24, 1901. Arguments took place in the Practice Court at Launceston on the 18th ult.

(1) I agree with the view taken by both parties that the gift of one-fifth share of the rents of "Milton" estate, given to Henry Owen Taylor Friend, passed only a life interest. The question then arisen, what becomes of this one-fifth interest on Henry Owen Taylor Friend's death: does it pass to Rebecca Fenton, who in the codicil is named as the residuary legatee, or is there an intestacy? The testator, it must be acted, appointed Rebecca Fenton his residuary legatee, who is to receive what may remain of money in the hands of my trustees, not otherwise disposed of in my will or any codicil thereto," and the difficulty is that the rents are here, of course, the proceeds of real estate.

Now, although Rebecca Fenton is named as residuary legatee only, there are many cases where such an appointment has been held to confer on the person so named the testator's residuary real as well as personal estate. Everything depends on the construction of the particular will. If there are words that plainly show that the testator meant the gift to be exhaustive, then the courts have not been slow to give effect to that clearly expressed intention. These cases, so far as they are useful (and they are only useful in so far is they lay down the principle to be followed), are collected in Underhill and Strahan (1900 edition), page 271, and in Jarman (sixth edition), page 1015, etc.

In this case I think the testator has shown a sufficiently clear intention to confer on Rebecca Fenton all his property not specifically disposed of. Under his will he has left his residuary estate, both real and personal, to be applied by his trustees in such manner as he shall direct them, either in writing or verbally. In point of fact, except so far as he did so by his codicil, he never made any such direction, and he must have known that fact when, some 15 months later, he made the codicil and appointed Rebecca Fenton his residuary legatee. In making the appointment he used words very akin to the residuary clause of the will. "What may remain of my estate," is the language of the residuary clause of the will. "What may remain of moneys in the hands of my trustee," is that of the codicil.

In fine, the testator by his will thought of and provided for his residuary estate-it was to go in such manner as he should direct his trustees; then when he makes his codicil, with the above-mentioned direction still to be given to the trustees, he supplies the deficiency; he gives the direction, and I cannot think that he intended to give a direction as to the disposal of his residuary personalty only.

In answer question 1 as follows:-That Rebecca Fenton takes the one-fifth part of the net income of "Milton" estate, under the provisions of the codicil.

Question 2 is whether the one-fifth part of the rents of the "Milton" estate payable to the unmarried daughters of the said Flora and Magnus Medwin Smith is payable to all the daughters of the said Flora and Magnus Medwin Smith, who were unmarried at the testator's death, or only to such of them as are from time to time unmarried at the time of the yearly distribution of such rent.

It was urged upon me that the testator obviously intended a provision for unmarried daughters for the time being. I cannot see any such obviously expressed intention. All the testator says is:--"I give one-fifth to the unmarried daughters of Flora and Magnus Smith, share and share alike," and there is no other part of the will or the codicil which throws light on this gift. I think I am bound by authority to hold that the class of unmarried daughters is to be ascertained at the testator's death. (See Jubber v, Jubber, 9 Sim., 503; Hall v. Robertson, 4 De. G., M., and G., 781; and Blagrove v. Goore, 27 DBac., 138.)

In the first-mentioned of these three cases there was a gift of the use of property, including rents, to a widow, for the benefit of herself and her unmarried children, for so long us she should live. Even here Sir Lancelot Shadwell held that the term "unmarried" was designatio personarum, and "that once the child was entitled to participate in the fund by filling the character of an unmarried child, he will not lose that right if he subsequently married. Jarman (sixth edition), page 1286, says that where the income of property is given to a wife for the benefit of herself and her unmarried children, it might be supposed that the children unmarried for the time being were intended; but the author then refers to Jubber v. Jubber, where, as above mentioned, V. C. Shadwell decided otherwise. Order accordingly.

Reserve liberty to apply. Costs of all parties to be paid out of one-fifth payable to Henry Owen Taylor Friend, and the one-fifth payable to the unmarried daughters, costs to be pooled, and each one-fifth to pay half. Certify for counsel. Mr. G. W. Waterhouse appeared for the trustees, and Mr. W. Tynan for Mrs. Rebecca Fenton, of Ulverstone, the widow of the late C. B. M. Fenton, deceased.

Settling new country was seen as a heroic act by the early Europeans in Australia, and there were few more heroic in that mould than James Fenton of the Forth.

He was brought out on the Othello by his father, James Fenton snr., who was following his cousin Michael to Van Diemen’s Land. The “Fighting Fentons” (as they charmingly called themselves) were Protestants from Ireland, their family of French ancestry. Michael had served in India and Burma before coming to Van Diemen’s Land in 1828, and reported very favourably of it. They left Liverpool in 1833; James snr. died at sea. James jnr. and his mother and brothers arrived in Hobart Town in February 1834.

Soon after, the eldest sister had married and taken up land on the north coast, west of the Tamar. Visiting, James took great interest in the country further west, which was still covered in heavy timber, an intricate ecosystem of wet sclerophyll. Anywhere with slightly less forest had been taken by the Van Diemen’s Land Company. Yet in 1840, James Fenton delved into the depths of this country, and bought a thousand cheap acres from the government on the Forth River. He was the only settler in the district; the nearest civilisation was about eighty kilometres away.

Fenton’s technique of land management was unique and innovative. In 1846, now in his mid-twenties, he married Helena Mary Monds, the sister of successful settler capitalist Thomas Monds. (Fenton and Monds would go into business in the 1850s, exporting palings to Victoria for accommodation on the burgeoning goldfields.) They were exposed to threats: for example, when the felonious personalities Dalton and Kelly appeared off the beach near the mouth of the Forth.

Gradually, other settlers entered the region. Fenton had helped and housed explorers such as Nathaniel Lipscombe Kentish as they tried to push back the unknown parts of the region. In the 1850s, settlements pushed further west than Fenton had, adopting his system of ring-barking old growth trees and burning the undergrowth. Fenton’s techniques became the model for the new pioneer community living on the north-west coast.

Removing the forests had revealed surprisingly rich, ruby-coloured basaltic soil, ideal for farming. Berry bushes and fruit trees were planted; Fenton later confessed to have introduced blackberries to that part of Tasmania. “I trust the gentle reader will not throw up the book when he discovers that the writer…was one of the miscreants who inflicted the blackberry plague on the district,” he worries in his Bush Life in Tasmania, which today remains a wonderful read on the European settlement of the Forth country.

Of course, we know that Fenton’s career in Forth country wrought irrevocable changes. He notes in his pioneering memoir that although a previous explorer had frequently seen emus, he never saw a single one. Henry Hellyer had been able to ‘rout’ emus, Fenton reflects, almost constantly. “It is a very singular fact that those emus have all disappeared from some unknown cause.” It seems almost wilful naiveté to us.

Fenton briefly left the Forth to try his hand at the Victorian goldfields in 1852, but returned quickly, and didn’t leave again until 1879, deeming himself too old for farming. He retired with his wife to Launceston and began to write. A drawing of James Fenton in this time of retirement – in his late sixties – shows him with thick features, kind eyes, and a mighty beard.

James Fenton and Helena Mary Monds had three daughter, and one son, Charles Monds, who opened a store at Forth in 1869: a sign of the times, of the development of the region and the growth in settler population there less than three decades after his father had adventurously decided to move there.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography says of James Fenton jnr. (1820-1901) that “the beautiful farm lands carved out of the north-coast forests are his best monument.” Looking out of the patchwork of poppies, potatoes and pyrethrum, the apples and cherries and carrots, all the cows and sheep, one can read the land in a variety of ways. Ultimately, they are the remembered and recorded map of this era of intense change of landscape management on the island. http://www.storytellerspinks.com/fieldguide/tag/rivers

Hundreds of Tasmanians up and left when gold was first struck in the Victorian goldfields in 1851 – men of every stripe and occupation, suddenly making an exodus from the island, crossing the strait to try their luck in looking for colour.

It was yet another economic setback for Tassie, although some on the north-west coast made good selling shingles and laths for the booming populations to shelter themselves in ramshackle accommodations all across the goldfields.

In February 1852 a pioneer farmer from the north-west named James Fenton left his family and took off for Melbourne on the Sea Witch. Some of his fellow-passengers, he noted, were successful diggers who had come back to Tasmania in order to make purchases or retrieve possessions, such as horses, to bring back to the goldfields. Fenton, a Congregationalist and teetotaller, frowned upon their roughness and the lack of class with which they were employing their newfound wealth. Their conversations were lubricated with rum, and they argued the merits or otherwise of prospective gold sites in Victoria. Tempers flared without warning. One ruffian started a fistfight with another fellow after taking offence to the style of his hat.

Some had come back to Tasmania to reunite with lovers and bring them to the diggings. Fenton recorded one such mistress, “one of the most hideous-looking women that ever escaped strangulation in those days of the hempen noose”. She had been draped in expensive fabrics and laden with jewellery. Her cheeks, too, glowed red with the influence of an intoxicant.

Good luck to that blessèd couple, perhaps. A more miserable story of ill-fated romance emerged from the Sea Witch, however. One digger had secreted his paramour in the hold of the ship; she was a convict, and not able to freely transport herself off the island, so her plucky lover was smuggling her in a crate. It was nailed shut, but the fellow had left enough holes in the box for her to breathe, as well as a supply of food and water to last the journey’s duration. Sadly, as further cargo was thrown onto the ship, the case that carried this young prisoner of the Crown was covered with a large quantity of hay. She suffocated, and her body was discovered dead when the ship arrived at Melbourne.

Of course, for every bastard that got lucky and was able to doll up their women and use £5 notes to light those biddies’ cigarettes, there were dozens that stood around up their ’nads in freezing water, sluicing and panning to no avail. A better career path was selling booze to the hordes, or exporting shingles across Bass Strait. James Fenton himself returned after a short while, and went back to the farm. http://www.storytellerspinks.com/fieldguide/14100384

James Fenton (1820–1901) was the first settler at Forth, introduced ringbarking to clear the forest and gained wealth from shipping timber to Melbourne. He wrote A History of Tasmania (1884), a biography of Charles Price (1886) and Bush Life in Tasmania 1891). Further reading: P Fenton, James Fenton of Forth, Melbourne, 2001. http://historyofdonegal.com/2014/01/22/culdaff-connection-with-half-hanged-mcnaughton/

Sources

1. ↑ Tasmanian Exhibition of 1891-92, Launceston Family Album Project: http://www.launcestonfamilyalbum.org.au/detail/1030468/thomas-wilkes-monds
2. ↑ Tasmanian Exhibition of 1891-92, Launceston Family Album Project: http://www.launcestonfamilyalbum.org.au/detail/1030850/james-fenton

• Immigration: The Hobart Town Courier (Tas. : 1827 - 1839) Friday 21 February 1834, p3 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4187268

• Tas Gov Archives: Arrival on the Othello: http://bit.ly/1ZGUL69

• Marriage: https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-5p309j2k

• Death & Funeral Notices: Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Tuesday 25 June 1901, p1 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/35404686

• Obituary: Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Tuesday 25 June 1901, p7 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/35404732

• (Jun 1915). Interpreting a Will: The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Saturday 19 June 1915, p8 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/10417855

• (Jul 1915). Interpreting a Will: Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954) Saturday 3 July 1915, p8 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/50823239