Charles Lee (1808 - 1892)

Born 25 Apr 1808 in Croydon, Surrey, England

Husband of Mary (Eagan) Lee — married 8 Jan 1851 in Tumut, NSW Australia

Descendants

Died 20 Dec 1892 at age 84 in Gilmore Creek near Tumut, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Charles was born in 1808. He was the son of Ambrose Lee Mary Breacher He was christened 20th May 1808 in Saint John The Baptist, Croydon, Surrey, England^[1]

Charles Lee is a man of mystery. The first solid fact we have of him is his marriage in 1851 and we cannot be certain about his earlier life. He always claimed to have “come free” from England but there is no evidence of that.

There are two Australian birth records that may be relevant: Charles R Lee born to single mother Charlotte in 1829 at Parramatta and Charles Lee born in Hobart in 1828. But if either of these was “our” Charles Lee, it would make him 64-65 when he died, rather than the 84 stated by his daughter.

The Monaro Pioneer Database suggests he may have been the Mr Lee who arrived in Sydney as a first class passenger aboard the George Home in 1827. Also aboard was steerage passenger John Jefferey, and this is cited as the start of an acquaintance that saw the two families become so entwined later.

Incidentally, other first class passengers aboard were the ship’s owner Mr Powis and Mr & Mrs Wyndham, the George Wyndham who would buy Annandale in the Hunter Valley, rename it Dalwood and start the wine industry there. His name is continued in the Wyndham Estate Wines.

But it seems unlikely that a first class gentleman passenger who mixed with the likes of George Wyndham would end up a humble “cocky” farmer. And it was usual for ex-convicts to simply deny their past and claim they had “come free”.

His death certificate gives his age and his father’s name, while the church record of his marriage, the first document that we know is definitely related to him, gives his origin as Croydon, England.

So it is almost certain that he was the Charles Lee who was born on 25 April 1808 and christened on 20 May 1808 at Saint John The Baptist, Croydon, Surrey, England. His parents were Ambrose Lee & Mary Breacher, married 27 September 1807 at Beddington, Surrey, England. His death certificate confirms his age and his father’s name.

This Charles Lee may have been the one who was sentenced at the Surrey Southwark Quarter Session in London in 1826, aged 18, to 6 months for larceny; he was certainly the Charles Lee convicted in the same court on 14 July 1829, at age 21, for stealing harness. This time he was sentenced to transportation for Life.

After being held at one of the prison hulks at Portsmouth for a month, he and 199 other convicts were put aboard the Sarah on 15 August 1829 and sailed on 22 August. One prisoner died on the voyage but all others were landed in robust health. The Sarah arrived at Sydney on 6 Dec 1829 and a muster was held on board on 10 Dec 1829 by Colonial Secretary Alexander McLeay.

Charles was assigned to Cornelius O’Brien, a pioneer of the Illawarra district, who had established Bulli as a pastoral property and in 1822 constructed the new line of road to the area from Appin. O’Brien eventually had land grants at Bulli, Austinmer, Figtree, Koonawarra and Mount Kembla. In the absence of a police magistrate for the district in 1834 “William Nairn Gray, P.M., and Cornelius O'Brien dealt with the cases, one fellow being Mr O'Brien's own servant, duly received 50 lashes."

In 1833, Cornelius O’Brien’s brother Henry made over to him 100 acres adjoining his property Douro, on the Yass Plains, now known as the Cooma Estate. Cornelius eventually moved to Yass, selling his Illawarra land in 1836. Presumably, convict worker Charles Lee went with him.

Coincidentally, there was another convict Charles Lee of the same age who was also assigned to Cornelius O’Brien at Illawarra and who must also have gone to Yass. This Charles had arrived on 16 November 1832, aboard the Parmelia, age 24 (convicted at Lancaster Assizes on 3 March 1832 and transported for Life). He gained a Conditional Pardon on 31 December 1847 and married Mary Coar at Yass in 1852. He later spent four months at the Liverpool Asylum for the Destitute from May 1885 at the age of 77.

“Our” Charles Lee was granted a Conditional Pardon 46 / 312 on 23 May 1846.

Charles, newly free at Yass, took up an offer of work at Tumut and helped construct the first bridge over the Tumut River, the Foord & Anderson bridge built in 1847. He gradually progressed from labourer to farmer, probably by taking up a licence to grow wheat on a portion of the Wyangle station.

Charles, aged 43, married 18 year old Irish servant Mary Eagan (Egan) on 8 January 1851. Both were able to sign their names. Mary's sister Bridget also married on the same day. They were staunch Catholics and there was no Catholic church in Tumut, so the reason they married on the same day is probably because the ceremonies were a nuptual mass conducted by a visiting priest at a public building such as the court house.

Charles and Mary were to have 9 children before Mary's tragic final pregnancy.

1. Rachel Lee, born 1851 at Tumut , married James Sheppard 1878 at Tumut and died 1923 at Tumut.

2. John Lee born 1852 at Wyangle, married Louisa Jane Jeffrey 1880 and died 1940 at Uranquinty.

3. Charles Lee (Jnr) born 1855 at Tumut, married Lila Robinson and died 1932 at Adelong.

4. Mary A Lee born 1857 at Tumut, married Edward King 1881 at Tumut and died 1932 at Adelong.

5. Elizabeth Lee born 1859 at Tumut, married Frederick Jeffrey, the brother of Richard Manton Jeffrey whose daughter Louisa would marry Elizabeth’s older brother John the next year – Elizabeth’s niece by marriage, Louisa also became her sister-in-law. Elizabeth died 1941 at Tumut.

6. Henry Lee born 1861 at Tumut and died 1940 at Uranquinty

7. Catherine Lee born 1862 at Bombowlee. In 1882 at Tumut she married Abraham Kershaw, whose sister Elizabeth married Richard Manton Jeffrey – Catherine’s sister-in-law was her brother John’s mother-in-law and her sister Elizabeth’s second sister-in-law. Catherine died 1948 at Blowering Rd, Tumut

8. Rebecca Lee born in 1865 at Tumut and at the age of 61 married Norman Baird in 1926 at Sydney. She died at Parramatta in 1953, aged 98

9. William Lee was born in 1867 at Tumut and died tragically at the age of 12 months, after upsetting his father Charles’ boiling shaving water over himself.

By 1864 Charles was recorded as a Farmer at Wyangle and he was known as “Cockatoo Charlie".

In 1866 he sold two allotments in Tumut township, one of which he had bought at a Crown Land sale in 1855, the other granted to him in 1860, apparently neither of which he had built on. With the proceeds he acquired 40 acres of land on Conditional Purchase at “Brungle.” It is probable that this was an extension to his existing property – Bombowlee, Killimicat and Wyangle being adjacent localities to the north east of Tumut on the Wee Jasper road and Brungle road, so a property about 15km out of town could be labelled as belonging to any of them.

And it is unlikely that he would have been able to build a house and sow / harvest a wheat crop on a virgin block within 7 months – The Tumut and Adelong Times Monday 27 August 1866 reported an incident that occurred on the 23rd:

DESTRUCTION BY FIRE – Sometime during the night of Wednesday last, a house at Killimacat, the property of Mr. Charles Lee, of Tumut, was totally destroyed by fire. His two little boys were the only occupants at the time, and they effected an escape through the window. Everything in the house was burnt, and what added to the misfortune was the fact of the produce of their wheat crop, which was at the time stored in the building, being consumed by the destructive element. How the fire originated is difficult to say, the supposition being that a piece of burning wood must have rolled from the fire-place on to the floor, and thus ignited it. The unfortunate people have the sympathies of the inhabitants, as they are considered industrious and struggling to make a home for their young family.

An even greater tragedy was reported in the Tumut, Adelong and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser on 15 February 1868: A sad accident, which resulted fatally, befell a young child of Mr Charles Lee on Sunday morning last. Mr Lee was in the act of shaving when his little son, who is about twelve months old, upset a vessel of boiling water, which had been inadvertently left within his reach, and so seriously scalded his neck and shoulder that although he lingered on till about noon on Monday death then terminated his sufferings. An inquest was held by Dr Falder, the District Coroner, o Tuesday afternoon, and a verdict of “Accidental death” was returned. A number of sympathising friends accompanied the funeral to the burial ground.

The geography of the area meant it was not as badly affected during drought years but its distance from Sydney meant a three month round trip by bullock dray to get the wheat crop to the wharves for export to England. Wheat farming gradually gave way to grazing, with crops only being grown for local consumption.

Mary Lee died on 15 October 1869, aged 38, 10 days after giving birth to a stillborn female child.

In 1882, at the age of 74, Charles took up another selection of 43 acres at Wyangle, but it is not clear if this was also an adjunct to his existing property or was a new holding.

Charles Lee died at Gilmore Creek near Tumut NSW on 20 Dec 1892 at the age of 84 and is buried in an unmarked grave of the Tumut Pioneer Cemetery.

The fact that his daughter gave his occupation as Labourer, rather than Farmer, and his children were all living elsewhere would indicate his Wyangle / Killimicat property was sold sometime before his death.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J7H4-5XT : 11 February 2018, Charles Lee, 25 Apr 1808); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 994,332.

Convict Charles Lee Birth & Arrival

NSW Convict Registers of Conditional and Absolute Pardons 46 / 312

NSW Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834

Monaro Pioneer Database, originally sourced from Transcripts of the Perkins papers 1823-1954 held by the Tumut Family History Society.

http://www.gremda.com/genealogy/index.php?ctype=gedcom&ged=Lee%20and%20Cavanagh%20Family%20Tree

Alternate Australian Charles Lee

Charles R Lee born at Parramatta - NSW BDM 9438 / 1829

Charles Lee born at Hobart - TAS BDM 2696 / 1828

Pardon

NSW Index of Convict Pardons, Conditional Pardon 46 / 312

Marriage

NSW BDM 147 / 1851 (V1851147 80)

Records from the Scots Presbyterian Church, Tumut provided by Judith Lee

Residence & life

Tumut & Adelong Times, Monday 27 Aug 1866

Tumut Advocate & Farmers and Settler’s Advisor, Tuesday 25 Jan 1910

Death

NSW BDM 12883 / 1892

References

Another possibility is that Charles Lee simply adopted that name on arrival in Tumut, in which case we will never know who he really was or where he came from.

Another Charles Lee was born in Surrey in 1808, to Benjamin and Catharine Lee, baptised on 18 Sep 1808 at Great Bookham, Surrey. However, the 1881 census has 73 year old Charles Lee still living at Great Bookham and he died there in 1893, aged 84.

Other, less likely, possibilities for a convict Charles Lee are:

Charles Lee who arrived 1834 per Lloyds, age 27 (estimated year of birth 1807) – sentenced 28 Mar 1833 at Somerset and transported for 7 years. Believed to be the founder of the Lee family in the Bathurst area.

Charles Lee who arrived 1828 per Eliza 4, age 21 years (estimated year of birth 1805) and was assigned to Mr Milson, North Shore – a Dyer from Stroud Water in Gloucestershire, convicted at Gloucester Quarter Sessions 17 Oct 1826 of stealing lead and transported for 7 years, received a Certificate of Freedom on 19 Oct 1833.