The Life of Sarah (Jackson) Johnston Underwood

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown] The information below is from the Broadford & District Historical Society Broadford and District Historical Society

I have copied it to this Free Space Profile so it can be kept in case the Historical Society removes it from their website. Diane Darcy

Sarah (Jackson) Johnston Underwood

Sarah Underwood was born Sarah Jackson, daughter of Thomas Jackson and Hannah Newton near Carlisle in England. At the age of 19, Sarah married a carpenter, Isaac Johnston and the couple proceeded to have 7 children. It appears that the family lived in a little town called Ainstable, several kilometers south-east of Carlisle.

Six of their children were born before the family emigrated to Australia on “Constance”, arriving in December 1854. The children were listed then, as Hannah Jane aged 11, William 9, Thomas 7, Isaac 6, Joseph 3 and Margaret only 1. The family settled in Broadford and a seventh child, Sarah Hannah, was born in Kilmore in 1857.

In 1861, Isaac aged 42 was killed in an accident, near the Telegraph Hotel, four miles north of Kilmore. This was only 7 years after arriving in Australia. At this stage they were living in McKenzie Street in Broadford. (The house has since been demolished.) Sarah, now aged 39, was left with six children aged between 8 and 18. Life must have been very difficult for her.

Five years later, at the age of 43, Sarah remarried. Her husband was Thomas Underwood, another carpenter, who came from Bristol and was living in Flowerdale. He was six years older than Sarah, being 50 at the time, but they soon produced another daughter, Mary Ann, in 1866. She died at the age of 5 months in Broadford.

From all of this we have no definite evidence of Sarah actually being a midwife. However the 1898-1901 Broadford Rate Book lists her as being a nurse. In those days home-births were the norm., and it was nothing for a midwife to travel many miles to assist with delivery, at all hours of the day or night. Sometimes they stayed over if there was a lot of travel involved. Sarah may well have been a midwife at this time but there are no records to confirm this fact.