John Simon Mann and Eleanor Goodridge
My explorations in family history were prompted by finding some documents my parents left from their searching more than thirty years ago. One of the mysteries they were unable to solve was the birth of Alexander “Sandy” Albion, my great-grandfather. Thirty years of development on the World Wide Web has made it easier to access to a much wider range of resources and I was able to outline the stories of Sandy’s parents (my great-great-grandparents) Alexander Albi(o)n and Rachel Whitley.
In that process I had accumulated material about Sandy. Although I was tempted to immediately write his story, I realised I should first know more about his wife and my great-grandmother, Ellen Mann. That led me down more rabbit holes. Having explored the lives of Sandy’s parents, I could do no less for Ellen.
Both of Ellen’s parents, John Mann and Susan Crouch, were born in New South Wales and the trails I followed took me back to the previous generation on both sides, their origins in England, and migration to Australia.
John Simon Mann, my great-great-great-grandfather, was transported as a convict in 1820 (1). I have not been able to find definitive evidence for his birth date and various documents record different ages or years of birth – 17 in 1820 (2), 1805 in 1834 (3), 30 in 1834 (4), 63 in 1863 (5). Arithmetically, circa 1804 is my best guess. One MyHeritage family tree suggests 13 Mar 1804 as his date of birth in London and an Ancestry tree points to a record (6) of John Mann being baptised at Scots Church Oxford Street on 30 March 1804. His ticket of leave (3) indicates place of birth as London and the Presbyterian church is consistent with donations by his sons to a Presbyterian church in 1859 (7). The baptismal record names the parents as William and Margaret but his parents are not named on any of the other documents I found. His death certificate (5) records his parents’ names as ‘unknown’, presumably because his son, George, who supplied the details knew little or nothing of the family origins.
On 15 July 1820 John Simon Mann was arrested for stealing a watch, chain, and other items totalling £6 in value. On 18 September 1820 he appeared for trial as a pickpocket at the Old Bailey (2). He was recorded as being 17 years old and the proceedings included the following:
SAMUEL FURZE . On the 15th of July, at half-past five o’clock in the afternoon, I was in Portman-street – there was a small crowd at the Queen’s house, she was getting into her carriage. I stood on the opposite side, where there were very few people, and observed the prisoner at my right hand. The moment the Queen was getting into her carriage, I stepped into the road that I might not be in a crowd; the prisoner came behind me, snatched my watch out, and ran towards Oxford-street; I followed, crying Stop thief! and before we got to the end of Oxford-street Toole stopped him, I was close behind. In the scuffle he got himself towards Mr. Thomas’s, the grocer; he then took the watch from part of his dress, and threw it down the area. I attempted to catch it, but it fell through the grating, the servant took it up and brought it to her master, it was mine. The prisoner had been taken into the shop to prevent his being rescued. Bond came and took him in charge, he then fell on his knees and begged forgiveness.
JAMES TOOLE . I saw the prisoner running and stopped him. I threw him down, a scuffle ensued, he took the watch out of his waistcoat pocket, and threw it down the area.
John was found guilty and sentenced to transportation for life. He travelled to New South Wales on the Speke which departed England on 13 December 1820, arriving in Sydney on 18 May 1821 (8, 9). On 10 April 1828 he was transferred to Port Macquarie on the Lucy Ann (9).
It was at Port Macquarie that John met and married Eleanor Goodridge (10). That is how her name appears on the transcribed record of their wedding but on other documents her name is recorded variously as Eleanor Goodrich and Ellen Gutteridge.
That variability adds to the difficulty of determining her birth date. The Old Bailey record of her trial (11) includes a link that suggests she was born at Bath in 1815. Her death certificate (12) cites place of birth as London but the informant was her nephew by her second marriage who may have known little more than that she came from England. Various documents record ages – 17 in 1832 (11), 16 in 1833 (13), 16 in 1834 (10), 70 in 1888 (12) – suggesting she was born between 1815 and 1818. My best estimate is 1818.
On 29 November 1832, Eleanor was tried with three others (11) for
stealing, on the 6th of November , 1 coat, value 1l. 15s.; 1 pair of boots, value 15s.; 1 half-sovereign, and 7s., the property of James Bennett
…
Goodrich’s Defence. The prosecutor met me, and asked if he could go home with me; I said Yes, and we went home – Reeves was in bed; I asked her to get up – he asked for no other place; he sent for some liquor, which I fetched – he went to sleep, and I went to meet Reeves; on my return – I heard there was an alarm – I said I was guilty of taking the things, but I would not make my escape; I went out, and met Honest Bill – he took me to a place, and searched the coat; then he went back, and searched the man; I then met Condy, and told him all that was passed – he said it was very wrong; I gave him the coat to mind till the next morning, and then he said what money could be made of it I should have; we then went to Douglass’, and left the boots – we then met Honest Bill again; I was going to give him something to drink, and he snatched the whole of the money from my hand, and ran away.
Her age was recorded as 17 though, based on later documents, it was probably closer to 14. She was found guilty and transported for 7 years, departing England aboard the Buffalo on 4 May 1833 and arriving in New South Wales on 5 October 1833 (13). She was sent to Port Macquarie.
John Simon Mann was granted his Ticket of Leave on 26 April 1834 (3). That document recorded his occupation as blacksmith. On 23 May 1834 permission was granted for him to marry Eleanor (4). They were married on 8 July 1834 in the Parish of St Thomas at Port Macquarie (10). The records show that he was aged 30 and she was aged 16.
They had three sons while at Port Macquarie: George, born on 19 May 1835 (14), John (my great-great-grandfather), born on 17 April 1838 (15), and Thomas, born on 22 July 1840 (16). John was eventually granted a conditional pardon dated 13 August 1845. That obliged him to remain in the colonies but he could move from Port Macquarie.
By 1856 some or all of the family members were in the Toowoomba area. The two older sons, George and John, married sisters, Betsy and Susan Crouch, in the schoolmaster’s house at Drayton Swamp on 29 August 1856 (18). The sons’ ages are recorded as 22 and 21 and the girls’ ages are recorded as 16 and 15. Eleanor is recorded as Ellen Mann (Gutteridge). The trade or profession of both sons is recorded as ‘postman’.
Perhaps they were carrying mail between Drayton/Toowoomba and northern New South Wales. The next records I have found are for births of five children at Ashford (Frazer’s Creek) near Inverell – Elizabeth (1859), Ellen (1861), and John (1862) to George and Betsy; Joshua (1859) and Ellen, my great-grandmother, (1860) to John and Susan (19).
Both families appear to have moved from Ashford in the early 1860s. George Nelson was born to John and Susan on 1 July 1862. His birth was registered in Queensland and some sources place it in Toowoomba but without clear evidence. According to the record of her marriage to Hugh Albion (my great-grand-uncle) at Roma in 1883 at the age of 18, Tamar was born to George and Betsy ca 1865 in Glenn Innes (20).
John Simon Mann died at Ashford (Frazer’s Creek) in NSW on 5 January 1863 (5). A family notice was placed in The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser (21):
On the 5th instant, at the residence of his son, Frazer’s Creek, New South Wales, Mr. John Simon Mann, aged 58 years, much respected by all who knew him.
It appears that Eleanor moved to Toowoomba soon after. Later that year, on 22 June 1863, she married publican John Cook at Bigges’ Camp (now Grandchester), recording her name as Ellen Mann and residence as Toowoomba (22), presumably with John Mann and his growing family. The photographs of Bigge’s Camp and the Cooks were found online (24).
John Cook was born at Kingston Seymour, Somerset, England on 20 August 1820 and migrated to Australia in 1855 with other members of his family including his widowed mother (23). The family had been farmers in England but branched into other fields in Australia. In April 1863 John took the licence for the Postman’s Arms Hotel at Bigge’s Camp (Grandchester). After he married Ellen later that year he opened, operated, and leased hotels at Grandchester, Toowoomba, and Roma. Two online accounts of the Cook family (23) and the Grandchester hotels (24) offer substantial detail for those interested in knowing more.
By 1880, John’s health had declined and he relinquished his hotel in Roma to take up a 120 acre selection nearby. He and Ellen retired to live at Mount Abundance station where she died on 26 March 1888 (12, 23). He later returned to live at Laidley, where he died on 14 December 1897 (23).
I have passed through Grandchester a few times over the years without any inkling that it may have been significant in my family history. On a weekend trip to Roma with friends in 2004 we visited Mt Abundance station, again with no idea that it might be personally significant. More recently, in January this year, while driving home from Sydney we drove some back roads that took us through Ashford with no idea that my great-grandmother was born there and my great-great-great-grandfather died there. We may need to visit those places again.