Life Before Australia
George was born in 1816 in Dorset, England, in the village of Durweston, near Blandford Forum. He was the first child of George Best and Elizabeth Melmer. He had a brother and 7 half-brothers and sisters, but none of these followed George to Australia.Sarah was born in Blandford in 1818 to Abel and Ann Coffin, nee Francis. Her sister remained in Blandford, but her parents eventually migrated to Ryde. Shipping records suggest that Sarah had a brother, Francis, farming at Port Phillip in 1849, however no records have been found to support this. (This may have been a cousin). Sarah married George in Feb 1840 at Blandford St Mary. Their three sons Edwin (1841), Alfred (1845), and Samuel (1848) and a daughter, Elizabeth (Jan 1843 - Nov 1843) were born at Bryanston and Durweston in Dorset.
According to shipping records, George's calling was gardener and Sarah was a dressmaker (later Milliner). The family were educated; both parents and the eight year old Edwin could read and write and Alfred (4 years) could read.
Conditions in Dorset were very depressed in the mid 1800s. At that time the Bounty Scheme offered a passage to Australia in which agents in England were paid for the number of people they could induce to migrate. Many families from the southwest took advantage of this scheme.
Arrival June 1849
On Friday 8th June 1849 they arrived in Sydney Harbour, 91days after leaving Plymouth. The Emigrant
had been built at Bremen in 1846 and was a ship of 567 tons, 132' long, 32'
wide and 20' high. She carried 319 passengers, three having been born on
the voyage. At least eight of the families came from Durweston or Stourpaine,
the village across the river. The only known photograph of the Emigrant is one taken in 1905 as it lay rotting in the River Avon near Bristol. She had been rebuilt in 1877, so was not exactly as she was in 1849.
George's experience as a gardener probably helped them find their way to the fruitgrowing area of Kissing Point, reached in those days by boat along the Parramatta River.
Ryde
They settled at Ryde in the County of Cumberland, at that time a country
area only accessible from Sydney by river. No information has been found
of their early years, but three children, Elizabeth (1851), James (1852), and Joseph (1855), were christened at St Ann's Church (Ryde) in the Parish of Hunters Hill. 1869 their house was named 'North Villa'.Sarah's parents, Abel and Anne Coffin, migrated to Ryde in 1854/55. Anne died in 1868 and Abel in 1875, and both are buried at St Anne's Church.
George's cousin, Maria Hare, migrated to Ryde in 1857 with her husband and family.
George died in 1879 at the age of 63, and Sarah died in 1894 aged 77. They are buried at St Anne's Church, Ryde. George's death certificate shows that he died from epilepsy and disease of the brain, from which he had been suffering for 7 months.
Sarah lived until 1894 and is buried with her husband in St Anne's.