| 'A few years prior to 1770, the mineral wealth
of the parish began to be developed and numerous small collieries existed
in different localities of the district about 1780. Mr William Jones, of
Fog Lane, was one of the first lessees and workers of a coal mine in this
neighbourhood. Mr John Evans, father of the late Mr Edward Evans of Dryclough,
established a colliery on Oldham Edge, about the period referred to.
'
Historical Sketches of Oldham, (p. 122)
|
William married Mary Ann Cheetham at the Grosvenor St Chapel, Manchester, on 27th May 1841, when both were 'of full age'. William's father was John Evans , a Railway Contractor, and a John Evans Jnr, possibly a brother, is named as a witness. William and Mary Ann were not at the address stated on the certificate (Bank Place, Manchester) on 7th June 1841, when the census was taken. However, a William Evans (Agent) and Mary Ann Evans, both aged '20 - 24' and both born in county, were listed at "The Hall", Royton, near Oldham. In the Pigots 1841 directory. This William is listed as an engineer.
From the headstone on his son's grave in Kensington, Adelaide,
William Evans was a Civil Engineer from Oldham in Lancashire. Other
family information indicates that William built the tubular railway
Bridge at Conwy Castle - the
first tubular bridge ever erected -- and afterwards worked for Messrs Brassey
and Company, at their Birkenhead Tubular Works.
It seems likely that William also worked with his father as Railway Contractor
William and Mary Ann were in Cheshire when their first son, Herbert, was born (16th May 1842). By the time their second son was born, 5th July 1844, their address was 25 Mill St, Manchester, when William was described as a Coal Merchant. Eliza was born in Lancashire (10th Jun 1846) and James at Egremont, Cumberland on 12th October 1854.
William died c. 1854 and Mary Ann migrated to Australia where
her parents had gone in 1849.
| .....and his wife (my grandmother) came out
to Australia soon afterwards, bring her eldest son (in fact she brought
her youngest son - James ..) and leaving behind two younger sons and her
daughter (my mother) either to finish their education, or because of financial
considerations. Grannie came out to her parents (the Rev. Henry Cheetham)
who had been in the Colony for a couple of years. "...She must have had
some trying times. Those sailing ship voyages, taking three to four months,
couldn't have been very nice, things not much bigger than a Sydney ferryboat,
crowded to suffocation, no refrigeration for food and not a great deal
of medical knowledge. She has told me of being rowed ashore and carried
through the breakers by the sailors, and afterwards travelling up to Adelaide
with her son and her worldly possessions in a bullock cart.
-- Lloyd Mervyn Hodge (grandson) |
Mary Ann opened a school ....
Not long after arriving in South Australia, Mary Ann married William Peacock, "a man of substance" and a member of the Congregational Church, and after his death married Carrington Smedley, also a member of the Brougham Place Congregational Church. Carrington was a member of the parliament and lived at Semaphore.
Mary Ann was born on the 26th February, 1821 in Rochdale, Lancashire,
England to Rev. Henry Cheetham and Susannah Norris. She died at College
Park, South Australia on the 27th April, 1908 at the age of 87 years. She
was buried at the High Street Kensington Cemetery where her parents were
buried.
William and Mary Ann had four children,
Herbert Thomas Eliza James