My interest in family history was sparked by the stories I heard from my mother when I was very young about her grandfather being born on the goldfields of Victoria, her family picnics by horse and cart to Queenscliff and the sailing ships coming into the Geelong harbour to be loaded with wool. I've now been researching for more than 20 years and have included my husband's family which now provides over 3000 connections from various parts of the world.

My early ancestors came from the British Isles of England, Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man. These courageous emmigrants have been settlers primarily in Australia and New Zealand during the 1800's with a few branches who headed in the 1700's to the USA.

On the whole these seafarers were assisted immigrants although their were a few who had the financial backing to pay for their voyage in full. And there was also the odd 1 or 2 who had their sentence commuted to life or seven years and came to Australia via convict ships at the invitation of the then current reigning monarch of England for stealing some cloth or loaf of bread.

They came possibly seeking their fortune in gold, escaping starvation, sickness and the polluted cities of England looking for a better life. Some found a better lifestyle with plenty of food on the table and an ample roof over their heads. Others fell by the wayside through illness or poverty. But they all had one characterisitc in common - courage and determination to make a go of it, and on the whole they succeeded. So the cycle of life continues for their descendents.

Surnames of the main branches of my ancestors with their country/county of origin are;

England;
Andrew - Huntingdonshire
Barling - Hampshire and Wiltshire
Beamond - Shropshire
Dolman - Wiltshire
Dowsing - Gloucestershire
Dunn/Dunne - Surrey
Gahan - London
Gaskins - Gloucestershire
Hill - Cornwall
Hirst - Yorkshire
Jackson - Yorkshire
Jeffery - London and Hampshire
Molesworth - Devon, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Lancashire, Kent, Northamptonshire, Oxford,Surrey
Moyle - Cornwall
Pilcher - Kent
Raynor - Yorkshire
Reeve - Suffolk
Rowe - Devonshire
Saxbee - Sussex
Trevena - Cornwall
Turner - Berkshire
Warrington - Northamptonshire
Winter - Berkshire

Isle of Man;
Bell - Malow
Brew - Braddon
Bridson - Malew
Clague - Malew
Corkill - Malew
Corteen - Malew
Cowley - Braddan
Cubbon - Arbory
Fargher - Malew
Gelling - Malew, Arbory, Rushen, Santon
Kennaugh - Malew Arbory
Quayle - Braddan and Rushen
Shimmin - Malew

Scotland;
Burnett
Connan - Aberdeen
Gove - Kincardinshire
Hutton - Perthshire
Lawson - Perthshire
Moodie - Inverkeithing
Preston - Angus
Sinclair - Argyll
Tuner - Edinbergh
Watt - Kincardinshire and Angus

Northern Ireland;
McIvor - Belfast
Perry - Belfast

Ireland;
Colbert - Tipperary
Coote - Dublin
Fitzgerald - Limerick
Hastings
Molesworth - Armagh, Dublin
McCarthy - Cork


Related Links:
Follow the links below for photos and research information. To return to Megs Ancestry click the back button on your browser.

1. The link to Hobson Bay via the State Libary of Victoria shows the seen at Sandridge Pier new arrivals would have been part of on their arrival to Melbourne Victoria.

2. An early depiction of St Phillips Church Collingwood where John Gahan was Secretary of the Sunday School for sixteen years.

3. The link to Warrington's Hotel takes you to the State Library of Victoria showing the Inverleigh Hotel c. 1890 on the Hamilton Highway Victoria. John and Hannah Warrington were the owners between 1887 - 1902
Megs Ancestry
Updated September 13, 2007
megreeve@bigpond.com

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GEDCOM Trees (viewing trees requires 4.0 or later)

  • Megs Tree (651 KB)
    Megs Tree contains over 3000 names with 1000 couples. The main branches and their locations within Victoria Australia include: Metropolitan Melbourne - Gahan Dunn Kennaugh Hastings Southurst Fitzgerald Reeve; Geelong and the Western District - Saxbee Beamond Barling Andrew Winter Hirst Turner; Gippsland - Burnett Gove Watt Hutton Lawson; The Goldfields - Futcher Colbert Spicer Dolman..... and many more.
 

Family Photos

  • Ernest Albert Saxbee c 1900 (138 KB)
    Grandfather Saxbee standing on the steps of the family home in Summer Street Geelong, Victoria. Unfortunately this house no longer exists having been replaced with a more modern home.
  • Robert Burnett 1866 - 1950c (71 KB)
    Robert was born at Merrijig Victoria with this photo having been taken c 1949. The Burnett's had emigrated from Scotland to Tasmania in the early 1830’s and by 1845 they were crossing the Bight to Victoria making their way overland from Port Albert. Robert’s grandfather after who he had been named, was a wheelwright and blacksmith and came to Victoria on contract to work on Archibald McCleod’s Bairnsdale Station which had been newly established in 1844. One of the buildings built by Robert was a two-horse flourmill built in 1858.
  • Burnett Farm 1940's (57 KB)
    This photo is possibly Burnett's farm taken during the 1940's-50's in Boisdale Gippsland Victoria.
  • Elizabeth Watt Burnett (nee Gove) 1930's (62 KB)
    This photo of Elizabeth shows a small frail woman in her late sixties. Born in Stratford Victoria of Scottish parents she married Robert in 1886. Along with being a dairyman's wife she produced eight children over a twenty-two year period between 1889 - 1911.
  • John Gahan 1851 - 1916 (128 KB)
    This photo of John Gahan has beent taken from a larger portrait showing the Lord Mayors of Collingwood Victoria. Local history resources describe - John Gahan, born in England in 1851, came to Abbotsford in 1856. He was a very active member of the congregation at St. Phillip's Church of England in Hoddle Street, being secretary of the Sunday School for sixteen years. He ran a hardware business in Victoria Street and was a councillor from 1887 until 1911, serving three terms as Mayor in 1893/94 and 1902 - 1904. The Gahan Reserve was named after him in 1906 or 1907. Among other things Gahan was an advocate of public baths for Collingwood.
  • Studley Alexander Gahan 1893 - 1960 (27 KB)
    This photo of Private Studley Gahan was taken from a the Herald Sun Newspaper (Melbourne Victoria) report on the Gallipoli Diaries of servicemen during World War I. Studley is dressed in his World War I uniform
  • Edward James Reeve 1865 - 1936 (5 KB)
    This photo of Edward was taken from a newspaper article on his obituary.
  • Catherine Saxbee (nee Andrew) 1857 - 1944 (118 KB)
    Born in St Albans Victoria in 1857 Catherine was the second born first generation "little Australian" born to William Andrew and Ruth Culpin. William and Ruth had immigrated to Australia in 1853 from Huntingdonshire England sailing on the "British Empire" and settling at Inverleigh west of Geelong. Catherine gave birth to 11 children, 9 survived to adulthood.
  • George Saxbee 1839 - 1921 (447 KB)
    Born in Yapton Sussex England, George travelled to Australia settling in Geelong. Unfortunately details of his immigration have not been discovered. According to family oral histroy George was a gardener at the Geelong Botanical Gardens at the time it was being established.
 

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