.
.
Previous: Chapter 33.A : From Freeman to Webb
The connection of this chapter to the Brush families of the British Isles is rather tenuous. The Freeman and Smedley families of Australia are third and fourth cousins of mine but the Smedley family is one with whom my own family have maintained some contact with over the years.
As detailed in chapter 33.A, John Thomas FREEMAN was born in Hanley, Staffordshire in or before 1862. There is a baptism at Shelton (which is right next to Hanley) on 1 June 1862 for John Thomas Freeman son of Thomas and Mary Ellen. Hanley is named as his birthplace in the 1881 census. His father, Thomas Freeman, was the son of John Freeman, estimated DOB 1798, and Eleanor Ann. John Thomas had an older sister, Sarah Helen, who was my G2-grandmother, and a younger brother William Henry.
His father died sometime between the conception of William Henry and early 1871 census. At the 1871 census John Thomas age 8 is living in Coventry with his widowed mother Maria Helen Freeman, and his brother and sister. In 1881 they appear as Eliza Helen Freeman, widow age 43 dressmaker, Sarah Helen age 22, John Thomas 19 (a bicycle mechanic) and William Henry 13. In early 1891 his mother dies.
At the census of 1891 John Thomas is no longer living with his brother and sister. At some point between 1881 and 1888 he had emigrated to Australia. On 14 February 1888, at Manly Methodist Church in New South Wales, he married Adelaide Naomi Ruwald, the daughter of John George and Harriett Ruwald. Adelaide had been born in Manly on 27 January 1868. Their marriage certificate gives his occupation as engineer.
They had 10 children between 1889 and 1905. In the 1906 Electoral roll he is identified as a commercial traveller. John Thomas died on 4 November 1929 and was buried at Manly Cemetary on 6 November. Adelaide died on 30 August 1942 and was buried on 31 August at Manly Cemetary.
The first son of John Thomas and Adelaide Naomi was Burnal Freeman. This unusual name provides a solid link back to his English family. His sister Sarah WEBB also had a son Burnal. Burnall was the maiden name of John Thomas and Sarah's mother.
One of the daughters, Doris Marjorie Freeman, married Charles Smedley on 26 June 1934 at Manly Congregational Church. At which point we get into living memory. I knew of them as "Tommy" and Chas. My sister Pippa stayed with them in Sydney during her gap year in or around 1988.
Charles and Doris 'Tommy' Smedley had two sons - William 'Bill' John and Robert. Bill and wife Margaret (nee Wombey) I met, and I stayed for a few days in the early 1980s with Rob and wife Lea. Each son had two children (still living) and there are also grandchildren.