Eliza Sarah (nee Dyer) Richmond Cairncross (c1832-1900)
We don’t know very much about this lady and no photo seems to have been kept? Her childhood in England must have included some education as she could write. She arrived in Australia with her brother David Dyer only a few months before getting married. She married William “Harridance” Richmond in 1854 Melbourne.Her birth date is estimated from her age at marriage. Her parents are noted as mother Mary Hanbury (maiden name) and her father David Dyer was a clerk. Eliza was living “with relatives” in South Yarra, Melbourne, at the time of her marriage. Only 2 years after marriage her young husband died. She wasted no time getting organised and just 6 weeks after the death of William Richmond she and her children – one only months old and the other only about 2 years old, sailed for London in 1856.
| Probably she would have
visited her parents in Hammersmith ? Eliza Sarah left behind her
eldest son Henry James Richmond (HJR) with his paternal
grandfather Henry Harridance(HH) in Maldon and returned to Melbourne in
1858 with youngest son William Richmond (b1856).
In 1862 at the age of 27,
Eliza Sarah married George Cairncross (died 1872) a Scottish draper aged
28 of Ballarat 28 April 1862, her occupation at this time was saleswoman.
They had no children.
In 1865 Sarah Cairncross and her husband and 2 sons sailed – on the ship’s passenger list under the surname Cairncross- to NZ Westcoast where there was a new gold rush. |
They
returned after 3 years about 1868 [ship records
not found] to Hexham near Mortlake Victoria.
George Cairncross- died 27 October 1872 after 2 months of “stomach disease” at the age of 38. His occupation given was Publican of Hexham. He died intestate and his wife swore he had no next of kin in Australia and that his estate was valued at under 367 pounds, consisting of household furniture and stock and cash in the bank. Eliza Sarah Cairncross may have moved from Hexham after Cairncross’ death? She did not sign as witness to the marriage of her eldest son HJR in Mortlake in 1876 when he was a printer at Hamilton. Eliza Sarah suffered 5 years
of heart disease and finally died of “syncope” 1900 at Wedderburn where
she had been living in High Street, with her second son William who had
8 children. She is buried at Wedderburn. Probably any photos and any items
of her first husband William “Harridance” Richmond, would have remained
with family who continued to live there.
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I had an extensive family history of Mary Jane Tonkin( who married HJR) back to 1730’s. Her father was a stone mason who immigrated from Corwall and built the bluestone church at Mortlake. Her grandfather was a carrier in Tregonning, Cornwall. etc.Copyright © 2006 E.Richmond. All rights reserved.