In 2017 I was gifted access to the home of one of my most fascinating ancestors. The house is situated in Wollembi Road in Telarah NSW. it has been several years of me travelling to and from Maitland the area since moving to the Blue mountains to research and extend new work about this woman.
The story of the feisty Eleanor Meredith, the daughter of a first fleet ships mate and a convict is well documented. Her individual story has begun to fascinate me and has initiated multiple trips up to Maitland and the Hunter Valley to shoot film and digital photographs to make hand rolled prints.(next post)
I hope to honour her history and the plight of women within her generation. I dont usually write about my ancestors in an extended manner but her story is quite complex and the tables below outline the names of her children from two different unions.
Eleanor Meredith was born on 17 November 1813, to Frederick Meredith and Sarah Mason. She was baptised on 5 December 1813 in St Philips Church. On 7 July 1828, Eleanor, aged fourteen, was married at St Philips Church Sydney to John Burrows, a police constable who had arrived in the colony as a convict on the Mariner in 1816. In the description on John’s transportation papers it lists him as 27 years of age in 1815 which gives him a birth date in 1788, 25 years Eleanor’s senior and close to 40 on their wedding day.
Before Christmas of that year, Eleanor is already pregnant with their first child and it would appear, homesick for her own family as she takes off! she did this twice and was obviously unhappy. The second time she was successful with Fredrick Ferrier.
Eleanor was 30 and John 55. The age difference may have been a problem in the marriage, but Eleanor was a strong woman. Taking significant property with her, she took off with Frederick Ferrier. to Breeza with Frederick and has a baby on 10 July 1844, christened Caroline Frederica Ferrier. Those dates leave a question mark! She changed her name to Caroline Ferrier for little James Alfred. And they lived out of wedlock until Burrows death.
Over the following sixteen years at Breeza, Caroline (Eleanor) and Frederick had a further seven children. Frederick who was the first Postmaster of Breeza, also took charge of the store and hotel. During this time his duties also included stock inspector. They retired to Maitland in 1875 and remained there until his death in 1882.
The house in Wollembi Road Rutherford where they lived is named after a coal mine Homeville that was managed by her second husband Ferrier. Ferrier is buried in Telarah Cemetery, west of Maitland. Oddly in a Capper plot…I am not sure why.
Caroline moved from Maitland when Frederick Ferrier died in 1882, to a house in Ipswich, Queensland where one of her daughters living. Caroline Frederica Bullmore nee Ferrier who lived at Rockton, where Caroline was a frequent visitor.
Caroline Ferrier died in her Thorne Street home on 20 February 1893 and is buried in the Church of England Section of Ipswich Cemetery. Caroline (Eleanor) left behind many generations of Australians proud of their heritage. During her long life, she witnessed
Listed below is Ellen Burrows married a John Swinfield. So i am a descendent of the first union between John Burrows and Eleanor.
More art making images will follow.
Children of Eleanor and John Burrows
| John Richard Burrows | b. 1829 | d. 1889 | m. 1850 Jane Knight 1833 – 1906 |
| Sarah Burrows | b. 1831 | d. 1888 | m. 1852 John Gibbins 1811 – 1885 |
| Mary Ann Burrows | b. 1833 | d. 1911 | m. 1851 John Fonville 1830 – 1906 |
| Thomas Burrows | b. 1835 | d. 1835 | |
| Frederick William Burrows | b. 1836 | d. 1921 | m. 1858 Sarah Britton 1841 – 1914 |
| Francis Burrows | b. 1838 | d. 1838 | |
| Ellen Sophia Burrows | b. 1840 | d. 1890 | m. 1858 John Swinfield 1838 – 1903 |
| James Alfred Burrows | b. 1842 | d. 1911 | m. 1865 Lydia Jones 1841 – 1904 |
Children of Eleanor and Frederick Ferrier
| Caroline Frederica Ferrier | b.1844 | d. 1913 | m. 1867 Edward Bullmore 1831 – 1892 |
| Anne Marie Ferrier | b. 1846 | d. 1924 | m. i) 1865 Amos Lumby 1842 – 1912 ii) John Appleby 1847 – 1924 |
| Frederick Charles Ferrier | b. 1847 | m. 1868 Mary Harris 1847 – 1924 | |
| George Henry Ferrier | b. 1850 | d. 1908 | m. (1881) Johanna O’Brien 1856 – 1936 |
| Emma Louisa Ferrier | b. 1852 | d. 1938 | |
| Betsy Eliza Ferrier | b. 1855 | d. 1917 | m. 1872 Frederick Burne 1839 – 1916 |
| Walter Andrew Ferrier | b. 1857 | d. 1897 | m. 1894 Honaria Hewson 1869 – 1946 |
| Victoria Ferrier | b. 1860 | d. 1938 | m. 1882 |
| Pollet Cardew Ferrier | b. 1856 | d. 1916 |
Linda Swinfield - Contemporary Artist 