This page tells the story of the Woodward and Elliott Families.
Margaret Caroline Elliott [1] was born in 1821 in London and baptised at St Clement Danes church.
Robert William Woodward was born in London in 1819 [2] and baptised at St Giles in the Fields.
Robert Woodward, blacksmith, age 23, and wife Margaret (Caroline Elliott), age 22, arrived in Nelson, New Zealand on 28 October 1842 on the ship Olympus from Gravesend, England. Also on board were Eleanor, age 18, Margaret, age 27, and Mary, age 25, single women, occupation of each listed as dressmaker. These were three of his four sisters.
It's not clear if Ruth Ann, the youngest sister remained in London, or whether she had already died. Their mother, Ruth Trennant, lived on in London until 1866, but we don't know when their father died. It seems that Margaret Caroline's parents had died. There was a Margaret Elliott born in Middlesex in 1821 in the household of Ann Bennett at the census in 1841 suggesting that her parents had in fact died by 1841.[3]
Margaret Caroline's older brother, Thomas James Elliott, was transported to Australia as a convict in 1837. He was baptised at St Clement Danes with parents Thomas and Mary. This is the same church that both Mary Ann and Margaret Caroline Elliott were baptised in, and, though the recorded name of his mother doesn't include Ann, this seems reasonable enough. David has three DNA matches in Australia on MyHeritage who are descendants of Thomas James Elliott, showing that he was her brother. So, Margaret was an orphan and her brother was sent to Australia as a convict when she married Robert William Woodward and went to New Zealand. We think she had a younger sister, Mary, who stayed in London, or again perhaps was no longer alive.
At the time, New Zealand had just become a British colony following the Treaty of Waitangi, and Nelson was a totally new settlement.
Robert and Margaret Caroline had married on 2nd May of the same year at the Parish Church, Marylebone, Middlesex. Their daughter Mary Alice was born in Nelson, but they soon moved on to Launceston, Tasmania. We haven't found the ship that they travelled on from New Zealand to Australia.[4] Their children Margaret and Robert William were born in Launceston. From Launceston they travelled to Sydney on 27th March 1848 on the Catherine and from then on stayed in New South Wales.
Robert Woodward's sister Margaret married Charles Pelham soon after they arrived in New Zealand. They also moved to Australia. We don't know what happened to his other two sisters.
They had four children in Sydney. Ellen in 1849, Albert Henry in 1850, Alfred in 1852, and George in 1854. Ellen and George died in infancy. From Sydney the family went onto the Yass-Goulburn area of the Southern Tablelands. Emily Ruth and Samuel Frederick are recorded as being born in Goulburn in 1856 and 1858, but I think it was outside Goulburn near Lake George. Elizabeth Ann is recorded as being born in 1860 in Yass. Eleanor Esther in 1862 and Bridget and Walter Matthew in 1866 were born in Gunning. Bridget died the same year. After that the family lived in Crookwell, where Robert William worked as a blacksmith. A blacksmith's shed still exists there. It was moved from its original location to the grounds of Ravenscroft, a guest house.
Margaret Caroline died in Gunning on 3rd June 1885. Her daughter Elizabeth Ann was married in Gunning in April. Robert William died in Burwood, NSW, on 27 September 1907 at his daughter, Elizabeth Ann's home in Cobden Street, Enfield, and was buried at Rookwood where Margaret was also buried.
Eight of the Woodward children survived into adulthood. Margaret married Thomas Hincksman and started what seems to be the largest branch of the family. Mary Alice married Carl Mathäus Wettig, a German immigrant, founding the next largest branch of the family. Charles Matthew, as he was known in English, died while prospecting in outback New South Wales. Mary Alice then married Stephen Charles Brown and had two more children, Constance and Herbert.
Alfred, Albert Henry, Eleanor Esther, and Elizabeth Ann formed what are, as far as we have documented so far, small branches of the family. Elizabeth Ann married George Peterson and Eleanor, George Watman. George Watman was George Peterson's uncle. Samuel Frederick died two years after marrying Maud Wealands in 1914. Finally, Emily Ruth married William Browne whose grand-daughter, Florence, married Günther Stern.
The fact that Robert William and Margaret Caroline came from London, means that tracking their ancestry is very hard. It is much easier to determine the ancestors of our relatives who came from small villages in Cornwall, and that is not that easy. Thomas Elliott and Mary Ann Whitaker married in 1815 at St Ann Soho the year before Mary Ann's birth. So, it seems likely these are Mary Ann's and Margaret Caroline's parents.[5] Robert Williams's father was called William and his mother Ruth. Ruth is an unusual name, so the marriage at St Anne Soho between William Woodward and Ruth Trenant seems likely to be the marriage of the parents of Robert William Woodward.[6]
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Endnotes
[1] Most people have her middle name as Ellen. Ellen often appears as a name of her descendants while Caroline doesn't. Her death record in the NSW database (not the original document) states that her father was George E., but her marriage certificate says Thomas. The family name is also misspelt as Wooderare in many people's trees. There is a record of Margaret Caroline Elliott being born in 1821 and baptised at St Clement Danes to Thomas and Mary Ann Elliott. The only other children born with this parent combination I could find in London was Mary Ann who died at one year old in 1817 and Mary born 1829. I also haven't found another Margaret Elliott born in London around this time. So, under the assumption that the Margaret Elliott who married Robert Woodward was born in London in this period, this is likely to be her. DNA matching of David with descendants of Thomas James Elliott, her brother, further strengthens the case.
[2] When Robert died, he was said to be 86 years old and so born in 1821. However, the baptism record gives his baptism on 22 August 1819. Also, his age is given as 23 in 1842 when he arrived in New Zealand. Looks like his gravestone at Rookwood might say 88 years old, but photo I have is super fuzzy. The baptism record both gives his name as Robert William and his mother as Ruth.
[3] There is also no Thomas Elliott in Middlesex in the 1841 census.
[4] A Robert Woodward travelled from George Town, Tasmania to Portland Victoria on 5th March 1845, but that could have been the convict by the same name who arrived in 1843 in Tasmania.
[5] More than one Thomas Elliott was born in the relevant period in the central London area including one in Marylebone in 1792, one in Holburn in 1792, and one at St Martin in the Fields in 1793. Also, one in 1792 in St Leornards, Shoreditch and another in 1789 in Saint Luke Old Street. It's not possible to decide which of these if any is Margaret Caroline's father. Given the proximity of St Martin in the Fields to St Anne Soho and St Clement Danes this seems the most likely. So, I entered this in Geni.The parents are Thomas and Elizabeth. I see no reason to think he was born in Berwick on Tweed as many online family trees state. If the Thomas Elliott buried at St Saviour Southwark in 1836 aged 42 is him then he was born in 1793 or 1794. Living in Southwark seems odd though, but after his wife died the family maybe split up. There was no Thomas Elliott in Middlesex in the 1841 census and Margaret Caroline was living with another family. There are other Thomas Elliotts buried around that time in London. One was buried at St Pancras in 1835 was 47 and in the workhouse. Another in Stepney in 1834 with abode Mile End Old Town, 48yo etc. Two Mary Ann Whitakers were baptised in the relevant period in 1793 and 1794 at St James, Westminster to James and Mary and Isaac and Sarah respectively. So, it is unknown which of the sets of parents is hers, if either, though I favoured James and Mary given she called a daughter Mary and her name includes Mary. I removed the parents of James given on FamilySearch because they married in 1774 and he married in 1787. I kept the existing parents of Mary Ann in the absence of other information. Previously it was stated that she died in 1823. But then she couldn't be the mother of the Mary Elliott born in 1829 to Thomas and Mary Ann Elliott! I found a Mary Elliott who was buried 14 Feb 1823 at St Luke Old Street aged 29. I also found Mary Ann Elliott buried 19 February 1832 at St Augustine with St Faith, London, so I picked that one.
[6] A William Woodward who was born in 1790 was baptised in this church, so, I assumed this was the same William. I added 4 other children of Francis and Jane Woodward born in central London in that time frame as his siblings. The last one was also baptised at St Anne Soho where William was. But it is purely a guess that the birth refers to the William Woodward who married Ruth. There are other William Woodwards christened in the Westminster area in this period. Also, the one born to Robert and Elizabeth and christened at St Ann Blackfriars in 1788 is a possible candidate given the name of the father, especially given Robert is not such a common name in this period. However, the brother of William Francis Woodward also baptised at St Anne Soho was called John Robert. Perhaps he had died and WIlliam named his son after him. Trenant is a name from Northumberland and Scotland and is a rare name in London. So I put James Trenant as Ruth Trenant's father, as he was in the right place and time, but this is just a hypothesis. We have no record of his marriage or children.
Last updated on 6 September 2024
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