Abraham and Catherine Lewis - From Willen to Freestone Creek

FROM WILLEN TO FREESTONE CREEK

The year was 1870 and in the small village of Willen in Buckinghamshire, England, a family was preparing for a journey that would change their lives.

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The Lewis family had lived in Willen since at least 1790. The men of the family were agricultural labourers and the women probably made lace, a home industry for which the region was noted.

On Chistmas Day 1837, Abraham Lewis aged 21 and Catherine Tooth aged 20 married at Willen. Could they have envisaged that the latter part of their married life would find them thousands of miles away from the village of their birth?

Over the next thirty years the couple raised their family of two boys and five girls: William (1840), Elizabeth (1843), Emma (1845), Clara (1848), Lavinia (1849), Tryphena (1852) and Charles (1854). Two other sons died in infancy.

So we come to Autumn 1870. Abraham and Catherine were in their mid 50’s. Together with three of their children Emma, Tryphena and Charles now aged 25, 18 and 16 respectively, they said goodbye to Willen, made their way to London and boarded the SS Light Brigade which sailed for Australia on 2 October 1870. Fourteen weeks later they arrived in Brisbane as free settlers and the family made their way to Freestone Creek which was 14 km northeast of Warwick in Queensland.

In 1871 the rural community of Freestone Creek may have numbered around 20 families. The Lewis family brought with them knowledge of farming wheat, barley, oats, beans and saffron as well as rearing dairy cattle, pigs and ducks. Though the soils of the Freestone Creek - Swan Creek area were not the chalk and flint soils of Buckinghamshire, the gently rolling hills of the countryside would have seemed familiar and the family set about farming their land and raising livestock.

In 1873 Emma Lewis married George Clegg; in 1875 Tryphena Lewis married John Dean and in 1877 Charles Lewis married Keturah Wood. Abraham and Catherine spent the rest of their lives at Freestone Creek. Catherine Lewis (nee Tooth) passed away in June 1899 aged 83 and Abraham Lewis in March 1900 aged 84 and they were both buried at Swan Creek Cemetery. They were survived by five of their children. Back in Buckinghamshire were Elisabeth, Clara and Lavinia and in Queensland and New South Wales, Emma, Tryphena and Charles and at least 17 grandchildren in Australia.

In January 1996 I visited Swan Creek Cemetery but could not find any headstones to mark Abraham and Catherine’s grave, though there were a number of unmarked graves. Charles was my great, great grandfather.

Donna Holmes, Singapore. June 1996.

[The above article was published in Origins : magazine of the Buckinghamshire Family History Society. Vol. 20(2) June 1996. page 100. ]

Children of Abraham and Catherine (9)
James Lewis (1838-1840) in England
William Lewis (b. 1840) in England
Elizabeth Garratt nee Lewis (b. 1843) in England
Emma Wilton nee Lewis formerly Clegg (1845-1934)
Clara Harvey nee Lewis (b. 1848) in England
Lavinia Fenner nee Lewis (1849-1939) in England
Tryphena Dean nee Lewis (1852-1932)
Charles Lewis (1854-1937) ... [my great, great grandfather]
Henry Valentine Lewis (1857-1857)

Grandchildren of Abraham and Catherine (42)
Susan Harris nee Lewis (b. 1865)
Emma Kate Osborne nee Garratt (1866-1942) in England
John Harvey (b. 1869) in England
Edith Ellen Laver nee Fenner (1870-1954)
Frederick Harvey (b. 1870) in England
William James Fenner (1872-1953)
Charlotte Harvey (b. 1872) in England
John William Augustus Lewis (1873-1950)
William Charles Clegg (1874-1933)
Thomas Harvey (b. 1874) in England
Gertrude Griffin nee Fenner (b. 1874), emigrated to California.
Isabel Kate Leddra nee Dean (1875-1950)
Sarah (Kate) Catherine Osborne nee Clegg (1876-1960)
Catherine Amelia Steel nee Fenner (1876-1909) in England
Clara Elizabeth Sachers nee Clegg formerly Dougall (1877-1953)
Lydia Lavinia Howe nee Fenner (1878-1944) in England
William John Lewis (1878-1957)
Maude M. Dean (1878-1880)
George Andrew Dean (1879-1880)
George Harvey (b. 1879) in England
Joseph Fenner (1880-1967)
Grace Cecilia Clay nee Lewis (1880-1962)
William Henry Dean (b. 1881)
Gertrude Alice Dean (1882-1882)
Charles Frederick Fenner (1882-1949)
Charles Henry Lewis (1882-1975)
Frank Harvey (b. 1883) in England
Frederick James Lewis (1884-1975)
Herbert Harvey (b. 1885) in England
Arthur Sidney Fenner (1885-1902) in England
Leslie V. Dean (1885-1885)
Ernest George Lewis (1886-1964) ... [my great grandfather]
George Frederick Wilton (1887-1966)
Lionel Arthur Dean (1888-1972)
Richard Franklin Lewis (1889-1972)
Lizzie Wilton nee Garratt (1891-1974)
Alfred Norman Dean (1891-1961)
Elsie Elizabeth Lewis (1891-1895)
George Albion Lewis (1893-1965)
Thomas Arthur Lewis (1894-1969)
Gladys Ione Hutchings nee Lewis (1896-1960)
Herbert Reginald Lewis (1902-1938)