The Field Family Newsletter, 8th Edition

Home    Search    Print   

The FIELD Family Newsletter

8th Edition, December 2001, Edited by Dorothy Cefarin
Reprinted here with permission

WOW! what a great time was had at our family gathering, I remarked to someone that I nearly ended up with laryngitis from talking so much, they remarked that this never happens to them as they keep in regular practice. I'll bear that in mind.

Thank you to all who made it such a success, and to those who travelled long distances from Queensland and Victoria just to be part of our great family.

A special thank you to our guest speaker Joy Murrin. Joy gave us information on how to obtain certificates, especially from Ireland, along with many interesting stories. Thank you Joy.

A big THANK YOU goes to Lorna Ross for her wonderful help selling tickets and to Judith Strickland for donating some of the raffle goodies.

Suellen Rawsthorne gave much of her time to entertaining the younger< generation with face painting and plaster painting. Great work Suellen.

David Rawsthorne spent most of the day with his favourite past time, the computer, he spent much of his time showing people their family tree and ancestry line on it. He has put the Family Tree on a disc with about 700 photos which he has taken from various cemeteries, these discs were for sale at our gathering. He may have some left, contact him if you want to know more.

David Rawsthorne
PO Box 139
Lithgow 2790
Phone 02 6353 1843
david@davidrawsthorne.com

Jim and Sharon Fittler they were wonderful on the day, they are from the Rope-Pulley line but decided to give us a hand by serving tea and coffee. They felt quite at home with us as they knew quite a few people, remember John Rope married Maria Field so our families are inter-related.

Raffle Results.... Congratulations to

• 1st prize winner Mrs. Wilkinson
• 2nd prize winner Judith Strickland
• 3rd prize winner Mrs. Clarke

"Our Family Tree"

We welcome you to Emu Plains
Please come and meet the clan,
Put a smile upon your face
And shake a cousin's hand.

It seems we are all related
As our forbearers we discover,
There's Edward, James and Sarah
And Elizabeth my Gr.Gr.Gr.Gr.Gr.Grand Mother
And many many more.

When Edward came from England's shores
In 1790 and Elizabeth in 1791,
Could They've had a vision?
Of this their Family Tree.

Did his lovely wife Elizabeth
With a wistful gentle smile,
Long for her friends and family
In that far off English Isle.

They played a part in Australian history
In a land far from their birth,
And no doubt suffered hardships
As they toiled with Mother Earth.

May the families of their children
Who gather here today,
Hold out a hand of friendship
As their cousins they survey.

And when we wander homeward
From our folks at Emu Plains,
A silent prayer we'll offer
For their life in these mountains blue.

And "Thank You" Edward & Elizabeth, James & Sarah
And our families gone before,
Your courage is our heritage
WE bless YOU, folk of yore.......

As we gather here today on 13th October 2001, in Australia's Year of Federation I'd like to dedicate this version to my ancestors.

This poem was read by Grace Schofield of Bundaberg Qld. at our family gathering. Here is another sent in by Grace.

"Just A Farmer"

Just a farmer you said
And I laughed 'cause I knew
All the things that farmers
Must be able to do.

They must study the land
And watch the sky
And figure out just when
Is the right time and why.

To sow and to plant
To buy and to sell
To go to the market
With cattle and well

To know the books
That farmers must keep
To pay those taxes
And be able to sleep.

And you know the fixing
The farmers must do
When machines like mad monsters
Blow a gasket or two.

I guess when God needed
Folk to care for his earth
He chose Just Farmers
'Cause He knew their true worth.

Keep those stories and personal items coming in, it is what keeps this newsletter going. It allows those distant relatives to know what is happening and those keeping records to update them.

It is with sadness that I have to inform you of the passing of a very dear man that I have had the privilege of meeting, Arthur James Byron. Arthur was a great person, I met him at the Field gathering at Lithgow and again at the Castlereagh Cemetery gathering. We also had a few chats on the phone about our heritage, in the 5th Edition of the Field Family Newsletter you will find a lovely letter he wrote to me. Daphne phoned me with the sad news. Daphne comes down through the Field line of Edward, George, Thomas, Alfred, then Emily Field.

OBITUARY

ARTHUR JAMES BYRON
21/7/1915 - 5/11/2001

Our deepest sympathy is with the family of Arthur James Byron, his wife Daphne and sons Ronald, Norman and Douglas, Arthur passed away on 5th November 2001 and is interred at Pinegrove Memorial Cemetery.

Arthur Byron was born at Merrylands, Sydney on 21st July 1915. He was a very proud descendant of the First Fleeter family of Anthony Rope and Elizabeth Pulley.

On 14th October 1939 he married Daphne Grace Clark, they settled in Merrylands and was blessed with three sons, Ronald, Norman and Douglas.

Arthur, a loyal and patriotic Australian joined the Australian Army Ordnance Corps during World War ll and served four years in North Queensland and Borneo, and was in Morotai Hospital during his service.

Arthur had three loves - his loving family, his ancestry and his country, we deeply mourn the passing of a "true gentleman".

SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS

Arthur's parents were W'm Arthur Byron and Muriel Grace Bridges.

Extracts from the life story of James Rutledge

Written at the request of Emily M. M. Henry wife of Dr. A. Henry, Sandringham NSW., his granddaughter.

Genealogy: Elizabeth Mitchell m Edward Field
son Edward m Maria Strickland nee Collits
daughter Lucy Ann m James Rutledge
daughter Maria Rutledge m William Newton
daughter Emily Newton m Dr. Arthur Henry.

Issued 31st May, 1927.
..... Now being in the 80th year of my age, I have been requested by several of my children and grand children to account of some of the instances and experiences that have occurred to me during my passage of life....

I came of a decent Methodist family in Ireland, descendants of those Puritans who accompanied Oliver Cromwell when that great and good man came over to suppress the rebellions and stop the persecutions of the Protestants in that distracted country......

With Father's death a certain income he had died and was lost to the family. Even then there were indications of the failure of crops which culminated in the famine which cost Ireland a million and a half a few years later. This we foresaw and I, with a brother and sister, left the Green Island for Australia on June 8th 1840.

On my way hither it was my privilege to conduct several services with the emigrants that accompanied us in a large building then used as a stable but it was the first building in which Wesley preached at Plymouth. After we all embarked for Australia at this port, I was requested to continue holding services on board whenever the weather and the circumstances permitted, which I did during the voyage which occupied 103 days.......

My sister and brother soon got situations and in the order of Providence I got an offer of the Teachership at Castlereagh on the duties of which I entered in December 1840.

The school was kept in the building erected for a church on an acre of land given by John Lees senr. 22 years before. This land Mr Lees year had sewn with wheat which he reaped had the produce ground and sent to the Wesleyan Missionaries to supply their tables. In those early days there were good congregations there, but with his death it dwindled nearly away. This structure was built in succession to a smaller one, the first in the colony , near his own house. That acre of land is peculiarly interesting to me. There my brother Thomas was buried and my sister Margaret, Mrs Wright, who accompanied me to this colony, a portion of the land having been set aside as a burial ground.

My introduction to the little congregation there by Rev. F. Lewis I can never forget. I had not decided on accepting the appointment when I first visited the place. Mr. Lewis preached on that occasion and in his prayer he said, "Lord if thou wilt not come with him (alluding to me) let him not come." Well, I did come and I believe God was with me.............

I now come to another important phase in my life, my marriage. There was in my Society class a young lady, the sister of the lady of the house where I lodged ( believe to be Mrs. Stanton from the other writings) at this time. Her very excellent qualities commanded my admiration. I said her sister Lucy Ann Field, if of the same disposition, is just the one I should choose for a wife. I had now known her for about a year and a half. I proposed to her and, with her father's consent (Edward Field) got married on June 29th, 1842. The Rev. Mr. Lewis was the celebrant. The ceremony was not of the mere formal kind. It was a religious service with hymns, exhortation and prayer. The hymn "Thou God of Truth Alone" impressed me deeply, and so also did an expression in his address to us, "Never let either of you say anything to the other that you know would annoy or hurt the other", a caution I was ever mindful of during our wedded life. During the whole of the 54 years we lived together we loved each other but once and that was during the whole time, like a river it increased in volume as time went along. Of course there were times when one differences of opinion arose, but that was no quarrel. Love was always there and settled matters.

The school (at Castlereagh) I gave up and took a farm in connection with my brother after I had been four years teaching, but from this retired after twelve months and went into business as a storekeeper in a small way... After continuing at this business we removed to Parramatta to which I was recommended by Rev. W. M. Boyce. Here I held the appointment as teacher of the Wesleyan School until the discovery of gold in the colony in 1851. Here my third and fourth children Susanna Wesley and William Wools were born. The two eldest Arthur and Maria Jane, having been born while we lived at Castlereagh.....

I left to take charge of the public school in Drayton, Queensland. Unfortunately it was then a rule, which is still in force, that no teacher in the public service is allowed to take any part in giving religious instruction publicly.........

In August 1851 when the gold discovery had so unsettled the minds of the people that it was thought ordinary industry would cast to the winds and that those who depended would be left high and dry, yet those were the parties that derived most benefit from the auriferous discovery.

It was whilst at Drayton on the Darling Downs in Queensland, two of our children David Dunlop and James Josiah were born.

Nothing of importance occurred, except the visit at this time of the Governor, Sir Charles Fitzroy, when Arthur, although only 12 years of age, read an address of welcome to His Excellency in such a manly pleasing tone that some of the gentlemen that accompanied the Governor said, "That boy will be a lawyer yet" - a prediction that that has been amply fulfilled.

Although prevented from meddling in politics, I could not refrain from venting a little on the forbidden ground. I put myself in communication with the Surveyor General's Department and got the township of Toowoomba laid out in allotments for sale, much against the will of the surveyors on the spot.

I then got removal to Clarencetown on the William River. After four years took the Wesleyan School at Surry Hills that became vacant the very day I left Clarencetown.

Surry Hills was now the scene of my labours for many years. Here I had charge of a class which met at Rushcutter's Bay, and here I re-engaged in the work of Tract distribution, confining my attentions chiefly to the military then stationed at Victoria barracks, where I met with some success until a new commanding officer Col. Hamilton prohibited me from entering on the ground, that Wesleyans were not recognized in the Army...

For several years both myself and my wife Lucy Ann laboured hard at the work distributing tracts and visiting the slums and back lanes of the city.... The Salvation Army take credit to themselves that it was they alone that went down to the slums and gutters to save them that were list. But all those years were organizations for rescue work and visitation of the poor and sick but it was not done with the flourish of bands of music, banners and scarlet and blue uniforms, assuming titles and positions due only to officers in Her Majesty’s Service. We laboured unostentatiously, caring to be known and praised by God alone.... I admit we made a mistake by moving along so obscurely. We should have made a greater show , and been more importunate for money to enable us to carry on our work more efficiently.

In 1864 I resigned the Surry Hills School and took charge of the York Street Wesleyan School but did not change my residence.... 1872 we moved to Newcastle to take charge of the Editorship of the Newcastle Chronicle, and left forever the scholastic profession after having been for over 30 years connected with it.

Having been doing work for the press as a reporter and writer of articles for several years previously, these literary duties were much more congenial to my feelings than teaching. For years with the assistance of my sons I edited the Australian Almanac for the Sheriff and Downing and also the New South Wales Government Gazetteer from very scanty material. I regret to say it contained many errors, but the wonder was that they were so few, considering the disadvantages under which we laboured. The ability shown by my son David convinced me that he had capacity for something higher than ordinary industrial pursuits. So we managed to give him a collegiate education, in which we were able assisted by my son Arthur who had by this time entered the Wesleyan Ministry, 13 years later he left the ministry and found a more congenial sphere of action at the Bar, to which he was admitted the following year and held the position of Attorney General of Queensland for nearly five years. That his heart in no way changed the love of preaching has been evidenced by continuing to exercise his gifts as a local preacher.

During the 8 years I taught at York Street I had an active time of it. In addition to the work mentioned, I took the leading part in bringing out Australian Teachers Journal, which I edited for three years....

About 1868 I organized a new system on insurance for teachers on the mutual principal. It is still in existence and after 28 years experience it is as vigorous as ever..

Next move to Parkes, as editor of the Parkes Gazette.. thence to Orange to take the editorial management of the Western Examiner.

Having returned to Sydney I was employed as reporter and leader writer for the Daily Telegraph until I left with my wife and daughter on an extended visit to my eldest and most dearly beloved son Arthur in Queensland. Up to the death of my dear wife which occurred on 29th August 1896, having been married exactly 54 years and 2 months. She always had a strong desire to live to see her Golden Wedding day. In fact we were both gratified and so were the rest of the family who assembled for the celebration at Waverley in David's house with much congratulations and rejoicings. The gifts were numerous and in some instances costly. For our part we were overpowered with thankfulness. We could not refrain from crying out Bless the Lord O My Soul for all His mercies and such children. It was like our marriage in 1842, a time of blessing. O that all our grandchildren would cleave unto the Lord with all their heart. Then would the covenant blessing be renewed to their children unto the third and fourth generation as it was with their fathers who have found the Lord ever Faithful to His promise.

In the next edition of The Field Family Newsletter there will be an interesting story about the life of Arthur Rutledge. Thank you Pan Wilcox for the story on James Rutledge. A few stories have now been printed about James, I think his life has been well covered, so this will be the last for some time.

WE have many Collits in our Family Tree. Edward's daughter Mary Ann married Joseph Collits, son of Pierce Collits. Below is a history about Pierce Collits.

Pierce Collits (1769? - 1848), settler and innkeeper, was convicted in July 1800 at The Old Bailey of receiving a quantity of stolen muslin, lace, handkerchiefs, and other goods and sentenced to transportation for 14 years. He arrived in Sydney in the Minorca on 14th December 1801. His wife, Mary, came free at the same time, and though she could not sign her name, King granted her in July 1803 seventy acres at Evan on the Nepean, where her husband joined her. Over the years they had three sons and six daughters and became prosperous and respectable settlers. In 1810 Macquarie included their farm among those he described as "good" ... well cultivated.; perhaps this helped Collits gain his conditional pardon the following May. In the next few years, he subscribed to the school at Castlereagh in 1814, to the Waterloo fund in 1816 and to the food relief fund in 1817; in 1815 he was made chief constable at Evan, in 1820 poundkeeper and inspector of cattle, and in August 1821 a member ofthe Evan District Committee of Emancipated Colonists. Throughout this period he had supplied large quantities of meat to the Government store and in 1819 was granted a further fifty acres at Prospect.

By this time he was contemplating a move into the interior, for which he was given permission in 1821. In 1823 he was settled in the Vale of Clwydd (near Lithgow) where he built his famous Collits Inn, The Golden Fleece, at the foot of the Mount York, four miles and a half from the ford over Cox's River. This was a great boon to travellers, affording them shelter at the end of their second day's journey from Sydney. He received a grant of 200 acres there in 1825 and by 1828 had cleared 54 and cultivated 36, and owned 360 cattle and 300 sheep. In 1830 Darling, who had visited and praised his inn the previous year, ordered him another 150 acres, and appointed him a deputy-postmaster, but his prosperity was threatened by Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell's (q.v.) building the new road through Victoria Pass. In 1833 he resigned as postmaster and next year selected a site for a new inn on the River Lett near Hartley. Offered a further grant in substitution for his former land, after some intricate manoeuvring in which he seems to have been anxiousto get a double issue, he selected 317 acres on the Belubula River near Canowindra, so as well as pioneering in the Hartley district his sons were among the earliest settlers on the Lachlan River. In 1841 when his wife died he transferred his new inn to his daughter, Sophia Morris. He died on 19thSep tember 1848, aged 79, and was buried behind his first inn.

Life For Survivors of The Revolution

You are survivors! Consider the changes you have witnessed - You were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the Pill. You were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball-point pens; before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothing and before man walked on the moon and remote controls! You got married first and then lived together. How quaint can you be?

In your times, closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of". Bunnies were small rabbits and rabbits were not Volkswagens. Designer Jeans were scheming for girls named Jean or Jeanne. You thought fast food was what you ate during Lent, and Outer Space was the back of the local theatre.

You were before house husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers and computer marriages. You were before day-care centres, group therapy and nursing homes. You never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electronic typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yoghurt and guys wearing earrings. For you, time sharing meant togetherness - not computers or condominiums: a "chip" meant a piece of wood; hardware meant hardware and software wasn't even a word.

In 1940, Made in Japan meant junk and the term "making out" referred to how you did in an exam. Pizzas, McDonalds and instant coffee were unheard of. In your day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink and "pot" was something you cooked in. Rock music was grandma's lullaby and AIDS were helpers in the Principal's office.

You were certainly not before the differences in the sexes were discovered, but you were surely before the sex change: And you were the last generation that was so dumb to think you needed a husband to have a baby!

No wonder all of us in this group are so confused and there is such a generation gap!
But you survived!
What better reason to celebrate!(Thanks Grace)

I received a lovely letter from Glenys Walker who lives in Victoria, she told of some of her travels earlier this year. Hope you don't mind Glenys but I would like to share some of it with our readers. Maybe they can answer some of your queries in the stories you heard.

Bob and I came up to the Castlereagh meet. And brought a few of the relations that lived in NSW with us. We had an enjoyable day but didn't find a lot of our immediate people there (being the 3rd Edward down) but you pick up information and it was great to read all the stones of the 1st and 2nd Edwards and their wives. From there we went to Lithgow and Hartley Valley where we found the 3rd Edward's grave in an overgrown but lovely quiet little cemetery.

My grandfather Arthur was born there at Hartley and my mum Gwendolyn at Lithgow. They lived in the Vale of Clwydd. My mum and dad were married at the Methodist church in Lithgow. As an adult it was good to make this trip as all my folk were a vague memory. When we came to Lithgow we stayed at the Ambulance Station.

My uncle Charlie Field the Superintendent and my aunt Lilah, and this visit was to see my relatives. So this was the first time we had investigated cemeteries and I was really pleased to see that they were still in good condition and readable.

A question I need answered: We visited Amberdeen (Rose Inn). Dad tells me the 3rd Edward owned this at one time and (maybe) my grandfather Arthur grew up there. Can anyone help with this please.

Here are some stories that dad tells:

• That my grandmother could ride bareback down the side of Mount Victoria.
• That the daughter or barmaid at the Inn was in love with the Highwayman - bushranger. When the law came looking for him she let him out the back to get away. Also she was supposed to have said, "I will marry the next man that walks in the door." A very old man walked in and true to her word she married him.

Do you know the true story? Let me know......

Please encourage others to join our Field Family Newsletter only $5 per year.
Contact:
Dorothy Cefarin
24 Eggleton Street
Blacktown NSW 2148
E-Mail: doff202@comcen.com.au
$5 Subscriptions for 2002 are now due. If you receive a gold smiley stamp you have paid.

Name.........................................................................................................................................................
Address......................................................................................................................................................Post Code..............................................
E-Mail address if this is how you wish to receive your Newsletter...........................................................................................................................................................