Telford Family of Ellinbank
Johnson Family in Australia
Henry Johnson was born in 1832 at Wincham in Cheshire, England, one of 10 children of Edmund Johnson, tanner, and Mary Ann Fryer. Henry was apprenticed to a printer in Staffordshire and in 1856 aged 24, he migrated to Melbourne on board the clipper ship "James Baines". By that time his parents and some of his siblings had moved to the Isle of Man.
​
The James Baines, pictured here was state of the art for its time and made the voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne in 65 days. She was 2555 tons, timber hulled and could carry 800 passengers and crew.
​
Details of Edmund and family are given on the "Cheshire" and "Isle of Man" pages.
Matilda Smith was born in London in December 1837, baptism on 21/1/1838 at Parliament Court Old Artillery Ground, Irvingite, Stepney, London. Matilda had one sister, Ann born 1841. She arrived in Melbourne with her parents Thomas Smith and Matilda Williamson 3 years earlier than Henry, in January 1853 upon the Brightman. The Brightman was a 383 ton barque carrying 16 cabin passengers and 126 in steerage.
Melbourne had been founded in 1837 following John Batman's declaration in 1835 that "this is a place for a village". By 1856 Melbourne with a population of 125,000 was growing rapidly largely as a result of the discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851. Melbourne’s population quadrupled between 1850 and 1860.
​
The 1851 UK census shows the Smith family living in the area of Aldgate, St. Botolphs in London with Thomas's occupation as "carrier". Living with them was the older Matilda's younger brother Alfred Williamson.
During her childhood Matilda no doubt spent some time in Norfolk visiting her grandparents John and Mary Smith who were farming near Kings Lynn at the mouth of the Ouse River, when Thomas Smith was born about 1812.
​
Thomas Smith died 17th March 1880 at Cundare, Shire of Colac, county of Grenville; he was a farmer at the time of his death; 68 years old; he died of "old age" according to the death certificate which also mentions his place of birth as East Lynn, Norfolk and names 2 daughters - Matilda and Ann (deceased). HIs death was registered at Ondit by the Deputy Registrar Alfred Gilbert with a Church of England burial the next day at Melbourne (General) Cemetery.
Thomas is buried with his wife Matilda who had died 15 years earlier in August 1868 aged 57. Also in the same grave in the Melbourne General cemetery is Elizabeth Catherine Johnson, granddaughter of the above who died 31st August 1865 aged 4 years.
Henry married Matilda Smith at St Peters Anglican Church, Melbourne on 21 November 1857 while residing at Collingwood. He was 25 years old but Matilda was just 19. His occupation was listed on the marriage certificate as “Printer” and he has been variously reported as working for the Government Printing Office ( obituary notice in Hobart Mercury) and the Herald Newspaper ( oral history according to Norma Stanway ) until he moved with his wife and 5 children to take up land at Cundare, north of Colac in Victoria around 1868.
​
Henry and Matilda had the following family ( name, place and date of birth) - all in Victoria Australia:
Agnes Matilda . . . . . .at Richmond . . 1858
Walter Parks . . . . . . . . . Richmond . . 1860
Henrietta Mary . . . . . . . Creswick . . . 1862
Elizabeth Catherine . . . Richmond . . 1864
Henry Thomas . . . . . . . Richmond . . 1867
Clara Elizabeth . . . . . . Cundare . . . .1870
Arthur Alfred . . . . . . . Cundare . . . .1872
Edith Maud . . . . . . . . Cundare . . . .1875
Mabel Emily . . . . . . . Cundare . . . .1877
Charles Edmund . . . . Cundare . . . .1881
Corrise Grace . . . . . Cundare . . . . 1886 ( sometimes known as Corrie or Corris)
Cundare is about 30 Km north of Colac, Victoria. Birth registrations were recorded at Ondit and certified by the registrar “Alfred Gilbert”. Henry Johnson called his property “Lakeside” ( pictured below right) and was on Lake Corangamite, 524 acres which he sold in September 1886 for 7,400 pounds, as reported in Camperdown Chronicle of Sept. 25 . Henry was on the Colac Shire Council for a brief period from January 1881 to August 1883 when he resigned.
Advert as it appeared in the Colac Herald of 31 August 1886; the livestock included 14 horses and 2 cows the photo of the land was taken in 2012.
Photos from top right are of Henry Johnson; his wife Matilda; daughter Mabel with Matilda; Mabel's sister Corris; and Henry's eldest son Walter Parks Johnson and wife Fanny; High Sunderland property at Dromedary with the 4 chimneyed homestead and apple trees. These and other pictures are thanks to Claire Grueber, their granddaughter who lived in Tasmania until her death in July 2019.
​
The photo at bottom right is of three sisters, Clara, Henrietta and probably Corris ( “Corrie” ), daughters of Henry Johnson and his wife Matilda Smith. It is taken at Ellinbank, VIctoria at the property “Thornhill” where Clara lived with her husband Lionel Gilbert. It was likely taken around 1905 shortly after Clara and Lionel moved to Ellinbank. The identity of the man is unknown ( it’s not Lionel).
Clara and Henrietta both married Gilbert brothers - Clara to Lionel and Henrietta to Ellis. Both marriages took place at the High Sunderland property at Dromedary in southern Tasmania where Henry, Matilda and family had moved in 1887.
Clara married in September 1897 aged 27 and Henrietta in September 1904 aged 42, Henrietta being 8 years older than Clara.
The Johnson girls and Gilbert boys had grown up as neighbours in the district of Cundare, north of Colac in southwestern Victoria. Their fathers were clearly well known to one another as Alfred Gilbert was the registrar and Henry Johnson the deputy registrar for deaths etc. in the registration district of Ondit.
Clara was born 26 September 1870 at Cundare; her father’s occupation given as Farmer. After marrying Clara and Lionel returned to Victoria, initially to Barkly St, Brighton, where their children were born - Alfred Henry ( “Hal” )in 1898 and Grace Matilda on 5 September 1900.
By 1903 they were living at 86 Maribyrnong Rd, Moonee Ponds and in 1905 started farming at Ellinbank.
Lionel was born 1869 to Alfred Gilbert and Mary Ann Ellis, at Ondit . The Gilberts moved to Brighton, Victoria - probably in 1885 when Lionel’s father married a second time.
Clara died 17 October 1925 ( aged 55) of ulcerative endocarditis at Hamilton Victoria and was buried in the Hamilton cemetery. Clara was most likely visiting her sister Edith who was living at Wannon near Hamilton at the time.
Grace Gilbert married Ray Telford and they had 4 children - June, Barbara, John, Alan
Hal Gilbert married Doris Topp and had 3 children - Bernice, Barrie, Glenda.
For more on the Gilberts in Ellinbank the Telfords of Ellinbank click the links below.
Henrietta (known as “Auntie Hett”) married Ellis Gilbert in September 1904—it would appear that Ellis and probably his brother Basil were by then already farming at Ellinbank near Warragul Victoria. They had no children.
Henrietta died June 1943.
Henry and Matilda moved in 1887 from Cundare to Dromedary, Tasmania and farmed at “High Sunderland”. Dromedary is on the northern bank of the Derwent R. about 30 km north-west of Hobart and in the Brighton district. According to a report in the Hobart Mercury, ‘533 acres being part of High Sunderland’ were sold by Henry Johnson in April 1896 to a Mr Wilding. Not long after purchasing High Sunderland, Henry had attempted to dispose of a portion.
​
The Hobart Technical Education Board were looking for land in October 1889 and looked at High Sunderland - "the area was 650 acres, of which 130 acres had been cultivated, the land being all of good quality. The remainder of the farm was grazing land of good average quality, open bush and partly cleared. In November 1893 the Village Settlement Movement had been looking for land to subdivide into 50 acre blocks for farming and were informed that a part of High Sunderland was available for purchase. Clearly neither of these proposals proceeded. Henry had no doubt concluded that 100 acres or so was all he needed for his orchard.
Henry’s son Walter Parkes Johnson was still listed on the 1914 electoral roll as living at “High Sunderland” but by 1928 Walter had moved to the adjoining property “Marshlands”.
The whole family moved to Tasmania with the exception of Henry junior who had already died and Agnes who was already married. Claire Grueber says that her mother Corrise always said "Henry had a whim to grow apples" as the motivation for moving from Cundare to Dromedary.
Norma Stanway's version is that Matilda wanted to move to Dromedary because it resembled her native England - this is presumably Norfolk where her grandfather farmed and father Thomas was born. In fact that part of Norfolk is flat more like the area of Cundare.
It is likely that being of farming stock, father-in-law Thomas would have encouraged and helped Henry in his farming endeavours. His will shows that he had an outstanding loan to his son-in-law Henry Johnson of 500 pounds.
Henry Johnson died 27 March 1918 while living at 86 Hill St, West Hobart ( aged 85) - buried at Cornelian Bay cemetery. Matilda Johnson died 24 January 1923 while living with her daughter at 83 Hill St., West Hobart - buried at Cornelian Bay cemetery.
The gravestone is engraved :
In loving memory of my dear husband HENRY JOHNSON who departed this life March 27th 1918 in his 86th year
Also MATILDA beloved wife of the above died 21 January 1923 aged 86 years
"Oh the beauty of the gladness of that resurrection day Until the morn breaks and shadows flee away"
Tasmania is a long way from England where Henry and Matilda grew up and from the Isle of Man where Henry's brothers and sisters were living but no doubt they kept in touch by letter. There may even have been visits - we know of at least one:
Henry’s brother Walter came for a visit from his home in the Isle of Man around 1891 or ’92 but died shortly after. He is buried at St Marks, Pontville ( near Brighton), died 1893 aged 58 ( born 1834), the cemetery records show him as “Walter Johnson of High Sunderland”. HIs death was reported in Isle of Man Times.
The property "High Sunderland" at Dromedary included a large house with a number of tall chimneys which were left standing when the house was destroyed in the disastrous Tasmanian bushfires of February 1967. In the book "Brighton and Surrounds" by Alison Alexander it is reported that "Mr. Johns(t)on(e) of HIgh Sunderland lent a large room for the Dromedary Cricket Club plain and fancy dance in 1905" and again see note in the Hobart Mercury of 12 November 1908 - "A plain and fancy dress ball took place on Friday in a hall lent by Mr. W. Johnson of High Sunderland. The affair proved a great success, about 80 visitors were present ...... the proceeds are for the purchase of lamps for the hall, also the Dromedary school picnic was voted a donation." The hall was apparently a freestanding building near the homestead.
This is the advert in The Mercury when Henry tried to sell the property in 1894, giving a total area of 1135 acres ( = 454 hectares).
For a period of time Henry Johnson was chairman of the North Bridgewater Road Trust ( at least from 1891 to 1894 for which the Trust minutes are held in the Tasmanian Archives).
Henry and his sons - Walter, Arthur and Charlie - apparently liked to present an image of country gentlemen, wearing suits and ties even in the hottest weather and while working in the orchard. Daughter Clara's death certificate lists Henry's occupation as "gentleman". It was thus particularly galling when the family had to augment their income by the women taking in washing when income from the orchard dropped off according to the family gossip.
Henry and Matilda have numerous descendants living in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and beyond.
Agnes married John Thomas Lupson. in 1883 while living at Cundare. They had 4 children over the period 1884 - 1898.
Details of the 2 families known to the writer are:
Dorothy Grace ( “Auntie Do” ) b. 1898 at Collingwood and married Robert Martin Dalton in 1916; had 2 sons - Geoff ( Robert Geoffrey) who was born 1916, unmarried and lived with his mother at Burke Rd, Camberwell, Victoria; and a younger brother, John (John Phillip Sinclair) who was killed in 1944 in an aircraft accident while seconded to the RAF in Oxford during the second world war.
The loss of her son dealt a severe blow to Auntie Do who was confined to her house for many years although always hospitable to family visitors. Her husband Robert died in 1949; Dorothy and Geoff both died in1981.
pictured at right: Dale Johnson with memorial for John Dalton at Botley, Oxfordshire
Edith Agnes m. Charles Percy Stanway in 1913 at Jeffcott, Victoria and had one son, Ray ( C.R. ) Stanway. Charles died in 1918 ( age 33) and Edith in 1929 ( age 44) both from common infections; Ray also lost a brother when a teenager, from a blood infection. After his parents’ deaths Ray was brought up by his Auntie Do. Ray was an instrument technician during the second world war and so after the war became a watchmaker with a business in Balwyn Victoria - he married Norma Beckinsale and had 2 sons, John and Paul. John married Patricia and had one son, Christopher.
Picture below shows John and Tricia with Ray and Norma.
Ray died in 2000 and John at age 61 in 2006 from a heart attack. Paul after a period with a radio station married firstly Christine, then Rosemary; they have 2 children, Tasha and Samantha. and set up the very successful "Sydney Sock Company" which they subsequently franchised.
Norma died in 2010 at the age of 90.
Because they lived in Melbourne , Auntie Do and the Stanway family were well known to the Telfords and Gilberts at Ellinbank; contact with the Tasmanian families was naturally less direct but various members of the Tasmanian families visited, particularly at Auntie Do’s from time to time.
Edith - married John Edward Toye on 9 April 1912 at St Pauls Anglican Church, Warragul, Victoria. This is near where her sister Clara was living at Ellinbank - did Edith live in Warragul for a time ? - or just visiting ? Edith and John lived at Wannon, Western Victoria between 1914 and 1919 according to electoral roll records. They had 2 daughters - Edna and Mary, who lived together at Seaford until recently.
Mabel - married Harold Montague ( Monty) Chancellor on 17 August 1910 at St Luke’s, Cottesloe, Western Australia. By 1914 Monty and Mabel had returned to Hobart where they lived at 86 Hill St, West Hobart. By 1919 they had moved across the road to 83 Hill St.
Monty was the youngest son of Edward Chancellor who was a well known wine and spirit merchant in Hobart.
Children - Corris b. 1912, died 1969 and Betty b. 1919, died 1980.
Corris Chancellor married Alan Spark Watchorn ( grandson of John Watchorn, Tasmanian MLC and mayor of Hobart) - children: Ian Spark married to Patricia and living at Sandy Bay, Hobart (children Robert, Phillipa and Rebecca), Geoffrey who lives in England ( son Sam) and Jill married to D.C. Calvert at Huonville ( children David and Bruce). Betty Chancellor married Arthur Maddock. Mabel died 8 August 1944 at the age of 66 years.
Subsequently Monty married Mabel’s sister Corrie. Monty died 31 October 1965
Corris Johnson married Walter William Scott on 7 July 1911 at St Paul’s Glenorchy. They moved to Adelaide and had 7 children:
Florence Dorothy ( Floye) - had a hotel in Katherine and died in Darwin at age 38, Henry Maxwell ( Max), Rex Charles, Johnson ( John), Joan Marjorie, Kenneth,
and Claire, b. 1928 married Stephen Grueber and has 2 children - Richard b. 1956 and John b.1961 ( approximately). Richard is married to Christine and has 3 children. Claire and Stephen have lived in the same house in Cressy St , New Town ( Hobart) for the last 50 years, the house being built on the land belonging to the next door house where Stephen grew up. Stephen was a maintenance engineer with Electrolytic Zinc outside Hobart.
Corris ( Corrie ) moved back to Hobart after the death of her first husband Walter in 1942 and subsequently married her brother-in-law, Monty Chancellor after Mabel died in 1944 - cremated as “Corris Grace Chancellor” on 11 May 1985, aged 98. Daughter Claire when aged 14 moved back to Hobart with her mother. Her siblings remained in South Australia where their descendants still live.
Charles - the 1914 electoral roll shows Charles living with his parents, Henry and Matilda, at 57A King St East, Sandy Bay, with “no occupation” . Charlie is remembered affectionately by Barrie Gilbert, Claire Grueber and Norma Stanway. He was apparently a regular visitor to the Victorian relatives. He was an inventor - apparently without much luck commercially; Stephen Grueber remembers a steam engine he designed and built—he applied for several USA and Australian patents over the period 1918 to 1954; these include “Apparatus for the production of pressure gas vapour”, granted 1918; “Pressure fluid generator", 1929; “Improvements to flying machines “ USA 1929 ( really a type of helicopter); “Improvements in or relating to binary engines ...” USA 1954.
Walter farmed at High Sunderland up until at least 1914 as recorded in the Tasmanian electoral but had moved to Marshlands by 1928. Married Fanny Fitzjohn Hall at Sydney 20 June 1900.
Children include: Henry Marshall Hall Johnson b. 1901 in Hobart ( known as Marshall) and Freda Florence Johnson b. 1902.
Marshall married Olive Ward in 1942 and spent many years in the RAAF. He died in 1975 at Wantirna, Melbourne. They had 2 sons - Phillip and Dale who followed in his father's footsteps with the RAAf. Dale supplied most of this detail.
High Sunderland and Marshlands were adjacent properties on the banks of the Derwent River, 8 km upstream from the Bridgewater bridge. At this point there is a relatively narrow strip of good farmland between the marshy river bank and the foothills of Mount Dromedary.
Marshlands has been subdivided into 2 properties - one with the original farmhouse which is still occupied although substantially modernized and extended, and the other with a new house occupied by a John Fitzgerald who told me some of the history of the property. There was apparently a lime quarrying operation at Dromedary in the early/mid 19th century worked by convicts with the original Marshlands house being the commandant’s residence - the lime was ferried across the Derwent to lime kilns on the right bank.
Arthur - married Laura Hill Greer at St Johns Launceston on 30 October 1907. He farmed at Wahroonga ( Mill Vale, Dromedary) at least until 1928 before moving to Orford and cremated in 1951 at the age of 79. Children: Daughter Marjorie Greer Johnson born 1909, apparently not married and died 1987 at 131 Hill St, West Hobart. Marjorie wrote several children's books including "The Black Brush Riding School" set in Tasmania and published in England.
Elizabeth - died in 1868 at age 4, Henry - died in 1884, age 17 - buried in Beeac cemetery, near Cundare.
James Johnson and family
Henry's brother James sailed to Melbourne the year after Henry, in December 1857 on the "Almora" after a 140 day journey from Liverpool as an unassisted passenger.
James brought with him his wife Emily and eldest son Edmund who was born in England in 1854. Two other sons died in infancy in England. A further 11 children were born in Melbourne ( Richmond and Emerald Hill ) up until 1878. Six of these died before their second birthday. Three only of the family had offspring - these were:
Edmund married Janet Salkeld 1861; Edmund was a carpenter like his father working on the Goulburn Weir and a number of bridges.
ch. Isabel b. 1882 married Charles Miller.
Ernest b. 1885 married Ivy Maynard and had 3 children including Edmund Barry Johnson b. 1931 and father of Jan Maxwell nee Johnson who is one of eight grandchildren of Ernest and Ivy, and is married to Bruce Maxwell.
Alfred b. 1872 married (1) Ellen Hughes - 1 son, and (2) Florence Brown - 3 sons.
William b.1859 married Emma Hughes - 5 children.
James Johnson died 1917 at Murchison aged 85.
This information relating to James and family is thanks to Jan Maxwell, nee Johnson, of North Balwyn, Victoria who is the great great granddaughter of James and can be accessed via the Worldconnect website.
Special thanks to Norma Stanway and Claire Grueber for filling in with first hand recollections of the Johnsons of Tasmania.