Ellis Hare Dawson

  General Notes:

Emigrated to Australia 1848 on 'Equestrian'.
Paul Shurte notes: that he was born 26 May 1822 as well as 14 Sept 1822
Ellis Hare Dawson remarries reluctantly after waiting five years after mourning his Mary's departure. He marries in 1864 to the widow Charlotte (nee Swan) Saunders. Charlotte had stayed with the baby Elis jr. after Mary's death the problem for caring of the child until the elder Ellis finally offered her his hand in marriage.

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. & John Gardner who writes:
Three generations of Dawsons came to Australia on the Equestrian in 1848. A newspaper account of the ship's arrival is interesting. The Equestrian was well off shore near Sydney when a 3 day storm blew up. The captain took all the sails down and the Equestrian was blown north to Port Stephens before the storm ended and the ship could return under sail to Sydney. Another ship trying to enter the Heads during the same storm ran aground and people died.

The Dawsons came from Renhold in Bedfordshire. It is about 70 miles north of London. You can find it on Google Maps. It's a one horse town. The men were agricultural labourers and Ruth was a straw plaiter.

I've read that in, I think, 1841, plague arrived in Renhold. By 1848, the agricultural reforms were in full swing and people like our ancestors would have found it very hard to make a living. It's little wonder that the Dawsons quit Renhold and came to Australia.

When they arrived in Australia, they did very well. Ellis seems to have owned land in Saumarez Ponds (west of Armidale). I found a newspaper article in which he had posted a reward for the return of 2 missing horses. He died in Armidale hospital on 1 October, 1888. Apparently, he was flung off a horse and sustained head injuries. He was 66 years old. The death certificate gives his occupation as farmer. Even though I loved riding when I was a student at UNE, I've always known that, no matter how well you can ride, it's not the safest activity.

Ellis' children were: Dinah, David, Ralph, Thomas Richardson Dawson, John Swan Dawson. There were 3 other children, 1 boy and 2 girls, who were dead at the time of Ellis' death.

• connection. ⁵¹⁷ Bronwyn Connor's links to me are as follows:

Bronwyn Shanley (1966) married Tony Darren (Darren) Connor (1968)
Her father was Eric Shanley (1937) who married Patricia Suey (1936)
Her father was James Suey (1904)
His father was James Suey (1870) who married Martha Jones (1871)
Her father was John Jones (1834) who married Dinah Dawson (1843)
Her father was Ellis Dawson (1822)
His father was Thomas Dawson (1801)
He also had Rachel Dawson (1835) who married James Bell (1824)
They had Robin Bell (1862)
He had Myra Bell (1892) who married Andrew Menzies (1892)
His father was Daniel Menzies (1865) who married Lavinia Gower (1869)
Her father was Charles Gower (1829) who married Lavinia Pearson (1838)
Her father was Robert Pearson (c1795) & he also had William Pearson (1830) who married Susannah Dawes (1841)
Her father was Edward Bannister Dawes (1843) & he also had James H. Dawes (1843)
He had Annie Florence Dawes (1873) who married Arthur Augustus Bray (1869)
They had Albert Alan Bray (1896)
He had Robert Alfred Bray (1920)
He had Robert Arthur Bray (1947) who married me - Robyn Bray (nee Davies) (1950)

Ellis married Mary Anne Richardson on 23 May 1841 in Renhold, Bedfordshire England. (Mary Anne Richardson was born about 1822 in Renhold, Bedfordshire England, died on 8 Apr 1859 in Armidale, NSW Australia ⁵¹⁵ and was buried in 1859 in Armidale, NSW Australia.). The cause of her death was in childbirth.

Ellis next married Charlotte Swan in 1864 in Armidale, NSW Australia. (Charlotte Swan was born in 1822 in Kent England, died on 22 Aug 1879 in Armidale, NSW Australia ⁵¹⁵ and was buried on 25 Aug 1879 in Armidale, NSW Australia.)