Matthew James Everingham
(1768-1817)

 

Family Links

Spouses/Children:
1. Elizabeth Rymes

Matthew James Everingham

  • Born: 1768, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, Norfolk England
  • Christened: 22 Jun 1768, Bloomsbury, London, Middlesex England
  • Marriage (1): Elizabeth Rymes on 13 Mar 1791
  • Died: 25 Dec 1817, Wilberforce, County of Cumberland, NSW Australia at age 49

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Mary-Ann Cook & Marion Purnell where it is noted:
Matthew was tried at the Old Bailey in 1784 for stealing and sentenced to 7 years transportation for fraudulently obtaining two law books, and selling them to a dealer. He was transported on the ship 'Scarborough', arriving in the colony with the First Fleet.
The Old Bailey transcript is as follows:
MATTHEW JAMES EVERINGHAM was indicted, for that he being a profligate person, on the 17th of June did falsly pretend to Owen Owens servant to Samuel Shepherd, Esq; in the Middle Temple, that he was sent to Mr. Shepherd, from Mr. Clermont's for Burn's Justice or Compton's Practice meaning certain books, by which he obtained the same books, value 10 s. the property of the said Samuel Shepherd, whereas he was not sent with that message.
OWEN OWENS sworn.
I am servant to Mr. Shepherd, I was servant to him on the 17th of June last, the prisoner came to me on the 17th of June in the morning, about ten or eleven, he came with Mr. Clermont's compliments to Mr. Shepherd, and he would be obliged to him, if he would lend him Burn's Justice or Compton's Practice, I gave him the books, and asked him whether he lived with Mr. Clermont's or not, he said yes, he did, and he had had the fever and ague, and was come back again.
- CLERMONT, Esq. sworn.
The prisoner at the bar was my servant, but not on the 17th of June.
Did you send him any where? - I did not send him any where.
RICHARD BANNISTER sworn.
I am a bookseller in Bell-yard, Temple-bar, the prisoner came to me about the middle of June, I did not take any particular notice then of the time, he brought to me to sell Compton's Practice; I gave him five shillings for it, if it had been the last edition of the book it would have been worth more, but not being the last, it was the full value of it.
What does the last edition sell for? - Sixteen shillings; I asked him whose they were, he asked me but three shillings, I said my lad I can give you five shillings for them, but you must produce me some authority, or I shall detain the books, he said he himself lived in Elm Court, Temple, upon which he went away, and returned and brought me a letter, on the authority of which I bought them; I thought it might be some distressed member of the law that wanted money, I could not tell.
PRISONER's DEFENCE.
I was in great distress.
Court to Owen Owens. Were Mr. Shepherd and Mr. Clermont acquainted? - Yes, they were.
GUILTY.
Transported for seven years.
Tried by the London Jury before Mr. ROSE.
At Sydney Cove he was employed as a clerk to assistant commissary Zachariah Clark.
Like many farmers in the area, Matthew found the soil at the Ponds to be poor. It was probably a succession of bad harvests which resulted in his being described as a tenant at the 1800 landholders' muster. He had 6 acres down in wheat and 5 in maize and owned 6 pigs and 4 goats. As District Constable for the Field of Mars area he, his wife and 4 children were receiving public rations.

In mid 1802 he was recorded on 50 acres at the Ponds cleared, 7 sown in wheat, 6 in maize) owning 14 pigs and holding 20 bushels in maize in store. He was still receiving a public ration, while his wife and 4 children were not.

In the months following the 1802 muster, the family moved to the frontiers of settlement in the Hawkesbury River where a 50 acre grant at Sackville Reach was registered in Matthew's name in April 1803.
In May 1804, the family was attacked by an aboriginal raiding party. Matthew, his wife and their Irish assigned convict worker were said to have suffered spear wounds and their house and barn were robbed and burned. Caves on the farm bore the hand marks and other artwork of the aboriginal people who had lived there for millennia. Recovering from their injuries, the couple worked had to clear and cultivate the land and by 1806 they had at least 19 acres cleared in wheat, 6 in maize, 1 in barley, 1 in potatoes, orchard and garden) They held 13 bushels of maize in store and owned 18 pigs, supporting themselves, 6 children, a convict and a free man. In the 1980s the site of the farm was occupied by the Sackville Ski Gardens on the Tizzana road near the Sackville ferry.
Matthew's property suffered floods in 1806 and 1909, in which he was brought close to ruin. He let the Sackville farm and moved his family to Green Hills where he was employed by the wealthy emancipist brewer and settler, Andrew Thompson.
In Feb 1810 he was granted a wine and spirit licence.

After Thompson's death in OCtober 1810 the family lived at his West Hill Red House) Farm modern McGraths Hill) He was in financial difficulty in 1812 when his property was offered for sale by execution. He failed to sell that millstone, the Sackville farm, which was again ravaged by flood in 1811. The property was leased to his son Matthew and finally sold in 1820.
Matthew and Elizabeth by 1817 were back at Portland Head, Sackville Reach on a 15 acre rented farm near the site of their original gran. Matthew was appointed District Constable there and with his allowances as the district constable they were getting by.
His epitaph reads:
'Farewell vain world i have
had anough of thee and am
carless what thou canst say
of me thy smiles i curt not
nor thy frowns i fear beneath this
turf my head lies quit here.'


Matthew married Elizabeth Rymes on 13 Mar 1791. (Elizabeth Rymes was born in 1774 in London City, Middlesex England and died on 12 Dec 1841 in Portland, NSW Australia.)


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