Europe

On 21st July 1849, the three masted sailing ship Hydaspes berthed in Port Philip Bay. It had three decks and carried cargo below. It was a modern ship but smaller than one of today’s larger Sydney Harbour ferries. It completed the voyage round the Cape from Liverpool, England to Port Phillip in just under 3 months.

The ship’s doctor was Solomon Caspersonn and on board were his wife, Lusitania, and infant child Lewis. Solomon was born in 1817 in Konigsburg (now Kaliningrad, Russia), where he completed a Bachelor of Medicine (MB). After moving to Britain in 1843, he completed study in Edinburgh for a Doctor of Medicine (MD). His first appointment was to Birkenhead near Liverpool, to the Lying in (maternity) Hospital.

During this time, Solomon met Lusitania Browne. He was of Jewish background. He was christened as an Anglican before marrying Lusitania, in March 1846, both aged 29.

After the birth of their first son, Lewis in May 1847, they moved to Berlin, where Archibald was born (Nov. 1848). Possibly due to political crises in Europe, they moved back to Liverpool to board the Hydaspes for Port Philip in the Colony of NSW. The infant Archibald died during that voyage.

Melbourne

Solomon, who preferred to be called Edward (or Ed.), was duly qualified to practice medicine in the district of Port Phillip, in the colony of NSW. He set up a medical practice in King St Melbourne, which had a population of about 20,000.

[Solomon] Edward was community minded. Before the end of 1849, he gave two public lectures (later published) and endorsed a privately funded drive for public baths as good for health and sanitation. They were never built. During his life in Australia, Solomon helped with local C of E affairs, gave generously to several causes and was involved with the mechanics institute/school of arts which aimed to improve the education of working men. He helped with these in Melbourne and in Albury.

Late in 1849, the family moved to Brighton, on Port Phillip Bay. Charles Henry was born in May 1850. Moving became a pattern in the life of the family. Looking back on his life, Charles later wrote “As is very apparent, my father was one of the roving kind, always moving on to fortune which always moved on out of reach, hence my acquaintance in youth with many places”.

Edward managed to get into financial difficulties in relation to at least one patient, and in January 1851, he was declared insolvent by the court. He may have been rescued financially by Lusitania; in October 1851, she advertised as a tutor from a room in Flinders Lane east with limited places for students of English, French, German and music.

On 1st July 1851, the Port Phillip District of NSW became the separate Colony of Victoria. Edward was a founding member of the Victorian Medical Association, formed on 15th August 1952. Edward applied for naturalization in July 1853 and became a citizen of the new colony. A daughter, Lucilla, was born and died in Dec 1853. Edward’s older brother Herrman, visited from 1851 till 1853, setting himself up in Collins St. to sell Tobacco and Snuff, imported from Germany.

In Feb 1856, Edward was in the small debts court defending himself on two charges. Both went against him, and a third case was resolved in his favour. This may account for his attempt to auction household furniture on 15 Jan, claiming he was about to return to England. Maybe he was short of funds or felt the claims were unjust.

On 12th May 1856, a group of over fifty mainly Brighton residents published a letter in the Melbourne Argus, regretting that “circumstances have induced you to resign your practice in this locality, and that you intend removing to the interior”. If they had known earlier, they “would use our utmost persuasion to induce you to remain… as an able and conscientious physician into whose hands in time of sickness, we could with confidence entrust our families and ourselves…”

Albury and Indigo Diggings

The purpose, though not the reason for this move is seen in 1857, when Edward took his wife and sons to Albury/Wodonga. Charles wrote many years later, “In 1857 my father left Brighton for Albury and my mother, brother, aged 10 years, and myself (seven) followed shortly afterwards” and further “Albury had barely 700 residents. …” a few houses called Wodonga” my poor mother a delicately nurtured Englishwoman…”

Crossing the Murray River was by a punt, the first bridge was not completed until 1861. The border had customs posts between the two colonies. The family settled in Wodonga, but Solomon worked both sides. In 1857 he took Dr Keating of Albury to court, accusing him of using threatening language, the matter was later resolved outside court.

Later that year he had a very loud argument with the other Albury doctor, Eugene Owen. in a local store before witnesses. These two had the reputation of verbal conflict, taking opposite views on any matter. Owen subsequently took him to court and won. Edward again became insolvent, not being able to pay debts totalling 212 pounds comprising damages awarded and debts to local storekeepers.

Arthur was born in Belvoir (the original name for Wodonga) in March 1858.

Tumbarumba and Tumut

Edward moved on. Charles again; “This year (1859) also saw my family in trek from Albury to Indigo Creek Diggings”, north of Beechworth and Chiltern. This area was too much for Lusitania who took the children back to Melbourne.

Charles wrote “1862 saw us … retracing our steps to Albury and on to Tumbarumba. a very small place, had been a diggings but never very important. It was however the Post town for a number of large cattle stations around”. Edward’s income derived from the townspeople plus a regular circuit on horseback of about 150 km down to the Jingellic, along the Murray River to Tooma, Manus and then home, much of it over rough bridle paths. They stayed in Tumbarumba for 2 years and then moved to Tumut.

Charles wrote of 1864 “This year saw us living in Tumut, whither we had moved from Tumbarumba. Tumut is a remarkably pretty town. It is the centre of a great fruit district as well as a great agricultural township”. Maybe they had finally found a place to settle.

Edward established his practice in Tumut during 1864 and half of 1865. In March 1865, he was summoned to Tumut court for using language “calculated to provoke a breach of the peace” but the matter was deferred four times and finally dismissed. After an illness lasting at least 8 months, Solomon Edward Caspersonn died on 27 June 1865. The cause of his death was reported as a Malignant Tumor, for which doctors in Gundagai and Albury were not willing to operate.

Summary 

Solomon Edward practiced as a doctor in seven different locations from the time he graduated (1843) to his death 22 years later in 1865. His son Edward said he was “of the roving kind”, in search of fortune (ie gold) which eluded him. He was a feisty man, perhaps generous to the extent of being unwise with money and he had been insolvent twice after disputes and before the courts at least one further time. He and his wife Lusitania had five sons and one daughter. Three sons, Lewis, Edward, and Arthur survived him, but Arthur died in 1866 of scarlet fever.

Europe

Lusitania was an amazing woman with an imposing pedigree. Her line can be traced back to 16th Century English nobility through her Browne and Smythe forebears and Scottish nobility through the Murray clan. A small part of her story is in the Australian Journal of Pharmacy, May 1962.   

Lusitania’s father had been a Captain in the British army. He served in the Napoleonic Wars and later as British aide de camp in the Portuguese palace in Lisbon, where Lusitania was born. By the time she married Solomon, both her parents had died.  Her father John Murray Browne drowned in 1828 in a boating accident in County Westmeath Ireland and her mother (Lucy Smythe) in Bath Somerset in 1841.

In the 1841 English census, she was recorded as living in the village of Burnett, near Bath, with Lady Margaret Wilson, along with several servants. Col (later Sir James) Wilson had been her father’s commanding officer in Portugal. Margaret wrote to Lusitania in August 1845 sending “complements to Mr Caspersonn”.

Her family must have had some concern about her pending marriage because relatives (Murray) were solicitors and drafted a marriage settlement (pre-nuptial agreement) the main purpose of which was to protect her inheritance of several hundred pounds, a considerable amount at that time. Nothing further is known about this money. Lusitania married Solomon in 1846. 

After the birth in Liverpool of their first son, Lewis in May 1847, they moved to Berlin, where Archibald was born (Nov. 1848). Possibly due to political crises in Europe, they moved back to Liverpool to board the Hydaspes for Port Philip in the Colony of NSW. The infant Archibald died during that voyage.

Australia

From the time of her marriage, Lusitania's life was one of supporting her husband and raising their children. When Solomon died, Lewis was 18, Charles 15, Arthur 7 and Edward 6. Lusitania obviously helped him in his business. She gained experience in dispensing during his absences to visit patients and after he died, she occupied premises in Wynard St Tumut, next door to the Woolpack Hotel, and opened a pharmaceutical business. She was also the newsagent and sold poisons, explosives, plants and seeds.

Much of her story has been written in the same Australian Journal of Pharmacy, May 30, 1962, mentioned above, in which she was described as perhaps the second woman registered as a chemist in N.S.W. under the new registration act of 1876.

She handed control of the business to Edward in 1882 and retired to Sydney soon after, according to a different article in Australian Journal of Pharmacy, April 1963, on Edward’s wife Annie.

Lusitania died from stomach cancer on 3rd Dec 1884, aged 67 at her son Charles’s home in Darlinghurst (Sydney). The author of the pharmacy article concluded “she was a courageous and resourceful woman, adaptable and reserved of great dignity, kindly and austere.”

Early Days

Lewis was the first child of Solomon and Lusitania, born in Cheshire, England in May 1847. The family moved to Berlin for two years then in 1849 arrived in Melbourne. His father, Solomon,  was a restless character who moved around, so the family spent time in Melbourne, Albury, Indigo Diggings (near Chiltern), Tumbarumba and finally Tumut, looking to make a fortune in gold all the while practicing his profession of medicine.

Lewis married in 1885 when he was 38. He died in 1920, when only three of his grandchildren (sons of Ella and Alex Faith) were alive. Unlike his parents and brothers, he never held a profession. Most of his story comes from newspaper and other clippings found by searching Trove, the National Library of Australia database and from memoirs of his grandson, Walter James Caspersonn. Walter was born in  Dec. 1920 and referred to Lewis as the grandfather I never knew.

Tumut

Solomon died in Tumut in 1865, when Lewis was aged 18. Lewis stayed in Tumut/Adelong for another 18 years. He  sought his living prospecting for gold around Tumut, and coach driving. He played cricket for Tumut, was active with the Tumut oddfellows and with the local amateur dramatic group. At no stage, unlike his brother Edward, was he recorded as working in his mother’s shop, although in 1882, he was listed as a newspaper agent in Tarcutta.  

During this time, Lewis owned a horse drawn carriage. In 1874, the local paper records a local group marching, headed by Parker's brass band, which was driven in Caspersonn's coach and in 1879 Lewis wrote to the editor to correct a report about a minor accident on the way to Adelong in his four-horse wagonette.

He was also a mail coach driver. Horse drawn coaches were the most common transport for people and goods, including the mail. Motor trucks and busses were still 40 years in the future. Mail coaches ran from Sydney to Albury then on to Melbourne through Gundagai on the Great South Road (renamed Hume Highway in 1928). The train line between Gundagai and Sydney opened in 1886. The mail coach from Tumut and Adelong connected at Adelong Crossing or “the crossing place” (later named Tumblong) about 14 km south of Gundagai.

It is worth quoting from a local newspaper in 1876.

A new coach has been placed on the road between the Crossing-place and Tumut, driven by Mr L. Caspersonn. We regret to hear that Mr Caspersonn projects leaving shortly; during the time he has driven the mail he has had many difficulties to contend against. He is an excellent driver, possessing many good qualities, amongst which are civility, steadiness, and attention.

Lewis was the driver, not the coach owner. It would have been enclosed, except for the driver sitting high up front. Lewis may have been driving for some years, as he didn’t leave Tumut for a few more years. A report in 1883 speaks of a cricket trophy donated by Mr Caspersonn.

Whitton and Narrandera

Lewis moved west in 1885. In February he was unsuccessful in an election as auditor for Narrandera Council then in March and July he advertised as Hay agent for Wright Heaton (wholesale general and produce merchants and shipping agents). In October he was recorded as being a J.P. in the village of Whitton, west of Narrandera. He could have serviced Hay from Whitton as the rail line was now open from Cootamundra to Hay with a station at Whitton. 

In November 1885 he married Philoria (known as Flora) Morton in Tumut. He was 38 and she was 25. He listed himself as a commission agent on the marriage certificate. He continued travelling for Wright Heaton, advertising in 1886 in the Cootamundra newspaper. He was elected as a trustee for the Whitton Common in 1887 and 1888 but resigned in 1889 to be the manager of Wright Heaton in Young, which presumably didn’t involve travel.

However, he was replaced as manager in Sept 1889 possibly due to mounting personal indebtedness. There was no evidence in the newspapers of corrupt behaviour. A court notice said “in the assigned estate of L. H. W. Caspersonn of Young, storekeeper,”

All persons having any CLAIMS against the above are requested to send particulars of their claim to us, the undersigned, on or before MONDAY next, the 11th Instant, otherwise they will be excluded from participating in the dividend to be declared.

Dated this 8th day of October, 1889.

SALMON and TWIST, Accountants,

In November 1889, Lewis advertised in the Gundagai paper that he was a life insurance salesman for the Mutual Assurance Society of Victoria, and could provide particulars from his room at the local hotel.

Between their wedding in 1885 and 1889, Lewis and Philoria had two daughters, Lusitania Flora, born Oct 25 1886 in Tumut and Frances Elsie also born in Tumut on 14 Feb 1888. Lewis’s occupation was listed on the birth certificates as forwarding agent and commission agent respectively.

On Feb 8, 1890, Walter Lewis was born, again in Tumut, followed by Arthur Edward Morton, born in Narrandera 27 May 1893.

Lewis was still struggling financially; on 28 May 1895 he was declared bankrupt by his own petition. He was a lorry driver.

On 1 August 1895, Margaret (Millie) was born in Narrandera. Her father was listed as an overseer. The 1901 census counted the family living in Audley St Narrandera with 2 males and 4 females in the household. Assuming Lewis was working away, this would be Walter, Arthur, Philoria, Lusitania, Frances and Millie. Charles Henry was born after the census, making the family complete with 6 children.  

A newspaper article in Nov 1901 states Lewis was a store manager in the village of Grong Grong. He was sleeping nearby when he heard crackling noises and raised the alarm. The store was on fire. The subsequent coroner’s inquiry concluded significant malicious damage by an unknown person.

The family resided in Narrandera for quite a while. In 1902 Walter won dux of school prize at Narrandera P.S.

Junee and Sydney

In 1909 and again in 1916 Lewis (age 69) was living in Junee, occupation clerk. It is likely  that the family was with him, because Walter was noted to be working in a Junee store   He retired soon after that and moved to Sydney to live with his son Charles. He died of heart failure at his son’s home at Homebush on 20 Sept 1920 and was buried at Waverley Cemetery.  His occupation was listed as storekeeper on his death certificate. 

Recollections from his grandson

In his memoirs, Walter James Caspersonn quoted his father, Walter Lewis; “Dad spoke fondly of his mother but never mentioned his father” and “the family lived for a time at Darlington Point and Narrandera where Dad attended school”. and "We have a photo of Philoria, our Grandma Caspersonn, holding a baby who had just had a bath, it could have been Janet or myself. It would have been early 1920’s. Philoria died in April 1926".  Lewis’s family lived in financial difficulties, and he was often living and working away from home in a long series of short positions, mostly requiring sales confidence and only basic skills.

Lewis and Philoria had six children, Lucy, Ella, Walter Lewis, Arthur, Charles and Millie.

Archibald was born on 18 Nov. 1848 in Berlin and christened there on 18 March 1849. The family left Berlin for Liverpool on 31st March that year. The infant Archibald died  on 23rd April and was buried at sea off Salt Island, Cape De Verde. 

Charles Henry Caspersonn was born to "Salomon" Caspersonn and Lusitania (nee Browne) on 14 May 1850 at Brighton, Victoria. Charles died in 1946 at Sherwood Rd, Toowong, Queensland

In 1866, Charles, then aged 16, was appointed junior officer (morse code operator) to the new Telegraph Station at Adelong, thence to Sydney GPO. He  rose to be telegraph master at West Maitland. There he helped with the first experimental telephone conversation in NSW, between his station and Sydney. 

He was transferred back to Sydney where he married.Frances Ellen Horsley who was was born to Charles Henry Horsley and Anne Isabel Jennings-Smith on 3 October 1843 at Maitland, New South Wales. Charles and Frances were married in 1880 at Waterloo, and had their first two children, Barbara (1881) and Gordon (1883)..

Like his father, Charles fell into debt, so he staged his own “drowning” in Sydney Harbour in June 1887, even while his wife was carrying their third child. He reappeared 12 months later in Maryborough Qld where he was reunited with his family, now including Freda (born in Sydney 1887). He had tried to make his fortune in the Qld goldfields, but without success, so he applied for a job in Qld similar to his NSW position. In 1889 he gained a position as an inspector in in the telegraph branch of Qld railways. By 1908, aged 58, he was Superintendent of Railway Telegraphs.

In retirement, Charles was an active chess player and wrote several articles for Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne papers, describing his experiences growing up. Information from several of these is included in his father’s story, above. He died at the age of 96 in 1946.

Lucilla, was born in Brighton, Vic in Dec 1853 and died in Dec 1853. 

Arthur was born on 12 March 1858 at  Belvoir (Wodonga), Victoria and died of scarlet fever at Tumut, NSW on his eighth birthday, 12 March 1866

Indigo to Tumut

Edward was the youngest son of Solomon and Lusitania, born on the Indigo Diggings in 1859. He may have contracted polio, one leg was shorter than the other, and in later life he walked with crutches. He grew to be a stocky redhead, very bright academically. He gained registration as a pharmacist and worked for his mother in Tumut from 1881 (age 22). He took over the business in1882, his mother moved to Sydney about then. He rebuilt it and expanded it to be a general store with grocery ironmongery, jewellery and many others. In 1888 he had ten employees.

Edward married Annie Watson, assistant pharmacist, on 15 April 1895 at “Avoca”, Wondalga, Middle Adelong. She became the pharmacist when he went to America to study. In 1892 he graduated in medicine and dentistry.

West Wyalong

Gold was discovered at West Wyalong in 1893, which probably influenced Edward and Annie to move there. This they did and opened a business as doctor, dentist and pharmacist, with other items also available. Annie was registered as the pharmacist. They worked hard and did well, with shops in West Wyalong and Wyalong. Edward became involved in civic affairs, 1n 1899 he was listed as a magistrate and J.P. and in 1901 as a member of the NSW old age pension board and a committee member of the local Mechanics Institute. He still owned the Tumut store, which had burnt down, he notified his intention to rebuild or sell the land in 1903. It was rebuilt and leased to the local newspaper.

Sydney

They put the Wyalong pharmacy up for sale and in 1916 are recorded as owners of a farming property near Ariah Park. They later moved to Sydney. About this time Edward went to America again and came back qualified as an optometrist. Annie was registered as a pharmacist in Haberfield in 1921. They had a pharmacy/optometry business in Hurlstone Park and by 1927 in Hornsby. They lived in Haberfield, Annie died in 1931, leaving an estate of 121 pounds. Edward died in 1933. They had no children. Probate 13 Nov 1934 would be interesting. Documents are in NSW Archives.