Ditton Family

Robert John was born at Woodchurch, Kent in Nov 1805, the third son of John and Elizabeth (nee Settertree) Ditton. He was baptized into the Church of England at St John the Baptist, at nearby Wittersham. Two older siblings had been born a little further north in the Westwell area, where his mother had been born. The family settled in the Woodchurch area, where his father had been born, and younger siblings were also born.

In Nov 1824, Robert married a local girl, Drucilla Furrell at Woodchurch. They had a daughter, Mary Ann in 1825. Drucilla died in Woodchurch in May 1836.

Robert remarried in Oct 1836, to Jane Waller (born 1817 in Woodchurch). Jane was the oldest child of John and Elizabeth Waller. John was born (1769) and died in Woodchurch. Elizabeth was born (1775) nearby at High Haldon, and they were married in 1799 at Woodchurch. Their four daughters were all born at Woodchurch.

Robert and Jane had a daughter, Jane, in Nov 1838. Robert’s daughter from his previous marriage was now aged 13. Times were very tough. Although their families had long roots in the Woodchurch area, external circumstances required a dramatic change.

Emigration

In the 1800’s English social cohesion revolved around the local church Parish, whereas today the State has huge responsibilities. In the 1830s, many people emigrated from Kent, England to escape poverty and seek better lives in other countries. Many faced starvation, there had been several bad harvests, there was rapid population growth, and small farms were being absorbed by larger ones as mechanization commenced with the industrial revolution. In addition, it was a time of heavy taxation.

So, in the 1830s, parishes in England raised money to help their poor emigrate. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 narrowed relief for destitute people but allowed for the emigration of the poor, with the cost borne by the pauper's home parish.

Minutes of a Woodchurch Kent Parish meeting (28.3.1839) refer to a fund by the Parish to assist the poorer residents to emigrate. At the close of the minutes there is a pencilled list of emigrants including Robert Ditton and his family. Many relations of Robert Ditton also emigrated around that time.

Robert and Jane left England on 12th May 1839 with Robert's daughter Mary Ann, who was 14 years old, and their baby daughter Jane, who was about 8 months old. They sailed from Gravesend, London on the "Cornwall", with their two children. They arrived in Sydney as free settlers, on 1st Sept 1839. The journey took 112 days, nearly 4 months. During the voyage their little baby daughter Jane died and was buried at sea.

New South Wales

The first year of life in the Colonies Robert was employed by a Mr. James Hope of Botany Bay, but by 1840, the family worked for James Hassall at "Matavia", at the junction of the Nepean River and Cobbitty Creek. NSW. Their first son, John, was born here. he only lived for 8 months. In 1842 when their daughter Elizabeth was born, they were living at Mt. Hunter, and Robert was employed on "Camperdown Farm". In 1844 when Patrick was born, the family were living at Spring Creek, just a few miles from Mt. Hunter.

Robert and Jane had 12 children in the Camden area. Sometime after the birth of their last child in 1862, most of the family left the Camden area and settled in the Sutton Forest area. Robert and Jane are both buried in the churchyard at Sutton Forest, although no headstone marks their grave.

According to daughter Sarah’s 1861 birth certificate, Edward was born in London in 1821 and was listed as a gold miner. Mary was born in 1824 in Liverpool, England and christened at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Sydney. They were married in June 1844 at Maitland NSW.

Edward died in 1870 at Bathurst, NSW. State Records has an entry of Mary’s deceased estate, showing her death as 13 Dec 1897, and at that time she lived at Eugowra.

Her granddaughter, Lucy Ditton is probably the source of the following piece of oral history concerning Mary Theresa and her children:

“Maria Therese Albert and her brother were Irish and were born into a devout Catholic family. During her childhood, Maria and her brother became very ill with scarlet fever and were unable to attend Mass. The catholic priest visited the family and imposed a penance on the children for not attending Mass – they had to walk to school with dried peas in their shoes. Their mother (Mary Theresa) promptly took them out of the catholic school and enrolled them in the Wesleyan school, a very dramatic move in those days”

Patrick was the fourth child of Robert and Jane, and it is from him that we are descended, he was Nana Read's father. Patrick lived in the Camden area until he was about 18 years old when he took up carting in order to help his parents. Using his team of 10 bullocks and a wagon he carted wool from the Central Western areas of NSW to Sydney and whenever possible backloaded supplies for the goldfields (one such was Burrawang in the Southern Highlands).

In 1861 the NSW Govt passed the Robertson Land Act, which limited the size of large pastoral leases and enabled land to be subdivided for closer settlement. The first selection in the Mandagery Creek area was in 1873. In 1875 Patrick selected a property he called “Valetta” fronting Mandagery Creek at Trajere, about midway between its junction with the Lachlan River and the township of Eugowra. Patrick was one of the original residents of that district. He most likely grazed sheep (wool was the most mentioned product of the district) and continued carting, travelling to Parkes, Orange and other nearby centres, combining it with farming his property and building sheds and wagons. On 19th January 1876 he married Maria Theresa Albert, at St John's Church of England Forbes. Maria was born on 5 Dec 1857 at Wellington, their marriage cert states that in 1876 she was 19 years old and living at Forbes, her mother lived in Eugowra at the time of their wedding.

Patrick and Maria lived at Valetta for 40 years where their children were born. In 1923, the Parish map shows a total holding was about 620 acres, in several lots, so he may well have acquired some land over time. The coloured map shows Valetta 1- probably the original land, and 2 - land he acquired when other grantees failed to meet residential requirements. The first school site in the Trajare district (1881) was up to 4 miles south of many potential students so Patrick joined with others to push for a closer school. In 1890 Trajere school was opened adjacent to the south-east corner of Valetta. It is believed that he and Maria were the first people in the Trajere district to own a washing machine.

Around the turn of the century, they sold Valetta and bought Melrose, about a mile from Eugowra, just off the Orange Road. They lived there till Patrick died in 1932, aged 87. He was buried in Eugowra Cemetery.  Maria stayed at Melrose for a few more years. It was during the Great Depression and  times were tough. She sold some parts of the farm. Her son Edward Albert (Ted) helped out. In 1937, Maria’s daughter Liz married a homeless Englishman, George Dyson, who did odd jobs on the farm. Ted left very upset that Dyson was there. Possibly in 1937, Maria moved to a house in Evelyn St in Eugowra.

Maria’s granddaughter Daphne (Lucy’s daughter) wrote in her memoirs that in 1937 Dyson forced Maria to sign over her will at gunpoint. Liz died in Eugowra Hospital in Dec 1938, Daph thinks Dyson poisoned her. It is unclear how this fits the timeline of the move to Evelyn St.

Patrick and Maria had 12 children. Lucy Anne was their 6th child. Several of their children died as babies - Robert died at 8 months, Patrick was stillborn, Allen Leslie died at 3 months, John Thomas died at 12 years of age, and James Patrick was killed in action in France during WW1. Their life was not without tragedy.

Maria was ill during 1941 and died on 9 May 1942, aged 84. She was buried in the Eugowra Cemetery.

Lucy was born on 27 July 1885 at Eugowra. N.S.W.  She was the sixth child of Patrick and Maria Theresa, who lived on their farm, Valetta, south of Eugowra. One brother, Robert died as an infant, her remaining older siblings were Alfred, Emily, William and Edward. She attended Trajere school with her siblings.

On 17th March 1914 she married Alfred Arthur Read at the Union Church Eugowra. He was aged 22 and she was 28. We are unsure how they met, but Alfred was a surveyor, so may have been working in the area.

The young family moved around the country during their early years of marriage, as is seen by the places where their children were born. Esma was born in Cessnock in 1915. The family moved to W.A. where Alf’s parents lived. They bought a corner store there. Ron (1916) and Daphne (1917) were born there. Beryl was born in 1918 in Parkes NSW, Mavis 1920 in Cowra. They moved back to Eugowra (NSW) before Freda was born (1923 at Canowindra hospital) and lived in a separate house on Lucy’s parents’ property, Melrose. After a few years Lucy’s parents sold to a Mr and Mrs Page and moved into Eugowra. Alf bought a house in Evelyn St Eugowra. Daphne described it as “an old home with a lounge/dining room, 2 bedrooms, front verandah, one end closed in with creepers where 2 girls slept. The back of the house “consisted of dirt floors, an eating room and the kitchen. A huge almond tree stood at the back of our house. We carried water from Andersons next door”

Alfred was often away from home for long periods of time, and once after leaving to look

for work he didn't return. He seemed to disappear about 1923 when daughter Beryl was 4 years old never to return. Lucy worked hard to care for her 6 children. She took in washing and ironing and worked cleaning the train when it terminated at Eugowra once or twice a week. The children helped out by doing odd jobs around the town, and giving the money to their mother. Ron would use his ferrets to catch rabbits to supplement their diet. Lucy's parents, Patrick and Maria kept the family in the basic foods such as milk and butter. Ron and the girls left home but returned at various times in the 1930’s and early 1940’s. 

The family attended the Methodist/Presbyterian Church in Eugowra where Lucy taught Sunday School for many years. She was living in Evelyn Street Eugowra when her home was destroyed by fire about 1944 (Eugowra Pioneers File). She left Eugowra in July 1944 and rented a house in Grenfell. Then in Dec 1945 she moved to a flat at 24 Edgeware Rd Enmore, Sydney. She moved around quite a bit between rented flats (short term) and her daughters’ homes in Shellharbour, Carramar, Gladesville and The Entrance. Then in 1965, she was allocated a one room flat in a Housing Commission estate at Villawood, which she named “Dunmovin”

Lucy died on 17ft March 1975 at 89 years of age and is buried at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney. She was the last remaining of a family of 11 children. She is remembered as being a caring, compassionate, fun-loving Christian lady.

Click to see Beryl's information in Read file