Read Family

William was born in 1820 in Nottinghamshire, England the son of Matthew and Mary, who were both born in the same area as he was. Sarah was born to Stephen and Susan Barnett in Eccles, Manchester, about 90 km to the east, both in the industrial north of England. They married at Eccles in 1845. William was a wheelwright (made or repaired wooden wheels). They had five children, Edward, William (1848-49), Mary, William, Frederick, before migrating to Victoria. Sarah and the four children left Southampton in May 1857 and arrived in Port Phillip on the ship “Hornet” in September. William did not travel with them, maybe he came earlier.

They settled in Dunolly, a gold mining town west of Bendigo. They had four more children in Dunolly, Charles, Alfred, Catherine and Matthew. William worked as a miner and later as a farmer (according to daughter, Catherine’s 1880 wedding announcement. Sarah died in 1882, aged 54 and is buried in the Lilydale cemetery. William married Bessie Orr in 1889. He died in 1892 at Lilydale, aged 72.

George was born 4th child of Thomas and Mary Ann Raymond. Oct 1841 in Winchester, England. Perhaps the 1st and 2nd (Thomas and William) stayed in England. Thomas and Mary Ann emigrated from Liverpool with 3rd and 4th children, Marion (born 1839) and George (born 1841) arriving in Melbourne on “Ralph Waller” in April 1855.

Harriet was born in 1840 at Calcott, Somerset, England, emigrated on an assisted passage on Appleton, 1857, to live with cousin Mrs. Barnard, Bouverie St Sth. Melbourne

George and Harriet were married on 25 October 1858 at St Mark’s Church Collingwood, Vic. They had a daughter Henrietta in 1859 and a son, Charles in 1874. George died in Melbourne in Nov 1876, aged 36. Harriet moved to Perth where her daughter lived. She died there in 1920.

Alfred was born in Dunolly, Central Goldfields in Victoria. Alf married Henrietta Raymond in October 1881. She was born in Collingwood, Vic. During their time in and around Melbourne, they had four children, William (1882) was born at Lilydale, Rupert (1884) at Collingwood, Laura (1886) and Ruby (1890) at Gruyere. A fifth child, Alfred Arthur was born at Bendigo in 1892.  

In 1893 Paddy Hannon discovered gold near Coolgardie in Western Australia, which started a rush. Perhaps as part of this rush, Alfred and Henrietta set out with their five children for the new goldfields in Western Australia. There is a family story that they walked all the way, with their possessions in a wheelbarrow. This would have taken several months. Alternative travel still involved walking (or some form of horse and cart). Many went by ship to Esperance or Albany then walked, which is still a daunting distance.

Their sixth child, Henrietta Florence, was born in Coolgardie in 1897. Alfred opened a business in Hunt St Coolgardie as a cabinetmaker and undertaker, advertising in the local papers from 1895 to 1900. In Sept 1896 the local paper stated he “had conducted 156 funerals in the past two years”. He sold his business in 1900, and the family presumably moved to Perth.  

From Perth, where Royal Norman was born in 1901, they moved south to Katanning, over halfway between Perth and Albany. At some stage Alfred bought into an undertaker’s business with George Rhodes. In 1912, a notice in the Great Southern Herald (Katanning) stated that “the partnership existing between Alfred Read and Rupert George Rhodes, blacksmiths, Wheelwrights, Undertakers etc., of Austral Terrace Katanning and known as Read and Rhodes has this day been dissolved by mutual consent”. Alfred will carry on the business as usual.

Alf and Henrietta were living in Katanning in 1913, when a newspaper notice appeared that their son Rupert George was divorced.  They were still there in Dec 1919 when Rupert married again.  Then in 1920 Henrietta’s mother died, the notice said Henrietta was living in Victoria Park, Perth. Henrietta died Sept 1938 at North Perth and Alfred died at North Perth in April 1942. Five of their children were at Henrietta’s funeral, having married in Western Australia, but two were absent. Laura had married in Victoria in 1908, and Alfred Arthur had married at Eugowra NSW in 1914.

Alfred Arthur was born in March 1892 at Bendigo, Victoria. His parents moved with all their children to Coolgardie in West Australia sometime between 1893 and 1895. They later lived in Katanning and then in Perth. When he was 22, Alf was back in NSW, as he married Lucy Ann Ditton at the Union Church Eugowra, NSW on 17 March 1914. Their first child, Esme, was born at Cessnock NSW, ten months later in Jan 1915. Ronald was born in West Australia in March 1916. Alf was a photo engraver living at Victoria Park, Perth in May 1916, when he applied to enlist in the A.I.F. His application was declined on medical grounds due to a “deformity of right elbow”. Daphne was born at Victoria Park, W.A. in May 1917.

In her memoirs, Daphne writes they travelled on the boat “Katoomba” to Sydney and then relocated to Eugowra, living in a house on Lucy’s parents’ property “approx. 1 mile out of Eugowra”. She also stated her father was a surveyor and landscape painter in oils and had a good singing voice. Three more children were born, Beryl at Parkes in Oct 1918, Mavis at Katanning, W.A. in Oct 1920 and Freda at Canowindra in Oct 1923.

When Daphne was about 7 or 8, her father left home, “looking for work after his business failed in the depression”. He came home in 1927 or 1928 for a few days when Daphne was 9 or 10. After that time her mother would be very unhappy because no mail ever came from Alf. Daphne wrote that her father never returned; they presumed he had died.

Many years later a relative discovered Alf had a second family in Queensland. He had enlisted in WW2, giving his age as 48, occupation Painter, married of 54 Grove St Cairns. His second wife was Alison Janet Read. His “find a grave” website states he divorced Lucy in 1934 but there is nothing in NSW divorce records about such a divorce.

Find a grave website has this note about his second wife.  “Alison Janet Murray was born 1 October 1901 at Fairymead, near Bundaberg, Queensland, to parents Hugh Stuart Murray and Emily Maria (nee Stephenson). When Alison was aged 34, she married Alfred Arthur READ aged 42 on 20 March 1936 at the Presbyterian manse in Townsville Queensland. He had 5 children to a previous marriage to Lucy Ann Ditton. Allie and Alfred had one son together and from 1937 to 1970 were living in Cairns. This first husband Alfred died in Cairns in late June or early July 1970. On 22 June 1978, Allie a Widow married William Douglas "Bill" Hosmer in the Memorial Mosque at Mareeba, north Queensland under the rites of Islam. On 29 Mar 1983, Alison Janet died aged 82 in Cairns and is buried in the Islamic section of the Cairns Cemetery under her name Janet Hosmer”.

Beryl Elizabeth Read was born on 27 Oct 1918,  at Parkes, NSW, where her parents (Alfred Arthur and Lucy Read) had recently returned from two years in W.A. Her father worked as a surveyor. She was the fourth child of six, She had 2 older sisters Esme, born in Cessnock NSW in1915, and Daphne, born  in Perth in 1917, and a brother Ronald, born 1916 in Katanning, W.A. The family moved back to Perth after Beryl was born, where they had a shop and where Mavis was born in 1920. Freda was born in Canowindra Hospital, NSW after the family moved back to NSW to live in a second house on Melrose, Beryl’s grandparents’ property near Eugowra. Alf left home when Beryl was six, never to return.

Beryl’s mother kept her family together through great financial difficulties, by taking whatever work she could find, with support from her parents (they lived at Melrose the Ditton family home near Eugowra for a time) and with some help from the children as they got old enough for occasional casual jobs. In 1930, when the Great Depression began to hit hard, the children were aged from 8 to 15. In 1937, a severe drought began in Eastern Australia.

Several of the girls left home for work in Sydney. Beryl left school at 14, after grade 7 and took up housework and child-minding in the Eugowra area, and much of her wages went to help her family. She left home for a job in nearby Canowindra at age 17, returning home at weekends when she could. She also joined the local Salvation Army and made a lifelong commitment to Christ. She moved to Sydney at age 20 and worked in catering, then aged 21 she returned to Eugowra as the war was breaking out. Her mother, grandmother and brother Ron were the only ones still at home. Beryl found work as waitress and cook at the local hotel, where she met Fred Symons, who was working as a rigger on grain silos in the district. They married in March 1941 at Eugowra.

Fred and Beryl moved to Canowindra with his work, and then to Traralgon in Victoria where Fred’s mother lived. Ronda was born at Traralgon, and they lived there till Fred was called up for military service. Beryl and Ronda returned to Evelyn St Eugowra till 1945 when they moved to Grenfell as their Evelyn St. house burnt down. After a short while, Beryl, Ronda, Ron and Nana Read moved to Sydney, to rooms in Enmore. Nana and Ron moved out to make room for Fred’s return from the army in 1946, and soon after, for the arrival of Leslee (Lee)  in 1947.

In 1950, the family expanded with the arrival of Judith (Judy), and they were balloted a new Housing Commission house at Carramar where Beryl and her three daughters joined the Church of Christ. Beryl was active in the church, she was famous for the concerts she put on, particularly when she took an active role performing "music hall" type items.

Ronda married and left home in 1963, Lee in 1968 and Judy in 1972. Beryl's mother Lucy  was living nearby at Villawood by this time. Fred died in 1977, so Beryl was alone, but she had an active life visiting her children and taking church friends to various activities. Beryl had a sense of humour, for example she "planted" plastic flowers throughout her garden.

 Beryl was sad to leave her home and garden at Carramar in 1988 and move into a smaller villa in Wyong. She died in Gosford Hospital in 1990 and is buried next to Fred at Forest Lawn, Leppington.