Mary McCrea 1828-1908

Mary McCrea and George Young Rankin's Family

According to the diary of her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Ann MacRae nee Loseby, Mary was born on 2 February 1828 and from the transcription of Mary's Death Certificate she was born in Canthill, Ross-shire, Scotland. (Canthill would be Kintail.) Mary's Death Certificate gives her age at death as 79 and age at marriage as 25. This appears to be out by one year as it would indicate that she was born in 1829 and married in 1854. So Mary was probably aged 80 when she died.

On 31 July 1855, Mary married George Young Rankin, son of William Rankin and Agnes Young, from Cleland, Lanarkshire, Scotland, at St. John the Evangelist's Roman Catholic Church, Campbelltown. Their Marriage Transcription shows that the marriage was witnessed by Mary's younger siblings John and Mary Isabella McCrea (MacRae). It also notes that the bride signed with her mark indicating that Mary could not write. At the time of her marriage she was living at Denham Court which is situated roughly half-way between Campbelltown and Liverpool in New South Wales. George's address, Catherine Field, is about 15 kilometres west of Denham Court.

Walter G. Mason
Raymond Terrace, Hunter River, New South Wales 1857
1 print : wood engraving, 10.5 x 21.5 cm
National Library of Australia
Rex Nan Kivell Collection NK2106/88

Soon after they married, Mary and George journeyed roughly 250 kilometres to settle in the Port Stephens district. They most likely travelled on a coal-powered paddle steamer. Either from Sydney to Newcastle (and then from Raymond Terrace overland by horse drawn cart) or from Sydney directly to Booral along the Karuah River on the service that had been established in 1854. Leaving Sydney in the morning on a paddle steamer, weather permitting, they could have reached the Port Stephen's district that same evening. It was here, in the Port Stephens district that Mary gave birth to their five children; William, Flora, Christina, George and John.

In 1826, the Australian Agriculture Company (AACo) had received a grant of one million acres. It stretched north of Port Stephens to the Manning River and east along the Karuah River valley. The hope had been to pasture fine merino sheep, amongst other agriculture pursuits, and the estate initially attracted some 600 plus agricultural workers. The land proved to be unsuitable and the AACo eventually moved west to more fertile land but the land from the grant continued to be farmed and there was also work in the Forestry Industry.

When the Rankins arrived there would have been several hundred people living in the area known as the Port Stephens district that had been the original AACo land grant, amongst which were many fellow Scots including two MacRae families, distant cousins no doubt; Christopher and his wife Maria Farley, also Duncan and his wife Eliza.

William Melrose Rankin
Mary and George's first child, William Melrose Rankin was born on 27 April 1856 at Stroud in the Karuah Valley. By the mid 1830s, Stroud already had a school, watermill, Court House (with lock up and dwelling), a slaughter house and an Inn. Stroud, was founded by the AACo, and it's headquarters were there in  1848. Beginning in 1849, the AACo had begun to sell or lease the land in the town and surrounding area. However, by the time of William's birth much of the land was still owned by AACo. It wasn't until 1864 that most of the land was either sold or leased.

Dr. P. A. Pemberton
Pure Merinos and others :
the 'Shipping Lists' of the Australian Agricultural Company, page 14,
Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University,
courtesy Dr. P. A. Pemberton

In 1851 Rev. J. D. Land described the town of Stroud as consisting "of a single street, the houses, which are principally neat cottages, being thrown back a considerable distance, on each side, from the line of the road, with flower gardens and shrubberies in front".

On William's Birth Certificate it was recorded that his father is a blacksmith and in "Pure Merinos and others : the 'Shipping Lists' of the Australian Agricultural Company", George Rankin can be found living at No. 10 in the main street, as the Blacksmith's labourer; the property valued at £30. It is not clear whether George actually owned the property or whether it belonged to AACo. The Smithy is at No. 22 further down the street.

By this time, Stroud now also has buildings for the businesses and residences of a dairy, stables, 2 bullock drivers, joiner, horse trainer, Accommodation house, Church of England and rectory, 3 saddlers and a saddler's shop, bricklayer, carpenter and wheelwright, accountant, assistant accountant, storekeeper, salesman, assistant salesman, assistant surveyor, mail contractor and a Superintendent of Works within the town boundary.

The first known residence for William is Rawdon Vale not far from Barrington. Both William and his father, George, are on the 1878 Electoral Roll for The Williams. From this we also know that George senior had freehold land at Barrington at this time. There is also a record of William having a conditional lease and conditional purchase within the Gloucester gold field around 1892 when his younger brother George forfeits his neighbouring property.

The next possible address for William is Lehichhardt. The Sands Directory lists a William Rankin living at 42 Stlyes Street, Leichhardt from 1890 to 1900. This is the same house that his brother-in-law, James and sister Flora had lived in from 1887 to 1889. Could this be William Melrose Rankin?

Death of William Rankin 1908

By 1903, William is living in Dungog listed as a labourer on the 1903 Electoral Roll. Perhaps he was living with his mother, as he passed away at his mother's house on 7 July 1908, aged 53. He is buried in nearby Anley's Creek Cemetery (now known as Dungog General Cemetery).



Flora Agnes Rankin
Flora Agnes Rankin, also known as Florence, was born on 31 August 1858 at Pumpkin Point in the Karuah Valley. On her Birth Certificate, her father's occupation is listed as sawyer.

It is not altogether surprising to find George working in the timber industry. The timber trade was well established by the 1820s with cedar and rosewood timber from the hinterland floated down the Karuah River to Sawyer's Point, where it was sawn and shipped. Sawyer's Point was also a major ferry crossing with a regular twice-weekly mail service that was established in 1848 between Raymond Terrace. Sawyer's Point was later joined with Aliceton to become the town of Karuah in 1907; the name used by the Worimi people who were the traditional inhabitants of the area.

On 25 January 1884 at Balmain, aged 25, Flora married James Samuel. James was the grandson of Alexander McRae and Ann Beaton who were also on the "William Nicol" with Flora's grandparents on the journey from the Isle of Skye in 1837. James was a plasterer.

The first known address for James Samuel, plasterer, is Stlyes street, Leichhardt. James is listed in Sands Directory at this address from 1887 to 1889. Then in 1890 they were living at 32 Harwood Street, Prymont. For the next ten years, it is not know where they lived. Then in August 1900 James purchased the property at 75 Burfitt Street, Leichhardt, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Burfitt Street is a short walk from the main street of Leichhardt, Norton Street, and also nearby is St. Columba's Catholic Church which opened in 1898.

Flora and James had eleven children. Five children, William, Emily, Alexander, Annie and Evelyn died either in infancy or as young children. Those that lived to adulthood were Mildred (Mrs. Lage Flodin), Oliver, Jessie (Mrs. Michael Brosnan), Frederick, Walter and Robert. Flora and James died on 8 August 1935 and 16 July 1938 respectively and are buried in Rookwood Catholic cemetery, together with their baby grandson Herbert James Samuel who died shortly before Flora, at aged 2 years on 21 March 1938.

Christina Catherine Rankin
The youngest of the two daughters, Christina Catherine Rankin, was born two years after her sister on 4 August 1860 at Muttonbank near Gloucester and on her Birth Certificate her father is now employed as a shepherd. She married a Norwegian seaman, Martin Mortensen on 9 June 1883 at Christ Church, Church of England, Newcastle. The Sands Directory for the years 1886 to 1916 lists Martin and Christina at a different address roughly every two years but always residing in Balmain - Rozelle area. Altogether they lived in six different houses in Park Street over the years, the first time in 1888; Nos. 34, 42, 30, 32, 28 and 22, in that order. From 1901, they lived only in Park Street, finally settling into No. 22 in 1916. Could it be that several or all of these addresses in Park Street are actually be the same house but the number changed? In the 1890 Sands Directory, Martin is listed as a Carpenter.

Christina and Martin had eleven children; Bertha, Martha (Mrs Charles Cottome later Mrs George Keens), Martin, Percival, May (Mrs. Rupert Millett), Gurine (Mrs. Reginald Reardon later Mrs. John Yeo and later again Mrs Ernest Medcalf), Ethel (Mrs. Thomas Leonard), Clara, Ivy (Mrs. Patrick Keayes) Minnie, and Thelma (Mrs. Charles Binns). Of these Minnie, Bertha, Martin and Clara passed away before their parents.

In Memoriam 1934

Martin died in 1932 and Christina died the following year. At that time, they were still living at 22 Park Street, Rozelle.

George Farquhar Rankin

George Farquhar Rankin
receiving an Imperial Service Medal 17 Dec 1924

By 1863, when George Farquhar Rankin was born on 14 May 1863 the family was living at Washpool and according to his birth, his father's was a farmer. George married Lilly May Child on 4 June 1894 at Alexandria. They had five children, Harry, Stanley, Dorothy, Lillian (Mrs. John E. L. Wilton), and Heather.

George was a strong, athletic man all his life. In 1927, at the age of 64, he gave a log-chopping demonstration at  the show in Katoomba and according to "The Blue Mountain Echo" severed a log that was 4 feet 9.5 inches (1.46m) in girth with a 3lb (1.36kg) axe in 5 minutes. George had a long career with the Police Force, having joined on 2 February 1892. He was stationed mainly in Balmain and Katoomba.

On 19 October 1923, he was awarded an Imperial Service Medal, an award given for service of 25 years or more. It was presented by His Excellency, Governor of NSW, Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair on 17 December 1924 in the grounds of Government House.

George was also an alderman for Katoomba in later years.

John Arthur Rankin
The youngest child, John Arthur Rankin, was born on 18 May 1871 at Monkerai, his father now working as labourer.  As a young man John experienced a cash flow problem, declaring himself bankrupt in 1899 with a debt of £2 2s 6d. After all money due to him had been collected and his debt settled the cash he had in hand was £2 0s 10d.  (In 1901, the Australian Bureau of Statistics records that the average weekly wage for an adult male was £2 3s 6d and one dozen eggs could be purchased for one shilling or 10 cents.)

1899 'IN BANKRUPTCY.'

John was to die as a result of a fall from a horse in 1921. According to the inquest into his death published in the "The Gloucester Advocate", he was last seen, on the Friday, cantering over a hill on Clarence Town road going out of Dungog. A witness stated that he saw Rankin fall from his horse and  that he "appeared to be hung in the stirrup and dragged about 15 yards." John was spared the pain of regaining consciousness and died in Dungog Hospital two days later, on Sunday 11 September 1921 at 1.50 p.m. He was buried in the Anley's Creek Cemetery. He was 50 years old and had never married.

Sometime after 1878, when George appears on the Electoral Roll as a freeholder living in Barrington, Mary and George moved with their family to settle in Dungog. In Dungog, George and his sons may have again found employment in forestry or agriculture.

Village of Dungog, County of Durham revised 1886
with insert from the Title showing Mary's property
Reproduced with the permission of the
Office of the Registrar General,
a unit of the Department of Finance, Service and Innovation

Two years after George died, Mary purchased a property on the corner of Chapman and Windeyer Streets in the centre of Dungog. This is where Mary would spend her last days. The land was resumed by the government in 1910 to make way for the railway and is next door to where the Station Master's cottage would later stand when the railway reached Dungog in 1911. By this time, George and Mary, and their eldest son William had passed away. Except for John, their other children Flora, Christina and George, were all now living in inner western Sydney.

Although no headstones remain, it is known that Mary, George and two sons, William and John, were buried in the Dungog General Cemetery which has historically known as Anley's Creek Cemetery or Hanley's Flat Cemetery.

When George Young Rankin died on 28 September 1892, aged 69, it was recorded on his Death Certificate that he had been in the colony for 52 years. Did he arrive in Sydney on the "Isabella Watson" on 19 September 1840?

It was many years later, on 20 October 1908 that Mary passed away in Dungog. Interestingly, Mary married as a Catholic, the religion of her parents, but was buried in the Presbyterian section of Dungog cemetery. Had she become a Presbyterian? Could it be that her husband was Presbyterian from birth and she was buried with him? Or was it the influence of community in which she lived? From "A History in Three Rivers: Dungog Shire" by Michael Williams it is known that there was, as early as the 1840s, a Catholic Chapel in Dungog and in "1860, the Dungog Parochial District included Wallarobba, Gloucester, Stroud and Port Stephens". So there was a community of Catholics in the district and access to regular services but there were also many Presbyterian Scots in the area. As the religious background of George is currently not known it is difficult to draw a conclusion as to why Mary was buried a Presbyterian.

Do you have a story about this family that you would like to contribute? Any comments or corrections? Get in touch.

Many thanks to Dellas Johnston, Central Coast, and Heather Lloyd for kindly providing background information and supporting documents for the family of Mary and George.

Mentioned on this page
 ● St. John the Evangelist (Church : Campbelltown, N.S.W.) - Parish registers, 1826-1968, SAG 218
 ● City of Sydney Archives, "Sands Directory",  viewed 09 Sep 2017, http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/search-our-collections/sands-directory/sands-search
 ● HLRV (Historical Lands Record Viewer), NSW Land Registry Services, viewed 06 Sep 2017, http://www.nswlrs.com.au
 ● IHR NSW Family History Documents, Electoral Rolls Index, viewed 04 Jan 2018, https://www.ihr.com.au/secure/html/electoral.html
 ● Inner West Council, "Leichhardt - An Historical Timeline" viewed 14 Jan 2018, http://www.leichhardt.nsw.gov.au/Library/Local-History/Our-Suburbs/Leichhardt#Leichhardt - An Historical Timeline2
 ● Pemberton, P. A & Australian National University, 2011, Pure Merinos and others : the "Shipping Lists' of the Australian Agricultural Company, Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, viewed Sept 20017, http://imagedepot.anu.edu.au/sis/archives/publications/pure_merinos_and_others_-pa_-pemberton.pdf
 ● 2004, Stroud, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 February,viewed 10 Sep 2017, http://www.smh.com.au/news/New-South-Wales/Stroud/2005/02/17/1108500198981.html
William Melrose Rankin
 ● 1878 Electoral Roll - The Williams, IHR NSW Family History Documents, Electoral Rolls Index, viewed 01 Jan 2018, https://www.ihr.com.au/secure/docimages/williams78gif/02341.gif
 ● 1903 Electoral Roll - Dungog, Hunter Division, IHR NSW Family History Documents, Electoral Rolls Index, viewed 01 Jan 2018, https://www.ihr.com.au/secure/docimages/nswer1903/nswer1903_04072.gif
 ● 1908 'DUNGOG.', The Maitland Weekly Mercury (NSW : 1894 - 1931), 18 July, p. 14. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126069092
Flora Agnes Rankin and James Samuel
 ● 1935 'Family Notices', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 9 August, p. 10. , viewed 26 Feb 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17188316 
 ● 1935 'Family Notices', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 9 August, p. 9. , viewed 07 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17188349
 ● 1938 'Family Notices', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 18 July, p. 9. , viewed 02 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17480205
Christina Catherine Rankin and Martin Mortensen
 ● 1934 'Family Notices', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 13 July, p. 10. , viewed 07 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17087573
George Farquhar Rankin
 ● 1927 'SHOW SOCIETY'S SPORTS', The Blue Mountain Echo (NSW : 1909 - 1928), 10 June, p. 3. , viewed 06 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108958887
 ● 1924 'POLICE FORCE.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 17 December, p. 15. , viewed 06 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16203260
John Arthur Rankin
 ● 1899 'IN BANKRUPTCY.', New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), 26 May, p. 4162. , viewed 06 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220942321
 ● 1899 'DUNGOG.', The Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW : 1894 - 1939), 10 June, p. 6. , viewed 06 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126337688
 ● 1899 'DUNGOG.', The Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW : 1894 - 1939), 26 June, p. 6. , viewed 06 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126339524
 ● 2001, 'Prices in Australia at the Beginning and End of the 20th Century', Australian Bureau of Statics, 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2001 , viewed 06 Sep 2017,  http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20Article482001#
 ● 1903 Electoral Roll - Dungog, Hunter Division, IHR NSW Family History Documents, Electoral Rolls Index, viewed 01 Jan 2018, https://www.ihr.com.au/secure/docimages/nswer1903/nswer1903_04071.gif
 ● 1921 'Inquiry by Coroner.', The Gloucester Advocate (NSW : 1905 - 1954), 14 September, p. 2. , viewed 06 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article159063187
Further reading
 ● Karuah Bypass, "Karuah History", viewed 04 Sep 2017, http://karuah.thiess.com.au/html/history.html
 ● Stroud & District Historical Society Association Inc., "Our History - History of Stroud", viewed 07 Sep 2017, http://www.stroudhistoricalsociety.com/strouds-history
 ● Williams, Michael 2014, A History in Three Rivers: Dungog Shire Heritage Study: Thematic History, Dungog, N.S.W., Dungog Shire Council, viewed Sep 2017, http://www.dungog.nsw.gov.au/sites/dungog/files/public/documents/Three%20Rivers%20-%20August%202014.pdf