My family line, in any direction, comes from England and Ireland. All those ancestors made a journey, sometime in the last two hundred years across the seas to Australia. One came as a stonemason, bringing his family from Somerset to find a better life in the colony of NSW. Another was sent as a convict from Ireland, for the crime of stealing clothing. A brave young woman from Bedford came as a companion for a married couple and their children. An enterprising young man came from Hampshire. A poor farming couple immigrated from Yorkshire, and so on.
Another couple from Cornwall ran away to be married on the Island of Jersey in 1858, then two months later sailed from Plymouth on the Fitzjames as a bounty immigrant to NSW. Their first child was born in a tent beside Sydney Harbour. Later they became successful business people in a bustling country town. When we traveled through England and Ireland a few years ago we visited the towns these people had left behind. The young woman who ran off to married, then immigrated to Australia came from Pentewan Cornwall, or Mevagissey, which is close by. Her journey began here, perhaps taking a small boat out to Jersey to be married.
Mevagissey, Cornwall
looking out to sea
My great-great-grandmother Amelia’s journey started here, my journey to rediscover her ended here!
Robert Rice and Amelia Solomon married in 1858 and immigrated to Australia
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heartfelt images 