Letter to a Friend
Written by Jan Green, Whangarei, New Zealand, 2021
Wednesday 16th July, 1884, started like any warm summers day in New York State. The gentleman, not young but not yet old, got off the Day Boat in Poughkeepsie after a four hour cruise from New York. He travelled alone and soaked in the sights and sounds, it had been half a life time since he had returned to New York and allowed himself to enjoy its once familiar surroundings. With a firm hold on his only luggage, a carpet bag, he boarded a tram at The Landing and headed along North Water Street. As he rounded the corner onto Main Street he noticed the Exchange Hotel, not in the full glory he remembered, but still standing. The tram headed up Main Street, passing no less than eight streets before it came to a halt on the corner of Eighmere Place, outside the business premises of a local tin man. Looking up from his work the tin man watched as the gentleman stepped off the tram. The traveler had returned to his homeland to family, but the visit to Poughkeepsie was personal. He was there as the eyes and ears of a friend who for the past thirty years had been part of his Antipodean family. Unlike his last visit to Poughkeepsie, he now had a quiet yet distinguished persona, his white hair and beard and aged features showed the hint of a hard working life. He would have been surprised that this day, that started like any other, would start a genealogical journey that would take almost 140 years to conclude.
Early Years 1823—1853
J.M. Wolcott is the name I am known by but I prefer to be called Jesse. I am the fifth son of Jesse Wolcott and Fanny Stebbins from Massachusetts. Prior to my birth the family moved to New York where I, Jesse Morgan Wolcott, was born in 1823. My sister Fanny was born and died aged only three months in 1826 in Watervliet, Albany County where, two years later in 1828 my father Jesse passed away. My mother was left with five sons ranging in age from me, at five, to Israel who had just turned eighteen. My mother, Fanny, re-married four years later to Walter Field, a thirty nine year old farmer from Franklin County, Massachusetts. The union was short lived, however, as she passed away in 1839 aged forty nine. So here I was left with no parents at only sixteen years of age.
By this time, my oldest brother Israel was working as the Chief Engineer for the Schuyler Line in Albany. Israel had married Esther Vanderkar from Waterford, Saratoga, their son Thomas was born in 1838. The Schuyler Line was a company formed by former slave Samuel Schuyler. It is said that Samuel purchased his freedom in 1804 after the death of his owner Philip Schuyler. The Schuyler’s were a wealthy and politically prominent Dutch family, Philip had served as a United States senator and they owned about forty slaves spread over their Albany and Saratoga properties.
Samuel married the following year and within ten years he was a Skipper and on his way to becoming one of the most affluent men in Albany. Captain Samuel Schuyler, as he became known, was a shrewd business man who had, over the last few years, accrued a large wealth in building and property. In the 1830s his sons Samuel, Thomas and Richard joined the business, it was known as Samuel Schuyler and Company by then. Captain Samuel died in 1842, aged sixty.
Following the death of their brother Richard in 1835 and the subsequent death of their father, Captain Samuel Jnr became President of the company with brother Thomas the Treasurer. In 1846, when an opposition company called The People’s Line launched a new steamboat on the Hudson River called Rip Van Winkle, Captain Samuel Jnr was so determined to dispose of the competition that he started providing free passage on board his steamboat Belle. This saw the demise of The People’s Line and a year later, the procurement of Rip Val Winkle as part of the Schuyler Line.
The brothers continued to add to the steamboat fleet as well as establishing the Schuyler Tow Boat Line in 1852. This was the same year that the company built and financed America, a powerful towing steamer that became the flagship of the Tow Boat Line.
The Ballarat Years 1853—1884
It was around this time that I started looking for an adventure for myself. Israel was settled in Albany and had a career with a well established company and it was time for me to begin the next chapter of my life. Gold had been discovered in Australia with a place called Ballarat, in the State of Victoria, being reported as having the worlds richest alluvial goldfield. I can’t say I saw myself as a gold miner but I had skills, a thirst for adventure and with Australia being a new nation I thought I could make something of myself there.
And so it was on Monday 18th April 1853 I boarded the steamship City of Norfolk in New York and set sail for Australia. With recent improvements in steamship passenger vessels the journey was to be more speedy than in the early years. There were forty nine passengers on board, plus crew, under the watchful eye of experienced mariner Master Francis Chase Coffin. Master Coffin was a forty year old native of Nantucket, Massachusetts with considerable experience. He was only about my height, 5’6”, with dark hair and complexion but he commanded respect from his crew and aside from one stop in South America the sailing was direct. My fellow passengers were an eclectic mix that departed the United States made up of English, Irish, Scots and Americans. Of the forty nine passengers, forty seven were male and forty two were single men, such as myself. There were two woman onboard travelling with their husbands. With the exception of two all the men recorded their age as under forty years though I question the validity of the manifest and the accuracy with which the scribe noted passengers details, my own initials being transposed.
The voyage took four and a half months and once we disembarked at Port Melbourne on 4th September I sought passage to Ballarat. Earlier in the year, a young Freeman Cobb from Brewster, Massachusetts, arrived in Melbourne with an agent from the American firm Adams & Co, and along with their rivals, Wells Fargo, they provided transport to Ballarat from Melbourne. Though both companies employed American drivers, neither flourished in Victoria and Cobb was to be joined later that year by three of his friends who had worked for Wells Fargo on the Californian goldfields. Freeman Cobb, along with John Peck from New Hampshire, James Swanton, New York and John Lamber of Kansas, formed the stage coach company Cobb and Co. By the end of 1853, using light leather spung concord coaches built in the United States, Cobb and Co provided journeys to Ballarat and neighbouring gold fields which were to be a lot more comfortable and safer than the journey I endured. In addition to transporting passengers the company went on to operate the royal mail service for the growing population.
Government statistics of 1851 had listed Victoria as having a population estimated to be 70,000, with the whole of Australia only being 400,000. The United States 1850 census calculated the population at over 23 million, 3 million of which were slaves. It is fair to say that my first impressions of Victoria and, confirmed by my arrival in Ballarat, was that of surprise. There was no infrastructure with the majority of the inhabitants living in tents highlighting the need for a timber trade. This confirmed my resolve that I could be part of this evolving new world. I had no desire to dig for gold but I could see a future in becoming a merchant of sorts, I just had to see what opportunities I would encounter.
Shortly after my arrival, by mid 1853, prohibition ended in Victoria though strict regulations regarding the licensing and sale of alcohol were introduced. Hotels began to spring up, the first being Baths Hotel in Lydiard Street. Owner Thomas Bath wasted no time in applying for a liquor license which was granted on 1st July 1853.
There was a burgeoning American community in Ballarat made up of a mixture of those whose ancestors migrated to America several generations ago, like myself. In addition there were new immigrants to the USA from Ireland, Scotland and England, some of whom called themselves American depending on their allegiance or the amount of time they had spent there. There was also the African American, those that were fortunate enough to have been granted manumission or were deemed ‘free blacks’. They had left in search of freedom from both the risk of being re-enslaved and the burden being a person of colour held in the United States. One white American that seemed destined to stamp his name on Ballarat was Absalom Hallock Carey, who went by the name of Frank. Frank, born in New York, arrived in 1854 and opened the Excelsior Restaurant. In September the same year Frank was imprisoned for six months on a charge of selling sly grog. General consensus was that he was picked on due to the fact he was American and not British. When his case came up he was told that if he could get the American community to agree not to become involved in rising colonial agitations against the government he would be freed. Frank refused to do so and he was freed after only one month in prison, this move was seen as appeasing the Americans. Despite our different backgrounds, we shared a bond of sorts. We were all of an age, old enough to have the wisdom and means to make the journey and still young enough to have the enthusiasm and drive to take on the challenge. Another man I became friends with was John C Kemble, he was from County Cork in Ireland and had only been in America for three years before moving on to Victoria and making Ballarat his home in 1853.
Between 1851 and 1854 the population of Victoria grew from 70,000 to 200,000. The wealth from the gold strikes enabled the community the means, as well as the desire, to erect new and ornate buildings, museums, libraries and parks. There were advances in transport and communications with improved roads and railways as well as river transport. The first steam railway in Victoria was opened in Melbourne
in 1854 and while only travelling a distance of two miles it opened up many possibilities for the future with passenger routes being an option by the end of the decade. 1854 also saw the arrival of the Geelong mail to Ballarat.
Despite the rapid growth and the promise of future prosperity, an undercurrent was developing within the mining community. Prior to my arrival, in September 1851, the government had introduced a thirty shilling per month license fee which they then increased to three pounds per month. The diggers were so annoyed at this increase that they took up arms and had public meetings that convinced the government to repeal their plans. Despite this, the government continued with license hunts and the ensuing changes to the Goldfields Act of 1853 allowed these searches to occur at any time. The miners at Bendigo, seventy three miles north of Ballarat, formed an Anti-Gold License Association and threatened the government with an armed rebellion.
On 7th October 1854, Scottish miner James Scobie was murdered at Bentleys Eureka Hotel at Ballarat. The proprietor, James Bentley, was acquitted of the murder ten days later which caused up to ten thousand miners to riot resulting in the Hotel being burnt down. Two miners were arrested for starting the fire on 23rd October provoking a mass meeting of four thousand miners where those present resolved to form the Diggers Rights Society.
On 1st November ten thousand miners met at Bakery Hill, Ballarat, angered by the arrest of seven more diggers for the fire at Bentleys Hotel. Peter Lalor, a twenty six year old Irishman, was elected to lead an armed uprising. Ten days later the men met again and formed the Ballarat Reform League. John Basson Humffray, my junior by one year, had arrived in Melbourne, from Wales, fifteen days after myself. John had been part of the Chartist movement, a working class group started in 1836 in the United Kingdom, to gain political rights and influence for the working class. Because of his background he was asked to chair the newly formed League and he set out to negotiate with Gold Commissioner and Sherriff Robert Rede and the Governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, on the matters of the Bentley fire, the arrests, the abolition of license fees and the disbanding of the Gold Commission. Governor Hotham appointed a Royal Commission to address the issues but Commissioner Rede went on to increase the police presence in the gold fields, causing more resentment.
Commissioner Robert Rede
Left JB Humffray
Right Sir Charles Hotham
Sketch by Charles A Doudiet, Swiss Canadian artist and miner present at Ballarat in 1854
While we, the Americans, could see the writing on the wall that armed conflict could eventuate, pioneers were still arriving to seek their fortune and make a new life for themselves. One such person was an African American by the name of Alfred Brown. Alfred, a former American seaman, was born in 1823, the same year as myself, in Dutchess County, New York, which, broadly speaking, is not far from where I grew up. Alfred had been working as a cook in Melbourne when he met Alison Ormiston, a twenty one year old from Edinburgh who had arrived in Melbourne on 20th March 1854, on board the Persia. Alison had employment as a servant for Mr Balmain at St Kilda, where her and Alfred met. They were married on 27th November and made their way to Creswick, eleven miles north of Ballarat, where gold had been discovered two years prior. The town had swelled due to the gold rush and Alfred found work as a cook.
In the midst of these trying times, I was invited to a Complimentary Dinner held by the United States Consul to Australia, James Tarleton. Born in 1808 in Rockingham, New Hampshire, Tarleton lived in Melbourne and was responsible for the conduct of the American citizens in Victoria. The dinner was at the Victoria Hotel and attended by sixty to seventy gentlemen, mainly American but not exclusively. Twenty year old James Magill, Commander of the Independent Californian Rangers, gave a lengthy speech on “Commerce of the World”, to which I responded by commending the endeavors of Commodore Matthew Perry who had the previous year negotiated, or steamrolled, the Japanese into trading with the United States and allowing their merchant ships to enter their ports. In addition I also praised the 1854 Treaty of Reciprocity between the United Kingdom and the United States and the benefits to world wide commerce it represented.
The same day, police reinforcements marching from Melbourne to Ballarat were attacked by a group of miners. While we were enjoying our dinner at the Victoria Hotel, a group of twelve thousand miners were meeting to hear how John Humffray had failed in negotiating with authorities resulting in the miners burning their licenses. They also called for a change in leadership of the Reform League voting in favour of physical force rather than the moral force chosen by Humffray. Irishman Timothy Hayes, mining partner of Peter Lalor, was elected the new chairman of the League. From the Victoria Hotel we could hear distant gun shots and James Magill left hurriedly with Consul Tarleton, we knew the army was on the way and that trouble was brewing.
On Sunday 3rd December two hundred and seventy six soldiers and police surprised the miners at Eureka Stockade, being the Sabbath they did not expect such an invasion. After a short, but violent and one sided battle with the miners being outnumbered and outclassed, several were shot and hundreds taken prisoner. There were thirty four casualties, including Peter Lalor who was shot during the battle and later hidden by supporters. Twenty two miners lost their lives, mainly Irish. One hundred and fourteen men, some wounded, were marched to a government camp over a mile away and locked up, thirteen of these men were brought to trial accused of high treason.
The following day Consul James Tarleton wrote to Sir Charles Hotham, Governor, to assure him that here were no American citizens involved in the Eureka Hill riots. He received an immediate reply to say that indeed there was American involvement and that the most active leader of the movement was a young American, John Joseph.
The thirteen men that were sent to trial were made up of seven Irish, a Dutch, Scots, Australian, Jamaican, an Italian, and John Joseph, an African American from New York. John Joseph was accused of firing the first shot. The government thought that they would have no trouble convicting a black man but they underestimated public opinion. Ten thousand people, ten percent of Melbourne's population, went to the courthouse. The jury found Joseph not guilty and that the governments main grounds for conviction were based on his colour and race. When leaving the courthouse Joseph was put in a chair and carried around the streets triumphant. All thirteen were found not guilty and the warrant for the arrest on sedition charges that had been issued for Peter Lalor was withdrawn. Commissioner Rede, seen as the prime instigator of the riot, was quietly removed and reassigned to an insignificant role in rural Victoria.
elected unopposed. This was to be the start of a long and successful political career for Peter who, as a result of his injuries at Eureka, had lost his left arm. This same year Victoria separated from New South Wales and became a self governing colony in her own right and voting by secret ballot was introduced for the men of the state.
Resulting from the uprising miners were given the right to vote and a new license at the cost of one pound per year was introduced. Monthly gold taxes were abolished and a general amnesty for miners arrested for the hotel fire and Eureka Stockade was proclaimed. The United States Hotel was opened on the Main Road by Americans Albion Nicholls and John Emery, adding to the growing amount of businesses in the town. On the 7th September Alfred Brown Jnr was born in Creswick, the first child of many, to Alfred and Alison. Following some very difficult times in and around Ballarat life was starting to plot a new course for the future and it was a time that I was glad to be a part of. Sadly, the United States Hotel was burnt to the ground on 1st December, along with the Adelphi Theatre and several other shops. Three people lost their lives in the blaze, including part owner Albion Nicholls.
March 1856 saw a ‘diggers’ memorial erected in the Ballarat Cemetery near the graves of those killed in the Eureka Stockade. Sculptured in stone from the Barrabool Hill, fifty miles south of Ballarat near Geelong, it features a pillar with the names of the deceased miners. The inscription reads “Sacred to the memory of those who fell on the memorable 3 December 1854, in resisting the unconstitutional proceedings of the Victorian Government”. Such sentiment and valor, it was a proud moment to witness.
In August the same year, a new business on the corner of Sturt and Doveton Streets was established. Operating as American Sawmills, it was owned by thirty four year old Charles Henry Edwards and thirty eight year old Daniel Bond Selman. They both originated from Massachusetts, though Selman was English born and I was acquainted with them both.
The Black Lead goldmining village was founded south of Ballarat, two miles west of Buninyong, in 1856.
Alison and Alfred Brown moved to Black Lead where they joined Charles Hulett, another African American from Virginia, and his wife Mary Ann. Mary Ann had immigrated to Australia from Middlesex, England, arriving in 1853 and married Charles on 23rd February 1854 in Melbourne. Charles, like Alfred, was a cook and it was here, at Black Lead, that Charles and Mary Ann’s second son Walter was born in June of 1856.
George Henry Brown, Alison and Alfred’s second son, named after Alfred’s brother in Brooklyn, New York, was born at Upper Black Lead on 16th January 1857. In May the same year, The Melbourne Age reported that few of the claims at Black Lead were successful, despite the large population of miners and that some were looking for newer and easier workings. Though Black Lead continued to prosper for a number of years Alison and Alfred moved on to Trial Saw Mills with their young family. Trial Saw Mills had opened in 1854 and was located on Spellman Hill, Ballarat. It was the first sawmill in Victoria to be powered by a steam engine and it had a self contained village with accommodation for both single and married workers and gardens that provided food for the inhabitants. Trial also laid the first of two timber tramways spanning four and a half miles from a depot in Main Road, Ballarat, making cartage easier.
By June, the United States Hotel rebuild was complete with new owners, Americans Rufus Smith and Henry Moody and upon opening Charles Hulett was employed as Restaurant Manager. Drinks were a standard price of one shilling with more being charged for drinks with ice. The ice was imported from the United States where it was cut into huge blocks in Boston and packed into sawdust before it undertook a two to three month voyage to Melbourne. Upon arrival at the port it would be loaded onto an open dray and driven to Ballarat, by which time forty percent of the block would have melted, the remainder was, however, welcomed by the Ballarat locals.
The following month, July, saw the arrival of George Wright, a mechanical engineer, and his family from Cornwall, England. George struggled to find work and after several months committed suicide, leaving a young family. His death raised awareness of the need for a charitable works to aid those that had fallen on hard times and the Ballarat Benevolent and Visiting Society was established. The Society soon realised that not only did people require financial assistance, many needed a roof over their heads as well. Hon John O’Shannassy, a forty year old Irish politician and businessman from Melbourne visited Ballarat in early 1858 and was made aware of these needs by the Society’s president Robert Smith. It was sometime, however, before the Legislative Assembly eventually granted two thousand pounds toward the cost of a building.
By 1858, after five years in Victoria, I was able to establish myself as a self employed businessman. The American Sawmills moved to Harry Beales Swamp on Bacchus Creek, ten miles from Ballarat. It was here that I took over the store and boarding house.
My friend Frank Carey of the America Hotel was granted another liquor license for the Bridge Inn, it seemed that being in hospitality was a lucrative and growing business. Another friend, Edward T Foley, a thirty seven
year old from New York, was the booking agent for Cobb and Co. Foley also invested in the Hit or Miss mining company, a risky investment that would eventually see his financial demise.
In June of this year, Charles Hulett took a local businessman, John Cornish, to court. In an unfortunate affair at the United States Hotel on Saturday 12th June, Cornish took exception to the potatoes in a meal he was served. When Charles, as Restaurant manager, went to address the issue Cornish called him abusive names and went on to say to Charles, “If I had you in New Orleans I would drive you like the rest of the niggers and put you under the lash”. Charles ordered him out of the hotel and took him by the collar, at which point Cornish assaulted him. The chairman on the bench stated that we are not in so free a country as to be able to see a man abused with no consequences because of his colour. Cornish, for his arrogance and shabby behaviour, was given the highest penalty the court could impose, ten pounds with costs of one pound, one shilling. This sort of behaviour, from and towards a fellow American, is very disappointing. I was not raised with these sort of values and can never understand how a man can be condemned for his colour rather than his character, or lack of, in the case of Mr Cornish. I was not surprised or saddened to see Cornish before the courts ten years from this event charged with fraudulent dealings while selling his brewery and being indebted to his creditors for ten thousand pounds.
Independence Day, 1858, was particularly memorable for me. The American Independence dinner held on Monday 5th July at the United States Hotel was attended by ninety men. I was invited to be the Orator for the evening, giving the key note speech. This was the 82nd anniversary of American Independence. The evening was chaired by Charles Edwards, owner of American Sawmills, with vice chairs Frank Carey, Francis Monfort from Indiana and OH Smith, a Californian who was due to return to our beloved land later in the year. Special visitors were John Humffray, Councilors Richard Belford and William Rodier and Jabez J Ham, journalist, all of whom originated from Great Britain. While these were reported as the most notable of the guests several other well known Ballarat gentlemen were present. Apologies were received from Tarleton, US Consul though he did supply a letter that was toasted to. Reverend Thomas James, an outspoken Methodist minister said Grace. The meal was supplied by Charles Hulett, a fare that was well received and made special mention of in the Ballarat Star.
What an occasion, the room was decorated with Stars and Stripes and Union Jacks, along with some flags to represent other nations that had settled in Ballarat. Monsieur Archille Fluery, a French composer and violinist who had made Ballarat his home, led the band.
Edward Foley read the Declaration of Independence and I started my speech by welcoming the comradeship between the Americans present and the British, while reinforcing that I did not desire any animosity to present itself and used the analogy of the pipe of peace to be smoked and the tomahawk burned to assure a peaceful gathering. I commended the British on how proud they must be of their young relative, the United States of America, to further appease those present.
I felt joy in giving a speech that could recognise the progress of my country while being able to share the glory of Independence Day in a far off land such as Australia. I first celebrated Independence Day in Ballarat in 1855 when the township was barely more than a canvas town comprising of tents. In that short time a thriving township had been built to house the merchants, bankers and businessmen. I like to believe an independent America holds possibilities for everyone, both rich and poor, it is up to the individual to make what they can of their future. I paid tribute to the pilgrims of 1620, to the sons of freedom and all that contributed to the overthrow of British rule and the liberty over my homeland, both the men behind the armies of liberty and the soldiers who stepped onto the battlefield. I was able to convey my feelings of responsibility as I had once stood on Bunkers Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts and my thoughts about the inadequacies of the chains that bind not only the negros of Africa, but the European subjects who do not know liberty. My overarching philosophy is that liberty and union for all men is essential to civilisation. My speech was followed by toasts to both the United States and England with the evening concluded by toasts. The first “Young America”, responded to by my friend John Kemble, and “Our Native Land”, responded to by Edward Weaver, a wheelwright from England. The evening concluded at a late hour. A detailed account was published in The Ballarat Star on 6th July, for which I provided a copy of my speech.
A few weeks later, on 27th August, Charlotte Jane Brown was born at Trial Saw Mills, Alfred and Alison's third child. It was after Charlotte’s birth that Alfred and Alison moved to American Sawmills, Bacchus Creek, where I was also residing.
In February 1859 Jabez Ham, Editor of The Ballarat Star, run a feature article on American Sawmills, highlighting the capacity of the mill, the set up, amenities available and the wages that the men were being paid. I was the publican, in addition to running a large store and boarding house. The mill boasted stabling, an administration area and accommodation for single and married men. In addition the mill was employing eight horse teams and two bullock teams, the latter of which saw Alfred become a carter. The work was a far cry from that of a cook but he had a way with animals, a growing family to provide for and the work was more lucrative.
March saw the commencement of the Ballarat Benevolent Asylum. Following O’Shannassy’s visit the year before and the realisation of funds by the Legislative Assembly, the Ballarat Council and the community all donated to the project. Five acres was granted by the Government for the purpose built facility and the foundation stone was laid on 17th March with full Masonic honours. It was to be another year before the first residents were admitted to the facility, which also included orphans and newborn illegitimate children.
Earlier in the year the Mechanics Institute was established. Originating in Scotland in 1821, the institutes were becoming an international movement of education centres for meetings and lectures. The Ballarat Mechanics Institute started in a small cottage on Main Road with the reading room being housed at the Fire Brigade in Barkly Street. It was here that I was asked to deliver a lecture on 15th November 1859, I chose the subject “Ideality”. The lecture was billed in The Ballarat Star as an oration that would appeal to Ophrenological, Metaphysical and Artistic, something that could appeal to many but undoubtedly understood by few.
In December 1859 John Kemble purchased a small piece of crown land in what was to become Rosslyn Street in Melbourne, west of the old cemetery. The land consisted of just over twenty four perches and cost one hundred and sixty five pounds. Kemble left Ballarat and set up a business in William Street, Melbourne as a cabinet maker, though our friendship endured his move.
By 1860 Ballarat was making a successful transition from a gold rush town to an industrial city with the tents and ramshackle buildings making way for permanent buildings of stone and brick, mainly built from wealth generated by gold mining. My role as a publican at the American Sawmills continued but the pull of the illustrious facilities in Ballarat, such a short distance away, meant that my trade was diminished. A new railway station was opened, making it the first inland railway station in Victoria, and paving the way for the Geelong to Ballarat rail that would start operation in 1862.
Replica of the cottage on Main Road housing the Mechanics Institute Sovereign Hill Museum, Ballarat Ballarat Benevolent AsylumOur Member of Parliament, Peter Lalor, lobbied for land in Sturt Street to be set aside for a new and permanent Mechanics Institute building. The foundation stone was laid on 28th September, once again with full Masonic honours, in front of a crowd of ten thousand. The first part of the building consisted of a reading room, library and lecture room, with a hall proposed for the first floor to seat twelve hundred people, though this would not be completed until 1864. The whole complex was to take another nine years eventually housing a museum and shops.
1860’s sketch by Herman Deutsch, Silesian engraver and lithographer who set up business in Ballarat in 1858
The population of Victoria had now reached 500,000, having increased by twenty five percent since 1857. With this increase in population so had the popularity of Freemasonry. Becoming established in Victoria in 1839, forty two lodges were operating by 1862. They played a large role in the development and management of the Ballarat Benevolent Asylum with a clear view of social order and obligation, Masons were seen to be honest and genuinely committed to the welfare of others. Their meetings were open to all with no religious tendencies as had been apparent in early Freemasonry in Great Britain. Several of my peers were members and the work they did was admirable in working towards an equitable society for all. Kemble, now living in Melbourne, was a member of the Loyal Werribee Lodge, a role that would see him become the Senior Grand Master of the district and well admired for his untiring work in furthering the causes of the order.
Another identity was Peter Jerome Augustin from Pennsylvania. Peter was a first generation person of mixed race parents, classified as a Mulatto in the United States. Born in 1827, Peter, the son of a Caribbean father and American mother, arrived in Melbourne on board the Cheshire Witch in 1854, the same week Alfred’s wife Alison docked. Peter had left California where he worked as a cook and followed the dream of striking it rich by mining. He became friends of Alfred and Alison and it was on 19th March 1860 that Alison gave birth to Peter Jerome Augustin Brown, named after their friend. Augustin later left Australia, returning to Philadelphia where he married, had a family and became a restaurateur and caterer. He maintained contact with the Brown’s upon his return to the United States.
In May of 1860 I came to the conclusion that my business venture into the boarding house and store was not viable and it was with regret that I was proclaimed insolvent. I assigned all my goods, merchandise, stock-in-trade, chattels, debts and effects to my creditors, plus all other real and personal estate. The main creditors were Charles H Edwards, owner of American Sawmills, John R Grundy, tobacconist and William Riddoch, a merchant, as well as several others. I was allowed to keep clothes and necessaries worth no more than ten pounds. This action was carried out according to the provisions of “An Act for the further amendment of the Law and for the better advancement of Justice”, passed in 1842 by the Governor and Legislative Council of the Colony of New South Wales. My downfall was reported in The Argus, Melbourne and The Government Gazette of 1860. To add salt to the wound Frank Carey transferred his license from the America Hotel to the All Nations Hotel in Armstrong Street, his fourth foray into the hospitality trade in Ballarat in the six years since his arrival.
Shortly after my fall from grace the partnership of Selman and Edwards was dissolved. Edwards married German immigrant Louisa Payne and returned to the United States. Selman continued to run the American Sawmills with his brother Alfred under the name Selman & Selman. Before long the company became insolvent, the partnership dissolved, and the brothers were discharged from bankruptcy in 1862. The American Sawmills was sold to Henry Clarke and renamed Border Sawmill. Daniel Selman left for New Zealand the same year but he was to return to Grafton, New South Wales, a few years later where he opened another American Sawmill.
The new owner, Henry Clarke, had purchased six hundred acres of timbered land in 1858 and built Northumberland Mill on the site, which burnt down a year later. That same year Clarke married eighteen year old Martha Hague who had arrived from Ireland in 1857. Clarke built another mill called Clarkes Warrenheip, which also burnt down.
I had settled into the new decade working as a carpenter at Border Mills, close enough to Ballarat which was growing into a fine town with modern architecture and amenities. Border Mills had two hundred people living and working on site. The mill was the centre of operations, surrounded by a number of trade workshops, a hotel, school and an ever growing array of huts and houses with gardens and livestock. On 24th September 1861 Mary Ann Brown was born at Bullarook.
Lydiard Street, Ballarat 1861
1862 saw changes in circumstances to some of the pioneers of Ballarat. Charles Hulett was charged with obtaining fifty pounds under false pretenses in Sydney and gaoled at Darlinghurst Prison for eighteen months. He was discharged in June 1863, featuring in The Police Gazette as missing after not returning to his wife who was living in Ballarat. In June, Frank Carey left a successful business in Ballarat and started the Commercial Hotel in Queenstown, New Zealand. Two years later, with Prussian wife Dorette Hahn, they returned to the United States and settled in Wyoming. Journalist Jabez Ham also went to New Zealand where he became Editor of the Dunedin Colonist, eventually moving to The Oamaru Herald in 1871. Edward Foley, Coach Agent, was declared insolvent from losses in mining speculations and farming. Foley moved to Queensland and eventually settled in New South Wales. Monseiur Fluery also moved to New Zealand where he joined the Dunedin Princess Theatre Orchestra before becoming conductor at the Theatre Royal, Wellington.
The same year, a man named Batson, alias Bungaree Jack, was convicted of attempting to stab Border owner Henry Clarke with a tobacco knife. He had demanded money from Clarke and made several threats against him to burn down his mill. With fire being a constant issue with sawmills of the time the court took the threats seriously.
The Brown family continued to grow with the birth of John on 25th November, 1863. Alfred was still working as a carter for Border Mills and other enterprises owned by Henry Clarke.
On 14th April 1865 shocking news from America, Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President voted in in 1861, was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln had led America through the Civil War and initiated the abolition of slavery in 1863, which eventually freed the four million slaves. Booth, a supporter of slavery, believed Lincoln was determined to overthrow the Constitution and destroy his beloved South. Alison, was expecting her seven child and it was with pride, that on 20th October, Abraham Lincoln Brown was born.
Thomas Schuyler passed away in 1866 having been the firms treasurer and a driving force in Albany business and charitable circles. My nephew, Thomas Wolcott, Israel’s son, now twenty five and making a mark for himself as a banker in Albany, went to the Schuyler Line as secretary. Brother Israel continued to work for the firm as Engineer.
Early in 1866 I had a civil case taken against me by TY Anderson & Co, Importers and Drapers of Bourke Street, Melbourne. The company was owned by Thomas Young and John P Anderson, George Smith-Brown and John Mitchell. TY Anderson had a finger in every pie and was constantly in the news, making it onto the city council in 1868. The case was never proved, nor were the details released to the press, so that is a story that can remain between myself and Anderson.
Following the tragic death of his five week old son in 1867, Clarke opened a new mill in the forest ten miles from Border Mills. It’s sole output was the manufacture of sawn shingles. A tramway to Border was constructed so that the timber was more accessible for customers and the carters. Alfred also worked out of this new venture, called Yankee Sawmill.
The same year, Alfred and Alison moved to a ten acre piece of Crown land on Melbourne Road, Warrenheip, adjacent to a used gold field. They spent one hundred and nine pounds on fencing, stable, hayshed and piggery, including the building of a four room house, twenty four feet by twenty feet. As a lease to occupy arrangement with the government, costing Alfred one pound per year, the improvements were valued at two hundred and twenty five pounds. In addition to the farming venture, Alfred was working in Gippsland to help the bolster the families income.
Twins Jacob and Eliza were born on 1st April 1868 with Alfred spending two weeks in Ballarat Base Hospital in September. Once discharged he was required to bear witness at the trial of a coloured man who was an alleged horse thief. Alfred testified, as a carter from Yankee Sawmills, that he knew the man to own the horse several years prior to the charges and the prisoner was discharged.
In The Ballarat Star of 3rd March 1869 an article was written regarding the recent bushfires in Bullarook, this colony was plagued by fire on so many fronts. Henry Clarke of Border Mills had supplied timber free of charge to anyone who needed it to rebuild their homes. His generosity was very much appreciated by the residents, most of whom had lost everything.
Ironically, the following month, on Thursday 15th April, Border Mills burnt to the ground. Two hundred people, including carters and others, the category to which Alfred and I belonged, as well as wives and children, lost their employment. An inquest was held Monday 26th April and while the general feeling was that the fire was not accidental, there was not enough evidence of foul play. Particular mention was made in The Ballarat Star of Mr Clarkes kindness and how he was esteemed by all. He suffered great losses and was not insured. Clarke rebuilt again, this time on his farm, the new business called Jowerky Jowerk Mill.
During this time, the Lal Lal land selection became available. Thirty lots of Crown land, each one twenty acres in size, were applied for. The selection process took place at the Lal Lal Railway station and most of the one thousand, one hundred and fifty one applicants were present. It was a thwart process with a venue too small to hold the hundreds of people and the day turned into a three day ordeal for those present. Alfred Brown, as carter for Border Mills, was the successful applicant of seven for Section 1b. Of the thirty applicants to secure land all but seven of them were miners, carters and labourers. Despite the numerous amount of women applying, only two were successful.
By 1870 there were one hundred and twenty seven sawmills in Victoria. Clarke was victim to yet another fire, this time the Yankee Sawmill burnt down including the wooden tramways. After having the mill insured from its establishment, Clarke had let the premium slide in the last year so once again he received no financial recompense.
My brother Israel, having turned sixty, retired from Schuyler Line to his farm in Waterford, Saratoga, eleven miles from Albany. The Browns celebrated another healthy daughter, Sarah, born on 28th June. The same year, Kemble went on a journey to the Paris Exhibition, the official art exhibition of the Academy des Beaus-Arts that had been held annually for over one hundred years. He took the opportunity to visit family in Ireland while he was away.
The introduction of the 1869 Land Act, enacted on 29th December of that year, amended all previous legislation. The terms of the new Act were very restrictive making it more punishable for lessees to break any of the terms of the agreement. In June of 1870 Alfred had to reapply for his license to occupy his land on Melbourne Road, Warrenheip. The fee had increased by an additional two shillings and sixpence per year on top of the one pound per acre. It seemed to me that losing the home and land that they had worked so hard for was not an option nor was insolvency, unlike so many of the pioneers that had come before us. The license took five months to be issued.
In 1871 I had my photograph taken at Bardwell’s Royal Studio in Sturt Street and mailed a portrait to my brother Israel in Saratoga. By this time there were several photograph studios in Ballarat but Bardwell was making a name for himself experimenting with panorama photography in Ballarat, examples of which he issued the following year.
William Bardwell
Self Portrait
Panoramic photographs of Ballarat release by Bardwell in 1872
Left Portrait of Jesse Morgan Wolcott that he posted to his brother in August 1871, noted ‘Rec. Saturday August 26th 1871’ on the back of photograph
14
Charles Hulett had returned from exile in New South Wales and run away with the wife of James Dunlop Patterson, an African American hairdresser in Ballarat. Patterson was so incensed that he had Charles and his runaway wife charged with theft for taking goods from his home, the court failed to uphold the charge and Charles was found not guilty.
Jowerky Jowerk Mill burnt to the ground in 1872. The fire broke out at one o’clock in the morning and the origin was a mystery. Clarke was insured for eight hundred pounds though he stated that this amount would not cover his losses. The Ballarat Star reported that ”Mr Henry Clarke, one of the oldest residents in Bungaree, has been particularly unfortunate in the matter of fires”, an accurate statement indeed. Fires were a constant threat to businesses, homes and lives. Clarke described this fire as the worst he had yet experienced. He then opened Clarkes Mill at Bungaree but closed it in April 1873.
Schuyler Line issued Stock certificates in 1873 with my nephew Thomas V Wolcott, as Secretary, signing the certificates. Thomas is reported as being seen as a prominent banker in Albany society as well as being sympathetic to African Americans, a report that makes me proud.
The 1870s were a decade of growth and consolidation in Ballarat with news of old friends being reported in the local newspapers. Monsieur Fluery was declared bankrupt in New Zealand and left the country to tour with Allen’s Royal English Opera Company, he died of dysentery in India in October 1875. Jabez Ham, journalist, passed away in New Zealand aged forty eight the following year.
Alfred continued to struggle to pay his annual fees to occupy the land. He was ill with rheumatics for some time in 1876 and then, once recovered, took a carting job in Horsham, one hundred and sixteen miles inland from Ballarat. Horsham was a relatively new settlement but already boasted three flour mills. Missing his scheduled payment a rather robust series of correspondence with the Minister of Lands and Surveys in Melbourne ensued resulting in Alfred having his license extended.
Julia Brown, the twelfth and last child of Alfred and Alison was born in June 1877.
In December Alfred had to reapply again, under Section 49 of the Land Act of 1869, which now had the Brown land listed as “Land on any goldfield or lands adjacent there to”, making the terms of the lease very stringent. By this time the family had planted one hundred fruit trees, two acres of peas and two acres of corn as well as increasing the homestead to a five room house, now twenty five foot square.
Thomas Vanderkar Wolcott
I was saddened to hear of the death of my brother Israel in Saratoga, he passed away on 5th August 1878 from heart disease aged sixty seven. Son Thomas was living at 117 Hamilton Street, Albany with wife Anna and their two children. They moved to Saratoga and took over the farm to help his mother Esther.
1878 also saw Kemble, on a visit to Sydney, marry and return to Melbourne with his new wife Anne.
By the time the 1880s commenced, there were three hundred and twenty three sawmills operating in Victoria. Migration had occurred caused by the exhaustion of mining and depletion of the alluvial grounds. The population of Ballarat had not increased since 1870 but in many ways the city had made great progress. There are now eighty six streets, five thousand dwellings, one hundred and twenty hotels, twenty four churches, two flour mills, seven iron foundries, four agricultural implement factories, three furniture and cordial factories, ten printing offices, a tannery, gasworks, gymnasium, friendly society, halls, seven state schools, post and telegraph office, assize and police courts, a gaol and two fire brigades, the latter of which I find comforting. Ballarat boasted a population of 21,000 residents.
It is now 1884 and I am sixty years old. I cannot hear as well as I used to, undoubtedly from the many years I spent in and around sawmills as well as having lost the thumb from my right hand, my hair is now greyed. It is time for me to return to the United States, to visit family and to feel that sense of belonging that I lost so long ago. This land is for the young or those fortunate enough to have descendants that will realise their vision in years to come. The contrast since my arrival in Ballarat in 1853 is vast. Looking around, having seen all the progress, I must step back to see the magic of it all. The few white tents are no more, overcome by the array of civic opulence and beauty. 1853 was a passing vision, all is changed due to the hard work of diggers, labourers, and timbermen, not to forget the speculators and businessmen, without either this would not have been achieved. I made friends from many of these people I have mentioned, humble hard working people, friendships I will cherish. They all contributed to Ballarat to make it the place that is is today.
The gold diggers work is done, but the history of the pioneers of the 1850s onwards will not be forgotten. I have witnessed and been a part of what I consider the be the jewel in Australia’s crown, Ballarat. She managed to bring out the best and the worst in people, many did not stay, some made their fortunes and moved on, some lost everything, and some embraced this brave new world and made a forever home for themselves. I almost fit into the latter, I have had a foot in both camps, the United States and Australia. I did, however, choose Australia as my home for more than half my life but I am, and always will be, a proud American. That is where I must go and finish my days.
Israel Stebbins Wolcott
New York—1884
And so it was that I boarded the Steamship Chimborazo on Sunday 6th April 1884, under Captain J F Ruthven, an experienced Irish mariner who had spent many years with the Orient Steam Navigation Company. The ship, bound for Crmyll, Plymouth, docked in London on Sunday 25th May where I disembarked.
After spending time in England I purchased a passage on the White Star Line Steamship Republic, departing Liverpool on Monday 16th June. The ship was under the command of Captain Peter J Irving, a quiet unassuming man that seemed to impress all who had the privilege to meet him. We set sail for America, stopping at Queenstown to pick up passengers, mainly Irish labourers and their families. Formerly Cobh, on the South Coast of County Cork, Ireland, the city changed its name in honour of Queen Victoria following her visit there in 1849. On Friday 27th June the ship berthed with four hundred and eighty three passengers on
I took the night boat to Albany, travelling up river to Saratoga to visit family and friends. Israel’s widow Esther, son Thomas, his wife Anna and their children Maud, Frank and Thomas Jnr were all in good health. I celebrated the first Independence Day in the land of my birth after thirty two years away. Thomas had retained his home in Hamilton Street, Albany, where the family would reside in the winter months.
From Harper’s Weekly, 14th June 1884 entitled ‘The Summer Exodus from New York The Albany Night Boat’
Wolcott Family, Saratoga 1884
Jesse with white beard standing next to nephew Thomas
Top right Approach to Wolcott family farm Right Wolcott homesteadAfter two weeks, give or take, I boarded a day boat for Poughkeepsie. In recent years the old boats had been replaced with two iron hull ships, the New York and the Albany. They were about three hundred feet long and could hold several thousand passengers. As I planned to be away for just one night I had packed my carpet bag. Disembarking at the Main Street Landing, it was evident that this was the only landing now operating with the railroad increasingly taking over passenger transport. The docks were a far cry from their glory day when the Upper Landing in North Water Street shared its space with the whaling dock. Alfred and brother George worked on the whaling ship Mogul in the 1840s and it was here that the two whaling companies operating would butcher and process their catch.
I took a tram car and road passed the Exchange Hotel which had seen better days. Built fifty years ago, she was once an impressive establishment that offered visitors to Poughkeepsie quality accommodation. By 1850, proprietor John Grant was known for his innovation in producing ale by using a steam engine and
Poughkeepsie used horse drawn trams like this one in Middletown, Ohio, until 1894 when they went electric
Above Left The New York Day Boat & The Poughkeepsie Waterfront 1889
The tramcar made it’s way up Main Street, now in the 1880s lined with fine buildings and bustling industry.
I held the trade card in my hand that I had carried with me from Australia as I pulled up at my destination on the corner of Eighmie Street and Main Road. As I disembarked with my carpet bag I looked up and the man inside, working in the front window of his premises, was watching me. I had, at last, arrived at the business of H. A. Brown. Alonzo, as he was called, was the younger brother by twelve years, of my friend Alfred. It had been over thirty years since he had seen his brother but uncannily, Alonzo said that he was thinking of Alfred when the tram car pulled up. Alonzo lived at 4 Eighmie Place, a couple of doors away from his workplace with his wife Julia and nineteen year old daughter Ella.
The next day Alonzo and I went up College Hill to see where Alfred used to work. The Collegiate School, opened in 1836, with its parthenon colonnade was now empty. The grounds and the view were beautiful and with no plans for the building there is talk that the area will become a park within the next few years.
H Alonzo Brown & daughter Ella Mae
College Hill Grounds
Main Street, Poughkeepsie 1880s
From there we travelled a short distance to 92 Catharine Street where Mrs Brown lived with her daughter Sarah. Judith Brown, Alfred’s mother, was eighty eight years of age, Sarah almost seventy. Visiting them was a granddaughter Mary Elizabeth, the only daughter of George and Jane Brown who lived in Brooklyn. I was able to talk to them about life in Australia and tell them about their son, brother and uncle, his life and his family. Mary Elizabeth, a lovely young woman, was very interested in life in Ballarat and expressed her desire to meet her uncle and his family one day. I had to impress on them how unlikely that would be, Alfred was no longer a young man and the journey from Australia to America was long and costly. It was with sadness that they realised that Alfred’s home is in Australia and that is where he will stay.
After bidding a fond farewell, Alonzo took me to the Soldiers War Memorial Fountain that had been unveiled on 4th July 1870 to honour the local veterans of the Civil War, which Alonzo had served in. Instigated by Dr H Eastman, mayor and well respected businessman, who had donated seventy thousand dollars towards the memorial. Following his death in 1878 the twenty seven acre property was left to his wife Mary. We then walked through Widow Eastman’s gardens, adjacent to the Memorial Fountain in Montgomery Street.
That evening Ella played the piano for her father and myself. Alonzo’s home had several pieces of Australian memorabilia that Alfred had sent him over the years, all displayed in pride of place. These included postcards and photos of Australia, an enlarged photo of Alfred’s daughter Mary Ann hung above the mantel piece and even a photo of the Victorian Assembly was framed. Alonzo shared the latest letter he had received from Alfred, which was sent to him after I had left Melbourne. He told me he would write to Alfred within the next few days. I also planned to correspond, we thought that our letters may go by the same mail. With that I took my leave, calling into Schuyler Line offices on Broadway to check for mail from Australia and returned to Waterford, Saratoga. On 23rd July I wrote to my friend Alfred and gave him the news of my visit…
Poughkeepsie from College Hill by Slee Bros Photographers - 1880
Waterford (West)
23rd July 1884
Friend Brown
I landed at New York 27th last month took night boat for Albany same day. My friends all live here nine miles further up the river in summer. My Nephew has a residence in the city (Albany) in winter time. I found them all well.
A week ago I took the New York day boat for Poughkeepsie and stopped a day and night. T took a tram car at the landing, the old Exchange is there just as you saw it. I rode up Main Street and got out corner of Eighmere Place your brothers place of business is on the corner, his house two or three doors from the corner. He was working at front window and saw me get out with a carpet bag. He told me he was thinking of you at the time. The next day we went up College Hill where you once worked in returning we called on your Mother, your sister was there and your niece who lives in Brooklyn. She is a fine looking young woman she was greatly interested and showed much feeling in talking about you, and hoped she would see you some day, but I could not hold out any prospect that she would. I told them that your home is now in Australia and there you would live the remainder of your days. We went to the Soldiers Memorial Fountain and the Widow Eastmans private grounds and all about, in the evening your brothers daughter played on the piano.
I saw a letter you wrote since I left. The members of Victoria Assembly are framed and some other Australian pictures, the photo of your Mary has been enlarged and hangs above the mantle piece. Your brother said he would write and likely his and mine will go by same mail.
I have not heard from Aus, thought I would have a letter from Kemble before this.
With respects and best wishes to Mrs Brown and family. I am yours sincerely
J. M. WolcottSchuylers Line, 284 Broadway Albany N.Y. U.S.A.
Epilogue
I received a copy of the letter, written by JM Wolcott, in 2005 from another descendent of Alfred and Alison Brown. As with many letters of the time, nothing was easy when it came to deciphering mail meant for another. I had so many questions, the first being who is JM Wolcott. He mentioned so many of Alfred’s relations in Poughkeepsie, but not by name, by relationship only, presenting more pieces to the jigsaw puzzle.
At the start of the global Pandemic of Covid19 in 2020, New Zealand was put into level four lockdown, meaning we could only leave the house to purchase food, medical supplies or to walk in your immediate neighbourhood. It was during that time I was able to research the author of this letter. Since 2005 on-line research had become possible and with time on your hands it was possible to sort the wheat from the chaff. Firstly I had to determine the correct JM Wolcott, and there were many, then with hours of trawling newspapers, historical information, family records and cross referencing each find I was able to put together a picture of not only Jesse but also my own family. It was around this time that I tracked down a descendent of Jesse Wolcott’s, via Ancestry.com, Israel’s three times great granddaughter Lisa who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. After my initial email Lisa wrote:
Dear Jan, You have no idea how welcome your letter is, and how much it totally blew my mind. I have been researching the Wolcott’s for many years and it never occurred to me that Jesse Morgan Wolcott spent any time in Australia. I feel like we are getting him back in the family again, and not just as a dead end. You have given me an amazing gift today, thanks again,
Lisa Cellura, Friday 7th August 2020
When the Delta variant of Covid19 once again put New Zealand into level four lockdown in 2021, I started to put this story together. While I admire Jesse’s oration skills from his Independence Day speech the true gem is the letter he wrote to a friend that has taken almost one hundred and forty years to decipher.
Jesse’s family and I can find no record of Jesse immediately after he left Poughkeepsie but for some reason, probably only known to himself, he moved to San Francisco. He next appeared six years later, on 29th September 1890, registered at Alms House. Alms House opened in Ocean House Road in 1867 and was designed to house people who could live independently but were down on their luck and required assistance in the way of food and accommodation. Jesse was listed as a sixty eight year old from New York with no occupation. Jesse passed away on 9th May 1896 at Alms House of vascular heart disease, he was seventy four years old. True to his past Jesse, who never appeared to have the same occupation recorded twice, was listed as a farmer.
As Jesse predicted in his letter, Alfred and Alison remained in Ballarat to the end of their days. In September 1889 Alfred applied to purchase the property at Melbourne Road under The Lands Amendment Act 1880. He paid a final purchase price of thirteen pounds, ten shillings and was granted ownership in 1890, after twenty three years of paying a lease to occupy. Alfred died on 4th May 1897 of chronic kidney disease at Ballarat Hospital, like Jesse he was also seventy four years old, his occupation was listed as a carter.
Allison continued to live on the family land in Melbourne Road, selling it in 1905 and moving into Errard Street, Ballarat. She passed away in January 1919 aged eighty five and was survived by ten of her twelve children. They are buried together in the Wesleyan Section of Ballarat Cemetery.
They had twelve children, sixty two grandchildren that I am aware of and countless great grandchildren. Many of the descendants are still in and around Victoria, others live in far off lands and several of us have connected, all with different stories about what it is to be a part of this family. The stories may all be different but we all have the same in-depth pride and satisfaction to be a part of their story.
I am unable to find any reference to the property that Alfred successfully applied for in Lal Lal. He may have passed it in, he may have used it in the interim as a depot for his carting business or he may have been an agent for Henry Clarke of Border Sawmills.
As for the other characters in this story, albeit some of them minor, they were a part of the fabric of the lives of both Jesse and Alfred as well as some that played a part in the establishment of a new world, Ballarat, so I will give a brief synopsis of their lives.
The Cast of Characters
New York
Thomas Vanderkar Wolcott Nephew of Jesse and son of Israel, passed away in Waterford on 15 January 1918 of lobar pneumonia, aged seventy six. He was survived by wife Anna and son Thomas. Anna died in Waterford in 1828 aged eighty three.
Esther Vanderkar Wolcott Wife of Israel, passed away in Waterford 29 September 1891 of consumption, aged seventy four.
Harvey Alonzo Brown Alonzo continued to correspond with Alfred until Alfred parts of letters that Alonzo wrote to Alfred in the 1890s. A copy of the photo of Alison on page 26 taken in 1896 was sent to Alonzo, he wrote in a letter dated December 1896 I think your Wife is a fine looking lady for that age 63 years old’. His letters were full of news and information about the places and people of Alfred’s youth and had a heartwarming enthusiasm for life written into each one. As a family historian, if I had a chance to spend time with any of my ancestors, Alonzo would be at the top of my list. He had lost his wife Julia and his two sons at a young age, in addition being a free person of colour in America would not have been an easy road but he was a respected businessman and loved family member. Alonzo passed away on 18th January 1908 of Typhoid Fever, he was seventy two. The obituary in the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle stated that he had died of appendicitis. New York was in the midst of a typhoid epidemic and the omission of the true cause of death may have been to reduce public reaction. He was survived by his daughter Ella who was heir to his estate, worth three thousand, five hundred dollars. Alonzo is buried at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery with his wife Julia and son John.
Left to Right Thomas, Anna & Esther Wolcott
Ella Mae Brown Ella continued to reside in Poughkeepsie, never far from her father. She was sole survivor of his estate when he died in 1908. The 1910 US Census records Ella living in Alonzo’s house in North Hamilton Street, thirty eight years old, stating that she owned the home freehold and had her own income.
Judith Brown Alfred’s mother died on 17th March 1890 at her home in Mechanic, Poughkeepsie aged ninety four. I can find no record of what became of daughter Sarah.
Mary Elizabeth Brown The niece from Brooklyn married Charles Hortman, a porter, they raised a family while living in Poughkeepsie.
Samuel Schuyler Samuel died in 1894, by which time the Schuyler Line had eighteen tow boats working the Hudson River and had amassed a large amount of property and wealth in Albany. He is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery, not far from the monument of his white grandfather General Philip Schuyler.
Ballarat
John C Kemble John Kemble continued living in Roslyn Street, Melbourne while operating his cabinet making business at 63 William Street. He had married Annie Lynch in Sydney in 1878, though unbeknown to Annie the marriage was not lawful. John died on 6th September 1889 in Melbourne Hospital following a stroke, he was seventy years old. In his time in Australia, John had worked hard and accrued assets and cash to the value of approximately five thousand pounds. John died intestate with the disbursement of his estate not immediate due to the questionable validity of his marriage. In 1892 he made headlines in several Australian newspapers, some more detailed than others, when his wife and two daughters came forward to claim his estate. John C Kemble, was known to them as Michael O’Keefe, born in County Cork, Ireland in 1822. He married Catherine Agnes Sullivan and they immigrated to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1850 with their young son. They had two more children, one born onboard the ship in April 1850 and one in 1852. Michael, also known as Cornelius O’Keefe, then absconded, taking with him forty dollars and some personal effects, leaving his wife with three young children and no means. He made his way to Australia and headed for the gold diggings in Victoria and took on the name of John Kemble. The articles all concur that he was a successful man though rather eccentric. Mrs Catherine O’Keefe of Baltimore, with evidence from her daughters Matilda Kemp and Laura Day, was named sole heir to Kemble/O’Keefe’s fortune.
Judith Brown
The Australian Star, Sydney 9th August 1892 one of many such articles
Charles Hulett Charles passed away in Melbourne in 1888. Records show he was still married to Mary Ann, despite the troublesome marriage and the numerous times he featured in newspaper articles for a number of offenses in various states of Australia.
Freeman Cobb After three years in Victoria the founder of Cobb & Co stagecoaches returned to Boston, Massachusetts, where he married, had a family and eventually became a US Senator. He relocated to South Africa in 1871, setting up another Cobb & Co business to service the gold fields of Kimberley before dying in Port Elizabeth in 1878 aged forty eight.
Frank Carey Hotelier and business man, AKA Absalom Hallock Carey. Frank returned to the USA, became a successful fruit farmer and passed away in Orange County, Florida in 1912, he was eighty one. He is buried with his wife Dorette at Greenwoods Cemetery, Orlando.
Timothy Hayes Taking up the role as chairman of the Ballarat Reform League when the local miners were not satisfied with Humffray’s peaceful approach, Hayes stood trial for treason. He became town inspector and special constable in Ballarat by 1862. He abandoned his wife and five children to travel overseas. Returning to Melbourne in 1866 Hayes worked on the railways until being admitted to Yarra Bend Asylum for the mentally ill in 1872. He died there in 1873 aged fifty three.
John B Humffray From his humble beginnings in Ballarat as a gold miner to his election as chairman of the Ballarat Reform League, the peaceful negotiator prior to the Eureka uprising went on to become a successful local body politician and public servant. John suffered from a long illness prior to his death in Ballarat in 1891, aged sixty six, the Ballarat Community provided a headstone for his grave and a plaque was erected in his honour in 2006.
Peter Lalor From arriving in Ballarat as a young Irish rebel and voted to lead an armed uprising in 1854, Lalor went on to become a distinguished politician and very popular with the people. His political career culminated with becoming Speaker for the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1880 – 1887. Peter died in Richmond, Melbourne on 9th February 1889, he was sixty two. In 1893 a statue to honour Peter was erected in Sturt Street, Ballarat.
Sir Charles Hotham He had, as Governor of Victoria, who peacemaker Humffray attempted to negotiate with prior to the Eureka uprising, a troublesome tenure. He passed away a year after Eureka from catching a chill while opening the Melbourne Gas Works in December 1855, he was forty nine.
Sheriff/Gold Commissioner Robert Rede Following Eureka Rede was seen as the instigator of the armed uprising and moved to Geelong. He went on to become Sheriff in Geelong, eventually becoming Lieutenant Colonel with Ballarat under his jurisdiction by 1869. He was appointed Sheriff of Melbourne in the 1880s, retiring from the militia in 1889. He died of pneumonia on 13th July 1904 in Melbourne, he was eighty nine.
James Magill From leading the Independent Californian Rangers at Eureka at the tender age of twenty, Magill was condemned for fleeing the battle in woman’s clothes. It was not until later years that it was revealed that his correct name was James Herbert McGillycuddy, born to Irish parents in Boston. Attending West Point military academy, James shortened his surname to Magill and was sent to Australia as an intelligence officer. It is believed that he was sent to Victoria to ascertain the treatment American miners were receiving in the colony. Labelled as treasonous by some and a hero by others, Magill returned to Ballarat and married. In later years Magill drank heavily contributing to his death in Sandridge, Melbourne, in 1883 aged forty nine years. He was survived by wife Rosa and three children.
James M Tarleton After serving as United States Consulate in Victoria James returned to the United States, settling in California, then Washington. In his later years he fell on hard times but despite being homeless at times and clothed in rags, he was known for his haughty pride and independence. He died a pauper in December 1880 aged seventy two.
Peter Lalor John Humffray Commissioner Robert RedeCharles H Edwards Following the sale of American sawmills to Henry Clarke in 1862 Charles moved to Alabama, United States where he was a telegraph operator for the rest of his working life. Charles passed away 11th February 1900 in Pollard, Alabama, aged seventy seven. He was survived by his wife Louisa and eight children.
Daniel B Selman After opening American Sawmills in Grafton, New South Wales, he continued to work as a sawyer. He passed away in Rookwood on 25th October 1909, he was eighty.
Henry Clarke—Clarke resigned his position with the City Council in 1874 and moved to Melbourne. In 1890 his wife Martha died of alcoholic poisoning in South Melbourne, she was fifty. His name did not continue to feature in sawmilling records and it is unclear what became of him.
Edward T Foley After becoming one of the few Americans to become a naturalised Australian in 1861, Edward lost money in an unsuccessful mining venture in Victoria while he was managing the Cobb & Co office in Ballarat. He moved to Queensland and then onto Sydney where he featured in news articles over the years with issues ranging from poor investments to physical altercations. In the 1880s he leased and ran the Corporation Baths in Sydney, Edward died on 30th March 1904, he was seventy two and recorded as a civil servant.
John Joseph Though Joseph was acquitted for high treason the jury had no doubt that he had armed himself against the British soldiers. Born in 1831 it is unclear where Joseph originated as his life pre Ballarat is unknown, but it is believed he came from Boston, Baltimore or New York. He was reported in Argus as ‘a negro, very tall and powerful with a stupid and vacant expression of countenance’. Joseph’s intelligence was underestimated by the British because of his colour. His life in Ballarat is well documented in the Journal of Australian Colonial History article entitled ‘Men of Colour’ by Jeffrey Atkinson and David A Roberts, School of Humanities, University of New England, 2010. The article concludes with this excerpt ”Men of colour are a notable part of the scene in Victoria at the time of the Eureka Stockade. A letter to the Argus suggests they perhaps said little and kept a low profile. They undoubtedly endured abuse and discrimination from the Victorian public, but under the law at least they were probably treated just as fairly or unfairly as others, including whites. On some occasions such as the trial of John Joseph, race actually worked in their favour. Their presence and their experiences tell us much about the variety and complexity of colonial Victorian society, for these are not just stories of bigotry and victimisation. Ultimately they reveal more about interaction and collaboration, enterprise and engagement, and movement and transition within the patchwork of burgeoning, fluid multiethnic settler communities of the period. Occasionally they offer atypical angles of inquiry into monumented and celebrated occurrences as with the example of John Joseph they are often stories of common people in extraordinary circumstances”. John Joseph died in Geelong on 25th July 1858 of what is believed to be a heart attack. He was buried at Junction Cemetery, Bendigo, he was twenty seven years old.
Mary Ann Brown
Referred to by Jesse in his letter ‘The photo of your Mary has been enlarged and hangs above the mantel piece Brown descendants have portrait photos of all the Brown children but none of Mary Ann that anyone can identify, though it seems her image did its way to her Uncles home in Poughkeepsie. Mary Ann married West Indian Benjamin Frazer in Melbourne in 1890. She died following the birth of her son James in 1893, aged thirty two.
Peter Jerome Augustin The gold miner and friend of the Brown’s became a successful restauranteur and caterer, his place of business was at 1105 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, operating as MF Augustin and Son. He married a mulatto school teacher and had two children. Peter and Alfred continued to correspond, Peter passed away in 1892 from paralysis of the brain, he was sixty five. His name sake, baby Peter Jerome Augustin Brown, farmed at Bullarto, not far from where he was born at American Sawmills. He and his wife had eleven children and he lived to the age of ninety three, his grandson, Peter Forest Brown, still lives on the land in 2021.
Abraham Lincoln Brown Born in 1865 and named after US President Abraham Lincoln, Abe went on to have two marriages and eight children. Abe died from injuries sustained after being hit by a motor vehicle in 1936, he was seventy years old and my grandfather.
Abraham Lincoln Brown, Melbourne, during the Great Depression of the 1930s
The list of people that attended the American Independence dinner is long and while I have looked into all their stories, there are too many to list. Needless to say they all would have had a part to play in the lives of Jesse and Alfred.
Conclusion
The letter from JM Wolcott to Friend Brown has taken me on quite a journey. They say a picture paints a thousand words, in this case the concise descriptive nature of Jesse Wolcott did just that. I have been able to delve into the lives of the pioneers of Ballarat, ranging from gold miners, cooks, labourers and timbermen to those who considered themselves the higher echelon of society. Whatever their background, Ballarat in many ways produced a level playing field. Some exceled and others faltered, many stayed the distance while others returned to their homeland, some successful and some not. The men and women that took on the challenge of an 1850s mining settlement could, with a little hardwork, strength of character, and a generous smidgen of luck be anyone they wanted to be. With the passing of time it is hard to know how much they knew of each other or if they just accepted each other at face value, the colonial Victorian.
Photograph of James & Pierre Augustin, By HD Cairns & Co, Philadelphia sent to the Brown’s in BallaratSources
Trove Australian Newspapers. A special thanks extended back in time to the journalists of the day like Jabez Ham who reported everything in such detail, they literally supplied a treasure trove of information and detail for future generations
Papers Past New Zealand
Academia. Edu Research website
Heather Brown, Beverley Brown & the late Victoria Brown all great granddaughters of Alfred & Alison
Ancestry.com, including the myriad of sites that this led to, eg, find a grave
Brown family history files
Lisa Cellura and family, Cleveland, Ohio
National Library of Australia
Ballarat Historic Society
Find my Past
Wikipedia
The National Museum of Australia
Culture Victoria
Eurekapedia
Ballarat Historic Society
Poughkeepsie Historical Society
Public Record Office of Victoria
Museums Victoria
Hudson River Maritime Museum
Albany Institute of History and Art
Many websites providing the history of Poughkeepsie, Ballarat and New York
Jesse Wolcott
Alonzo Brown
Alison and Alfred Brown who really did believe in keeping the things that mattered
The Star, Ballarat, Victoria - American Independence Anniversary Dinner – held Monday 5th July 1858
On Monday evening some ninety gentlemen sat down to a splendid dinner at the United States Hotel, to celebrate the 82nd anniversary of American Independence. Mr C H Edwards occupied the chair, and Mr F D Monfort, Mr F Carey, and Mr O H Smith, the vice chairs. Amongst the visitors present were noticed J B Humffray, Esq., M L A R. Belford, Esq., C M C W B Rodier, Esq., J P., J Ham, Esq., P Hobson, Rev T James and several other gentlemen well known on Ballarat.
The dinner itself, which was everything that could be desired, was provided by Mr Charles Hulet; and the room was freshly decorated with various flags amongst which the “Stars and Stripes”, and the “Union Jack” were the most prominent. A band under the leadership of M. Fleury was in attendance and enlivened the proceedings by performing several airs. The exhortation was delivered by the Chairman, who said – Fellow Citizens, it is again my pleasing duty to preside over a meeting called together to celebrate the anniversary of American Independence, and under auspices so favourable. It is a mater of congratulations that our lot has been cast amongst a people whose manners, laws, and customs so much resemble our own. It is a matter of satisfaction that we are living in a country whose government is hospitable. We have heard of strife and wars among nations, but they are only as a ripple upon the ocean that bears America on to future greatness. Mr Edwards then invited the guests to be seated.
The Reverend Mr James having said grace, the company then sat down to an excellent repast. At the conclusion of the dinner the Chairman read letters of excuse for non-attendance from Mr Tarleton, the US consul, the Solicitor General, the Resident Warden and Dr Stewart.
The letter of the Consul contained this sentiment, “Our country, one and indivisible, now and forever”. This sentiment was drank as a toast.
Mr E T Foley then read the Declaration of Independence.
The Chairman introduced Mr J M Wolcott as the Orator of the evening, who delivered the following oration: -
The stern integrity, unswerving real, high sense of duty and almost superhuman efforts of the American patriots in laying the foundation of a government, permits me to speak for you on this occasion as my natural citizens. I see around me the familiar faces. I see new ones, and there are absent ones. To each and all I would offer the cordial greeting application to the day, and for any discord – if any there be amongst us – I would wish to see the “tomahawk burned” and the “pipe of peace smoked” with all men. There is also here citizens of a kindred country who have come to this our national feast, with sympathies, with hopes and reparations in common with our own, for there is nothing we could place on our national platform as being worthy of the support of a free and enlightened people, but what they would go with us arm in arm, and vice versa, and it is with emotions of pride we claim kindred with a nation who has illustrated her history with a Shakespeare a Milton and a William Pitt; and they in like manner no doubt take pride in their young relative, whose short history has furnished her Washington, her Webster and her Henry Clay. There are those, however, so wrapped up in national prejudice that they deem nothing par excellence unless their own flag is over it. When I meet with such a one, I am almost sure to read at his front door, “To Let, a vacant room in the upper story.” As sojourners in this land, far distant from our own, we heard not the “bell of liberty” as it sounded its welcome notes at dawn of day from Old Independence Hall, to tell that a nation’s jubilee of cannon at Lexington, at Yorktown, at Princeton and at Bunker’s Hill, but the same incentives that arouse them there call us together here, and as the hosannas of their rejoicings swell on the breeze on the wings of thought, we catch their glad voices, and mingle ours with them. Gathered together in this place to unroll the records of American history, I am reminded of the rapid improvement, both physical and political, that has taken place immediately around us, in the short history of a few years. When we held our first anniversary dinner, three years since, scarcely aught was to be seen as a habitation but the canvas tent. Since then the stately edifices of the merchant, the banker, and the artisan have risen on every side, and instead of the rude appliance of the hand windlass for lifting the treasure to the surface, the hot breath of the steam engine presses on us in every avenue; and along this busy mart of life and trade the inland traffic flows on in one continuous stream, and wherever the eye may turn are unmistakable signs of prosperity and thrift. The rise, progress, and present position of the American Union furnishes a subject to contemplate, and a theme to suggest, that may well engage the noblest of intellects, for on yon western hemisphere is rising a structure (its first centenary day being still in the future) that is rivalling Empires of the “Old World” – not in – that the wealth of Croesus is being lavished on palaces for individual aggrandisement where usurped power is wasting its energies in ease and luxury – but in – that the wealth of the nation, or the overflow of an economical treasury, is being expanded in works of public improvement, in opening up highways of traffic
and commerce, that are fast spanning the continent – in that private wealth and enterprise builds palaces to industry and the arts, in which the buzz of spindles and rattle of the artisan’s hammer tell you that mind and muscle is ever busy with her invention and production. A land whose green valleys are moistened by the gentle dews of Heaven, not for the support of pomp, and grandeur of state, but to reward the husbandman only for the sweat of his brow. A Republic where the high places of honor and emolument are open alike to the rich and the poor, the high and the lowly, for the log cabin schoolhouse of the West may contain in populace the future occupant of the Presidential chair, and there also may exist in its germ the inventive genius of the artist, the sublime conceptions of the poet, or the giant mind of some consummate statesman, whose lofty eloquence shall startle the senate with a Webster’s force. It requires no abstruse induction of reason to find out that the cause of this unparalleled prosperity of a nation: it is written in legible characters broadcast upon the face of the Union, in the floating palaces on her majestic lakes and rivers, in the steam horse that traverses on its iron track from the rugged hills of new England beyond the prairies of the west, in the homesteads, and contented firesides of the emigrant from other climes, in her preemption laws, and free selection of the bountiful gifts of nature. It is there man emphatically becomes the architect of his own fortune by having placed within his reach the material wherewith to build it. It would ill become us, if at this time we did not retrace the paths that have led us as a nation, from the small beginning to the proud position she now occupies and pay our devotion at the source from whence sprang the rich harvest of blessings we have enjoyed. It is not at the shrine of Mammon, or any earth-born prince, we would offer our incense, but to that commanding genius whom no earthly power could overawe, which stood Godfather for the Sons of Freedom, as they were baptized in the blood of liberty, as it flowed amid the havoc and carnage of battle, and gave its allegiance on the throne on high. Whilst we hold communion with the memory of the illustrious names who have departed, let us review their acts of heroism and devotion in order that we may in some measure pay the debt of gratitude due to them. If we recur to the period antecedent to the revolution, it will not appear that our free institutions are the immediate result of that spontaneous rising to asset their rights, but more the result of truths and principles – more durable and unalterable than pillars of Egyptian granite – implanted in the human mind, or man’s ability for self-government. The Pilgrims themselves may have bore the exotic tree to those shores, but it took generations of culture before it produced the desired fruit. The bold imagery of nature on that new continent, its mirroring lakes and foaming cataracts, were well calculated to imbue the mind with the sense of its own freedom; and the helpless condition in which the colonists were placed, would beget in them the spirit of self reliance. Even the untutored savage, as he roamed amid his primeval forests, proud of his heritage, and tenacious of his rights, might have furnished to civilized man the lesson of his own political degradation. The spirit of liberty thus acquired would eventually assume an organization, and as the pages of History tell us, a systematic method was adopted to enlighten the people, and call on them to prepare for resistance. At first these efforts were made in secrecy, to ensure personal safety. At length men became more bold and fearless in asserting their rights, and we soon behold a Henry, with the grandeur of his characteristic eloquence, denouncing – defying is the word – tyranny, amid the king’s councillors, and the arguments of an Otes, the eloquent advocate of the people, carrying conviction to the judges on their bench. It will be seen that this preparation of minds of the people, enabled them to sustain the shock that awaited them, for when the hostile gun sounded there were ready hands and willing hearts to man the ranks of liberty. The scenes that follow belong to history, and are written in blood, and whilst I pass them by the laurels of the heroes interrupt my path; and whilst we pause to do them homage, let us not be unmindful of the civic honors due to those equally patriotic spirits who burnt their midnight oil in devising means to equip and clothe the armies of liberty, and ever stood ready to offer the olive branch to the enemy, and it is in no disparaging terms to assert, that America today “owes to the pen no less homage that the sword” – not that we would dim the luster of the battle field where liberty lost and where liberty won – for in the “Field book of the Revolution” there are scenes of action that stand out from the canvases and strike the beholder with admiration and awe. Look to Princeton – When the sun rose upon the morn of the 3rd January 1777, it rose upon the darkest hour in American history. With an army reduced, and disheartedness among the people, battle was hazardous and retreat equally disastrous: sad indeed were the prospects of liberty. The opposing forces met unexpectantly at sunrise, conflict ensued, the Americans gave way – at this crisis, when all was at stake, the Commander-in-Chief threw himself into the breach and led his army to the attack. Liberty again sprung to her feet, and the cry of the vanquished instead of “booty booty” was changed to defeat and death. There are examples in the history of the past that the present cannot furnish. I have stood on Bunkers Hill, when from the summit of that proud monument seemed to drop upon my ear words of admonition and of warning, saying this inheritance is bequeathed in common to you, its title deeds are written with the blood of martyrs to the blessings you enjoy, hold it as a “sacred bond of trust”. Let us follow that heroic army, not by the blood from their lacerated feet over the frozen earth, nor through their deprivation and suffering, but to where their gallant action closed the great tragedy in which they had taken a part. Yorktown had been fortified, and had to be taken by siege – it is done. Hark! What sound is that that comes from afar across the wide waters? Its glad news benumbs the ears; it is the sound of Peace. There is more virtue, more religion, and more strength, in that single word and single syllable – Peace – in its broad sense than in all the rest of the English language, and if we were to strike out the word – War – the language would be perfect. The scenes have been shifted,
the relentless arm has sheathed the sword, the husbandman has returned to his plough, and the artisan to his workshop. The invigorating influence of Liberty makes itself felt in both animate and manumit nature. Man rises to the dignity the Creator assigned to him, and he feels its impress on his brow. I will leave the young Republic in the grandeur of the position Independence placed on her, and approach the present hour. I do not wish to be egotistical in regard to my country (I am for my country, right or wrong) – but when she is wrong I would like to see her right as soon as possible. I am inclined to be generous; I am even willing to “confess judgement”, but for whatever wrong we might acknowledge, if needs be, or for whatever error there may be attached to the escutcheon of our national glory, for if we offer a eulogy, and we only demand as a nation of those who are perfect to “cast the first stone”. There is a fragment of history that comes to me at this time, life a waif upon the water. When the Holy Alliance (so called) were perpetrating such splendid acts of philanthropy in the forepart of the present century, the singular anomaly presents itself, that whilst they were commiserating with the holy horror, the condition of the negro of Africa, and would have him free, they were at the same time riveting still closer the chains that bound their own subjects on the continent of Europe. It would be well enough, if it were more generally known, that as regards involuntary servitude in the states, the general Government is powerless, and that each state is a sovereignty in itself, and that powers not delegated by the States to the general government, are reserved by the States severally, inviolate. I would go as far as any in the use of conservative means to wipe off the stain that has bespeckled the fair features of liberty, but it is a cheap philanthropy, that would undermine the colossal grandeur of the glorious Union, because there is some exceptional material in its construction. It has been the remark of someone (whom I disremember) who can be quoted as sufficient authority, that the moral wealth and standing of a nation could be determined by the respect paid to the memory of the distinguished men who served their country; if this is to be the test by which they are judged, we can point to our Washington, as being enshrined in the hearts of his country men; among the first lessons taught by the American mother to the tender infant on her knee, is to lisp the name of Washington, and if asked to show cause for our appreciation of character, we shall point to him as the personification of all that is pure in soul, and noble in deed and action. Of him, it might indeed be said, in the language of the greatest of intellects.
“A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man.”
The exploits of Hannibal, Caesar and Napoleon are searched in vain, to find his imitation in character. In the unselfishness of his nature, and devotion of heart and soul to a great cause, he stood alone. When he had served his country long, and, served in well, both as Chieftain and in a civil capacity, he laid down the insignias of office (but the laurels still clung to his brow); he retired to his humble residence, his only inheritance, his country’s gratitude. Immortal Washington! In the career of conquerors and usurpers there were not inducements to attract thee from the plain path of republican values. Whilst the placid waters of the Potomac shall glide on beside the honored dust, or Niagara from her deep chasm, send forth the sound of her many waters, exalted will be thy name, high enrolled on the scroll of Fame. It is not for the present age to determine how great an influence the American Republic will have upon the destiny of mankind: having past her state of transition into that of consolidation, it remains to be seen whether the various interests of that broad domain have been blended together so as to work together as one harmonious whole; it is hoped and believed that a glorious future awaits her, for the seeds sown by the patriots have taken root in a genial soil, and a trunk has been reared, whose branches now towering in the heavens, have met the approving smile of their God. But should the hour of danger come, our rallying cry will be to stand by the Constitution as the great National Bulwark for our safety. It has saved us in times past, and can save us in the future; discord and fanaticism have assailed it, but their arrows have fell barbless to the ground, and it still stands in all its pristine vigor upon the very spot it drew its first breath of inspiration. In the language of my illustrious countryman, and great expositor and defender of the constitution and the union. When my eyes shall be turned and behold for the last time the sun in heaven, God grant that I should not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union, on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on land rent with civil feuds, or drenched it may be in fraternal blood. But rather let their last feeble and lingering glance behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now honored and known throughout the earth, still high advanced, advancing, its arms and trophies streaming in all their original luster, without a stripe erased or polluted, or a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogative, as what is all this worth, nor those words of delusion and folly, “Liberty first and union afterwards”, but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds as it floats over the sea and over the land, and in every breeze under the whole heavens, that other sentiment dear to every true American heart, “Liberty and Union now and forever, one and inseparable.” Duly to appreciate the blessings of free institutions, we must consider what would be the effect of their loss on national prosperity, on science and literature, on commerce and mechanics, together with the refined and tender relations of polished life. Without some show of liberty, even civilization would yield its dominion over mankind, and darkness and superstition would reassume their moral chaos. But with them, all arts and science flourish; the real, not the superstitions, engages the erudition of the age; intelligence has a free circulation from hamlet to hamlet; the voice of reason and justice is extended far and wide, and to the latest prosperity; above all, we are instructed in the mind and precepts of the Power
Supreme, whom to worship and revere constitutes the highest dignity and greatest happiness of man. These are but the consequences of liberal laws wisely administered – an unpretending yet eloquent eulogy upon the principles of our free institutions. The oration was interrupted by frequent applause.
The Chairman then gave –“The Day we celebrate”.
Mr Eaton was called upon to respond to this toast. In his absence Mr Magill rose and spoke a few words in reply. He said he felt considerable embarrassment, at his own unpreparedness, and also at the greatness of the task imposed upon him, viz., that of properly acknowledging to the giver of all the good things. He had heard the greatest logicians and philosophers of the day speak in reply to the toast, so that nothing sublime was left behind, and he could only too painfully feel his own humility. After a few more remarks of a similar character Mr Magill sat down.
The Chairman then gave, “The President of the United States” –“Her Majesty the Queen.”
Mr Fricker said he would not allow that toast to be passed over in silence. He regretted that other of the guests of the American gentlemen had thought fit to do so. He proceeded them to express a subject homage to his fair and gentle liege lady, winding up with an allusion to some relative, who, he was happy to inform the meeting, was doing well. (Laughter)
The Chairman then gave “The Memory of Washington,” and the “Memory of the signers of the Declaration of American Independence,” both of which toasts were drunk in solemn silence.
The Chairman then gave “The Heroes of 1776.”
The next toast was the “Commerce of the United States.”
Mr Howard acknowledged. He felt peculiar diffidence in making a speech, as he had lately had his head examined and phrenologists said he could not make a speech. Since her achievement of independence a peculiar stimulus has been given to American commerce, and her internal and foreign commerce were unparalleled in the globe. From a few paltry fishing smacks the American navy had risen to such an extent that her canvas whitened every sea. America could contend in generous rivalry with England in her search for Franklin in the Polar regions, and in the Pacific, could open a country long secluded from the world, to a commerce with the world. She had first introduced steam navigation to public use, and her railways were like veins, her lakes and rivers like the blood, and her cities like the limbs that gave her power and health.
The next toast was the “Colony of Victoria, great in her gold fields, great in her runs, may the former be extended and the latter be divided.”
Mr Humffray, M.L.A., rose amid loud cheers to respond. He thanks them for the pleasure he received, and the honor they had done him, in calling upon him to respond to a toast which acquired new import and significance from the lips of American citizens. He thought we ought to imitate Americans in their 4th of July celebration, inasmuch, as we had a first of July not dissimilar in import, though, no doubt, American herself had taught England a lesson she would not require to be taught twice, and there would be no occasion to repeat the deathless struggle of Americans for independence. The colony of Victoria was the youngest of the colonies of England, and the most promising. No doubt she was great in her gold fields which might be doubled were machinery and capital brought property to bear upon them. He then alluded to our nuggets, which had helped England to muzzle the Russian bear, and the cowardly cut throat Sepoy. Our gold too in helping England helped to protect our shores, for were any enemy to arrive they must know England would be close in their wake. He then pointed out the bonds and similarities existing between England and America, and touchingly alluded to the fact that American captains had lowered their flags half-mast high for poor Havelock Victoria had the elements of greatness. After dwelling on the many elements of success existing within this colony, at considerable length, the speaker wound up an eloquent speech by quoting those admirable words from Bailey’s “Festus” –
“We live in deeds, not words; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count life by heart-throbs, He most lives who thinks most, feels noblest, acts the best.”
The next toast was “Our Guests.”
Mr Ham acknowledged the toast in a speech which referred to the present state of Europe, and the assistance that would probably be required before long He called upon Anglo-Saxons to unite in one family, and retain their proud position at the head of civilization and the world.
The Chairman then gave “The Press of Victoria.”
After many loud calls for Mr Bailey, that gentlemen rose and said it gave him great gratification to be in a position to respond to this toast. He had had the happiness on the last occasion they had met to respond to the toast of the press, and he now saw many fresh faces, but their recollection of the services it was in the power of the press to render had not diminished. Certainly if any country out to be proud of her press it is the United States of America. It may there almost be called the pioneer of civilization, for where two log cabins ten miles apart formed a township. It was four to one a newspaper was there too. He was glad to find this young colony not far behind. It was a great deal to the credit of this colony that seven years should have produced so many newspapers. He did not pretend to pass judgement upon the quality of the newspaper press of this colony, but as a member of it he could say it was at least honest and feared no man, and had no object in view but the good of their common country. However people might differ in other things, let them remember that in supporting and protecting the press, they were preserving their own liberties. He then alluded to the great works that might be performed, and the seeds of knowledge that might be sown if the members of the press remained true to themselves, and he trusted that many years after, the feelings of the community would be directed as happily towards the usefulness of the press, as on the present occasion.
