Dear Listers, This is Part Two of how my brick wall fell recently. Let me remind you that William Francis GOODHEW (WFG) was my great-grandfather on my paternal side. I will tell you his story in reverse by relating his life in the Hunter Valley, before I tell you how his wall tumbled. We knew WFG arrived in Oz in the early 1860s and he married Anne MORGAN on 19 July 1866 at the Newcastle Wesleyan Church. I had his marriage certificate, but the box for their parents was blank. It was less difficult to find Anne's family and I have that as her parents were James MORGAN (1814-1867) and Sarah BROUGHTON (1813-1881) from Bolton Street, Newcastle. As well as Anne they had seven other children; Alice, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary, Sarah, James and Ellen. Only the girls survived to adulthood. James and Sarah came from the woollen mills of Lancashire, but that's another story. To get back to WFG: From his obituary we know that he worked for a time on the tug service in the Port of Newcastle NSW. He also fossicked the Hunter Valley for minerals with his friend William Longworth. Later Longworth and his brother Thomas formed a syndicate to save the failing Cobar Copper Mines and they owned Singleton Coal & Coke Co. Their main mine was at Rix's Creek, north of Singleton. Coke from that mine was used in the Cobar Copper Smelters. So the Longworth brothers made a fortune in their various business dealings. William was a generous benefactor and he is remembered in Newcastle by the Longworth Institute building in Scott Street that he donated to the people. By my WFG didn't stick with him at the time, so missed out in that fortune. The marriage of WFG and Anne was fruitful and they had twelve children, five daughters and seven sons. All but two of them reached adult age and eight of them had families. Some of the offspring moved to Queensland and one to Sydney, but most stayed in the Hunter. WFG had respected positions in the community. From May 1879 he served as an Alderman in the Municipal Council of Waratah for many years. In 1886 he was a committeeman for the Waratah School of Arts. He was also active in the Grand Order of Oddfellows. He attained Grand Master of this lodge at one stage. More reports in the Newcastle Herald showed that WFG was involved with coal mining, notably at Ferndale Colliery at Tighes Hill. He served on the miners' union there. In May 1896 he was appointed Colliery Manager at Rix's Creek by his old friend William Longworth. When he retired from this position in 1905 he purchased an apple orchard at Canley Vale in Sydney's west. But after just a few years, the pull of the Hunter saw him return to a cottage in Hampden Avenue Adamstown (now renamed Kings Road, New Lambton) near the railway station on the western side. He died at that cottage on 10 June 1914 leaving his widow, three daughters and five sons. That will be enough for now. Next time I will begin to tell you of the crumbling of this brick wall. If any of you listers respond with more info on my family members or something about the Longworth brothers it will be an added bonus for me ... Ron Goodhew, Adamstown.
Hi, The Newcastle Regional Library has some biographical information on the Longworth brothers. They arrived on Artemisia in December 1849 with their parents. Their father was contracted to the Australian Agricultural Co as a miner and was killed in the Rix's Creek mine. Wm Longworth treated the surviving passengers of the Artemisia to an annual celebration until his death in 1926. My Walmsley ancestors migrated on the Artemisia and my gggrandfather Joseph Walmsley also was contracted to the AA Co as a collier. P. Pemberton wrote a book titled "Pure Merinos and Others, the shipping lists of the A. A. Co." listing all those brought to NSW by the A. A. Co. which may be of interest to you. Joe