William BLACKWELL [1283]

  General Notes:

William married Evangaline Adams at the Regent Square Wesleyan Chapel by William Johnson. The witnesses to the marriage were Henry Garwood and Beatrice Adams.

William then married Primrose Darlow at St Andrews Church in Kettering by Frederic Llewellyn Dean. Witnesses to the marriage were William Darlow and Sarah Darlow.

At the 1871 and 1881 Census William was living at High Street Higham Ferrers. His occupation in 1881 was given as a shoe clicker. Shoemaker

The family story was that William left England around 1909 on the ship Arawa and travelled to Melbourne, Vic, Australia, where he found work and earned enough money to send for his family about 2 years later. It was thought that William's intended destination was Western Australia, but it now appears that story was inaccurate.

We now know that William Blackwell left London, England on the ship the Arawa which sailed on the 3rd of September 1910 and arrived in Hobart on the 15th March 1911. How and when he arrived in Melbourne is unknown. It is not known if the Arawa docked in Melbourne and William disembarked, or if he went to Hobart and somehow made his way to Melbourne at a later time.

Found on Find My Past and Ancestry.com.au 11 August 2015
First name(s) WM Last name BLACKWELL
Gender Male Marital status S
Occupation SHOEMAKER Departure year 1911
Departure day 3 Departure month 2
Departure port LONDON Destination port HOBART
Destination HOBART State Tasmania
Country AUSTRALIA Destination country AUSTRALIA
Ship name ARAWA Ship official number 124461
Ship master's first name H Ship master's last name CLAYDEN
Shipping line SHAW SAVILL & ALBION COMPANY LD
City LONDON Ship destination port NEW ZEALAND
Ship destination country NEW ZEALAND Ship square feet 8872
Ship registered tonnage 9371 Number of passenger 337
Record set: Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960 Category: Travel & migration
Subcategory: Passenger lists
Collections fromAustralia & New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, United States & Canada
Transcriptions © brightsolid online publishing ltd

Ada Primrose left England on 9 October 1911 on the Ship Demosthenes on a 54 day voyage to Melbourne, Vic, Australia, to meet her husband. With her were her step daughter, Inez, 19, and children Doris 15, Gilbert 14, Bernie 11, Vincent (Toby) 9, Ethel 8, Douglas 6, and Phyllis 3.

William met his family in Melbourne. He was share farming at Allambee at the time. As there was no work at Allambee for Inez, she remained in Melbourne. The remainder of the family travelled to Allambee with William. Some time later, William was seriously gored by a bull at Allambee and was unable to return to work on the farm, so after approximately 2 years at Allambee, the family moved to Nar Nar Goon, Vic, Australia, were William opened a boot makers shop. Robert Bernard Blackwell recounted how Allambee was totally covered by huge redgums and the family would lie in bed at night and hear the trees cracking and falling down in bad weather. One of the jobs on the farm was to clear the gum trees.

Inez had a dispute with her step mother a few years later and was never seen or heard from by the family again. I was finally able to trace Inez in early 2012.

The Melbourne Argus 4 March 1953 page 12
BLACKWELL. William Frank. On March 3, the dearly beloved husband of Ada (deceased), loving father of Doris (deceased), Gilbert, Bernard, Ethel, Vincent, Douglas (deceased), Phyllis, Eric, and Paul.
Mother, daughter, son, and father reunited.

BLACKWELL. William. On March 3, dearly loved father of Eric, darling father-in-law of Lil, and grandfather of Darryl, Robert, Lance, Beverley, Lindsay, Lorraine, and Gail Peace perfect peace.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/23231230

The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) Wed 4 Mar 1953 Page 13 Family Notices
BLACKWELL. - The Friends of the late WILLIAM BLACKWELL are informed that his Funeral will leave his home, Mulcare-street. Narnargoon, THIS DAY, after a service by the Rev. Hewlett, commencing at 2.30 p.m., for the Pakenham Cemetery.
W. J. GARNAR & SON PTY LTD., Dandenong. Phone 308, ^2180,2181

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Residence: High Street, 1871, Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England. ²¹⁸²

2. Residence: High Street, 1881, Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England. ²¹⁸³

3. Occupation: shoe operator, 1891.

4. Residence: and his first wife Evangaline were a lodgers at Walnut Tree Road, 1891, Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England. ²¹⁸⁴ Living with Evangelines Aunt and Uncle, Thomas and Ann Maria Draper (Allen). Also at the same address was Ann Maria's father David Allen.

5. Occupation: shoe sole sewer, 1901.

6. Residence: 8 Kimbolton Road, 1901, Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England. ²¹⁸⁵

7. Emigration: from England for Australia, on the ship the Arawa, Sep 1910, , , Australia. ^2186,2187 arrived Hobart 3 Feb 1911

8. Occupation: bootmaker, 1914-1953, Nar Nar Goon, Vic, Australia.

9. Residence, 1914-1953, Nar Nar Goon, Vic, Australia.

10. Obituary: The Age funeral notices, 4 Mar 1953, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

William married Evangeline ADAMS [1296] [MRIN: 397], daughter of Frederick Augustus ADAMS [1320] and Sarah ALLEN [6642], on 5 Oct 1890 in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England ²¹⁷⁸.^,2179 (Evangeline ADAMS [1296] was born on 21 Mar 1867 in Long Buckby, Northamptonshire, England ^2188,2189, christened on 18 May 1879 in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England,²¹⁹⁰ died on 17 May 1892 in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England ^2191,2192 and was buried on 21 May 1892 in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England.)

William next married Ada Primrose DARLOW [1282] [MRIN: 387], daughter of William DARLOW [1293] and Sarah HOLLAND [1292], on 21 Dec 1893 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England ^2164,2165.^,2166 (Ada Primrose DARLOW [1282] was born on 5 Mar 1874 in Dearnley Wuerdle, Lancashire, England ²¹⁶⁷, christened on 10 May 1874 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England,²¹⁶⁸ died on 29 Apr 1942 in Pakenham, Vic, Australia ^2169,2170 and was buried on 30 Apr 1942 in Pakenham, Vic, Australia.)