[Index]
Anne BOLTON (1811 - 1887)
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Emily Diana STURT (1840 - 1923)
George William STURT (1842 - 1921)
Frances Emmeline STURT (1844 - 1907)
Richard STURT (1846 - 1914)
Evelyn Shirley STURT (1848 - 1926)
Annie S STURT (1850 - 1889)
Anne BOLTON (1811 - 1887)

+

George William Milner STURT (1803 - 1881)





























b. abt 1811 at Ireland
m. 27 Feb 1840 George William Milner STURT (1803 - 1881) at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
d. 14 May 1887 at Tumut, New South Wales, Australia aged 76
Cause of Death:
pleurisy
Children (6):
Emily Diana STURT (1840 - 1923)
George William STURT (1842 - 1921)
Frances Emmeline STURT (1844 - 1907)
Richard STURT (1846 - 1914)
Evelyn Shirley STURT (1848 - 1926)
Annie S STURT (1850 - 1889)
Grandchildren (13):
George James OSMOND (1864 - 1955), Frances Ann Queenie OSMOND (1866 - 1961), Alfred Thomas OSMOND (1871 - 1954), Walter Thomas Hector OSMOND (1876 - 1950), Theodore Reginald OSMOND (1881 - 1962), Alfred George Augustus STURT (1869 - 1949), Arthur Lydiard Elsey STURT (1871 - 1969), Frances Fanny Louisa STURT (1873 - 1969), Susan Emily Anne STURT (1875 - 1965), George William Milner STURT (1877 - 1937), Florence Diana Eugenie STURT (1880 - 1977), Daisy Agnes Maud STURT (1883 - 1965), Lottie Susannah Jane STURT (1885 - 1967)
Events in Anne BOLTON (1811 - 1887)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
abt 1811 Anne BOLTON was born Ireland
27 Feb 1840 29 Married George William Milner STURT (aged 36) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
18 Dec 1840 29 Birth of daughter Emily Diana STURT Gundaroo, New South Wales, Australia 73
1842 31 Birth of son George William STURT Gundaroo, New South Wales, Australia 73
28 Jan 1844 33 Birth of daughter Frances Emmeline STURT Tumut, New South Wales, Australia 73
15 Apr 1846 35 Birth of son Richard STURT Tumut, New South Wales, Australia
17 Jul 1848 37 Birth of son Evelyn Shirley STURT Tumut, New South Wales, Australia 73
14 Jul 1850 39 Birth of daughter Annie S STURT Tumut, New South Wales, Australia 73
05 Dec 1881 70 Death of husband George William Milner STURT (aged 78) Tumut, New South Wales, Australia 73
14 May 1887 76 Anne BOLTON died Tumut, New South Wales, Australia
Personal Notes:
ANN STURT nee Bolton

by Pat Sherriff

Ann Sturt's headstone in the Pioneer Cemetery at Tumut states: Native of lreland. Years of research has failed to discover where in Ireland Ann came from, her parents' names and the date of her arrival in New South Wales. There were several Ann Boltons in the colony in the 1830's but none correspond to our Ann Bolton. Ann Bolton was born in about 1810 in lreland. ln February 1840, she married George William Mordaunt Milner Sturt at St Phillip's Church, Sydney.

George Sturt, born on the lsle of Man in 1803, was the son of George William Milner Sturt and a Swiss born girl, Maria Louisa Van lssel. George's parents had married in Cape Town in South Africa, had returned to England for several years and went back to South Africa in 1818, where they spent the rest of their lives in Simon's Town, on the southern tip of the Cape. George junior was appointed Wharfmaster in 1824 and also worked in the Customs Department. Twenty-one year old George purchased the property his father had leased and remained in Simon's Town until his father died in 1830.

Cape Town was a regular port of call for ships sailing east to lndia and Australia. The English Sturt family were regular passengers between England and lndia and New South Wales and often stayed a few days with the South African Sturt family while their ship was provisioned. George's cousins, Charles Sturt, the explorer and Evelyn Sturt, while on their Cape stopover would certainly have informed their cousin George of the opportunities waiting for settlers in New South Wales.

At some time between 1838 and 1839, George Sturt emigrated to the colony. lt has been suggested that Ann Bolton was a passenger aboard his ship. There is no record of her being brought out by a government agency as were most young lrish females at this time.

George was described as 'a mariner' at their marriage and Ann was merely 'a spinster'. George's cousin, Charles, had explored the Murray, Darling and Murrumbidgee Rivers in 1838 and his cousin Evelyn, Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Murrumbidgee District, was based at Yass in 1837. Therefore, there were two opportunities for George and Ann Sturt to learn about good farming land in this southern section of the state. More than likely they were helped by Cousin Evelyn to take up land in the Tumut Valley.

George Sturt had farmed his Simon's Town property and so was no stranger to life on the land. Consequently this'ex-mariner' (as his headstone described him) and his new wife settled on Tumut Plains. They left Sydney not long after their wedding and made what was then a journey of considerable length and time.

Between 1840 and 1850 Ann had six children in the rather isolated area on the Plains. Like most women in that period, the birth was attended by one or more of the other settler's wives who took on the role of midwife.

Births usually occurred in families every 18 months to two years - sometimes shorter periods. Emily was born in 1840; George William in 1842, Frances Emmeline in 1844, Richard in 1846, Evelyn Shirley (a son) in 1848 and Ann in 1850. At this time Tumut was in the Parish of Yass under the care of the Reverend Charles Ferdinand Brigstocke who periodically journeyed from one settlement to another of his large parish to marry and baptise his parishioners. When Emily Sturt was baptised he performed the ceremony for ten other children on the same day. Again when Ann Sturt was baptised, another ten children were baptised, this was on the 20 October 1850, some three months after her birth.

All Ann's children survived to adulthood which was a credit to her rearing them. These were the times that infant deaths occurred regularly in isolated settlements. Strange to say, not one lrish name appears amongst her childrens' names. They bore the English Sturt traditional names, with the exception of Richard who was named after his father's partner, Richard Cooper, a paroled convict from the village of Eldersfield in Gloucester, England.

ln 1853 George Sturt and Richard Cooper jointly purchased Lot 118 of 84 acres for two hundred and fifty three pounds and four shillings. This was on the east bank of the Tumut River and must have been excellent land for that high price. They named their property, Elderfield, after Cooper's native village. Cooper had asked his wife and family to join him in Tumut, but she refused to leave England.

When Cooper died at the end of 1854, his will bequeathed the proceeds from the sale of his personal property and crops to his wife and children and the Sturt family were to benefit by the greater portion. Cooper's share of Elderfield passed to George Sturt, Ann was to receive all Cooper's cattle; the Sturt children were to receive stock and farm animals and Cooper's godson, Richard, received a sum of money to be spent on his schooling. Cooper's trustees granted and released the property and goods to George William Sturt, Anne Sturt, his wife and the two sons, George William and Richard.

Ann Sturt was now'a woman of property'. George, when he died in 1881, bequeathed Elderfield to her for the remainder of her life. ln 1 863 George and Ann also purchased from John Whitty, the second Sturt property, Richlands - Lot 116 on the Tumut River separated from Elderfield by John Whitty's property, Lot 117. George and Ann lived on Tumut Plains until their deaths. They were quite prominent in the social, charitable and public functions of the Plains, though George's name only is mentioned in records, as was the custom in those times (women's roles were never publicised).

When George died in December 1881 , most of his family were still in the district. Ann Sturt lived foranotherfive and a half years and died atTumut Plains 14th May 1887 of pleurisy. She made a Will, not all that common for a farmer's wife in this time and quite an achievement for a former migrant from lreland.

Two of George and Ann's sons had no children. George William never married and Evelyn Shirley Sturt married late in life. He left the Tumut area. Richard and the Sturt daughters produced many descendants who lay claim to connections with other old Tumut families. Emily Sturt married James Osmond and eventually settled in Adaminaby. Frances married John Montgomery, who was born in America, served as a Mail Contractor in the Tumut area and took his wife and family north to the Walgett district. Richard married Louise Lefevre and their sons continued to carry the Sturt name in the Tumut district. Evelyn married and lived in the Bowral and western Sydney area. He and his wife, Jane Lewry had no children. Ann, the youngest child married William Bowden of Blowering.

The Sturt connections extend into other Tumut family lines, through the Clouts, the Emerys, the lbbotsons, the Bartholomews, the Nuttalls, the Withers, the Oddys, the McRaes, all claiming the lrish Ann Bolton as their grandmother or great grandmother.

As the family lines extended, descendants spread across the state and country, perhaps some quite unaware of their Sturt and Bolton heritage. We still know nothing of Ann Sturt's lrish origins and perhaps it is doubtful if we ever will.
Source References:
73. Type: Book, Abbr: Pioneers of Tumut Valley, Title: Pioneers of the Tumult Valley , The History of Early Settlement, Auth: H.E. Snowden, Publ: Tumut & District Historical Society Incorporated, Date: 2004
- Reference = 43 (Name, Notes)

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