| A genealogical presentation of the life and times of the ancestors and descendants of William Henry Mathews (1880 – 1964) and his wife Sara Louisa Florence Mitchell (1889 – 1972). |
| THE MITCHELL FAMILY LINEAGE – the children of John and Susannah (Sarah) – |
| Marshall Mitchell (1849 – 1893) Not that he would remember anything about it, Marshall was born at 29 Artillery Lane, Bishopsgate, London on the 1st of July 1849. At the age of four he may have just been aware of his departure with his mother and his four siblings aboard HMS Asiatic on the 16th of November 1853, a journey bound for Melbourne Port Phillip, Australia. Life for Marshall effectively started in Melbourne with his formative years spent at Caroline Street, South Yarra, while his father and brothers William and Henry toiled on the development of the family’s Arthur Street properties. Marshall had some basic schooling in Melbourne, but his education was more attuned to learning a trade from the senior men in the family. Indeed, from the age of ten he was learning to make, carry and lay bricks with his brother William. He was destined to be a bricklayer like his maternal grandfather Robert Anderson. The boy loved Melbourne, and it was with a deal of sadness for 15-year-old Marshall when his mother decided to uproot the family to join their father in Dunedin, New Zealand. Life in Dunedin was a great deal tougher than Melbourne as the family had now become hoteliers. Marshall and his brother John were teenagers and had been raised in the “school of hard knocks” and conflict with neighbours in August 1867 landed the Marshall lads in trouble with the law. Marshall and John were brought before a magistrate, and Marshall was charged for assault. The case [1], considered a petty scuffle, was dismissed. The year 1870 brought yet another change to young Marshall’s life, when brother William became bankrupt. A family decision was made that William should return to Melbourne to finish their Arthur Street development and without hesitation Marshall chose to accompany him. William was far happier now being a building contractor, as was Marshall being a builder / bricklayer. Upon completing work on Arthur Street, the brothers, with their mother’s financial backing, acquired allotments in Tyrone Street, South Yarra; Moray Street, South Melbourne and Moss Street, Prahran (College Lawn). At the age of 27, Marshall married 24-year-old Liverpool born Annie COWEN (1853 – 1930) in the Independent Church, Prahran on the 7th of April 1877. Annie was a milliner of 5 Commercial Road, South Yarra when they married. The couple initially leased a house at 4 Cecil Place, Prahran where daughter Frances Marshall (1878 – 1951) was born. By 1879, following the birth of their second daughter Olivia Mary (1879 – 1956), the family moved into a house that Marshall had just finished building. Located in Tyrone Street, South Yarra the duplex became Nos 7 and 9, large enough to accommodate the growing family of Robert Anderson (1882 – 1936), Annie (1884 – 1949), John (1885 – 1949), Sara Louisa Florence (1889 – 1972) and Vera Iris Marguerite (1891 – 1964). |
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Marshall worked on many individual building contracts in Prahran, and just before his death he was jointly involved with builder James Storey on a large construction at 307 Malvern Road, South Yarra. Unexpectedly, on the 3rd of September 1893 at the age of 44, Marshall succumbed to Phthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis), leaving behind his widow and seven children - the youngest girls under four years of age. |
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As a result of Marshall’s death, the family’s occupation of Tyrone Street became an issue. Marshall’s mother had bequeathed her estate – which included her substantial property portfolio – to her husband, but then upon his death the properties were to be sold and the proceeds of sale to be split equally amongst their surviving children. Marshall’s death was sudden and unexpected and as such he died intestate resulting in the Tyrone Street property falling back into 80-year-old John Mitchell’s control. Complicating matters further was that John had remarried in 1890 and Louisa, his new wife - had been entrusted with the financial management of the Mitchell property portfolio. Fortunately, when John Mitchell died in 1895, his will clearly mandated provisions for all family members. Annie and her children were bequeathed a six-roomed brick cottage at Number 2 Moss Street, Prahran (College Lawn) and even though it was still under the control of the Mitchell executors, Annie and her seven children took up residence in 1897. |
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These were difficult years for Annie who had barely turned 40 when her husband died, and then, in the space of the following two years lost all her parental support – her own father (died 16 November 1894) and mother (died 20 March 1895) passing within 4 months of each other. Whilst the family had a roof over their head, surviving was another matter. Leaving her eldest daughter Frances to tend housekeeping and care for the younger children, Annie took to nursing. Olivia found employment as a dental assistant at Wellsley Harris' dental practice in Trinian Street, Prahran and Robert found work as a labourer at Cruickshanks, the wood merchant, in Greville Street. |
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By the end of 1901 the three eldest children were married [2] whilst Annie Jnr. (18) and John (17) had started work, Annie as a box maker and John an electrician. School age Sara (13) and Vera (11) spent most of their teenage years living with their sister Olivia and her husband in the recently purchased dental practice in Greville Street. Mother Annie never remarried, preferring to devote her time to nursing and spending much of her time in the Daylesford/Creswick area where she had been raised. |
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Ill health [3] restricted Annie in the final years of her life at Moss Street. She died on the 19th of July 1930, aged 77, leaving behind 18 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. Her remains were interred at St Kilda Cemetery (Baptist, Compartment C, Grave 437) alongside husband Marshall. |
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