In an age where people willfully submit their own DNA to oppressive state regimes and selfish capitalist firms to learn about their family history, I was pleasantly surprised to discover my family tree and roots the old-fashioned way – a plaque in a park.
You see it all began when William Jarrett emigrated from England to Australia in 1838. From then it has been an interesting line of people, from servicemen to business founders.
[Note: This post is initially a work in progress and will be updated as I gather more history information. I might was well get it published for anyone to comment on]
The plaque
In the town Bellingen on the NSW mid-north coast stands a rock with a plaque on it. Is was erected to commemorate the birth of my great-great-grandfather John James Jarrett.
Jarrett Park was named after John, who was noted as the first European child born in the Bellingen valley in 1866. From there his descendants went on to be a diverse mix of people, from soldiers to modern-day tech entrepreneurs.
References
- https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jarret+Park/@-30.4514627,152.8974889,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x6b9c2121c6cfdd9d:0x541a922c43474bae!8m2!3d-30.4507043!4d152.8981434!16s%2Fg%2F11nmjjnf27?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDYxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
- https://www.reddit.com/r/sydney/comments/n1p8cg/bellingen_has_some_interesting_plaques/
William (Thomas?) Jarrett
William Jarrett emigrated from Mereworth, Kent, England at the age of 8 years with his parents and 3 siblings on the Lady Nugent to the Gosford area of NSW in 1838. His parents George and Elizabeth Jarrett were the first adults in my tree to make their way to Australia, but William is the father of John so I’ll start the tree with him.
William married Margaret Fannetta Wood in 1847 at the Church of England, Gosford district, New South Wales, Australia. It’s interesting this happened in the area where I live today and there is a Jarrett St in North Gosford, however, I’m uncertain if this street was named after William.
William and Margaret had 12 children, including John James, Thomas William and Lavinia. While I can’t seem to source a middle name for William, I like to think it is Thomas as one of his son’s was named Thomas William. And there is an interesting family name coincidence: William’s great-great-great-great grandson also has the given names William Thomas, without any prior knowledge of William the pioneer.
In 1859 William, Margaret and family sailed up to the Bellinger River and settled in Bellingen. The remaining children, including John James, were born in Bellingen. William died in Bellingen in 1912.
References
- https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jarrett-1458
- https://www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/recreation/recreational-area/jarrett-street
John James Jarrett
John was the first of the Jarrett children to be born in Bellingen and the plaque commemorates his birth. Back in 1866 the Bellingen valley would have at the frontier of European settlement in NSW. The land was first inhabited by the Gumbaynggir people and consists of beautiful forests, waterways and coastal beaches.
John married Barbara Simpson in 1890 in Bellingen, and together they had eleven children. At the advent of World War I John and two of his sons enlisted in the Australian Army in Armidale, NSW.
His service record indicates he spent nearly two years in England before arriving back in Australia and being discharged at the end of the war.
Having lived all of his life (except military service) in Bellingen, John died there in 1838 aged 72 years. A press announcement noted: “He was always a hard and conscientious worker, and possessed personal qualities which earned him the goodwill and esteem of friends and neighbours.”
References
- https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jarrett-2123
- https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7372203
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingen,_New_South_Wales
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumbaynggirr
- https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/194628896?searchTerm=%22John%20James%20Jarrett%22&searchLimits
Lavinia Jarrett
One of John’s Children was Lavinia Jarrett, who married John Ernest Pearson in 1911 in Bellingen. This falls before John departed for England.
Lavinia was born 1892 in Bellingen and died in 1967 at about 75 in Penrith, NSW. From Lavinia on, the records are a bit patchy. Her WikiTree page states she had one child, Daphne, but this is incomplete. Lavinia had two girls and three boys: Daphne, Betty, George, Frank and Kevin.
Lavinia Pearson is my mother’s grand mother. Mum still remembers her but says she didn’t see her much as Lavinia lived in Belligen and mum’s family was in Sydney.
References
- https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jarrett-3837
- https://www.geni.com/people/Lavinia-Pearson/6000000008874181881
- https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pearson-17202
Francis “Frank” Pearson
Frank Pearson is my maternal grandfather. He was born in Dorrigo, NSW in 1915 and worked on bullock teams before moving to the Canterbury area of Sydney later in life.
The records have him named a Francis, but it was always Frank. Even mum doesn’t recollect him ever being called Francis.
Frank worked hard all his life and built the house in Canterbury where he retired. He was a “saw doctor” and used to drive bullocks down Dorrigo mountain.
Geni.com doesn’t have a death year for Frank, but I can report is was around 1981-2. We used to call him “Pa” when we were kids and I still remember the stubble on his beard when I was about 4 or 5.
References
Patricia Pearson
Mum doesn’t have any online genealogy record so consider this a starting point. Mum has worked a variety of jobs, from seamstress to auto parts deliveries. When her and dad moved to the Central Coast from Sydney more than 20 years ago she also worked as Maitre d at their restaurant.
A big thanks for helping me write this, thanks mum!
Me
All that ancestry leads to me, but this post isn’t about me, it’s about the interesting history of my family tree and the stories within it.
