Rediscovering Ginninderra:
George Read
Born: 1828; Died: 1907; Married: Mary Casey
George Read (1828-1907 Gundaroo) arrived on the "Emma Eugenia" on 9 June 1849 and went to the Gundaroo district where he was employed by James Hughes of 'Mugwell'. George had three cousins – Henry, John and Elizabeth – living in Sydney.
George was the great-grandfather of Lyall Gillespie.
George was the so of Joseph Read (1801?-1857) of Tintinhull, UK who married in 1821 to Maria Watts (1800?-1853). Joseph and Maria Read had nine children between 1821 and 1844, and three of their sons migrated to Australia - George, Hugh and possibly Joseph.
George married on 26 December 1853 at St. Gregory's catholic church, Queanbeyan to Mary Casey (1835-1910) of Gundaroo.
Mary was the daughter of John Casey and Caroline (nee Purcell) who married on 4 February, 1833 at their home 'Gondoloo'. John was the son of Mark and Ellen (nee Maher) Casey. They had been transported to Australia for minor offences in 1826 on the "Sir Godfrey Webster" and 1829 on the "Sovereign".
Bailliere's Official Postal Directory of NSW of 1867 lists: "George Reed, farmer and Hugh Reed, farmer".
George and Hugh purchased land near Spring Flat, Tallagandra, at a land sale in Queanbeyan in 1859: George – portion 10 (Lot 24) of 81 acres and Hugh – portion 11 (Lot 25) of 40 acres 2 Roods.
Described as : " These portions are well suited for agricultural purposes. There is very little surface water: but it may be obtained by sinking. They are open forests, timbered chiefly with gum, apple and box. The rocks are schist and quartz."
George expanded his property, which was named 'Perm's Hill' and ran sheep, some cattle and cultivated some land.
George and Mary had eleven children.
Joseph (1855-1942) m: Bridget Ann Davoren on 03/07/1878. Teamster of 'Fernleigh'.
Thomas (1856-1895) m: Elizabeth Caroline Lucas on 1/07/1883 of Tallagandra.
Caroline (1858-1933) m: Daniel CHARTERS on 02/04/1877 moved to Cobbedah.
Agnes (1861-1937) m: Peter CARROLL on 03/03/1886 of 'Milton'.
Honora (1862-1935) m: John Richard Cartwright of 'Harcourt'.
Richard (1864-1929) m: Sarah Rich on 03/02/1892 of 'Spring Flat'.
In 1929 Richard, Sarah and son Thomas died of pneumonic flu in the same week.
{Richard was the grandfather of Lyall Gillespie}.
Anne (1866-1943) m: John Joseph KELLY on 14/06/1894, butcher of Crookwell & Nowra.
Hugh (1868-1954) m: Caroline Toohey on 10/10/1905 of 'Westmead Park'.
Elizabeth (1869-1951) m: Henry Maxwell Murphy
John James (1873-1963) m: Sarah Lees on 14/08/1895
George Jnr (1875-1963) m: Rose Anne Jobbins
George died on 7 September, 1907 and Mary on 27 October 1910 and are both buried at Gundaroo cemetery.
Related Photos
References
Gillespie, L. L. 1979. A Pictorial History of the Read/Reid Family in Australia, 1849-1979 Privately published: Canberra.