Joseph Munro came out to Australia with a large contingent of young single men and a few families from Sutherland on the Bourneuf in 1852. Most of them were agricultural labourers, a few were shepherds. Though they were assisted immigrants, most of them (including Joseph) came out "on their own account." Joseph became a miner in the goldfields.
Maria Ellis, a domestic servant, came out alone, as an assisted immigrant on the Credenda, from Southhampton. She was to work for 6 months on contract. Maria was the daughter of James Ellis, a basketmaker, and Tomasina Homeyard. She had a sister, Sally, who married Francis Cornwall.When Francis died in 1908, he left half his property to Catharine and a hundred pounds to James. Sally also came to Australia and lived in Orange, NSW.
Maria and Joseph married in Geelong in October 1854 and had four children. Their first child died aged two. At some stage Joseph became a carpenter. When the youngest, Maria Ellis, was 3 years old, Joseph died of cancer.
Maria married Samuel Sweetnam on 1 Apr 1869 at the age of 41 in Trewearne,
District of Orange NSW. The witnesses to the marriage were Francis and Sally
Cornwall, Joseph Glasson and MA Glasson. They had a child, Annie Louisa, on
16 Aug 1870 and Maria died of pneumonia on the 29th, aged 42. Annie died on
the 20th of March 1871. F Thomson and ME Ellis were the witnesses at her burial.
Both Maria and Annie were buried by Samuel, whose profession was listed as undertaker
as well as wheelwright and cabinetmaker. Maria's sister Sally also died of 'congestion
of the lungs and dropsy' in May 1870. She was buried in the Cornish settlement
in Orange, also by Samuel. She had a 14 year old son called Frank..
James Munro married Annie Maria Downing in 1880 at the age of 23 in Townsville.
Their children were Joseph,
Agnes, Annie, Ruby, James Ellis, Editha, Ernest and Richard.
Catherine married William Benham in 1878 (age 21) in Dubbo and they had six
children, Stanley, Francis, Louisa ,
Muriel, Vera and Ada. Catherine died in 1931, aged 74.
Maria Ellis Munro, Maria's youngest child by Joseph, married Jonathan Atkinson, the son of a Maitland farmer (John Atkinson, see also) in Sydney. Maria was 21 when they married in 1883. The family name has been spelled Munroe and Munro but the early records seem to favour Munro. Joseph Munro was the son of John Munro and Elizabeth McKay Sutherland. He was born in Golspie, Scotland. His father was a labourer - (I think in Drum mine, if I decipher Joseph's birth certificate correctly). Their children were Leslie and Cecil, who moved to Perth, Western Australia with their familiess, William, Harold, Vera who died in childbirth, Beatrix (my grandmother), Ethel (who was called Jack) and Dulcie (who was called Billie).