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12 CHAPTER 2. SECOND GENERATION 1814 - 1849 John and family head to the Goldfields Gold was discovered in Victoria at Clunes in June 1851 and by the beginning of 1852 was being found at a large number of diggings in central Victoria. It is not known when John Belcher and his family first went to the goldfields, but in 1854 a child was born at Lyndhurst and by Tuesday 1st January 1856 when their son William was born, they were located at Butcher’s Gully near Vaughan on the Mount Alexander Goldfield. Probably this was only one of many areas where they had sought gold. In any case the family appears to have settled at Shicer’s Gully, a tributary of the Loddon between Vaughan and Guildford. Here their daughter Mary was to be born on the 24th August 1862. Mary was their 8th child, with at that time, James aged 12, Sarah aged 13, and William aged six being still alive, and John (Jr) and Lizzie and two children with names unknown having died. Elizabeth Belcher, at 13 months old, having been born at Shicer Gully, was registered as having died on 17th May 1860 at Shicer Gully, Kangaroo, supposedly of dysentery, and buried at Vaughan Cemetery by John himself. A son, possibly John junior, had been born and died at Lyndhurst in 1854. John Belcher is recorded as having a third share in a partnership which took over an abandoned tunnelling claim 300 feet by 240 feet on Table Hill on 24th March 1863. This hill lies on the right bank of Shicer’s Gully. His partners were an Edward Byara and John Furlong. John’s license had been renewed on 4th September 1862. Tragedy strikes the family Between three and four o’clock on Saturday 6th June 1863, immediately after returning from work in the mine, John Belcher went from his home in Shicer’s Gully to go with his mate to divide some gold. Just as he was about to go a man named Plumer called to remind him to go to the settlement at Kangaroo (later known as Tarilta) to vote at the local Mining Board election. He attended the election, after calling at the local and drinking with his mates. At a little past five, before it was dark, he started for home telling a miner named Michael Guest that he had to get home on time. At seven o’clock that night, a carter named Edwin Fox and a miner named Samuel Nash, who lived on the south side of the Loddon River, heard a man call out across the river asking if he could cross. Since the river was in flood at the time, and the footbridge a little further downstream had been washed away, Fox called out “No”. The voice replied “Well, I must, so here goes”, and they heard a splash, but since it was dark, could see nothing, and received no reply to their calls.
13 At half past seven next morning, another miner from Shicer’s Gully named Benjamin Alexander went to see how his “machine” (probably a sluice box) had survived theflood. Hefoundabodyentangledwithastakenearthemachineandwiththehelp of Fox and another miner William Watts, they recovered the body. They recognized it as John Belcher, and called the police. See Appendix C - The story of the flood. A local doctor from Guildford, Dr John O’Niel, examined the body and rejected any suspicion of violence, stating that in his opinion the cause of death was drowning. At an inquest held the next day, Monday, 8th June, a coroner’s jury found “that John Belcher aged 40 years was found drowned in the Loddon on the morning of the 7th June and we believe he got into the river whilst under the influence of drink”. See Appendix D - The coroner’s inquest on John Belcher. This was partly based on his wife’s admission that he was an Irishman and in the habit of taking some drink. There is no indication on his death certificate or the cemetery records as to where he was buried, but it is believed to be Vaughan Cemetery. John Belcher left a widow and three children, Sarah aged 13 1/2, William aged 7 1/2 and Mary aged 9 months. James who had been 10 years old at Mary’s birth, although recorded as being 14, had apparently disappeared or died since then, leaving no breadwinner for the family. To make matters worse, Eliza herself died of Pulmonary Phthisis on Saturday 28th April 1864 leaving the three children orphans on the goldfields. She was buried in Vaughan Cemetery, by John Furlong, John’s mining partner, described as ‘a neighbour’. John’s sisters were living, two in Melbourne and one at Beechworth but it is believed that the family were out of touch with them and it appears little help was available from those sources. In later years it is known that there was not a great deal of contact between the children and their cousins. The baby Mary and young William had thereafter to be brought up by their 14 year old sister Sarah. Mary Anne Floyd née Belcher and Thomas Floyd John’s older sister Mary Anne Belcher, eldest daughter to survive to adulthood of James Belcher and Mary Quinn was born about 1819 at Mount Rath in County Laoise. She married Thomas Floyd in 1842 in St. Mary’s (Church of Ireland) Church at Clonmel in Co. Tipperary, about 50 miles (75 km) from Mount Rath and 25 miles (35 km) from Waterford. She was then aged 22. When her brother and two sisters had migrated to Australia in 1849, she remained behind in Ireland. There she and her husband had, it seems, 8 children - Anna, Mary J, Eliza, Thomas, Anna, Sarah, Susan and a baby, Henry James. The first Anna appears to have died young, but
Page 1 and 2: THE FAMILY OF JAMES BELCHER OF WATE
Page 3 and 4: Preface Neither a Genealogy nor a F
Page 5 and 6: A Belcher Time Line First Generatio
Page 7 and 8: Contents Preface A Belcher Time Lin
Page 9 and 10: Chapter 1 First generation 1792 - 1
Page 11 and 12: Figure 1.2: Map of Ireland in the 1
Page 13 and 14: 5 family of Belcher’s in Waterfor
Page 15 and 16: Chapter 2 Second generation 1814 -
Page 17 and 18: 9 Trouble aboard The Courier The da
Page 19: 11 confine themselves for significa
Page 23 and 24: 15 Figure 2.2: Mary Anne’s daught
Page 25 and 26: 17 Figure 2.4: Eliza Joyce 160 John
Page 27 and 28: 19 respectively. John Joyce died on
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 3 Third generation 1850 - 1
Page 31 and 32: John Furlong is recorded on the Rat
Page 33 and 34: Figure 3.3: Mount Alexander, Vaugha
Page 35 and 36: 27 Figure 3.5: William Belcher and
Page 37 and 38: was then currently on a three year
Page 39 and 40: 31 Figure 3.6: “Rothesay”, the
Page 41 and 42: 33 Figure 3.8: Mary Wheatley née B
Page 43 and 44: Chapter 4 Fourth generation 1869 -
Page 45 and 46: 37 Figure 4.2: Fox family at North
Page 47 and 48: 39 brothers and sister Ada. He farm
Page 49 and 50: 41 Figure 4.5: Ada Clarice Belcher,
Page 51 and 52: Figure 4.6: Mary Alice “Allie”
Page 53 and 54: 45 England Catechism and attending
Page 55 and 56: 47 for him and his brother Jack who
Page 57 and 58: 49 Figure 4.8: William Fleming Belc
Page 59 and 60: 51 rooms of weatherboard constructi
Page 61 and 62: 53 Figure 4.9: John “Jack” Belc
Page 63 and 64: 55 Figure 4.10: Lucy Wheatley, daug
Page 65 and 66: Appendix A Search for a family The
Page 67 and 68: 59 So this collection of informatio
Page 69 and 70: 61 William Samuel Belcher/Jane MC 1
Page 71 and 72:
Appendix B Registrar certificates D
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65 Death certificate of John Belche
Page 75 and 76:
Marriage certificate of John Belche
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69 This Marriage was solemnized bet
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Appendix C The story of the flood T
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73 the river. It was probably Belch
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Appendix D The coroner’s inquest
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77 The Deponent on his oath said as
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Appendix E The Courier Passenger li
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Appendix F Obituaries Mrs. Ellen Be
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Appendix G Family Trees Figure G.1:
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Figure G.3: James Belcher and Mary
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Figure G.5: Thomas Floyd and Mary M
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Page 99 and 100:
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Figure G.11: Thomas Floyd and Mary
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Page 105 and 106:
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Figure G.17: James Warner and Anna
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Figure G.19: James Warner and Anna
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Figure G.21: John Ambrose and Sarah
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Figure G.23: Henry Floyd and Margar
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Figure G.25: John Furlong and Sarah
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Figure G.27: John Furlong and Sarah
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Figure G.29: William Belcher and El
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Figure G.31: William Belcher and El
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Figure G.33: Richard Wheatley and M
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Figure G.35: William Joyce and Ann
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Page 129 and 130:
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Figure G.41: John Porta and Anne Jo
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Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Figure G.51: John Joyce and Emily W
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Figure G.53: Brian O’Reilly and M
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Figure G.55: George West and Mary J
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139 Figure G.57: George West and Ma
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Figure G.60: George Cupit and Alice
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143 Figure G.62: Charles Cupit and
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Appendix H Acknowledgements Many de
Page 155:
Bibliography [1] Cannon, Michael,
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