What a legacy!
After a morning of pulling
weeds in the BB Rose Garden, which the volunteer group the Helping Hands helps
maintain, the heat and humidity just got to me, so I went in search of shady
graves to tidy.
As usual, I became
distracted and found myself once again acquainted with a group of beautiful
headstones well carved by talented stonemasons.
I decided to finally
discover the stories behind them (or rather underneath them) and became
immersed in tales of early colonial Sydney.
Today's blog is about a
young man who was apprenticed to a prominent man previously mentioned twice in
these pages who died 150 years ago.
WILLIAM JAMIESON SHERWIN
William Jamieson was born in
1804 in Parramatta NSW one of ten children to William Sherwin and his common
law wife, Mary Duggan.
But I digress for a short
while….
William Snr, was a Sergeant
in the NSW Corps, arriving in Sydney aboard the “Pitt” with his first wife Ann
and son, John. It wasn’t long before a scandal involving his wife and Captain,
later Major, Joseph Foveaux broke out and she left Sherwin for Foveaux. It
seems that Foveaux made life so difficult for Sherwin he was forced to leave
the Regiment. His marriage to Ann was never dissolved. They left for England in 1810. Mary had arrived with
her father, a soldier in the NSW Corps, aboard the “Marquis Cornwallis” in
1796.
Sherwin took up a vacancy as
the storekeeper at His Majesty’s store in Parramatta and in 1810 petitioned
Governor Macquarie to keep his job and receive a grant of land. He was granted
400 acres near Prospect Creek. It seems Sherwin had a few differences of
opinion with those in authority and he was dismissed in 1813 for improper and
irregular conduct, losing the shop but keeping the land. He subsequently
arranged for adjoining land to be granted but not processed during his
lifetime. After his dismissal he became a Publican and then later a Chief
Constable and finally reappointed as a Storekeeper at the Commissariat
store in Parramatta until his death in 1822.
Unfortunately, it was up to
his son, William Jamieson to finalise his plans which he did, subsequently naming the 1165-acre
property, Sherwood. Sherwin Park in North Parramatta is named in honour of the
Sherwin family.
It was from this rather
turbulent home life that William and Mary’s children shone.
William Jamieson Smith, the
subject of this Blog, was the first fully qualified medical man in private
practice in the Colony as well as the first Australian to go abroad to study
medicine. William Jamieson became the apprentice to William Bland, who has
appeared in this blog a few times, in 1817 when he was a lad of 13 years. He left for England in 1823 and
three years later gained admission into the Royal College of Surgeons. William
Jamieson returned to Australia in 1827 and after a brief time practicing
medicine on Melville Island and Raffles Bay, he returned to Parramatta where he
set up his business. Doctor Sherwin practiced in Parramatta from 1829 until
1840. He kept up interest in the land known as Sherwood and started to
subdivide it in 1842, part of which was bought by Arthur Holroyd, who would
become Mayor of that area (and is also buried in Rookwood!).
I located an interesting
article about William from 1830. It seems he was returning to Parramatta from a
house call on Windsor Road. Near the bridge crossing Darling Stream, an area at
the time covered in native bushland, two men emerged, took hold of the doctor’s
horses’ reins and led him off into the bush.
They wanted money claiming
they were starving. William Jamieson explained he had come from a visit to a
patient who had not been able to pay him, and he had no money to give to them.
The bushrangers searched him and found a gold watch and a case of surgical
knives. They wanted the watch but after negotiation, it was agreed to let the
doctor ride to the nearest pub,gain the money they believed the watch was
worth and return to them where the watch would be handed back. The doctor
agreed, was able to borrow 30 shillings, not the total demanded but returned to
the bushranger’s haunt who gave up the watch for the lesser amount. Of course,
Doctor Sherwin rode back to Parramatta and reported the incident to Chief
Constable Thorn. Thorn, several days later, returned to the area and was
attacked by two men firing from muskets. Thorn returned fire shooting one dead, the notorious bushranger, John McNamara, of the North Rocks gang.
As his reward for stopping the bushranger he received land of 650 acres on
Pennant Hills Road. The nearby suburb of Thornleigh is named after him.
Doctor William Jamieson
Sherwin died on the 18th of March 1874 just over 150 years ago, He
is buried in the Old Anglican area of the Cemetery with his wife Harriett who he
married in 1839 and who joined him some nineteen years later in 1893.
Besides William Jamieson,
another brother, George Duggan Sherwin, went to sea aged 16 seeking his fortune
in the lucrative whaling industry. He returned to Parramatta, married, and then
went “squatting” and was one of the second group of Colonials setting
themselves up on the site of the present city of Melbourne. After spending many
years in Victoria, he returned to NSW to take up some properties in the
northern rivers area. In 1890 he returned to Parramatta buying a house in
Pennant Street, Parramatta and died in 1898.
He is buried in St John’s
Cemetery Parramatta where his father William and mother Mary are also buried.
Find a grave - with thanks.
St Johns Cemetery Parramatta - find a grave with thanks.
The remaining children were
all classified as upstanding citizens and made names for themselves, a testament
to the time of great opportunities.
For today’s blog I have
referenced Ancestry.com; Australian Royalty; a piece written by Pat Anderson
with thanks and the Parramatta History and Heritage page amongst other various lesser
sources.
If you have any further
insights into the Sherwin family, especially William Jamieson, please add them
to the comments here of at the Facebook page which can be found under a search
of
rookwoodcemeterydiscoveries
Or send me a personal
message via
If you are interested in
doing a bit of gardening and enjoying the fresh air at Rookwood, we meet on the
second and fourth Saturdays of the month from March to November.
Please contact Geoff Bovard
at
geoff.bovard@gmail.com
We’d love to see you!
Until next week.
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