Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

  We are coming to the end of 2024, and this blog is one of reflection upon all the blogs that have been published under “ Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries”. This year I have highlighted many people who gave their lives for others; those that turned their lives around and benefitted others; many tragic unfortunate deaths and of course those that went off the deep end and shocked us all! The most popular blog this year was the one devoted to Euphemia Bridges Bowes . Mother of eleven children, wife of a Wesleyan minister performing all the duties associated with her role as well as establishing the First Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and other organisations. She worked constantly until she died - at the age of 85! A woman we should all be proud of who until a few months ago had fallen through the cracks of time. Another woman that caught your eye was Ada Hannah Coffill, a woman who completed the full funeral parlour experience as being the first Australian born woman to receiv...

 It seems over the last few months I have been blogging mainly about prominent men who call Rookwood "home". Today's blog is about a remarkable woman that I expect most of us haven't heard of. The details about her are relatively scarce but I have found some information that sets out her astonishing life. I have mentioned her briefly before in a blog about her second husband, but she is more than deserving of recognition of her own! ADA HANNAH COFFILL nee AMBLER nee MORRIS! Ada was born in May 1863 in Sydney Australia about the 9th child of 12 to John Morris and Sarah nee Hart. Her mother Sarah came from Gloucestershire England. Sarah's father died when she was 11 and her mother Hannah together with his sister Ann took to theft to supplement their incomes. They were both caught stealing clothes including an expensive coat, subsequently went to court in 1835 were found guilty and transported to Australia for 7 years. Hannah with her daughter Sarah and Ann wit...