Dead Person #4 - Richard Groves, Miner

My fourth dead person is Richard Groves - my fourth great-grandfather.

Richard Groves, son of George Groves and Mary Ann Chammen*, was born in Dorset about 1830 (I am yet to track down his baptismal record).

George and Mary Ann had married after banns in the parish church in Blandford Forum in Dorset on 18 April 1826. They had at least four children - Richard (my ancestor), Edmund John, Jane, and Rebecca, before Mary Ann died. George remarried a woman called Elizabeth (I am not confident of her maiden surname) and they had at least two daughters, Mary Ann and Charlotte.

In 1849, George, his wife Elizabeth, and their combined family of Richard, Edmund John, Jane, Rebecca, Mary Ann, and Charlotte emigrated to New South Wales, arriving on the aptly named sailing ship Emigrant on 8 June 1849.

They settled in the Hunter Valley, working variously as Labourers, Miners, and Timber Getters. Richard married Mary Ann Brown in the Presbyterian Church in Hinton, a village near Morpeth, on 30 March 1855, and they had eight children together (Mary, George E, Samuel, William T, Allen, Arthur, Mary J, and Emma).

Tragically, just six weeks prior to their twentieth wedding anniversary, Richard Groves was killed in an accident when he tripped and a trolly passed over his body, causing fatal internal injuries. The newspaper article below, which one of many I've found on Trove, gives an account of the inquest into Richard's death.

1875 'NEWCASTLE.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 19 February, p. 2, viewed 6 March, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13351988

* spelling in the records varies, and includes the variants Chanam and Chamin, but Mary Ann signed her own name clearly Chammen on her marriage certificate.

Labels: ,