Your monthly Jerrems news & updates |
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Family and friends,
Another story from Ray and surprising updating on our Jerrems ancestry.
Enjoy.
Donald in Greensboro GA
Ray in Sydney, Australia
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COX’S ROAD FOURTH ARTICLE |
Thank you Leila and Brian
Recently one of our earliest subscribers, Leila, confided in Donald and myself by email “I just LOVE all this Australian history and the old photos!”
Thank you Leila, we try to keep our readers happy.
Thanks also to longstanding reader Brian Harrison who commented by email on my Cox’s Road article titled “We’ll all Be Rooned Said Hanrahan” that “Great article Ray. I know I am probably biased but I believe one of your best to date. I am anxiously awaiting your next (or more ) article.” The reason for his probable bias was that Hanrahan was his great great grandfather.
These emails have encouraged me to write another article about Cox’s Road.
Also, on the subject of emails I have the amazing news that there are potentially twice as many Jerrems descendants than I thought. This is explained in an email later in this article.
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To the left is a photo of Hanging Rock, near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The two daring people sitting precariously on the right hand end give a good idea of the scale of the rock. In the background is the upper part of the Grose River Valley with its dramatic sandstone walls.
No, although I have visited the Rock by mountain bike on several occasions I have not climbed it!
Turning to the main theme of this article, it is the fourth article about Cox’s Road, which was the first road to cross the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
In the previous article I partly described the construction of Victoria Pass on the western scarp of the Blue Mountains. In this article I will conclude this description and move on to the terrifying tale of a ghost, concluding with emails from readers.
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The observations of travellers at the time |
Charles Darwin was very fulsome in his praise of the Pass:
“Soon after leaving the Blackheath, we descended from the sandstone platform by the pass of Mount Victoria. To effect this pass, an enormous quantity of stone has been cut through, the design, and its manner of execution, would have been worthy of any line of road in England…”
But Mrs Stanger, who we last met on the other side of the Blue Mountains in my previous article, was nowhere near as complimentary.
Mrs Stanger’s views on Victoria Pass
Mrs Stanger’s views on the Pass were no doubt coloured by the fact that she and her husband had five children, three of which were toddler triplets.
Her account starts below the top of the Pass:
“and now we have reached the long-looked-for hill, which report says is like going down the side of a house, it being three miles long and as steep as you can imagine. At the sight of it the most stout-hearted bullock driver owns that he shudders. In one part was a stone bridge about 150 yards long, and about three or four hundred feet above the level of the dell, which divides this mountain from another. In crossing this bridge one now and then ventured to look over the slight parapet, and were pointed out the place where a wood-dray with three horses went over, and also the spot on which two men had fought, and the one thrown head-long by the fiend-like fury of his antagonist…….I should have mentioned that at the top of this mountain, while the drivers locked their wheels, and yoked half their bullocks behind their loads, we took out the dear children (Eliza and I took one each and their father two, while Willie ran by their side). It was very near the bottom, with aching arms and weary feet we unanimously confessed it was far more pleasant to sit and read about mountains than to travel over them.”
The Ghost at the Second Bridge
Above is a photo of the famous Australian poet Henry Lawson, who my grandfather Alf Jerrems had met. In 1891 Lawson published a poem called “The Ghost at the Second Bridge”, which told of travellers encountering a terrifying spectre of a woman on Mount Victoria Pass. While seemingly being merely a fright of fancy, Lawson’s poem was based on a tragic true story.
Many riders reported that their horses became restless and unsettled before the figure appeared on the road in front of them. Some reported that her long, dark hair streamed out in the wind and that her arms were raised in a suppliant gesture. Some said that her eyes shone in the dark like a tiger’s and a few said that she was headless. As suddenly as she appeared the spectre would disappear.
That’s certainly how Lawson described it in verse:
Its look appeared to plead for aid
(As far as I could see),
Its hands were on the tailboard laid,
Its eyes were fixed on me.
The face, it cannot be denied
Was white, a dull dead white,
The great black eyes were opened wide
And glistened in the light.
The ghost was reputed to be Caroline Collits who had been murdered in late 1842, her body having been found beside the road on Victoria Pass. Caroline was related to the owners of Collits Inn.
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The foot of Victoria Pass |
Here is an 1880s photo of the bottom part of Victoria Pass, where in the background the swathe cut by the road is clear. Below the Pass the road passes near an inn (shown in the foreground) which would have been a welcome haven for the weary traveller.
The Inn was built in 1839 for William Cummings. It was originally licensed as the Coach and Horses, but the name was later changed to Victoria Inn. In 1903 it was acquired by W.J.Berghofer, who was responsible for building Berghofer's Pass at Mount York in 1912. Berghofer renamed the building Rosenthal, but it was eventually renamed Rosedale.
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Here is one of my favourite photos, being a photo of Susannah Druery, on the right hand side, with her husband Alfred Druery. My grandmother Esther is on the left. Alfred and Susannah were married in 1884.
Travellers staying at the Inn in the early 1880s would have met a pretty maid, none other than Susannah Druery, my great grandmother. They may also have seen my great grandfather in the yard with his bread cart, delivering bread baked in Lithgow to the Inn on his regular delivery run.
The Great North Road
In my previous article I referred to leg irons worn by convicts during the construction of the Great North Road. When I wrote the early articles on Cox’s Road I had overlooked the relevance of the later construction of the Great North Road, where there are a number of relics still in existence, unlike Cox’s Road where most of the structures on the road have been obliterated by the later highway.
The Great North Road was built to link early Sydney with the fertile Hunter Valley to the north. Built by convicts between 1825 and 1836, it traversed over 260 kilometres (162 miles) of the rugged terrain that hindered early agricultural expansion.
The road was an engineering triumph, with some sections constructed to a notably high standard, however it was not an unqualified success in practical terms. Apart from the steep grades on some sections, there was a lack of water and horse feed along the route, particularly north of Wiseman’s Ferry.
In the 1990s I rode the section from Wiseman’s Ferry north to Ten Mile Hollow on my mountain bike. The long climb up from Wiseman’s Ferry was not particularly steep from mountain bike standards, but the subsequent undulating eight miles to Ten Mile Hollow was marked by sharp ascents and descents which cumulatively were very tiring. There was no water or stock feed for that section, making it comparable with the worst parts of Cox’s Road over the Blue Mountains.
For these reasons it quickly fell into disuse with the development of alternative means of getting to the Hunter Valley, such as newer roads and, later, steamships. The length of the Upper Blue Mountains, and it was necessary to cut through this.
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In my previous article on Cox’s Road I included a photo of part of a very heavy leg iron. However in my research on the Great North Road I found the above photo of a much lighter leg iron. Although it was lighter it was still secured by rivets which had been roved over.
It is possible that the lighter leg irons were allocated to convicts in advance parties who needed to be more mobile in the rough terrain.
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Damage caused by carts and drays |
This is a photo of a road constructed by convicts.
If you look closely you will see grooves along the road starting next to the person’s left foot, caused by the steel shod wheels of carts and drays. I had seen similar grooves on Cox’s Road.
These grooves demonstrated the damage caused by the sharp edges of the iron-shod wheels. They also show the forces involved, which could crush sandstone rocks. This was one of the reasons why iron gangs were needed to regularly maintain Cox’s Road.
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Here is the scenic Hangman’s Cave, which is near the Great North Road, on its ascent north of Wiseman’s Ferry. This beautiful sandstone cave/overhang has steps (the photo only shows some of the steps) and a bench seat cut into it and is part of the history of the road. It is uncertain what purpose the cave served, but there have been popular stories that convicts were hanged through the hole in the roof of the cave. These stories could not be true, despite giving a dramatic name to the atmospheric spot.
The cave was so named in the late 1890s to impress and horrify tourists. In fact, hanging could only be ordered by the Supreme Court and usually took place in a properly equipped jail yard. The cave was probably used as a dry on-site storage. But in any case who wants to let facts get in the way of a good story?
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A welcome to Becky
Returning to my earlier announcement about the doubling of known Jerrems descendants, recently Donald and I received this exciting email from Becky Gerken, who has signed up to receive the Jerrems Journal. Briefly, as you will see, Donald and I share with Becky and many other readers the common ancestors of William and Rebecca Futtit, the parents of Cecelia Futtit, who married William Jerom in1750.
Here is part of her charming email:
Hi Donald and Ray,
I love your journal, it's so interesting and such a great idea!
My full name is Rebecca Gerken - the Gerkens are originally from Germany but I've lived in South East England, near Hastings, for all my 28 years.
I've just started to research my family history using Ancestry and I am particularly interested in my grandmothers and their female ancestors. My maternal grandmother has an extensive tree on Ancestry and my paternal grandmother has a cousin who is a prolific family tree researcher too. This is where the Jerrems' come in!
On my paternal grandmother's side, I can track back to my 8th great-grandmother (so exciting, 10 generations). Her name was Rebecca Mathers and she married Willliam Futtit (1700-1750) in 1730 and their daughter Cecelia Futtit married William Jerom in 1750, as you well know!
I found it really interesting searching through your journal for traces of them as Cecelia is my 7th great-grandmother and her daughter Ann Jerrems my 6th great. It's so strange that William and Cecelia changed the spelling of their surname for their children.
Please feel free to ask for any more information to locate where I fit in if need be!
Thanks for allowing me to subscribe, I look forward to looking into more of the Jerrems in the coming months. Hope you are both well.
Kind regards,
Becky
Explanation of Becky’s connection
By way of explanation, Becky’s ancestors diverged from my ancestors in the generation of children produced by William Jerom and Cecelia Futtit. Two of their four children were William b1752 (my ancestor) and his younger sister Ann b1757 (Becky’s ancestor).
A particularly exciting aspect is that previously I was not aware that Ann had had any children!
An obvious ramification is that our already extensive list of Jerrems descendants has now possibly been doubled.
To give an idea of the number of generations on my side since William b1752, we have William b1782 (Big Bill), Thomas b1815, Charles b1847, Alfred b1874, George b1911, myself b1942, Roger b1973 and Nathan b2008 (eight generations).
Generations on Becky’s side
Becky’s direct line from Ann Jerrems b1757, Ann Slack b. 1792, Rachael Whitton b. 1824, Rachael Champion b.1852, Edith Clark b. 1876, Ena Warren b. 1906, Sheila Lewis b. 1939, Andrew Gerken b. 1964, Rebecca Gerken b. 1993.
This results in eight generations, the same as my side.
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Alan Fitz Patrick’s DNA results
This photo shows the River Wear and Durham Castle. Readers who remember my article in June 2012 may recollect that longstanding reader Alan, born in South Africa, is the great great grandson of Big Bill’s versatile son John Jerrems (b1819), who lived in Durham as a victualler, wine merchant and pharmacist.
Alan’s DNA test came up with a mixed bag of results, as shown in the following email:
Hi Ray
I haven't explored all of the various matches but no Jerrems connections have popped up as far as I know. But it did help me trace the birth father of a Canadian second cousin who was adopted at birth during the war. It ended a 20-year quest of hers and she flew me out to Vancouver as a thank you and opportunity to meet her. During that journey, I also discovered that a first cousin of mine is not related at all. Oops!
Regards
Alan
Ray’s hope.
I am waiting for a phone call from a grateful reader offering me a free trip to Canada.
However, having waited for 16 years I am not particularly optimistic, but, as they say, while there is life there is hope!
Conclusion
Well, folks, this must qualify as one of our most free-ranging articles. Hopefully, there will be articles based on our new arm of the Jerrems descendants.
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