The Address in the Bible

[This is a corrected and slightly expanded version of an essay submitted for a Diploma of Family History Unit]

In 1979 when my grandparents died, among their effects was a bible which had belonged to my great-grandmother Susan Orange. Inside it was written a date (9th May 1848) and an address:

John Orange

Butcher

Queens Town

Port Adelaide

S.A.¹

Searches at the time produced an 1849 marriage certificate for John Orange, butcher, and Caroline Hemsley in Adelaide, but nothing else.² Now, with the assistance of online records, we can complete John’s story.

John Orange was Susan Orange’s uncle, the son of Thomas John Orange, weaver of Bethnal Green, and his wife, Susan.³ He was born on 20th June 1823 and baptised in Saint Matthew’s Church on 13th January 1826. The 1841 census shows the whole family working as weavers in a dying industry.^4,5 John does not appear in the 1841 England census – in 1839 he appeared before the Central Criminal Court charged with stealing from his master.⁶

Then aged 15, John worked for a hearth-rug manufacturer in Little Moorfields. On 15th February 1839 he and a fellow employee stole a rug and took it to a pawnbroker to exchange for six shillings. The suspicious pawnbroker refused. Both boys were subsequently arrested, tried and sentenced to seven years transportation.⁶ They were transported aboard the “Runnymede” to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and Point Puer, a “reform institution” for boys.^7,8,9 On arrival (28th March 1840) John was 5’3”, with dark complexion and hair, pockmarked skin and a swan tattoo on his arm.^8,10 One wonders whether he had that tattoo when he left London. Point Puer was a hard place and John was fortunate in being nearly 17 on arrival and soon assigned to a work gang.¹¹

The Central Criminal Court, photographed by Alan Law of Concord West, NSW, 16th June 2019, reproduced with permission.

By 1840 convict administration was changing from the “assignment” to the “probation” system.^12,13,14 The probation system required convicts to live in “probation stations” while transitioning from work gang assignments to jobs in the community. Unfortunately, this change coincided with a depression in the local economy and a shortage of community employment.^13,14 John was fortunate. In 1841 John was transferred to Oatlands where he worked for Mr J. Lamb.^11,15 Censuses in 1841-48 show that John Lamb lived on High Street Oatlands, being an “other free person”, i.e. an emancipated convict.¹⁶ The most likely candidate is John Lamb, butcher, transported for life in 1821 but awarded a “free pardon” in 1837.¹⁷ The censuses indicate that John Orange did not reside with John Lamb.¹⁶ Probationers were housed in a special station close to Oatlands gaol.¹⁴ Our John stayed in Oatlands learning the butcher’s trade until 1844 when he moved to another location (possibly Port Sorell) perhaps in relation to his Ticket of Leave, as convicts were supposed to demonstrate self-sufficiency.¹¹ In 1845 he was back in Oatlands and granted a conditional pardon.^11,18 The following year (24th February 1846) he was made free by certificate and was able to move to the mainland where pay rates were higher.¹¹

In 1848 he wrote to his family from Port Adelaide.¹ He does not appear on any passenger lists and probably worked his way there.¹⁹ Also in 1848 Caroline Hemsley and her brother James arrived in Adelaide on the “Harpley”.²⁰ On 1st January 1849 John married Caroline in St John’s, Adelaide.² Both gave their address as “New Tiers” (a location near Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills). No children appear in the SA birth indexes for John and Caroline but the couple seemed to prosper.²² By 1859 John is a butcher in Queenstown with enough standing to appear as a witness in a court case.²³ In 1860, he purchased five blocks of land on Glebe Street, Alberton.^24,25

Orange-Hemsley-Moxons family connections

Meanwhile in 1854 James Hemsley married Jane Moxons and had three children (James (1856), Caroline (1857) and Matilda (1860)) before dying on 9th July 1860.^26,27 It seems that in this crisis Jane turned to her prosperous in-laws and possibly moved in with the couple. However it happened, by 1862 Jane was pregnant by John. They moved to Melbourne and on 2nd September 1862 Martha Jane Orange daughter of John Orange (butcher) and Jane nee Moxam was born.²⁸ They claimed to have married in Adelaide in 1849 and have three children (James, 6, Caroline, 4 and Matilda, 2). Possibly rumour followed them, because they soon moved to Hobart and there on 2nd March 1863 Martha Jane Hemsley, a widow’s daughter, died.²⁹ Her heartbroken parents buried her under the surname Orange in St David’s Churchyard.³⁰

She scarcely knew the winter's breath
Sheltered beneath the almighty wing
And though she felt the stroke of death
Blessed baby she never felt the sting
Our child is now a child of bliss
Why should we weep for joy like this

Headstone of Martha Jane Orange, St David’s Park, photographed by Alan Law of Concord West, NSW, 2nd August 2010, reproduced with permission

With no reason to stay, in October 1863 John advertised for creditors to contact him as he was leaving the colony.³¹ The couple returned to Adelaide where further grief awaited them – Caroline Hemsley, daughter of Jane, died “at the residence of her uncle, Mr Orange” on 5th October 1864.³²

By 1870 John was back in Melbourne, as a butcher at 231 Swanston Street.³³ Caroline, his wife, was probably with him. On 9th January 1871 John committed her to Yarra Bend Mental Asylum where she died on 2nd February 1872.³⁴ A respectable year and a day later John married Jane at 231 Swanston Street.³⁵ But their trials were not over. In early 1874 John was still a butcher at 231 Swanston Street, but in 1875 he no longer appears in the trade section of Sands & McDougall’s Directory but only in the alphabetical section as James Orange of Errol Street, Hotham (now North Melbourne).³⁶ In December 1874 he had been declared insolvent.³⁷ He managed to sort his finances out rapidly, applying for a certificate of discharge in November 1875 and in the 1876 directory he appears as a butcher at 83 Queensbury Street, Hotham, with a residence on Curzon Street.³⁸ From this point on he seems to have respectably prospered, being a founder of the Hotham Master Butchers’ Association and joining the local Freemasons lodge in 1883.³⁹ In 1887 he acquired more land on Curzon Street.⁴⁰ By 1890 his stepson James Hemsley had joined him in the butchery business, becoming the sole operator by 1895, when John appeared purely as a resident at 68 Curzon Street.⁴¹

John died on 14th September 1896.⁴² He was buried in the same grave as his first wife, a “beloved husband … and beloved stepfather”.^43,44 Jane was buried in the same grave in 1924.⁴⁵

John Orange could be regarded as one of the success stories of the Tasmanian convict system. After committing a crime as a teenager, he took the opportunity to learn a trade then left his past behind by moving to Adelaide. Despite some behaviour which would have been frowned on at the time, the last twenty years of his life seem to have been spent in respectable, loving comfort.

Sources

1. Alfred Commons to Susan Law, email 7 June 2006, original in author's possession
2. Marriage certificate for John Orange and Caroline Hemsley, married 1 January 1849, Adelaide, Office of the Principal Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Adelaide. S.A.
3. Baptism of John Orange, 13 Jan 1826, Saint Matthew's Church Baptism Registers Vol 14 1825-28, Bethnal Green, London, England, page 28, entry 221, FHL microfilm 855941 item 3, accessed 22 January 2009
4. Census record for Thomas Orange, aged 45, and family, Hare Marsh, Bethnal Green, Middlesex, 1841 England and Wales Census, TNA, HO107/694/6/5/2, ‘UK Census Collection’, Ancestry.com, Accessed 6 May 2006
5. Alfred Plummer, The London Weavers' Company 1600-1970, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972, Chapter 17
6. Trial Notes for John Orange, Central Criminal Court, 'The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, 1674-1913', http://www.oldbaileyonline.org, Accessed 26 May 2007
7. John Orange, Runnymede, 1840, Appropriation Lists of Convicts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CON27/1/8, page 34
8. Runnymede on 'AUS-Tasmanian Genealogy Mailing List' http://sites.rootsweb.com/~austashs/convicts/conships_r.htm, Accessed 17 September 2006
9. Terry Newman, Point Puer: boy convicts (extracts from an early draft of Becoming Tasmania), downloaded from 'Becoming Tasmania, Companion Web Site' http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/php/BecomingTasmania/BTMainPage.htm, Accessed 1 Feb 2020
10. John Orange, Runnymede, 1840, Description Lists of Convicts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CON18/1/1, page 246.
11. John Orange, Runnymede, 1840, Conduct Record, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CON31/1/32, page 239
12. Libraries Tasmania, 'Convict Life', https://libraries.tas.gov.au/convict-portal/pages/convict-life.aspx, Accessed 1 February 2020
13. Terry Newman, Convict Systems: Assignment, Probation & Exile (extracts from an early draft of Becoming Tasmania), downloaded from 'Becoming Tasmania, Companion Web Site' http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/php/BecomingTasmania/BTMainPage.htm, Accessed 2 February 2020
14. Ian Brand, The Convict Probation System: Van Diemen's Land 1839-1854, Hobart, Blubber Head Press, 1990
15. The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England, HO 10/51, ‘New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849’, Ancestry.com.au, Accessed 28 August 2007
16. John Lamb, 1842 Census of Van Diemen's Land, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CEN1/1/35/19-20, Accessed 2 January 2020; John Lamb, 1843 Census of Van Diemen's Land, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CEN1/1/71/129-30, Accessed 2 January 2020; John Lamb, 1848 Census of Van Diemen's Land, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CEN1/1/94/57, Accessed 2 January 2020
17. John Lamb, Malabar, #184, 1821, Conduct Record, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CON31/1/27, page 116
18. The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England, HO 10/59, ‘New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia, Convict Pardons and Tickets of Leave, 1834-1859’, Ancestry.com.au, Accessed 28 August 2007
19. State Records of South Australia, 'Migrations and Crew', https://archives.sa.gov.au/finding-information/discover-our-collection/migration-and-crew, Accessed 8 February 2020
20. Caroline Hemsley Arrival in Adelaide, State Library of South Australia, 'Bound for South Australia, Passenger Lists 1836-1851', https://bound-for-south-australia.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/1848HarpleyPassengerList.htm, Accessed 2 Jun 2006
21. Adelaide Hills Council 'History & Heritage', https://www.ahc.sa.gov.au/visitor/history-and-heritage, Accessed 1 Jan 2020
22. Search of South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc., Index of South Australia Births 1842-1928, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 1 Feb 2020
23. Local Court - Port Adelaide, South Australian Advertiser, 10 March 1859, page 3
24. Real Property Act Notices, South Australian Advertiser, 6 September 1860, page 1
25. State Library of South Australia Flickr Account, Map of Hundred of Yatala, 1957 (https://flickr.com/photos/32600408@N06/23487679250, uploaded 16th December 2015), Accessed 22nd March 2020.
26. Marriage of James Hemsley & Jane Moxons in South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc., Index of South Australia Marriages 1842-1937, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 1 Feb 2020; James, Caroline & Matilda He(l)msley births in South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc., Index of South Australia Births 1842-1928, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 1 Feb 2020; Death of James Hemsley in South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc., Index of South Australia Deaths 1842-1972, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 1 Feb 2020
27. ‘Died’, South Australian Advertiser, 11 July 1860
28. Birth Register entry for Martha Jane Orange, 2nd September 1862, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 1005259159
29. Death Register entry for Martha Jane Hemsley, died 2nd March 1863, Tasmanian Archives & Heritage Office, 'Tasmania Deaths 1803-1933', www.findmypast.com.au, Accessed 19 Jan 2020
30. Richard Lord, Inscriptions in stone, St David's Burial Ground 1804-1872, St George's Church, Battery Point, Hobart, 1976
31. e.g. ‘Notice', The Mercury, 12th October 1863, page 1
32. 'Deaths', South Australian Register, 6th October 1864, page 2
33. Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1870, Melbourne 1870, John sometimes appears as James
34. Mental Asylum Record for Caroline Orange, Public Record Office Victoria, VPRS 7446 P1 Alphabetical Lists of Patients in Asylums (VA 2863) Hospitals for the Insane Branch, Unit 1 (Yarra Bend), 26 Oct 1848 – 11 Nov 1912; Death Register entry for Caroline Orange, 2nd February 1872, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 606369365
35. Marriage Register entry for John Orange and Jane Hemsley, 3rd February 1873, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 303778491200161102
36. Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1874, Melbourne 1874; Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1875, Melbourne 1875
37. 'New Insolvents', The Advocate, 19th December 1874, page 15
38. 'Law List - This Day', The Age, 19th November 1875, page 2; Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1876, Melbourne 1876
39. 'The Hotham Master Butchers', The Argus, 6th March 1883, page 6, John Orange Admission in 'Freemasonry Membership Registers', www.ancesty.com.au, 'England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers, 1751-1921', Accessed 27 Jan 2020
40. 'Transfer of Land Statute', The Argus, 9th March 1887, page 10
41. Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1890, Melbourne 1890; Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1895, Melbourne 1895
42. Death Register entry for John Orange, 14th September 1896, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 606369365
43. 'Deaths', The Age, 15th September 1896, page 1
44. John Orange headstone transcription, Genealogical Society of Victoria, 'Victorian cemetery records and headstone transcriptions', www.ancestry.com.au, 'Victoria, Australia, Cemetery Records and Headstone Transcriptions, 1844-1997', Accessed 27 Jan 2020
45. Death Register entry for Jane Orange, 4th August 1924, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 1122793109