Sarah WADE (1793

Sarah WADE (1793 - 1887)

Children	Self + Spouses	Parents	Grandparents	Greatgrandparents
Mary RAY (1809 - 1837) Sophia RAY (1812 - 1877) William RAY (1814 - 1885) John RAY (1817 - 1859) Maria RAY (1822 - 1924) Nathaniel BOON (1825 - 1911) Margaret BOON (1826 - 1904) Thomas BOON (1828 - ) James BOON (1830 - ) Jonathan BOON (1830 - 1901) Nicholas BOON (1830 - 1899) Sarah Ann BOON (1832 - 1854) Daniel BOON (1852 - 1876)	Sarah WADE (1793 - 1887) + William RAY (1759 - 1835) Nathaniel BOON (1792 - 1839)	Jonathan BROOKER (1760 - 1833)



		Mary Anne WADE (1777 - 1859)

b. 27 Sep 1793 at Norfolk Island

m. (1) 04 Apr 1808 William RAY (1759 - 1835) at Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

m. (2) 25 Jun 1831 Nathaniel BOON (1792 - 1839) at New South Wales, Australia

d. 05 Jul 1887 aged 93

Near Relatives of Sarah WADE (1793 - 1887)
Relationship	Person	Born	Birth Place	Died	Death Place	Age
Father	Jonathan BROOKER	1760	Kent, UK	14 Mar 1833	Airds, New South Wales, Australia	73
Mother	Mary Anne WADE	1777	London, Middlesex, England	17 Dec 1859	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	82

Self	Sarah WADE	27 Sep 1793	Norfolk Island	05 Jul 1887		93

Husband	William RAY	abt 1759		17 Oct 1835		76
Husband	Nathaniel BOON	1792		18 Feb 1839		47

Daughter	Mary RAY	16 Sep 1809		1837		28
Daughter	Sophia RAY	28 May 1812	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	1877	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	65
Son	William RAY	07 Dec 1814		30 May 1885	Marrickville, Sydney, Australia	70
Son	John RAY	12 Oct 1817	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	10 Sep 1859		41
Daughter	Maria RAY	16 May 1822		22 Apr 1924	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	101
Son	Nathaniel BOON	14 Sep 1825		11 Feb 1911	Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia	85
Daughter	Margaret BOON	17 Sep 1826		09 Jul 1904		77
Son	Thomas BOON	12 Aug 1828
Son	James BOON	20 Nov 1830
Son	Jonathan BOON	20 Nov 1830		15 May 1901		70
Son	Nicholas BOON	20 Nov 1830		18 Nov 1899		68
Daughter	Sarah Ann BOON	02 Jun 1832		12 Oct 1854		22
Son	Daniel BOON	25 Nov 1852		19 Jul 1876		23

Brother	William James WADE BROOKER	10 Dec 1796	Norfolk Island	09 Oct 1885	Lake Albert, New South Wales, Australia	88
Brother	John BROOKER	24 Jun 1809	Windsor, New South Wales, Australia	07 Dec 1886	Kangaloon, New South Wales, Australia	77
Sister	Elizabeth BROOKER	07 Dec 1810	Hawkesbury District, New South Wales, Australia
Sister	Mary BROOKER	28 Nov 1812	Hawkesbury District, New South Wales, Australia	29 Sep 1890	Lake Albert, New South Wales, Australia	77
Brother	James BROOKER	30 May 1814	Airds, New South Wales, Australia	15 Mar 1880	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	65
Half Brother	Edward BROOKER HARRIGAN	20 Aug 1803	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	09 Jul 1891	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	87

Son in Law	Thomas RUDD	19 Jul 1806	Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia	23 May 1882	Nangus, New South Wales, Australia	75
Daughter in Law	Eliza JACKSON	05 Sep 1824		24 Dec 1906		82
Daughter in Law	Hannah HIGGINS	16 Aug 1824		01 Mar 1886		61
Son in Law	John JENKINS	06 Jan 1816	East Malling, West Kent, England	16 Oct 1899	Buckingbong, Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia	83
Daughter in Law	Harriet Sarah WOODBRIDGE	20 Aug 1836	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	06 Apr 1865	Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia	28
Daughter in Law	Mary PLOWS			07 Jul 1918
Son in Law	William FRANKLIN			28 Apr 1863
Daughter in Law	Ann MARTIN
Daughter in Law	Elizabeth GIRDLER
Daughter in Law	Sarah BOLLARD
Daughter in Law	Rebecca Wilson SHANNON	abt 1840

Granddaughter	Eliza Elizabeth Eva RUDD	1853	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	28 Oct 1927	Tarcutta, New South Wales, Australia	74
Granddaughter	Hannah Mary RAY	04 Aug 1848		11 Jun 1881	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	32
Granddaughter	Charlotte M JENKINS	06 Jul 1844	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	22 Nov 1935	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	91
Grandson	William Henry JENKINS	1846	Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia	26 Oct 1923	Junee, New South Wales, Australia	77
Granddaughter	Ridley Walter JENKINS	28 Jan 1867	Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia	30 Jul 1887	Nangus, New South Wales, Australia	20
Grandson	George Robert BOON	06 Mar 1859	Nangus, New South Wales, Australia	20 Jan 1924	Cowra, New South Wales, Australia	64
Grandson	Alfred BOON	13 Jan 1861	Tumblong, New South Wales, Australia	17 Nov 1923	Granville, New South Wales, Australia	62

Niece	Mary Ann BROOKER	24 Mar 1821	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	09 Jan 1863	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	41
Niece	Sarah Elizabeth BROOKER	20 Mar 1823	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	23 Nov 1890	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	67
Nephew	William BROOKER	26 Dec 1824		09 Jun 1892		67
Nephew	Jonathan BROOKER	16 Jun 1827	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	14 Feb 1829	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	1
Niece	Elizabeth BROOKER	11 Mar 1830		08 May 1905		75
Nephew	Jonathon BROOKER	19 Jul 1832	New South Wales, Australia	03 Jun 1888	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	55
Nephew	James BROOKER	16 Oct 1834	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	17 Sep 1907	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	72
Niece	Sophia Jane BROOKER	19 Jul 1838	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	1916	Redfern, New South Wales, Australia	78
Nephew	Joseph Henry BROOKER	27 Feb 1840	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	21 Dec 1840	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	0
Niece	Eliza BROOKER	21 Feb 1843		20 May 1877		34
Niece	Mary BROOKER	18 Dec 1848		20 Jul 1931	Kangaloon, New South Wales, Australia	82
Nephew	Jonathan BROOKER	03 Dec 1849	Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia	17 Jun 1906	Kangaloon, New South Wales, Australia	56
Nephew	William BROOKER	24 May 1851	Charcoal Creek, New South Wales, Australia	05 Apr 1935	Kangaloon, New South Wales, Australia	83
Nephew	Murdo BROOKER	13 May 1853	Charcoal Creek, New South Wales, Australia	29 Jun 1913	Robertson, New South Wales, Australia	60
Niece	Sophia LOWE	14 Apr 1828	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	29 Mar 1893	Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia	64
Nephew	John Christopher LEDWIDGE	26 Jul 1832	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	01 Jul 1873	Hay, New South Wales, Australia	40
Nephew	Christopher LEDWIDGE	05 Feb 1834	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	08 Aug 1869	Balranald, New South Wales, Australia	35
Nephew	Henry ANGEL	16 Nov 1836	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	09 Jul 1924	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	87
Nephew	William ANGEL	17 Oct 1838	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	28 Oct 1891	Newtown, New South Wales, Australia	53
Niece	Keturah ANGEL	05 Oct 1841	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	22 Nov 1932	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	91
Nephew	Robert ANGEL	05 Oct 1841	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	19 May 1870	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	28
Nephew	Richard ANGEL	19 Feb 1844	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	16 Jun 1907	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	63
Niece	Mary ANGEL	10 Feb 1847	Hay, New South Wales, Australia	07 Jul 1932	Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia	85
Niece	Sarah M ANGEL	10 Feb 1847	Hay, New South Wales, Australia
Nephew	James ANGEL	08 Mar 1850	Hay, New South Wales, Australia	05 Jun 1926	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	76
Nephew	Edward Jonathon ANGEL	13 Jun 1852	Hay, New South Wales, Australia	08 Nov 1934	Lake Albert, New South Wales, Australia	82
Nephew	Samuel ANGEL	18 Feb 1853	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia	21 Apr 1938	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia	85
Niece	Louisa Willison BROOKER	1853		1854		1
Niece	Rosina BROOKER	1855	Tarrawanna, New South Wales, Australia	20 Jan 1944	Corrimal, New South Wales, Australia	89
Nephew	James Albert BROOKER	22 May 1858		27 Oct 1939		81
Niece	Mary Louisa BROOKER	15 Mar 1860		02 Nov 1937		77
Nephew	William Willison BROOKER	03 Nov 1862	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	19 Mar 1863	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia	0
Niece	Mary Anne HARRIGAN	1835		07 Aug 1870		35
Niece	Elizabeth HARRIGAN	10 Jun 1837		20 Dec 1915		78
Nephew	James Edward HARRIGAN	28 May 1839		12 May 1929		89
Niece	Sarah Jane HARRIGAN	1855		28 Oct 1893		38
Nephew	William HARRIGAN	22 Dec 1857		04 Sep 1948		90
Niece	Louisa Emily HARRIGAN	22 Mar 1860		17 Jan 1889		28
Niece	Alice Clara HARRIGAN	05 Aug 1863		17 Jan 1956		92

Sister in Law	Sophia MITTON	24 May 1801	Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia	17 Jan 1892	Lake Albert, New South Wales, Australia	90
Sister in Law	Janet MCKENZIE	abt 1809		04 May 1901	Robertson, New South Wales, Australia	92
Brother in Law	Daniel LOWE	07 Oct 1810
Brother in Law	John HART			1830	Windsor, New South Wales, Australia
Brother in Law	Christopher LEDWIDGE	1799		05 Feb 1834	Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia	35
Brother in Law	Henry ANGEL	abt 08 Jan 1791	Woodgreen, Hampshire, England	07 Dec 1881	Lake Albert, New South Wales, Australia	90
Sister in Law	Elizabeth Willison WOOD	abt 1821	Cork, Co Cork, Ireland	03 Jan 1916	Gosford, New South Wales, Australia	95
Sister in Law	Mary WEBBER	abt 1797	Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK	07 Feb 1854	Dapto, New South Wales, Australia	57
Sister in Law	Jane Willison WOOD	1820	Cork, Co Cork, Ireland	1916	Tarrawanna, New South Wales, Australia	96

Events in Sarah WADE (1793 - 1887)'s life
Date	Age	Event	Place	Notes	Src
27 Sep 1793		Sarah WADE was born	Norfolk Island		85
04 Apr 1808	14	Married William RAY (aged 49)	Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia		85
16 Sep 1809	15	Birth of daughter Mary RAY			85
28 May 1812	18	Birth of daughter Sophia RAY	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia
07 Dec 1814	21	Birth of son William RAY			85
12 Oct 1817	24	Birth of son John RAY	Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia		85
16 May 1822	28	Birth of daughter Maria RAY			85
14 Sep 1825	31	Birth of son Nathaniel BOON
17 Sep 1826	32	Birth of daughter Margaret BOON			85
12 Aug 1828	34	Birth of son Thomas BOON			85
20 Nov 1830	37	Birth of son James BOON		triplet	85
20 Nov 1830	37	Birth of son Jonathan BOON		triplet	85
20 Nov 1830	37	Birth of son Nicholas BOON		triplet	85
25 Jun 1831	37	Married Nathaniel BOON (aged 39)	New South Wales, Australia		85
02 Jun 1832	38	Birth of daughter Sarah Ann BOON			85
14 Mar 1833	39	Death of father Jonathan BROOKER (aged 73)	Airds, New South Wales, Australia
17 Oct 1835	42	Death of husband William RAY (aged 76)			85
1837	44	Death of daughter Mary RAY (aged 28)			85
18 Feb 1839	45	Death of husband Nathaniel BOON (aged 47)			85
25 Nov 1852	59	Birth of son Daniel BOON			85
12 Oct 1854	61	Death of daughter Sarah Ann BOON (aged 22)			85
10 Sep 1859	65	Death of son John RAY (aged 41)			85
17 Dec 1859	66	Death of mother Mary Anne WADE (aged 82)	Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia
19 Jul 1876	82	Death of son Daniel BOON (aged 23)			85
1877	84	Death of daughter Sophia RAY (aged 65)	Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
30 May 1885	91	Death of son William RAY (aged 70)	Marrickville, Sydney, Australia		85
05 Jul 1887	93	Sarah WADE died			85

Source References:

85. Type: Book, Abbr: Mary Wade to Us, Title: Mary Wade to Us, Auth: Mary Wade Family History Association, Publ: Mary Wade Family History Association, Date: 1986, Locn: https://www.marywadefamily.org/items/show/1

- Reference = page 15 (Marriage)

- Reference = page 15++ (Death)

- Reference = page 15 (Birth)

- Reference = page 15++ (Name, Notes)

- Notes: Mary Wade's eldest child, Sarah, was born at the Mount Pitt Settlement, Norfolk Island, on 22nd September, 1793 - Mary, at the time of Sarah's birth, being not quite sixteen years of age. Nothing more is known of Sarah until her marriage to William RAY in 1808, unless a slightly doubtful story of her swimming South Creek, Windsor, in what was probably the 1806 flood, is accepted.

They were married in Parramatta, Parish of SI. John's, on the 4th April, 1808, by Captain Anthony Fenn Kemp, Magistrate. She was fourteen and William, a former convict transported on the AlbermarIe in 1791, about thirty two years of age. It must be noted here that Captain Kemp of the N.S.W. Corps, was one of the three magistrates appointed by the Interregnum Government of Lt. Colonel Paterson and Captain Macarthur and this fact has considerable bearing on Sarah's later actions.

The two eldest children were probably born near Windsor as there is evidence of the family's residence there in the form of a Promissory Note, dated 1810, signed by William concerning the supply of grain to the local Government Store, but by 1813 they had moved to the vicinity of Campbelltown and in 1816 William received a grant of sixty acres of land near the Bow-Bowing Creek, on the Sydney approaches to Campbelltown, District of Airds. There they first farmed and then opened an inn, known as 'The Plough', to help support their farming activities - there having been a widespread drought in the colony during 1816-19 with a total crop failure in 1818, and, with permanent water and a road frontage, what could have been more practical? By 1822 their economic position had improved and they had a horse, twelve pigs and crops of wheat, barley and potatoes. The existence of the horse may indicate that they actually had a plough.

The marriage seems to have broken down in 1322-23 when Sarah removed herself and the four younger children to the next door farm of Nathaniel Boon who had arrived in the colony aboard the Admiral Gambier in 1811. Seven children were born of this union, including triplets much to the surprise of the colony. In 1831 Sarah married Boon, although Ray was still alive. This was now possible as Governor Macquarie had been instructed by the Home Government to cancel all contracts entered into under the Interregnum Government instituted at the overthrow of Governor Bligh by the Rum Corps. Consequently, in strictly legal terms Sarah was no longer the wife of William Ray.

There is no clear evidence that Sarah appreciated the significance of the above. It is rather more likely that Boon's increasing prosperity brought a realisation of the desirability of having a legal heir. It was only on the fourth application to marry that the necessary permission was obtained, and the marriage took place at St. John's Parramatta, conducted by the Rev. Samuel Marsden in 1831. Two more children were born thereafter, the boy Daniel becoming Nathaniel's legal heir.

In the meantime, what appears to be a most amicable relationship existed between the two families. In 1825 the three middle children were back living with William and in 1826 he sold the Inn and seven acres to Nathaniel, at the same time disposing of an adjoining twenty five acres to James Ryan, thought to be a front for Nathaniel, the latter undoubtedly becoming owner. William Ray and William Jnr. then moved over the hill to farm the remainder of the grant.

Sometime after 1826, probably in consequence of the 1825 law requiring inns to furnish accommodation, Boon erected a fine two storey house next to the humble 'Plough', the whole being renamed 'The Three Brothers' in
1830 (thus commemorating the birth of the triplets - Nicholas, Jonathan and James). It was to this Inn, still named The Plough' that John Farley ran with his tale of seeing Fisher's Ghost.

Sarah may well have managed the accommodation side of the business, perhaps aided by her daughters, both before and certainly after Nathaniel's death in t 839, whilst residing in the Boon farmhouse with her increasing brood of children. William Ray had predeceased Nathaniel by four years and Sarah was left with two families on her hands, albeit one grown.

In 1846 she leased the Inn to William Ray Jnr. on behalf of the twelve year old Daniel Boon and, at some date between then and 1869 it was sold to John Jenkins, husband of her daughter, Maria Ray. In 1860 she acquired Daniel's inherited thirty three acres and in 1875 sold it to William Jnr. for an annuity of five pounds per annum . Around this time she retired to her granddaughter's home at Picton and died there in 1887, being remembered as Grannie Boon who smoked a clay pipe.

Sarah and William had five children: Mary, Sophia, William Jnr, John and Maria. Mary, the eldest child, died at the age of twenty-eight in 1837, When thirteen years of age she went to work in the home of the local magistrate, William Howe. When seventeen she had a son, Edward, fathered by Mr. Howe's son, John. A second son, George Henry, arrived some three years later. An application for Mary to marry Amos Crisp of Saffron, Lower Minto, was made about this time, but nothing came of it. Mary's two sons did well despite their inauspicious beginnings. Edward worked with his uncle William Ray, and great-uncle Henry Angel on Uardry station before moving to Hay where he became the licencee of the FRamer’s Home Hotel . He died as a result of a driving accident. It appears that Mary Ray remained in Campbeltown till her death in 1837.

Sophia, the second Ray child, also entered service in the Howe household when only ten years old in 1822. In 1830, aged eighteen, Sophia was married to Thomas Rudd Jnr., aged twenty four, at St. Peter's, Campbelltown. The couple lived for a time on a farm at Airds, a gilt from Thomas Rudd Snr. who had arrived in the colony on the ship Comwallis in 1796. Some years later they left the district and settled on a property, 'Tenandra', near Gundagai, not far from 'Nangus', the home of Sophia's younger sister Maria who had married John Jenkins.

Sophia and Thomas Rudd had ten children, nine girls and one son. Nothing further is known of the son. Their eldest daughter, Ann Mary (or Maria) married Robert Higgins who pioneered 'Ulonga' near Hay and later ran the Australian Family Hotel in Wagga Wagga. This marriage made Ann Mary a sister-in-law of her uncle John Ray, and aunt to her first cousins, which must have been a source of amusement as well as confusion. She was long remembered on the Murrumbidgee for her unselfish kindness.

Another of Sophia's daughters, Amelia Emily, married her first cousin, William Henry Jenkins, second son of Maria Ray and John Jenkins of the 'Nangus' property near Gundagai. This Catholic ceremony took place on the 3rd February, 1867 at 'Nangus'. It was conducted by James Foley, a priest from Tumut. William's occupation was given as farmer, living on 'Nangus'. Alter a stint of mining at Upper Tumbarumba, where their first child, Albert Edward, was born on the 28th September, 1867 they returned to 'Nangus' prior to 1880 with seven children, one other child having died in infancy. The family 'squatted' al Billabong Creek near 'Nangus' and remained there for several years. Ten more children were born, making eighteen in all. In January, 1902 a big bushfire was disastrous for them. In a letter to his aunt dated the 2nd January, 1902, W.J. McKinney of 'Nangus' station wrote: "Billabong Jenkins has lost fencing, all his wheat, all his grass, and a lot of sheep and horses. . . Old Jenkins went to bed and cried all day..."

James Beveridge bought all the land in and around Billabong Creek from the Crown on the 12th November, 1904, and settled his newly married son onto Billabong, making it necessary for William Henry Jenkins and his large family to move. William and some of his family remained in the area. He died in Junee Cottage Hospital on the 23rd October, 1923 and is buried in the Church of England Cemetery, Nangus. No headstone marks his grave. His wife, Amelia, died on the 4th November, 1927. Later generations of the Jenkins group are well spread through the Riverina, at Broken Hill and in South Australia.

Sarah's third child, William Ray Jnr. was twenty one when his father died in 1835 and he inherited the residue of the original sixty acre grant. He married in 1841 and in 1846, perhaps to help weather the recession and drought of the 1840's, he leased 'The Three Brothers' from his mother. Eight years later he embarked on a series of purchases, first having sold his farm to his younger brother, John, in 1854. In 1855 he bought the seventy-five acre Brooker's Farm from his uncle, William Brooker. In the same year he purchased the five hundred acre Mount Pleasant Estate on the Camden Road from his brother-in-law, John Jenkins of Gundagai, and also, date unknown, bought up a fifty acre block in the same area between the Glebe lands and Thosby's. After fifteen years things were not going so well and he became insolvent in 1869, with the Australian Joint Stock Bank seizing the smaller acreage and selling up Mount Pleasant for half its value. However, the Inn remained, as John Jenkins was still the actual owner, a proposed sale (providentially for William) not having been completed. By 1875 he had recovered sufficiently to buy the thirty-three Boon acres from his mother - it was a long term arrangement, the terms being an annuity for life for Sarah which then passed to his half brother, Thomas Boon, at Gundagai. He also owned 'Barmedman' station on the Lachlan River. He then, at long last, acquired the elusive Inn. John Jenkins had conveyed it to his son john Francis in 1875 and he, in turn, conveyed it back to his Uncle William in 1877.

The last mention of William in Campbelltown is a Directory listing for 1881-2, his residence being 'Borobine House' - a fine name for an old Inn. He sold it in 1884 to Hon. John Davis C. M. G. The house and the old 'Plough Inn ' beside it still stand, and carry a National Trust listing. The house is presently named 'Holly Lea' and is in use as a private residence.

William died in 1885 at the residence of his son, George Robert, in Marrickville.

The fourth child of William and Sarah Ray was John Ray, born in 1817 at Campbelltown. Not a great deal is known about him. In 1842 he married Hannah Higgins of Rosemont Farm, Campbelltown, at St. John's Church. It would appear most of their children were born in the Riverina. In 1854 John negotiated the purchase of land (about twelve hundred acres in all) from the Antills, and in 1856 he bought more land from Welsh and Thacker at Picton. As well, in 1854, he bough his brother William’s farm at Campbelltown. He later acquired a hotel (Ray's Picton Inn) and in 1858 a butchering business - this latter purchase being a fairly common practice with stockholders near towns. John died an untimely death from consumption in 1859, leaving Hannah with eight children under sixteen years of age and a commensurate amount of property with which to cope.

The eldest son Robert, inherited an entailed five hundred acres but, after gaining experience on relatives' properties, ventured north to Queensland where he took up Cardowan Station, a cattle property about sixty miles south of Mackay, first in partnership with one of the Hayes of Gundagai and then as sole owner. He was an expert cattleman and a fine judge of horses (a silver tea and coffee service testifies to this). He married his first cousin Maria Jenkins of 'Nangus', Gundagai in 1869 and they travelled to Queensland by horse and buggy despite the existence, by that time, of a more comfortable steamer service. The St. Lawrence area was wild country but in spite of several threatening encounters with Myall blacks his relationship with the local aborigines always remained friendly - perhaps they thought more kindly of him when he rescued a little black girl suffering from a badly broken leg. Robert died in 1898 (buried in what is now the front lawn of the new homestead) leaving the property entailed to his eldest son, Waiter, who promptly sold it to John Shannon of neighbouring Saltbrush Park. He then bought 'Mulambin', near Yeppoon which is still owned by his children. He disposed of his father's five hundred acres in Picton in 1903.

Of Robert’s other children:-
Francis Robert, after working on various cattle runs in Western Queensland, bought a pineapple farm, also at Yeppoon and, in turn, his son, Jack, became a cane farmer near Mackay. The second son, having suffered sunstroke, remained with his father;

Sydney also worked with cattle out west both before and after his stint in the Great War and was, at one time, contract mailman on the Mackay-Clermont route. He died, unmarried, in 1935 of cancer thought to be a result of his war service in France;

Arnold gravitated to Cunnamulla where he owned the open-air cinema and the Blue Bird Cafe. Nothing is known of his two sons;

Eleanor and May, educated at St. Paul's School, Rockhampton, came to Sydney and took up nursing, training at the Women's Hospital, Crown Street, In 1929 Eleanor was married to Martin Rowland Shannon, Olive Downs, Nebo, Queensland. He was a barrister-at-law, being the second son of the same John Shannon who had purchased Cardowan Station thirty-four years earlier. Amy died, unmarried, in Salzburg, Austria, in 1962 whilst travelling to Switzerland.

The second son of John Ray and Hannah Higgins was another John Ray. He inherited three hundred acres (part of 'Wellington Park', so named by the original grantee, Dr. Elyard, who had served with the Duke of Wellington during the Napoleonic Wars). He carried on farming and the butchering business for a few years and then moved to the Murrumbidgee where he took up part of 'Arajoel' on Old Man's Creek, east of Narrandera. He married Annie Toland, daughter of Scottish settlers, in 1865 and several of his family of fourteen were born there. Next, date and reason unknown (the drought of 1869 perhaps), he left this property and took up farming in the vicintty of Junee. Again on a unspecified date (though probably in the 1870's as a road building program had been initiated in 1869 by the Commissioner for Roads at a rate of fifty pounds per mile) John contracted to build a stretch of road near Picton. His dutiful wife accompanied him in a tent home. The placement of this tent became a matter of care after once being pitched, on apparently sound ground, only to have the horsehair sofa subside suddenly into a defunct rabbit warren. Bushrangers were also a hazard, and John arrived home one night just in time to retrieve the spare horse team from their rapacity - Annie's caution kept their money in a calico bag inside her corsets.

In 1907 John suffered a heart attack while out shooting on 'Wantabadgery' and his body was railed to Picton for burial.

George, the third son, who was nine years old when his father died, does not appear to have had the urge to "go bush" but remained with Hannah, occupied in the running of 'Ray's Picton Inn' - from 1867 to 1877 he is Directory listed as co-owner and then sole proprietor but it was, in fact, a family trust and his mother's means of livelihood. In 1877 the Inn was disposed of to the Commercial Bank (thereafter becoming the Commercial Hotel) and George thenceforward devoted himself completely to farming al 'Wellington Park', (his inherited portion being four hundred acres). In the ensuing years he built up a prosperous dairying business and bred one of the finest Guernsey herds in the state.

In 1822 he married Amy Hilder and from this marriage stemmed the Ray Bros. - (George, John and Thomas) breeders of blue-ribbon dairy cattle. On Amy's death his unmarried sister Caroline took charge of house and children until he remarried. 'Wellington Park' is still run by the family and it was here that was housed the earliest known authenticated picture of any of Mary Wade's children - an oil painting of Sarah.

Daniel, the youngest son, despite openings offering into the hotel business and the land, joined the railways - Picton in the 1860-70's was the centre of the new Southern line and, no doubt, the new technology was more attractive than the traditional occupations. Even so he loved the land and frequently visited his relatives
thereon for the shooting - he had become a crack shot and often joined exhibitions of trap shooting, live birds, not day pigeons, being in the trap. Daniel owned an extremely fine Cashmore gun which is now in the possession of a great grandson. Another sport in which he excelled was cricket and he played for the Picton Cricket Club for many years, being a fine batsman. His nature was affectionate and gentle and he enjoyed taking his grandchildren and nephews around with him in his various pursuits.

He married Sarah Reid, daughter of an Irish filmily of Menangle. They had five children and in his retirement lived in Picton Cottage, Regent Street, Summer Hill, where he died in 1932.

Maria, the youngest but the most long lived of the Ray children, was brought up in the Boon household, the increasing prosperity of which probably enabled her to go to the Rev. Reddall's parochial school for she signed the register in a fair hand on her marriage day. She was a woman of great strength, both of body and character, for she bore twelve children, mostly in primitive conditions, raising ten to adulthood and was respected for her commanding personality being, as it was, leavened by religious tolerance and a generous charity. It is to be hoped she also had a sense of humour.

In 1841 ,in St. Peter's Campbelltown, Maria was married to John Jenkins (who had arrived free aboard the Grenada in 1826) who, with his brother Francis, had taken up the runs of ‘Buckingbong' and 'Gillenbah' near Narrandera on the Murrumbidgee, in 1832. Family history has it that she rode the entire distance to her new home, thus escaping the weary jolting of a dray. The Jenkinses survived the drought and depression of the 1840's to make a fortune running sheep and cattle to feed the hungry Victorian goldfields of the fifties. This was the period that saw the rise of the bushranger and one story tells of Maria sewing sovereigns into her little daughter's pelticoats in case of a hold-up. As she made regular trips to Campbelltown, it must have been a most necessary precaution.

In the mid-1850's John purchased 'Nangus' at Gundagai (a property of fifty-seven thousand acres) from William and Hannibal Macarthur and built an imposing house of Georgian design in which to house their large family. The next forty years were prosperous ones. Whilst John interested himself in flour milling, the steamer trade and wine-making besides his pastoral activities, Maria saw to the laying out and cultivation of a fine garden and to the education of her children, several of whom had outstanding musical ability. Tutors and governesses were not wanting, nor was she behind in the new technology - in a time when all clothes were laboriously hand-sewn she boasted the ownership of the first sewing machine on the River.

Meanwhile the children began to marry:
John Francis to Kate Fennell of Wagga Wagga, daughter of an Irish political exile, settled on Wonbobby, Tumbalong;
Charlotte to (I) William Hayes, also an Irishman, member of the Wagga Wagga flour milling family and (2) to Hamilton Stanley;
William Henry to Amelia Rudd, cousin, settling on 'Billabong', next to 'Nangus';
Maria to Robert Ray, cousin, settling on 'Cardowan' near Mackay, Queensland;
Sarah to Daniel Fennell, brother to Kate, farmer, stock and station agent and horseman extraordinaire;
Frank to Sophia Cazelly;
Eliza to George Mair, a farmer and auctioneer; and
Mary Jane (Minnie) to Andrew Steel Beveridge, son of Scottish settlers, sheep farmer on 'Mullah', Trangie.

The Australian Joint Stock Bank failure of the 1890's caught John and they retired 10 'Buckingbong', where he died at the turn of the century. Maria, after her brother-in-law’s death and the sale of 'Buckingbong', went to live with her youngest daughter, Mrs. Steel Beveridge, in her new Sydney home 'Blairgowrie', Epping, and there she died, almost one hundred and two years of age. It is amazing to reflect that she lived from a time when there was barely a plough in the colony to times when aeroplanes and motor cars were almost commonplace and Australian women had the vote, of which latter right she was very proud - it is tragic to know she wrote her memoirs and they were destroyed by fire.

The information on Sarah's Boon children is, at present, very limited.

Nathaniel Jnr., shortly after his father's death, and perhaps influenced by his half-brother John Ray and also his half-sister Maria's connection with the Jenkinses, joined the prevailing drift to the Riverina. He was on land at Old Man creek near Narrandera in the 1850's at the time of his marriage to Harriet Woodbridge. His first child was born there, but shortly afterwards he moved east, and was farming at 'Nangus'. He then went to Adelong where, in
1860, he applied for the licence of the Traveller's Rest Hotel. Two children were born here and the next on Big Ben Creek where it is thought he had a property which was left to the management of his sons when he retired to Gundagai.

Margaret married William Franklin of Campbelltown and they also went south to the Gundagai area - her six children having been born at Adelong.

Thomas was also in the Gundagai area but also elsewhere
.
The triplets settled in Wagga Wagga and were mostly engaged in the hotel trade. Few details are available for Nicholas. He lived and worked in Wagga with Edward Angel at one time, but died elsewhere. No record of a marriage has been found.

Jonathan held licences at different times for several hotels - four in Wagga and one in Albury. In 1857 he advertised in the Yass Courier that he was taking over the Commercial Hotel, Wagga Wagga, and in 1858 he applied for the licence of an inn in Gurwood Street of that town.

James too was in the hotel business in Wagga but sold out and it is believed he went to Bathurst. James and Daniel are both mentioned in Dame Mary Gilmore's memoirs as being very fine men. She also quoted the rumour of a family connection to the American, Daniel Boone, but so far there is no evidence to support this claim.

Daniel also was in the hotel business. He held the licences at different times for The Black Swan, The Victorian and the Home Hotels. Daniel Boon's death, or rather execution, must have been a frightful blow to what had become a very respected family. He had inherited the Boon Inn and farm at Campbelltown, but had sold them to his mother, Sarah, before marrying Rebecca Watson Shannon, the daughter of a publican at Cooma. The couple moved to Wagga where he acquired a hotel and several blocks of town land. II was a dispute over one of these blocks which ruined his life. The lease-holder, a blacksmith, had not paid his rent for several years, and owed twenty pounds, On 10th January, 1876, after brooding for several hours, and in a mood not improved by the intake of alcohol, he took his gun and inadvisedly discharged it after an argument, into the body of the offending blacksmith. Reports vary, but the gist of Daniel's subsequent remarks may be summed up as "I have ruined my family, and my life." He was tried and found guilty. As witness to the very high regard for him held by the townspeople a petition for clemency was circulated and presented - but to no avail, and he was hanged for murder in 1876.

And so ends a brief history of the family of a convict's child, born on Norfolk Island, who probably began her working life as one of the children set to pick marauding grubs off vegetables in the Norfolk Island gardens. Respectable and respected, hardworking and honest, lucky and unlucky they were our pioneering ancestors.

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