August 2007 – Edition 28

We finish Ray’s epic series with Part 3 of the trip from
Gainsborough to Hobart town (current panorama pictured
above) in the 1850’s.

Someday we will try to find what prompted the Jerrems
migration from Australia to the US in the late 1800’s.

Thomas after his arrival in Melbourne

When Thomas and his son of the same name (age 14) Melbourne in
March 1854, no doubt grateful for having survived the voyage,
they wasted little time. In April 1854 Thomas went to Hobart
Town in Tasmania (circa 1830 to left), possibly to look at
the prospects there. It is therefore likely that he looked at
the major Victorian towns also.

In the 1856 Electoral Roll Thomas was listed as a merchant with
premises in Little Bourke Street, Melbourne. This was in
the centre of the business district, so he must have been doing
well. Perhaps the premises had living quarters above it, like
the shop in Silver Street, Gainsborough, and the 2 Thomases
lived there.

No doubt Thomas often turned his mind to the question of when to
send for the family.

When to send for the family? A major factor in his
judgement of when to bring the family out would have been the
ages of the 8 children still in England, ranging in 1853
from fourteen years down to one year. Most of these children
would have to go to school and then find training for a
vocation. He needed to find a suitable place for this, lacking
in Melbourne (and Australia in general) for some years after he
first arrived there. Also, the children had to be old enough to
safely survive the rigours of the voyage.

By the mid 1850s the gold digging bubble had burst in Victoria
for most diggers. Only one digger in four had made more money
than they would have from normal wages. Another significant
factor was that the alluvial gold in the stream beds and soft
sands and soils had been exhausted.

The days of fossicking by nomadic fossickers with a
simple pan and pick and shovel were gone. Instead equipment was
required to crush the gold-bearing quartz (usually obtained from
mines) involving capital outlay and a regular workforce. So many
of the diggers in Victoria went elsewhere to strikes in places
like NSW or Queensland or overseas, settled in cities or
returned home.

Interestingly, of the 300,000 people who migrated to Melbourne
only 45,000 (i.e. 15%) are known to have returned home. Perhaps
many were deterred by the prospect of the rigours of the trip
home via Cape Horn, which was just as dangerous as the trip to
Australia.

Melbourne gradually returned to normal, its population boosted
by former diggers wishing to settle permanently in Australia.
Commerce thrived, and railway construction and other Government
projects got under way.

Preparations for the Family’s Voyage

Meanwhile Elizabeth had been preparing her family for the big
adventure. Possibly being a little unsure about the survival
rate of people travelling to Melbourne and the spiritual fibre
of the Melbournian citizens she took the precaution of having
her children baptised in Gainsborough. On August 8th 1858
Robert Cane (aged 10) and Charles (aged 11) were baptised in
the Holy Trinity Church. Their address is shown on the Church’s
baptism register as Bridge Street.

As an aside, it would seem that Thomas Sr. and Elizabeth were
not regular churchgoers, otherwise the children would have been
christened soon after birth.

By early 1859 Thomas decided the time was ripe to send for his
family.

The family sets Sail

On September 2, 1859 Thomas’s wife Elizabeth and the children,
including Elizabeth Sofia and her husband John Wells,
boarded the square rigged sailing ship “Lincolnshire”
(appropriately named because they lived in that county) in
London, arriving in Melbourne 3 months later on December 1st.
The ship was a three-masted square rigger and was quite large
by the standards of the day, being 1025 tons. It was almost new
so it would have been “purpose built” for the trip, which it
subsequently carried out for well over 20 years.

London was a lot longer distance from Gainsborough than
Liverpool, but it may have had the attraction that accommodation
for the family while they waited for the ship to arrive was
better.

The travelling time of 3 months indicates that the ship
travelled via the gruelling Great Circle Route. The family
appears to have travelled “cabin class”, which was much more
expensive than steerage (about 40 pounds for the adults and
presumably half fare for the children) but far less
uncomfortable. Even so, the oppressive heat in the Tropics and
the heavy seas and bitter cold in the “Freezing Fifties”, and
the lack of fresh food, would have meant that cabin class would
have had a trying time also.

Another concern would have been that the 5 boys, aged from 7 to
14, would have been quite a handful for their mother,
particularly in the Freezing Fifties when they could have been
confined to their cabins for up to a month. Even when they could
come out onto the deck the recreational space would have been
made very limited by lifeboats, animals, deck cargo etc.

No doubt Thomas waited in trepidation for their arrival in
Melbourne, with the ongoing problems of diseases on the ships
and the recent loss of the “Admella” fresh in his mind.

If it had been intended that Elizabeth Sofia (the eldest
daughter) and her husband would help on the voyage this
backfired. Elizabeth had a baby in Richmond on April 14 1860, so
she was expecting the baby on the whole of the voyage, not the
ideal place. Elizabeth Sophia and her husband returned to
England within a year.

The family in Melbourne

Upon arrival in Melbourne the family settled in Richmond,
a short distance south of the city. But that is another story
which I will relate to you in a later Journal. But I will give
you a hint. Sadly, Thomas (Senior) died in 1866 at the age of
only 51, leaving Elizabeth (who lived another 35 years) to fend
for herself and for the younger children once again.

Our European-based super sleuth Ari Jerrems recently came
across two Jerrems singers by accident on YouTube. He
says that if you open the link

http://es.youtube.com/watch? v=PH5c3b11VYQ you’ll see
Nick Jerrems from Simi Valley, California dribbling a
basketball and singing, we think.

And also…

Cicada (Pictured): General Info
Member Since 8/9/2004
Band Members Nick Jerrems -Vocals & Rhythm Guitar
Jake Richard -Lead Guitar
Blake Jassenoff -Bass Guitar
Moondog-Drums

MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/cicadaca

You can listen to the songs on the website. Ari also found a
band from Byron Bay (on the far north coast of New South Wales)
that play reggae and the lead singer and song composer is
Simon Jerrems, formerly from Melbourne.

About Cicada

Cicada started in May of 2004 as just another garage band… and
for the three years they’ve been together, they have been
writing music, recording, and playing venues up and down CA. The
current line up of members consists of Nick Jerrems, Jake
Richard, Blake Jassenoff, and Moondog. Their cd, ‘Deciphering
Hieroglyphics’ was released in December of 2005. The band is
currently working on new material, recording, and is also
playing a few shows as well. The members of Cicada all live
in Thousand Oaks. Cicada is always looking for a chance to
play a show, so if anyone needs a band to play a show… give a
shout and message us.
So who are Nick and Simon, and how are they related?

Simon (born in 1973) is the great great grandson of
Robert Cane Jerrems, referred to in the previous article,
and Nick (born in 1989) is the great great great grandson
of William George Jerrems, who migrated to Australia with
Robert. So Simon and Nick are (roughly speaking) fourth
cousins.
=========================
We will have to do some followup on the Jerrems name on YouTube
and MySpace; it seems there is another generation that we have
not reached.

Ian Jerrems is our newest subscriber (#44).

Coincidentally, Ian is also related to Robert Cane
Jerrems, being one of Robert Cane’s great grandsons. Both
Ian and Simon originally lived in Melbourne

Born in 1944, Ian is single and has 2 married sisters, Shirley
(b1932) and Barbara (b1939), of whom I know very little. He
should be able to fill in some gaps for me.

Ray’s PC is on the mend. We wish it a speedy recovery. Let’s
hope he didn’t lose all his research files.

Ray might have to get a new Vista-enabled PC, which will
probably take him some time to get used to.