Eleanor Pincheon 1808 - 1871

Eleanor Pincheon (1808 - 1871)

Eleanor Pincheon was born in 1808 in Market Lavington, Wiltshire. She was christened on 1 May 1808 at St Mary's Market Lavington. She is generally recorded as the second child and second daughter of Charles Pincheon and Betty Sutton. There were however two Charles and Betty's (cousins) who were producing children in the between 1803 and 1810, so there her actual parent needs to be confirmed.

Eleanor married Michael Burgess in Market Lavington on 21 September 1826. Michael was the son of James Burgess and Mary Mead.

Eleanor and Michael had 12 children (8 sons and 4 daughters):

• Alfred Burgess Born 1825. Married Phillip Smith on 25 May 1857 and then James Burgess on 29 Jun 1874. Died 23 Mar 1912
• Eliza Burgess Born 1826. Died 1831 - Died as infant
• Sarah Ann Burgess Born 1828. Married (1) William Shepherd on 1845 (2) John Jessop on 9 Jan 1861. Died 1901
• William Burgess Born 1831. 
• Jacob Burgess Born Dec 1 1833. Died Jan 13 1836. - Died as infant
• Eleanor Burgess Born 1835. 
• Jacob Burgess Born 1836.
• James Burgess Born 1839. 
• Harriet Burgess Born 1841. 
• Alfred Burgess Born 1843. Married Mary Ann Maynard on 28 Sep 1867
• John Burgess Born 1846. 
• George Burgess Born 1852. 

John and Elizabeth lived in Rolvenden from the time of their marriage onwards, and at the time of the 1841 census, they were living at the Rollinson Farm in Rolvenden, where John was working as an agricultural labourer. Life was tough in Kent as an agricultural labourer, the average weekly wage was 8s 4d.

The Kent during this period was a place of major rebellion, the declining rural economy saw a significant rebellion - the Swing Riots - in the 1830s, however these upheavals saw no improvement in conditions for agricultural workers.

In 1838 John's sister Jane and her husband Edward Piper had emigrated to Australia aboard the "Lady Nugent". In the early 1850s the government of New South Wales created and assisted immigration scheme. Under this, residents of New South Wales could pay a contribution to the government to bring out a relative or friend from Britain or Ireland, with the government subsidizing the cost of the passage. The total cost of passage was 32 pounds and 10 shillings.

So under a Government sponsored emigration scheme, John and Elizabeth and their 6 children boarded "The Morayshire" in Southampton on 9 October 1855 for a journey to Australia. The family arrived on 19 January 1856, and proceed to the Camden area where Jane and her new husband Henry William Dunn - a freed convict whom she married in 1842 - lived at The Oaks.

The family moved to Camden - near John's sister Jane - and shortly after their arrival, John selected land on the Warragamba River - some three miles downstream from where the Cox's and Wollondilly Rivers met to form the Warragamba. The upstream boundary of the property was Gogonnolly Creek (known as Shoobridge Creek) and the property shared a common boundary with the Fitzpatricks. The farm consisted of 5 blocks of land and when eventually surveyed was a total of 209 acres. The family cleared and fenced the farm and built yards a shed and a slab hut. John's grandchildren continued to live in the house until the early 1940s.

In the years after the family settled, they would mine coal in the upper Burragorang valley. One of John's grandchildren reflected that John Jnr ".. build a sledge and would go up into the mountain and fill it with coal for the house fire - it would last longer than wood". This was years before the first official coal mined opened in the valley in 1895.

John later selected further blocks of land in the Green Wattle Creek area for grazing cattle, but it was at the Warragamba farm that the family lived\n\nIn the late 1860s John handed over running of the Warragamba Farm to John Jnr and moved to the Green Wattle Creek property - where his son George and daughter in law Sarah Alicia lived.

John experience poor health for a number of years, and finally on 9 November 1872 - after 15 years in Australia - John died at the Green Wattle Creek property. He was buried at the Church of England Cemetary in Lagoon Flats, Camden.

After John's death Elizabeth became unwell, and moved into Camden to live with relatives. She continued to reside there until her death six years later on 29 December 1878. She was buried 2 days later in the churchyard of St Matthews Church of England at Camden.