Birth
William Carson Martin and Charity Sophia Martin nee Church had eleven children:
- Emilie Sophia Martin, born 16 Aug 1846 at 59 Gracechurch Street, England
- Caroline Susanna Martin, born 6 July 1848 at 59 Gracechurch Street, England
- Alice Marian Martin, born 8 October 1850 in Gundagai, NSW, Australia (died in 1852)
- Agnes Mary Martin, born 7 Jan 1852 in Balmain, Sydney, NSW
- Lydia Ann Martin, born 4 Dec 1854 in Balmain, Sydney, NSW
- William Caleb Martin, born 4 Dec 1856 in Balmain, Sydney, NSW
- Marion Eleanor Martin, born 28 Sep 1858 in Hotspur Cottage, Balmain, Sydney, NSW
- Gertrude Marguerite Martin, born 6 Aug 1860 in Wicliff Cottage, Ulladulla, NSW
- Alice Theresa Martin, born 16 Sep 1862 in Ulladulla, NSW
- Clara Elizabeth Martin, born 25 June 1865 in Ulladaulla, NSW
- George Henry Martin, born 30 April 1868 in Wicliff Cottage, Ulladulla, NSW
Emigration
William and Sophie and their daughters Emilie (3 years old) and Caroline (1 year old) left London on 13 January 1849 on the barque Honduras, arriving in Sydney on 17 June 1849.
Sophie had inherited a fortune from her great-uncle, so the family was well to do when they emigrated.
Employment
Their niece Marian Clare says:
In 1895 there was a bank crash and their daughters, who had been brought up as “ladies”, had to earn their own livings. Caroline was a schoolteacher, Gertie went to Elkington’s as a governess-home help, two others were also governesses, and Marian was a medical nurse. However, her mother became healed of heart trouble through Christian Science and Marian decided to study that, going to Boston in Massachusetts for that purpose.
Clara was an artist, drawing and painting in water colours and oils, and wood carving and other forms of art. She lived to be 97 years; in fact except for Harry and Emily, all members of the family lived to be over 80 years of age.
Emilie Sophia Martin 1846 – 1876
Emilie Sophia Martin was born on 16 August 1846 at 59 Gracechurch Street, England. She emigrated to Australia with her parents and younger sister Caroline in 1849 when she was three years old.
Emilie married Henry Perdriau in 1872.
Henry and Emilie had three children: Edgar (born 1873), Edith (born 1874) and William (born 1876).
Emilie died on 18 July 1876, two weeks after William was born. She was 30 years old when she died, and the family was living at Nicholson Street, Balmain. She was buried in Balmain Cemetery on 19 July 1876.
Caroline Susanna Martin 1848 – 1939 (Carrie)
Carrie was born on 6 July 1848 at 59 Gracechurch Street, London. She emigrated to Australia with her parents and older sister Emily in 1849 when she was just six months old.
In the 1905 Sands Directory there is an advertisement for Miss Carrie Martin, masseuse on the ground floor of the Imperial Arcade, 170 Pitt Street, Sydney.
The electoral roll says in 1913 Carrie was living at 31 Booth Street, Balmain and employed as a teacher.
The 1925 Sands Directory lists Carrie as living at ‘Eltham’, Smith Road, Artamon. The electoral rolls says that Carrie was living at ‘Eltham’, 4 Smith Street, Artamon with Agnes and Alice between 1930 and 1937. From 1931 – 1937 their nephew Neville also lived with them
Carrie died on 6 June 1939 at Chatswood, NSW. She was 91 years old when she died.
Alice Marian Martin
Alice Marian Martin was born on 8 October 1850 in Gundagai, NSW. Her parents Willliam and Sophie and two older sisters had settled at Gundagai after emigrating to Australia in 1849.
Alice was 15 months old when she died on 16 January 1852 in Bathurst, NSW, just after her younger sister Agnes was born.
Agnes Mary Martin
Agnes Mary Martin was born on 7 January 1852 in Balmain, NSW.
The electoral roll says that in 1913 Agnes was living at 31 Booth Street, Balmain and performing domestic duties.
The electoral rolls say that between 1930 and 1937 Agnes was living at ‘Eltham’, 4 Smith Street, Artamon with Caroline and Alice From 1931 – 1937 their nephew Neville also lived with them.
Agnes died at ‘Eltham’ on 24 May 1937 and was privately cremated. She was 85 years old when she died.
Gertrude and Alice were the executors of Agnes’ will.
Lydia Ann Martin 1854 – 1936
Lydia Ann Martin was born on 4 December 1854 in Balmain, NSW.
Lydia cared for her sister Emilie’s motherless children when Emilie died in 1876.
She married Henry Perdriau on 29 October 1884 when she was 30 years old, and had eight children with Henry (in addition to the three children Henry and Emilie had before Emilie died).
From 1930 to 1935, Henry and Lydia were living at 67 Bradleys Head Road, Mosman (according to the electoral roll).
Lydia died on 2 January 1936. She was 81 years old when she died.
Her obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald said:
Mrs. Lydia Ann Perdriau
Important events in European history and British and Australian commerce are linked with the name of Mrs Lydia Ann Perdriau, the widow of the late Mr Henry Perdriau, a pioneer of the Australian rubber and shipping industries. She died aged 81 years at her home in Bradley’s Head Road, Mosman, Sydney on January 2, after a long illness.
A native of Balmain, she was a direct descendant of General John Rowley who gave conspicuous service for Britain during the Napoleonic wars, and also of John le Martyn, a Huguenot who fled from the French Court to escape persecution after the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and who established the silk weaving industry in Spitalfields, England by importing French weavers. Another relative was the Rev. George Martin, of Norwich and Lewisham, England.
She married the grandson of Lieutenant-commander Stephen Perdriau, R.N., who was serving on H.M.S. Bellerophon when Napoleon boarded her and surrendered to Captain Maitland, her commander. Mrs Perdriau is survived by five daughters – Mrs George Browne of Mosman; Mis G Christie, of Wahroonga; Mrs T V Roberts of Woodford; Mrs R Woodruff, of Mosman; Mrs A C Buckle of Mosman; and two sons, Messrs Harry and James Perdriau.
Marian Eleanor Martin 1858 – 1939
Marian Eleanor Martin was born on 28 September 1858 in Hotspur Cottage, Balmain, NSW. Hotspur Cottage was a maternity home.
Her niece Marian Clare says:
Marian Eleanor Martin was a medical nurse. But at one time she and the rest of her family lived in a two storey house at Balmain. Her mother had heart trouble and the Doctor told her she was only to go down stairs once each day, because climbing up again was too much for her. When Marian heard that her mother had been healed of the heart trouble through Christian Science, she said “that is what I want to learn” and so she went to Boston in Massachusetts to have class instruction from one of Mrs Eddy’s pupils. She became successful in healing through Christian Science and lived to be 80. The whole family were also converted to Christian Science, some of them becoming practitioners.
It’s likely this happened before 1910 when she started to advertise as a Christian scientist. A Miss Marian Martin embarked from Sydney on 11 August 1902 to travel on the Aorangi to Vancouver but there’s no record of her arrival or return.
The 1895 and 1900 Sands Directories list Miss Marian Martin as having a private hospital at 248 Liverpool Street, Sydney
In the 1910 and 1915 Sands Directories Marian E Martin is listed on the Third Floor of the Savings Bank Chambers, 11 Moore Street, as a Christian scientist.
In the electoral roll in 1913 her occupation is nurse.
In the 1920, 1925 and 1930 Sands Directories she is listed as Miss M E Martin, Christian scientist, at Fifth floor, Mercantile Mutual Building, 14 Martin Place. She is living at 66 Albert Avenue, Chatswood.
Jean Martin, who married Marian’s nephew Neville Martin, says that Marian adopted a baby girl, Eileen Marian and lived with her at Chatswood. Her adopted daughter Marnie (known as Marian Eileen Wellesley or Marian Eileen Gough Martin) was Marian’s executor and sole beneficiary. Marnie was adopted in 1919 when Marian was 60 years old. She worked as a stenographer and secretary and died in 2008.
Marian died on 20 September 1939 at 66 Albert Avenue, Chatswood, NSW. She was 81 years old when she died. She was cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium on 21 September 1939.
Gertrude Marguerite Martin
Gertrude Marguerite Martin was born on 6 August 1860 in Wicliff Cottage, Ulladulla. Wicliff Cottage was a maternity home.
In 1898 she went as a governess and home help to the Elkington family (Harold and Clara Elkington). They had just lost their four-year-old daughter, Daisy, to typhoid fever, and Clara was expecting her seventh child. Gertie stayed with them for some time. The children called her Marty. The Martin and Elkington families kept in touch for the rest of their lives, and Agnes Elkington married Gertrude’s nephew Eric Martin in 1918.
One of her pupils, Edith Elkington, says:
And as Miss Martin used to say, as a strong Christian Scientist, “God will supply all your needs”. Miss Gertrude Marguerite Martin came to Burrier as governess to us, Horace and me and Lily. She helped mother there like a daughter, being about 26 years old then. (81 when she died at Artarmon). She would take us on Sundays to a big Apple Gum tree along a creek, we’d sit on a log and have Sunday School out of “Line upon Line” that the aunts had sent to Horace and me. I loved them and “Little Arthur’s History of England” and read and reread them. Miss Martin was then a Congregationalist and had an uncle a Minister, who did not approve of Christian Science at all.
When I was about 7, mother lit a fire in a place full of reeds where we used to play and it was very snaky. So she thought she would kill the snakes, and set fire to the reeds. Shoosh! and the fire rushed up the hills behind our house, and away. Miss Martin galloped barebacked to Mr McDonald our next-door neighbour and the men came and beat it out with bushes and wet bags. Horace and I had to damp down any fire in the grass, almost to our back fence and weatherboard house.
In 1930, when her younger brother George died, Gertie and her sister Clara were living at Somersby, Mangrove Mountain. Gertie died on 11 September 1948 at Artamon, NSW. She was 88 years old when she died.
Alice Theresa Martin
Alice Theresa Martin was born on 16 September 1862 in Ulladulla, NSW.
The electoral roll says that in 1913 Alice was living at Ridge Street, Gordon, NSW and performing domestic duties.
The electoral rolls between 1930 and 1937 say that Alice was living at ‘Eltham’, 4 Smith Street, Artamon with Caroline and Agnes Martin. From 1931 – 1937 their nephew Neville also lived with them
In 1943 Alice was living at 4 Smith Street with Agnes, Clare and Gertrude. Her sister Carrie died in 1939.
Alice died on 11 September 1948 at Artamon. She was 86 years old when she died.
Clara Elizabeth Martin 1865 – 1962
Clara Elizabeth Martin was born on 25 June 1865 in Ulladulla, NSW.
The electoral roll says that in 1913 Clara was living at 31 Booth Street, Balmain, and performing domestic duties.
Her niece Marian Clare says that:
Clara was a great artist, painting water colour mostly, wood carving and other forms of art. She went to live in Gosford and worked and owned a lemon orchard with a friend, Jessie Summerville*, later coming back to Artarmon. She lived to be 97 years old. While in Gosford she drove a T Model Ford and was a member of Gosford Christian Science Church** and First Reader.
*Jessie Summerville may be Jessie Jewkes Sommerville, born 1880, the daughter of John and Isabella Sommerville. Jessie married Ernest Joseph Skelton in 1909 and died in 1977. If this is the same Jessie, she was 15 years younger than Clara.
**First Church of Christ, Scientist. Was founded in 1924.
From 1932 to 1937 Clara was living at Somersby near Gosford, NSW and her occupation was gardener, according to the electoral roll. Her sister Gertrude was living with her in 1936 – 1937.
By 1943 she was living at 4 Smith Street, Artamon with Alice, Agnes, and Gertrude. In 1958 she was the last of the aunts still living at Artamon, the others having predeceased her.
Clara died on 19 June 1962 at Artamon, NSW at the age of 97 years. When she became ill, she was cared for by her nephew Neville Martin and his wife Jean. She died of cancer in hospital. Her house was sold for 5750 pounds
George Henry Martin 1868 – 1930
George Henry Martin (known as Harry) was born on 30 April 1868 in Ulladulla. He grew up in Ulladulla and Marulan, the youngest of 11 children.
In 1897 Harry writes to his mother from London where he visited family and investigated the meat export business. He says:
“Have been on the meat boats again. Last night had a great time. The dinner at the Holborn restaurant was a great success. Fancy G.H.M. with a frock coat, tall silk hat, pat leather boots, gloves, flower in coat. Spotless linen and etc etc. doing the heavy with managing directors, secretaries and etc. of London Companies, including a once Governor of New Zealand and a late Post Master General of Great Britain, but with it all I would far far sooner be in my little room at home with a crust of bread and a glass of water.”
Harry married Blanch Rosetta Smith in 1899 and they had three children, Lynden, Marie and Rita. The family lived at Drummoyne Avenue, Drummoyne, and later at 123 O’Sulllivan Road, Rose Bay. They also had a cottage at Sunshine, Morriset.
Harry was a businessman and JP, and died a wealthy man. He imported various products from overseas, including Valvoline.