Maria Henniker 1828 – 1878
Maria Henniker was born in Westwell, Kent on the 10th October 1828. She travelled to Australia with her family on the Hooghly in 1839. Maria married Charles Hunt on 24 December 1844 at Holy Trinity Church, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia.
After the death of her husband Charles Hunt, Maria married William Attree on 1 August 1870, at the Adelaide Registry Office.
Harriet Henniker 1830 – 1909
Ann Henniker born in Westwell in 1833, married John Turrell at St George Church, Gawler, on 14 April 1851. Apart from their date of marriage, I haven’t been able to find any further records for either John or Ann, and under either surnames. I have also checked as best I could with interstate records, but can’t determine any matches. My assumption would be they moved interstate at some stage. I have also tried out variations of the name Turrell, and in fact Trove does this whether it is asked for or not, names that sound similar have popped up when doing a Trove newspaper search. At this stage I will leave the information as I know it.
*Catherine Frances Henniker 1835 – 1908, married James Wesley at St George Church, Gawler, on 8 Jan 1853.
It appears that like many other early settlers, the couple moved to Wallaroo as that is where most of their children were born. Copper Ore was discovered and a mine opened at Wallaroo Mines in 1859, the mines actually being at Kadina, and a railway line formed between Wallaroo Mines (at Kadina) and the smelters that were at Wallaroo.
The children of Catherine and James are as follows:
*Elizabeth Betsey Wesley, b: 12 April 1857 at Gawler, South Australia. *Elizabeth married *William George Henley on 26 November 1878 at the residence of David Badger, Port Augusta, South Australia.
*Charles Thomas Wesley, b: 26 Oct 1859 at Gawler Town, South Australia
*Rosetta Wesley, b: 9 May 1865 at Wallaroo, South Australia
*Albert Wesley b: 3 October 1867 at Port Wallaroo, South Australia. *Albert and his wife *Amelia Cox, who married on the 9 September 1891 at Trinity Church, Adelaide. They lived in Western Australia with Albert passing away on the 17 November 1944. He is buried at the Karrakatta Cemetery, Nedlands, Western Australia.
The children of Albert and Amelia were: *Doris Alfreda, born 30 Jun 1892 at Stirling East, South Australia; *Pearl born 21 Sep 1894 at Aldgate Valley, South Australia; *Edith born 12 Jun 1896 at Aldgate, South Australia; *Nellie born 12 Dec 1897 Aldgate, South Australia; *Gladys May born 10 Sep 1900 at Aldgate, South Australia. Records show a burial record for Gladys May Wesley 23 Feb 1901 at Stirling East, South Australia. Albert Edward was born in 1904 at Chidlow’s Well, Western Australia. As Albert died in 1944 in the Chidlow’s Well area of Western Australia, it appears the family were in Western Australia by at least 1904, or perhaps earlier. Amelia (nee Cox) apparently returned to South Australia sometime after her husband Albert had passed away. Her death notice reads:
“WESLEY, On August 5, at her residence, 24 Myponga Terrace, Kilkenny, South Australia, Amelia beloved wife of the late Albert Wesley and loving mother of Doris, Pearl Nellie and Albert Edward. Aged 80 years. [The Adelaide Advertiser/Thu 6 Aug 1953/Page 20/Family Notices]“
*Arthur Wesley, b: 5 July 1869 at Wallaroo, South Australia married Rose Elsley on 6 April 1896 at the Wesleyan Church, Mylor, South Australia. Their children include: Alice Louisa Florance born 18 Dec 1899, Arthur George born 18 Sep 1903 at Rose Park, Norwood, and Alfred James born 31 Aug 1901, at Aldgate.
*Christilina Wesley, b: 19 August 1871 at Wallaroo, South Australia. The marriage of Chrystalina (as spelt on marriage records) took place on 8 October 1890, to Peter Cox at the Church of the Epithany, at Crafers, South Australia.
*Florence Maria Wesley b: 24 July 1873 at Wallaroo, South Australia, Florence was baptised at the Wallaroo Anglican church on 8 February 1874. Her father James occupation is given as a “Carter”.
*Andrew Wesley born 5 March 1876 at Wallaroo, South Australia. Andrew was baptised at Wallaroo Angican Church on 7 May 1876, his father James occupation is given as a “Carter”.
Apart from the birth record of Andrew, I have been unable to find any further information about him.
Thomas Henniker was the 2nd son of Thomas Henniker and Jemima Willis and their 6th child. He was born in Westwell, Kent, England and was baptised on the 2nd July 1837 in Westwell, Kent.
Thomas migrated with his family to South Australia in 1839, on the Hooghly, and was probably aged 2-3 years at the time of emigration.
Along with his parents and siblings, he lived initially in the First Creek area, and then Magill, eventually moving to the district of Gawler, South Australia, where his parents lived out the rest of their lives.
I haven’t been able to find a great deal of information about Thomas‘ life, except to say it appears to have been a one with difficulty for him.
On Christmas day 1861 *Thomas married Eliza Smith. (25 Dec 1861) at St George Church, Gawler, South Australia. He was aged 24 and Eliza was 17. Eliza’s father is recorded as being a *William Smith [genealogysa.org.au bdm database]
On February the 15th 1872 Thomas was tried at the Supreme Court for larceny, with 12 months hard labour. [South Australia Police Gazette, March 13, 1872, page 42]. On the 6th November 1872 the [South Australia Police Gazette, page 179], published the following: Thomas Henneker, tried at Adelaide 13th February 1872, for larceny of 40 pounds from William Cornwall of Roseworthy, sentence 1 year hard labour, native of East Kent, a labourer. Age 33 years, height 5 ft 5 and 1/2 inches, complexion, fresh, hair dark brown, eyes dark blue, nose small and pointed, mouth wide, vaccine marks on left arm. Freedom due 8th November 1872.
After their marriage, little information seems to be known or recorded or Thomas and Eliza. I am unable to find any references to births of children in the S.A. Genealogy Society online databases, and at present, I don’t see any information that they went interstate, although this could be the case. The next report I found was for Thomas, which was from the Admissions Register of the Adelaide Destitute Asylum. This records the following: “Register of Admissions – Destitute Asylum 1906 – 191? Admission Number: 40/1908. – Heneker, Thomas, age 71. Admission Number: 57/1911. – Heneker, Thomas, age 74.
It is recorded that Thomas died on the 4th November 1911 in Adelaide. [Australia, death index, pg.88/v361] aged 74 years. It appears that Thomas died whilst residing at the Adelaide Destitute Asylum. He was buried at West Terrace Cemetery on the 4th November 1911, road 5 extension, road number C13] I have visited the site and it is an unmarked grave.
I have not been able to find any further information about Eliza, including any remarriage under the name of Eliza Henniker (and other versions of the name Heneker). Also I have found no information in newspapers of the day regarding Thomas or Eliza.
William Heneker – 1840 – 1896
I have previously posted a biography of William Heneker.
George Heneker – 1843 – unknown
*George Heneker was born on the 10th December 1843 at First Creek, South Australia to Thomas Henniker and Mary (Jemima) Willis. There appear to be no further records for George, nor can I find any hints on related family trees that have been published. I believe that George may have died young due to a lack of records of his life.
*Robert Heneker was born on 23 January 1845 at First Creek, South Australia. This area was probably in the same area as Magill, where other children of Thomas and Jemima were born. The First Creek locality runs through the suburbs from Waterfall Gully, Magill and discharges into the Torrens River, therefore this area appears to be one of the first places that the Henniker/Heneker family resided during the early years of their settlement.
As with George Henniker, I find no records in Death or Marriage records for Robert, even looking under different spelling of his surname. Nor can I find any published records such as newspapers etc.
*Henry Heneker was born on 6 October 1846 at Magill, South Australia. This would likely have been when his father Thomas was working as the first “lime burner” at Magill. No other records appear to exist for Henry.
James Heneker – 1826 – 1917
James Heneker has a number of posts previously written about him in this blog.
**PLEASE NOTE: Where I have identified births, deaths, marriages or any other references obtained from the Genealogy Society of SA I have put an asterisk * at the front of the person’s name, to save having to enter the reference everytime. The Genealogy Society of SA website allows non members to check records, but not all information is shown. Members can see the complete record as transcribed by the Genealogy Society of SA. The website is https://genealogysa.org.au/. The society is situated at 201 Unley Road, Unley, South Australia.
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