Forbes New South Wales 1861 1900

The Matthews and Reeves Families: James Matthews and Betsy Goode

William and Sarah Matthews lived in Harston and Parish records indicate at least two children, John born in 1804 at Harston, and James born at Harston on 25 October 1817. Other records suggest that there were two other sons, Thomas born around 1814, and David, born around 1821.[3] William, the Tailor, died aged 45 and was buried at harston on 10 March 1825. Soon after Ann's birth James and Betsy moved to back to Harston and lived in Church Street where their second daughter, Eliza, was born on 5 April 1847. The third daughter, Mary Ann, was born on 31 March 1849. Nine months later, on 27 December 1849, the first daughter, Ann, died, aged only four. A fourth daughter, Susan, was born on 4 January 1852. By 1856 the James and Betsy Matthews and his younger brother David, with David’s wife Elizabeth Nesmith and three children, had moved to Victoria. James and Betsy settled at Amherst, while it appears that David and Elizabeth remained closer to Ballarat and Buninyong. James and Betsy’s daughter Eliza may have remained in Sydney with the older brother Thomas. Eliza later made her way to Forbes in New South Wales where, at the age of 16 she married John Jeffries.[4] David Thomas Matthews , or Tom, was born on 23 August 1859. He married his first wife, Sarah, on 20 December 1884, but she died in May 1889 aged only twenty four . Some years later he married Harriet Amelia Bunting who was seventeen years younger than him. For most of his life Tom worked as a miner around Amherst, but during the early years of the twentieth century he took a position as Sexton at the Amherst Cemetery . He died, aged 71 in 1930. His wife Harriet died in August 1959 aged eighty three . James David Matthews , always known as Dave, was born at Amherst on 25 August 1861. On 27 June 1886 he married Jane Reeves, the daughter of William John and Mary Ann Reeves, at her sister's house at Narrigal. David and Jane moved to Maryborough after their marriage but returned to the White Horse Reef after David's mother died in 1889 . His life is described in detail in a later chapter. William Frederick Matthews was born at Amherst on 22 June 1867 and later married Barbara. Their first child was named Mervyn Sylverton. The second was named William, and their daughter was Sylvia. William Matthews worked as a signalman on the railways at North Melbourne during the early 1900s and his son Mervyn became a tailor in Melbourne.

The New South Wales law reports, 1880-1900

A history of criminal law in New South Wales, the colonial period, 1788-1900

Hawaiian National Bibliography, 1780-1900: 1851-1880

Annual report - New South Wales Department of Mines

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