Caroline KERRISON, born 25 Dec 1820, Wymondham, Norfolk, England, died 24 Jun 1876, Wilson's Lead, Victoria. SOURCE NOTES: Death Certificate No. 1597(?) in the District of Dunolly says that she died of peritonitis which she had had for 5 days. Married 4 Jul 1836, Perth, Tas., John STEVENS HANCOCK, born 14 Feb 1805, HOLLOWAY, Middlesex, London, died 8 Jan 1884, Wild Dog, Victoria.

Lived married life at Mount Barker, South Australia and Burnt Creek, Victoria.

The following extract is from the book “Kerrisons in Tasmania 1835-1985” by Mandi Ann Haynes nee Kerrison, pages 18-22:

It is worth sparing a moment to imagine how Caroline felt at the age of fifteen stepping ashore at Launceston two day ahead of her parents and going into service of a strange family. Was she excited, afraid or resigned? To make a fresh start in a strange land at such a young age and be to be separated from your large family, in such circumstances, would be nought but terrifying for most modern girls.

According to an historian who spoke to Jacqueline Willis, one of Caroline’s great-great nieces, the Henty family, who Caroline served, was less than an ideal placement. The Hentys originally came from England, where they were very wealthy breeders of Merino sheep. The parents and four sons came to Van Dieman’s Land by chartered ship, bringing fifty two servants. James Henty, Caroline’s employer, was the “bad egg”. He managed the family import-export business at Launceston, and usurped his father’s position as head of the family, even going so far as to forge his father’s signature on documents. He bankrupted the business in 1842 but his brother helped him to start again in Richmond, Melbourne.

Research by Rex Kerrison, a great-grandson of both Solomon and Robert, has revealed that, after only eight months in the colony, Caroline was wed, in a bigamous marriage to Stephen Hancock, an artificer and mechanic.

Hancock was an ex-convict, born in Holloway, Middlesex in 1805 and transported in 1829, for stealing 32 fowls. He left behind a wife and family in Conduit Falls.

John and Caroline had two daughters, born in 1837 and 1839 and one son born in 1841. Another daughter was born in 1843 and nine more children followed in subsequent years.

After their marriage John and Caroline spent a few years in George Town. Then on the 12 Nov 1845 they set sail on the “Henry” for Mt Barker in South Australia. Between 1858 and 1861 John and Caroline moved to the Burnt Creek area of Victoria. Caroline died 24 Jun 1876 at Wilsons Lead and is buried in the Dunolly Cemetery, fifty to sixty kilometres east of Bendigo. John outlived Caroline by seven years, dying at Wild Dog on the 8 Jan 1883. Their grave also includes their son, Cornelius who died just ten days before his mother, at the age of 26.

Caroline’s first son was George and his grandson still runs the local newspaper. George start a venture which still bears the name “Model Farm” though it has nov passed out of the family’s hands. The farm was completely self-supporting and supplied the local township with the best butter. The locals still look on the farm as something rather special and talk of the dam built in 1880 which has never known to go dry, even in 1983, in the worst drought that Australia has known.

George’s grandson reported to Jacqueline Willis, that one of Caroline’s children, Bob, was born blind. Caroline’s daughters Caroline and Eliza married James and William Leeder respectively. However, William was the son of Caroline and James so that an aunt married her nephew and over the years continued inter-marrying has caused some problems in later generations.

John was a convict.

Shirley Alice WOLLARD seems to be researching this line from the First Familes 2001 website. States he came on the “Thames” in 1829 to Australia.

Geoffrey Graham Ralph also seems to researching this line from the First Families 2001 website.