EDDY Family of Cornwall

Alt Death: 16 Nov 1904 Brown Hill, Boulder, Western Australia

Notes from David John & Lorraine Eddy: Born in Cornwall, and the second of their children to survive, he arrived with his father, step-mother and brothers at Port Adelaide aboard the "Hydaspes" which sailed out of Plymouth in 1876 when he was 19 years old. He married Elizabeth Mary Ellery in South Australia in 1879, moved to Sandhurst, Broken Hill, back to Port Adelaide where he sailed with his brother James' wife & children aboard the RMS "Oraya" for Albany, WA to reach the Kalgoorlie and Boulder mines. His wife and 8 children did not accompany them, and must have come later when their camp was set up. I have sketches of these primitive tin and hessian dwellings, making life harsh. Kalgoorlie's climate is one of extremes and anyones ability to survive those days is simply amazing. Water was more expensive than gold before C.Y. O'Connor found a way of pumping it from the Mundaring Dam in the Perth foothills. Many babies and children as well as adults died horrific deaths known as "summer diarrhea", in which they aborted the lining of their bowels. All the usual diseases common to most Australian mining fields, like cholera and diphtheria took many of their lives. Many men failed to reach their 50's due to lead, copper and other mine dusts entering their lungs, and died a painful death known as miner's complaint. At the time of his father, Benjamin's death Samuel & Elizabeth and six of their children were living in Black Street, Bendigo in 1886, his father residing with them. He sang, along with his brothers at the the California Gully Methodist Church Chior. The 1908 Electoral Roles show Elizabeth as residing on the West Boulder Lease. Earlier records do not show them at that site, but he did work on the Brown Hill mine owned by the Bank of England. After Samuels death in a mine fire caused by a running fuse, in the South Kalgoorlie Mine on November 16th, 1904, aged 47 years, his widow and children were cared for by his brother Walter at the "Brown Hill" camp in Kalgoorlie where the very poor lived, until Walter's death in a mine collapse, occurred in 1914, when he was aged 39 years. It is said that Elizabeth was buying clothes when she saw the cart carrying Samuels body to the morgue. After Walter's death Elizabeth moved to Perth and was eventually buried at Karrakatta Cemetery. No more is known of the family apart from what records I have noted for them.

Many Eddy families living from Southern Cross, Geraldton and around Perth claim kinship. *Some of the names I will list here but do not know their connection either to Samuel or perhaps were his Uncles descendants who may have come out here encouraged by the Trade collapse and the introduction of the Corn Laws in England. Right across the family, most of whom did not know each other it was said that their ancestor who first came to South Australia brought his brothers as well. The task to verify this is far too huge but many Eddy families whose roots began in Cornwall, where the name seemed common in the 1990's began their story in the copper fields of South Australia, have contacted me over the years seeking connection. The name is not common in Australia, especially as far back as the 1970's when very few were listed in the phone books.

*Kevin W. and Doug Eddy. Allan Thatcher

Max Coad, descendant of Samuel's brother John, from Bendigo, wrote the following to me in 1991 when he visited Perth while I was on an around the world trip with my husband to visit his father, Bevan Eddy at Enniskillen in Ireland and our daughter, Helen Marchesani (nee' Eddy), then living in Bermuda.

PLEASE NOTE: This letter was received while I was away overseas in 1991 and found by my son in his belongings after his marriage. He was at the University of WA and it had become lodged amongst his papers, which I sorted out in 1996, after moving house. I did not hear from the Coad's again and they must have assumed that I was no longer interested in our common cause. I have written to Pam, Max's widow explaining what had occurred and hope to resume contact and swap more information. It is now 1998 and following these leads may be far too late.

From a letter written by Max to Lorraine Eddy:- "While I was in Perth, I rang a Frank Eddy, and he told me to ring his mother, as she liked talking of the past. She has remarried and her name is Mrs Hubbard, and she is about 83. She claimed she belonged to one of Benjamin's brother's family. At that time I was only interested in finding our Benjamin (Snr) and just starting a tree. She told me of a Richard Eddy who was a member of Parliament, and also talked of William Thomas, Garrett, Ernest, Joseph and an Ethel Bates, nee' Eddy. Her nephew Frederick Symons, worked at the Taxation Office in Perth. She also told me about some relatives having an Hotel in Bendigo (my grandparents John Newton & Eleanor Eddy owned the Cumberland Hotel). She sounded a dear person & enjoyed talking to me, it may prove worthwhile if you could give her a call being a Perth number. "

Beryl Prater, daughter of Mable (Samuel's daughter) attended Leila Eddy's (widow of James Eddy) funeral but was merely passing through Perth confirmed quite a lot of information. It was she who told me that James Eddy's widow Emily had remarried in Perth and was buried at Karrakatta as Emily Williams.