Henrietta Brown formerly Smith nee Driver FFFM

Name: Henrietta Brown formerly Smith nee Driver
Date and place of birth: 25 November 1807 Bidborough, Kent
Names of parents: Martin Driver and Hannah Midmore
Date and place of baptism: 27 December 1807 Bidborough, Kent
Marriages:
1. Robert Smith 26 October, 1826 Tonbridge, Kent (his mark, she signed)
2. George Minto Brown 8 November 1859 at Fairfield, NSW (Robert had died 12 months earlier - George was 15 years younger than Henrietta so she was rather creative with her age on the marriage registration ..
Occupation(s): Need to find exact details -She ran a grocery shop in Tunbridge Wells, and Smith's family hotel at Fairfield, NSW as well as a store in the gold fields of Timbarra region near Drake .. Letters from her are in a NSW state parliament paper, requesting compensation for cheques that had bounced in payment of board and lodging at her hotel for workers on the road maintenance teams
Addresses where they lived: Bidborough and Tunbridge Wells, Kent;
Robert, Henrietta, George, Harry & Lucy Mary sailed from London via Plymouth on the “Coromandel” on the 14 June 1838 and after 110 days sailing, arrived Sydney on 2 October 1838
Assigned servant to the Ogilvies for 12 months at “Merton”, near Jerrys Plains in Hunter River area, Robert and boys moved stock to “Yugilbar” (Ref. “Squatters Castle” by George Farwell) and Fairfield, in the Clarence River area of NSW
Date, place and cause of death: 20 February, 1871 Fairfield/Drake, NSW of Consumption
Date and place of burial: February 1871 across the creek on land they would have owned at Fairfield. In 2000 the headstones were across the creek from where Lawrence’s brick house is at Drake, NSW.
Details of will / administration of their estate: Need to find
Memorial inscription: Need to find
Children: Baptised - Holy Trinity Tunbridge Wells, Kent – William 1829-1830, George 1830, Harry 1833, Lucy Mary Ann 1836, Merton NSW – Merton 1840, William Robert (haven’t found probably Jerry’s Plains), Reg. Jerry’s Plains, NSW : Henrietta 1844, Andrew 1845, Eliza 1848

[kiterunner]

Not sure whether you have seen this post on the Family Photos thread, Julie?

http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/f...1&postcount=40

Presumably her second marriage cert and / or her death cert show her parents' names as Martin and Hannah? I can't see the death registration on NSW BDM or ancestry to check what it says on the index. The "Australia Cemetery Index" on ancestry says "Remarks: d/o Ernest M Driver marr.1.Robert Smith 2.George Minto Brown "

I've got to go out, but this is a thread where we tried to sort the Drivers .. we got a bit sidetracked. It seems to me that Henrietta was trying to get more opportunites for her family which included private education for her children. When they first came to Australia they were hired by the Ogilvies at Merton (now Denman) on the Hunter River. Merton is where my ancestor was born - hence Merton Smith. Ogilvies were Military Gentry and the Smiths were given opportunites by the Ogilvies that Henrietta might have thought they wouldn't get if their origins were known. There were lots of family stories that a sailor fell overboard when they were in Sydney Harbour and that Henrietta was so shocked that she dropped her bag overboard which included her papers of introduction. Another story was that she was heavily pregnant but no record of the birth can be found. This is the link

http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/f...hlight=Baronet