Jabez James operated a beer house, on the south side of Cannibal Creek, in what is now North Garfield, from 1866. He had an eventful life with what appears to be little success on either a personal or financial level. This is the story of James and the mother of his children, Maria Goldsmith (some of which is fact and some of which is conjecture or educated guesses)
Jabez was born in England around 1823 and he arrived in
Victoria on the Ameer in March 1852 (1). Also on the ship
was a man listed as A. Goldsmith. The two men had their occupation listed as labourer.
Two years later in July 1854, 20-year-old Mary Ann (also called Maria) Goldsmith
and her 18-year-old sister Elizabeth arrived in Melbourne on the Ontario. Maria
and her sister were born in Kent, were domestic servants and a note on the
shipping record says that Maria was engaged by Mrs Woodruff of Brunswick and
Elizabeth by Mrs Bathurst of Heidelberg (2).
Somehow, Maria met Jabez, perhaps through his shipmate, Mr
A. Goldsmith. What we do know is that in December 1855 Maria gave birth in
North Melbourne, to a baby girl whom she named Agnes Maria. Agnes’ birth
certificate states that the father was John William Goldsmith, a blacksmith,
born in Kent and the mother was Maria nee Richards (3). However, when Agnes married
James Charles Bowden in 1873 her marriage certificate lists her surname as
Janes and her father as Jabez Janes. Her
1891 death record lists her maiden name as Janes. I suspect that Jabez was the
real father and that Maria ‘created’ a husband to cover the fact that the baby
was born illegitimate, a stigma in those days (4).
Six more children (5) followed -
- Clara Jane (1857-1928) Clara’s surname at birth was Goldsmith, her birth was registered in Melbourne and the father listed as unknown. Clara’s surname when she married Charles Roberts in 1874 was listed as Janes and Jabez is listed as her father on her death certificate.
- James George (born and died 1859). Registered at birth and death as Janes. Place of registration was Melbourne.
- Harry William (1861-1942) His birth was registered twice - under Goldsmith and under Janes. Place of registration was Melbourne. He married Mary Morrow in 1894. His marriage and death registrations were under Janes. His death certificate lists his birthplace as Labertouche Creek.
- Caroline (1863- death date unknown) Surname at birth was Goldsmith, birth was registered at Williamstown and the father listed as unknown. I have no other information about her.
- Alfred Walter (1865-1947) Surname at birth was Goldsmith, father listed as unknown, birth registered at Melbourne. Married Marguerite Barry in 1891. His marriage and death registrations were under Janes.
- Emily Sarah (1867-1933) Birth registered under Janes at Emerald Hill (South Melbourne). Married Johan Erik Johanneson in 1887.
Jabez and Maria never married each other which given the
stigma, as I said before, of having children out of wedlock was unusual. Possible
reasons are that he was already married in England or she was actually married
to John William Goldsmith and they separated and she then took up with Jabez
(in which case the shipping record I found belongs to another Mary Ann
Goldsmith). I don’t know, but I feel that he had already married in
England.
Back to Jabez. His various interactions with the legal system were
reported in the newspapers. The first we
hear of him is in January 1859 when there was a report in The Argus
about his insolvency. His occupation was listed as a carter and his address was
North Melbourne (6). Jabez’s estate was placed under sequestration which meant a
Trustee was appointed to take charge of his estate, liquidate assets, and
settle any debts. In the August the court approved of the plan of distribution
to settle his debts (7). Two years later in
April 1861 his estate was placed under sequestration again (8). This time his
occupation was listed as mail contractor and his address was Big Hill, which
was a mining town south of Bendigo. He was discharged from the second insolvency
in September 1862 (9).
In December 1864, Jabez Janes advertised of his intention to apply to the Dandenong Magistrates Court for a publican’s licence for a house situated at Labertouche Creek, Gippsland Road. The premises were described as being constructed of lath and plaster, containing two sitting rooms, four bedrooms exclusive of those required by my family and it was to be known as the Diggers’ Rest (10). He describes himself as a storekeeper (see above) so was he already operating a store at Labertouche Creek and he wished to change it to a Hotel? It appears he wasn’t granted the licence as he applied again in July 1865, this time to the Berwick Magistrates court for the same licence for Diggers’ Rest (11). Labertouche Creek is north of Longwarry and runs into the Tarago River. It is interesting that his son, William Harry, born in 1861, believed he was born at Labertouche Creek, even though the family (or at least Jabez) were at Big Hill in 1860/1861 (12).
In September 1865, Jabez was charged with careless driving in Collins Street injuring a woman named Margaret Bell (13). He was fined £10, appealed the decision, but the appeal was rejected (14).
In January 1866, Jabez was back in the newspapers again in the reports of an Inquest on the body of a man whose name is unknown, who was found dead in the bush, near the Wombat Creek, on the Gipps Land road. Jabez James, a publican, whilst engaged looking for a horse, saw the body of the deceased lying near a waterhole.…The jury, in the absence of any direct evidence to show how the deceased met with his death, returned a verdict of found dead in the bush (15).
In December 1866 the following public notice appeared in The Argus -I, JABEZ JANES, now residing at Cannibal Creek, do hereby give notice, that it is my Intention to apply to the justices sitting at the Court of Petty Sessions, to be holden at Berwick on the 4th day of January next, for a CERTIFICATE authorising the issue of a BEER LICENCE in my house, of five rooms finished and others partly built, situated at Cannibal Creek, and unlicensed. Dated 15th day of December 1866 (16). The location of his hotel was on the south side of Cannibal Creek, in the vicinity of Bassed Road, and was later the site of the Pig & Whistle Hotel (17).
Later in 1870, Jabez was once more before the court, this
time the Williamstown court. Here is the report from The Argus of November
4, 1870. Mary Ann Goldsmith summoned Jabez Janes, a beer-seller at
Cannibal's Creek, near Dandenong, for deserting his family. This was a
distressing case. Both parties were advanced in life, and it appears that they
had cohabited for a great number of years, and that the woman had borne him
five children. The eldest was 15, and the youngest was three years old.
Complainant stated that she left Cannibal's Creek on the 14th September, and
brought the children to Williamstown, the defendant having left her and the
children without support. Since their stay in Williamstown they had been
getting relief from the Ladies' Benevolent Society. Janes admitted that the
children were his, and that the complainant was their mother. He was unable to
work through bad health, but he was willing to take charge of the two little
boys, and a friend of his would provide for the youngest child. Their mother,
however, refused to let them go. The Bench ordered the defendant to pay 20s.
per week for the children's support and find one good surety in £20 for the
payment of the money. As the man had neither money nor friends to assist him,
he was sent to gaol (21).
The report says that there were five children, the eldest 15
which was the age of Agnes, which gives some weight to my theory that Jabez was
actually her father. It also suggests that their daughter, Caroline, had also
died young, as if she were still alive there would have been six children.
Jabez either could not or did not take the 'opportunity' of paying the money he owed Maria for the support of his children as in December 1871 he was charged on warrant with deserting the family. This is the last we hear of Jabez.
Maria died at only 42 years of age on August 7, 1874 at the Benevolent Asylum in North Melbourne. Her death certificate lists her surname as Janes, said she was a domestic servant, widow with five children, was born in Kent and had been in Australia for 20 years. It also lists her father as Charles and her mother’s name as Maria (23). It would have been devastating for the children to lose their mother, who obviously did all she could to keep her family together in the days when employment opportunities for women with children were scare, child care was non-existent, there was no supporting parents benefit and no financial report from the father. I really hope that the children had happy lives. I have found death notices for three of the children and Clara’s death notice said that she was a loved mother; Harry was a loved husband and father and Alfred a loved husband, father, and fond uncle (24).
I cannot find a death record for Jabez, but if the statement
on Maria’s death certificate is correct, he had already passed away by 1874.
