Marsh Gibbon - James White

James White (1840 - 1926)

James was listed in records within the Bairnsdale district as a 'Gentleman'. This usually meant that this person had land. James never married and was well known at the time in the area of Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia .

Like his brothers he most likely pursued the gold in order to purchase property. It is imagined that he also started out at Dunolly, Victoria, Australia where his father Thomas and step mother Fanny had settled. James is burried in the Bairnsdale Cemetery. He was the eldest of Thomas White and Mary Whale. The parents of Thomas were Thomas White and Mary Spiers.

Marsh Gibbon - Henry White

Henry White (1842 – 1911)

Henry is the 2nd of three brothers who were born in Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, England. He was listed in the 1851 census with his two brothers and his father Thomas. His mother Mary Whale had passed away in 1846. The 18 year old was listed in the 1861 census as living in the parish of Ambrosden in Oxfordshire, England and worked as a servant and baker to Rowland and Mary Hening. It appears that Henry’s father Thomas, his second wife Fanny (nee Coles) and his young brother Amos aged 16, sailed to Australia on the “Utopia” in 1861.

The evidence on the shipping records suggests that Thomas went back to Buckinghamshire to collect Henry and bring him back to Australia on the “Suffolk” in 1869 as the shipping records indicate.

Henry married Annie Louise Letts in Dunolly, Victoria , Australia on 7th November 1870. Henry was listed as a miner at this stage. It seems that the brothers and father Thomas followed the gold because Dunolly was a very important gold area. It is assumed that they were successful in some small way that set them up for their future because they were all successful men.

Annie and Henry had twelve children of which only five survived. The times were very hard, and they did not have the facilities we take for granted today. Annie had three children in January 1880, twins Nellie and John who lived one day. Another child Mary born in December lived only one day. How very sad for Annie and Henry. Henry and Annie eventually moved to Nicholson Park area near Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia where Henry’s brother Amos was living. Two of Henry and Annie’s surviving sons Charles and George went to live in New Zealand. His other son Ernest started out in the Nicholson Park area and his two sisters also lived in Victoria.

Marsh Gibbon - Amos White

Amos White (1846 - 1932)

Amos selected his first 50 acres on the Nicholson (1) about 1872. They lived at three different sites on his holding which was then known as Glenfern. We remember only the present home, even though it is much changed from our childhood years there. Mr Charles Kennedy and family, present owners, say a pear tree still survives at site two. A huge light wood tree, which the 1965 fires destroyed, was found to have grown up through the old stone fireplace, which was the bark home Amos White first brought his wife and young son to. The other six children were all born at Nicholson Park.

As adjoining families moved away, Amos White purchased their properties, increasing his acreage to 320 acres. They commenced dairying, having plenty of milkers (2). The family all lived there only moving out to find work during drought etc. The three boys turned to timber work, as bridge timbers and sleepers were in demand with railways going through to Orbost (3). The elder girls had a Cook House made from sacks sewn together and they cooked for the workers at Bruthen, potatoes, pumpkin etc. All being grown at Nicholson Park as no doubt were the butter and eggs.

Several sawmills had commenced operations in the area, so timber buildings took over from the previous bark dwellings. Also, with relevant galvanised iron and tanks, peole were able to build on higher ground.

The timber for the Waterhole’s School was cut and donated by the White family. The sawmills were always situated near water for the steam engines which powered them.

Emily (Mrs Stanton), was the only member of the family to have children. They had moved back to Nicholson Park after Amos passed away, and it was here that her husband Reg was killed by a falling tree while getting wood. After that she moved to Granite Rock with her seven children. Mrs Betty Bowden is the only descendent to still be living in the area (4).

Obituary
“ A very old colonist and resident of the Waterhole’s district for the past 60 years in the person of Mr Amos White passed away at his home at “Hillcrest”, Sarsfield Road on Sunday last in his 89th year. The late Mr White was a native of Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, England, and was one of three brothers to come to Australia in 1861. Amos along with his father Thomas and step mother Fanny (Coles) sailed to Australia on the 'Utopia'. Soon after his arrival he turned his attention to gold mining, including Ballarat which was flourishing at the time. He was also at the Palmer River Queensland, and the New Zealand rush. Later he was active in the Nicholson River area when it was producing good values. Subsequently the late Mr White engaged in farming pursuits in the Nicholson and Waterhole’s districts and at Sarsfield Road with success. He was of a very genial disposition which made for him many staunch friends. He is survived by a widow and family of three sons, Robert, William and Amos and four daughters, Queen, Alice, Millie (Mrs Stanton) Yea, and Maud.

Accompanied by his wife and one son the deceased arrived at Nicholson from Ballarat per medium of horse and dray before any roads were in existence or any railways in Gippsland. The late Mr White was predeceased by two of his brothers, James (miner) and Harry (baker) (5) both formerly well known in Bairnsdale.

The funeral took place in the Bairnsdale General Cemetery on Monday when the Rev. J. E. Stannage conducted the burial service.”

Ellen died 11 years later, 13th August 1942 at the property at Sand Hill known as “Hillcrest”.

I suspect that Thomas may have gone back to England to get his son Henry and travelled back to Australia on the Suffolk in 1869 (6).

Notes:

1. Nicholson reference is the Nicholson River between Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia.
2. Plenty of milkers could mean the actual number of cows or there were many hands to do the work.
3. Orbost is a timber town past Lakes Entrance in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia.
4. This was in Harry's correct name was Henry.
5. This is making assumption based on the shipping records.

Source: “Up The Clifton Creek” was put together by the Clifton Creek Primary School. First published in 1988 at the school. Amos granddaughter Betty Bowden had a large input into the information and photographs.

Marsh Gibbon the town

"This parish, on the Oxfordshire border, covers 2817 acres, nearly the whole of which is permanent grass. The soil and subsoil are clay; the principal crops produced are wheat, beans and oats. The parish, which is watered by the River Ray, lies low, varying from 255 ft. above the ordnance datum in the north to 204 ft. in the south.
Marsh Gibbon village is large, its main street extending nearly a mile in length. Many of the cottages date from the middle of the 19th century, when Sir Henry Acland, bart., master of Ewelme, together with the Ewelme trustees, greatly improved the condition of the village. It had suffered from a long suit in Chancery, from the In closure Act and non-resident landlords, but under his care the houses were re-built, modern sanitation introduced, and a dispensary and reading room started."
(Editors of The Victoria Histories of the Counties of England)

Marsh Gibbon

Marsh Gibbon is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is close to the border Oxfordshire about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Bicester.

The village name comes from the English word 'marsh', describing the typical state of land in the area due to the high water table of the Aylesbury Vale. The affix 'Gibbon' derives from the family name 'Gibwen', the lords of the manor here in the twelfth century. In manorial rolls of 1292 the village was recorded as Mersh Gibwyne, though earlier (in 1086) it was known simply as Merse.

Typical with other villages in proximity to both Oxford, Marsh Gibbon was largely wiped off the map in the English Civil War. A particular skirmish took place here in 1645, the ground works of which still remain to this day at the manor house. The parish church of Marsh Gibbon is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.
Source: Wikipedia

Marsh Gibbon – my connections

Marsh Gibbon has been a part of me nearly all my life. I have never been there although, I would very much like to visit.

My name is Margaret and I live half a world away from Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, England. I live south-east of Melbourne the capital city in the state of Victoria, in Australia.

I have been a family history buff for at least 40 years of my life and the more I research my White family, the more people I find, who have either been born, married or died in Marsh Gibbon. Other Marsh Gibbon names in my tree are Spiers, Young, Mansell, Templar (Templer), Whale, Ollyffe, Flaxman, Scott, Smart, Parker, Butler to name some. These names are connected in some way to some of these families: Letts, Field, Newman.

I have researched as much as I can on the Internet to find out about Marsh Gibbon, but there is not a lot of relevant information. There didn't appear to be a website or a mailing list and so there is the reason for this blog.
I would like to build a database of all people who have a serious connection to Marsh Gibbon purely for family history purposes. If enough interest is shown I will start a website for descendents form this farming community village.

I would like to hear from anyone who has a connection to Marsh Gibbon.

A Murrain Strikes Marsh Gibbon

Unlucky Marsh Gibbon was badly damaged by a fire in 1741, and was also one of the villages most seriously affected by the Rinderpest of 1866. This cattle plague was imported from Finland in 1865, first affecting cattle markets in London. It raged for eighteen months and 500,000 cattle were lost. Few farmers were insured, and even with official grants of compensation from the county, which under the Order of Council of 5 December 1865 ordered the diseased animals to be destroyed (but the carcasses sold), many men lost their livelihood, since the land could not safely be used for livestock again for over a year. On the whole, it was land north of the A418 (Aylesbury-Oxford turnpike) which was affected, and very strict supervision by the police of movement of cattle prevented more than minor outbreaks elsewhere.

Marsh Gibbon, for a smallish village, suffered badly, and the financial loss was as follows:

Robert White £174-17-6
Joseph Mason £38-0-0
Thomas Burnell £48-12-6
Henry Phipps £6-5-0
John Ivens £63-15-0
James Ayres £7-0-0
James Plater £95-10-0
John Templar £91-10-0
John Bonner £111-0-0
John Kilby £28-5-0
Michael Parker £47-5-0
James Ayres £9-10-0
William Herring £110-0-0
Henry Phipps £34-10-0
Joseph Burnell £12-10-0
Joseph Mason £62-5-0
Joseph Burnell £20-10-0
James Jones £18-10-0
John Templar £205-5-0
Thomas Jones £25-5-0
Michael Parker £47-0-0
Thomas Jones £9-0-0
William Gough £12-5-0
James Jones £18-10-0
Jesse White £10-0-0

This is one case where no one would want to keep up with the Joneses, or the unfortunate John Templar.

The total losses in cash terms were; Buckingham Hundred £4,956-15s, Newport Hundred £1,065. (hundreds not noted)

The police were ordered to make sure that there was no movement of livestock without a license, but, very sensibly, warned not to intrude more than was vital on farms, and to keep to windward of any carcasses, not to help with their burial, or tread in any offal or blood. This limited the amount of infection carried around by their size tens PC Abraham Mott, in the thick of it at Marsh Gibbon, sadly got into a quarrel with James Plater, farmer (from Haddenham originally) and offered to fight him, for which he was reduced to third class; his hitherto exemplary service deteriorated rapidly and he was asked to leave the force two months later. This may be not unconnected with the Chief Constables complaint that farmers were evading the cattle movement order all over the place.

Among other sufferers of interest to members were William Flowers (loss £270-10s), Edward Flowers (loss £156), Daniel Malins (£56-2s-6d) all of Padbury, Clement Holt of Grendon Underwood (£139-10s), George Thorn of Blackgrove in Waddesdon (£218-17s-6d), John Simons of Quarrendon (£7), Mark Dancer of Pitchcott (£166-10), William Crook of Quainton (£97-5s) and Jonathon Clark of Lower Winchendon (£345-17s-6d).

This cattle plague may account for the sudden leaving of the county by families hitherto of comfortable farmers. A considerable number actually emigrated soon after. Marsh Gibbon's population which had been 534 in 1801, and peaked at 944 in 1851, declined sharply, markedly after the second cattle plague of 1877, and in 1901 was only 598.

Bucks Ancestor - Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society - December 1995 By Eve McLaughlin