I may have unwittingly posed some tricky questions in my article titled The Gardener who came to Glenelg on HMS Buffalo in 1836.
I reported how William Croxall, his wife Eve and their daughter came to Glenelg, South Australia onboard HMS Buffalo in 1836.
According to William’s headstone in St Jude’s cemetery, however, his wife was called Mary (the same name given for his daughter, rather than Eve).
After spending a while trying to work things out, I finished up admitting that the topic was too complicated for me. Author Paul Simpson soon did some research and sent me links to several Trove pages of some relevance.
According to https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49770135 , William’s niece, Mary Anne Parsons married James Macgowan at the Primitive Methodist Chapel, New Glenelg on 6th June 1857. (See Mrs. Jas. MacGowan below.)
William is said to have lived at New Glenelg himself at that time.
According to https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/39189847 , when William died in 1867, he “left behind him a wife to whom he had been united for more than 54 years”.
According to https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/207743912 , “Mary, the beloved wife of the late William Croxall, (died) On the 20th January (1873), at her niece's residence, Unley …. aged 84 years”.
(According to https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/93319883 , “Mrs. Edmund Parsons … died suddenly on Friday, October 31, at the age of 67. The deceased lady arrived in the ship Buffalo in 1S36, with the late Mr. and Mrs. Croxall, and was married some time afterwards to Mr. Parsons (who still survives her) in a tent on the ground where Trinity Church now stands. Her death was not unexpected, as she had been ailing for some time. She leaves two sons, the Messrs. C. and B. Parsons, and three daughters, Mrs. Jas. McGowan, Mrs. A. E. Usher, and Mrs. Harriott, and a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”)
Paul Simpson also sent me copies of William’s (7-page?) will (Will’s will). I found it hard to read the old handwriting though.
Paul concluded by commenting, “from what I gather from UK Ancestry records, William & Mary were married 50+ years, whoever recorded their passage to SA records buggered it up....it happened frequently, the young Mary was their niece and ward... so mate, nothing nefarious here!” (my punctuation).
It was this that made me feel like I had been suggesting that there was something untoward. That was not my intention at all. I was just trying to make some sense of it all. I hope that I have now cleared the air a little.
It seems that William’s one and only wife was called Mary, after all. Mary died just over five years after William. As reported above, she was aged 84 when she died on 20th January 1873.
William and Mary died just over five years apart, both aged 84. It seems that William was born in 1783 and Mary was born in 1788.
William would have been around 53 and Mary around 47 when they both came to South Australia on HMS Buffalo in 1836. According to the web page found at https://bound-for-south-australia.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/1836Buffalo.htm, however, William is said to have been 43 years old and Eve (Mary) 45 years old when they boarded the Buffalo at Spithead: -
CROXALL Mrs Eve aged 45*, and Mary (daughter) (*should be around 47)
CROXALL William aged 43* Gardener from Southsea (* should be around 53)
My thanks go to Paul Simpson for his assistance.
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