C is for Caroline
April 2025 A to Z blogging challenge
Caroline Clarke, great great grandmother of my husband Greg, was born about 1835 in New South Wales, perhaps in Sydney, possibly in Tumut, 250 miles to the southwest. She was the daughter of John Clarke and Hannah Sline (or ‘Sloane’: the one written record from her admission to hospital we have is not clear). Or so it appears. According to her death certificate her parents may have been a couple named William and Mary Clark, not Hanna and John at all.
Caroline seems to have met George Edward Young, Greg’s great great grandfather, in 1853 on the Ovens diggings in Victoria. From this first meeting they were together for twenty-six years, until Caroline’s death in 1879. She and George had thirteen children.
I have not been able to find a baptismal record for Caroline, nor can I find a marriage record. Civil registration of marriages and births was not compulsory New South Wales and Victoria until 1855, and church records from the period are incomplete. There are, however, birth records for twelve of George and Caroline’s thirteen children:
George 1854–1854
John 1856–1928
Alice 1859–1935
Charlotte 1861–1925
Harriet 1861–1926
Maria 1863–1941
Rachel 1865–1918
Caroline 1867–1876
Edmund 1870–1876
Annie 1872–1873
Laura 1874–1876
William Robert 1876–1942
Ernest James 1878–1942
Their first child, George, died in infancy in Beechworth about 1854. Poor little George was never forgotten, and his name appears on the birth certificates of all their later children. Eighty-eight years after his death, he was mentioned in the obituary notice of his youngest brother, James Ernest Young (1878–1942), the last surviving of the thirteen siblings. I have not found baby George’s birth, baptism, or burial record.
On 23 February 1857 Caroline Young registered the birth of her son John, who had been born on 27 August 1856 at Dunolly. He was present at the registration. Caroline stated that the father was George Young, a digger, aged 29 years, born in Liverpool, England. She, Caroline, formerly Clarke, was aged 21 years, and had been born in Sydney, New South Wales. George and Caroline had been married on 21 November 1854 at Melbourne, Victoria. One child of the marriage had died. A Mrs Row was recorded as a witness to the birth. Caroline, who did not or could not sign the registration, left her mark, an X.
We have seven of the children’s birth certificates. George registered the birth of Caroline in 1868; the rest were registered by Caroline. The date and place marriage were inconsistently recorded:
21 November 1854 at Melbourne, Victoria
26 September 1853 at Ovens, Victoria
1 November 1854 at Beechworth
11 November 1853 at Beechworth
21 November 1852 at Wangaratta
21 November 1852 at Wangaratta
21 November 1851 at Wangaratta
This seems to suggest that George and Caroline were never formally married, or it may have been that Caroline, who registered the births, was illiterate and so unable to read and correctly endorse the documents presented for her signature. She also reported her own date and place of birth inconsistently.
In 1857 she was 21, born 1836, at Sydney
In 1859 she was 21, born 1838, at Sydney
In 1861 she said she was 26, born 1835, born Sydney
In 1868 George reported Caroline was 31, born 1837, born at Tumut
In 1874 Caroline said she was 34, born 1840, born at Mr Hayes’s station, Upper Murray
In 1876 Caroline said she was 40, born 1836, born at Mr Hayes’s station, Upper Murray
In 1878 Caroline said she was 43, born 1835, born at Sydney
Caroline was probably born in southern New South Wales between 1835 and 1840.
“First settlement of the Upper Murray, 1835-1845 : with a short account of over two hundred runs, 1835 to 1880” by Arthur Andrews, published 1920, has two landowners named Hay in the area. Both had runs in the Upper Murray from 1838.
John Hay (afterwards Sir John) had the Welaregang run, about 50 miles south of Tumut. He became well-known as a politician, and represented the Murray district for some years.
John Hay, a late arrival from Scotland and no relation to the owner of Welaregang, had the Khancoban run, on the Swampy river. He became known as “Swampy Hay” to distinguish him from his namesake at Welaregang. Khancoban is about about 20 miles south of Welaregang.
Caroline died on 17 December 1879 in Amherst, Victoria, at the age of 44. She was buried in Amherst Cemetery.
Caroline’s death certificate records that she was born in New South Wales and came to Victoria aged 16 years. She was married there, in Wangaratta. She is said to have been the daughter of William and Mary Clark. Earlier, however, when she was admitted to Amherst hospital with intestinal trouble, her parents were recorded as John Clarke and Hannah Sline (spelling uncertain).
In 1894, Ethel May Richards (1887-1894), one of Caroline’s granddaughters (Harriet’s daughter) was buried in the same grave. A hundred years later one of Caroline’s great great granddaughters erected a headstone in memory of Caroline and Ethel.
Caroline has descendants through her son John and her daughters Alice, Harriet, Charlotte, Maria, and Rachel. Some of these have tested their DNA, but as yet I have not made any DNA connections to any Clark(e) relatives. A connection might help us to learn more about Caroline’s parents and her early life.
Related posts
Wikitree: Caroline (Clarke) Young (abt. 1835 – 1879)
It’s no wonder we have such difficulty with our research at times, when our family annoyingly give inconsistent information. It’s sad to think that little George’s death had such an impact that he was mentioned eighty eight years later. It sounds to me like his mum never got over losing him.