George Smith

George was born into a family of brickmakers, in Barton on Humber, Lincolnshire. His father died before he was 1 year old. He became a seafarer, but he possibly learnt the brickmaking trade, growing up.
He caught yellow fever on a trip to Canada and he was left there, to die or recover. His family believed he had died and when he returned home, he found his mother in mourning.

He set off to sea again, this time towards Australia. He appears in a 1847 census as George Smith Brickmaker, Batman's Swamp. How he got there, no-one knows. It is assumed, he jumped ship.
In 1851, he married Ellen Fallon, a recent Irish immigrant, in Melbourne: claiming to be Roman Catholic.

By 1854 they had 2 children and headed to the Victorian Goldfields. Five children were born in the Goldfields.
His grandson, Fallon, claimed George was a ship Master, travelling between ............, on a ship called Elizabeth, but this is not confirmed.

In 1866 George emigrated from Australia on the ‘Omeo’, possibly to head to the Goldfields of Otago. However, he stayed in Port Chalmers, the closest port to Dunedin. In April 1867 the rest of the family emigrated on the ‘Tararua’ with George 10, Christopher 9, Mary 11 and Rebecca 12. (There is no mention of James, who would have been around 3 years old.) Ellen may have not been quite so keen on more gold mining.

Once in New Zealand they had two more children- Everlyn in 1868 and Charlotte in 1871. I am descended from Charlotte, the youngest of the Smith children.
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George worked as a Stevedore at the port, till his death.