Grace Diver

BIRTH & BAPTISM
First name(s) Grace
Last name Pratt
Volume 23
Birth quarter 4
Page 121
Birth year 1838
Mother's maiden name Farrar
District Bradford
Civil Births
County Yorkshire
[This is the official record for Grace's birth registered at Bradford. Her mother's name is correct. No baptism yet found.]

1841 census: New Row, Calverley, West Riding, Yorkshire: Grace is 2 yrs old, born 1839 (actually Q4 1838), living with her father, James, 35 yrs, mother Mary abt 37 yrs, siblings: Job 10 yrs, Sarah 8 yrs, Eliza 7 yrs, Jane 4 yrs, and Emanuel, 1 month. On the passenger list for Mahomed Shah, James is described as a labourer and Job as a farm labourer. The Pratts appear to have been born and buried at Calverley for several generations, and it is still a rural village although close to Leeds which is a centre of the cotton industry. James and his sons undertake rural pursuits after migration so they probably were country people in Calverley, too. Farming would not have been new to Grace. Grace's mother died at sea during the voyage, not gored to death by a vicious cow as I first though. Thanks to Bronwyn Barrie, another descendant of Grace, for letting me know my mistake. There were a lot of Pratts in Calverley, and except for the age of the victim, everything else seemed to fit. Now I also have the Mahomed Shah passenger list which clearly says Mary died at sea. [see docs]

October 1849: Grace, age 10 yrs, arrives as an assisted migrant in "Mahomed Shah" with family - James 43 yrs & wife , Eliza 15 yrs, Emanuel 8 yrs, Jane 12 yrs, Job 19 yrs, Sarah A 17 yrs. The family did not have sponsors so are sent to the government depot where they will be housed and fed until James and the older children have jobs.

Their ship was dismasted in heavy seas, and the passengers had a very torrid time as the ship made its way under mizzen mast. In 1853 Mahomed Shah took fire and passengers were off loaded onto a passing barque after several days in peril for their lives. I will add relevant documents including passenger lists.

The Argus 28 May 1861 DIVER.—On the 24th inst., at High-street, St. Kilda, (Melbourne), Mrs. S. J. Diver of a son. Norwich papers please copy.

1894, Government Gazette: Grace Diver is granted a lease at Moe, dated 1/7/1885, for 78 acres.

1897: Lease renewed. 1898: Lease renewed. 1903 Census - Grace Diver, Home Duties, Childers

                           Anna May Diver, post mistress, Childers

1914 Electoral Roll - Grace Diver, Childers, home duties,

                                     Anna May Diver, post mistress, Childers,

                                     Sampson Jabez, farmer, Childers.

Narracan Shire news is reported in four very local papers at this period, each based in a particular settlement and its surrounds. 1914, Trafalgar and Yarragon Times, 17 April: Narracan Shire Council agrees to put its seal to the transfer of land from Grace Diver of Childers to the Shire.

Narracan Shire Advocate 14 Oct 1914 That the seal of the Council be affixed to transfer from Grace Diver to the Shire, and that Crs. Campbell and Savage attest same.

1915, Narracan Shire Advocate, 14th April: Grace Diver of Childers asks the Shire Council to pay her for the land she transferred to the Shire in April of 1914. Council agrees to pay in the next pay sheet.

1919 Electoral Roll - Grace Diver, home duties, Childers,

                                     Anna May, post mistress, Childers,

                                     William Joseph, farmer, Childers, and his wife                Beatrice, home duties, Childers.

Yarragon, Trafalgar and Moe Settlement News 2 Oct 1913 CHILDERS. Grass is not at all forward in this district, the spells of cold weather checking it; consequently the returns from the cows are nothing very startling. Poultry still continues to occupy a considerable share of the attention of the farmers' wives and daughters. The local branch of the Australia Women's National League is still going strong. There was a large attendance at their fortnightly meeting on Thursday afternoon, which took place at Mr S. J. Diver's residence, when a paper by Mr John Proctor, entitled "Random Thoughts," was read. For the future the Association wilt meet fortnightly-alternate at the residences of Mr S. J. Diver and Mr D. Wells. [Sampson Jabez has died, and Grace will die in 1924. Such an interesting and unexpected project for the Divers to be leading lights in. More research needed]

DEATH & BURIAL Weekly Times 6 Dec 1924 The death has occurred of Mrs S. J. Diver, 85, at her daughter's residence, at Moe, Mrs Diver was the last of the parent pioneers who settled in that district, and who have resided there continuously ever since. She arrived in 1878, when there were no roads and very few pack trades. It was then a mighty forest, and now there is hardly a tree left. Her husband died nine years ago at Childers

Grace had a sister living in Melbourne but rest of the Pratts settled in South Australia so most of Grace's relatives are in SA (the Pratts & Kilsbys), or western Victoria (the Baldocks).