Sarah Stitson

BIRTH & BAPTISM Sarah's baptism record is in docs.

I assume the first born Sarah Dyer Stitson has died.

CENSUS 1841 census, Tormoham: Sarah, 12 yrs, is living with Robert and Mary, with siblings Robert, Thomas, Henry, Mary and Eleanor.

MARRIAGE 15 May 1848: Sarah Stitson, dressmaker, of Tor, 21 yrs., daughter of Robert Stitson, a labourer, married Samuel Dalling, labourer, 23 yrs., also of Tor, son of Edward Dalling, a thatcher, at St Saviours Tormohun, Torquay, Devon. Both signed the register, which was unusual in this family. See docs I think that Samuel has 'tweaked' his age by about 10 years.

MIGRATION Sarah Stitson came to Adelaide with Samuel Dalling 5 December 1848 aboard "Duke of Bedford". See documents

Also on "Duke of Bedford" is Edward Bridgman, wife and three children. Sarah's mother is a Bridgeman. Might she be travelling in company with cousins?

1849-1853: There are a lot of unclaimed letters for Sarah and Samuel. I wonder if any of them were ever collected.

From SA pioneers collection DALLING Samuel, Sarah STITSON, parents of child born 1850-03-17 named Mary Ann at Gumeracha DALLING Samuel, Sarah STITSON, parents of child born 1851-06-15 named Ellen at (Ade) DALLING Samuel, Sarah STITSON, parents of child born 1856-10-14 named Sarah at Gumeracha DALLING Samuel, Sarah STITSON, parents of child born 1857-10-31 named Edwin at Gumeracha DALLING Samuel, Sarah STITSON, parents of child born 1859-05-12 named Henry at Gumeracha

Sarah had at least 8 children from 1850 to 1861. One dies in infancy, and two boys in early childhood in 1862, after Samuel has abandoned Sarah to the support of the Destitute Board. Since it seems these two died in Gumeracha, it might mean that Samuel left her with all or some of the children. The Government Gazette shows her getting support for 5 children for at least 18 months. Some of the children are found in Mt Gambier in adulthood, so there is no clarity around care and custody of them during childhood. I wonder if they were given into the care of the Salvation Army, and that explains why many of them are committed Salvationists in adult life. A Ledger of Children Boarded Out includes Edward James Dalling (Page 138e, Volume 227g.)

By 1861, Samuel has abandoned Sarah in Gumeracha (Talunga) in the Adelaide Hills. SA has been settled for 24 years, and is not a place for a lone woman. Samuel has taken up land at Mil Lel, near Mount Gambier, a long way from Talunga.

I will add a series of reports re both Sarah, who was destitute and collecting rations from the Destitute Board, and Samuel. She first leaves him in 1857 (see documents), and returns, to leave again in 1861. I imagine due to domestic violence since she would need to be pretty desperate to leave home in the wilds of rural SA at that time. Sarah is supported by the Destitute Board from 1861 when Samuel formally abandons her, through to 1864. By 1867 she is being charged and imprisoned for begging at Gumeracha. There is no mention that she is mentally ill, or engaging in criminal behaviour, just without means to support herself. Since the Board provided only rations, I wonder how and where she was living. Presumably neither working nor living with another man, or she would not have been eligible for assistance. At times she was given two rations which makes me think she had at least one child with her. It seems that people are sorry for her but not wanting to take responsibility. See documents

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT GAZETTE July 31 1862. Sarah Dalling of Talunga, who arrived in the "Duke of Bedford" has received relief for herself and 5 children after her husband has been absent for 1 year.

DITTO Feb 5 1863. Samuel has been absent for 11/2 yrs and Sarah at Talunga receives relief for self and 5 children.

  Feb. 5, 1863.

No. 15.-Return THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. 115 of families receiving relief on December 31st, whose natural protectors had deserted them or were confined in Gaol. Talunga Dalling, Sarah No. of Children. 5 Ship. Duke of Bedford Australia Period of Absence. One year and a-half

Sarah was supported by the Destitute Board through 1861, 1862, 1863 and 1864. She has 5 children with her. No evidence for Sarah after 1867, when she was 40 yrs old and sentenced to a month in Adelaide gaol as a vagrant or beggar. Nor is there mention of what happened to dependent children. See docs Sarah is in the Adelaide Gaol Prisoners' Register during the period March 1864-July 1871, Volume D, p.133 (see page 171 of the index). [Samuel Dalling has also been a prisoner in Adelaide Gaol in the period March 1857-Feb 1864, and he is in Volume C, page 195.]

Adelaide Observer, 16 March 1867 page 8: GUMERARCHA From our own correspondent "On Wednesday (13th) a person residing in the township named Dalling was brought up by the police before Mr W Lillecrap J.P. on a charge of vagrancy. The charge being proved she was sentenced to one months imprisonment. This person has been acting very strangely of late, and was thought to have become deranged in her mind: but as two doctors lately pronounced her sane people are bound to believe she is alright. The thing however is certain, it is very painful to see a person in the position she occupied today."

This article suggests community sympathy for Sarah, and perhaps awareness that Samuel was a rotter, and she had been abandoned without resources. I wonder if she was sent to gaol as an act of mercy. She would be housed and fed for a month, and then released in Adelaide where more assistance could be available. Perhaps the Salvation Army came to the rescue. Alternatively, gaol might have been the last straw, and she might have been transferred to the asylum from gaol. I have no information re the fate of the children in this time. Perhaps with the Salvation Army? Edwin at least seems to have been boarded out, and perhaps Samuel jnr took responsibility for the younger children.

Sarah married very young and chose her husband poorly, as demonstrated in Samuel's story of a lifetime of arrest, imprisonment, contention, conflict, dishonesty and manipulation, ending with his health destroyed, and time in Ararat Asylum due to his persecutory delusions. Makes me wonder how sane he was during his marriage, and whether he was unstable even then.

The Dallings came from a Methodist background in Devon, and Samuel Jnr marries with the Primitive Methodists, but later they mostly seem to be Salvationists. Samuel Snr seems to be the only family member without a committed religious life.

I have now found a report that Sarah died in a hospital at Parkside SA, aged 68 yrs in 1893. Then I found that Parkside is the location for Parkside Lunatic Asylum, and it is hard to escape the conclusion that this is where Sarah ended her days. Her place of residence is recorded as Gumeracha, Talunga. I am not sure if this means she was recently living at Gumeracha, or if that was the place from where she was admitted, whenever that was. There is presently no evidence re the reasons for her admission.

Sarah outlived Samuel by about 4 years, probably due to the safety afforded by the asylum.

Her trajectory so resembles Eliza Maria Richardson, although Eliza probably did not experience domestic violence - very young marriage, infant deaths, struggles without support in a harsh and strange land - I wonder how many other women met the same experiences and ended up in asylums. This very likely accounts for the large number of Irish women in the colonies without family who were in asylums after childhood starvation in the Irish Famine, and really hard life circumstances.