Thomas Ellis

THOMAS ELLIS (1857- )

Thomas Ellis was born on 2 December 1857 at Amherst, near Maryborough, and was the last born child of Thomas and Jane Ellis.

In 1883 Thomas married Alice Jane Colman at Fitzroy. She was a milliner and the daughter of William and Ellen Colman. At 11.45 pm on 4 April 1884 Alice died at Brunswick from puerperal fever a few days after giving birth to a son, Thomas Mark, who also died aged five days. At the time they were living at Gold St, Brunswick. On 2 April 1888 Thomas married Eliza Horswood at Narre Warren. Eliza was a servant living at Windsor and Thomas was a blacksmith living at Brunswick. The witnesses on the marriage certificate were Robert H. Kerr and Jane Crowley.

On 3 April 1891 Ida May was born at Royal Park Terrace St, Brunswick. Dr Stewart attended the birth and Mrs Disney was the nurse. In 1894 the family was living at Phoenix Park, Brunswick and on 12 January Alec Merrifield was born there. Mrs Brilliant was the nurse on this occasion.

On 21 February 1896 Rose Edith was born at Royal Park Terrace St, Brunswick. At this time Eliza gave her usual residence as Macclesfield. Thomas was still working as a blacksmith. Between 1896 and 1902 the family moved to Tungamah in northern Victoria where Thomas was now working as a labourer. Their fourth and last child , Isabel Elizabeth (“Bell”) was born there on 29 June 1902.

On 9 April 1907 Ida May, then 16, gave birth to a daughter named Alice at Tungamah, who died shortly after birth. In 1909 both Thomas and Eliza appear in the electoral roll living at Tharanbegga, Tungamah, but shortly after Thomas would abandon the family and no further trace of Thomas can be found. Around the same time Alec would also disappear and nothing would be heard from him for another twenty years when he wrote from California where he was living at the time.

Eliza and the three daughters then moved back to Melbourne where Ida May married Rupert Collins in 1914, Rose Edith married Joseph Hogg in 1915 and Isabel Elizabeth married William Campbell in 1933. In May 1931 Alec returned to Melbourne for a visit and was reunited with his mother and three sisters for the first time in 21 years. Eliza was then living at Rupert St, Collingwood. Alec was working aboard a ship named “Golden Harvest” and soon returned to America where he died two years later.

Eliza Ellis died on 6 June 1935 at East Melbourne from cancer, aged 72.