The Story of Edward Power and Esther White
and their family of Wyndham, NSW

The other stories supplied by Bryan Power [bryanp2-at-bigpond.com]

   John Power Snr | Thomas Power  | Mary Ann Power | Jane Power | Honorah Power | Elizabeth Power | John Power Jnr | Edward Power | James Power | Henry Power | George Power | Ellen and Charles Power | Bridget Power |  Patrick Power |  

Chronology of the family of Edward Power and Esther White

1845             Edward (“Ned”) born at “Creervogh, Manaroo” (Creewah, Monaro) in August.
                    Baptised by Father Michael Kavanagh in September.
1846             Esther White born in Sydney.
1849-51        Power family possibly in Bombala.
1856-57        Power family at Lochiel, near Pambula.
1859             Power family at Wyndham.
1862             Edward's mother, Mary, died at Wyndham.
1866             Edward married Esther White at the home of Daniel and Ann
                   Dunn at Honeysuckle near Wyndham in March.
1867             Their first child, George, born at Wyndham (all twelve children were born at Wyndham).
1868             Esther Ann born.
1870             John White born.
1872             William born. Edward's father, John, died at Wyndham.
1874             Ann Theresa born.
1875             John White died in August aged 4 years 10 months.
                   Edward ("Ted") born.
1878             Arthur Joseph born.
1879             Albert Thomas born.
1882             Jane Adeline born.
1884             Mary Florence born.
1886             Martina May born
1889             Lawrence Charles born.
1891             Esther Ann married John Flanagan at Pambula.
1895             Ann Theresa married Arthur Beresford at Pambula.
1903             Ester Ann died.
1905             Edward (“Ted”) married Eleanor Mary Grant at Pambula.
1905/6           Arthur Joseph married Isobel Collins at Candelo.
1906             George married Mary Moye at Westport, New Zealand.
1909             Mary Florence died.
1918             Albert Thomas married Stella Benson at Kempsey.
1921             Edward ("Ned") died at Pambula aged 75.
1923             William married Rose Saxelby at Pambula.

The story of Edward Power and Esther White and their family

Edward was the eighth child (the fourth son) of John Power and Mary Donovan, pioneers of the Monaro High Plains.

According to his Baptismal Certificate, Edward was born at "Creervogh, Manaroo” (Creewah, Monaro) on 31st August 1845. (This date differs by a couple of days from that recorded in the family missal ‑ 29th August.)

During the following month Father Michael Kavanagh baptised Edward and also his older brother, John, who had been born eleven months earlier. Father Kavanagh was based in Queanbeyan and travelled over the thousands of square miles of his huge parish by horse so his opportunities to go to the Bibbenluke area would have been rare.

This visit by Fr. Kavanagh to the Bibbenluke district in 1845 pre‑dates by 13 years a visit by the same priest recorded by Frank Allen in his excellent history, "A Big Lookout" (page 110).

By the time of his birth, Edward's parents were into their sixth year on the Monaro and must have by then reached the stage of being regarded as "old hands" in that virgin territory.

Despite the fact that 1845 was a good season, life would still have been difficult for John and Mary as Edward's birth brought the number of surviving children (William, the oldest child, had died while still an infant) to seven with Thomas, the eldest, reaching his seventh birthday less than two weeks before Edward's arrival.

Edward spent the first five or six years of his life at Creewah but then John and Mary evidently set out on a search for a better life for themselves and their large family, a search which possibly took them to Bombala some time between late 1849 and 1851, to Lochiel by 1857 and finally to Wyndham in 1859.

Edward was aged fourteen when the family reached this little settlement and no doubt worked hard together with his brothers and sisters to assist his parents establish their home and small farm on the south bank of the Mataganah Creek.

I have found no records as yet to show that Edward and his brothers and sisters were able to attend school at Bombala, Lochiel or Wyndham. In 1851 Bombala had a population of 117 (“A.B.L.” p.17) and this grew to 319 by 1856 (“A.B.L.” p.22). However, despite this relatively large population which would have included a big number of children there was no school established until 1861, well after the Powers had moved away.

There was no school at Wyndham until 1878.

Edward's oldest sisters, Mary Ann and Jane, both signed the marriage register on the occasion of Jane's wedding with an X. However, when he witnessed his father's will in 1869, Edward signed with a firm, flowing hand. His grandchildren, Josie Rheinberger and Os Power, and his nephew, Cecil Power, all remember seeing Edward reading.

Edward was to remain in Wyndham for the rest of his life. Only Patrick, his youngest brother, like him, became a permanent resident of Wyndham. Thomas, the oldest child, moved in and out of the district and is buried at Wyndham but all of the others moved away.

Two weeks before Christmas in 1862 ‑ and only three years after moving to Wyndham ‑ the family suffered the loss of their mother, Mary.

Edward was 17 years old at the time of his mother's death, one of the ten children probably still living at home. (Jane, Thomas and Mary Ann had married and Bridget, the youngest daughter, had been taken to be cared for by Mrs. Ann Dunn in May 1862, by which time it must have been apparent that Mary's illness was a terminal one.)

Below are the entries in Mrs. Dunn’s missal recording Bridget's “adoption” and Mary's death: The entries read:

Entries in Ann Dunn’s Bible concerning Bridget Power and Mrs Power
 

honeysuckle flat                                             
May llth 1862 Mrs Powers
gave Me Bridget powers
Ann Dunn

dide at Wingham (Wyndham)
on the 8 of December 1862
Mrs powers aged 47 years.

May she rest in peace.

Mrs. Dunn’s husband, Daniel, conducted Mary's burial service.

Ann and Daniel Dunn, together with Ann’s four children by a previous marriage (to John White of Cooma), lived at Honeysuckle Flat near Wyndham.

Honeysuckle was more than three miles by road from the Power farm but Ann owned an eight acre paddock next to John Power's nine acre block. The Department of Lands map of the Parish of Wyndham records these two blocks and five other adjoining ones under the date of 7th November, 1859 ‑ perhaps the day of their sale and if so, possibly the occasion on which the Power and Dunn families first met. You will notice on the Parish Map that four blocks were obtained by a John Love (two of them on 7th November 1869). Ann Dunn’s maiden name was Love so it is possible that this John Love was a relative, perhaps her brother.

The close friendship that existed between the families allowed Ann’s four children the opportunity to meet the Power youngsters regularly, and after Mary Power’s death it would be natural that Ann and Daniel Dunn and Ann’s children would become an even greater focus of support for the motherless Power children.

Thus, not unexpectedly, a romance developed between two of the young people: Edward and Esther.

On 5th March 1866 they were married at the Dunn home at Honeysuckle by Father Patrick Slattery. One of Esther’s brothers, Joseph White, and Ellen Paines signed the register as witnesses.

Edward and Esther were both aged 20.

Esther’s Family

Esther White’s mother Ann, had been born in Sydney in 1826, the daughter of Joseph Love and Mary Ann Goodman.

In 1842 when she was only 16, Ann married John White at Nimmitabel. The marriage produced four children: Joseph (born 1844), Esther (born 1846), Thomas (born 1848) and John.

Ann married her second husband, Daniel Dunn, on 13th August 1854. Ann would have been 28. I have found no record of any children of this marriage. Daniel died 12 years later on 22nd October 1866, seven months after Edward and Esther's wedding at his home.

In A History of Wyndham by  S J Goodchild the following extract is from a section about the Honeysuckle Inn: ‘For a period the innkeeper was obliged to absent himself, being under arrest on a shooting charge. Whilst quarrelling with his son he became so excited “that in a burst of passion he fired at his son, but missing his aim, the whole contents of the gun were lodged in the person of Mrs Dunn” who lived across the creek.

Daniel Dunn followed Thompson as licencee, and he too apparently was not on good terms with his stepson, John White, and cautioned all persons against dealings in cattle and horses with him.’ (page 5)

Shortly after Daniel's death Ann married for a third time. Her new husband was George Prosser, a neighbour who at 35 was five years younger than Ann. The Wyndham Parish Map shows that George Prosser owned 270 acres in blocks on either side of the Dunn property. They had two children: Ann (born 1867 or 68) and Jane (born 1869 or 70)

George died at Honeysuckle in 1894. Ann well and truly outlived her third husband, reaching the age of 88 before dying at Honeysuckle in 1915.

Ann’s great‑grand daughter, Josie Rheinberger, told me that she remembers as a little girl visiting Mrs. Prosser often and seeing her sitting in front of the fire with her shawl around her shoulders and smoking her clay pipe that her son‑in‑law, Alex Robertson, used to fill for her with black shag tobacco.

Cecil Power confirms the above story. He used to ride his bicycle to Mrs Prosser's home to get her grocery order. Cecil remembers her as a small woman, and as being a real character. She used to refer to her clay pipe as a “Dootheen”.

The Life of a Carrier

At the time of his marriage to Esther, Edward gave his occupation as "Carrier". Edward’s brothers Thomas, James and Patrick, were also carriers for a number of years.

In "A Big Lookout" Frank Allen devotes a great deal of space to the history of transport in the district showing how the lack of good roads to the coast retarded the development of the Monaro. In the book there are very interesting sections about the teamsters and carriers of the region and I recommend that you read it if you want to gain an understanding of Edward's work in those days before sealed roads and bridged rivers.

The famous Benjamin Boyd in the early 1840s commissioned the building of the first road to the Monaro to move supplies between his properties there and the port he had established at Boydtown in Twofold Bay.

"On the Monaro, Boyd held fourteen stations carrying 7000 cattle, 20,000 sheep, a total of 278,000 acres ……

As Bibbenluke (station) was the closest to the coast of his Monaro properties, it became the head station for his vast holdings there." (A Big Lookout p.13)

On the Bombala District Map you can follow the line of Boyd’s road through Cathcart, down Big Jack Mountain, through Rocky Hall, Burragate and Towamba to Boyd Town.

"The dreaded track down the Big Jack (was) called the purgatory. It was so steep that J.A. Badgery in his description of a "Trip to Monaro” in 1845 states that it took 20 bullocks to bring a load of two tons up it." (p.17) In 1845 James Kirwin "completed a line of road from Moneroo to the town of Eden, by way of Pambula” (p. 21). It was on this road that the settlement of Wyndham developed. Although this was a better route than Boyd's road it still included the forbidding climb up Big Jack Mountain. Frank Allen quotes a surveyor's report on this road in 1860.

"The route from Two Fold Bay presents only one obstacle to wheels. That is the ascent of the Mountain between the Honeysuckle and Dragon Inns* ……… 25 cwts drawn by twelve bullocks, is thought to be a good load to take up it. Leaving Two Fold Bay, the road to Pambula is good. So is its continuation to the Honeysuckle Inn, though the latter part is rather hilly. Between Honeysuckle and the foot of the Mountain, the road passes through a forest country, over a succession of sharp pinches, leading down into, and up out of, the numerous creeks that it is necessary to cross. Approaching the foot of the mountain, the course of the Towambo Creek is generally followed. This creek has to be crossed several times before the ascent of the mountain really begins. The country here is wild in the extreme, the road running up a gorge, on either side of which, the hills rise precipitously to an extraordinary height.

Moving past the summit, and then passing the Dragon Inn, the Maneroo district is reached. The road passes over gently swelling and extensive plains, the soil of which is peculiarly fine and deep. It is black loamy soil and heavy for wheels after rain.

The district is well watered and nearly unequalled in Australia for the breeding and fattening of stock."          (A.B.L., p.21)

In 1868 a road was constructed via Tantawanglo, finally providing a route with less steep grades. The opening of this road meant that Merimbula gained in importance as a port at the expense of Twofold Bay. In 1889 the road up Brown Mountain was opened linking Nimmitabel with Bega.

The road via Mount Darragh was constructed many years later (between 1928 and 1931) and the project was as much designed to provide employment during the Great Depression as to provide a better route between the coast and the Monaro. Frank Allen quotes a passage from "Memoirs of Southern Monaro" by Agnes Cuthbert in which she talks about the life of the carriers.

"Conditions on Southern Monaro in those days were really bad. All goods were brought up the Tantawanglo Mountain by horse team and they would take two or three weeks to arrive. Everything was bought in bulk, sugar, flour, a chest of tea and many other goods. Teamsters often came long distances with little food to sustain them, transporting supplies for people living further outback and only had the clothes they stood up in. A hammock (made from coarse corn bags sewn together) swung under the waggon was their bed.

The drivers would ask us to sell them a loaf of bread and mother always obliged. These men were really the salt of the earth, hard times were always with them and money was scarce. They travelled on unmade roads, dusty when there was no rain, and just mud and slush in bad weather. The old timers of years ago had a terrific struggle to live and rear a family."                  (A.B.L., p. 50)

The life of a carrier was obviously not an enviable one and Edward set his mind on becoming a farmer. Within four years he had achieved his goal as the birth certificate of his third child, John White (born 16th October 1870), gives Edward's occupation as "farmer".

By the time of his father’s death in September 1872 Edward had four children and I believe that he and his family moved into John’s home some time after this date. (By 1872 all of Edward’s sisters had husbands and only four of his brothers ‑ Henry, George, Charles and Patrick ‑ were unmarried and of these only Charles and Patrick were of an age (18 and 16 respectively) that would suggest it likely that they would still be at home. In his will made in 1869 (three years before his death) John left all of his property to Charles and Patrick, thus reinforcing the theory that they were the only two still living on the farm with their father.

However, I believe that Edward moved into the home on the Mataganah Creek and eventually took over the running of the farm.

Josie Rheinberger remembers Edward building a new home on the Mataganah Creek block just above the orchard and close to the old house, the outhouses (kitchen and washhouse) of which were left standing. The kitchen had a brick chimney, an open fire and a brick oven for cooking bread. The washhouse was not completely enclosed. She remembers Edward and the family discussing whether the house should have a pitched roof or a flat roof. (It was

finally built with a pitched roof.) Josie ‑ born in 1893 ‑ thinks that the house would have been built before the turn of the century.

It was weatherboard house with an iron roof and front verandah. A passage ran down the middle of the house from the front door. There were two rooms on each side of the passage: a parlour and three bedrooms.

*The Dragon Inn was at Taylors Flats (Cathcart). It was a popular place with travellers who had just completed the exhausting climb up Big Jack Mountain (or who wanted to fortify themselves before making the descent. Edward's sister, Jane, married John Jess at the Dragon Inn in 1857.

Cecil Power told me in January 1985 that he remembers an adult size grave under a willow tree behind the orchard on the bend of the creek. It had no headstone but there was a wooden fence around it. He was told that "one of the old Powers" was buried there. Could this be a grave of John or Mary ‑ or even both of them?

Cecil Power believes that the 60 acre block and the three 40 acre blocks shown on the Parish Map in Edward’s name were parts of the farm acquired by him in some way from his brothers, Charles and Patrick, and were the "two farms of land at Wyndham” bequeathed by John in his will to them.

Cecil says that his mother Ellen told him on several occasions that the farm lived on by Ned ‑ and she meant all of the farm, not just the house paddock ‑ should have been theirs, "but she never revealed any bitterness about it."

Ned’s nephew, Cecil Power, the last survivor of the 130 grandchildren of John and Mary Power.

Power or Powers?

On the Wyndham Parish Map John’s land is recorded in the name of John Power. On the left hand margin of the map is a 30 acre block in the name of John’s eldest son, Thomas. His name is recorded as Thomas Power. However, all of Edward's four blocks (with a total area of 180 acres) are registered under the name of Edward Powers.

The Powers spelling crops up occasionally for most members of the family in the records of their births, marriages and deaths. But Edward (or “Ned” as he was more commonly known) was the only one of the family to consistently call himself and his children Powers.

When Patrick Conlon drew up John's will* for him in 1869, he recorded John’s name as Powers ‑ and Ned signed as a witness as Edward Powers. John’s death in 1872 was also recorded in the name of John Powers.

In a letter she wrote to me in February 1969, Mrs. Mary Ann Strangwidge (nee Power), a niece of Ned, said:

"Edward Powers, my father's brother, was very particular where legal matters were concerned, so in the first place when acquiring his land at Wyndham, he discovered that his father’s death was registered Powers so he

always used that name."

In August 1969 Mrs. Strangwidge wrote to me after I had sent her a copy of John Power's will:

"I had never heard of a will mentioned but that must be the property that Uncle Ned had and raised all his family there. It was a beautiful property and when Uncle Ned died I think he left it to be sold and divided. He evidently bought it off Charlie as I don't think Charles continued on the farm after his father died because I was a very little girl** and can remember him being at our place and working with Father***, Uncle George, Uncle Ned and Paddy getting the piles and girders for the Eden Wharf. And after that he used to come to the farm**** in the busy time to help father and in slack time used to take a job in Eden and that was what he was doing when Aunt Ellen***** was left with that big family. Joe was born after the father (Willie Ryan) died, so he (Charles) went straight to Victoria and took over Ryan’s farm and reared the family for his sister." Later in the letter she writes: "Both Ned and Paddy built new homes so there would be none of the old buildings."

I hesitate to suggest that Ned had any ulterior motive in adopting the Powers spelling, that is, to gain some legal advantage in obtaining the farms willed to his brothers. However, Ned dropped the use of the "s" in 1909 when he commissioned the making of a headstone to be placed on the grave of two of his daughters, Mary and Esther Ann. The headstone refers to "The beloved daughters of Edward and Esther Power." But then, Edward recorded his name as Edward Powers in his will made on 12 March 1921, a few weeks before his death. As well, his two sons, George and William, whom he’d appointed as his executors, are recorded as Powers. (Edward’s estate was sworn at 2,137 pounds.)

However, all of the children of Ned and Esther returned to the use of the name Power in their later lives.

* I will include a copy of the will in the story of Patrick Power.
** Mrs. Strangwidge was born on 4th October 1874.
*** Her father was "Red Johnny” Power.
**** At Kiah.
*****  Aunt Ellen was Mrs. Will Ryan.

The Children of Edward and Esther Power

As mentioned earlier, Edward and Esther were married at Honeysuckle on 5th March, 1866.

From my searches of the official records at the Eden Court House, St. Peter's Catholic Church (Parish of Pambula) records and entries in Ann Dunn’s missal, I have traced twelve children, all of whom were born at Wyndham.

1.       George          born 29th March 1867.
2.       Esther Ann     born 25th November 1868.
3.       John White     born 16th October 1870.
4.       William           born 30th April 1872.
5.       Ann Theresa   born 30th June 1874.
6.       Edward ("Ted") born 25th November 1875.
7.       Arthur Joseph   born 5th February 1878.
8.       Albert Thomas  born 20th November 1879.
9.       Jane Adeline    born 29th March 1882.
10.     Mary Florence  born 12th August 1884
11.     Martina May   born 21st September 1886.
12      Lawrence Charles born 22nd August 1889.

The information I have written below about the family has been told to me by three grandchildren of Edward and Esther: Josie Rheinberger, Os Power and Athol Beresford, all of Bega; a nephew, Cecil Power, of Lane Cove; the late Mrs. Rayner of Merimbula whose grandmother, Mrs. Robinson, was the midwife at Wyndham who delivered all of Esther's children.

(Cecil remembers Mrs. Jinnie Robinson. He told me that "she'd ride side‑saddle through hell and high water to deliver a baby.”)

1. George Power (as related to me by Cecil Power)

"just worked on the farm for his father and around for odd jobs. There was lots of work like fencing, clearing, ring‑barking, road‑making (with picks and shovels) and bark stripping. He played a violin."

(I have a balance sheet of the Wyndham Athletic Club Meeting held on 26th May 1897. A Ball was held at night following the races and the balance sheet shows that G & P. Power were paid a guinea (one pound and one shilling) for music. P. Power was George's uncle, Paddy, who also played the violin.)

George was married in 1905 when he was about 39 to Mary Moye at Westport, a town on the west coast of the South Island, New Zealand.

It is likely that George had gone to New Zealand to visit his brother Ted who had settled at Dannevirke about 1905.

George and Mary's two children, Vince and Lawrence, were born at Dannevirke and grew up in contact with Ted's children. Vince's wife, Donna, told me that Vince and Ted's son Pat, had a happy reunion some years ago when she and Vince visited New Zealand.

George and Mary returned to Australia during World War I and became the licencees of the historic White Horse Hotel at Richmond near Sydney. (Mary's family had been in hotels.) Henry Parkes, the “Father of Federation" said to them that it was a great place for a honeymoon. He should have known because he spent three honeymoons there!

Later they had hotels at Mutama near Gundagai, at Cootamundra and finally at Bargo. In 1921 George is recorded in his father’s will as a storekeeper in Cootamundra.

George died in the early 1930s. George and Mary's children were:

1.       Vince who married Donna Keegan. Vince died in 1982.

They had no children.

2.       Lawrence Power who had three daughters:

        1.      Jan Power (Mrs. Leavy),
                 2.      Michelle Power (Mrs. Atkins) and
                 3.      Antoinette Power.

Michelle and Antoinette are twins. Lawrence died in the 1950s.

2. Esther Ann (“Ettie”) Power married John Flanagan at St. Peter's Catholic Church, Pambula in 1891. John was a husbandman aged 25 living at Wyndham although he had been born at Moruya, the son of James Flanagan and Catherine Kennelly.

Esther Ann’s cousin, James Jess, and his wife Norah (daughter of "Black Johnny” Power and Honorah Ryan), who had been married in the same church only four days previously, were the witnesses.

The young couple settled at Candelo and soon established a family, the first of their children being twin boys. Sadly, at the age of four months, both twins died of bronchitis. Six later children survived to reach adulthood.

In 1902 Esther became ill with cancer and the family returned to Wyndham where, after a long illness, she died on 23rd June 1903, aged 34.

Josie, her eldest child, who was 10 at the time of her mother's death, remembers running between the kitchen and her mother's bedroom at her grandfather's home, seeking her mother's advice while making her first cake.

Esther and John’s children were:

1 . James Placid Flanagan and

2.  Edward Joseph Flanagan were the twins born on 28th November 1891 who died as infants.

3.    Mary Josephine (“Josie”) Flanagan was born on 31st May, 1893.

Her godparents were her mother's brother and sister,

William and Ann Theresa.

After her mother's death Josie went to the home of her godmother, Ann Theresa, who by then was married to Arthur Beresford with two children of her own.

Josie married John Francis Rheinberger on 18th November 1919. He had a tailoring business in Carp Street, Bega until his death in 1935 at the age of 37. He died of pneumonia after he and Josie had exhausted themselves nursing two of their sons with the same illness. Josie was left with eight young children:

1. Ron Rheinberger (born 1921),

2. Frank Rheinberger (born 1923),

3. Ted Rheinberger (born 1925),

4. Norma Rheinberger (Mrs. Allen ‑ born 1927),

5. Paul Rheinberger (born 1929),

6. John Rheinberger (born 1931),

7. Henry Rheinberger (born 1933) and  

8. Peter Rheinberger (born 1935). Josie lived at 125 Auckland Street, Bega until her death in 1986.

Josie Rheinberger at her home in Bega in 1984 with her son John.

4. Albert John ("Jack") Flanagan. Jack was born on 27th November 1895 at Wyndham. He married Annie Collins and they had a son, Joseph Flanagan.

Jack died in the pneumonic influenza epidemic at the end of the First World War in Sydney.

5. Arthur William ("Bill") Flanagan was born on 3rd July, 1897.

Josie knows very little about her brothers because they were adopted out so young to various families after their mother's death. However, she thinks that Bill married a woman named Douche but does not know if they had children. Bill and his wife lived in Sydney.

6. Victor B ("Vic”) Flanagan was born in 1899. Vic married a girl named "Bobby".
            They had no children and are now both dead.

7. Darcy B Flanagan was born on 19th November 1901 at Wyndham. At the time, his father was a dairyman at Tantawanglo. The certificate also states that Mrs. Power, Nurse, was a witness. No doubt this was Esther Ann’s mother to whose care she returned for the birth of her babies.

Darcy was brought up by his grandparents, Ned and Esther, and Ned left him fifty pounds in his will. Darcy never married and died in Sydney some years ago.

8. Edward Lawrence (“Laurie”) Flanagan was born on 5th December 1902. He never married and died in 1976 in a home run by the nuns in Young.

3. John White Power. In Mrs. Dunn’s missal there is an entry:

"John White Powers
Died 13th of August 1875
Aged 4 years and 10 months
safe in the arms of Jesus."

Josie has a gold brooch that contains a lock of his hair.

4. William Power. Cecil remembers Bill well. He was also known by the nickname, “Kane”. He worked about the district as a labourer and helped his father on the farm. He was fond of the drink but was always there to get the cows in. He milked the cows and separated the cream by hand.

Bill, with his brother George, was an executor of his father’s will. In the will Bill is recorded as a labourer living at Wyndham.

Bill remained a bachelor until he was 50 when he met an English widow, a relation of the publican, Mr. Gough, at the Robbie Burns Hotel at Wyndham. Being a good customer at the hotel, Bill got to know the widow, Rose Saxelby, and married her at the presbytery, Pambula on 17th January 1923. Rose had a little girl, also called Rose (but nicknamed "Buddy") from her previous marriage who was very well liked by everybody when she was at school at Wyndham.

Cecil’s brother, Clyde, a great mate of Bill, was best man at the wedding. Cecil thinks that Bill moved to Marulan near Goulburn where he worked at a cement works. Later he went to Sydney.

5. Ann Theresa Power married Percy Beresford in the presbytery at Pambula on 12th June 1895. They were both aged 20 and Percy was a farmer. Later he became a butcher in Candelo. He sold his business there and on 13th January 1913 moved to a new butcher's shop at 34 Church St., Bega. Their children were:

1. Vincent Percival Beresford who was born on 20th March 1898. Vince never married but worked in the business all his life. He died in Bega.

2 & 3. The second and third children were twin girls. One died at birth and the other, Doreen Beresford, died at the age of 7 from pneumonia.

           4. Athol Beresford was born in 1910. Like Vince he remained a bachelor and worked in
            the family business until his retirement. Athol died in Bega Hospital on 24 July 1986
            about three hours after the death of his cousin, Josie Rheinberger, who had been brought
            up in the Beresford family following the death of her mother in 1903.

5. Leo Beresford died at about the age of 12 as a result of injuries he sustained when he fell from a horse in Bega.

6. Jack Beresford worked in the Co‑op store but later moved to Nowra. He now lives in Sussex Inlet. His three children are

1. Geoffrey Beresford (born 1940),

2. Terence Beresford and

3. Ann Marie Beresford (born 1958).

7. Kevin Beresford lives near Bega Racecourse. He has two sons,

1. Murray Beresford (born 1951) and

2. Warren Beresford (born 1958), an accomplished show jumper.

8. Dorothy Beresford (Mrs. Messiter) lives in Fairlight, Sydney. She has three sons:

1.    Roderick Messiter,

2.    Brian Messiter and

3.    Warwick Messiter.

Ann Theresa and Percy both died in Bega.

6. Edward (“Ted”) Power married Eleanor Margaret Grant at St. Peter's, Pambula. Eleanor (“Ellen" and "Nell") was from Moruya. Her mother, Rose, was John Flanagan's sister. Nell was a sister of Bill Grant, a brother‑in‑law and great friend of Cecil Power. Nell was a big and big‑hearted woman. She was loved by all especially the children.

Mrs. Rayner told me the following in 1969:

“Ted married Ellen Grant from Pretty Point. A priest put them on a property at Dannevirke near Palmerston on the north island of New Zealand. They died well off as their farm then was worth 100 pounds an acre. Two sons are still alive in New Zealand.”

In 1980 I contacted one of Ted's sons, Jim Power, who sent me the following information:

"Edward Power and Eleanor Mary Power (nee Grant) came to New Zealand in 1903. They acquired a block of land 100 acres at Te Rehunga, Dannevirke, and farmed it until retiring in 1952.

They had three sons:

1.    Michael Edward Power (born 1905) married Grace Shute. They had four  children:

1.    William Edward Power (born 1941),

2.    Eleanor Ann Power (Mrs. Waionohu) born 1943,

3.    David Keith Power (born 1947) and

4.    Diana Lilian Power (Mrs. Pratchett) born 1948.

Michael died in 1950 in an accident and his wife Grace died in 1978.

2. James Arthur Power (born 27th October 1908) married Anne Oliver.

They had three children:

1.    James Ian Power (born 1935),

2.    Maurice Edward Power and

3.    Suzanne Mary Power (Mrs. Loader), born 1943.

3. Patrick Leo Power (born 28th February 1911) married Irene Beryl Miller and have four children:

1. Nita Beryl Power (Mrs. Erskine), (born 1936),

2. Colin Patrick Power (born 1938),

3. Allan Anthony Power (born 1941) and

4. Ian Arthur Power (born 1944).

                    Patrick Leo died in 1979.

When Dad retired Pat bought the farm and when he retired Colin his son took over. So the farm still remains in the Powers. We have been to Sydney a few times but have never met any of the Power side of the family. We never got any further than Sydney."

Jim and Anne died not long after I received this letter: Anne in 1981 and Jim in 1984.

7. Arthur Joseph Power moved to Candelo when he married a widow, Mrs Isobel Collins (nee Robertson), who had two children, Jack and Kit, by her previous marriage. Arthur worked as a butcher and a labourer at Candelo. Arthur and Isobel had three sons:

1. Alexander (Alec.) Power (born 1907) who married Vera Tindall of Candelo. They had four children:   

                   1. Raymond Power,

2. Shirley Power,

3. Brian Power and

4. Patricia Power.

Alex died in Bega in 1971.

2. Osmond Clive (born 1910) married Juanita Katherine Kelly

          at St. Peter's, Pambula in 1935. They had no children.

          Os now lives in retirement at the Central Hotel, Bega.

         
                Os Power in 1980

3. Adrian Joseph Power married Winnie McCarthy. They had one daughter, Robyn (Mrs. Smith). Adrian died while a Prisoner of War in Changi (Singapore) during World War Two.

His wife remarried and is now Mrs. Sheehan. She lives in Bega.

Arthur's wife died at Candelo and later he went to Bega where he died in 1969 at the age of 91. As far as I know he had outlived all of his brothers and sisters.

8. Albert Thomas Power was a tall man who was a good cricketer; he was a very good fast bowler. Cecil says that Albert's nickname was "Crawlie”.

"He had a great laugh. No jackass could laugh like him. He was a happy‑go‑lucky fellow. When he walked you could hear his joints cracking; he walked with long slow strides. He married some girl on the north coast and had a number of kids."

Albert married Stella Pricilla Benson in Kempsey on 27 April 1918. Albert was twice Stella’s age: he was 38 and she 19. Stella already had a son from a previous relationship. He was raised as part of their subsequent family and was named Bill Power.

I have had a great deal of trouble tracking down Albert's family. Josie and Cecil thought that Albert's wife had died while the children were young and that Albert had had to have them cared for in an orphanage. After lengthy enquiries I received a letter from a Sister M. Vianney in April 1985 providing the following welcome information:

"I have worked at St. Joseph’s Cowper Homes for more than fifty years. A man named Albert Charles Power came to the Orphanage in 1930 with seven children the youngest was four years. Their mother had died, they came from Coffs Harbour. I think he would be the man you are trying to trace. I have looked up our records and answered all the questions that I can. I am sorry that I cannot give you the address of any of them now. We have lost touch after all these years. I helped to care for them when they were small. They were very nice reliable children."

In filling out a questionnaire for me, Sister Vianney provided the following additional information:

Albert Thomas Power's wife was Stella Benson. She died in Coffs Harbour and Albert brought the 7 children to St. Joseph’s Home, Cowper on 22nd November 1930.

The children, who had all been born in Coffs Harbour, were:

1.         Daphne Annie Power        born 7th July 1918.

2.         Kathleen Stella Power      born l7th June 1919.

3.         Edward Albert Power       born 15th August 1920.

4.         Lawrence Charles Power born 5th February 1922.

5.         Iris Power

6.         Lilian Power  (Twins)         born 29th May 1925.

7.         Dorothy Myrtle Power      born 19th July 1926

Daphne left the orphanage on 11th March 1933. Kathleen left on 15th December 1934, Edward on 2nd January 1934 and Lawrence on 12th December 1935. They were all recorded in the register as "went to his(her) father".

Iris left on 19th September 1938 and went to Grafton Convent where she was employed as a housemaid. Lilian (left 31st January 1941) and Dorothy (left 27th January 1940), like Iris, went to Grafton to work as housemaids at the convent.

I placed an advertisement in a Coffs Harbour newspaper in early May 1985 seeking contact with the children or their descendants but received no response.

In August 2003 I was contacted by Lynn Hawley and her brother John Power who are two of the children of the fourth child mentioned above, Laurence Charles Power. They told me that Stella  Power (nee Benson) had not died but had walked out on Albert and the children. Lynn and John were able to provide the updated account below of the lives of these seven children and their descendants.

Stella had a child from a previous relationship, William Joseph Patrick Benson (born 16 September 1915), but he changed his name to Power while living with the family. After Stella left, William went to live with his grandmother, Georgina Benson, while the others went to the orphanage at Cowper.

In 1938 Bill married Bertha Maude Carr and they had three children:

1.    Beryl Power (born 1939),

2.    Bernard William Power (b 1941) who died at the age of 2 and

3.    Laurence Power (b 1945).

Bill enlisted in the Air Force in 1941 using the name Power.

1. Daphne Annie Power married Percy Kinlaid in 1934 and they had three children:

1.Ronald Kinlaid and

2. Shirley Kinlaid (who were both killed in accidents when youngsters) and

3. Raymond Kinlaid who is married with several children and living in W.A.

Daphne died on 27 March 2008 at Newcastle.

2. Kathleen Stella Power married Kenneth Edward Power in 1945. Kenneth was a descendant of Morgan Power, a convict who gained his freedom and became a successful farmer in the early days of the colony. Kenneth owned a dairy farm in Seven Hills which was part of the original land owned by Morgan Power and is now a part of a suburb called Kings Langley. After they sold the farm Kath and Ken moved to Forster where Kenneth died in 1993. In 2001 Kathleen moved to Lismore to be close to her daughter. Kathleen and Kenneth had two children,

1. Caroline Power who married Brian Wheatley in about 1965 and they have a daughter

1. Leanne Wheatley and two sons,

2. Glen Wheatley and

3. David Wheatley.

2. Edward Power who married I R Gibson on 17 October 1971 and they had a son and a daughter . They divorced and Edward moved to Nabiac, N.S.W.where he died in August 2000.

3. Edward Albert Power married Margaret Joseph and they have five children:

1.    Thomas Power,

2.    Alan Power,

3.    Ronald Power,

4.    Kathleen Power and

5.    Theresa Power.

Edward and Margaret live in Townsville.

4. Laurence James Joseph Power. Laurence had an unhappy time in the orphanage but won a bursary to a private boarding school. Unfortunately his life did not improve there because, as a poor child, he was given a hard time by the other students. He ran away to Coffs Harbour where he lived with a family named Teece. He later worked in the canefields in Queensland and in 1942 enlisted in the army and fought on the Kakoda Trail. During the war he was a penpal of Alma Lorraine Eve. After the war he worked for Goodyear Tyres in Granville where Alma also worked. (Alma’s mother, Kathleen Benson, was the sister of Georgina Benson, the mother Of Stella Benson – Laurence’s mother.) They married on 18 December 1946, built a home at Rydalmere and raised a family of four children:

1.    John Graham Power, born 26 July 1948,

2.    Lynette Gay Power, born 17 October 1950,

3.    Terrence James Power, born 16 February 1955 and

4.    Susan Joy Power, born 12 June 1957.

John Power married Colleen Maree Jones at Queanbeyan on 29 October 1983 and their four children are

1.    David Jeffrey Power born 27 May 1981,

2.    Mark Samuel Power b 30 August 1984,

3.    Sally Maree Power b 14 October 1986 and

4.    Annie Elizabeth Power b 13 July 1988.

John was an officer with the Australian Federal Police.

Lynette Power married Richard Ian Hawley on 5 September 1970 in Parramatta. Their two children are

1.    Nathan Arthur Hawley b 6 September 1974 and

2.    Kaycie Renee Hawley b 10 July 1977.

Terrence Power did not marry and died at the age of 45 following a heart attack on 10 May 2000.

Susan Power married Denis John Taylor on 15 October 1977 at Parramatta and they have two children,

1.    Rebecca Lorraine b 22 November 1982. Rebecca has a daughter Yvete Javeria-Maira Taylor b 17 November 2002.  Rebecca married James Clancey on 7 July 2007. 

2.    Erin May. Erin has two sons, Aydan Jonathan Taylor b 4 January 2004 and Riley James Smith b 2 May 2008.

Laurence and Alma divorced in 1978.

Laurence retired to Port Macquarie and married Linda Muriel Davies there on 12 July 1986. Linda died four years later in November 1990.

On 1 August 1998 Alma died from a cardiac arrest.

In 2000 Laurence became ill with lung cancer and Lynette became his carer at Baulkham Hills. He died on 24 April 2000.

5. Iris Mary Power married Roderick Neil (Bill) Wilson in 1946 and they have three children:

1.    Jerry Newman Wilson who lives with his wife Cathy in Queensland - their two children are

1.    Maria Wilson and

2.    Paul Wilson;

2.    John Wilson b 1946 and

3.    Peter Wilson b 1948.

William died and Iris is living in WA.

6. Lillian Claire Power married Raymond Nunn and they have two children,

1.    Peta Nunn who married Colin Sydor in 1968 at Newcastle and their three children are 

1. Christie Sydor. Christie is married to Slav Arak and their two children are

1.    Logan Arak and

2.    Georgia Arak

2. Kylie Sydor who is married to Lawrence Elliott and they have

1.    Clare Elliott and

2.    Lauren Elliott

3. Shane Sydor.

2.    Raymond Nunn.

7. Dorothy Myrtle Power has one child, Carmel. In 1985 Dorothy married John Frederick Fleming at Port Macquarie. John died there on 27 December 1996.

Albert Power lived his last years with Laurence, Alma and their children until he passed away on 17 July 1954. Lynn remembers her grandfather with great fondness. She recalls as a four year old sitting on his lap, and while he listened to the radio she was listening to his heartbeat. The day that he died all the mirrors in the house were covered with sheets.

9. Jane Adeline (“Jinnie”) Power. Cecil says that

“Jinnie was as wild as they make them. I loved her as a kid because she used to play football with me. She used to pick up her dress and chase us kids. Mater* used to think she was coarse but she wasn't ‑ she was wild. There was nothing bad about her. A boy of my age, "Wopper" Agnew, came to stay with them. He was sickly, used to come out in blotches. Jinnie chased him through the orchard to see his blotches appear. He tripped over and fell flat in a heap of cow manure. She used to torment the lives out of her parents but they thought the world of her.

She married a musician ‑ a violinist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. His name was Hughes. They had one daughter, Daphne. She was wild like Jinnie as a little girl.”

In her father’s will and on his death certificate Jane is incorrectly named as James.

*Cecil’s mother, Ellen Power (nee Pendergast)

10. Mary Florence Power did not marry. She died on 7th October 1909 at the age of 25 and is buried with her sister, Esther Ann, in Wyndham Cemetery. Cecil said that she died of cancer of the hip. He visited her just before she died. According to Cecil it “cost poor old Ned a fortune trying to save her. He even had a Chinese doctor try to cure her with herbs".

The grave at Wyndham Cemetery of Edward and  Esther’s two daughters, Esther and Mary.

11. Martina May Power. She was known as “Mart” or “Marty” and sometimes “Splinter” (because she was tall and thin). Late in life she married a Scot named Jim Fangers in Sydney. They had no children. Cecil remembers her as a pleasant, happy‑go‑lucky woman who was a great dancer. She died in Brisbane.

12. Lawrence Charles  Power was known by the nicknames, "Squib" and sometimes "Drake". He and Cecil’s brother Clyde "were great cobbers. He took to the grog and was a cow to get out of bed in the morning. He married when he was pretty old.”

More about Ned and Esther

Cecil remembers Ned as being “not very tall, but stocky ‑ but his sons were tall. He was one of the finest old gentlemen you could meet.

Came up to the store every month and paid his bill. Would have one drink then go home. He would walk to Mass (about once a month). He never allowed any of the girls to work in the cow yards.

Ned used to go around the district to castrate the horses. He used to say: 'By the Cripes Almighty'. Once he said, 'if the Kaiser drops a bomb on me, by the Cripes Almighty I'll drop a bomb on him.'

In A History of Wyndham by S J Goodchild there are several references to Edward Power:

‘Jan 5, 1894 Catholic Church at Wyndham. A meeting of Roman Catholics was held at Wyndham on New Year’s Day with reference to the proposed Church. It was decided to have a brick building erected, and in order to raise funds, collectors were appointed for Wyndham.... E Power and J Schuback’ (page 33).

‘In 1879 the local residents applied to the council of education to establish a Public School at Wyndham.... This application was signed by Messrs Charles Stiles, Robert Turbet, George Prosser, Edward Powers and Ferdinand Pervesse, who with Archibald Turnbull and James Robinson were to make up the School Board.’ (page 54)

A report of the opening of the School Of Arts Hall on 18 October 1888 states in part, ‘After the Banquet, the Hall was cleared for the Ball and 26 couples danced the first Quadrille and throughout the evening the Power brothers played very good time with their violins.’ (page 49)

(I have not heard that Ned played the violin so I think that the players may have been Paddy Power and Ned’s son George.)

There are also references to Edward Power in Visions for a Valley Catholic People in the Bega Valley 1829 – 1985 – A History.

The following are extracts from the chapter about the ‘Saddle-bag Diary’ kept by Father Patrick Slattery who recorded his visits to the tiny settlements in the Bega Parish between January 1868 and January 1875.

‘Wyndham Station. Held at the Love’s on Wednesday 4^th October 1871. Morning lovely after yesterday’s rain. Attendance at the Station very small. There was but one Communicant. Received from Mrs Sherwin one pound, Edward Power five shillings. (page 33)

‘Wyndham Station. Held at Mrs Love’s on Thursday Dec. 28^th 1871. Morning lovely, fair attendance at the Station.There were four for Holy Communion. Appointed Edward Power collector.’ (page 34)

‘Wyndham Station. Held at Mrs Love’s on Wednesday 24^th April. Morning very dark and rainy. Very few, only 5 persons attend the Station. Gave the few that attended a blowing up for not going to their Easter duty. Received Easter dues: Mrs Love 10 shillings, Fred Diversi 10 shillings, Patrick Conlon 10 shillings, Edward Power 10 shillings.’ (page 36)

‘Wyndham Station. Held at Mrs Love’s on Wednesday 7 May 1873. Morning fine. Very few persons attend the Station; there were no communicants. Received Easter dues: Edward Power one pound.’ (page 40)

‘Wyndham Station Held at Mr. Fred Diversi’s on Thursday 15^th October 1874. Morning dark but fine. Station better attended than any former one held here. Only 3 went to Holy Communion. Had a meeting after Mass for the purpose of raising funds to build a Church at Wyndham – about 25 pounds were promised. Collectors were appointed to collect funds, viz. Fred Diversi, Thomas Power, Edward Power and Patrick Conlon.’ (page 45)

There are many references in this book to other family members, particularly the Rheinbergers.

According to Cecil, “Esther Power was as deaf as a beetle and cantankerous. She used to lock up her cupboards so that the girls couldn't take anything out of them. Poor old Ned had a lot to put up with ‑ he wouldn't hurt a flea."

Os Power remembers, as a boy, visiting Ned in Pambula Hospital just before his death. Os said that his grandfather was solidly built and had a grey beard which (he was told) had been a red beard when he was younger. Ned died on 19th April 1921 aged 75.

Ned was buried at Wyndham Cemetery, possibly in the same grave in which his two daughters were interred.

Esther died a couple of years after Ned in 1923 at the age of about 77. Her death was registered at Bega so it is possible that she spent her final days in a hospital in that town.