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Nehemiah Thomas
Bibbenluke c1852

Genealogy | John McMahon's WebPage

Photos Submitted by John McMahon  lynjohn4464@bigpond.com

JamesThomas	ElizabethThomas
James & ElizabethThomas
Walter Witts	Minnie Witts

The Graves at Bibbenluke Lodge 

There are 2 graves near the river at Bibbenluke Lodge. Nehemiah Thomas and Thomas Park Milikin.

Nehemiah Thomas.

Born in Pembrokeshire Wales and baptised in St Mary’s Roch on 10 Sept 1797. His parents were William Thomas and Elizabeth John. He married Elizabeth Morris in Camrose Pembrokeshire on 8^th October 1829. According to “Big Lookout” by Frank Allen, daughters Mary, Ann, and sons William, James and Thomas were born in Wales and arrived in Australia with their parents on 14 February 1842 aboard “Sir Edward Paget”. Sarah was born in October 1842 in Sydney and died 3 months later. John Henry was born in April 1844 when the family was living at a property Vine Lodge near Sutton Forest. They moved to the Monaro district where Caroline was born in 1846 and Joseph Maurice was born in 1848.

Nehemiah was probably in some form of farming and at the time of his death in 1853 he was a storekeeper.

Thomas Park Milikin

Thomas was married to Ann, second daughter of Nehemiah and Elizabeth. He was drowned in the Bombala River in January 6 1858 at age 26. (Although there is strong evidence to support the year of death being 1854)

He was the first overseer of Bibbenluke Station for William Bradley. He kept extensive diaries which are now in the Mitchell Library and were used by Frank Allen in writing his books.

The Graves

The graves are covered by simple gravestones. Looking from the Lodge towards the river, Nehemiah Thomas is on the left and Thomas Park Milikin on the right. Both had inscription cut into the stone but they are now illegible. Fortunately, John Illingworth wrote down the inscriptions while they were legible.

The plaques

Descendants of Nehemiah have been considering doing something to mark the graves for some time. The change of ownership of the property prompted them to lay plaques at the head of the graves. The laying took place on 18 November 2006 and was attended by Michelle, Matthew and Ron Douch and Lyn and John McMahon. The plaques are cast bronze and the plinths are bluestone. So they should last many years. The wording on the plaques is as recorded by John Illingworth.

 Information and photo provided by Lyn & John McMahon <lynjohn4464-at-bigpond.com>  22.11.06

Hymn to Thomas's

Descendants of Nehemiah Thomas

John McMahon  <lynjohn4464-at-bigpond.com>
Michelle Douch, <michellebray2-at-bigpond-com>
 Recompiled from the new Monaro Pioneers database:  3.02.08

Descendants Report