History Clips: Margaret Chalmers Orr (1836-1905)

Although I knew of Margaret's existence I would not have known her birth date and her emigration to Australia were it not for the book 'Ancestry of W. M. Richards and A. Elizabeth "Betsey" Gwinner' by Mary Beth Dunhaupt Figgins. That book states that Margaret (sometimes called Maggie) was born 23 May 1836 in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland based on her research. It also states that another Margaret was born two years before on 22 May 1834 and died young. I have no parish or civil records to corroborate this, but it certainly fits with other records.
We first encounter public records of Margaret in the 1841 Census with the John and Magdalen Orr family at Drumbathie where she is listed as five years of age. Next we see her in the 1851 Census at 15, living outside the home and working as a "House Servant" in the household of William Motherwell at North Burn Cottage. William is listed as a Builder/Joiner employing 9 men.
The cottage was approximately one-half mile west-northwest of Drumbathie so she wasn't far from home. An advertisement in the 10 Jun 1853 Glasgow Herald indicates "William Motherwell, Esq, North Burn Cottage" was the "Proprietor" of about 21 acres of land at Blackwell and Woodmill. It should be noted that Margaret was the only servant listed at North Burn Cottage and was likely there to help William's wife Christen take care of their two sons age 7 and 2.

Immigration to Australia

Times were hard in the Airdrie area and adventures abroad carried an appeal to the hearts of young people as well as their purses. Various adverts appeared like the one in Figure 1 below. So with the difficult economics at home, the promise of a 'free' trip to employment and probably the positive communications from John, her older brother who had immigrated in 1852, she chose to avail herself of the opportunity at hand. F.Y.I. Melbourne and the state of Victoria were experiencing a gold rush that started in 1851.

Figure 1: Glasgow Herald, 23 Nov 1855, pg 1

There is a record of a Margaret's voyage to Australia. It shows that the Gambia, a sailing ship vs. steam ship, set sail from Liverpool on 28 Dec 1854. On board among the nearly 250 'government immigrants' was a 19-year-old housemaid from Lanarkshire Scotland named Margaret Orr. She could 'read and write' and was 'Presbyterian'. The ship arrived at Melbourne, Victoria, Australia nearly five months later on 22 Apr 1855.

Figure 2: Ship Arrivals -- Mount Alexander (Victoria, Aus) Mail, 27 Apr 1855, pg 2

She was traveling specifically to work for "Mr. Fulford of Howard St, N M." If I have correctly interpreted the entry, she was to start work on Apr 27 for 3 months. Wages were to be £25. There is no indication of how or when that was to be paid. According to the Melbourne City Directory of 1860, there was a Richard Fulford who ran a "hay and corn store" at 20 Howard St. North Melbourne.

Making a life in the Melbourne area.

I don't know how long she worked for Mr. Fulford, but a little over 3 years later the following announcement appeared in the local papers.

Figure 3: The Age (Melbourne, Vic, Aus) 30 Aug 1858, pg 5.

George Walton was born probably sometime in late July 1829 (he was baptized on 30 July of that year) in Bunbury, Cheshire, England. According to his death record and obituary he was the third son of George and Margaret (Woodward) Walton. George Sr. was a grocer. His death record also indicates he had been in Victoria for 21 years so he probably immigrated about 1854 so he had also been in country for the same period as Margaret.
Life was perhaps not all rosy at the beginning of their marriage. At Christmastime 1860, the following entry appears in a list of "New Insolvents.". I interpret this as an equivalent to filing for bankruptcy.

Figure 4: Geelong Advertiser, 24 Dec 1860, pg 3

They may have been a typical struggling young couple with their first child on the way. Below is a table of their children based on the list given in both George's and Margaret's death record and newspaper birth announcements.

George's Death Record (23 Aug 1875)	Margaret's Death Record (19 Aug 1905)	Newspaper Birth Announcement
Madeline age 14	Madeline Amelia age 44	dau 1 Aug 1861 at Great Myers St., Geelong (The Argus [Melbourne], 08 Aug 1861, pg 4)
George age 10	George Albert age 40	son 8 May 1865 at Skene St, Geelong (Geelong Advertiser 10 May 1865, pg 2)
William age 8	William John age 39	son 16 Dec 1866 at 38 Yarra St. Geelong (Geelong Advertiser 18 Dec 1866, pg 2)
Margaret age 6	Margaret Jane age 34	dau 29 Aug 1868 at Pakington St., Ashby, Geelong (Geelong Advertiser, 31 Aug 1868, pg 2)
Mary age 5	Mary Elizabeth age 35	dau 27 Mar 1870 at Pakington St., Ashby, Geelong (The Age[Melbourne], 29 Mar 1870, pg 2)
Richard (no longer living)	Richard Orr (no longer living)	son 23 Aug 1872 at Pakington St., Ashby (Geelong Advertiser, 7 Sep 1872, pg 2) son Richard died 16 Nov 1872 at Pakington St., Ashby (Geelong Advertiser 18 Nov 1872, pg 2)
Edward age 2	Edward Orr age 32	son 28 Oct 1873 at Pakington St., Ashby (Geelong Advertiser, 30 Oct 1873, pg 2)
Alfred age 4 months	Alfred Ernest age 30	son 07 Apr 1875 at Pakington St., Ashby (Geelong Advertiser, 10 Apr 1875, pg 2)

Assuming that the addresses in the birth announcements listed above are the family's place of residence, they moved around a bit before settling on Pakington St. but always lived in Geelong.
This creates a bit of a problem. They were married on Victoria Parade, which is in Melbourne. The 'insolvency' item lists George as living in Melbourne. But they seem to have settled and raised a family in Geelong which is on the other side of Port Phillip Bay and even today is over an hour's drive away. Normally I would postulate that they started out in Melbourne, finances became tight and they moved to Geelong to make a clean start.
However, there are many references in newspapers and city directories of a "Walton Bros., Chemists" at or near the corner of Gertrude and Napier streets. This area of Melbourne was/is known as Fitzroy. There was at least a J. W. and T. H. Walton working there and there seems to have been George Walton living in Fitzroy in the 1870s (see at least the "Sands & McDougalls's Melbourne and Suburban Directory For 1870", pg 605) but he is not listed as a chemist. One further complication is that there is a George Walton & Co., Chemists listed at 63 Collins St. East (Melbourne) in at least the 1860-62 directories (see at least Sands, Kenny & Co's Melbourne Directory For 1860.) It makes it hard to figure what applies to the George Walton married to Margaret Orr and what does not, but below are some items that likely refer to him.
It seems that drugstores had a pretty broad set of items and services in those days as seen below.

Figure 5: Geelong Advertiser, 02 Mar 1867, pg 2

He also sold 'name brand' medicines that were recommended by various doctors. I'm not sure I would want to purchase anything recommended by Dr. Coffin but perhaps he was an excellent guy for thinking inside the box.

Figure 6: Geelong Advertiser, 09 Aug 1869, pg 2

George Walton dies at age 46.

Only four months after the birth of their son Alfred, and three days before their 17th anniversary, George passed away at their home on Pakington Street. His death record gives the cause of death as "Tubercular Cachexia" (loss of weight, weakness etc.) which he had had for 3 years, and "Tubercular Disease of the Brain" which was diagnosed post mortem. The two funeral notices indicate that there might have been some sort of procession from his home to the cemetery.

Figure 7: Geelong Advertiser, 25 Aug 1875, pg 2

Figure 8: The Age (Melbourne, Aus) 24 Aug 1875.

His will left everything to his wife and children. I have not found an inventory, so I don't know the size of the inheritance other than the £200 insurance policy

Figure 9: George Walton's Last Will and Testament.

Charles Alfred Bourne

In 1878 the following announcement appeared in the local papers.

Figure 10: Geelong Advertiser: 05 Aug 1878, pg 2

Charles was born 1854 in Alvingham, Lincolnshire, England to Stephen and Jane Smith Bourne. Stephen was a farmer by trade. Charles had arrived from England onboard the Whampoa only two years earlier on 9 July 1876. Like Margaret's previous husband, Charles was a chemist. At this time she was a 42-year-old widowed mother of seven children ages 3-17 and he was a 24-year-old single man.
The marriage did not last long. Less than four months later death once again visited Pakington Street.

Figure 11: Geelong Advertiser, 23 Nov 1878, pg 2

Hard Times

To try to survive, Margaret moved back to Melbourne and the familiar environment of Victoria Parade but with not much success. In a column called "Town Talk" this article appeared.

Figure 12: Geelong Advertiser, 8 Sep 1881, pg 2

In an interview for an article for the Carlton (Victoria, Aus) Football Club, Margaret's granddaughter Celine Parkinson tells what was happening. She recounts the story of her father, Alfred Ernest "Ernie" Walton who was an early captain of the Carlton Football Club.

Celine proficiently recalls the story of her father’s life, which in part took in his years as a Carlton footballer and later honorary treasurer. She knows Ernie was born in Geelong in April 1875, the youngest of eight children to George Walton from Bunbury, England, and Margaret Chalmers Orr from Lanarkshire. They had married in Melbourne’s Presbyterian church on Victoria Parade in 1858 and later relocated to an old Georgian mansion known as Fairfield Hall, since demolished.

Ernie’s father, a pharmacist, tragically died at 45 when the former was just four years old. Ernie’s mother later married a man who’d been her husband’s assistant in the pharmacy - a disastrous decision as he completely swindled her of funds. Circumstance forced the young Ernie (he was seven when Margaret remarried) to forsake his schooling and as Margaret tried to make ends meet managing a boarding house, he sold newspapers.

“Dad had to leave school before his time, but he had the brains all right - he was still very good with figures and he wrote very well, but he had to leave school before he would have liked,” Celine says.

“He knew what it was like to be poor because he had to earn money doing odd jobs, selling newspapers and that type of thing. He always loved music and going to the theatre and if he earned a sixpence selling papers he’d buy a seat up in the gods at the Royal Theatre.”

In 1883 A seemingly unrelated event happened to a man name George M'Ewan.

Figure 13: The Argus, 27 Sep 1883, pg 9

The case was ruled a suicide at the inquest. But the connection is that for reasons unknown, he had named Margaret the Beneficiary and Executrix of his will. The will, in part, reads:

This is the last Will and Testament of me, George McEwan of Dunolly in the Colony of Victoria, Farmer

After payment of all my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses I give devise and bequeath with Margaret Chalmers Bourne, All my Real and Personal Estate, Furniture and all money that I may be possessed of and all debts that may be due to me at the time of my death.And I hereby appoint Margaret Chalmers Bourne of Number 12a Victoria Parade East Melbourne in the Colony of Victoria as my Executrix.

Figure 14: The Argus (Melbourne, Aus), 05 Dec 1883, pg 12

'The Australasian' of 09 Feb 1884, reports that £20 was granted in the probate of the George M'Ewan will. The will also indicate there was land involved (as one would expect of a farmer). George M'Ewan was "a widower, about fifty years of age" according to the Bendigo Advertiser of 27 Sep 1883. I have no record, other than the will and probate files, showing what his relationship was to Margaret.

Her Final Years

Eventually she went to live with her youngest son, Albert Ernest. He had married Anna Duke in 1904 and lived in Carlton, now a neighborhood of Melbourne. It is there, on the 19th of August 1905 that she passed away.