History Notes - some Thompson family info
History Notes
What a wonderful day it was at the markets on Saturday- stalls everywhere and quite a lot of people shopping, listening to Martin's music and chatting to their fellow shoppers. There was a wide variety of stalls including plants for the garden, household goods, jams, honey and of course food just waiting to be eaten. Our next market day will be at the same time as Frost and there should be a crowd of people around with lots of different things to see and do -a good time to practice a " Back to Barraba" weekend before the clock celebrations in November.
I was interested to read this week about the visit of members of the Fuller family to Barraba recently. Some years ago, one of their descendants visited our town for some reason - possibly to bring something back to Barraba - and I certainly remember meeting her for a chat and chatting about the Fuller family.
At the markets on Saturday I met up with Mr & Mrs Strand. Dennis is a direct descendant of George Thompson, a miner and resident of Woodsreef and is busy tracing this large family. The original George Thompson was born in Cumbria in the United Kingdom. He came to Australia in the early 1830's and a few years later he married Jane Harpur/Harper in the Bateman's Bay area. The young couple soon moved north in search of work, settling on mining in the Barraba/Bingara area. Their first two children were daughters born in the Bundarra/Kingstown area before they moved to the Bingara area. After quite a few years at Top Bingara it seems that they moved to Woodsreef.
An old account book from Piedmont shows that Jane worked at Piedmont for a couple of months and we also know that a member of the Strand family owned the Hotel at Gulf Creek when it was burnt to the ground under suspicious circumstances in the early 1900's. However, the Thompson family have stayed in this broad area of New South Wales and produced dozens of descendants, many living in this area of New South Wales.
Finally, this week I have been asked to look in the Witten Diaries for a reference about the erection of the town clock. There could have been a reference, particularly as Arthur Witten lost a son in World War. However, the diaries are full of farm work, mustering sheep, trapping rabbits and not a mention of the clock, even on the very day the clock was dedicated.