Some early Crowley family history
History Notes
This week, a little early Crowley history. I have found a newspaper cutting commenting on the Eathers of Narrabri.
The Eathers were very early settlers in the Richmond area of N.S.W. and it is known Thomas Eather the 2nd had land and stock on the Liverpool Plains in 1829. He had also taken up land in the Wollombi area and built a cottage on it before it was found, in 1833, that all the settlers in the vicinity were on the wrong blocks. This took some time to sort out! In the meantime, Thomas continued to take up new farming blocks until his death in 1886.
Thomas Eather, probably the third Thomas, married Elizabeth (Eliza} Crowley at St Peter's, Richmond, on 25th July 1843. Elizabeth was a daughter of John and Charlotte Crowley and sister of William Crowley of Cobbadah station.
There is an old photo of "Pioneers of the Bulga area" taken in the mid 1890s including McAlpine, Eather and Clark family members - it includes Elizabeth and her husband: - a larger version also includes William Crowley and other family members.
Thomas and Eliza lived at 'Henriendi' for some years. but Thomas was not a great manager- he took on more properties and then ran into drought! Their son eventually took over the property and Thomas and Eliza Eather went back to Richmond to retire. Elisa died at Bulga in 1897 aged 74 years.
The whole story of Thomas Eather and all his descendants has been recorded in the Journal of the Society of Australian Genealogists published as Descent. Our society holds most of the early volumes including Volume 40 Part 1 which I have used to get details for readers. This is not the actual number of the volume so you will need to go further back to find the Eathers. Members may be able to read the whole story of Eathers for themselves.
The Barraba Show is on next weekend and there are photos of local rivers and creeks in the past, so go along and have a look.