William Barlee Linford & Sarah Pain (Payne)
The Linfords
At this point no record has been found to indicate that a relative of William Barlee Linford emigrated from Norfolk to Australia. The notes that follow, therefore, deal only with the family of William Barlee Linford and his wife Sarah (nee Pain or Payne) and their descendants. Relatives of Sarah (Payne) Linford did however emigrate. Her brother’s Charles and James and sister Hannah Payne are on record as having lived around the same area at Meredith, as William Barlee and Sarah Linford.
It seems William Barlee and his wife Sarah spent a short time in Sydney on arrival in New South Wales and then made their way to Julong near Crookwell. They are known to have been in Julong in 1850 when their second child Samuel was baptised. The family bible is the only record of the couple’s first child Mary Ann, and may not be accurate, as other dates in this bible have been found not to coincide with the registered birth dates of other members of the family.
The Early Pioneers Book has a section where William is mentioned. It says: – and I quote “William Linford name of wife Sarah name of daughter Mary Ann natives of Yarmouth England. Immigrated between 1843 and 1849. In 1849 lived at Julong near Crookwell, son Samuel born here”.
The second child Samuel was baptized under Wesleyan Rites in the Parish of Goulburn Circuit, in the County of Argyle, New South Wales 18 November 1850. It was then stated that Samuel was born 20 December 1849. The abode of William and Sarah was given as Juling (Julong?), near Crookwell and William’s occupation as that of bricklayer.
In 1853 when Henry and Elizabeth were baptized, William’s occupation was then given as farmer and their address as Crookwell. It appears that sometime in 1857 the family moved to Victoria. If the birthplaces of the children are a guide, the family then moved to Melbourne, possibly Williamstown. They were living in Williamstown when the two children Henry & George died in January 1858. On the Death Certificates of George and Henry it is stated that they had lived in Victoria for 9 months. Both these children are buried at the Williamstown Cemetery. At this time William’s occupation was that of stonemason. William Barlee Linford was also employed by the Victorian Railways between 1859 and 1885. It has also been said he worked on the Geelong Ballarat railway, constructed during the period 1858 – 1862. By 1867 they had moved to Meredith, near Ballarat where William was still in the employ of the Victorian Railways.
On 22 October 1867 they were living at Meredith, where their child Sarah Jane died and was buried at the Meredith Cemetery. And again we find them, still in Meredith on 9 August 1872 when another child, Frances died and was also buried at the Meredith Cemetery. Their youngest child Charles Henry Linford was born at Stoney Rises in 1869.
Stoney Rises is mentioned in a book “Place Names of Victoria”, Les Blake, 1987: North of former gold fields at Elaine (1862). School no. 742. And from a book put out by the Education Department the following description is found.
“Stoney Rises was constructed on a site 6½ miles north of Meredith and one mile from the present site by the Free Presbyterian Church…. Opened 29 February 1864…. closed 11 weeks later when the teacher resigned…. Reopened 8 September 1864…. school moved to a more central location…. a common school was erected on the site of the present school SS1810…. Stoney Rises 742 officially opened on 1 January 1865…. closed 31 October 1876.” There is also mention of letters written by one J. Le Maite in support of a new school, which is believed to be the uncle of Martha Tucker who married Samuel Linford.
On Thursday 26th October 1871 the celebration of Elizabeth’s marriage to Herbert Large was published in the Geelong Advertiser. The article goes on to say, “On Monday evening no less than sixty couples celebrated at the residence of the bride’s parents, on the railway line, halfway between Meredith and Stoney Rises.
The festivities commenced soon after sundown and were aided with the music of three violins and as many concertinas, dancing on the green sward by moonlight was kept up until daylight next morning. The article goes on to say that “Much of the hilarity is contributed to the fact that the young bridegroom is said to have a fortune left him in England, and a baronetcy looming in the distance, while the bride is the daughter of a frugal laborer”.
William must have had some farming activities here, as a William Linford is stated to have acquired Block 181C comprising some 78 acres on 22 March 1873 in Meredith and then in August 1873 Block 179B comprising another 60 acres. (We are assuming that this William Linford is William Barlee and his wife Sarah.)
The descendants of Emma (Linford) Cavey have suggested that this land was only leased and that William only owned a four-acre block in this area. Everything points to the fact that William did have some land in the Meredith district, whether it was leased or owned has not been verified.
The receipt book for the Meredith Cemetery records also shows that 21 August 1882 William Linford and Sarah (Payne) buried a stillborn baby. This can be taken as substantial proof that William and Sarah were still living in Meredith in 1882. It is not known if this child was their child, or someone else’s child and they have paid for the burial.
In the Geelong Advertiser on Tuesday 5th May 1891 it was reported that William was before the courts on a charge of being away from his horse and van without placing it under proper care and control. William was fined 10s. The paper states that William Linford was an elderly Cabman.
The Geelong Advertiser on the 2nd June 1891 has Charles Henry Linford also a Cabman being fined by the Hackney Carriage Company for his behavior at the Cab-Rank. Charles would have been 22 years old.
It appears that most of the family lived in or near Meredith for quite some time, as at Cargarie a shop that sold dry goods had the name, W LINFORD & H E LARGE across the front door. This is on the four-acres that was owned by William Barlee Linford. I have been told that Cobb & Co coaches also stopped there. In latter years William apparently gave this piece of property to his daughter Emma, and she and her husband Edward Cavey lived there at the back of what was a shop for their entire life. The home is now (1999) in a state of disrepair.
The Geelong Advertiser also ran a notice for the sale of wood at the Railway Wood Depot. The owner, Mr. G Linford 18 August 1890. Then on the 29th October 1890 the sale of George’s wood business was inserted. This is of course William Barlee and Sarah’s son George Linford born 1867.
William and Sarah’s oldest son Samuel married Martha Tucker at The Manse, Meredith December 1878 and seven of their children were born at Elaine which is not far from Meredith, prior to 1887.
It has also been found in a book called “Victoria and its Metropolis Past and Present”. Vol. 11A, The Colony and Its People in 1888. P.165 The Geelong District. “Linford, William, Meredith, came to Victoria from England with his wife in 1841 and went to work as a bricklayer, afterwards going into farming and gold digging. Next he worked in Melbourne as a Stonemason, and also was employed by the railways for twenty-seven years. Eventually he settled down on Woodburn Creek in the Meredith district, selected land, and has since occupied himself in farming and the development of a gold working in the vicinity”
We know that the date of William’s arrival from England is not correct, as he arrived in 1848, but all the other information seems very relevant.
We have also been informed from a local Meredith gentleman, that there is a paddock at Meredith that is still named “Linford’s Paddock.” He said the paddock was over the back of him on the Meredith-Mount Mercer road, west of Meredith. And that a few years ago there was a post, and a few old bricks that had been a chimney, still laying in the paddock. The fence line of the property was over a small dam that was probably their water supply at the time they lived there. He said that it was well known that the paddock had belonged to Mrs. Cavey’s father. (Mrs. Emma Cavey the daughter of William Barlee and Sarah (Payne) Linford).
It appears that William Barlee & Sarah Linford moved to Nagambie sometime after 1891 and prior to 1905, when William Barlee Linford died and was buried in the Nagambie Cemetery. William’s obituary notice in the Nagambie Times stated that the Victorian Railways had for many years employed William. The notice also referred to him as Chris Linford, although the death records give his name as William. So it is possible that he also was referred to as Chris Linford or more accurately Cris, after his grandfather Crispen Linford.
William Barlee and Sarah Linford are both buried at Nagambie along with their son Charles Henry Linford. The Nagambie Cemetery Trust records show that William Barlee Linford died at the age of 79 years and was buried on 7 May 1905 in Plot D.4.41 Registration no.. 6531. His wife Sarah Linford was buried on 3 June 1910 in Plot D.4.41 age 84 years Reg. no.. 6576. Their son Charles Henry Linford died at the young age of 27 years and was buried 28 April 1898. There is no plot number for Charles Linford. There are no headstones to the graves so we do not know where Charles is buried but family members may recall that he was buried with his parents, this fact cannot be proven.
Other members of Sarah Payne’s family also emigrated to Australia and it seems that her brother Charles Payne was in close association with William and Sarah, at least while they resided in the Meredith area. Charles Payne was the informant for the birth of George in 1867. The Geelong Advertiser also ran a story on her brother James Payne June 2 1891, which reads as follows.
“Shortly before half-past one o’clock yesterday afternoon an accident occurred almost opposite the premises of Messrs. Gell and son, fronting Johnstone Park. where Gheringhap-street intersects Malop and Mercer streets and Railway Terrace. A cabman named James Payne lost control of the horse attached to his cab when descending the hill into Gheringhap-street towards the bay, and the horse, an old hurdle racer called “Larrikin”, bolted down the thoroughfare named and on reaching the site of the ancient dam violently ran into a cart containing a quantity of timber belonging to Messrs B. Martin and sons.
The collision unseated Payne who was not seriously hurt, broke the splash board, of the cab, and the traces, etc., of the cab horse, and completely bent the guard iron of the timber dray. The cabhorse getting clear of the vehicle to which it was attached, raced along Railway Terrace and when entering the Railway yards it slipped on the stone crossing and fell sustaining a number of bruises. “Larrikin”, regained his footing and galloped into the station yard where Mr. Geo Upjohn and other cabmen secured the runaway.”
When my sister Heather and I commenced gathering our information on the Linford family in the early nineteen eighties, I remember we had a discussion with two elderly granddaughters of William Barlee and Sarah Linford. We were told that their grandparents were English people, and they remembered them as being very stern people, and that they lived on what was known as “Linford’s Hill”, at Nagambie. I have not been able to substantiate or refute this information perhaps it was just within the family that this area was known as “Linford’s Hill”.