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Orphan Number: 81
Orphan: James Simpson ANGUS
Mother:ANGUS, Euphemia
Father:,
Mother's ship:
Father's ship:
Age when admitted:4yrs
Date admitted:19 Mar 1852
Date discharged:18 Apr 1857
Institution(s):Queens Orphan School
Discharged to: brother
Remarks: father dead at Port Phillip
References: SWD6, 28, CSO26/1/, CSO24/190/6998


This orphan has been claimed by: Kay Clarke

James Simpson Angus was my great grandfather, born in Hobart on the 15th December 1847. His 2 brothers were John, born 29th September 1838, and Andrew Fleming born 17th October 1845. Their father Andrew Fleming Angus and mother Euphemia Mercer and the oldest child John, born on the voyage, arrived in Hobart from Scotland in 1838. The father, Andrew Fleming Angus, was a wine merchant, brewer, dealer and publican. Sometime after the birth of their third child James, the father left for Melbourne where he opened a wine and spirit store. He died there in 1850 at the age of 30.

My gt grandfather James was admitted to the Orphans School on the 19th of March 1852 at the age of 4. (His 2 brothers were also listed on the roll although Andrew only stayed for one month and John, the older brother, does not appear to have stayed there.)  In January 1857 their mother Euphemia Mercer (Angus) was admitted to the Colonial Hosptial in a state of insanity. She was then admitted to the New Norfolk Lunatic Asylum where she died that same year at the age of 50 and and was buried in a pauper's grave. James was discharged from the Orphan school on the 18th of April 1857, the year of his mother's death, to his brother John who then boarded him out.

My great grandfather James was mistreated by the woman he boarded with and by his brother. The local milkman was so upset by their treatment of James he took him home with him and reared him as his own child. He was sent to Hutchin's School for Gentlemen's Sons and trained as an accountant. James did not work as an accountant but earned his living managing and working in butcher's shops. He worked 15 hours a day, 6 days a week. On 1st January 1874 James married Helen (also known as Ellen) Nicholson in the manse of Chalmers Free Presbyterian Church. James was known as a kindly man who always maintained that if a man had served his time, he was on equal footing with other men, and he counted such as his friends.

James and Helen had 12 children but only 5 survived to adulthood. Their oldest child Ellen May, born 31st May 1875, was my grandmother. In 1930 after James had a series of strokes the couple moved from Hobart to Kogarah Sydney where their son and two of their daughters cared for them. Their marriage lasted 57 years. James died in Sydney in 1931 at the age of 83 and Helen, aged 78, took ill and died 36 hours later.

Sources: LINC Tasmania; Family history: Trove - newspapers, Australian Death Index.



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 Site last updated June 2021