The Shore Family - From Lanarkshire to Hobart Town

By (Mrs) Glenn Burt

TFHS Inc. Member No. 1198

The arrival of my great great grandparents to Hobart Town aboard the Catherine Sharer 1855 turned out to be very eventful. On entering D'Entrecasteaux Channel a fire on board was noticed and because the barque had a cargo of gunpowder, 'all hands' were summoned to the deck and directed to save themselves. Half-naked women and children were huddled into boats and spent a miserable time ashore until the cutter Annietook them aboard next morning. About 2.00am the Catherine Sharerblew up leaving both crew and passengers destitute, with only the clothes (if any) they had on and no food. (Information from Mercury1855.).

The Shore family consisted of father Thomas age 44, mother Margaret 46 (nee Laidlaw), children

• Margaret 24,
• Mary 22,
• James 18,
• Elizabeth 17,
• Jane 15 and
• Agnes 13.

The family were bounty immigrants, Thomas, a shepherd, Margaret and girls home servants assigned to Mr Kermode, of 'Mona Vale'. James the son as a blacksmith to Adam Amos. They could all read and write and religion was Church of Scotland.

Over the years I have traced marriages of the Shore Family and many of their descendants, but Margaret the eldest remained a mystery until one day; browsing through the Victorian records, I found her marriage and the birth of nine children to her and William Keilar. Mary married Henry Matthews, had ten children. James, the only son, married Agnes Doak and had eleven children. He died in 1927 and it was claimed he was 105 years old but old Scottish Records show he was actually only 90 years. Elizabeth, married Laban Grice, had eight children, and Jane married William Cawthorne, seven children to this marriage. They later moved to New Zealand.

Agnes the youngest was my great grandmother, marrying John Cole in the house of Mrs Shore, Ross on 1 May 1868. He was appointed to the Selby Support Group, which caused the family to move to various districts in Tasmania, namely St Leonards, Launceston, West Tamar, Lefroy and New Town. Eight children were born to Agnes and John, namely

• Margaret born 1869, married Charles Hoberg 1896;
• Ann Tait born 1871, married Andrian Nilsen 1894;
• Thomas born 1873, married Sarah Dyamond 1896;
• William born 1874, married Kate Amelia Scott 1894;
• John Raynor born 1876, married Marie Reid 1903 NZ, later Christine Munro NZ;
• Henry born 1879, married Kiturah Robinson 1902 (my grand father);
• Frank King born 1881, married Emma Grigg 1902 and
• Gordon Tait 1886, died of meningitis 1896.

Agnes from family reports was of a quiet shy disposition and had been a Sunday School teacher at a Presbyterian Church in Devonport. She died 14 November 1927 and her obituary from the Advocate15 November 1927, reads as follows;

The death occurred yesterday morning of Mrs. John Cole, aged 81 years. Deceased was an old resident of the town and very well known. She had not been in good health for some time and the end was not unexpected. Wife of the late John Cole, former Sub Inspector of Police here and later health Inspector for the council, she leaves a family of five sons and two daughters. Mr. Henry Cole of the Waterside Workers Federation is a son.

Agnes is buried with husband John in the Old Bluff Cemetery, Devonport. The tombstone still remains.

This story was originally published in 2001 by the Tasmanian Family History Society Inc in My Most Interesting Ancestor.

The original introduction to this publication may be found here.