Martha Eleanour Smith^[1]

1867 - 1965  (97 years)

• Name	Martha Eleanour Smith
  Born	12 Sep 1867	Forbes, NSW, Australia   [2]
  Gender	Female
  Died	12 Aug 1965	Ryde, NSW, Australia   [3]
  Buried	25 Aug 1965	Sydney, NSW, Australia
  Person ID	I172	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	20 Apr 2019

  
  

  Father	Frederick Robert Smith,   b. 1822, Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, England ,   d. 31 Jan 1896, Forbes, NSW, Australia  (Age 74 years)
  Mother	Rosa Annie Riley,   b. 28 Oct 1838, Camden, NSW, Australia ,   d. 14 Oct 1928, Forbes, NSW, Australia  (Age 89 years)
  Married	12 Nov 1866	Bogabigal, Forbes, NSW, Australia   [4]
  Family ID	F12	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	John Higgins,   b. 8 Jun 1866, Forbes, NSW, Australia ,   d. 18 Jul 1942, Camperdown, NSW, Australia  (Age 76 years)  [1]
  Children	1. Mildred Sophia Agar,   b. 12 Apr 1889, Carrawabbitty, NSW, Australia ,   d. 5 Apr 1957, Mosman, NSW, Australia  (Age 67 years)
  Last Modified	20 Apr 2019
  Family ID	F6	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	James Edwin Agar,   b. 3 Nov 1864, Condobolin, NSW, Australia ,   d. 23 Aug 1936, Walgett, NSW, Australia  (Age 71 years)
  Married	1 Jan 1889	Forbes, NSW, Australia   [5]
  Divorced	1896
  Notes	1889 MARRIAGE - 1 Jan 1889 James Edwin Agar, bachelor and labourer of Forbes, to Martha Eleanour Smith, spinster of Forbes, at St John's Vicarage, Forbes. Witnessed by: Thomas Sargent and Marg Lock
  Last Modified	20 Apr 2019
  Family ID	F985	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  1867 BIRTH - Martha Eleanour born on 12 Sep 1867 at Bogabigal, Forbes. Father - Robert Smith, Stockman, aged 45 years, born in Stafforshire, England Mother - Ann Riley, aged 27 years, born in Camden, NSW Parent's Marriage: 12 Nov 1866, Forbes NSW Informant - Annie Smith, mother, Bogabigal, Forbes. Witnesses: Mrs Field and Mrs Joseph Collits. (see The Collits Family at: http://muchamore.id.au/collits.html) 1896 - Nellie lodges a petition to file for divorce from James Agar. I don't know if they were ever officially divorced. Nellie never remarried but used the surname of Mansell later in her life. Her daughter, Mildred, also used the Mansell surname. I have assumed that the Mansell surname came from James' mother Mary who married a William Mansell (James' father is unknown as Mary was not married at the time of his brith). 2005 May - Comment from Leonard Riches SMITH who is oldest brother of Nerida Nowland via Keith Eyre JONES. He told me that Aunt Nellie as long as he can remember used to go to Wagga Wagga for 6 weeks each Christmas to stay with the Smith Family. He said she was always Nellie Mansell to them. He said she took him when he was a 10 months old baby from Wagga Wagga to Forbes to show him to his grandmother RICHES. 2014 May from Keith Eyre Jones - Len and myself remembered Aunt Nellie very well because we both spent holidays with her. On one occasion my Mother and I spent Christmas holidays with Keith Smith a brother of Nerida at a two story Mansion at Strathfield which Aunt Nellie was looking after for a relative of the Arnotts Biscuit family. We all knew her as Aunt Nellie Mansell and no one knew anything about her husband Mr Agar untill you made contact with me. Mildred was born Miss Ager but was married as Miss Mansell. Stories I was told was that when Aunt Nellie visited Mildred at Mosman she always had to go around to the back door. She was not to come to the front door. 2014 May from Nerida Nowland - Anyway, am delighted that you are interested in Aunt Nellie as I always thought she was underestimated. I saw her as an intelligent, independent, loyal lady. She came to our home for 3 weeks every year and was popular with us as well as others in our street. When in her eighties she would still walk, case in hand, from the railway station in Wagga to our home about 3 to 4 kms away. The children in the street liked and knew her. I can remember her taking a group of us to the "beach" in the Murrumbidgee River - a beach with a swift current. The pool in Wagga was not built till 1953 when I was 10 yrs so with about 6 children in hand she had her hands full. We walked to the "beach", probably 4 kms away and, undaunted when she arrived, she regretted not having her neck to knee, navy woollen costume so she could swim too. When ready to go home we had the treat of travelling by the local bus instead of walking. Aunt Nellie must have been able to swim, probably learnt when living at Bogabigal station where she had access to dams. In fact I believe one, maybe two, of her siblings were drowned. Keith might be able to clarify that. One of my nephews, Don Gordon, 7 years younger than I am lived at Caringbah, Sydney, remembers Aunt taking him as a young child to Burraneer Bay to teach him to swim. He had a rope around his tummy so she could walk on the pier and drag him along whilst he practised his swimming strokes. Don's mother was my sister Joan who died in 1986 when 60. I remember Aunt visiting her at Caringbah and another sister, Ethel, at Gymea. She was very much part of our family. I think I have a picture of Aunt in Sydney with my brother Len and Sister Ethel during WW 2, Len in army uniform and Ethel in airforce. We were all very fond of her. She was always concerned about her health, would rise about 6 am, swallow a raw unbeaten egg, then later would read everything in the paper from back to front. I'm afraid she didn't have the same relationship with her own daughter. When my brother, Keith, stayed with her in Sydney on one occasion, she took him to visit her daughters place at Rose Bay, I think. He said there were no children, even though it was school hols. The boys stayed on at school for the hols during the school terms. The large house was set up with easels, drawing boards etc of the kind used by architects. Certainly not child friendly. My mother must have been quite accepting of Aunt and grateful for her help. With 9 children in our family she fitted in well. My mum died in 1950 so am sure Aunt was a help to my father. Last memory for today. She used to tell exciting stories of hiding behind logs when the bushrangers, maybe the likes of BenHall, would visit Boggabiggle Station.

  
  

• Sources

  [S240] Keith Eyre Jones Family History. Record updated from Keith Eyre Jones [S233] Birth Bogabigal, Forbes, NSW Australia 12 Oct 1867 Martha Eleanour Smith, Reg No: 1867/011996, 20 Aug 2014. [S234] Death 12 AUG 1965 Martha Eleanour Agar, (1965/029407). [S279] Marriage Bogabigal, Forbes, NSW, Australia (House of the Collets) 12 Nov 1866 Frederick Robert Smith & Rosa Annie Riley, (1866/002476). [S109] Marriage Forbes, NSW, Australia 1 Jan 1889 James Agar and Martha Smith.