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George JAMES was evidently well established as a merchant when he married Elizabeth Maria BEALE on 22 Aug 1840 in what is now Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
This was only five years after John Batman arrived from Launceston and made a treaty (later declared invalid) with the Aborigines to acquire 242,800 hectares of land. In 1837 the name Melbourne was officially given to the settlement at Port Phillip and Melbourne was incorporated as a town on 12 Aug 1842 - its first municipal council being elected on 1 Dec 1842. George JAMES was one of the original councillors. The area was first known as the Port Phillip District of New South Wales until it was separated and became officially known as the colony of Victoria in 1851.
I have no information yet about how, when or from where George JAMES arrived in the Port Phillip District and I have no definite proof about the date and place of his birth or about the identity of his parents and siblings. However, it seems to me that the circumstantial evidence is strong enough for me to believe that he was born in the East End of London on 2 Jan 1813 to Thomas JAMES and Ann HALL, Vintners of Mile End Old Town and baptised at St Dunstan, Stepney, County of Middlesex, UK on 27 Jun 1813. Some of my reasons for this belief will be detailed on the page named James - "Queries".
Thomas JAMES was a widower when he married Ann HALL, a spinster, at St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, England on 27 Aug 1806. There may be reasons to think that Thomas JAMES was the father of other children either before or after his marriage to Ann HALL but the Registers at St Dunstan show that the following were baptised as being children of Thomas JAMES and Ann HALL -
Henry JAMES, born 6 Dec 1807
John Hall JAMES, born 18 Apr 1809
Richard JAMES, born 7 May 1811
George JAMES, born 2 Jan 1813
Charles JAMES, born 15 Jan 1815
Robert JAMES, born 4 Jul 1817
Jane Ann JAMES, born 1 Mar 1820
Children from the marriage of George JAMES and Elizabeth Maria BEALE were :-
Catherine Ann JAMES b. 30 Aug 1841 Melbourne, d. 18 Jun 1881 St Agnes, Bishopstoke UK, m. 27 Oct 1864 to
Oliver William Simpson HOARE and had seven children.
Isabella JAMES b. 14 Dec 1842 Melbourne, d. 8 Aug 1911 "Eaglehurst", Paynesville.
George JAMES b. 20 Jun 1844 Melbourne, occupation Officer, 34th Regiment, d. 9 May 1902, bd. Paynesville,
m. Emma Louisa ? b. 22 Jan 1850, d. 1 Nov 1895.
Charles JAMES b. 6 May 1846 Melbourne, occupation Civil Engineer, d. 8 Nov 1918, bd. Paynesville, m. Catherine
YOUNG b. 5 Mar 1852, d. 4 Oct 1910 "Ridgeway", Lake Victoria near Paynesville, bd. Paynesville. (see "Charles
James" page) .
John Hall JAMES b. 18 Apr 1848 Richmond, Melbourne, d. 20 Jan 1923, bd. St Katherines churchyard, St Helena.
Henry JAMES b. 21 Mar 1850, occupation Physician & Surgeon, d. 25 Jun 1892 Heidelberg, Melbourne, m.Elizabeth
Galbraith JAMIESON.
Edward JAMES b. 1852 Richmond, d. young.
Elizabeth Maria JAMES b.27 May 1854, bp. 14 Aug 1854 Weld Chapel, Southgate UK, d.7 Oct 1888 (drowned
with her son Walter Rawson WILSON as result of a boat capsize in Lake Victoria near Paynesville), bd. Bairnsdale,
m. 1878 Arnold Samuel WILSON b. c1846 Bombay, India, d. 1883 Bairnsdale, bd. Bairnsdale.
Edwin JAMES bp. 21 Sep 1856 Jesus Chapel, Parish of St Mary Extra, UK, d. 26 Sep 1938, bd. Paynesville.
Walter JAMES b. 18 Aug 1857, bp. 29 Sep 1857 Jesus Chapel, Parish of St Mary Extra, UK, d. 6 Sep 1871.
Robert Young JAMES bp. 27 May 1859 Jesus Chapel, Parish of St Mary Extra UK, d. 2 Apr 1943 Bairnsdale, bd.
Paynesville, m. 4 Jan 1891 Melbourne to Rose Helena MAPLESTONE, b. 16 Jul 1859 "Ivanhoe", Melbourne, d. 22 Jul
1942 Bairnsdale, bd. Paynesville. (see "Robert Young James" page) .
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This page was last up-dated on 11 August 2008
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