ROUSE, Mary
(1799-1883)
Eldest daughter of free settler, Richard Rouse (1774 -1852) and his wife, Elizabeth,
nee Adams (1772-1849).
Born 13 January 1799 in England. Mary emigrated to NSW with her parents in 1801
on board the Nile. Her mother was pregnant at the time of their departure and
this second child, John Richard, was born during the voyage. (Margaret Catchpole
was among the convicts on board and it is believed that she acted as midwife -
later she was employed by Richard Rouse as overseer of his farm at North
Richmond).
The Rouse family arrived in the colony on 14 December 1801 and were granted 100
acres at North Richmond (on the Hawkesbury River) by Governor King in March
1802. In July 1805 Rouse was appointed Superintendent of Public Works (at
Parramatta) and the Rouse family moved to a house opposite the gates of
Government House, Parramatta. This placed them in close contact with a succession
of governors (King, Bligh, Macquarie) in their vice-regal occupancy of the
official residence.
In 1813, Thomas Hassall (1794 - 1868) set up the first Sunday school in Australia
in Parramatta, and Mary Rouse appears to have been employed as an assistant in
teaching at this school. At some time c.1817 -1818 she became a maidservant in
the employ of Elizabeth Macquarie; in a letter from Mary Hassall to her brother
Thomas, who was in London studying for the ministry, she wrote:
"Miss Rouse went to live in Sydney with Mrs Mcquarie [sic] to take care of her
son, in her we lost a nice teacher but I have got hopes of her returning soon, it
is my opinion she would not have gone but her parents wished her to marry Mr.
Chisolm, he is now married to Miss Bowman."
Mary Rouse was listed among the Governor's entourage to Newcastle in 1818, and
clearly she was in attendance as a governess to Lachlan Macquarie Jnr. who at
that stage would have been almost four and half years of age.
On 22 November 1819 Mary Rouse married Jonathan Hassall (1798-1834)
at St. John's Church in Parramatta - in the famous triple wedding when
three of Rowland Hassall's children were married in the same ceremony:
Samuel Hassall married Lucy Mileham, the daughter of Dr. James Mileham
(c.1763-1824) and Mary Cover Hassall married the Methodist missionary
Rev. Walter Lawry (1793-1859). After Mary Rouse's marriage Lachlan and
Elizabeth Macquarie engaged Theodore Bartley, aged 16, as a tutor to
their son Lachlan.
During the first years of their marriage Jonathan and Mary lived on
the Hassall family property Macquarie Groveat Camden. Their first
child, Rowland was born in 1820.
In 1816 Jonathan had received from Governor Macquarie a grant of 200
acres at the Cowpastures near Camden (present-day: Cobbitty) which he
called Matavai.This was consolidated later by a second grant of
230 acres. In 1823, Jonathan and his three brothers, Thomas, Samuel, and
James, received grants of land west of the mountains. Governor Thomas
Brisbane granted Jonathan 800 acres at O'Connell Plains, south-east of
Bathurst. The grant became known as Newberry Farm and in 1828 its
location was listed as being at Macquarie Plains. The 1828 Census
records that Jonathan's Matavaiholding now totalled 700 acres; he
also owned an additional 1100 acres at Bathurst known as Junction
Farm.
However, it is clear that Mary's husband Jonathan lacked the
managerial skills needed to successfuly meet the challenges of early
colonial enterprise. His personal debts, and the mismanagement of the
assets of other family members, increased progressively over the years.
Despite the best efforts of his brothers and brothers-in-laws he became
deeply indebted and was clearly troubled by his personal situation. He
sold his Matavaiproperty to his brother James, and Jonathan, Mary
and their six children moved to Berkshire House,near
Riverstone.
Berkshire House was a 10-room house that had
been built by Mary's father, Richard Rouse, on 320 acres located at the
junction of South Creek and the Richmond Road, close to the Rouse
Hillestate. It was from here that Mary wrote to her brother-in-law,
Thomas, on 27 March 1834, indicating that her husband's physical and
mental state was in decline:
"I am sorry to inform you that my poor Jon'n is very ill he
has keep his bed for several days an is growing very week [sic] an at
intervils [sic] very delirious he wishes to converse with some pious
friend I have rote [sic] Mr Scoufield at Whindsor [sic] he has promised
to come an see him I trust the first time you come near us that you will
please to pay us a visit of love to his presious [sic] soul who can tell
that a worde [sic] or two in season might have the desired
affect.[sic]
O' that his dear departed Mothers petitions may be
heard an answered before it is two [sic] laite, [sic] I was in hopes to
have the pleasure of meeting you with my Sister on Easter Thursday I
fear that Jon'n health will not permitt [sic] my leaving home Jonathan
joines [sic] me in sincer [sic] love to Ann yourself an family hoping
you enjoyed your trip to Oconale [sic: O'Connell] plaines [sic] from
your Sincer [sic] an anxious Sister."
Later that same year, on 13 December, at his former property of
Matavai, Jonathan's troubled life came to an end, when he
apparently took his own life by drowning. The Sydney Gazette of 16
December recorded the events preceding his death, and the probability of
his suicide:
"We regret to state that Mr. Jonathan Hassall of
Matavia,[sic] Cowpastures, who has been in a deranged state of
mind for the last three months, put a period to his existence on
Saturday last. He left home early on the morning of that day with a
determination, as he stated, of shooting some person who had offended
him: but as he was in the habit of behaving in this strange manner, no
particular notice was taken of his threat. However, he not returning at
the usual hour, search was made, when his hat and stick were discovered
floating in a lagoon near his farm. We had not heard of the body being
discovered at the time we went to press."
At the time, Mary was pregnant with their eighth child. This infant,
Elizabeth, was born in 1835, but only lived for six days.
By 1840, six years after the death of his son-in-law, Jonathan, Richard
Rouse had built a new single-storey brick house of Georgian design for
Mary and her children at Berkshire House. In 1850, Richard Rouse
again provided for his daughter Mary and her family by transferring to
her ownership of three property holdings on the Castlereagh River at
Mendooran, totalling 19,200 acres. One of these properties was called
Bundulla and her son Edwin Otoo Hassall, and his wife Lucy, made
this their home after their marriage in 1857.
Mary did not remarry, but continued to live at Berkshire Parkfor
the remainder of her life. She died on 15 December 1883, aged 84 and was
buried at St. Matthews, Windsor - in the same tomb as her husband and
daughter Elizabeth.
Children:
Rowland H. Hassall (1820-1904) m. Elizabeth Jane Royds (nee Roberts) (1824-1875)
Richard James Hassall (1822-1900) m. Emily Brown
Jonathan Lawry Hassall (1824-1899) m. Bertha Mary Carlos (c.1842-1892)
Edwin Otoo Hassall (1826-1898) m. Lucy Maria Williams (c.1839-1898)
James Hassall (1827) [died at birth]
Mary Cover Hassall (1828-1858) m. William Walker (1828-1908)
Charles Hassall (1831-1863) [unmarried]
Elizabeth Hassall (1835) [died aged 6 days]
Top of page
References:
Primary Sources:
Hassall Correspondence (Mitchell Library, Sydney: ML Ref: A1677 p.514).
Census of New South Wales, November 1828. (Eds.) Malcolm R. Sainty and
Keith A Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1980.
Sydney Gazette 16 December 1834 p.2 [column 4].
Secondary Sources:
Ritchie, John, Lachlan Macquarie: a biography. Melbourne:
Melbourne University Press, 1986 p.164.
Stewart, Jean and Hassall, David J. The Hassall Family: celebrating 200 years in Australia 1798-1998. Newport, NSW: The Hassall Family Bicentenary
Association, 1998.
Thornton, Caroline Rouse, Rouse Hill House and the Rouses.
Nedlands, W.A.: Caroline Thornton, 1988.
Return to: Profiles |
Biographical Register
|