James Beaumont

  General Notes:

Took up land known as Middle Road in "Fronnby" (probably Formby now Devonport) [IB Register 2003]

<http://www.wwt.com.au/townsd.htm> DEVONPORT: A city on the north west coast. It is situated on the Mersey River 99 Km from Launceston via the Bass Highway. Known as "The Gateway to Tasmania" it is the terminal for the drive on, drive off ferry link with Victoria. Devonport was created by merging two towns in 1890. Formby was on the west bank and Torquay on the east bank. The area was being settled in the 1840s and in 1843 an eager farmer planted 6 blackberry cuttings he had imported from England - a deed long regretted by farmers in general.

From: http://www.microbiology.adelaide.edu.au/cthomas/pafn01.htm Bartholomew John William THOMAS Bartholomew (Bat) Thomas was probably the first settler on the west side of the Mersey river. He acquired about 500 acres at the beginning of 1852, but later purchased adjacent sections. He named the property Appledore after a village in Devon, England where some of the Thomas family had lived. Appledore today is now well within the Devonport town boundaries. A small 9 acre block on which the original Appledore House stood is all that is left of the property. The remainder has been subdivided into residential blocks comprising the �suburbs� Miandetta and Wenvoe. Previously he had held a grant of land at the Black Sugar Loaf, Northdown, Tasmania. He married Miss Ashburner and they had a large family of sons and daughters. His son Llewelyn was the only one to have a son. The son is the head of the Thomas senior branch family. He would have been the owner of the family signet ring, except that it was stolen in 1803 by persons unknown. The ring had been handed down from father to son since the Battle of Cressy in 1346. In 1854, Bartholomew began to clear the land and in August was advertising for brickmakers to make 50,000 to 100,000 bricks on the Mersey. Presumably these were for use in construction of buildings on his estate. He and his family went from Northdown to live there at the beginning of 1856, the year inwhich Appledore House was built. A much smaller house was built at the site some years before this more substantial residence was erected. Old Appledore house remained standing until about 1968 when it was demolished to make way for a new family residence. A brewery was erected on Appledore estate in 1856 and a license granted from January 1, 1857. This enterprise could not have been a success as in July, 1858, the goodwill and plant were advertised for disposal, with the use of premises and malt house, and the lease of a first class site for business at a loading point on a freshwater creek. The brewery was closed down when a Mr Turnbull opened another at Latrobe inn 1859. The creek mentioned was known as Thomas� Creek, but later became known as Chinaman�s Creek as it ran through the gardens of some Chinese settlers active in the 1890�s. In order to get his land cleared, Bat sublet sections of it. At the beginning of 1856 William heron, Thomas Lodge, George Laycock, Thomas Roberts and James and Allan Beaumont and their father were tenants. With the exception of Thomas Roberts, these men had been brought out from England several years earlier for the coal mines near Latrobe. With his brother Charles, he left for the California goldfields on the barque 'Spartan' on 1st of August, 1849 bound for San Franscico. According to his wife's journal, he returned over a year later on the 22nd February, 1851. His brother did not returned home eight months later on the barque Elizabeth Thompson as a cabin passenger. Within a few weeks, Bat, Charles and their brother Edward left for the Victorian goldfields. Their luck at Mt Alexander was little better than California. Although his brothers followed the lure of gold again, he never again left the land. Adapted from: Ramsay, C. 1980. With the pioneers. Second edition, Telegraph printery Pty. Ltd., Launceston.

  Chronology:

In 1851 he was living with wife Elizabeth in "Mold Green", Almondsbury, Dalton, Huddersfield and working as a Labourer. Next door are parents Richard and Mary and sister Mary Ann. Dalton, Moldgreen and Almonbury are adjoining villages/suburbs about 2k SE from centre of Huddersfield. ⁵

He emigrated circa 1855 from England To Formby (Now Devonport), Tasmania On "Donald Craig". ²

James married Elizabeth Brook Apr to Jun 1850 in Huddersfield.¹ (Elizabeth Brook was born on 13 Sep 1829 in Huddersfield ^{2 6}.)