This story is inspired by the 52 Ancestors prompt “Migration”, and it also covers the recent prompt “Surprise”.
Yorkshire
Joseph Lees was born 23 August 1830 in the village of
Gomersal, in Yorkshire, England. Baptised
on 10 October 1830, in Birstall Parish Church, he was the son of William Lees,
a clothier, and his wife Rachel nee Gomersal.
A clothier was someone who made and sold cloth and it was a common
occupation in West Yorkshire; I have several clothier ancestors. With the growth of mechanised mills, William
eventually moved to working in a mill as a billy spinner.
Joseph Lees was the youngest of six known children of
William and Rachel. His older siblings
were Mary, William, Samuel, Rachel Gomersal and Sarah. Joseph would not have known any of his
grandparents, three died before he was born and the fourth died when he was
less than a year old.
The Lees children all appear to have been educated, those
who married signed the marriage register with a confident signature.
In 1841, Joseph and his brother Samuel were living in the
household of a Thomas Sigston, a retired Cloth Manufacture. Next door was their
uncle, Edward Gomersal, Rachel’s only known surviving sibling. The rest of the Lees family, except for
brother William, lived on the other side of Uncle Edward. Brother William was newly married to Martha
Firth.
Tragedy struck the family in 1842 when mother Rachel died,
only age 49, of what was described of as cramp in the stomach.
1846 was a happier year with three of Joseph’s siblings
getting married. Mary Lees married Richard Firth, Samuel Lees married Rachel
Smith and Rachel Gomersal Lees married William Firth. Yes, the Lees siblings did like a Firth. Sadly, Mary died in 1848 after only two years
of marriage.
Three years later, in 1848, there was another family
wedding, father William Lees married Sarah Brown.
In 1851, Joseph was living with his father, stepmother and
sister Sarah. This is the last record I
have of Sarah Lees.
Like the rest of his family, Joseph worked in the wool trade. He was a wool sorter. I think he may have learned his trade from
his older brother Samuel, who was also a wool sorter.
Joseph Lees married Mary Ann Cooper on 5 January 1853 in
Dewsbury Parish Church. In the first
three years of marriage, Joseph and Mary Ann had three sons who died in
infancy: Samwell, Seth and Frank. They
are all buried together with a gravestone still marking the spot. Three years later, daughter Florence was
born, followed by Archibald Lees (my ancestor) in 1861.
I think life was challenging for the family that had
experienced so much loss, and there were no more children born in England.
Migration
A Clipper - image generated with Copilot 28 Feb 2025.
Late in 1872, Joseph, Mary Ann, Florence and Archibald
travelled to London to board the clipper “Windsor Castle”, which looked like the ship in the image. The "Windsor Castle" was a new ship, built in 1869, the same
year as the famous Cutty Sark. While
clippers are renowned for their speed, this voyage was slow due to light and
unfavourable winds, it took 94 days (over 13 weeks) to travel to Sydney, New
South Wales, Australia. There were only
23 passengers on board the ship, including two families. The Lees family were travelling “intermediate
class” which appears to have been the lower class. While the voyage was slow, the passengers
reported that they were very well treated by the crew and enjoyed the journey,
according to a Newspaper shipping report.
The ship arrived in Sydney Harbour at 8pm on 6 February 1873.
Sydney
The family seem to have done well in Australia. Joseph continued working as a wool sorter and wool classer. Late in 1877, Joseph and Mary Ann (aged 46) must have been shocked to discover that they had another child on the way. Edith Sabina Lees was born in July 1878, with an almost 17-year age gap to her next sibling, Archibald.
Wife Mary Ann died in Sydney in 1908. Joseph died a few years later, on 15 March
1915, of a cerebral haemorrhage. By that
time, they had three surviving grandchildren by their son Archibald. Joseph and Mary Ann are both buried in the
Methodist Cemetery at Rookwood, in Sydney.
Joseph and his family migrated from rural Yorkshire to
suburban Sydney to find a better life and seem to have succeeded.
Notes on Lineage: Me > Mum > Daphne Madge Smith
> Esther Ilma Lees > Archibald Lees > Joseph Lees
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