Shipping at Sydney Cove 1857-1863
2nd Great-Grandfather – Maternal mother’s line of Clingan Family
David Ronald Biggs was born in 1843 the child of William and Isabella. He married Jane Campbell on 11 October 1869, in Young, New South Wales. They had 12 children in 23 years. He died on 6 December 1893, in Nyngan, New South Wales, at the age of 50.
David Ronald Biggs was born in 1843 in Scotland to Isabella Ronald and William Biggs.
Following his birth it was increasingly difficult for the working class and poor to eat. In 1846, the repeal of the Corn Laws that previously favored powerful landowners was passed while external events such as the Irish potato famine and increasingly poor harvests in Britain encouraged families to flee to greener pastures. Unfortunately, it is not known how or when David and his family arrived in Australia.
Death of Mother
His mother Isabella passed away in 1860 in Braidwood, New South Wales, at the age of 40.
David Ronald Biggs married Jane Campbell on 11 October 1869, at Young, New South Wales, when he was 26 years old. The marriage was conducted by J.R. Edwards, Registrar, in accordance with an Act of Council.
The children of David Ronald Biggs and Jane Campbell
Residence
Following their marriage, David and Jane moved to Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, where their first five children were born. Living near the Murrumbidgee River meant that David and Jane had an awareness of floods and that they probably encountered the 27 April 1870 flood during their first year in Wagga Wagga.
David and Jane probably encountered the 27 April 1870 flood during their first year in Wagga Wagga.
In 1878 Jane, David and their four children William, Isabella, Elizabeth and Amelia moved from Wagga Wagga. The births of Adelaide (Gundagai 1879); David Ronald (Wodonga 1881); and, Robert (Bourke 1883) was followed by a move to Nyngan, New South Wales where they settled down and Alice, Ethel, Ernest and Florence were born.
Twelve children were born to Jane and David Biggs during a period of twenty three years from 1870 to 1893. Our direct ancestor, Amelia Biggs, was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales on 8 November 1876 and passed away on 13 March 1929, in Marrickville, New South Wales – Amelia Biggs 1876–1929
Occupation
David was carpenter, a career he followed during his entire life. The New South Wales Government Gazette of Thursday, 28 August 1890, recorded that D.R. Biggs, Builder, of Nyngan was among the eighty-nine persons who partitioned that their locality may be erected into a Municipality under the name of the “Municipal District of Nyngan.”
During his working life David encountered problems paying for goods sold and delivered to him. When District Courts gave verdicts against him it often became an opportunity for David and his family to move to a new town. In June 1893, the Bankruptcy Court made sequestration to David Ronald Biggs, of Nyngan, to Mr. L.T. Lloyd, official assignee.
David Ronald Biggs, a fifty year old contractor at Nyngan, New South Wales was working on a building for Mr. J.W. Critchley on Tuesday morning and evidently come down for dinner, when he took a fit. He was carried home unconscious, and died from the effects of sunstroke at one o’clock the next morning, Wednesday, 6 December 1893.
At the time of his death, five of his children were aged between 10 months and 12 years.
David was buried in the Church of England Cemetery, Nyngan, New South Wales. Charles Edward Bray, Minister of the Church of England, was in attendance.