St. Paul’s Church of England, Cleveland Street, Redfern.
2nd Great-Grandparents – Maternal mother’s line of Clingan Family
William Clingan 1826–1885
When William Clingan was born in 1826 his father, Robert, was 25 and his mother, Sarah, was 23. He married Elizabeth Cowden and they had seven children together. He then married Esther Dick and they had six children together. He died on 16 July 1885, in Waterloo, New South Wales, at the age of 59.
William Clingan was born in Ireland in 1826 to Sarah Clingin, age 23, and Robert Clingin, age 25.
By 1840, William’s parents left Ireland with their sons William and James and settled in Glasgow, Scotland. His sister, Jane was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1840. By June 1841 William, his parents and newborn sister Jane were living at Stockwell Place, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Elizabeth Cowden 1821-1885
William Clingan married Elizabeth Cowden on 16 September 1850, in Renfrew, Renfrewshire, when he was 24 years old. Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas Cowden and Margaret Keith.
Following their wedding William Clingan continued to work as a Mason and together with his wife Elizabeth, they lived at 134 Sauchiehall Street, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Their first child, William was born in the second half of 1851.
Gold news travels fast – the people of Ireland, Scotland and England soon became aware of the discovery of gold in Australia. In 1852 alone, 370,000 immigrants arrived in Australia and the economy of the nation boomed. William, Elizabeth and their young son William (aged two) departed from Greenrock, Scotland, in late 1853 aboard the Forest Monarch bound for Australia, arriving in Melbourne, in March 1854.
Residence of Elizabeth Cowden and William Clingan from 1854 to 1865
Soon after their arrival at Melbourne, William and Elizabeth had moved to Geelong for the birth of their first daughter, Elizabeth. In 1856 William and Elizabeth were living at Long Gully, Sandhurst, near the present regional city of Bendigo, Victoria. Their third child, Robert was born at Sandhurst in 1856. At this time William Clingan had obtained a “Miner’s Right” and was working as a miner in Long Gully, Sandhurst.
Miner’s Right licence issued in Victoria in 1857
The ‘rush’ was well and truly on. Victoria contributed more than one third of the world’s gold output in the 1850s and in just two years the State’s population had grown from 77,000 to 540,000! The number of new arrivals to Australia was greater than the number of convicts who had landed here in the previous seventy years. The discovery of gold in NSW and Victoria accelerated the abolition of convict transportation to the east coast of Australia, and ultimately to the nation as a whole.
Drawing of gold diggings in Victoria
Between 1856 and 1860 another three children, Thomas, Flemming and Sarah were born in Victoria. Two of the children, Thomas aged 2 years and Flemming aged 11 months died in Victoria.
William, Elizabeth and their remaining four children left Victoria and moved to Redfern, New South Wales in the early 1860’s. Janet Clingan, their last child, was born at Redfern in 1863. At this time William had resumed working as a stonemason.
Children of William and Elizabeth Cowden (includes Esther Dick)
Seven children were born to William and Elizabeth Clingan at various locations, including Lanarkshire, Scotland and the Australian States of Victoria and New South Wales, during a period of 12 years from 1850 to 1863.
His wife Elizabeth passed away on 26 April 1865, in Bullanaming Street, Redfern, at the age of 44. They had been married 14 years and left William with five children aged from 2 to 12 to look after.
1865 Funeral Notice for Elizabeth Clingan
Esther Dick 1837-1892
Esther Dick was born in about 1837 in Midlothian, Scotland, to Esther Clayphon, age 36, and Laurence Dick, age 36. According to the June 1841 Scotland census, Esther and her family lived in 7 Dalrymple Place, Edinburgh, St Cuthberts, Midlothian, Scotland.
As a single female with no family, Esther Dick boarded the Immigrant Ship “Annie Wilson” at Liverpool on 5 September 1859 and arrived at Sydney, New South Wales on 14 December 1859. Master of the “Annie Wilson” John Duckett noted that the voyage took 100 days.
Esther was a 21-year-old General Servant from Edinburgh, Scotland who could read and write, she had no relatives in the Colony. It is not known if her mother Esther was still alive in 1859. Her father had been a long-term resident at the “Poor House of Ayrshire” since 30 March 1851 and by 8 April 1861 he was at the “Kyle Union Poor House” at Ayrshire. The date and place of her father’s death is unknown.
Following the death of Elizabeth in 1865, William Clingan met Esther Dick.
Eight months after the death of Elizabeth Cowden and six years after arriving in Sydney, Esther Dick married William Clingan in St. Paul’s Church of England, Cleveland Street, Redfern on 25 December 1865 when she was 27 years old. Their union bore another six children, four boys and two girls.
William Clingan married Esther Dick in St Paul’s, Redfern on Christmas Day 1865
Children of William Clingan and Esther Dick (includes Elizabeth Cowden)
Our direct ancestor was James William Clingan, born 17 February 1870 in Waterloo, New South Wales and passed away 17 April 1932 in Liverpool, New South Wales
During the next 20 years, William and Esther lived in the Sydney suburbs of Alexandria, Redfern and Waterloo.
William Clingan died on 16 July 1885, in Waterloo, New South Wales, when he was 59 years old. He was buried the following day at Rookwood, New South Wales, Australia.
1885 Funeral Notice for William Clingan
Esther Clingan née Dick, wife and mother, died of apoplexy (stroke) at her residence, Wyndham Street, Alexandria on 16 March and was buried at the Necropolis, Rookwood on Saturday, 17 March 1892.
In Memoriam for Esther Clingan published in 1894