The Hussey's of Dorset
The Hussey's and the Spiller's were prominent families in early colonial South Australia. The province of South Australia was proclaimed on 28th December 1836. Robert Spiller and his family arrived in the colony less than three years later, two of his son's were to have important roles in the development of South Australia - Emanuel Spiller, Government printer and conductor, and Alfred Spiller, butcher, publican and Colonist.
Robert Spiller's granddaughter Charlotte Welcome married Charles Richard Hussey, cousin of George Frederick Hussey, printer and politician, and his brothers, Henry Hussey, pastor, evangelist, printer, historian and also secretary to George Fife Angas, philanthropist and the founder of the South Australian Company, and Charles Henry Hussey, teacher, accountant, storekeeper and Member of Parliament.
In 2005, I was lucky enough to be in contact with Sue Ellbourn, a descendant of Sarah Spiller and her husband William Ewens. Through Sue's website "Stanley Descendants" (http://cougar54.customer.netspace.net.au/index.html) as well many emails, I was able to establish my connection to the Hussey and Spiller families.
After many years of tracking census records, birth, marriage and death records, as well as assistance from a number of other people including Carol Welcome, Max Spiller and Douglas Murgatroyd, I have been able to track this branch of my dad's family back to the 1700's. Although the Hussey family were originally from Dorset in England, the origins of the Welcome and Spiller families is centred around the county of Sussex.
I am always amazed at the distances traveled by our forebears. No greater journey was there than leaving their family and friends in England for a long, arduous sea voyage to an unknown and uncertain future on the other side of the world, to a country that they knew very little about. Many, like the Hussey and the Spiller families, made the most of their opportunities and established themselves as well-known and influential people in their new homeland.
Robert Spiller's granddaughter Charlotte Welcome married Charles Richard Hussey, cousin of George Frederick Hussey, printer and politician, and his brothers, Henry Hussey, pastor, evangelist, printer, historian and also secretary to George Fife Angas, philanthropist and the founder of the South Australian Company, and Charles Henry Hussey, teacher, accountant, storekeeper and Member of Parliament.
In 2005, I was lucky enough to be in contact with Sue Ellbourn, a descendant of Sarah Spiller and her husband William Ewens. Through Sue's website "Stanley Descendants" (http://cougar54.customer.netspace.net.au/index.html) as well many emails, I was able to establish my connection to the Hussey and Spiller families.
After many years of tracking census records, birth, marriage and death records, as well as assistance from a number of other people including Carol Welcome, Max Spiller and Douglas Murgatroyd, I have been able to track this branch of my dad's family back to the 1700's. Although the Hussey family were originally from Dorset in England, the origins of the Welcome and Spiller families is centred around the county of Sussex.
I am always amazed at the distances traveled by our forebears. No greater journey was there than leaving their family and friends in England for a long, arduous sea voyage to an unknown and uncertain future on the other side of the world, to a country that they knew very little about. Many, like the Hussey and the Spiller families, made the most of their opportunities and established themselves as well-known and influential people in their new homeland.