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Dear Diary

In 1848 Marion McLean’s family set off on a journey. It was not their first trek. When she was three they had sailed from Skye to Sydney, New South Wales. Immediately after that, the family headed overland where her shepherd father would work on a pastoral station.

Over the next ten years the family grew to have six children and Malcolm McLean had worked as an overseer on at least three stations on the New England Tableland, an area which was not recognised as an area of legal settlement.

Marion’s youngest sibling, James, was baptised in early April.  The family appears to have left Bolivia Station quite soon after this. This journey may have been planned much earlier, but departure delayed because of mother Margaret’s pregnancy.

Marion decided to record her coming experiences in a diary. The diary survived for one hundred years, but by then it must have deteriorated consdierably. When her old home was sold, many of the older belongings were discarded. There must have been debate about whether to dispose of the diary as many family members tell the same story. This is that in the end, the diary was labeled a dirty old thing and was destroyed. Of what possible use could it be?

Fortunately Marion shared her stories with others and so some of her memories are recorded in other places.

Over time I will share these memories and other stories about her and her family.

 

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#52Ancestors Wk1 “First”

In 1862 Robert Kerr, aged 16, joined the 14th Connecticut Volunteer Rifles to fight for the North in the American Civil War. He seems to have remained unscathed until 1864 when he was injured in March and again in June. His injuries were such that they affected him for the rest of his life.

For the final year of the war Robert was not in combat. He acted as an escort for new troops joining their units and rounded up deserters. His long recuperation forced him to be inactive for long periods, so he turned to study. This led him to seek further education after the close of hostilities, so that after working in his home town for a short time he entered Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA and graduated in 1873 with Bachelor of Arts, the FIRST of his family to do so.

He was an active participant in a range of social activities, being a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He supported himself by working on the construction of new buildings at the college and as a teacher. Even with these commitments his grades were good enough for him to win the school prize for the “most competent student”. This did not satisfy him. He went on to obtain an LLB at Boston University in 1877.

By 1905 he was a District Judge in Colorado Springs, the FIRST and so far the only member of the family to become a judge. Robert Kerr was my great grandfather’s only brother. My great grandfather was the FIRST and only member of his family to emigrate to Australia. He was not a college man, but his living offspring include engineers, a doctor, accountant, teacher, occupational therapist, architect and a medical technology specialist.