3. Sarah Wills (Edward Spencer , Edward ) was born on 23 Apr 1796. She died in 1875.
Sarah married Dr. William Redfern on 14 Mar 1811. Dr. died in 1833 in Scotland.
They had the following children:
+ 9 M i William Macquarie Redfern 10 M ii Foveaux Redfern was born in 1823. He died on 11 Apr 1830 in Drowned.
Foveaux named for Captain Foveaux, Commander on Norfolk Island where Dr. Redfern was assigned
4. Thomas Wills (Edward Spencer , Edward ) was born in Aug 1800. He died on 29 Jul 1872.
The younger sons of Thomas and Mary Ann Mellard (de facto) Frederick and Charles died in infancy. Thomas Wills acknowledged his natural sons but left his extensive estates and money to Harry and seemingly passed over Arthur for some reason!
Thomas married (1) Celia Reibey. Celia died on 25 Jul 1823.
Daughter of Thomas Reibey, Thomas Wills' business partner.
Celia died as a result of childbirth on 25/07/1823
Thomas and Celia had the following children:
11 F i Alice Wills was born in May 1823. She died on 14 Apr 1824.
Thomas married (2) Mary Ann Barry in Mauritius. Mary died on 19 May 1870.
They had the following children:
12 F ii Alice Wills is printed as #11. 13 M iii William Henry Wills was born on 1 Dec 1827. He died in infancy. 14 F iv Catherine Spencer Wills was born on 24 Nov 1831. She died on 22 Dec 1864. Catherine married Lewis Charles Conran on 12 Feb 1850. + 15 M v Arthur Wills
Thomas married (3) Mary Anne Mellard in De Facto.
They had the following children:
+ 16 M vi Arthur Wills is printed as #15. + 17 M vii Harry Wills 18 M viii Frederick Wills was born on 19 Jul 1860 in infancy. 19 M ix Charles Wills was born on 15 Nov 1861. He died in infancy.
5. Eliza Wills (Edward Spencer , Edward ) was born on 10 Sep 1802. She died on 20 Sep 1853 in "Jervisfield" Picton, NSW.
Eliza married Henry Colden Antill.
They had the following children:
8. Horatio Spencer Howe Wills (Edward Spencer , Edward ) was born on 15 Oct 1811. He died on 17 Oct 1861.
Horatio Spencer Howe Wills was born after the death of his father Edward. It is thought that the name "Howe" was added to his name upon his mother's second marriage and perhaps George Howe adopted him! He had a very free and wild childhood and married Elizabeth McGuire at Parramatta in 1833. Settled on a property named "Burra Burra" on the Murrumbidgee River, Lower Minto after staying at "Yarraville" his Uncle Tom's home, but decided to follow Major Mitchell's trail to Victoria. After crossing the Murray with his entire family, servants, stockmen etc., he arrived at Mt. Ararat which he named ("as like the ark I rested here!!") and in 1843 built "Lexington" homestead on the property of 120,000 acres. (Note: Lexington is still inhabited). After this he sold for 253,000 pounds and moved to Pt. Henry, Geelong and built the first model farm in the colony (Bellevue). He also was first to import barbed wire for sheep fences to keep dingoes out! In 1860 he sailed for Rockhampton Qld, where P.F.McDonald (a neighbour) sold him land. He and his eldest son Tom and a party of 22 or so overlanded their sheep from Sydney in 1861. They had been on his property "Cullinglaringo" for three weeks when attacked by aborigines and all but three slaughtered (the largest single massacre in Australia). His son Tom had been sent to "Albinia Downs" station for supplies so was not at the murder scene. It is said that Tom never recovered from the shock of seeing the scene and committed suicide in1880 after a drinking bout. (Poor bloke!) stabbed himself with scissors!!. Part of "Cullinlaringo" which means "sought and found" is still in Wills Hands (Antill Wills, Lexington Central Qld) but most was submerged in recent years (about 1976) beneath the Fairbairn Dam.
Notes:
Horatio ran off to sea as a lad and was in Antartic Waters at one time for seals.
Horatio was also MLA for South Grant in the first Victorian Assembly.
Horatio Wills on his wedding night took his bride Elizabeth aged about 16 to his sister Eliza Antill to be left for a time to study the rudiments of houskeeping! (and presumably "the facts of life") See copy of letter written to brother Tom at Yarraville in 1833 (I have a copy, E. Edward)
L.M.E. Shaw has copy of Thomas W Wills suicide note.
Horatio Wills (1st) was killed by aborigines on 17/10/1861 at Cullinlaringo Station on the Nagoa River, near Emerald, Central Qld. He is buried at Garden Creek where he died. His grave and the grave of all the other 18 (men, women and children) is in a small reserve. He was 50 years old. Old original Cullinlaringo Homestead was burnt and a later homestead is now in Emerald, Qld. Most old Cullinlaringo property was submerged by waters of Fairbairn Dam except for 7,000 acres of property of his great grandsons Antill and Brian Wills. (Later cutting up of land has left Antill holding old Cullinlaringo)
Horatio married Elizabeth McGuire daughter of ? and ? in 1833 in Parramatta, NSW. Elizabeth was born on 3 Dec 1813. She died on 28 Dec 1907.
They had the following children:
29 M i Thomas Wentworth Wills was born on 19 Aug 1835 in Gundagai, NSW. He died on 3 May 1880.
Thomas Wentworth Wills was born near Gundagai on the 19th August 1835 - the first of nine children born to Horatio Spencer Wills and his wife Elizabeth.
Tom Wills was educated at Rugby, Cambridge, where he received his "blue" for cricket. "Old Lilywhites" description of him was "he carries a 3lb bat and hits terrific!". After Tom's death "The Australasian" said "He was the best all round man in Australia and was a public favourite of the most profound type"! His cleverness in knowing when to take risks was the cause of much diversion to onlookers. He always had complete control and command of his field (quote from "the Story of an Athlete" H.C.A.Harrison's book). He and H.C.A. Harrison were the originators of Australian Rules Football and both men were excellent athletes, winning many amateur foot races in Victoria. Tom was captain of Geelong Football Club and of Melbourne Football Club at different times. An excellent painting of Tom hangs in the foyer of the Geelong Football Club at Kardinia Park. The club is open every day, where one can view the painting.
In January 1864 he returned to Ararat to captain a district side against George Parrs touring All-England side and 3 months later played against > the same side at Geelong. This was the end of the underarm bowling era (until Greg Chappel rediscovered it!) and Tom Wills was one of the few cricketers in the colony who could bowl round arm. The 1864 season was the first in which bowlers could raise their arm above shoulder height.
In 1866 Wills captained and coached the aboriginal side that included the famous "Mullagh", "Bullocky" and "Dick A Dick" - there was also "Tar Pot" who allegedly could run 100 yards backwards in 14 seconds. After Wills had left the side it made its 1867-68 tour of England - the first Australian side to do so. Tom Wills' interest in aboriginal cricket is interesting - as a boy he grew up in close contact with aboriginals and learned their dialects. According to Lorna Banfield in her history of Ararat, his ability to sing their songs and perform their dances, "was useful when he went to Rugby for he was granted release from fagging because of his entertaining ability".
Little appears to be known of his private life after 1861 when his father was killed (except for his sporting prowess). It is said that the manner of death of Horatio Spencer Wills and the fact that he hadn't been there to aid his father affected him deeply and later on attributed to his terrible depression, heavy drinking and finally his suicide. A shocking tragedy for one so well like. He was universally admired, extremely popular and a true sportsman (he interests me and I would like to know more. Will try and delve into things if possible - E Edward).
In the same year that Wills had coached his black cricketers he and Harrison were to see the football clubs accept the 12 basic rules drawn up by the two men. Wills continued to play football and in 1872 when he was 37 years old, he and two of his brothers were in a Geelong team that played Ballarat. Tom Wills was a fine footballer and all round athlete and in the opinion of many has a sounder claim to the title of "Father of the Game" than his brother-in-law, H.C.A. Harrison who received that accolade from the inaugural meeting of the "Australian Football Council" in 1906. Harrison in his "Story of an Athlete" said of Wills "...and I suppose that no man in this country had ever been such a popular hero as he was during his cricketing career".
Wills was one of the first great Australian Cricketers. W.R. Brownhills "History of Geelong and Corio Bay" says: "Wills was famous as a Victorian as well as a Geelong cricketer. He spent a lot of his sporting life in Melbourne but is was in Geelong that he made his first appearance as a cricketer of exceptional ability. He was captain of the Victorian Eleven in later years. At the Corio ground in 1873 an eleven representing South Melbourne played against fifteen representing Corio in a benefit match in honour of Wills. In a speech during the lunch interval the South Melbourne Captain said that Tommy Wills had done more for cricket than any other man in the colony. South Melbourne scored 37 and Corio scored 81, Wills contributing 28 not out and taking 5 wickets for 10 runs. This remarkable athlete - he was a courageous and skilful footballer as well as a cricketer - was 45 years of age when he died at his home in Heidelberg in 1880".
Wills was by 1880 an alcoholic and it was suggested many times that the horrors of the Queensland experience led to that condition. Wills was of a generation that was sadly sensitive to its convict background and indeed his Uncle Edward had some years before committed suicide apparently in a state of depression created by this knowledge. Taking into account Wills' readiness to assist the Aboriginal cricketers it is hard to believe other than that his problem was the result of other causes. Certainly it was an undesirable characteristic in a coach, handling people unused to such civilised refinements.
An excellent painting of Tom hangs in the foyer of the Geelong Football Club at Kardinia Park. The club is open every day, where one can view the painting.
A book "The Call" By Martin Flanagan, Allen & Unwin, 1998 is based on the life of Tom Wills. It is both a book about cricket and a book about Australian football.
Track 9 on the CD "Dust on my Shoes" is a song titled Tom Wills and was based on the book "The Call".Thomas married Sarah Theresa Barbor in 1867 in Church of England, Castlemaine, Victoria. + 30 M ii Cedric Spencer Wills + 31 M iii Egbert Spencer Wills + 32 M iv Horatio Spencer Wills + 33 F v Emily Spencer Wills + 34 F vi Elizabeth Spencer Wills + 35 F vii Eugenie Spencer Wills + 36 F viii Minna Spencer Wills + 37 F ix Hortense Wills