Eleanor Selina Bolton (1816 - 1890)

Photo taken 1889

 

Eleanor (Ellen) Selina Boulton was born 28^th June, 1816 in Birmingham, England. Life in Britain at this time was very difficult. As new machines were invented, people no longer needed for farming jobs moved to the cities. Cities became overcrowded. Many people did not have jobs and people stole things to survive. Minor crimes such as stealing items worth more than 1 shilling were punishable by transportation.

On the 26^th April, 1824 Ellen’s mother Mary Boulton was convicted of receiving stolen goods   ( 3 pair of boots, 3 pair of shoes, 25 yards of binding and other goods, the property of Thomas Wykes, well knowing them to be stolen) at Warwick Assizes and sentenced to 7 years Transportation. As Mary’s husband William had been transported to Australia 3 years earlier Ellen and her three sisters, Ann aged 19, Eliza aged 12 and Sarah aged 6, were sent to Australia with their mother on the Grenada, arriving in Sydney Cove on the 23^rd January, 1825.

The voyage out was recorded from the perspective of ten year old Edward Ogilvie in George Farwell’s ‘Squatters Castle’.

 “As for the ninety six women and children below decks, conditions were unendurable. In heavy seas hatches were always battened down, and every scuttle closed. No fresh air reached them at all. No ventilation of any kind. The stench was appalling. Nor was it possible for them to leave their close set tiers of bunks. Each time a big sea crashed on the deck above several tons of water flooded down,

drenching bed sheets, mattresses, clothes, sometimes even washing sleepers from their bunks, if any were able to sleep.”

 

Luckily the above conditions appear to have only lasted a few days and after three months at sea the Grenada arrived in Sydney without any loss of life during the trip and the all the convicts in good health.

 

On arrival in Sydney, Mary was sent to the Female Factory at Parramatta and after a period was assigned to Dr. Patrick Hill, Colony Surgeon, of Liverpool. Ellen and her younger sister Sarah were put into the Parramatta Orphanage. It is unclear where the two older sisters were placed.

 

On the 19^th March 1827, Ellen’s sister Ann who by this time had married Edward Raper applied to the Female Orphan School to have Ellen and Sarah discharged into their care. It appears that they were successful in having Ellen released to them but not Sarah as a second application was received on 4^th February 1830 from Eliza and her husband Francis O’Meara for Sarah.

 

(Note: The 1828 New South Wales, Australian Census has Ellen as a servant to Lewis Solomon, Airds)

 In May 1831, Ellen’s mother Mary, having completed her sentence and receiving a glowing report from Patrick Hill, wrote to the Commissioners for managing the Church Corporation of New South Wales requesting that Sarah be restored to her and that Francis O’Meara to whom the girl was at that time apprenticed was agreeable to forego any claim.

 And so the family is now reunited and complete again, except for the father who died May 1830 in Tasmania.  Ellen has now been apprenticed to Edward Raper, Ann’s husband for the past two years. Eliza has married Francis O’Meara, Conductor of Police, and Sarah who has been in their care has now been returned to her mother. The Families both lived in Sydney. Mary Bolton died in Sydney on October 5^th 1836, aged 67 years, described as a widow.

Now aged 21, Ellen married William Samuel Makin on the 23^rd January 1837. Nothing is known of William Samuel Makin life before the marriage or how he came to Australia. The Wollongong Advertiser ran an article on the family on 6^th February, 2013. This article supplied the following information.

 William and Ellen moved around the Illawarra District a lot in their early years after leaving Parramatta around 1842 to take up a clearing lease at Charcoal Creek. In 1849 they were farming at Fairy Meadow and then by 1851 they were dealers in Crown Street, Wollongong.

In 1853, the family moved to Corrimal Street, They purchased two corner lots on Market Street and then the old Steam Packet Hotel, which was turned into the family home. William held the position of Agent of the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company for 35 years and died in January 1887. Eleanor (as she was now known) buried William on their 50^th wedding anniversary.

 William and Eleanor’s marriage produced 12 children, the first in 1838 and the final child in 1860. The Makin’s are noted in newspapers of the time as well-known and respected in the district and many are listed alongside William and Eleanor as Pioneers of the Illawarra District on the Memorial at Pioneer Park, Wollongong, NSW.

The Makin family owned several Hotels around Wollongong, none of which still exist.

1856 – William Makin’s Inn. Corner of Corrimal and Market Streets, Wollongong.

1879 – Steam Packet Hotel. Corrimal Street, Wollongong.

Circa 1900 – son Joseph Makin’s Royal Hotel. Corner Crown and Corrimal Streets, Wollongong.

1916 – Oxford Hotel owned by son George Makin.

 

Eleanor Makin died 2^nd March 1890 at Wollongong NSW. The cause of death is listed as Gallstone, Colic & Hepatitis. At the time of her death Eleanor owned four properties in Corrimal Street and Market Street Wollongong. These were sold for a total of 1767 pounds 12 shillings. Eleanor’s total estate was 2888 pounds. Converted to the equivalent in todays (2017) currency her estate amounted to $400,000 – $500,000.

 As mentioned above the Makin’s were a pioneering family of the Wollongong area, and are mentioned quite frequently in two books published by the Illawarra Historical Publications. Reminiscences of Illawarra by Alexander Stewart and Old Pioneer’s Reminiscences of Illawarra by Michael Organ covering the period from 1830 – 1920. Ellen left behind a large family who were highly respected in the Illawarra district with the exception of John Makin who was destined to go into Australian history as a murderer in the ‘Baby Farming’ case of Sydney in 1893. This case is thoroughly documented in ‘From Burren Street to the Gallows’ by Carol Herben.

The following is an extract from Eleanor Makin’s will, taken from the above book-
 
…the executors shall stand possessed of the net proceeds of such sale (of land and property in Wollongong) upon trust to divide the same equally between my children (John and 9 other children mentioned by name). And I declare that the share of my son John Makin…shall be paid respectively by monthly instalments of four pounds. ($500-750 in today currency)

 John is described in a Deputation to the Colonial Secretary reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday 12 August, 1893 as a ‘foolish young man’ who married ‘a woman possessed with of an almost fiendish disposition’. No doubt this is why Eleanor did not give him his full inheritance in a lump sum. John and Sarah Makin did not start their murderous enterprise until after Eleanor’s death and I wonder how History would have played out if Eleanor had not withheld the money.