Sadler is the maiden name of one of our maternal great-great-great grandmothers, Frances Sadler. The sequence of surnames in the five generations between us goes Sadler-Rogers-Rogers-Rogers-Rogers-Dwyer.
Sadler (variants Saddler, Sadleir, Sadlier, etc.) is an English occupation surname deriving from the profession of making saddles. In the mid-19th century the form Sadler was quite rare, with only seven Sadler families mentioned in Griffith’s Valuation, of which three were in County Roscommon where our Sadler ancestors originated.1
That fact that known Sadler ancestors had an English name and were Church of Ireland Protestants suggests that they were descended from seventeenth century English settlers, either arriving as part of the Ulster Plantation in the early 1600’s or the Cromwellian settlement of the 1650’s.
Our great-great-great-great-great grandparents
Edward Sadler and his wife Margaret, whose maiden name is unknown, were probably born between 1780 and 1785 in the Kilronan civil parish at the northern tip of County Roscommon. Kilronan was described by Samuel Lewis in 1837:
…a parish, in the barony of BOYLE, county of ROSCOMMON, and province of CONNAUGHT, 9 miles (N.) from Carrick-on-Shannon; containing, with the town of Keadue…6940 inhabitants. This parish contains the iron and coal works of Arigna…and comprises about 14,200 acres, of which 200 are woodland, 6000 arable, 4000 pasture, 2000 bog, and 2000 mountain and waste land. It is bounded on the east by Lough Allen, which is the first great expansion of the river Shannon, and about six miles from its source; this beautiful sheet of water is 6 ½ miles in length by 2 ½ in breadth, but is considerably narrower towards its southern extremity. On each side are steep and barren mountains, which render it liable to storms and gusts of wind; and within its limits are O'Reilly's island, which has been lately planted, and the small island of Inse...Beneath the mountains on the south is Lough Meelagh, near which is some charming scenery; and here is also Lough Skean. The village of Lough End consists of straggling houses, the inhabitants of which are principally engaged in the collieries, or the sandstone and limestone quarries.2
The birth of their son in 1804 suggests that Edward and Margaret married no later than 1803. Only one child of the marriage, Edward Sadler (see below - 1804-1858), is known.
There is a record in the Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-1837 for an Edward Sadler in Kilronan Parish, Carrowmore townland (beside Lough Meelagh) in 1824. This may have been a record of either the elder or the younger Edward Sadler, the latter of whom would have been around 20 years of age at the time.
There is no Edward Sadler mentioned in Griffith’s Valuation (and in fact no Sadlers at all in Kilronan parish), though the Valuation was not completed in County Roscommon until 1858, by which time Edward is very likely to have died.
It is possible that Edward may have been a smith, as that was the occupation of his son Edward in his immigration records.
The younger Edward’s immigration record indicates that Margaret had died before 1842, but states that Edward senior was still alive.
Our great-great-great-great grandparents
Edward Sadler was born in Kilronan civil parish, County Roscommon in 1804, the son of Edward and Margaret Sadler. Eliza Powell was also born in the Kilronan parish in 1804, the daughter of Edward and Sarah Powell.
Edward and Eliza probably married in the Kilronan parish, probably Keadue, around 1824 and they had five children born there:
In 1841 the family emigrated to New South Wales as assisted migrants aboard the Champion, departing Liverpool on 27 October 1841 and arriving in Sydney on 12 February 1842. As well as his five children, Edward’s shipping record says that his niece Frances (Fanny) Powell, aged 25, also came with them. There were two other single female emigrants from Roscommon also connected to the Sadlers: Catherine Gray, aged 19, who was “known to him and also his wife”, and Catherine McConnell, aged 18, who was “with him under his care”.
A passenger on board the Champion, Sarah Davenport, a thirty-three year old wife of a cabinet maker from Lancashire, left a personal memoir of the 1841-42 voyage of the Champion:
on the 27 of October 1841 we went on bord the Champion of Glasco – eigh hundred tuns burden – and set sail a second time3 it was very rouuf in the bay of biskay after we got through the vessel rolled a good deal
on the 8 of November in the morning about eigh o clock a young woman was coming down the hatch way with some gruel to her mother and she was pitched off the Lader i was sitting in my birth with my youngest little son on my knee, one year and eight months old, named Albert her gruel splashed on his head and down his ear and scalded him so severely that he died on the tenth of November just fourteen days after we had set sail a second time
this was a more sever tryal than the ship wreck i cold not cry one tear i was stund the young womans name was Ema Patmore and a good yong [woman] she was, aged about fifteen she was like myself she cold not cry but in one short month she died and was buried in the sea sad it was to me
i had what was caled purmature labour and that babe was throne in the sea i was almost Dumb with grief i thought my trials was heavey but i cryed unto God to help me for my childrens sake i had no one to comfort me in all my trials for my husband seemed indifferend affter the ship wreck his kindness seemed to be all vanished and [another] spirit might have [taken] position of him he [would] go on Deck or about [his] own pleasure i saw [it] and felt it too but [said] nothing some of [my] ship mates was [very good] to mee and when i [was] able to go about [again i] returned it to them again I must make myself usefull i felt happier if i was Doing some good for some of them but i had a sore hart but i battld hard against brooding over my trials
we had a good comander in Captain John Cockerin a schoth man, and two Dockters, Heuuet was the name of one i hav forgot the name of the other they was very kind to the passengers generley [thair was] maney different tempers abord an emigrant ship [we] mustred about three hundred souls but I think [we had] as orderly a vouage [as aney] that came out at [that] time for the captain [did] have a system strict and orderley [because] he looked affter it him sellf and if thair was anney complaints brought to him he wold make all inquieres and put the passengers to rights as far as he was able
]wehen [we] was passing the cape of good hope we had a rather sever storm it was on the 31 of December and lasted until the 3 of January one of the wemon was confined on the first of january and i went on deck to get something cooked and a wave came and washed me under the Long boat and washed part of the galley away, but i was not much hurt and the poor woman had nothing warm to eat so I got on some dry cloaths and tried again and did my best under the curcumstances and made her as comfortabl as i could but a few days after i was taken very ill with a sever cold and i got a sever blow on one of my legs i thought it wold be nothing but it began to inflame and i was not well [for] some weeks affter we landed we was all very glad when ‘land a head’ was caled out
the next eveining about 8 o clock we cast anchor in Port jackson Febuary 13 1842 just as we saw land Mrs Patmores child infant died and was buried in sydney buring ground that was two she lost during the voyage, her daughter Emma and her infant they was about a ten deaths during our voyage out to sydney4
At the time of his immigration Edward was a smith, and that occupation was also noted on his death register record. Eliza was a house servant. Their religion is shown as Church of Ireland (Episcopalian). Edward could both read and write, while Eliza could read only. The family were “brought out” by a Mr. Jas Townsend, who paid a £73 bounty and to whom Edward was indentured.
Edward and Eliza appear to have settled at The Lagoon, about 16 kilometers south of Bathurst, but whether they went there immediately on arrival in New South Wales or at some time afterwards is unknown.
Edward died at The Lagoon on 31 August 1858, aged 54 years, although a report in the local newspaper said that he was 58 years of age:
DIED.
On the 31st. August, 1858, aged 58 years, Mr. Edward Sadlier, of the Lagoon, Campbell's River. His remains were interred in the Church of England Cemetery, Bathurst.5
There is no surviving marker for Edward’s burial in Bathurst cemetery.
Eliza died in 1862, probably at The Lagoon, or at least in the Bathurst district. There is no surviving marker for her grave at Bathurst cemetery where she is presumed to have been buried.
1 http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=
2 http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/K/Kilronan-Boyle-Roscommon.php
3 Sarah Davenport and her family’s first attempt to travel to New South Wales aboard the Urainia ended in shipwreck on a sand bar on 7 October 1841 immediately after leaving Liverpool. They lost almost everything they had.
4 Frost, L. No place for a nervous lady: voices from the Australian bush. Melbourne, Vic: McPhee Gribble/Penguin. pp. 241-3.
5 Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, Saturday 4 September 1858, p.2.