Helen Anderson Turnbull

Younger sister of our Great Great Great Grandfather

Helen Anderson Turnbull was born on 17 March 1817 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. She married John Murdoch (b. c 1818) at the Duke Street Church in Glasgow on 26 December 1836 aged 19 years. They came to New South Wales on the Portland on 18 December 1838 with their infant son John, her elder brother Henry and his wife Mary Drummond, and her sister Agnes.

Helen and John were in the New England and Hunter districts of New South Wales for some years after their arrival. In 1841 John was described as an overseer at Namoi River NSW, and from 1842 to about 1850 he was a grocer in Sydney. They moved to Tombong near Delegate NSW about 1850. Helen's brother Samuel Perry Turnbull (our ancestor) was a resident of nearby Bombala area, and had been since the early 1840s. Helen's name appears as a midwife on many births in many families in the district over the succeeding years. She died at Bombala on 8 June 1901 aged 84 years. John died at Tombong on 12 May 1868 and they are both buried in the Delegate cemetery.

• John Murdoch Jnr. b. c 1837 in Glasgow, died at Bungarby in 1920 aged 83 years. He maried Esther Peters in 1877 and they had 3 children.
• Ann Morier Murdoch b. 1840 at Glen Innes NSW, death date unknown. She married David McDonald, who had come to NSW on the British King with his parents, siblings and some 130 other McDonalds, departing Tobermory Scotland on 28 October 1838 and arriving in Sydney on 28 February 1839. His family later moved to Nimmitabel where he described his father as "the head of the McDonald families in the district". He was a Contractor at Tombong in 1870, a school teacher at Haydens Bog Victoria in 1877, and a journalist in Erskineville Sydney in 1907. In his autobiography he describes an eye witness account of the events at the Eureka Stockade in the Victiorian Goldfields in the 1850s. They had 6 children.
• Elizabeth Yuille Murdoch b. in Sydney 25 May 1842. She married James Rutherford at Bombala in 1878 but no trace of any descendents can be found.
• Archibald Murdoch b. in Sydney 17 September 1844. Married Elizabeth Casey at Queanbeyan NSW in 1872 and they had 9 children.
• Helen Anderson Murdoch b. in Sydney 21 August 1847 and married William Stokes in 1871 but she died in 1875 aged only 27 years. They had 2 children. William died in about 1881.
• Thomas Murdoch b. in Sydney 27 August 1849 but died aged 11 years.
• David Harrice (Harvey) Murdoch b. at Tombong NSW 14 February 1852, married Sarah Ann Watling at Goulburn in 1880. He died in 1927 at Camden. they had 9 children.
• Isabella Murdoch b. 1854 at Tombong and married Alexander Adam Oliver at Bombala in 1878. In 1891 he was the undertaker at Bombala. Isabella died at Rooty Hill in Sydney in 1930. Alexander died in 1939. They had 3 children.
• William Edward Murdoch b. Currawong 11 November 1856 but died aged 4 years.
• James Robert Murdoch b. Glenroy 5 May 1859 but died aged 3 months.
• George (Thomas William) Murdoch. He was born at Tombong on 27 October 1860, and his birth is recorded as George Murdoch. At the time his elder brother Thomas was still living. The elder Thomas died some 3 months later and it is believed that George was then renamed Thomas William! No birth entry exists for Thomas William, but his date of birth coincides with George's, so they are assumed to be the same person. Whoever he was, he married Mary Jane Oliver in 1884, and she was a sister of Alexander Oliver who had married Thomas' elder sister Isabella. Mary died in 1948 and Thomas in 1935 after having 6 children.

Source: Turnbull Clan web site and "A Collateral of Blantyre - A History of the Turnbull Family" by Samuel J Turnbull 1989 (ISBN 0 7316 6513 9)

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