In 1849, Robert Muxon (or Moxon, born 1811) and his wife Sarah (nee Crawley, born 1814) of Stewkley, Buckinghamshire migrated to New South Wales, coincidentally on the Sarah. By 1849, they had five surviving children including a daughter born at sea. Two more sons were registered in Bathurst in 1853 and 1855. The family settled at Wattle Flat, a gold mining area near Bathurst where Robert died in 1894. The family has many descendants around Australia including many still living in the Bathurst area. Others moved to Western Australia around the beginning of the 20th century and their descendants include a current politician in the WA Parliament who is a loyal member of The Moxon Society.
More information about the Wattle Flat goldfields - very near Sofala - is available in a book by Eve Buscombe.
A young Clint Moxon, a talented district cricketer is often featured in the Bathurst newspapers. The Bathurst showground includes a Noel Moxon grandstand. This was moved from Ashfield in Sydney a number of decades ago. A Dr Frank P. Moxon joined the United States Army Medical Corps and like many other Bathurst born Moxons, served in the First World War.
So Robert Moxon, born 1811 was the head of a very large family of Moxons in New South Wales and Western Australia. However, less well-known is that his elder brother William Moxon (aka Moxham and Moxom, born about 1801) was sent to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) on the Tortoise in 1842. He had stolen a sheep and it was his second offence, having earlier stolen a turnip.
William had married twice in Stewkley and already had a family there, but in 1853 he married another convict, Mary Hurst from Yorkshire. This was generally permissible when convicts were either unable to return to their homeland. William and Mary already had a son William (born 1852).
In 1853, the small family sailed to Victoria from Launceston under the name Moxom and their many descendants in Victoria and New South Wales still use the variant name Moxom. At various times, members of this family have been members of The Moxon Society.
Many members of this family also served during both world wars.
William and Robert were at least third-generation members of a family of Muxon/Muckson/Moxons established in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire but DNA has recently proved they are descendants of the much larger Moxon Society tree "Moxons of Cawthorne, Yorkshire - MX01".
I would say that if someone stole a turnip then a sheep, they were hungry and in need of an assist! Still, excellent that William Moxon/m and his wife were able to make a go of it once they relocated. https://mollyscanopy.com/
ReplyDeleteDNA can be such a useful tool. Great work.
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