1875 Melbourne arrival of John Walter and Sarah Ann Moxon

Scott Moxon Hults, a Moxon Society member who lives in Alabama, USA has discovered that one of his ancestor's brothers migrated to Australia.  He was John Walter Moxon, born 1850 in London, one of 11 children of George and Louisa Scott Moxon.  He married Sarah Ann Pearson in Southwark, Surrey in 1872.

John W. and Sarah Moxon arrived in Melbourne on the Lincolnshire from Gravesend on 9th September 1875.

John Walter was the brother of Scott's great grandfather, Arthur Moxon, born in Lambeth, London in 1860 and died in New Haven, CT in 1909.

So here is another Moxon family spread around the world.  Scott and his wife Vivian have been working on the tree MX48 for the Society.

W.E. & T.F. Moxon - arrived 1887

William Ernest Moxon, born in Ramsgate Kent in 1863 and Thomas Frank Moxon, born in Charlton, Kent in 1865, followed their elder brother Robert Julius to Australia in 1887.  Initially, William and Thomas worked together, establishing a service of small steamers along the Queensland coast.  However, William was headhunted by the Adelaide Steamship Company in 1890, and  became its first Queensland manager and inspector.

He moved with the company to Western Australia and raised a family there, returning to his former position in Queensland in 1918.  He took an active interest in industrial, commercial and shipping interests in both states, and in the days preceding Federation, he worked hard in Western Australia for the formation of the National Parliament.

In his younger days, he played cricket, soccer and hockey and was an enthusiastic fisherman.

He died at his home in Southport, Qld in 1946, aged 82.  He was survived by several children.  His children were Philip, Janet, Thomas and Nora.

Meanwhile, Thomas Frank Moxon, having served time as a seaman since 1880 when he was 14, joined the AUSN Co Ltd as a first officer and then ship's master on steamships plying the east coast.  He and his brother joined forces in 1891 and established Moxon & Co, working on their own account.  But after 1893, he carried on the shipping business on his own, and increasingly became attracted to the timber industry.  In 1903, Moxon & Company Pty Ltd was incorporated.

At the time of his death in 1936, he was the chairman of a prosperous group of companies based in Cairns, Brisbane and Sydney.

The family lived at Camden, Toowong in Brisbane.

R.J. Moxon - Archdeacon of Grafton - arrived 1883

Robert Julius Moxon (1861-1910) was the first of three brothers from Kent and India to migrate to Australia.  He was born in Bangalore, India, the son of a British Army Officer.  He was educated in England, as were his brothers and migrated to Australia aboard the SS John Duthie in 1883.  He was ordained an Anglican deacon in 1886, priest in 1889 and was married to Hilda Brunskill Moran in 1888.

They had seven children - Hilda D (1889), Robert W.G (1891), Thomas D.B. (1893), Marjorie May (1897), Clifford J.M. (1900), Violet F.E. (1903) and Patricia E. (1908).

He worked in the Parishes of the Lower Clarence, Tenterfield and Inverell (all in NSW) before being created an Archdeacon in Grafton.  He died at the age of 48 in 1910.

Sadly, his daughter Hilda's husband Archibald Tindal was killed at the Battle of the Somme in World War 1, and their son was the first person killed by the Japanese in Darwin in World War 11.  Tindal RAAF base is named after the latter.

His son Thomas D.B., known as Doug, had one son T.W.G., known as Glen.  Glen Moxon, born in 1922 passed away in 2010 in Byron Bay (northern NSW).  His son Geoff Moxon wrote a long obituary which was published in the Moxon Magazine in April 2011.

Joshua Middleton Moxon - Samarang, 1867

Joshua Middleton Moxon 1840-1894

Joshua Middleton Moxon was a stonemason, born in Grenoside, near Sheffield in 1840, and grew up in Barnsley, Yorkshire.  He pursued work in London in the 1860s and married Louisa Mary Wilkinson in 1865 in Chelsea.  Their first son George Joshua was born in 1866, one of seven sons and one daughter to survive childhood.

Joshua, Louisa and baby George arrived in Moreton Bay - near Brisbane - in August 1867 on the Samarang.  Family stories suggest that he was advised to leave England after he knocked off Prince Albert's nose whilst working on the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, and tried to cover it up.  However, there is no documentary proof - as yet - that he even worked on the Albert memorial.  The dates are right.  Who knows?

They settled initially at Balmain, but by 1871-2, Joshua had purchased and named Hailey Farm at Bankstown, on the site of present day Bankstown Station and Bankstown Mall.  The farm was named after Hailey Hall farm where Louisa grew up with her uncle. (See 1861 census)

The family imploded in 1883, with Louisa having left the marriage (whilst pregnant), second son Henry running away from home and his apprenticeship, and Joshua having been imprisoned for three months for cruelly beating his six year old son. A toddler, Alfred (born 1880) was kidnapped by a nanny and taken to New Zealand for many years before being identified as a Moxon by his older brother Henry (Harry) Percy.

During the time he was farming at Bankstown and for the following decade, Joshua was contracting for large stone masonry works including the Pitt Street facade of the General Post Office, the Darlinghurst Court and other well known buildings.  He was also purchasing properties.  He was not much of a father, with three of his sons - Herbert, William and Arthur being put into the care of the Randwick Institute for Destitute Children for 2-3 years.

Despite his entrepreneurial streak - he held mining leases as well as property - he was active in labour politics.  He died intestate in 1894 at the age of 54 of pneumonia, resulting in much anxiety for his estranged wife, his son George Joshua who became the estate's administrator, and his only daughter Edith, who appeared to be in dire straits, according to the probate papers.  The estate took at least 12 years to wind up, and like Dicken's Bleak House, most of the money went in legal fees.

His surviving children were:

1. George Joshua (1866-1940) - died Liverpool, NSW
2. Henry (Harry) Percy (1869-1950) - died Haberfield, NSW
3. Herbert Middleton (1872-1934) - died Merrylands, NSW - no living descendants
4. Edith Emma Chiffens (1874-1958) - married Charles A. Langford, died Balmain NSW
5. William Thorpe (1876-1952) - died Auburn, NSW - no living descendants
6. Arthur Frederick (1878-1959) - died Ryde, NSW
7. Alfred John (1880-1966) - died Stuart Town, NSW
8. Mary Susan (1887-1969) - died Little Bay, NSW - not the daughter of Joshua, although she took his name.

Six other children died either at birth or in childhood - mostly before they were 12 months old, but one died after falling into a quarry, aged eight in 1892.

Middleton was Joshua's mothers maiden name; Thorpe and Cheffins are surnames of Louisa Wilkinson's mother and grandmother.

There are a great many descendants of Joshua Middleton Moxon living throughout NSW.

Margaret and John Moxon have found descendants of four of the sons - two lines have died out - as well as of Mary Susan, and are yet to contact descendants of Edith Emma Cheffins Langford.

A group for descendants of Joshua Middleton Moxon has been set up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/JoshuaMiddletonMoxon/ and a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joshua-Middleton-Moxon-Family-History/179837275465183

Just search on Facebook for Joshua Middleton Moxon and you will find both.

John Bruce Moxon has written a story about Joshua's life, based on research undertaken through Australian newspapers and other source material.  If you are interested, contact John on (02) 9636 7752 or johnmoxon1@gmail.com.  The story is never finished of course, as more information comes to light.

Robert and Sarah Moxon of Bathurst NSW - 1849

Australia Mary Moxon (1873-1935) daughter of John & Mary Moxon

Robert and Sarah migrated to New South Wales in 1849 on the Sarah.  It is said that Robert was the brother of William Moxon who was transported to Van Dieman's Land in 1842.

Robert Moxon was born in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire in 1811, the son of John and Rebecca Moxon.  He died in 1894 in Wattle Flat, NSW.

On 14th September 1834, he married Sarah Crawley, born 1815 in Stewkley - she died 1876 in Bathurst.

They had the following children:

• Eliza b 4 July, 1837 in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, d 5 August 1901 in Sydney, NSW (married Thomas Nixon in 1853 in Bathurst)
• John Moxon b 31 March 1839 in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, d 8 May 1904 in Camperdown, NSW
• George Moxon, b 20 July 1842 in Clapham, London; died  15 August, 1867 in Bathurst
• Jane Elizabeth Moxon, b 7 April 1847 in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, d 13 May 1897 in Molong, NSW (married Alfred Goodman in Bathurst, 1864)
• Sarah Dublin Moxon, b 12 November, 1849 at sea  -V18492258 34A/1849
• Thomas Henry Moxon b 9 June, 1853 in Bathurst, NSW -  V18533705 39A/1853
• Frederick Jesse Moxon b 12 April 1855 in Bathurst, NSW; died 21 Dec 1947 in NSW - V18554716 42B/1855

At least three other children died in infancy in England, prior to Robert and Sarah emigrating.

Members of the Moxon Society can view and print full descendancy reports of this family, which has descendants all over Australia.