THE FILTNESS FAMILY TREE

This is the story of the Filtness Family from the year 1480 in the United Kingdom, through to the Australian line of today. The earliest contact I came across was in 1045, with quite a few mentions from then to 1480. But there was no way that they could be connected, through marriages or children, so I am starting from the first family that continues the line unbroken.

Before going any further I would at this time point out that there were many spellings of the surname, which I will detail later but the main one that survived to this day is the spelling as FITNESS, the L has been lost. This is the same family and the mistake comes about by the fact that most people in the early days could not read or write. This meant that when they needed proof of who they were they produced a document with their name inscribed, mostly their birth certificate. This was not exactly the best way to do things but it was the best in those days. Unfortunately most of the scribes spelt words as they sounded to them, and they were not correct in a lot of cases. Now if your son was born and the birth certificate had the surname spelt FITNESS instead of FILTNESS then that was it, you carried that name, most likely for all your life never becoming aware of the mistake. As you married it carried on and your children also had the incorrect spelling and so on. This in later years caused a lot of trouble, as two different names evolved from the same ancestors. The name FITNESS is still found in U.K. and also Australia and New Zealand. We have one family with four sons who all have different spelling of their surname! Where the surname came from originally has never been solved.

 The earliest reference that can be found, that is directly linked to the Filtness tree, is a John Filtness who died in 1541 at Rotherfield in Sussex U.K. I am presuming that he reached the age of sixty years and that would make his birth date about 1480. There are earlier Filtness records going back to about 1050 but as they do not show marriages or children and so cannot be linked. But there is no doubt they are our relatives. Where the spelling of the name came from is still a mystery, but could be either Viking or French.

There are many spellings of the name, the correct one as Filtness and an incorrect one as Fitness, being the main ones still used today. The Fitness name, with  the L  dropped also goes back beyond the 1500’s, and one instance that is shown is a John Filtness who was born about 1730 and died 1766. John had four children, Abigale, John, Mary, who were christened as Filtness and the forth, Thomas was christened as a Fitness. This would have happened when whoever wrote the certificate mis-spelt the name and, as the clergy and also clerks of that time were not great on spelling and so the mistake was made. Because the general population could not read or write the mistake would not have been apparent to the family. But when a legal document or identification was needed the Certificate was produced and the mistake was compounded and carried forward. This Thomas Fitness was where the Fitness clan that migrated to NZ and Australia came from. There were other instances of the name being mis-spelled as well. It is interesting that when going back up the tree of Fitness that they use the same ancestors as Filtness but call them Fitness. But there is no doubt that the families are the same. I will include at the rear of this story, a document written by a lady named Naomi Fitness that was written in the late 1800’s and is an account of her life after Naomi left England and travelled to Australia and then to NZ.

Now it’s back to John, our first Filtness.  His son was William, and the next in line was his son, Thomas born 1566. Thomas’s son was Nicholas born 1605, who in turn had a son also Nicholas in 1645. This Nicholas‘s son was also called Nicholas and he married Mary Selden and had three children, Nicholas, Elizabeth and John. John was know as John of Little Horsted.  John in turn married a Sarah Baker and they had a child called John as well, and he was know as John of Waldron. He was born 17-11-1729 and he married an Elizabeth Baker. One of his children was Henry Filtness born 1793 and It’s from this chap that our family line descended. Henry worked at the castle at Frant and was in time made head butler, who I believe ran the castle and staff, having his own quarters in the castle and in fact a very high position, and many of his family worked there as well. The owner of Eridge Castle was The Marquis of Abergavenny, who died in 1850? Henry then had a change of profession, and became a bookkeeper. The new Marquis choose to live on his estate in Stamford and Henry's son Edward and a number of his sisters found work there. Here is the list of the Filtness people that worked at the Frant castle.

Eridge Castle (The Earl of Abergavenny)

 (The Earl (86) and his wife the Hon Caroline NEVILL (75) had nine male servants and seven female servants in the castle, and another five male servants in the stables, mostly not born in the county, ages 17 - 70.

Eridge Green Lodge

FILTNESS Henry        20 years  Male Servant (This was the son, Henry Snr: )

     FILTNESS Sophia       45  Female  Porter  (Wife of Henry 1793 )

FILTNESS Harriet      18  Female               ( Daughter )

FILTNESS Bertha       16  Female               ( Daughter )

                FILTNESS Sabina       13  Female               ( Daughter )               

FILTNESS Edward        8  Male                   ( SON )

Henry’s son also named Henry and born 1821 and hereafter known as Henry SNR, to separate him from the others. Henry started work as a manservant at the castle and was later listed in the census as an Innkeeper and licensed to sell wine and ale. Henry Snr: owned the Inn at Rotherfield called "The George Inn". This Inn was an Inn from when built in 1300 to 1998 when it was converted over to a backpackers Hostel  

The George Inn ----------Note headstones in Graveyard

Henry brought the plot in the corner of the cemetery opposite "The George Inn" and asked to be buried facing the inn, the opposite to all the others, so as that he could keep an eye on the Inn. 

The plot at the graveyard has the grave of Henry and Harriet, with on the left the graves of their daughters Mary and Fanny. On the right are the graves of the three Tully children, children of Sarah Ann who all died in about 6 weeks from possibly  "Diphtheria"

          

                    The gateway to Spanish Court today                                    Inside the first entrance gate

The family home at Rotherfield was called  "Cottage Garden" and has now been renamed "Spanish Court". Henry died at  "Cottage Garden " which was either then or later the house of his son George. 

George William Filtness--Henry Jnr: Brother

His son William was witness to his death certificate. Census entries:: 1841 Man servant to the Earl of Abergavenny. 1851 Inn Keeper. 1861 - Inn Keeper and farmer of 9 acres. 1871 Retired Inn Keeper. 1881Licensed   Victualler.

Henry Snr: had a large family of 11children, five boys and six girls. The girls were, Mary who died aged 18 years, Fanny who died aged 21 years, Ellen who married Frederick Pickett, Bertha who married Ernest Kenward, and Sarah Jane who married John Tully. Sarah had 3 children who all died within weeks of each other from diphtheria. Sarah Jane was listed in the 1881 census as living with her parents at the George Inn and also as a chemist’s wife. As they later lived at Crowborough I would imagine the Chemist shop was also at Crowborough. The last daughter was Harriet of which nothing is known at this time.

The boys were, Frederick who died aged seven years, William who never married and died aged 70 years, and Charles who was a Chemist in Crowborough known for his 'Remedies'. No children. When he died Caroline sold the chemist shop and moved away, no one knowing what become of her. Her name was Caroline Fisher. I wonder if John Tulley and Charles were connected at the same chemist shop, as both were chemists at Crowborough and I feel there would only be one shop.

At this stage there are no grandchildren left and it was George and Henry that carried on the name. George married Emma Francis Sellin on 21 –03-1879. George was a carrier with a horse and wagon, and he worked for a Mr. Moon, who was well known in the area The story was told that George, who liked a drink would leave Crowborough on his way home and going to sleep, the horse would take him home, but also stopped at every inn on the way. George and Emma had 13 children and 6 suffered from Cancer and 5 from Diabetes. Some suffered from both complaints and if it did not kill them it was a contributing factor. George died at the Hotel, called The Swan, run by his daughter Clara and her husband Ted Markins

Report from Norman Peachell, another very helpful chap from UK, Norman was a great help with all his information which he freely gave to me and assisted in many ways, states that George and Emma had 13 children who all survived to adulthood. 

The seven sons all served in the First World War all returning safely. King George 5th sent a letter expressing gratification and the "News of the World" sent a silver slaver given in connection with a census of the largest number of sons in one family that served in the war! It is from George that many of the later Filtness families came. Norman Peachell’s mother, Fanny is one of his children.

Back now to Henry Snr:  His first born, Henry 1844 who we will refer to as Henry Jnr; Nothing is known until he was 16 years old and apprenticed on the ship, “ Eliza Stewart”. He arrived in Sydney Australia in 1860 and decided that the country of Australia was much better than the Eliza Stewart, so he jumped ship on 04-10-1860 in Sydney. Not a lot is known, but he did work his way to the Snowy Mountains, and he had a price on his head as a ships deserter.

 He appeared to spend some time working at various places, around Sydney, before heading toward Moonbah in the area of the Snowy Mountains, in Southern NSW. At this stage I will relate some stories I have been told by many people but as no one has supplied any proof I cannot say they are correct. But they make interesting reading and could well be true.  

Old Tom Golby (White)

Henry joined up with a Tom White who was, in fact, Tom Golby and they went to the Snowy mountains, but I now think this is untrue. I wondered why Tom Golby would use another name and then revert to his correct name later. I could find no reference to a Tom White or Golby jumping ship from The Alma in the recorded book Ships Deserters 1852-----1900", but did find Henry on page 232.  Later we decided that the name Tom White was because he was wanted for the death of the Chinese miner. The story also goes that when he was married, his sister came out from England, and was very upset by two things.  One, Tom was not living in a castle, and his name (which she made known immediately) was Tom Golby. There are two spellings, Golby and Goldy, much the same as everyone else in those days.

I now know that Tom Golby went to the Victorian Gold Fields and became involved in a disagreement with a Chinese miner that tried to jump his claim. Tom killed him by hitting him over the head with a shovel. This I find quite reasonable. He left the goldfields that night and I believe headed for the Snowy area, possibly the Kiandra Gold Fields in the Snowy Mountains. I think that this is where he met up with Henry Jnr. On the way up, the Police were very close and Tom found an old bullock dead in the Snowy River. He climbed inside and hid till the Police left the area. Which I believe was quite a time.

There is a story around that I have heard from a few different sources that they were involved in a bit of bushranging, but no proof of this has ever been found. From what I have heard of Henry, he was not the type, as I hear from everyone who knew of him that he was a gentle man, still bushrangers were rather common, and we still have one as a national hero! Tom Golby has another story to his credit. He was drinking in a hotel at Mowenbah on the Dalgety road outside Jindabyne, and a miner came in showing a lot of gold. He left late at night, drunk, and was found the next day dead with a large bruise on his forehead.

The police accepted accidental death and thought he had hit his head on a low branch.  But after that Tom started buying land and spending money and many thought he may have killed the miner. Another story that I heard was that Henry and Tom Golby were in the bush with their dogs when the dogs put up a Kangaroo. The old man roo headed into the swamp and backed up to a large tree and took the dogs on. The roo was winning and the two boys went in to help. The roo took them on as well and ripped their clothes off and did considerable damage to their bodies. They staggered to a nearby house and the lady there tended their wounds and gave them some clothes, which she could really not afford as she was very poor.  Tom promised to repay her kindness one day and did in fact give her a large parcel of land at a later date.  Tom Golby named his property ALMA, after the ship he came out on. I later heard this story from Brian (Dooley) Pendergast, which was the same except that the lady gave Tom 30 sheep and he returned them to her some time later but she received 300 back! There could be more truth in the story from Dooley.

Henry after leaving the Eliza Stewart went to work for MR. KERANE of Campbelltown N.S.W. not far out of Sydney. He stayed there until the Kiandra Gold rush started. I think this is where he met Tom Golby (White). As I feel Tom after leaving the Victorian goldfields would have headed straight to the Kiranda fields. When they arrived at the Snowy area, both Henry and Tom worked for Mr James Thompson of Cobbin, just out from Jindabyne.  

 

Old Cobbin homestead

The Cobbin property from the Jindabyne Road

He remained there for a few years and then went to Mr Thomas Kirwin of Mowenbah not far from Cobbin, but on the Dalgety Road, outside Jindabyne. Here he met and married Ellen Spellman, the daughter of Mr and Mrs J.Spellman of Coolringdon. (Coolringdon is opposite the Cooma Airport.) I believe the Spellman’s worked at Coolringdon. 

The mail box outside Coolringdon Station

After his marriage, Mr. Andrew Sturgeon of Mowenbah employed Henry for many years, before he settled down at Pleasant View at Lake Jillamatong.  

 

The name Lake Jillamatong means One Hill. Henry built his home just above the lake.

Henry and Ellen owned six blocks in the area that was quite a large farm area.  The Lake is shown on the top of the section. They carried on farming and grazing in the area and also used the area around the Pinch River for winter grazing for sheep. Henry used to buy good quality sheep and winter them on the Pinch and this exercise paid off well for him.  Henry was well liked and respected by all that knew him and no one was turned away that needed any help. 

He ran a post office from Pleasant View, but its now been used as an office

 and also

 a school that was started in 1894 and ran till 1920. The school is still in use today as a home, but has been moved from the school site a couple of hundred yards so as its no longer on the government land section. Henry also traded in fur and his chequebook shows many payments to local people for rabbit and fox skins as well as wool.

When Henry built his house at The Lake, and it was of local stone and the walls were 18" thick. He quarried and transported all the rock and built the house himself, the rock coming from one of his nearby holdings, which today belong to John Wellsmore. The rock quarries he used are still visible. This was a task that I would not like to try. He planted tall pines down the windward side and these are still there today. The property was sold to Hugh Mugridge and passed on to Enid Mugridge nee Smith, who was the daughter of Henry’s daughter Mary. 

Henry's home paddock showing the Pine Trees he planted- while its the middle of summer, snow can be seen on the Snowy Mountains behind the property

The front of the house now restored 

Side view, imagine the work cutting these rocks and carting them, most likely by sledge about four at a time and then building this home by yourself!

The original home was built in three sections, the first in Rock, the next one in Brick and the third part in Fibro Cement, so you can see how much work went into the restoration, its now all Rock.

The restoration was started a new roof is on but this pic shows the original rock. The rock was carted about 3 miles

This shows the brick section and the Fibro cement additions. Note the foundations-- but they did the job

Another section of the brick work

The Fibro cement section-- You can see what a massive restoration job that the Kelly's took on 

The original fireplace with a swing arm that held the 5 gallon Cast Iron Urn with tap. The fire never went out summer or winter as it was their only means of hot water and cooking.

Close up showing the swing arm and also the flat round skillet that was also suspended most of the time, most of the cooking was done on either the skillet or a Camp Oven. I can remember sitting around this fireplace about 50 years ago.

I can remember sitting in this kitchen at a table that would seat about 16 people. It has now been restored far beyond its original appearance.

This photo was taken in the 70's while it was snowing

Alan and Sue Kelly now own the property. They have started to restore the old house. They have extended the house and used the rock that they found buried as a paved area around the house. All the old plaster inside has been chipped away and the rock cleaned. The little of the inside I was able to see looked excellent and it was a pity that the owners were absent as I would have liked to have taken some photos of the inside, especially the old kitchen fire place, which was huge with a cast iron kettle and a water urn, on the boil all the time. The fire never went out summer or winter. I later called in on another trip and met the owners who gave me full access to the house to take my photos.

 

My father Desmond woke one morning and looked out the window to see a fox in the back yard that was covered in snow. He picked up his shotgun and shot the fox through the window. Whilst having a wash in the bathroom he saw another one in the side yard. He shot him as well. After breakfast he went out and picked them up. Both were frozen so he stood them against a single wire fence and had his photo taken. The photo came out looking as if he had a pair of pet foxes with him. The photo still graces my wall and also both my sons have a copy.      

A creek in the Jacobs River area named FILTNESS CREEK was always believed by me to have been done by Leo Barry the member of the Council for the area. The road was only opened from Jindabyne to Bairnsdale in the 1960's and called the Barry Way, after Leo. Leo Barry was a very close friend of Desmond and I was told that he named the creek after Des. The creek is on the bottom of the Mountain range and you cross the Jacobs and before the Pinch river is Filtness Creek. But I have now obtained a report from a Mr. R.J.S. Thomas the Commissioner for Main Roads who described the creeks naming.  

Mr. Thomas stated that Henry and his son's, William, Harry and Charles used to take sheep into the area for the winter and camp there, yarding the sheep at night because of dingoes staying the whole of winter and they camped at the creek and that is how it was called the Filtness Creek. This would have been in around the 1887 at a guess.

This area was first crossed by Angus McMillan, and when he lost a steel rim off his wagon in about 1835, it was later found and hung in a tree, and the area was know as "Iron hoop Gap." The rim stayed in the tree until it was burnt down in 1926 by a bush fire. I now know that Dooley Pendergast has it and I hope for a photo of it on my next trip.  I did! 

The rim and also a couple of Winchester .44 rifles dug up on the property, most likely left by travellers who forgot them , as they were found near the track that passed the property. As most travellers walked the route not many would have retraced their steps to recover some forgotten item.

The rim is a 14" one. The normal size was about 30" and they had a set of the smaller ones for when they had to travel across the side of the mountains, they just put the smaller one's on one side and so levelled the wagons. 

The photo of my parents, Des and Rita at the creek was taken by myself about 1962. The sign was washed away in a flood later and I am at the moment trying to have it replaced. The Shire Engineer has been contacted and promised to have a new one made and installed. I will go back again and photograph it when this is done. 

Myself and nephew Michael 

The signs was renewed in November 1999. So I have achieved something. They were later both stolen, around 2003, and I am in the process of having them replaced again. But it’s a long process.  

Junction of the Snowy and the Pinch Rivers

Keith Clark was most helpful in giving me an old map which has the creek shown as FULTONS Creek. I can remember my father saying that the name was not spelt correctly and should be changed. I asked my sister Beryl how they could possibly misspell the name that badly.  

   

Looking down the valley over the Snowy River towards Filtness Creek

Beryl then told me that when Henry first came to the area, he used the name FULTONS, as he had a reward on his head for jumping ship. I am trying to have this changed but have an uphill battle I think. It is on the map as FULTONS CREEK, but all the signs and common knowledge say FILTNESS CREEK. There is no way to prove that Henry used the name Fultons when he first arrived, so I suppose that is the way it will stay, a pity. The only living relative is Dad’s half - sister, Enid Mugridge nee Enid Smith, and she at one time owned the Lake property, “Pleasant View”. Aunty Enid also told me the story of Henry using the name Fulton when first coming to the district. I intend to try and have the name changed but had no success with the local shire. My next attempt will be the historical society at Cooma.

 

Click on name to return to index for next page