The second of Thomas and Elizabeth's seven children to survive adolescence was Thomas Trevithick, jr. Thomas Jr. was born in 1857 at Mount Ararat, Victoria as the family slowly worked their way towards Hill End in NSW where their father finally settled. On 26 Nov 1877 Thomas Jr. married Sarah TEE at Hill End, NSW - Sarah was born at nearby Tambaroora in 1857 to William TEE, convict, and Eliza HOG. Thomas Jr. and Sarah TEE had at least 10 children while living in Hill End, and Newtown in Sydney.
One of these children was Mille Edith TREVITHICK - the great grandmother of Lyn Crawford, and Lyn has written this biography of her life.
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Millie Edith TREVITHICK
Millie Edith Trevithick (27 Apr 1889 – 24 Apr 1979), the sixth child of Thomas Trevithick and Sarah Tee. By the time their fifth child was born Thomas and Sarah were living in Sydney, where Millie was born on the 27th April 1889 in Maria Street, Newtown.
Thomas and Sarah moved their family back to Hill End between 1889 and 1891, and were still living there in 1903 where Thomas was listed in the electoral roll as a 'miner' and Sarah with the responsibility of 'domestic duties'. Between 1903 and 1907 the family moved on to Tingha in northern NSW where Thomas bought and operated a tin-mine.
It was in Tingha that Millie met Arthur William Falconer. Arthur was born at Lahey’s Creek in Gulgong NSW on 23 August 1885 to parents Joseph (Job) Falconer and Gertrude Albury. Joseph was a pastoralist in the Gulgong region where the family owned a large property at Lahey’s Creek. Millie and Arthur married at her parents home in Tingha on 11 September 1907m Millie's brother Alfred being one of the witnesses. At the time of their marriage Millie who was a dress-maker was 18 years old and already 4 months pregnant; Arthur was 22. Their daughter Elsie Edith was born 3 February 1908 in Tingha.
The marriage was quite difficult and after an argument with Millie’s father over his working habits, Arthur moved back to his family’s property at Gulgong taking Millie and Elsie with him. While Arthur lived on the property, Millie and Elsie were forced to live in a tent on the common outside the property and fend for themselves. Millie and Arthur later moved to Dungog where their son Arthur Ernest was born in 1910. Not long after Arthur was born the family moved to Sydney and moved into a vacant house in Burwood. No sooner had they moved in, Arthur left the home and never came back, only returning to take his baby son to live with his parents who were then living in Bondi. Millie would never see her son again.
Elsie remained with her mother but also spent long periods of time with her maternal grandparents Thomas & Sarah Trevithick at their home in Rouse Hill and later at Concord. To make ends meet Millie would pawn her belongings including jewelry to buy food. She also relied on her sister Alice, whom she was particularly close to and brother Frederick, who had moved into the Burwood home with her. State Archives reveal that in 1917 Millie's application for divorce from Arthur William Falconer was approved, ten years after they were married.
Millie would eventually open a café at Central Railway station where she served breakfast and later a café/cake shop on the North Shore of Sydney – perhaps Roseville. Millie lost the bakery when it was sold behind her back, losing all of her money and once again she relied on her sister Alice. Millie later worked as a dressmaker and in the mid 1920s worked in a men’s store in Newtown making clothing. In the 1930s Millie went to work in the IXL pickle factory at Stanmore where she worked for some time.
Millie Edith Trevithick and her second husband George Edward Fever, in 1952.
Millie befriend George Edward Fever, sometime in the late 1920s early 1930s, who would became her partner. George moved into Millie’s home at 14 Regent Street Newtown, however they did not marry until 14 August 1952 in the Newtown Registry office.
Millie devoted her life to her family and the Salvation Army where she played in their band. She also enjoyed seeing stage shows and going on holidays, which she often did with Alice or her grandchildren. After her father passed away Millie took in her mother Sarah and cared for her until her passing and also cared for her brother Henry and his wife Vera in her home until Henry passed away.
Millie spent the last few years of her life living at Lottie Stewart Hospital at Dundas where she passed away on 24 April 1979. She was cremated at Rookwood on 27 April 1979 on what would have been her 90th birthday.
Written by Lyn Crawford, 2008
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