The Sandilands Family

James Sandilands arrives on the Himalaya

The first member of my Sandilands family to arrive in Australia was my great great great grandfather James Sandilands who was born on 7 December 1795 at Westminster, Middlesex, Engand, and who arrived in Melbourne on the Himalaya in 1842 with his wife, Margaret Wilkinson, and their eight children. One child, Catherine Jane, who was born on 1 May 1833 at Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, died, aged 9, soon after their arrival in Victoria.

James was the son of yet another James who was married to Sarah, surname unknown. This James died on 27 March 1863 at Harrow on the Hill which was also where his wife died a few years later on 5 March 1866. They had seven children of whom James, my great great great grandfather, was the eldest.

My great great great grandmother, Margaret, was the daughter of George Wilkinson and Ann Clarkson. Margaret and James’ children were James (1824-1907), Margaret (1825-1878), John (1828-1878), Elizabeth Ann (my great great grandmother 1829-1903), Clarkson (1831-1899), Catherine Jane (1833-1842), Jane (1835-1869) and Henry (1837-1909).

Margaret and James' daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was yet another unimaginative ancestor as she called her daughter Elizabeth Ann as well. Elizabeth Ann Sandilands married John Montgomery on 22 August 1849 at Christ Church, Geelong, Victoria. John, who had owned a blacksmith and stables business in Geelong, moved to Tallygaroopna and became a farmer. It is believed John’s family came from Aberdeen in Scotland, however he was born, around 1815 to 1816 in Killaugh, Downpatrick in Ireland. He died on 10 June 1892 in Tallygaroopna. His wife, Elizabeth Ann Sandilands also died in Tallygaroopa, at the age of 74, on 25 November 1903.

John and Elizabeth Ann Sandilands had eleven children being Graham (1850-1851), Henry (1852-?), John (1854-?), James (1857-1857), George (1858-1858), Elizabeth Ann (my great great grandmother (1859-1948), George (1862-1944), Thomas (1867-1954), William (1868-1929), Jane (1870-1946), and Robert (1872-1956).