From the small Northamptonshire village of Gretton, two of Samuel and Ann's children, Mary and Charles, were, after their mother's death, to migrate to New South Wales. When Mary Chapman migrated she was already widowed and, accompanied by her three daughters, she joined her three sons who had left England ahead of her.

Arriving from Bathurst by dray, the Chapman family was to acquire Inglewood at Spring Hill in 1864. Although there have been many changes, there are still members of the Chapman family living on Inglewood today.

Charles Whitmee and his family were to settle as tenant farmers at Mt Pleasant at Bathurst and Charles was to remain there until his death.

The Whitmee family story is intricately entwined with the stories of Bathurst, Spring Hill, Millthorpe and Canowindra.

It is easy to look today at the glorious homesteads built last century and completely misread the lives of those who lived in such seemingly elegant circumstances.

One of the most striking stories of this family history is that of Mary Davis nee Whitmee who lived in the grand homestead, Ingledell. But it was not in the beautiful residence that still stands today that she first lived on this property - rather it was in a primitive slab hut, without power or running water. She was to bear eleven children, three of whom were to die in infancy or childhood and another of wounds during World War I. A beautiful and undoubtedly capable woman, she died aged 71.

The other must surely be Samuel Whitmee, the second in his family to be named after grandfather Samuel; his older brother Samuel had lived just eight months. An impressive career on the land and in local goverment, it was his contribution during the war that stands out. At fifty, he could not bear to see only the young and the fit being expected to carry the burden of the war. And so at his own expense, he went to England and joined the Red Cross contingent. Whilst working there he was to learn of the death of his own son.

This history is full of the stories not only of the men who helped pioneer New South Wales but of the women who bore their children and worked so extraordinarily hard in appalling conditions, and of the women who never married but whose untiring work was fundamental to the successful raising of families and smooth functioning of farming and agricultural businesses.

The Whitmee family story will be of interest not only to the family but to anyone interested in the history of of Bathurst, Spring Hill, Millthorpe and Canowindra and to anyone interested viewing the history of New South Wales through the lives of those who contributed to that history.

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Further Reading

Whitmee - A Name to Remember

Compiled for the 1995 reunion of Australian born descendants of Samuel Whitmee and Ann Collins who were married in England on March 18, 1800, this book is the story of Samuel and Ann and their family, the 500 or so who followed.