THOMAS STONEHOUSE
1818-1895
According to official records Thomas
Stonehouse was born in Sydney on the
17th of March 1818. He was the first
child of Robert Stonehouse, a sailor, and
his mother Jane, a free settler.
The family moved to Launceston,
Tasmania, in 1820 to locate Jane's
father, John Marsden, and her brother
John, both of whom had been sent out
from England as convicts.
Thomas's mother Jane died in February
1838, by that time she had 9 children.
Women had hard times in those days,
and were worn out by forty. That same
year Thomas married Elizabeth
Batchelor, a young Scottish girl, at St
Johns Church Launceston.
It was not until the 1840's that Thomas
and Elizabeth Stonehouse came to the
West Tamar to settle, possibly 1842.
They obtained land on the North West of
Rookery Road and called the property
Rose Hill Farm. It was about 20 miles
from Launceston and 11 miles from
where Beaconsfield is today with no
nearby settlement. We don't know much
about the early years; they managed to
rear a large family of 11 children, one
died before reaching 2 years, but the
others all survived to adulthood. They
were William, Alfred, Harriet, Caroline,
Rosabella, Elizabeth, Nancy, Catherine,
Marion and Jane.
Winkleigh in the 1850's was a Scottish
settlement and Mrs. Stonehouse was a
Scot. Thomas decided to try to build a
church at Winkleigh, opposite where the
Winkleigh hall now stands, some miles
from his home. It may have been a dual
purpose that made him make his
decision, the spiritual welfare of his
family, and a respectable way of meeting
life partners. After some difficulty it was
built and he owned the building for 20
years, it was used by the Methodists and
Presbyterians. In 1887 the Presbyterians
built a church on the corner of Stewart's
Rd. and Winkleigh Rd. Three years later
the Methodists built a larger church,
Thomas was asked to lay the foundation
stone in October 1890. The old church
became the Sunday School.
One of Thomas's daughters, Elizabeth,
married Robert Kerrison in 1871,
according to the rites of the Wesleyan
Methodist Church at Winkleigh. It must
have been a problem deciding which
church to be married in. Robert's father
Stephen Kerrison, was one of the leaders
who was instrumental in building the
Supply River Methodist Church in 1861,
the first Methodist Church in the West
Tamar Valley. Elizabeth's father built his
The Historian September 2003
own church at Winkleigh some time
later. Elizabeth in time had a son John,
daughters, Ellen and Alice and another
son Robert. In March 1878 she gave
birth to a baby boy at her home
Wyndringham, Winkleigh. However
after the birth she haemorrhaged. Robert,
her husband hurried to Beaconsfield by
horse and buggy to get the Doctor but by
the time he returned his wife had died.
Robert must have been grief stricken.
The Stonehouse family came to the
rescue, as families do, Nancy, sister of
Elizabeth came to care for the young
children, a big enough job without a
baby. So Thomas and Elizabeth both in
their late 60's took on the responsibility
of their baby grandson. He was named
Thomas Stonehouse Kerrison, as it was
the custom of the Scottish people to
include the surname of the mother.
Two years after Elizabeth died Nancy
and Robert Kerrison were married.
Although the family visited Nancy and
Robert frequently, young Thomas never
lived for any length of time with then.
He grew up with his grandparents
helping them on the farm.
The foundation stone laid by
Thomas Stonehouse on October 1890
Page 27
Thomas Stonehouse died in 1895, and is
buried in the Supply River Church
Cemetery. Elizabeth Stonehouse lived
until 1902 and had seen the deaths of 6
of her children and her husband.
Below is a copy of a memorial verse put
in the local paper on the anniversary of
the death of Thomas Stonehouse by his
wife.
Dark and cheerless is my dwelling,
Lonely is my home today,
For the one I love so dearly,
Has forever passed away
Also a verse by one of his daughters.
Little I thought when I bade him
goodbye,
I left him forever, left him to die,
Hard seems my lot which has now
befell,
For I was not there for his last farewell.
WRITTEN BY
JUNE KERRISON