How does this relate to Lizzie?
The Copelands to Australia.
The direct ancestor of our branch of the Copelands who migrated to Australia is Ware Copeland. Knowing that his son, Thomas Edward Copeland, was born at Ballarat I consulted the various directories that were published for Ballarat in the nineteenth century. Ware Copeland was listed several times, described as miner, share broker, mining agent or mining investor. However I was intrigued to notice that also listed was Joseph Copeland, described as miner, share broker or mining agent, and Henry Copeland, sharebroker. The directory entries are for the 1860s and 1870s.
Ware Copeland's record is fairly straightforward. Ware married Ann Wilson in May, 1861 and they arrived in Melbourne on the "Lightning" out of Liverpool in August that year. Most of his life was spent in Ballarat, but until recently I had not been able to find where he died. It now appears he moved to Tasmania, probably to be with some of his family - I have to check this, but it seems we have Tasmanian cousins.
Joseph Copeland died in 1897 at St. Kilda, aged 65. His son, also Joseph, thought that he had spent 4 years in New South Wales, 2 years in Queensland, 39 years in Victoria, and that he had been married at the age of 22. [Death certificate.] This would mean that he had arrived in Australia in 1852 at the age of 20, had married in 1854, and arrived in Victoria in 1858. In fact he married in Ballarat in 1858 and appears on the electoral roll for Ballarat East in 1856. His qualification to vote was possession of a Miners Right. Because of the gold rush, passenger arrival records may not help, but it could be possible to find his arrival date in the shipping records. Then again, he could have arrived in the same manner as his younger brother Henry, who jumped ship in 1857, In Bailliere's Directory for 1868,69 and 70 Joseph is listed as a sharebroker living at Wills Street, Ballarat. The Ballarat Directory for 1869 describes him as a miner. The Sands & McDougal directory for Melbourne lists him in 1871 as a mining agent at 67 Queen Street with a private residence at Barkers Road, Hawthorn. He had ten children, two dying in infancy. His son Joseph lived in Argyle Street, St. Kilda in 1897. At least two daughters appear not to have married. The 1908 electoral roll shows Florence Dale Copeland living at 8 Lambeth Place, St. Kilda, and Jane Elizabeth Copeland at 42 Dalgety Street, St. Kilda. In 1913, Florence was living at St. Leonards Av., St. Kilda.
Henry Copeland remained a mystery for some time as I could find no record of his arrival, nor any record of his death. He married in England in 1863, so I was looking for him after that date. His life story opened up when I realised that he had moved to NSW and entered parliament. The Australian Dictionary of Biography, available at most libraries, has a fairly detailed account of his life. He jumped ship at Williamstown in 1857, returned to England to marry Hannah Beecroft, and was appointed NSW Agent General in London in 1900, and died holding that position in 1904.
Henry was Minister for Mines in the Colony of NSW, and a town NW of Newcastle was named after him - the mining petered out, as did the town. After his wife Hannah died, he later married her sister Mary. The suburb of Beecroft in Sydney is named after one of them. After Federation he was appointed NSW Agent General in London, and died there in 1904.
Henry married Hannah Beecroft in April, 1863 at Malton, Yorkshire. On 31 December, 1870, they had a daughter, Hilda Victoria, born at Ballarat West. At that time they had three children, Henry, 6, Ida, 4 and Lilian, 2. Hilda Victoria died in 1872. The next information I have is a birth a daughter, Ada Laura, in 1888 at Ballarat. Bailliere's lists him at Sturt Street and Lyons Street Ballarat in 1868,69 and 70. The 1869 Ballarat Directory lists him as a broker of 43 Lyons Street, and sharebroker of 25 Mining Exchange. The Burgess Poll, 1866 lists a Joshua and a Hans Copeland as brokers in Ballarat. The Joshua is probably actually Joseph and I suspect the Hans is John, but it may be Henry.
Ware and Joseph both operated for a while from the Ballarat Mining Exchange - the historic building is still preserved in Ballarat, having once been used as a bus station, and then an antique market. Worth a visit.
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