Page updated 27th May 2004 by Sue Froud

WILLIAM SCANES

The following was compiled from information from Malcolm Scanes, descendant of William Scanes and his son Adrian. With additions from Ide Parish registers.

WILLIAM SCANES 1814 - 1874

William was the 5th child of Henry Scanes and Elizabeth Tuck, he was baptised at Ide on 14th August 1814. The family lived at Smallridges Cottage which had 3/4 of an acre of land, in the centre of Ide. William became a Carpenter and a Wheelwright like his father and brother Samuel Tuck. William married Eliza Dey, 4th daughter of William & Ann Dey a Shoemaker, from Ide. They married at the Holy Trinity Church, Exeter on 26th December 1836. Baptisms for the following children have been found at Ide, Eliza Dey baptised on 25th March 1838, she married William Matthew Norris. William Henry baptised  the 8th of September 1839, the family were living at St Sidwells when Frederick John was baptised on 9th June 1841 at Ide church, Anna baptised 7th July 1844, she married John Thomas Tozer.  Alfred baptised 8th March 1846. Charlotte baptised 30th January 1848. Malcolm thinks there may have been more. Belinda Dey has suggested Thomas Brice Scanes who was buried at Ide aged 1 year on 28th January 1844, and Walter Scanes also buried at Ide aged 3 months on 26th May 1850.

William and Eliza must have moved from Devon by 1851, as I cannot find them on the Devon Census. (Sue Froud)

William and Eliza and their 5 (surviving ?) children embarked on board the "Constitution" at Southampton and sailed to Sydney on 17th February 1855. There were 375 emigrants on board, all agricultural labourers and "mechanics" (tradesmen) with their wives and children and a number of single women. After a passage of 98 days the Constitution arrived off Sydney having "got amongst a large quantity of ice when in latitude 44 degrees south and longitude 18 degrees west and remained in that dilemma for about a week". However, according to a newspaper report, having arrived a Port Jackson (Sydney) late on the afternoon of Saturday 26th May, the ship stood off the heads until the next morning when it entered the harbour and dropped anchor off the quarantine station at North Head. For William and several others on board, tragedy had struck on the voyage. An outbreak of smallpox and typhoid fever had claimed fourteen lives, including William's wife Eliza. A further 12 passengers were to die before the ship was released from quarantine on 13th July.

Also on board the Constitution was Winifred Corcoran, a 20 year old domestic servant from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, Ireland, one of the few people on board who was not English. The shipping list shows her father as James Corcoran, deceased, and her mother to Mary. Her death certificate shows her father to be John Corcoran and her mother to be Mary Spain. It is possible that Winifred fled Ireland following the Potato famine and seized the opportunity of a free passage to Sydney - available only to single women.

Everybody on board the Constitution was quarantined, passengers and crew alike. Those with the symptoms of smallpox or any other infectious disease, along with those who were now recovering from a disease, were placed on another ship anchored near the beach. Those who had recovered from the diseases had the distasteful task of sewing the corpses of further victims in blankets, taking them ashore and burying them. It was not until three days after the ship arrived that the non-infected passengers were allowed to land. It was Winter, and William and his children had to live in a tent, in the confines of the hastily established quarantine centre. The process of disinfecting everybody and their possessions then began, to be followed by a long and frustrating wait until their release from confinement on 13th July, 50 days after their arrival. In the grounds of the old Quarantine Station, on a hill overlooking the ocean and the harbour, there stands an obelisk, erected by four immigrant stonemasons during their confinement, as a memorial to those passengers and crew of the Constitution who died during the passage or during the quarantine period.

After their release from quarantine, most passengers went to Parramatta to settle. William, his children and Winifred Corcoran, however, remained in Sydney. William and Winifred were married on 8th October 1855 at St. Philip's C of E Sydney and settled at Hopkins's cottage in Victoria St. Paddington where he became established as a wheelwright and coach builder. The children of this marriage were Samuel born 1857, Emily Jane born 1859, Elizabeth Mary born 1861, Winifred Frances born 1864, Louisa born 1867, Adrian born 1869, and John born 1872. The first two, Samuel and Emily Jane, were born at Paddington, but by 1860 they had moved to Cooma where Elizabeth Mary was born, It was claimed by this son Adrian, that William mined for gold at nearby Kiandra which proved to be a short-lived goldfield. What has been established is that William was living at the gold mining town of Sofala when he applied to buy land in 1865. Also, their fourth child, Winifred Frances, was born at nearby Bathurst in 1864. By 1867, the family had returned to Paddington when Louisa was born, probably at Old South Head Rd, where it is known that Adrian was born in 1869. By 1872, when the youngest child John was born, the family were back in Cooma where most of them were to remain. William established a wheelwright and blacksmith business employing his sons William Henry and Samuel, but died on 15th February 1874 of heart disease. All five of the children who were born in England had married by this time.

Altogether 84 grandchildren have been traced for William from his 12 children. Many of them did not survive to adulthood. However the family tradition of sons who became wheelwrights and blacksmiths did continue into the third generation. The advent of motor vehicles eventually made the trade obsolete.

Another William Scanes, most likely a relative of ours, also a wheelwright and coach builder from Exeter, came to Sydney with his wife Elizabeth (nee Trithowne) They married at Topsham see other Scanes families and their three youngest children, Jessie, Frederick and Anna on the "Speedy". They arrived on 9th April 1855 and settled at Yass, where they joined two of their older children, Mary and Thomas. Many of their descendants remain in the Yass district today.

The only other Scanes found to have arrived in NSW before 1855 was yet another William Scains / Scanes who arrived as a convict in the 1830's. He was assigned to work at West Maitland where he married Mary O'Brien, another convict, in 1840. No births are recorded for marriage. When he died on 25th September 1841, he was aged 39, had served out his sentence and was described as a settler.

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