JUDITH​ HOLMAN-CROOK

The Thomas Henry I know about is through my dad Stanley Edwin Holman. He told of a loving man with a sense of humour. He was my Great grand-father. I will go back to the year Thomas Henry died because this also was the year my grand-father also died. It was 1934 and it was at Duckett-street, Brunswick, where my grand-father and his father lived next door to each other. One in number 5 and the other in number 15. My great grandfather was not feeling well and his doctor had issued orders for bed rest as his heart was not looking good for his advanced age. My grand-father was very concerned about his father as they were very close. It was Christmas time and the families got together as they always did. It was hot and there was not very much room in those houses. (I know, I lived in one of them when I was small) Duckett-street at that time was cut in two by the railway line. My dad was born in 1920 and was just 14 and this Christmas and this would be his last happy Christmas for a very long time. Four weeks after Christmas dads world came crashing down and so did that Thomas Henry. Instead of him dying he lost his beloved son Frederick William. This quiet man who wouldn't harm a soul he himself died of a heart attack. and to top it all off Thomas Henry was forbidden to go to his son funeral. The best the doctor could offer was to sit up in bed and watch as Frederick's hearse as it went by his window so he could wave him goodbye. It was ten weeks later Thomas Henry joined his son leaving behind a grieving family.

Now to go back to Thomas Henry's birth.

Thomas was born to Cornish parents Thomas and Esther Ann Tregoning on the 27 Mar 1850 at Willunga, South Australia, died 5 Jun 1935, Brunswick, Victoria, buried Coburg Cemetery, Thomas married Elizabeth Grace Tucker [of the famous Tucker family] 13 May 1874, Brunswick, Victoria, and had 12 Children Grace Elworthy, Elizabeth Grace, Thomas Henry, Stephen Hubert, Alice Maude, Arthur Ernest, Albert John, Frederick William, George Egbert Mabel Isabel, Colin James, Oswald Edwin Lee & Florence Isabel.

Thomas Henry's parents only stayed in South Australia for a short while after arrival from Cornwall. From their arrival in1849 and just before the birth of their 4th child Francis John in Bendigo 1853, they knew it was time to move on. Thomas had to find greener pastures and make more money and he did enough to purchase two houses in Duckett-street, Brunswick. But the family tells he owned more as other members lived in other houses in the same very street as his family grew. So onto Victoria he and his wife Esther came. Five months after the birth of Francis John, he died, leaving his parents devastated. A lot of children died young in those times, Thomas Henry and Elizabeth weren't the only ones grieving but this family was to endure more heartache.

So now Thomas Henry is now in Bendigo then onto Ballarat and Kilmore then back to Ballarat and Forest Creek via Castlemaine. So as a young man in his early 20's Thomas Henry and Esther Ann ended up in living 15 Duckett-street, Brunswick where they had their first child. Thomas Henry's occupation was a bacon curer as was his brother Francis John. The couple later moved to 7 Duckett-street.

The family story is that both brothers were in partnership in the bacon business but there was a falling out and they went on their separate ways. The rift was never healed.

Thomas Henry had a lot of sorrow during his life. first he lost little Mabel Isabel  in 1890, then Colin James in 1895, then his wife Esther Ann in 1902. But the sorrows kept coming with the death of  his first and second born children Grace Elworthy and Elizabeth Grace in 1919. Then in 1934 of course he lost his beloved Frederick William. Thomas Henry was to pass away in 1935 just before another son Albert John.