In Remembrance: Martha Annie Lloyd 1813-1891

My Great Great Grandmother

Today, I’m remembering my great great grandmother Martha Annie LLOYD, who died 133 years ago, on 01 October 1891, at Bundalong, Victoria, Australia. Martha was buried at Yarrawonga Cemetery, Victoria.

Born in 1813, at Haverfordwest, Wales, to parents, James LLOYD and Dorothy THOMAS, Martha married John TAYLOR in 1839.¹ Two years later, they left Wales, bound for a new life in Australia, with their two children, James, aged about eighteen months, and John who was just a few months old.

On their arrival in Australia, they settled at Diamond Creek in Victoria, where they stayed for about seven years, before moving down the road to Whittlesea. Martha gave birth to twelve children, eight boys and four girls, over a period of twenty years. When the youngest child was born, Martha was forty six years old.

All except three children, lived to adulthood. Her eighth child George, died in the year of his birth, and her eleventh child Ellen, died when she was 11 months old.

John and Martha gave each of their eight boys the middle name of Lloyd. This tradition continued through the generations, until my father’s generation.

Martha lived a quiet life, not appearing in newspapers during her lifetime. Her life seemed to have been devoted to her family, and probably working hard to survive. Martha’s husband was a shepherd, in their early days, and later did labouring jobs.

Martha passed away ten years after the death of her husband, on 01October 1891, at the age of 78. At the time of her death, she was living with her son, on his farm, at Bundalong in Victoria, near the NSW border.

Obituary²

1. Marriage Certificate, TAYLOR, John and LLOYD Martha, 1839/20 29 August, 1839, General Register Office, England

2. 1891 'Family Notices', The Yarrawonga Mercury and Mulwala (N.S.W.) News (Vic. : 1882 - 1892; 1894 - 1897), 8 October, p. 2. , viewed 25 Sep 2024, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article274394374