Triple Wedding - Janet McEwan/McQueen nee Young

My Great Great Grandmother's Wedding

Janet YOUNG was my Great Great Grandmother. Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1824, Janet married my Great Great Grandfather Thomas James Jonathan McQUEEN in 1844, in Launceston. William and Janet had a large family of children. The first two were born in Launceston, before they moved to Victoria and settled in Collingwood, where Janet gave birth to a further eight children.

I lost track of Janet after the death of her husband in 1863. At the time of his death, their youngest child was just four years old, and they were living in Fitzroy.  A younger child, a daughter, also died in 1863.

Over the years, I had tried to pick up the trail of Janet and had almost given up hope. That is, until I came across her second marriage in the marriages index, which I had checked many times.   Janet Young/McQueen married for a second time in 1873. She was listed on the index as Janet McEwan, and previously I hadn’t noticed this entry.

Second Marriage

Janet McQueen or McEwan, as it was now written, married JAMES TAYLOR in 1873 at Broken Creek. To add to the confusion, her new husband had the same surname as her daughter’s husband, and the same christian name as his brother. This sent me into a bit of a spin at first, until after checking, I found that her new husband doesn’t  belong to the same Taylor family. His family came from Suffolk, England and our Taylor’s were from Wales.

Broken Creek, the place of their marriage,  was where Thomas and Janet McEwan’s daughter, Janet had lived in earlier years, with her husband William Lloyd Taylor, my great grandfather.

Triple Wedding

The wedding day must have been very exciting as it was a triple wedding. Also married on the day were the groom, James Taylor’s two daughters. Both daughters married farmers from the local district.

from: North Eastern Ensign, Benalla, Friday 03 October 1873, page 2¹

TAYLOR — McEWAN – On the 1st inst, at  Broken Creek, by the Rev. W. Gould, Mr. James Taylor, of Broken Creek, farmer, to Mrs. Janet McEwan, relict of Thomas McEwan late of Fitzroy.

SANGER – TAYLOR On the 1st inst, at Broken Creek, by the Rev. W. Gould, Mr. John Sanger,  of Broken Creek to Miss Zillah Taylor, daughter of James Taylor,  of Broken Creek.

CROUCHER—TAYLOR .— On the 1st inst, at Broken Creek, by the Rev. W. Gould, Mr. James Croucher, of Glenrowan, to Miss Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of James Taylor of Broken Creek.

1. 1873 'Family Notices', The North Eastern Ensign (Benalla, Vic. : 1872 - 1938), 3 October, 1873, p. 2. , viewed 16 Jan 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71554207