This is the story of a country church, St John’s Church of England at Georges Plains, just out of Bathurst, NSW and some of the family occasions that the Drew family celebrated here. Many of the headstones in the graveyard in the church grounds are of members of the Drew family and the church would have been the scene of many celebrations and funerals of the large Drew family.
Amandus Hoschke married Mary Ann Drew at the St. John’s Church of England in Georges Plains. The Drew family had several connections with the Hoschke family, we will look at some of them in today’s article.
First, the story of Mary Ann’s family – John Wellesley Drew was born on 21 April 1818 in Worcestershire. He married Ann Jones on 23 December 1838 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Their first son Robert was born in October 1839 in Shrewsbury, before they travelled with 2 year old Robert as assisted immigrants to Australia aboard the Lorne in November 1841. In Australia they would have 4 more children, and in turn 46 grandchildren.
Today we will be looking at two of those grandchildren, George and Ellen’s daughter Edith and Amandus and Mary’s daughter Mary.
Edith Drew, the George and Ellen’s eldest daughter and niece of Mary Ann Hoschke was married to William Tait in the same church. Edith was aged 33 and William was 9 years her junior aged 24. The wedding was performed by Rev. A. G. Creswell. Note that Amandus, Mary Ann and daughter Mary were at the wedding. From ‘The Hoschke Family in Australia book’ we know that Mary moved to the Orange area as she suffered from asthma.
WEDDING – TAIT—DREW.
A very pretty wedding was solemnised at St. John’s Church of England, George’s Plains, by the Rev. A. G. Creswell, rector of George’s Plains, on Wednesday, October 25, when Edith A., eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs George Drew, of George’s Plains, was united in the bonds of holy matrimony with William David Tait, youngest son of the late Mr Robert Tait, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, and Mrs Tait, of Wellington, New South Wales.
The Bride, who was given away by her father, was attired in a very pretty costume of cream silk, spotted ninon over glace, smartly draped bodice with yoke and undersleeves of Spanish net; tunic skirt finished with embossed applique. In addition to the customary wreath and veil, kindly lent by Mrs. F. R Jones, she wore a gold muff chain, and carried a handsome shower bouquet, the gifts of the bridegroom. The bride’s gift to the bridegroom was a shaving outfit.
There were two bridesmaids. Miss Nellie Drew, sister of the bride, was attired in a beautiful costume of cream crystalline trimmed with embossed insertion, with a pretty coloured hat trimmed with cowslips and bows of apricot ribbon. Miss Hoschke (cousin of the bride) wore a frock of cream silk voile, with a burnt straw hat swathed in pink roses. The bridegroom’s gifts to the bridesmaids were gold brooches and pink shower bouquets.
Mr. James Pratley (uncle of the bride) acted as best man, and Mr. Sid Drew (brother of the bride) as groomsman. At the conclusion of the ceremony the party adjourned to the residence of the bride’s parents, where the wedding breakfast was held and the usual toasts honoured.
A list of gifts given to the happy couple confirms that Amandus and Mary Hoschke attended and their gifts were listed as:
- Mr. A. Hoschke (uncle of bride) — Cheque.
- Miss Mary Hoschke — Pair shadow worked pillow shams.
- Mrs. Hoschke (aunt of bride) — Toilet mats, table centre and milk cover.
Wedding (1911, November 15). National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 – 1954), p. 3. Retrieved November 16, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157777674
A short few years later, as reported in April 1913 in the Wellington Times, Edith tragically passed away at the aged of 35, after a period of being unwell. Her funeral was conducted in the same church by the same minister who had officiated at her earlier wedding.
There is an anomaly in the records as Edith’s death record and obituary are listed as being in 1913, however her headstone lists her death as 1914. She would be buried in a plot that her sister Florence would later share, so it could be surmised that the year and age for Edith on the headstone are incorrect. The headstone was likely erected 30 years after Edith’s tragic death.
There is a mention of Mary Hoschke winning a prize at the Wellington show suggesting that she was living near to her cousin Edith who was married to William Tait. A year after Edith’s death, in 1914 Mary married Edith’s widower Wiliam Tait. William and Mary went on to have five children. Their first daughter was named Edith, perhaps after William’s first wife and Mary’s cousin Edith. Mary and William lived in Wellington for many years.
You can read more about Mary and William Tait’s life here – Mary Gertrude Isabell Hoschke.
All of the above is based on our research of old newspapers in TROVE, NSW BDM (Births, Deaths and marriages) and Ancestry websites. If anybody has more accurate or more detailed information it would be good to hear.
