Olin's in Australia
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In reply to:
Re: Llewellyn legend from CC Olin book
Brook Demmerle 10/10/03
Brooke,
All we know about William are his birth details.NY state and the year.I have been in touch with the Olin Society and they are comfortable that he belongs to them as they do not believe that their were any other Olin's or Ohlin's in US at the time of his birth.
He also named on of his son's with a very classic Olin name of the time Giles. Family legend says that William had got in strive for shooting the cross off the top of the church spire and had to leave home in a hurry.
The first sighting of William in Australia is his marriage in 1855.He married Margaret McPherson a gaelic scottish lass from the highlands.
Margaret aged 21 came to Australia on her own in early 1855 looking for her parents and siblings who had been evicted from their home and deported as part of a program of ethnic cleansing of the highlands referred to as the "Clearances".
Although the people from Margaret's home (Knoydart) had been told at the time they were served with their eviction notices that they would be going to Australia the wrong boat had turned up and they were actually in Ontario, Canada.
Margaret met William shortly after her arrival and they were married in Dec.Between 1856 and 1862 Margaret and William had five children who all survived (an achievement for the time.)
Initially Margaret & William were near Gunning in NSW.In 1859 they moved down to Howlong on the Murray River, border of the new Victorian colony and a real frontier town.
In 1862 William disappeared without record - legend says he drowned in the river. This left Margaret on her own with 5 children aged 5,4,2,1 and infant.In order to support her children Margaret worked in a local hotel and later became a publican.
In all William was in Australia for less than 10 years.
Regards
Maree Ohlin