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Dadswell Family History

Norwood family line

On this page:
Norwood/Dadswell connection
Joseph and Jane Norwood & family
Walter and Elizabeth Norwood & family
Joseph and Ann Norwood & family
Joseph and Fanny Norwood & family
Children of Joseph and Fanny (Meer) Norwood
Further information

Norwood/Dadswell connection

Sidney Herbert Norwood (1864-1936), one of four children known to be born to Joseph and Fanny (Meer) Norwood, was married at Deniliquin, NSW, on 21 May 1891 to Helena Matilda Dadswell (1867-1945), daughter of Thomas William and Helena Aurora (Scheer) Dadswell.

This page contains brief details of the Norwood family. Note that a number of family members had the name 'Sidney'; it is sometimes shown in official documents as 'Sydney'. The family also sometimes used the name 'Mears' rather than the original 'Meer'.

Joseph and Jane Norwood

Little is known about Joseph Norwood who would have been born in the early 1700s. Records show he married Jane (maiden name unknown) who was born about 1725 and who died in June 1809, aged about 84. The couple is known to have had two children, both born at Kingstone, Staffordshire. Their birth dates suggest that Joseph and Jane married about 1755 when Jane would have been aged about 30. Their known children:

  • Elizabeth Norwood, baptised on 11 May 1756 at Kingstone, Staffordshire
  • Walter Norwood, baptised on 14 May 1762 at Kingstone, Staffordshire - see next generation below
Church of St Editha, Tamworth

Walter and Elizabeth Norwood

Walter Norwood was the only son of Joseph and Jane Norwood. He was baptised on 14 May 1762 at Kingstone, Staffordshire. He and Elisabeth Hobley were married at St Michael's Church, Lichfield, Staffordshire, on 13 March 1793 when both would have been aged about 30.

Walter and Elizabeth are thought to have had three children, all baptised at Tamworth, the same village occupied by some of the next generation of Norwoods. Walter died in December 1829 aged about 67, Elizabeth died in September 1835, aged about 72. Both were buried in the grounds of the historic Tamworth church of St Editha (picture at right from Tamworth Information Centre). The known children of Walter and Elizabeth:

  • Joseph Norwood, baptised Tamworth 9 November 1794 - see next generation below
  • Mary Norwood, baptised Tamworth 3 November 1800
  • Jane, baptised Tamworth 3 January 1808

Joseph and Ann Norwood

Joseph Norwood, was born about 1794, the son of Walter and Elizabeth (Hobley) Norwood. He was baptised at the church of St Editha on 9 November 1794.

When aged about 25, Joseph married Ann Butler, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Thompson) Butler, on 28 June 1819 at Newton Regis, Warwickshire. Ann was the youngest of nine children. The couple is shown in the 1841 census living at Drayton Bassett, Tamworth, near Birmingham with three of their children. Joseph was described as an agricultural labourer.

Joseph died on 29 August 1848 aged about 54 and was buried in the grounds of St Editha. His wife Ann is shown in the 1851 census as living in the village of Hopwas (about 3 kilometres west of Tamworth), with their daughter Mary. By the time of the 1861 census, Ann is shown living with a nephew, James Atkins, at Hopwas. Ann died the following year, aged about 66 and was buried at Newton Regis, her childhood home. There were five known children:

  • Charles Norwood, baptised Tamworth 7 Oct 1820 - died Oct 1826
  • Jane Norwood, born Hopwas 8 Nov 1822 - died 8 Nov 1898
  • Sarah Norwood, baptised Tamworth 10 Sep 1826
  • Joseph Norwood, baptised Tamworth 15 Mar 1829 - see below for more details
  • Mary Norwood, baptised Tamworth 30 Jun 1833

Joseph and Fanny Norwood

Joseph Norwood was born about 1829 in the market town of Tamworth in Warwickshire (later to become Staffordshire), England. He was the son of Joseph Norwood, an agricultural labourer and his wife Ann (Butler) Norwood who are shown in the 1841 census as living at Drayton Bassett, Tamworth with three of their children, including Joseph. In the 1851 census, Joseph, 22, is shown as a gardener at what appears to be a holiday or rest home at the nearby hamlet of Bonehill.

On 16 August 1852 Joseph married Fanny Meer at Ashby de la Zouch (often shortened to Ashby), Derbyshire. She was born about 1828 at Etwall in Derbyshire. Just prior to her marriage, Fanny Meer was shown in census returns as working as a servant in the Ashby home of Charles and Caroline Lowe.

Ten years later, the 1861 census shows Joseph, by then a builders labourer, and Fanny, a laundress, living in Birmingham with a son and two daughters. The 1871 census shows the family as Joseph, then a dairyman, and Fanny (no occupation listed) still in Birmingham with two sons. Joseph died in 1874 at the age of 43 and Fanny died in 1876 when aged 49.

They are known to have had four children - two daughters who died when young and two sons.

  • Joseph Norwood (1853-1901) - migrated to Australia in 1883
  • Fanny Agnes Norwood (1855-1866)
  • Eleanor Maud Norwood (1856-1861)
  • Sidney Herbert Norwood (1864-1936) - migrated to Australia in 1887

Joseph Sr died aged 45 in 1874, his wife Fanny died aged 49 in 1876. Following the death of their parents, the two sons emigrated to Australia.

Children of Joseph and Fanny (Meer) Norwood

1. Joseph John Norwood, born 16 February 1853 at Birmingham. Joseph is listed in the census - in 1861 he was a scholar, in 1871 his occupation was given as a general labourer. He married in Birmingham in 1875 to Georgina Phillips. Georgina died aged 25 in 1880 and in the 1881 census Joseph is shown as a widower with a two-year-old child Ellen. His occupation at that time was dairyman.
Sidney Norwood and his daughter Fran Norwood
Shortly after this he married Mary Lawless, who was born about 1853 in Ireland, and the couple - both aged 30 - sailed from Plymouth, England aboard the Almora on 25 April 1883, arriving in Brisbane on June 15. Travelling with them were Ellen (4 years old) and one-year-old Walter. Their later family, born in Queensland, included Mary Alice Norwood, born on 21 November 1883, and Sidney Herbert Norwood, born on 2 May 1886. Joseph died in Queensland on 13 August 1901 aged 48. Mary died in 1923, aged 70. Their children:

  • Ellen Norwood 1878-1964
  • Walter Norwood 1882-1931
  • Mary Alice 1883-1954
  • Sidney Herbert 1886-1970

2. Fanny Agnes Norwood, was born in Birmingham about 1855. She died in 1866 when aged 11.

3. Eleanor Maud Norwood, born 1856 at Birmingham. She died in 1861 aged 5.

4. Sidney Herbert Norwood, was born in Birmingham in 1864 and baptised at St John's Ladywood Church on 4 June 1865. He is shown on the 1871 census as a scholar living with his family. Sidney followed his older brother to Queensland. He left England at the age of 21 aboard the ship Waroonga, sailing from London on 23 August 1887 and arriving in Brisbane on 17 October 1887. At the time his occupation was listed as barman.

Sidney was living at Deniliquin, NSW, working as a billiard marker in 1891 when he married Helena Matilda Dadswell. The family subsequently managed hotels at Deniliquin (the White Lion, between 1897 and 1905), Shelbourne and Tarnagulla but in the early 1920s Sidney and Helena separated. Helena went to Melbourne and Sidney eventually was listed as a labourer living at Yallourn in Gippsland. Later he also went to Melbourne, becoming a caretaker, living at Orrong Road, Balaclava. Sidney died on 7 June 1936 in Melbourne, and he and Helena (died 1945) are buried in an unmarked grave at the New Melbourne General Cemetery at Fawkner. The children in this family:

Picture: Sidney Herbert Norwood and his daughter Fran (Fanny Annie) Norwood, probably at Tarnagulla.

Further information

Children of Sidney and Helena Norwood
Helena Matilda Dadswell, wife of Sidney Herbert Norwood

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