The Kidd Family A Family History
The Mitchell Family · John & Mary Mitchell

The First to Arrive

Isabella Mitchell

1826–1898

Already in Sydney when the Kate came in — the daughter whose name her father gave the Immigration Board as his only relation in the colony.

Born
c. 1826, Glasgow
Died
27 August 1898
Married
William McGraw (m. 1850)
Lived
72 years

Isabella was the fourth of the nine. When the Kate came in, in September 1849, she was already in Sydney: John Mitchell gave the Immigration Board ‘a daughter, Isabella Mitchell — Sydney’ as his relation in the colony.1 How she had come out is not yet certain. A single ‘farm servant’ named Isabella Mitchell arrived on the William Abrams from Greenock in July 1841, but she gave her age as twenty — Isabella would have been fifteen — and the entry may make her a native of Edinburgh.2

Isabella married William McGraw at Sydney in 1850, the first of the sisters to marry in the colony. She died on 27 August 1898 and is buried at Waverley Cemetery.3

The Record

Sources & References

  1. 1

    In Sydney, 1849

    Immigration Board list, ship Kate, September 1849: John Mitchell, relations in the colony, ‘a daughter Isabella Mitchell — Sydney’.

  2. 2

    A possible arrival, 1841

    List of Unmarried Females per William Abrams, from Greenock, arrived July 1841: no. 18, Isabella Mitchell, 20, farm servant, Protestant, reads and writes, native place ‘do’ [Edinburgh?]; bounty £19. Not yet proven to be the same woman.

  3. 3

    Marriage and death

    NSW BDM marriage index, 1850, vol. C: Isabella Mitchell and William McGraw. Waverley Cemetery: Isabella McGraw, died 27 August 1898.