The Cadden Family
William & Christina Cadden
A Lancashire Runaway on the Goldfields
A Lancashire boy ran away to sea at twelve, walked three thousand eight hundred miles across America for the California gold rush, and spent the next forty-five years chasing gold across two more colonies — while the sixteen-year-old Glasgow girl he married raised seven children through insolvency, a horse theft, and a son whose own Sydney hotels, divorce and brush with the San Francisco earthquake could fill a chapter of their own.
- 1826
- Born in Lancashire — ran away to sea at twelve
- 1849
- Walked to San Francisco for the California gold rush
- 45
- Years spent chasing gold across NSW and Queensland
- 7
- Children raised, from Sydney to Rockhampton to Glen Innes
William Thomas Cadden was born on 4 March 1826 at Ormskirk, near Liverpool, the son of Frank and Frances Ellen Cadden.1 He ran away to sea at twelve, and by 1848 held a Merchant Navy ticket, issued in London, describing him as a twenty-two-year-old seaman out of Lancashire.1 The following year, by his own family’s account, he reached New York just as gold was discovered in California — and set out with a party of companions to walk the three thousand eight hundred miles to San Francisco, arriving, after a bitter journey, without a dollar between them.12 Nothing came of it on the American coast; when gold was found in Australia in turn, he made his way here instead, and stayed for the rest of his working life.12
He met Christina Mitchell — a sixteen-year-old Glasgow girl who had arrived at Sydney in September 1849 aboard the ship Kate with her whole family — her parents, John Mitchell, a blacksmith, and Mary, born Kellar, who had married at Calton, Glasgow, on Christmas Day 1818; her four elder sisters, Mary, Agnes, Margaret and Jane; and her seven-year-old brother John. Another sister, Isabella, was already in Sydney waiting for them, and an elder brother, Robert, also made his life in the colony as a blacksmith.2 Their story is told in the companion chapter ‘John & Mary Mitchell’. They married at the Scots Church, Sydney, on 12 February 1852, William giving his age as twenty-five and Christina as eighteen.3 Only months later he was named a joint executor of a Sydney widow’s will — a small sign of a settled, trusted footing in the city just as the couple began their family.4
A trade for every decade
The Caddens’ working life shifted with the times, and so, on paper, did William’s trade. Their eldest child, Mary, was baptised at Newtown in 1855, his occupation given as ‘farmer,’ the family then living at Rocky Point, on the Georges River south of Sydney. A second daughter, Frances Helen — who carries this family’s own line onward — was born at Glebe in 1857. By the time their son William arrived in 1858, William Thomas was a mariner once more, at least on the certificate; the same document lists two daughters already living, matching Mary and Frances exactly. Four more children followed over the next two decades — Frank, John, Christina and, last, Walter — carrying the family from Sydney to the Queensland goldfields and back to northern New South Wales.
The first stop was Brisbane, where Frank was born in 1860 and John in 1862 — and where, for a while at least, William swapped the pick for a shop counter. John’s birth certificate gives his father’s trade as ‘tobacconist,’ of Edward Street, and two Brisbane newspapers confirm it: in April 1862 the Queensland Guardian listed ‘W. Cadden (tobacconist,) Edward-street’ among its town agents, and in June 1863 The Courier still named ‘Mr. Cadden, Tobacconist, Edward-st’ as one of its own. The same 1862 issue of the Guardian shows him in uniform as well — ‘Colour-Sergeant Cadden, Edward-street,’ of the Brisbane Volunteers, from whom competitors in the corps’ rifle match could buy their ammunition.19
By 1867 he had settled into the trade that would define his final decades: upholsterer. A Rockhampton newspaper caught him twice that year, a fortnight apart — once on a jury empanelled to try rioters from an outbreak of anti-Chinese violence at Crocodile Creek, once advertising rooms to let at ‘Sir Charles Nicholson’s Cottages,’ opposite the town’s cricket ground.5
Gold, made and lost
It was at Rockhampton’s Mount Wheeler field, in 1870, that Cadden found gold in earnest — the same field on which, that year, his young sons William and John picked up two nuggets weighing eleven and twenty-two pounds between them. He is said to have narrowly missed pegging what later became the immensely rich Mount Morgan mine.12 The year before, in 1869, he had enough capital to buy a row of four houses at Waterloo, in Sydney, for £600 cash — one of ‘more than one fortune’ he made, and lost again, on the goldfields, in the words of his own obituary.6
There was not a rush of any consequence in the colonies that he had not been on or worked at during the past 45 years in search of the precious metal.
A miner’s later years
By about 1870 the family had settled at Glen Innes, in the New England district. Cadden kept mining even so: he went insolvent as a Dalmorton miner in 1874, registered a horse brand at Glen Innes in 1878, and had two horses stolen from him there in 1881.789 In 1889 two more Dalmorton land deeds were made out in his name, and in 1892 he took out a joint gold-mining lease at Dalmorton with three of his sons, John, William and Frank — the very goldfield that had already made, and would soon unmake, the fortunes of his own son-in-law, William Frederick Poole.10 In town he kept to his trade: his daughter Christina’s obituary recalled that he ‘was an upholsterer and controlled a business in Grey Street for many years,’ and that as a member of the local Masonic Lodge he ‘filled the office of tyler’ — the lodge’s doorkeeper — ‘for a considerable period.’20
He died at his home in Macquarie Street, Glen Innes, on 1 June 1898, aged seventy. His death certificate names his father, seemingly in error, as ‘Thomas Cadden’; a formal notice placed seven weeks later — once his son William had finally made it home from a delayed round-the-world trip — gave the correct names, Frank and Frances Ellen Cadden, of Ormskirk, Liverpool.1114 He was buried in the Wesleyan cemetery at Glen Innes, and his widow, Christina, was named sole executrix of his will.13
Christina’s widowhood
Christina outlived her husband by nearly nine years, living on at the family home, ‘West Brae,’ on Macquarie Street — quite possibly the same two town allotments recorded in her name in the Glen Innes land grant register.15 She died there on 4 March 1907, aged seventy-four. Her death certificate names her father as ‘Robert Mitchell, engineer’ — a slip by whoever supplied the details. Her father was John Mitchell, the blacksmith who had brought the family out on the Kate and who liked to call himself a ‘practical engineer’; Robert, an ‘engineer and blacksmith’, was her elder brother.162 She was buried beside her husband in the Methodist section of Glen Innes General Cemetery, under a headstone reading simply, ‘united in life — united in death.’1718
The Generation
The Children
Seven children, born across three colonies as their parents’ working life carried them from Sydney to the Queensland goldfields and back. Frances Helen carries the direct line onward into Chapter Three’s companion chapter; her siblings’ own stories — a Sydney hotelier who survived the San Francisco earthquake, a Perth cab proprietor twice rejected and half-accepted for war service, and a daughter whose own marriage record finally revealed the family’s Queensland years — are told here.
Mary Jane Keller Cadden 1855–1925
The eldest of the seven — baptised at Newtown as simply ‘Mary Kellar,’ she married a Dalmorton miner whose own brother-in-law, William Poole, would end up his mine manager, his employer in a wages dispute, and a name in her own family’s Dalmorton story all over again.
Read their storyFrances Helen Cadden 1857–1928
The daughter who carries this family onward — her 1873 marriage to William Frederick Poole, at just sixteen, is the subject of the chapter that follows.
Continue the main storyWilliam Mitchell Cadden 1858–1924
A Sydney hotel-keeper who held at least nine licences across three decades and survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake by stepping out for an early walk — then enlisted for Home Service in 1916 swearing he was single, and died in Dublin in 1924 leaving an estate his previously unknown daughter helped settle.
Read their storyFrank Cadden 1860–1920
Goldfields storekeeper, first postmaster of Mount Poole and a King Street publican — who in his late fifties shaved exactly ten years off his age to serve in the First World War.
Read their storyJohn Mitchell Cadden 1862–1954
Glen Innes tinsmith, digger beside Paddy Hannan, mounted constable in the Kimberley and for a quarter of a century a Perth hansom-cab man — who at fifty-four took six years off his age to join the AIF’s tunnellers.
Read their storyChristina Cadden 1865–1934
A schoolgirl singer at Glen Innes, a stolen brooch at a Sydney hotel, and a late marriage to a restless New Zealander that took her to Christchurch, to wartime Melbourne, and finally to the harbourside at North Sydney.
Read their storyWalter Cadden 1875–1896
The youngest of the seven — a birth and a death registration, found at last, confirm family tradition almost exactly, though neither names his father.
Read their storyThe Record
Sources & References
- 1
Birth and early life
UK National Archives, BT 113/198, Register of Seamen’s Tickets: William Cadden, born [Ormskirk?], Lancashire, 4 March 1826; ticket issued London, 1 August 1848, aged 22, seaman, first went to sea as a boy in 1840.
- 2
Christina Mitchell’s family and arrival, 1849
Sources for the Mitchell family. See the document review ‘John Mitchell and Mary Kellar’ for full transcriptions.
- NSW assisted-immigration records, List of Immigrants per ship Kate, arrived 23 September 1849, pp. 449–450: family no. 25 — John Mitchell, 45, blacksmith, and his wife Mary, 45, of Glasgow, with Mary (28), Agnes (27), Margaret (21), Jane (18), Christina (16, house servant) and John (7). The family entry begins at the foot of p. 449 and continues on p. 450, so p. 450 on its own appears to show the younger children travelling without parents.
- Immigration Board list, ship Kate, September 1849: John Mitchell’s parents ‘Robert & Agnes, both dead’; Mary’s parents ‘Alexander & Mary Kellar, dead’; relations in the colony, ‘a daughter Isabella Mitchell — Sydney’; remarks, ‘paid £7’. The ages of John and Mary are understated: both were really about 52.
- Barony parish (Glasgow) registers: John, son of Robert Mitchell, smith, Westmuir, and Agnes Reid, born 17 January 1797 (OPR 622/40/4); Mary, daughter of Alexander Killar, weaver, Calton, and Mary Ballantine, born 5 December 1796 (OPR 622/30/520); John Mitchell, smith in Calton, and Mary Kellar married 25 December 1818 by the Rev. Matthew Graham (OPR 622/70/471).
- Empire, 6 August 1852 and 19 August 1853: marriages of Margaret, ‘third daughter’, and Jane, ‘fifth daughter’, of ‘Mr. John Mitchell, formerly of Sauchiehall-street, Glasgow, practical engineer’.
- Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 1866, p. 8: funeral of ‘Mr. John Mitchell, Blacksmith, late of Glasgow’, from ‘his son Robert’s residence, No. 50, Parramatta-street’, with a matching notice from ‘Mr. Robert Mitchell, Blacksmith’ for ‘his late beloved father, John’. Mary had died at Sauchiehall Farm, near Canterbury, on 3 March 1866. John was buried at Camperdown on 12 June 1866 (burial no. 13997). Sydney Morning Herald, 5 June 1879: funeral of Robert Mitchell, ‘engineer and blacksmith’.
- 3
Marriage, 1852
NSW Presbyterian marriage register, the Scots Church, Sydney, reg. no. 671, Vol. 80: William Cadden, bachelor, 25, and Christina Mitchell, spinster, 18, married 12 February 1852 by the Rev. Dr John Dunmore Lang.
- 4
Executor, 1852
NSW Government Gazette, 12 November 1852: William Cadden named joint executor, with John Londoun, of the will of Elizabeth Huckle, widow, of Sydney.
- 5
Rockhampton, 1867
Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser, 21 March 1867 (jury list, ‘Riot at Crocodile Creek’) and 21 May 1867 (classified advertisement): William Cadden, Upholsterer, Sir Charles Nicholson’s Cottages, opposite the Cricket Ground.
- 6
Banbury Terrace, 1869
Empire (Sydney), 8 October 1869: William Thomas Cadden purchased four houses, Banbury Terrace, Botany Street, Waterloo, for £600 cash.
- 7
Insolvency, 1874
NSW Government Gazette, 27 March 1874, and at least nine contemporary press notices: William Thomas Cadden, of Dalmorton, miner, sequestrated 20 March 1874 — losses in mining speculations and pressure of creditors.
- 8
Horse brand, 1878
NSW Government Gazette, 6 August 1878, First Quarterly List of Horse Brands: William T. Cadden, Glen Innes, Application No. 40059.
- 9
Horses stolen, 1881
NSW Police Gazette, 13 July 1881: a roan mare and a bay filly, branded to Application No. 40059, stolen from William T. Cadden, Glen Innes, 7 March 1881.
- 10
Dalmorton land and the 1892 lease
Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 3 September 1889 (two Dalmorton land deeds ready for delivery to William Cadden); NSW Department of Mines, Register of Gold-Mining Leases, Clarence and Richmond District: Gold Lease 18, Dalmorton, delivered 22 February 1892, to John M., William Thomas, William and Frank Cadden jointly.
- 11
Death, 1898
NSW BDM death registration 5395/1898: William Thomas Cadden, upholsterer, died 1 June 1898, Macquarie Street, Glen Innes, aged 70; born Ormeskirk, England; father given as Thomas Cadden.
- 12
‘A Pioneer Miner’ obituary
Glen Innes Examiner and General Advertiser, 7 June 1898: the fullest surviving account of his life, including the 1849 walk to San Francisco, the Eureka Stockade, Lambing Flat, and Mount Wheeler.
- 13
Probate, 1898
Glen Innes Examiner and General Advertiser, 10 June 1898, Notice for Probate: Christina Cadden named executrix of William Thomas Cadden’s will.
- 14
Death notices naming his parents
Sydney Morning Herald, 20 July 1898, and Daily Telegraph, 23 July 1898: ‘William Thomas Cadden, only son of the late Frank and Frances Ellen Cadden, Ormskirk, Liverpool, England.’
- 15
Land grant to Christina Cadden
NSW Register of Land Grants: Christina Cadden, two adjoining town allotments, Glen Innes, Vol. 386, Fol. 201 and 202.
- 16
Death of Christina Cadden, 1907
NSW BDM death registration 1208/1907: Christina Cadden died 4 March 1907, Macquarie Street, Glen Innes, aged 74; father Robert Mitchell, engineer; mother Mary; born Glasgow, Scotland. The father’s name is wrong. The 1849 immigration lists, her sisters’ marriage notices and the 1866 funeral notices (ref. 2) show that her father was John Mitchell, blacksmith and ‘practical engineer’, and that Robert was her brother.
- 17
Funeral notice, 1907
Glen Innes Examiner and General Advertiser, 5 March 1907: funeral to move from ‘West Brae,’ attended by Mr Frank and Miss Cadden.
- 18
The grave
Headstone, Methodist section, Glen Innes General Cemetery: ‘Sacred to the memory of our dear father William Thomas Cadden, died 1st June 1898, aged 70 years. Also our dear mother Christina Cadden, died 4th March 1907, aged 74 years. United in life – united in death.’
- 19
Tobacconist and Volunteer, Brisbane, 1862–63
William Cadden of Edward Street, Brisbane, recorded as a tobacconist and as a colour-sergeant of Volunteers:
- Queensland BDM birth registration 1862/B/1410: John Mitchell Cadden, born 4 October 1862, Edward Street, Brisbane; father William Cadden, tobacconist, aged 36, born Lincolnshire; registered 4 December 1862 on the father’s information.
- Queensland Guardian (Brisbane), 17 April 1862, p. 1: list of agents — ‘W. Cadden (tobacconist,) Edward-street’; rifle-match notice — ‘Terry’s ammunition can be procured of Colour-Sergeant Cadden, Edward-street, and on the ground.’
- The Courier (Brisbane), 12 June 1863, p. 4: agents for The Courier — ‘Mr. Cadden, Tobacconist, Edward-st.’
- 20
Upholsterer and Masonic tyler, Glen Innes
Glen Innes Examiner, 30 October 1934, obituary of Mrs E. W. Manning (Christina Cadden junior): ‘Her father was an upholsterer and controlled a business in Grey Street for many years. He was a member of the local Masonic Lodge, and filled the office of tyler for a considerable period.’