Fitzwater, William George
- Born: 1810 109
- Marriage: Pratt, Elizabeth Augusta 17 Dec 1834, St. Boltophs, Bisopsgate, London, , Greater London, England 2,108
- Died: 17 Mar 1896, Wodonga at age 86 2
- Buried: Beechworth
 General Notes:
Illegitimate.
Took the Name of Fitzwater from the nurse who raised him. Not his mother or father's name. Raised in Whetstone, baptised at Finchley
Apprenticed to Charles Thomas Pratt "Dressing case maker", at about age 14 years. He was a tall shy thin lad, and "lived in."
His mother Elizabeth Waterworth bequeathed to George William Wilkes Waterworth alias George William Wright Waterworth, alias George William Fitzwater the sum of four hundred pounds. (The Fitzwaters p 10). He would have been 22 years old at this time and he promptly spent the money on a trip to the continent.
At that time he must have been "walking out" with the daughter of the house, Elizabeth Augusta Pratt, because they were married on 17th Dec 1834. Mr. Pratt didn't attend the wedding. He was against the wedding because he said he (George ) was a "spendthrift". He said "If you marry Fitz you will need two things - a washtub with which to earn your living and a looking glass in which to view your misery". Elizabeth later said she had required neither.
There were two daughters born in London, before the family embarked to Australia, on an assisted passage. Elizabeth was heavily pregnant at the time.
On January 20th 1839 WGF and his wife and two daughters embarked on the Mellish (424 tons) for the voyage to Australia. The ship called at Plymouth and left there on 27th January. The ship "encountered a severe gale in the drops of the channel, in which she carried away her foregunnels, which, with some former leak unknown at that time, occasioned the pumps to be kept continually going. She was repaired at Lisbon. The ship arived in Sydney on Wednesday June 5th, a bleak wet day. The rain came down in torrents and the streets of Sydney were covered in yellow mud."
Emma Fitzwater had been born at sea on 25th March. The family had with them 5 cases, 2 casks, 1 wooden house.
Soon after arrival George held a sale of a "splendid assortment of fancy articles, Chandeliers, Lusters, Glass candlesticks, cut glass salts, etc and a great variety of Ladies and Gentlemans dressing cases, writing desks, work boxes, tea caddies, and glove boxes....
They stayed in Sydney only a short time as they couldn't get a residence. They bought their furniture with them but had to store it in some ramshackle place and half of it was stolen. They sold the remaining chairs for 5 pounds each to the then chief Secretary.
They moved to Richmond NSW where George is described variously as a Storekeeper, Publican, Innkeeper. He operated the general store at North Richamond and operated the punt accross the Hawkesbury River.
They were very religious (Church of England, buit joined the methodists when there was no Cof E church avialable to them).
On one of his trips from Gunning to Sydney (he used to go to Sydney to buy his own goods) he was stuck up by bushrangers and tied to a tree. They took all his money and the goods they wanted. What greived him the most, they took his new cabbage tree hat. Grandma used to say he greived more over the loss of the hat than the other goods. How he untied himslef from the tree I cannot say, but it is like a dream to me that one of the men rode back and released him.
He was very highly respected and so was his wife.
His wife's dying words to him were "You are an old man, we have lived 50 years together without a cross word, and my wish is that you should be comfortable in your old age. Seek out a good woman, a widow for preference and marry her. Let her understand that what money you have will go to her on your death. My money is to be divided amongst my daughers on your death, the interest being yours meanwhile."
After her death he married a daughter of Mrs Adamson. The girl had been a maid of his wife's..a widow. "She was not of the same class as Granpa", however she looked after him. The marriage was not popular with the family.
110
Noted events in his life were:
• Baptism, 1814, Finchley. 111
• Emigration, 20 Jan 1839, Embarked On The Mellish (424 Tons).
• Immigration, 5 Jun 1839, Sydney. 2
• Occupation: Cabinet maker.
• Religion: Weslyan Church. 2
• Bankruptcy: Debts 159 pounds 16 shillings and tenpence halfpenny., 3 May 1842, Richmond. 110
• Residence, After 1847, Gunning, , New South Wales, Australia. 110 Operated the General Store
• Residence, 1852, Beechworth, , Victoria, Australia. 2
• Residence: Purchased Homebush Farm, Bef Mar 1863, Wodonga, , Victoria, Australia. 112
William married Elizabeth Augusta Pratt, daughter of Living and Living, on 17 Dec 1834 in St. Boltophs, Bisopsgate, London, , Greater London, England 2.,108 (Elizabeth Augusta Pratt was born in 1813, died in 1888 2 and was buried in Beechworth, , Victoria, Australia 2.) The cause of her death was Throat Cancer.
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