Australian Connections

Hi Ian - yes - have had lots of contact with Vee and it was a shame we could not attend the get together in Totnes - you all put in so much work to ensure the event went off. Yes, I do have lots of info on Edward - Susan Prowse-Tako's books are so well done and a contact source of reviewing the family history. Enjoy your travels.

Thank you, Leonie! I quite enjoyed reading the family detail - especially about the diary.

Hi Ian. Thought I'd make contact and will share what I know of the Edward Barrington Prowse line and some odds and ends that may be of interest. At this stage, our last male line is Mal Barrington Prowse born 2019 in Adelaide and my grandson. Funny how the family have gone a full circle returning to Adelaide where Edward first arrive on The Bolton in 1849. Mal's ancestry is Edward Barrington P, James Barrington P, Lesley Vernon Barrington P, Keith James Barrington P, Malcolm John Barrington P (my husband), Simon John Barrington Prowse (Mal's father and my son). Mal has 3 sisters - Matilda (Minnie) b2011 Liverpool UK, Nancy (Bou) b2014 Adelaide, Esme b2017 Adelaide. My daughter Hayley Prowse Kirkland married a Scot and lives in Gullane Scotland with husband Andrew and their 3 children Patrick, Lachy and Bernadette. So we still have UK connections.

Lots of info but funny how small a world it is!! Minnie attended the Adelaide Migration Museum a few years ago and the teacher asked if anyone in her class knew of a relative who migrated to Australia and of course the whole class learnt of Edward's Australian life. Of note for those interested, Edward Prowse travelled to Adelaide with Edward Snell (first meeting in Bristol) and they worked togther for many years during which time a diary was written "The Life and Adventures of Edward Snell - travelling with Edward Prowse". This diary is held in the National Library of Australia and State Library of Victoria. Keith Prowse, Virginia Banyard and John's father gave Simon a copy to be handed down to his son.

I do have a copy of the Family Tree which Keith updated before he past away. Time for a new generation to update.

Hi Kat,

My Henry John was married to Frances Louisa "Fanny" Dolling in 1862 at Coburg, Victoria. They had 13 children, Elizabeth Louisa, Selina, Thomas Henry, William Francis, Alfred John Victor, Frances Emily, Maude Matilda Adeline, Charles Richard, Florence Mary, Frederick Albert James, Albert Ernest and Elsie Victoria.

Ring any bells for you. I do have a WikiTree (Goodwin-8576) and an Ancestry Tree.

Hi everyone, just found this page, so hopefully will be able to find more information about the Prowse line and add to where possible.

To Start, my name is Terry Goodwin b1951, my late mother was born Joyce Elaine Noake (B1921) daughter of Elsie Laura Noake and William Roy Prowse (B1895 Brunswick Vic. D1966 Fitzroy Vic). William was the 3rd child of William Francis Prowse (B1867 D1944). William Francis was the 5th child of Henry John Prowse (B1831 Stokeinteignhead, Devonshire, England, United Kingdom, D1884 Rockhampton Queensland). He in turn was the 6th child of George Richard Thomas Prowse (B 1796 Stokeinteignhead, Devonshire, England, United Kingdom D 1874 Stokeinteignhead, Devonshire, England, United Kingdom).

Hopefully that's a start of my connection to the Prowse line. I'll try to add further as I go.

Curious if any Australian Prowses on the other lines have also taken a Ydna test as Carl and Dan have? We only need one high tester on each line to help sort connexions. :)

Just added a fourth Australian line originating in Highweek, Devon with five brothers that went to Australia for a gold rush and for the most part settled in the state of Victoria. Two sisters also ended up in Australia as well.

Richard Prowse was the common ancestor, born 1796 in Highweek (outskirts of Newton Abbot) in South Devon, died 1874 in Newton Abbot. One thing about the WikiTree entry for Richard is that there is debate about the Thomas (George) names. Others feel that all the records indicate he was simply 'Richard', though he did have a son named Richard Thomas.

Thanks to Kat, Carl, and Daniel for the information on this line.

www.wikitree.com

As of Oct 17/2023 we have at four separate Australian Prowse lines on the go - I bet there are more, so lets add to the list below. In summary:

1. The Eastley line - Richard Prowse Eastley and John Eastley, originating from South Devon, arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1852 along with their mother, Elizabeth, and three half-sisters. Elizabeth was married to William Eastley prior to his conviction and subsequent exile to Van Diemen's Land in 1839. The boys were born in 1841 and 1846. Records and DNA tests confirm the boys are Prowse. See Blog article 'How Sheep Swindling led to Prowses in Tasmania'.

2. The line of the late Gordon Sanson originating from Penzance, Cornwall, with the arrival of Gordon's GGgrandfather James Prowse in adelong, NSW circa 1860. Gordon's mother was born Prowse. Gordon's uncle Richard John Prowse, Jr. may have continued the Prowse name. Gordon's Ggrandfather James 'Irwin' Prowse published a book of research on Australian Prowse, listing over 1800 people, in 1992. See Blog 'The Prowse Lineage of the Late Gordon Sanson'.

3. Julie Taylor's line originating from South Tawton, Devon with Julie's grandfather Henry Nicolas Prowse who arrived at Sydney, NSW in 1913.

4. Dan and Carl's line originating from Highweek, Devon (a mere 20 miles from South Tawton). Dan and Carl's most recent common ancestor is Richard Thomas (George) Prowse, b. 1796 in Highweek. Five of Richard's children went to Australia during a gold rush: William b. 1824; Richard Thomas, Jr. b. 1830; Henry John, b. 1831; Charles, b. 1837; and John Walter, b. 1843. Sisters Amelia, b. 1825 and Emily, b. 1840 also ended up in Australia. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Prowse-1143

The late Gordon Sanson, grandson of Richard John Prowse, Sr. mentioned that his great-grandfather James 'Irwin' Prowse published a book entitled 'From Cornwall to the colonies: a Prowse chronicle, 1760-1990' under the name Irwin Prowse, in 1992 detailing over 1800 Prowse descendants in Australia at that time. It is in the National Library of Australia. Does anyone have a copy of the book?

Thanks Julie and Mathew for getting the ball rolling 'Down Under'. 😀

HENRY NICHOLAS PROWSE - PART TWO

William PROWSE was born in Okehampton, Devon in 1811 to a single mother - Elizabeth PROWSE. He was apprenticed to William ALWAY in 1820 at the age of nine by the Overseers of the Poor. I have not been able to find a baptism for Elizabeth PROWSE but she was born about 1789 (from Census details and her death certificate). Her mother was also unmarried and had moved to Okehampton from South Tawton around 1793 where she had been born in 1762 to William and Ann (Underhill) PROUSE. Ann had two more children in Okehampton - Ann in 1796 and Thomas in 1798 (again no fathers recorded). Dave Perry- Prouse is descended from this Thomas PROUSE and I am descended from his half-sister Elizabeth PROUSE. So Dave and I are fifth cousins. All three of these children were apprenticed by the Overseers of the Poor at some time. They were obviously very poor!

In South Tawton we can trace our family back for two hundred years to the early 1600's. South Tawton was a relatively poor village from all accounts. It was involved in the cloth trade - one author says most of the women in the village in the late 1700's were involved in spinning.

Apart from the wobble in the late 1700's/early 1800's with Ann and her daughter Elizabeth both being unmarried mothers the PROWSE families seem to have led fairly straightforward lives - marrying, having children, working.

Neither Dave nor I have been able to find a definite line prior to our South Tawton families. At a guess I think we are probably from the Gidleigh area as it is fairly close to South Tawton.

Our line of male PROWSES ended here in Sydney with HNP's grandchildren. Of the seven of us there was only one male and he had five daughters!

As far as I am aware we are not related to any other PROWSE families in Australia and there are no EASTLEY branches on our family tree.

All the bests,

Julie Taylor

Hullo from Down Under!

My mother was a PROWSE born in Australia - the youngest of three children of Henry Nicholas PROWSE. HNP (a plumber) came to Australia in 1913 and married my grandmother (also from England) the following year in Sydney where they spent the remainder of their lives. HNP died in Sydney in August 1944. Prior to coming to Sydney he had made several trips from Plymouth to New York and Panama where he worked on the Panama Canal as a plumber (we have some interesting photos from his time there). He later went to Johannesburg where he met his future wife and followed her to Sydney! HNP was born in Plymouth in November 1880 to Rebecca Catherine (Bracken) and John Morgan PROWSE. He was their youngest surviving child - they had nine children but 5 died in infancy or early childhood - all from diseases that are now controlled by vaccination and/or antibiotics. John Morgan PROWSE was a Trinity Pilot (not confirmed in documents) in Plymouth. He had his own boat and seemed to have done quite well for himself. Unfortunately, he went overboard in a storm and while he didn't drown he did develop pneumonia and died as a result in January 1892 in Plymouth. John Morgan PROWSE was born in Bratton Clovelly, Devon in April 1836 - eldest child of Ann WORTH & William PROWSE. (More to follow!)

Hi guys, I'm Mathew Prowse born 06/10/1989 in Wagga Wagga Australia, there is a fairly big but very spread out population of Prowse's here in Australia I'm nearly 100% sure that we would be nearly all related in some way we are all very proud people I'm extremely proud of our name and out history I'm going to encourage more of the family to jump on and share their story much love guys 💜 🇦🇺