Bridget O'Connell was born about 1850 in Ireland. She was the daughter of Terence O'Connell and Margaret McConnell and came to Australia with them when she was about 3 years old.
William Payne came to Australia in the 1850s from Belfast. He married Bridget O'Connell in 1870 in the Mudgee district (NSW BDM 2738/1870). From 1878 to 1880 They resided as Goodiman as licensees of the Goodiman Inn. After that, they had an inn at Slasher’s Flat from 1881 to 1885, before moving to Wellington/Montefiores (in the late 1890s?) where they ran a store.
Bridget and William had 5 children as follows:
- Isabella Margaret Payne - born 1871 (NSW BDM 13279/1871); died in Auburn in 1938 aged 67.
- Alvina Harriet Payne - born 1873 (NSW BDM 14384/1873); married William H Rees in 1893 in Orange (NSW BDM 5663/1893). She died in 1958 in Ashfield (NSW BDM 1193/1958).
- Eugene T Rees - born 1893 (NSW BDM 12808/1893)
- William Daniel Payne - born 1875 (NSW BDM 15291/1875); died aged 10 in 1885 in Gulgong
- Eugene Payne - born 1878 (NSW BDM 17019/1878); at Goodiman.
- Alfred Payne - born 1880 (NSW BDM 19079/1871); died of "inflammation of the lungs" aged 5 in 1885 in Mudgee.
Bridget's oldest daughter, Maggie Isabella Payne, was witness at the marriage of Bridget's sister Julia O'Connell to John Michael O'Brien. The wedding took place at Goodiman in 1890.
William Payne died in 1896 (NSW BDM 3807/1899) at the age of 56. Bridget Payne died on 11 July 1929 in Wellington. The executors of her estate were her brother Eugene O'Connell (grazier at Goodiman) and her married daughter, Alvina Harriet Rees, who lived in Lidcombe. Bridget divided her property at Montefiores (Parish of Nanima, County of Bligh Vol 1778, Fol 222) between her three living children Eugene Payne, Isabella Margaret Payne and Alvina Rees.
Later title deeds were Vol 5105- Folio 137 and Vol 6733- Folio 243
A photo from the Holtermann Collection shows nearby Gipps Street somewhere between 1870-75. The area may have looked quite similar when Bridget and William arrived.
Gipps Street looking South, Montefiores
Source: SLNSW
NEWS ITEMS
1878 - [PUBLICAN'S LICENCE]
The Treasury, New South Wales, 24th August, 1878 - The following Return of Publicans’ Licenses which have been issued for the year commenced 1st July, 1878, and ending 30th June, 1879, is published for general information.
- Payne, William - Goodaman Creek, Cobborah Road - Goodaman Inn
Source: New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime (Sydney : 1860 - 1930) Tue 27 Aug 1878 [Issue No.266 (SUPPLEMENT)] Page 3429
1879 - [PUBLICAN'S LICENCE]
The following Return of Publicans' Licenses, which have been issued for the year commenced 1st July, 1879, and ending 30th June, 1880, is published for general information.
- Payne, William - Goodaman Creek, Cobborah Road - Goodaman Inn
After 1880, Goodiman Inn disappears from the records of publicans' licences. By 1883, Patrick O'Connell had a licence to run a wine saloon at Goodiman.
1899 - [DEATH - WILLIAM PAYNE]
Poor old William Payne, for many years an hotelkeeper at Slasher's Flat, died the other day at Wellington. As " white " a man as ever lived in the district was old "Bill" Payne. He was brother-in-law to Mr. W. Norris, Gulgong, E. O'Connell at Goodiman, and John O'Brien, of Tallewang.
Source: Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative (NSW : 1890 - 1954) Fri 17 Mar 1899 Page 10
1929 - MRS. BRIDGET PAYNE.
The death took place of another of our old residents in the person of Mrs. Payne, who passed away at her late residence, Montefiores, this morning, at the age of 79 years, the cause of death beings senile decay. Deceased had been in fairly good health until about three weeks' ago, when she was compelled to lay up, and gradually grew weaker each day.
The late Mrs. Payne was a native of Ireland, and came to Australia when only a child, being three years' old when she arrived at Mudgee. She married her husband, the late Mr. William Payne, at that centre, and they came to Wellington some 35 years' ago, her husband dying shortly after they arrived here. For the past 26 years she had resided at Montefiores [Wellington]. During her long residence she made a large number of friends, and had seen many changes take place in the town and district.
She is survived by a grown up family of two daughters and one son, the latter being Mr. Eugene Payne, of Montefiores, and the daughters Mrs. W. Reece (Sydney) [sic, Alvina H Rees], and Miss Payne (Montefiores) [Isabella Margaret]. A brother, Mr. Eugene O'Connell, resides at 'Goodaman' (Gulgong), while two sisters, Mrs. J. O'Brien (Marrickville) and Mrs. W. Norris (North Sydney) also survive.
The remains will be encased in a polished maple casket and will be laid to rest in the R.C. portion of the Wellington cemetery tomorrow afternoon, the cortege leaving her late residence at 2 p.m. Mr C. J. Shakespeare has charge of the funeral arrangements.
Headstone at Wellington Cemetery
NB: Death year for William should be 1899
NB: Death year for William should be 1899
Headstone at Wellington Cemetery
