Mary Anne Cottam was the first on my mother's ancestral side - the Cottam family to be born in Australia.
Her parents were Englishman James Cottam from Lancashire and Eliza Shanks from Co. Down, Northern Ireland who were married in 1860 in Kilmore, Victoria. (as per Marriage Certificate)
Anne (as she was known) was born in March 1862 at Darraweit Guim, a country town near Lancefield, Victoria and was still living there in 1909. The Census says at Chintin near Lancefield.
Anne was 51 when she married Alfred George Holt in 1913 and was his second wife. Alfred's first wife, Agnes who was Anne's sister died aged 39 in 1912.
Death Notice for Agnes Holt in 'The Argus'.
I was told by a family member that Anne had no children but reared the five children of her sister Agnes. The Holt children were - Gordon Ernest, Elizabeth Beryl, Harold Lindsay, George McLeod and Irene.
I am yet to prove that the last daughter born - Irene Agnes HOLT - was a daughter of Agnes or Anne, but so far it seems she was born in 1914.
It would have been a hard task for Anne at age 51 taking over the care of all the children aged from eight years old down to babies. She would have known them being their Aunt, but to suddenly have a family of five to care for and a new husband must have come as a shock to her as a middle-aged spinster.
Anne was more than ten years older than Agnes her sister, the youngest of the family, and would have been about six years older than her husband Alfred.
Once married she lived at ‘Wahroonga’ 43 Kent St, Kew. (1919 Census)
‘Wahroonga’ Kew 2007: Google Earth.
Anne was 71 when she died on 30 Jan 1935 and is buried in the Boroondara Cemetery at Kew (nearby their home) with her sister Agnes and their husband Alfred George Holt.
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