James and John Mann: a brief history

James Mann was born on 25 October 1831 at “Bensil Farm,” in the Parish of Carseburn, near Forfar, Scotland, the oldest child of John Mann and Christina née Constable.  John was a tenant farmer on 25 acres (part of the Bensil Estate)[i].  In 1857 James, aged 26, and his brother, John (jnr), 21—born 25 January 1836 (my grandfather), headed for Liverpool to board the steel hulled clipper ship, Ellen Stuart, and set sail on 13 June 1857 on an 86 day voyage to Melbourne[ii].  Upon arrival at their destination, on 7 September of the same year; they disappeared into the hurly-burly of life in the young colony.  Nearly four years later they emerged from obscurity to appear in the ledger book of land owner, Alexander Brock, of Janefield, now part of Bundoora.  Under an entry dated 1 March 1861 it was noted that ‘John and James Mann,’ had rented a house and grounds known as Overton Farm at ‘£45 per annum payable half yearly[iii].’  They had rented 164 acres of good arable land, on which they operated a dairy farm, and grew oats.

James stayed only long enough to help his brother get established before moving on.  James Mann and Jane Main, born at Kilpatrick, Scotland in c. 1843, were married at the Janefield Presbyterian Church on 1st February 1865.[iv]  Their first child, also James, was born at “Flora Vale,” the Janefield home of Robert White, on 11 December 1865.  It is possible that James worked there before moving to a rental property at nearby Epping where they remained for the next three, or four years.  James then became a selector in the Parish of Linton.



[i]Report No. B/31728 Scots Ancestry Research Society on John Mann, born Forfarshire, 1836.

[ii] Extracted from the Passenger list of the Ellen Stuart.

[iii]Latrobe Library of Victoria, Manuscript Section MS 10054; Brock Family Papers—Alexander Brock’sLedger Book, 1853-61.

[iv] Marriage Certificate of James Mann to Jane Main; Govt Government Statist’s Office.

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Wikinorthia is managed by the Local and Family History Librarian at Yarra Plenty Regional Library

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