Anyone who has tried to trace their ancestors, will understand the challenges of identifying them amongst name spelling-changes, similar names, age differences and dates to start with. The surname Soutter is spelled in a variety of ways: Soutter, Souter, Soutar etc. Fortunately, Una Reid was able to visit this village some years back, met up with family-descendants, and confirmed the basic details of his early life, against which further research can be verified.
Charlotte (not 17yrs) Courtesy Peter & Sue Soutter
Charlotte (McCoid) Soutter is now clear, after many years of discovery. She was born in Girvan, Scotland in April, 1851.* She would have been 4 years old when the family left on the Conway, in July 1855.
The next we know, is her marriage to William Soutter at Tarraville, on January 2nd 1868. On their Marriage Certificate, she is described as a Domestic Servant, aged 17, and William a Miner, aged 30 years. Did she work at one of the Pubs in Omeo? Or in Port Albert?
William. Courtesy: Shorty & Barb Reid
What do we know about William Soutter? He was born in Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, a small village south of Aberdeen on the north-east coast of Scotland.
He was born on March 24, 1836 and Christened on April 10, 1836. In the 1841 Census he was aged 6 years and listed with his parents James Souter (aged 50) and Jean (Mollison) Souter (aged 48), and his older sister Mary (aged 10), living in High Street, Laurencekirk. His father was listed as an Ag Lab (Agricultural Labourer).
In the 1851 Census, the surname is registered differently: there is a James Soutar, (aged 59), an Ag Lab, and Jean Soutar (aged 59), living in High Street Laurencekirk. Apart from the spelling change, this is likely the same family. Neither William nor his sister was there, but they would have been 10 years older and probably working elsewhere.
When and how did William get to Australia? There are a couple of possibilities, but one that a Librarian researched, thinks he may have come on the Oracle in September 1854, based on the ship’s Unassisted Passenger List. A William Soutter was listed as aged 20 years, which is still possible, as ages were often approximated. But this information might be disproved one day.
There are still many unanswered questions regarding both the family and their occupations. For instance, when did William Soutter go to Omeo as a miner? The Miner’s records for Omeo are not accessible at the Public Record Office of Victoria because of their state of disrepair.
So how did William and Charlotte meet?
Let’s consider what Frank Sheldrake, an old Omeo Digger, said+. From the perspective of 1910, he recalled that the demand ‘for young and pretty wives was very brisk’. Tom Sheehan, running the Union hotel, ‘lost’ a barmaid to marriage, and so he commissioned the pair to bring back ‘another nice girl’ after they were married in Tarraville. ‘They were duly married and returned to Omeo with the new barmaid, but she was soon rushed with offers of marriage, like her predecessor, and with the same result.’
Frank Sheldrake adds, the miners now all began to ‘beautify their cages to hold their pretty birds, so in a short time a lot of young and pretty wives wore on the diggings’. ….The Omeo wives after a short honeymoon had to come home on a side saddle over rough country, with plenty of camping out at night in the solitary bush’.
Eugene Von Guerrard. Omeo Town-Livingstone Creek 1862. Mitchell Library, NSW.
He reassures us, that these young women brought a welcoming change to the area: someone put up a large hall for balls and concerts, a drapery store opened and people referred to them as The Merry Wives of Omeo.
We don’t know if this was William and Charlotte’s experience, but the timing is possibly about right.
Now, I’ll leave you with this drawing of Omeo in 1862, by Eugene Von Guerard. Hard to imagine there was scope for partying here, even 6 years on.
* Charlotte: “Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY2W-J75: 2 January 2015)
+ Frank Sheldrake Reminiscences of an Old Digger. The Merry Wives of Omeo. Brisbane Courier. Wednesday 7 December, 1910.
*William: 10/4/1836 Souter, William (Old Parish Registers Births 263/ 20 83 Laurencekirk) Page 83 of 337. © Crown Copyright, National records of Scotland.
+ Ancestry.com. 1841 Scotland Census. Parish: Laurencekirk; ED: 2; Page: 5; Line: 1270; Year: 1841
+ Ancestry.com. 1851 Scotland Census. Parish: Laurencekirk; ED: 2; Page: 12; Line: 1; Roll: CSSCT1851_55; Year: 1851
See Part 2: https://mccoidblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/07/william-and-charlotte-soutter-part-2/
James & Charlotte McCoid 