Like the Wynnes who are associated strongly with one region in Ireland, the Vincents also centre around a particular region; Cornwall in England. The earliest Vincent we know about is Edith’s great-grandfather, John Vincent, a bootmaker in Cornwall in the early 1800s. His son, Samuel Vincent (1843-1920) He was born in 1843 or 1844 (the dates differ from his marriage certificate and his death certificate). His occupation was listed as Ship's pilot and according to other records he was a cordwarmer and a shoemaker (on his death certificate). However, though we know little about this man it is likely he was born around Cornwall and some records may exist there.
Kath and Bill Wynne visited the Cornwall area in 1991 they made some investigations about the Vincents and recovered some documents. We followed them a few years later and though the church isn’t of architectural significance, it is surely one of the most beautiful in England, tucked in a lush garden above a cove where fishing boats still are repaired. The church itself dates from around 1632 and the booklet that describes a guided walk through the gardens and churchyard including the wood pigeons, doves, rooks, crows, jackdaws, wrens, blackbirds, robins and other English birds you will see in your walk. The church is one of those 'must-see' places for any Wynne travelling to England.
This is an extract from my journal of that day, 11th June 1993:
We had a Cornish
pastie in Penzance, found a bike shop with no jerseys and headed back to
St Just and the Vincent’s home. I must admit this was to be one of
the highlights for me and the place did not disappoint. We crossed the water
by car ferry then drove down the dark enclosed road to St Just Church. It
was more moving than I thought - finding the Vincent graves with the familiar
names from the family tree, Samuel Vincent and Clarinda Webb. The churchyard
looked beautiful and sombre, the wind tugging at the tops of the trees and
in that that special calm below purple foxgloves and the small creek running.
Inside the church we noted down the Vincent graves from the card index (all those in Section 24 anyway) signed the visitor’s book and walked the muddy track to the beach for a photo. Only I made it - Cornwall had 4 inches of rain two days before and hadn't fully recovered.
Samuel Vincent married a woman named Clarinda Webb (1843-1939 ( a chain of the family that nobody has investigated so far) . It is not known where they met but their children were born in Cornwall, and he is buried there. He died in 1920. She lived on until 1939. This branch of the family history firmly puts this small corner of England in the forefront of the entire family history.
Samuel Vincent’s eldest son Alfred John Vincent (1864-?) was born in Cornwall in 1864. He emigrated to Australia and arrived in 1888 aged 24 (according to family Bible) It is interesting to speculate on how things may have been different if this Cornish man and an Irish farmer (Robert Wynne) hadn’t within three years of each other, decided to try life on the other side of the world. Once again it is not known what ship Alfred Vincent travelled on, or the exact reasons for his migration. Recent family research from the census records of 1881 (conducted by Jenni Vincent) suggests he was a butcher before he came to Australia.
Within four years of being in Australia he had found a wife and he was married at 28 at Albert St., Moonee Ponds in 1891 (aged 34) to Emily or Emma Emmerson (1860-1930), a girl from Navarre;or Mountain Creek; She listed her occupation as 'dressmaker' on the Marriage Certificate and listed her present residence as Albert St., Moonee Ponds, though this may have been the church, not her house.
Emily’s parents were both born in England. George Emmerson (1831-?) in Suffolk in 1831 and Mary Thomas (1827-?) in Cornwall in 1827. The Cornwall connection with the Vincents is again quite strong. Few details about these two are known and it is enticing to speculate on how they may have met. You would imagine that they met somewhere in the south of England in about 1850, married and came to Australia for the gold but in fact they married in Melbourne, Australia. Did they know each other in England before they came to Australia? How did they meet. and were the Cornwall Vincents known to the Thomas Vincents? The movement to the Avoca area must surely be to do with the gold rushes in the region. In January 1995, Kath and Bill Wynne stumbled upon the grave of George and Mary while visiting the Victorian Pyrenees. Without any real hope of success they stopped at Landsborough Cemetery, a run-down cemetery without a tree on it. The grave was still in good condition, though with broken cast-iron, but the inscription was still clear and legible. It read- ‘Sacred to the memory of George the beloved husband of Mary Emmerson, who departed this life February 13th, 1909 aged 77 years also Mary Emmerson who died January 28th 1914 aged 84."
It is also interesting that a George Thomas Emmerson was a witness at the wedding of Alfred Vincent and Emily Emmerson. The neat, well educated looking signature could be that of Emily’s father, George Emmerson, aged 60, who went with his child to Australia, or it could be George Emmerson’s son.
Alfred Vincent and Emily Emmerson
had six children, the fourth Edith Mary Vincent (1898-1987) born in 1898.
She lived-born at Ascot Vale, and she was living at 4 Pascoe Crescent, Essendon
when she was married to William Francis Wynne in 1921. Linda Alice Vincent (her
sister) and Roy Munro were the witnesses at the wedding.
Her children remember she used to recite two favourite poems to the children (Alf and Les and Bill) when they were little. A transcript of the poems was sent to me by her daughter Les:
Lorraine Lorraine Loree
Are you ready for your steeplechase Lorraine Lorraine Loree?
Your booked to ride Vindictive today at Coterley
To keep him straight and win the prize for me
Poor Lorraine Lorraine Loree
He's killed a boy, he's killed a man and why must he kill me?
Unless you ride Vindictive Lorraine Lorraine Loree
It's you may keep your baby, you'll get no help from me
that husbands could be cruel I have known for seasons three
But she mastered young Vindictive oh the gallant lass was she!
Kept straight! and won the race as mar as meek could be
But he killed her at the brook the brute for all the world to see
And no one but the baby cried for poor Lorraine Loree.
The Little Dog Under the Wagon
Come wife, said good old farmer Gray
Put on your clothes tis Market Day
Away they went at a good sound pace
And joy came into the farmer's face
Poor Spot said he did want to come
But he's better off home to watch the house
I guard the crops, I keep the cattle out the lot
I'm not so sure of that thought Spot
The Little dog under the wagon.
The farmer all his produce sold
and got his pay in yellow gold
Then started homeward after dark
Home through the lonely fields
Hark, a robber sprung from behind a tree
Your money or your life said he.
The moon was up, but he didn't see
The little dog under the wagon.
Spot nor barked nor Spot nor whined
But quickly caught the thief behind
The face was coal. I toae his shut
While the hand feel the farmer bounce
tumbled him into the wagon
So good Spot saved the farmer's life,
the farmer's money, the farmer's wife.
And now a hero grand and gay
A silver collar he wears all day
Among his friends, among his foes
He follows on his horny toes
The little dog under the wagon .
To her grandchildren Edith was universally known as ‘Little Nana’ while her children called her ‘Edie’. I remember her always as warm and generous with Loys Lemonade and Savoy biscuits and cooked breakfasts. She lived in Pascoe Vale Road, Essendon until her husband died and moved to a unit in Glenroy where she died. Hers was the first death I really remember and the first funeral I attended. A poem about her called "Nana" was published in "Westerly" magazine in the week of her death in 1987.
Where to Now?
The Vincents might prove good material for investigation. Samuel Vincent’s birth
certificate (and we assume he was born in Cornwall) might provide us with the names of his
parents. In many ways this might be the branch of the family where we might go back most
far.
Warrick Wynne 18/10/2003