Matrilineal Monday - Catherine McGregor (1866-1945)

Catherine  and George Lee on thier wedding day

On Saturday 14^th April  22 year old Catherine or as she preferred Kate McGregor was married by the Rev. McCready at his residence 313 Cleveland St, Redfern to George William Lee. Catherine was the third daughter of James and Margaret McGregor, of Booth Street Balmain.

Their wedding photo, most likely taken in the garden of her parents’ home shows them to be a handsome couple. George was 27 years old and came from the small trading community of Nelligen on the South Coast of NSW.

 His father Thomas George Lee (dates) owned the local store in Nelligen and later purchased Acacia Farm. George  lived on the family farm on the banks of the beautiful Clyde River a few mile north of the village of Nelligen.

There few clues as to how Catherine and George met, perhaps it was when George was visiting family members who had moved from Nelligen to live in Sydney.

Catherine Lee, with daughters Jessie, Florence and baby Mona

Catherine, like her sisters Mary Ann and Isabella was born in the mining settlement of Araluen, then moved to Bombay on the Shoalhaven before James and Margaret decided to settle in Balmain.  Following their wedding, the happy couple settled into life on at Acacia Farm, and soon started their family. The start to their married life was not without tragedy, their first son George  passing away not long after his first birthday.

However, soon more children followed, four  sons, Clyde James, Norman and George and five daughters, Florence, Jessie, Mona, Christina (my grandmother) and Eunice. The Lee children attended the small school at Nelligen.  The three eldest sons were members of the NSW police force while the youngest, George (better known as Jordie) lived on and kept Acacia farm running.

Catherine with Goats on Acacia Farm

Catherine’s life was very busy caring for her children, and later their children. My father spent some time living with his Grandmother after his father Malcolm Michael Shepherd passed away following a logging accident, he would tell me about catching rowing down to Nelligen to collect the mail and supplies.

The timing of their trips would be dependent on when the tides were coming in or going out. The family thrived living on their farm.  There was a plentiful supply of fish in the river, milk and eggs from the farm, vegetables were grown, and numerous fruit trees. These beautiful old trees were still standing when I visited the farm as a small child.

The small wooden farm house had a basic kitchen with an open fire, with large black kettle and camp ovens for cooking  On two sides of the farm house were wide wooden verandahs that looked out over the Clyde River. It really was a beautiful outlook, down over the fields to the river.

View from Acacia Farm down to the Clyde River

I am sure Catherine would have sat out on the verandah's, doing her chores, or sewing and watched the logging boats go up and down the river.  I remember when we visited the farm for family picnics, these verandas were out of bounds as the boards were old and rotten. 

Catherine's husband,George passed away 1936, Catherine continued to live on the farm with her youngest son Jordie (George Alexander).  Jordie married Pat Lenehan in 1944, and about this time Catherine went to live with her daughter Christina Carriage (my nanna) in Milton.  She had spent 56 years living on the farm on the Clyde River Nelligen and was held in high regard by the local community.

On the 12 August 1945, Catherine passed away at her daughter's home in Milton. From all accounts, a large funeral was held at the local Methodist church and then Catherine was buried in the family plot in the Methodist section of the cemetery at Mollymook. A peaceful resting place overlooking the ocean.

Christina Sterland Lee

What better place to start the stories of the women in my family tree than with my grandmothers. This is a photo of my Nanna, on my fathers side of the family, when she was about five or six.  It is taken from a school photo, at Nelligen School.  Nelligen is a small settlement on the Clyde River on the South Coast of New South Wales.

I have many childhood memories of Christmas time gatherings at my Nanna's house in Milton where all the cousins, aunts and uncles would gather for the annual festivities in Nanna and Pop's old wooden house.  The kitchen would be a hive of activity, with Nanna making the traditional Christmas pudding in huge bowl and all the children taking turns to stir the pudding for luck.

Christina Sterland Lee was born on 29 May 1901, in the small trading town of Nelligen, on the banks of the Clyde River. She was the daughter of George William Lee (1859-1936) and Catherine McGregor (1866-1945). Christina or Teenie as she was called by her friends was the fourth child and first daughter in a family.  She had  four brothers and four sisters.  At the time of her birth her family lived in 27 Vincent St Nelligen (NSW 1901 Census) .  The children were not short of company with their cousins living  in two houses next door.  (These were the families of her father’s brothers Thomas and Albert Lee).



Nelligen 1908

Her grandfather Thomas George Lee (1832-1936) was born in Clerkenwell, St James, Islington, England and came to Australia in the early 1850’s.  He was one of the earlier settlers in the Nelligen District and for many years ran the local store, that was a major supplier of goods to the local district and over the Clyde Mountain to the Braidwood district.

While Christina was still at school her family moved to “Acacia Farm”  about 8 kms north of Nelligen on the Clyde River.  The farmhouse was surrounded by fruit trees and the family grew vegetables and raised cattle.  This farmhouse was to see many family gatherings and reunions over the next eighty years.  I remember visiting the farm as a small child, when it has been passed on to Christina’s younger brother George Alexander Lee (better known as Jordie). 

Three of  the Lee boys  (Clyde, James and Norman) moved to Sydney and joined the police force and her sisters married and lived locally.  In 1923, at the age of 22 Christina met and married Malcolm Michael Shepherd  a returned WWI soldier,  whose family had been involved in carrier business between Nelligen and Braidwood since the early 1860’s.  Their first child Muriel passed away when she was 11 months old.  Three more children, Malcolm, Colin and Nancy followed and the family settled into the district. 

However, Christina’s happy family life was soon to take a unhappy turn.   In March 1931 her husband Malcolm was knocked down and seriously injured by a tree.  He survived the accident but didn’t fully recover, passing away at the age of 40 in the January of the following year.

TIMBER-GETTER HURT, The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 13 March 1931

While hauling logs to Backhouse's Benandarah mill, Malcolm M. Shepherd was knocked down by a rebounding sapling. He was taken to Moruya Hospital in a serious condition

In the very difficult economic times of the early 1930’s Christina was left with three small children to raise on her own.