Mrs. William Tom senior, my grandmother, was a sister to Mr. W. Lane and must have been a splendid type of woman and wife. Assisted by convict women, she made the whole of the cloth used by her family and servants, from the wool of the sheep on Springfield. She made cheese, butter and cured bacon and hams for the family. In appearance she was quite pretty, with rosy cheeks, and English looking. She loved her Native Land much more than Australia, and once when speaking of the foliage of trees remarked, You call your trees evergreen, I call them nevergreen . She used to teach us children hymns, and if we made a success of our task, would break a peppermint in small portions and give it to us a little piece each. She could sing nicely, and had a good ear for music, while Grandfather had no idea of tune or time in singing, but possessed a loud voice. Often at family worship, Grandfather would be singing at the top of his voice, and ahead of everyone else. Grandmother would say William. you are putting us all out, don’t go so fast, to which he would reply Well dear, I must praise the Lord, and start off again. We kids used to enjoy this. Grandmother came over the Blue Mountains in a bullock dray, and to Springfield in a similar vehicle. She died in 1870, and was buried in the vault. I was at her funeral.

Several years ago Ron and I visited the Toms at Chentin Grange. They pointed out the grave of one of the brothers [I am pretty sure it was James] on a lovely hillside across the valley, overlooking the homestead and property he had founded. We were both very impressed with the harmonious way the family of several brothers was able to work the property together. Each had a particular area of expertise and was in charge of that aspect. The whole family held regular meetings to set the general direction they would follow. I felt proud to be related to them, though only distantly.

I also have a family history book on the Gamboola Smiths/Boree Cabonne MacSmiths. It is called Quench not the Spirit, by Bertha Mac. Smith, but is a photocopied booklet, with no publishing acknowledgement. In it the John Smith who married Mary Tom is noted as b. 19.5.1811 at St. Keverne, Cornwall; m. 12.9.1842 at Byng; d. 1.1.1895. It also gives his wife, Mary’s death as 16.7.1912 at Llanarth, Bathurst. There are a couple of earlier generations of Smiths listed. [2003]

Mrs. William Tom died in her seventy-fourth year, at Springfield, in 1870. It is most remarkable how death kept away from the Tom family for many years. The late Mrs. Tom lived in three different homes during her long life, for upwards of twenty years in each, without a single death occurring in the house. Springfield, at the Cornish Settlement, was one of the houses, and it was in the year 1868 that the first death took place under the same roof where she resided, and this was an infant named Horace Wesley, son of her daughter Emma, the wife of the late Thomas G. Webb.

The late Mrs. William Tom had thirteen children—eight sons and five daughters. All the sons were 5ft. 11in. high and over, and one of them reaching as much as 6ft. 4in. in his stockings.