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Antill - Colden - Morris |
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The Antill, Colden and Morris families have been included together here as their history is interwoven, and although only the Antill family has relevance to Australia the Colden and Morris families were movers and shakers in that other new colony, America.
Born in New York in 1779, Henry Colden Antill (Australian Pioneer) was the second son of John Antill and Margaret Colden. John was a Major of the Second Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalists). Margaret was the granddaughter of Cadwallader Colden (more later).
Henry Antill enlisted with the British Army as an ensign in 1796 and served with the 73rd Regiment. He was promoted to Captain in 1809 and received a medal for bravery following the storming of Seringaptam in India, where he had been badly wounded.
He arrived in Sydney aboard the HMS Dromedary in December 1809 with his regiment, and was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Governor Lachlan Macquarie on January 1, 1810. Governor and Mrs Macquarie had also travelled to the colony aboard the HMS Dromedary.
Henry Colden Antill was one of a party led by Governor and Mrs Macquarie to the Macquarie River Valley when on May 7, 1815 Governor Macquarie proclaimed the site for a town. The town was called Bathurst in honour of the Earl of Bathurst, who was Secretary of State for War and the Colonies at that time. Bathurst holds the honour of being the oldest of our Australian inland cities.
The road the Governor and his party took to the Macquarie River Valley was the one built and completed by William Cox in January 1815.
In 1821 Henry Colden Antill retired from the Army and in 1822 was the first to receive a grant of 2000 acres of land in the area we now know as Picton, which he called 'Jarvisfield'. For the period 1821-1823 Henry Colden Antill was a director of the Bank of New South Wales and later became Police Magistrate for the county of Camden from October 2, 1829 until his death in 1852.
Cadwallader Colden, Governor of the British Province of New York was the grandfather of Margaret (above) and a wealthy merchant during the colonial period before the American Revolution. Born in Ireland of Scottish parents he arrived in America in 1710 and was appointed Surveyor General in 1720.
A great scholar, Cadwallader Colden wrote 'The History of the Five Indian Nations' in 1727, then after becoming a botanist he began classifying flora, and these contributions to medical literature were of great significance.
Henry Colden Antill's grandmother, Anne Morris was the daughter of Lewis Morris, Governor of New Jersey. The Morris family were very much a political family, with a Robert Hunter Morris being appointed Chief Justice of New Jersey in 1738.
The most prominent of the Morris family was another Lewis Morris This Lewis Morris had a long and distinguished career, a judge at the Court of Admiralty, member of the Continental Congress from 1775 until 1777 and most importantly was a signatory to the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Yet another Lewis Morris is best remembered as a privateer and wealthy sugar planter in Barbados. A very wealthy man, he reportedly owned much of what is today known as The Bronx, New York.
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Lewis Morris - Signatory to the Declaration of Independence 1776 |
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