Francis Cleal

Francis (known as Frank) Cleal was born in 1872 near Inverell.  Frank became a jockey and rode at the Grafton races in the late 1880s, and then moved to Sydney where he married Jessie Pritchard in 1903. Frank was a well-known jockey who rode in the Melbourne Cup in 1893, and then in the early 1900s turned his attentions to training and bookmaking. 

Frank and Jessie had 5 children:

Doreen - born 1903, married Thomas Law in 1942

Hilda - born 1906, married John Carroll in 1927, and had children Edward George and Mary.

Frank - born 1908, died 1909

Ena - born 1911, married Joe Henry Carruthers in 1935

John Leslie - born 1916, married Iona Iris Drew (a widow with 2 children) in 1943 and they had a son, Kenneth (born about 1946). Sadly Iona passed away in 1951, and in 1957 John married Marilyn Freeman.

I have been unable to locate any descendants of Frank Cleal, and would dearly love to make contact with anyone who recognizes their family in this story.  The Cleal's are a large and interesting family, with many well-known sportsman in the clan, and I'm trying to put together a history of the family since Emanuel Cleals arrival in Australia. Any Cleal's out there that may be related, please get in touch with me: nicoledon@hotmail.com.

Christina Cleal

Christina Elizabeth was the third child of Emanuel and Johannah and was born on  26 September 1870 at Pindaroy near Inverell.  Johannah's mother was called Christiana, so I imagine that Christina was named for her maternal grandmother.

Emanuel and the children that were unmarried moved to Sydney around 1892, perhaps due to tough economic times in the country.  On 23 July 1897, Christina gave birth to an illegitimate son, Richard, in the Home of Hope, Newtown.  It is interesting to note that two of her sisters, Florence and Catherine, also gave birth to illegitimate babies in 1897. Christina married John Graham only three weeks after Richard's birth, so presumably he was the father, (in NSW before 1902 if the parents of a child were not married, the child was registered under the mother's name and the father was not recorded) but I'm not sure why they wouldn't have married before the birth to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy.  The only reason I can come up with is that John didn't turn 21 until May 1897 and maybe his parents wouldn't give permission to marry, and then something prevented marriage in the weeks before the birth. Sadly Richard died in January 1898, and was buried under the name Graham.

Christina and John went on to have two more sons John Robert (b. 1901) and Ernest Francis (b.1904).

John married Alice Dunn in 1926 in Sydney, and they had two children Ernest and Joan.  Joan married Charles Blizard in 1954, and Rohan Blizard, the professional golfer is her grandson.

John Graham died in 1947 in Sydney and Christina died in 1949 also in Sydney.

Kenneth Cleal

Kenneth, the second child, was born on 11th April 1868, and was probably named after Johannah's brother. Kenneth married Ella Leason Rose in February 1892 and together they had 9 children: Kenneth Franklin ( Tib. b. 1892), Ernest Clive (b. 1894), Archibald Emanuel (b.1896), Gwydir Roy (b.1898), Joshua Winton (b. 1900), Ivy Olive (b. 1903), Hubert Stanley (b.1906), Eric Harvey (b. 1909) Ronald Geoffrey (b. 1911).  As Kenneth had so many sons, and his sons had sons, Kenneth has many descendants!  In fact Kenneth and Ella had 53 grandchildren (the oldest grandchild still alive is Len Cleal, 91, of Goondawindi).

All of the children were born in the Warialda area, as Kenneth stayed there when the rest of the family moved to Sydney, and even one most Cleals in northern NSW and southern Queensland are descendants of Kenneth and Ella.

These photos of Kenneth and Ella were taken in the 1930s.  Kenneth died in Warialda in 1935 and Ella died in 1955 in Sydney.

 

Emily Ellen Cleal

Emily Ellen was the first child of Emanuel and Johannah, she was born on 1 November 1866 at Inverell. Emily's birth was registered under the name CLEER, the mistake probably due to the fact that Emanuel (the informant) was illiterate and his accent may have mislead the clerk that was writing down the details.

On 19 July 1887 Emily married Robert McKay in the Presbyterian Church, Glen Innes, NSW, and their first child Ann Jane (usually known as Annie Isabell) was born on 1 Jan 1888. Emily and Robert had nine more children: Donald (b.1889), Kenneth (b. 1891), Francis (b. 1892), Emily (b.1894), Flora (b.1897), Robert (b.1898 - not registered), Jane (b.1900 - not registered), Kathleen (b.1904), Ivy (b. 1908).

All of the children survived to adulthood, but sadly Francis was killed at Fromelles in 1916.

The first two children were born in Glen Innes, then Emily and Robert moved to Ariah Park (near Temora)where Robert purchased Crown land with his father. (Robert was born in 1858 at Lancefield, Victoria.) The family spent many happy years on their property, named "Oakwood" and eight children were born here.

In 1926, due to Emily's failing health, the family moved to Sydney and settled in the new garden suburb of Haberfield. Emily passed away from a heart attack in December 1927 at Lewisham Private Hospital.

Johannah McIvor

Emanuel Cleal married Johanna McIvor in Inverell, NSW, Australia on 12 February 1866 at the Presbyterian Church. Johannah McIvor (or McIver), aged 12, arrived in Moreton Bay (Brisbane)on the "Sabrina" in 1855 with her parents Angus and Christiana McIvor (nee McLeod) and her siblings Kenneth (8) and Isabella (5). Another Kenneth and a Donald McIvor also travelled to Australia on this ship, and so were probably related to Johannah in some way. Angus and Christiana were married in 1840 in Lochbroom (near Ullapool), Ross and Cromarty, Scotland. I haven't been able to find a birth certificate for either Angus or Christiana in the Scottish records, or indeed a birth certificate for Johannah, but she must have been born about 1844. Once in Australia, it seems that Angus worked as a shepherd and farm labourer around the north western part of NSW and southern Qld, but I have been unable to discover much about him. I can't find death certificates for Angus and Christiana in NSW or Qld either, so they may have moved to another state or returned to Scotland.

Emanuel Cleal

The first of our Cleal ancestors to arrive in Australia was Emanuel. He sailed from Plymouth and arrived in Queensland in 1862 on the immigrant ship "Utopia". This ship was the first ship to sail directly from England to Queensland without stopping in any of the other Australian colonies. According to newspapers of the time, the immigrants on this ship were handpicked to work on properties in the Rockhampton area, and apparently there was great excitement in the town when the ship arrived. The "Utopia" arrived in Keppel Bay (Yeppoon) on 6 November 1862. The ship sailed from Plymoouth, travelled down the western coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean and then up the Australian coast to Queensland. The Fitzroy River, on which Rockhampton is situated, was too shallow for the "Utopia" to navigate, so passengers were transferred to another boat, the "Boomerang" to travel up the river. According to a story related by immigrants at a reunion in 1912, three of the passengers decided not to stay in Rockhampton, but travelled back to the "Utopia" and continued onto Brisbane. Was Emanuel one of these immigrants that continued onto Brisbane? We don't know, but it is possible, as the next time Emanuel's name is recorded in official documents is his marriage to Johannah McIvor in Inverell NSW in 1866.

Connecting Cleals

This blog has been created to connect the descendants of Emanuel Cleal and Johannah McIvor, who married in Inverell, NSW, Australia and had 11 children.  The children were: Emily, Kenneth, Christina, Flora (or Florence), Francis, Catherine, Emanuel, Frederick, Donald (and unamed twin), and Johannah.

Johannah (the mother) died in 1885, the day after she gave birth to the baby Johannah.  Emanuel died in Sydney in 1924.

Follow this blog to learn more about the ups and downs of this large and interesting family, and to connect with your Cleal kin.