George Nash
(1797 - 1870)
and his wife Mary Lees
Farmers and Settlers of Castlereagh, Hartley and Inverell NSW
George Nash was
born in 1797 at Mulgrave Place [Windsor NSW] to William Nash and Maria Haynes. He
spent his youth in the Castlereagh district with his mother and
“step-father” Robert Guy, before being employed in 1815
by Sydney businessman, Henry Marr. George remained in
Marr's employ until 1823/4 when he returned to the Castlereagh
district to claim a land grant he had been promised in
1821. His 60-acre grant in the parish of Londonderry
north-east of Castlereagh was surveyed in 1826 and remained in
George’s possession until 1855.
In 1826 George
married Mary Lees (1809-1877), the daughter of John Lees and Mary Stevens. John
Lees arrived as a private in the NSW Corps on board the Ganges
in 1797 and became a prominent Wesleyan, building the first
Wesleyan chapel in NSW two decades later. Mary Stevens
arrived as a convict per Earl Cornwallis in 1801.
The Nash family
remained in the Castlereagh district until 1848, farming
George’s land along with 40 acres they had purchased from
their neighbour James Comer in 1833. After leaving
Castlereagh they settled in the nearby Windsor district for a few
years before travelling across the Blue Mountains to the village
of Hartley.
Hartley was one
of the thriving districts of NSW in the 1850’s and
1860’s. George worked there as a innkeeper, farmer and
carrier until the mid-1860’s when he and his wife headed
north to the Inverell district. They apparently settled on
land selected by their son John Nash on the McIntyre River at
Brodies Plains south-east of Inverell. George died at
Brodies Plain in 1870 and Mary in 1877. The Nash farm at
Brodies Plains passed out of the family’s hands in
1885.
This is a brief summary of the chapter relating to George Nash and his wife Mary Lees published in Nash: First Fleeters and Founding Families - A Three Generational Biographical History.
Copyright 2004 - Carol Baxter
The
family of George Nash and Mary Lees
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