BURIALS - ST MATTHEWS WINDSOR

 
 
There were 465 burials performed at St Matthews during this decade. 
There was on average almost one burial each week. 
 
The information recorded for each burial is as follows:
 burial date
  death date (after 1838)
 Christian name
 family name
 age
 abode
 civil status at time of death
 year and ship of arrival
 quality or profession
  officiating minister
 reference number
 
Various miscellaneous remarks in the register have been recorded as 
'end-notes' at the bottom of the list. Happily for the historian 
these notes are quite extensive in many cases.
 
The burials are listed in chronological order.
 
The Rev.Joseph Docker continued his chaplaincy from the previous decade 
until he transferred to St Peters Richmond in March 1833. He was replaced 
by Rev.Henry Tarlton Styles who remained at St Matthews virtually until 
his death in 1867. However four other chaplains officiated at burials over 
the decade including: Robert Cartwright, Samuel Marsden, Matthew Devenish 
Meares & Richard Taylor as well as one burial by Rev.John Cleland 
who was a Presbyterian minister.
 
At the beginning of this decade the information to be recorded on the 
official government supplied forms for each burial was; reference number, 
date of burial, Christian name of the deceased, family name of the deceased, 
age, abode, ship of arrival, quality or profession and officiating 
minister. 
 
Regrettably in 1839 the 'Ship of Arrival' column was removed from the 
official forms altogether but it was still occasionally recorded by 
nothing like as often as previously. The year and ship of arrival have 
been heavily researched outside the parish register.
 
The 'Ship of Arrival' column was replaced by a 'Date of Death' column,
making identification much more difficult. 
 
For the colonial born their year of birth and parents names are recorded 
in the 'Ship of Arrival' column.
 
The 'Ages at Death' ranged from: Baby Nixon who was stillborn, Mary Dunstan 
lived only for two hours and Hugh Cadden for only six, to the other end 
of the scale (some of the ages are quite fanciful, people seemed to like 
exaggerating the age of the elderly) for example: Thomas Green 99 years 
when in fact he was closer to 81, Michael Griffiths 98 years (he was exactly 
82 years and 10 months because his exact date of birth is known from 
his enlistment papers into the NSW Corps) and Thomas Davis 95 years who 
was only 62.
 
Infant mortality during this decade was much less than in the Sydney 
parishes with only 90 infants (19% of all deaths) not living past their 
fifth birthday. 
 
Despite extensive research the identity of the deceased at St Matthews 
has only been discovered in 323 (or 69% of) cases during this decade.
 
The Lake Macquarie Family History Group's "St Matthews Church of England, 
Windsor NSW, Parish Registers 1810 to 1856" was also most helpful in 
providing information.
 
It comes as some surprise to discover that so many people (142 or 36%) died 
in the Windsor hospital, as one might have thought that at this early stage 
of the colony's development most people would have died "at home".
 
In 1836 Windsor must have acquired a "Poor House" as deaths started 
to appear from there (22 or 5%) and from 1840 two deaths are recorded 
as occurring at the "Benevolent Asylum". Was this a new institution or 
simply another name for the Poor House?
 
The Michael Davis, reference number C863, is in all likelihood, a 
duplicate of the Michael Davis, reference number C853.
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry 
in the original source document. 
 
For some strange reason the reference numbers for St Matthews Windsor 
this decade commenced at C810 (the previous decade having ended at B202) 
and ran to C1274 at the end of the decade. 
 
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the 
name would be made on List 5 using code "SMW" from which the date of 
burial would be retrieved, secondly using the appropriate date, the 
burial would then be located on this list.

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