BURIALS - ST SAVIOURS GOULBURN

 
 
As the colony expanded westward new parishes needed to be established 
to cater to the needs of the pioneer settlers and one of the earliest 
was in the Goulburn Plains - St Saviours Goulburn. The first burial 
was performed at this parish on the 14th April 1833 by the Rev.John Vincent 
then there were no more burials until 1836 when another three were performed 
and two more in 1837. However in the period 1838, 1839 and 1840, 71 burials 
were performed, 24 per month. 
 
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.
 
The burials are listed in chronological order.
 
The Rev.John Vincent seems to have had management of the parish in the 
early years but it is most likely he was only visiting occasionally from 
his other pastoral duties at Sutton Forest. It was only in 1838 that the 
Rev.William Sowesby was installed a permanent resident chaplain.
 
At the time of commencement of St Saviours 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 or 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.
 
Apparently in the 1840 the parish must have run out of the new forms 
and resorted to using the pre 1839 forms and as a result there are no 
dates of death for the year 1840.
 
The ages at death ranged from three days for James Mason to 79 years for 
Richard Newham. The number of infants who did not live past their fifth 
birthday was 14 or 19% of all burials although the ages of two infants 
was not recorded. 
 
Despite extensive research the identity of the deceased at St Saviours 
has only been discovered in 52 (or 68% of) cases during this decade.
 
David Goulding is recorded as dying in hospital in 1840, the first 
to be so in this parish, but it is not stated for certain that the hospital 
was in Goulburn.
 
The entries for Capt.John Alexander Edward and Mary Jamieson are duplicated 
from All Saints Sutton Forest but as Rev.Vincent had management of both 
parishes at the time he may have confused where he performed the burials.
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry 
in the original source document. 
 
The reference numbers for St Saviours for the first six burials ran from 
0001 to 0006. Thereafter the numbers were re-initialized in 1838 (A001 
to A0029) and 1839 (B001 to B026). There were no reference numbers recorded 
on the register in 1840 so they have been supplied for this work (C001 
to C016).
 
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the 
name would be made on List 5 using code "SSG" 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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