A_little_about

Dale Herron, my father-in-law was a very special person. He fought many battles throughout his life, he told the best stories to our children, he grew beautiful flowers, loved to fish, often wrote great poems and was married for more than 50 years. But dementia was one battle that he could not win. Throughout his life he had recorded details of what he knew of his family history.

But for him those people were just names written on a piece of paper. Researching anything more about his parents proved impossible for him, in the days before the internet. So those little bits of paper sat in a box, glanced at on the odd occasion when time permitted.

Life became rather busy for us, raising our children and building our own businesses. For me, it was real estate, for my husband John it was in the computer industry. Our children married, and we became grandparents ourselves.

Then in a second my life changed forever. I left work in an ambulance, never to return. I suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm.

After 20 years in the real estate industry, suddenly I had to relearn every simple thing again. Never to work in that role again.

On John's retirement, we relocated to Hervey Bay, in Queensland and created a new life, almost free of stress.

A few years later, and after extensive rehabilitation, I decided to try to find Dale's father, and my own. Aneurysms can be familial, and I wanted to learn more about my own father, someone whom I last saw around 1952.

That exercise took me on an extensive journey, and in 2009 I succeeded in finding Dale's father.
Well, I found a person called Claude Annesley! Along the way, I found so many interesting stories.

Then we decided to visit Tasmania, just to have a look at where his grandparents had lived. The result is this website.

We hope that you enjoy reading the Jillett Family History.

There was one thing that Dale always wanted to learn, throughout his life, where was his father? Claude turned his back on his British Peerage and made a life in Outback Queensland. Well Dale, I finally found where he was, and so this journey of discovery is dedicated to you. I know you would be so happy to know of all the members of your extended family that have been located, and for their willingness to be part of this narrative. But your father? I am very glad you did not have to learn the truth about this very interesting man!

We do hope that you enjoy your family heritage.

There are so many people who have helped with the extensive research and the stories included. Most of them we haven't even met.

Special thanks to Sue Collins from WA for working relentlessly with me especially with the research into the early whaling, and our gruesome discovery. Experienced researchers and authors had failed to uncover these facts. Sue is not even a member of our family.
Then there were all the people whom I have met online, who have shared their research.
Thanks to Neil Jillett for his kind words, and encouragement. To all our newly found cousins, throughout Australia, once again THANK YOU.

While creating this update and I have read so many names of current and past descendents. Of particular sadness was the death of 7 children all within 6 weeks of each other in February 1859, from scarlet fever, or ulcerated throat, which is what scarlet fever is.    As a mother, and a grandmother, these deaths leave me saddened, I cannot begin to imagine just how Thomas and Mary Ann, and John and Phoebe must have felt. As someone who has experienced scarlet fever, I remember just how sick I was at 5 years of age.

I hope also that if you are a descendent of one of the Jillett children, that you will travel to the beautiful town of Oatlands, 1 hour north of Hobart, and take some time to stroll in the streets lined with the houses exactly as they were 150 years ago. Visit the tourist office, in Thomas's Mill House, or the stables and restaurant, which also belonged to him. The Mill will be crushing wheat, and a visit to the baker will re-acquaint you with the fantastic smells of freshly baked bread.

If you wander into the St Peter's Anglican Cemetery, you will come across the memorials which have been built to honour the 7 children. Unfortunately 150 years of wear has caused Thomas' memorial crpyt to decay, and it is in desperate need of restoration. In fact the cemetery is full of graves bearing the names of Jillett, Bradshaw, and other families, that you will come across in this website.

As members of the family have the responsibility for its repair, assistance is being sought for part of the cost, in the form of a grant.   Most of the descendents of Thomas Jillett live on Mainland Australia, and the family will not benefit at all from the restoration. As the site is listed by Heritage Tasmania, all work has to be done within their guidelines making the restoration an expensive project.

The restored monument will honour not only the Jillett children, but all those many hundreds of children who never had a chance to live their life in the country that their parents pioneered.

Special thanks to all the people in Oatlands, who have been so supportive in my attempts to gain both recognition of the gravesite, and to secure funding.                                                                                  Kris Herron     August 2010

Update January 2014 Researching family history has a bad habit of becoming a passion, and mine certainly has. I had always hit some very big brickwalls in regard to Claude Annesley. I could never find a birth record for him. Then in January 2013, whilst the weather raged outside, I decided to take a different approach with this research. I invested in the British exonomy, and broadend my search. I entered his mother's name, Eileen Jennings, and there she popped up. Married, just like Claude had said, in China, only she didn't marry anyone of the name of Annesley! Claude's remarkable story is listed in this website.