If the information given on John Everard's death certificate was correct, then he had arrived in Victoria two or three years before Jane Sanders had arrived on the Osprey in 1849. John was a carpenter and Melbourne was a burgeoning city, so his services would have been in demand.

We know that Jane's and John's first child, Elizabeth Everard, was born some time during 1850, so Jane must have met John relatively soon after her arrival in Victoria. She assumedly took a posting in Melbourne - her shipping record had stated that "house maid" was her calling- until some time before the birth of her daughter.

There is no sign of a baptismal record for Elizabeth Everard or Sanders, but all certificates pertaining to Elizabeth or her children state that she was born in Melbourne in c. 1850.
By the time his first son arrived in c. 1852, however, John Everard and his family had moved to Warrnambool. The new child, John David Everard, was not baptised either, but we know he was born in Warrnambool because he was very fond as an adult of telling the story of how he was the first white child born at Warrnambool.

The first census for the settlement of Warrnambool was taken in mid-1850, but John Everard's name did not appear on it. Another was taken five months after the first, on December 11, 1850, and this time there was an entry for " J. Everard, 5 occupants in house". The total population was 342, and the little town comprised of 68 houses.

Just who the four occupants living with John Everard in his home is anyone's guess. I had assumed that it would be John, Jane Sanders his partner and their baby, Eliza. However, it being my theory that John Everard was married to another woman when he met up with Jane in c. 1849, the other occupants in the house may very well have included an 'official' wife...hhhmmmmm...this is a scenario that I have not previously envisioned! Perhaps John Everard had emigrated to Australia with a wife, who left him when he met and impregnated a newly-arrived English girl! That would have certainly prevented him from legally marrying Jane, and if there was no divorce, John would have had to wait until his first wife died. This would certainly explain the marriage in his eighties...he was playing a waiting game with an estranged wife, hoping she would die first so he could make an 'honest woman' of Jane Sanders.
Well, that sounds like a perfectly good explanation, but how to prove it???

I guess that looking for a female Everard who died in the five or so years prior to John marrying Jane in 1892 would be a good start. There is only one contender in Australian records on Ancestry.com.au....Martha Everard died January 10, 1892, in Queensland, the daughter of Joseph Hynes and Louisa Pryke. No age given, but good that she had married a man named Everard to acquire the name. Bugger...a bit of investigation has revealed that this Martha (also known as Martha Kezia or just Kezia) married Martin Everard in England and had a family of children with him in their native Suffolk and Rotherhithe, Surrey before emigrating to Queeensland on the ship 'Corlic' in 1875. Oh well...at least I now know the origins of the Everards that I continually came across in Queensland!


It was around 1852 that Jane Sanders' brother Thomas decided to relocate from the Benalla district where he had lived for several years. The siblings had become separated after their arrival in the Colony, and Thomas ran a series of advertisements in the Argus newspaper asking for Jane to contact him via a butcher's shop in Collingwood.


They obviously found each other, because Thomas and his small family joined the Everards in Warrnambool and both families settled and expanded their families. Thomas Sanders' wife, Sarah Emma, gave birth to a daughter named Angelina in Warrnambool in 1855, and it was noted on her birth certificate that her father was a sawyer.
Mary Ann Everard, the third child and second daughter born to John Everard and Jane Sanders, was born in Warrnambool in c. 1854. Like her older siblings, there has not been located any record of her birth or baptism.
Fortunately for we family historians, John Everard finally decided to make official the births of his final two children- Thomas in 1856 and Annie in 1864.
Thomas Everard was born in Warrnambool on February 27, 1856, and his parents were recorded as being 45 year old carpenter John Everard from Leislip, Kildare, Ireland, and 35 year old Jane Sanders from Enfield, England. John Everard had fabricated the information that he had married Jane Sanders in Melbourne in 1849. He named his other children as "Eliza 5; John 4; Mary Ann 2."

There was a long seven year gap between the births of Tom and Annie Everard, although there may have been an unrecorded birth and death of another Everard child in this period. On Annie's birth certificate for April 2, 1864, her father recorded that as well as siblings Eliza 12; John 10; Thomas 9; and Mary Ann 7, there had been a brother, Ignatius, who had died before Annie's arrival. (NOTE: John was mixed up when recording the ages of his children, and recorded Tom as being older than Mary Ann, when in fact she should have been 9 and Thomas 7).Annie's parents were stated as being 54 year old carpenter John Everard from Leislip, Kildare, and 34 year old Jane Sanders from Enfield. Again, John made up marriage details...this time 1850 in Melbourne.

From this point in time, John's and Jane's story seems to fade away from recorded history, with them appearing only as witnesses to the marriages of their children. All three of their daughters married before reaching 21 years, and so required their father's consent to be noted on their marriage certificates.
Elizabeth Everard( often known as 'Eliza')was the first of the Everard children to marry, and she did so in 1867 at the very young age of 17. She married John Mansfield, a 28 year old widower from Mount Gambier who brought with him to the marriage three little boys.They were married in the Wesleyan Parsonage at Warrnambool, and both of Elizabeth's parents witnessed the ceremony. Jane had to sign her name with a cross, as did Elizabeth.
It is surprising that Elizabeth Everard could not write, as most Victorian children in settled areas had access to schools in this period and even earlier. Her sister Mary Ann could not write her name either, but brother John and youngest sister Annie could definitely both write.

John gave his approval to his underage daughters marrying in 1867, 1871 and 1881, and signed his name as witness to Eliza's 1867 marriage and that of Mary Ann in 1871. Jane Sanders witnessed all three of her daughter's marriages, signing her name with a cross each time.

From all accounts, the Everard family lived in an area of Warrnambool known as "The Gully".At the time of John and Jane's marriage in 1894, John's usual and present place of residence was "Melbourne" whilst Jane's was still Warrnambool.John was 84 years old by this time, and passed away in a Melbourne Hospital the following year...perhaps he was living in some sort of institution due to ill health at the time of his marriage?

John Everard died in hospital in Melbourne on July 16, 1895, but it was noted on his death certificate that his usual residence was Warrnambool.The cause of death of the 85 year old was 'senility and asthemia', and his parents were stated as being "not known". John was buried the following day in the "New Melbourne Cemetery".
His birth place was recorded as Sligo, Ireland, and he had spent 48 years in Victoria.His marriage to Jane Sanders in Melbourne was noted, but his age at the time of the marriage was 'unknown'. John's children were listed as Eliza 43; John 41; Mary 38; Thomas dead and Annie 30.

Jane Sanders Everard lived for another 13 years after the death of her husband.She ended her years at the home of her eldest daughter, Eliza Everard Mansfield Gilmartin Newby, in a small settlement called Kanyapella near Echuca. Jane had survived one of her three daughters, with Annie having passed away on July 30, 1895(just 2 weeks after her father John Everard). Daughter Mary Ann Baker died in Warrnambool in 1910.Her son John was also still alive and raising a large family in Warrnambool with his English wife Sarah Mary Joyce, and it is not known whether her son Thomas was dead or alive!
Strangely, Jane Everard was recorded as 'Elizabeth Jane Everard' on her death certificate, the first time that I had ever seen the name 'Elizabeth' associated with her.Her father was noted as being "___ Saunders, shoemaker" and her mother "Elizabeth Jane Saunders formerly Draper". Her mother was actually Jane Draper (no 'Elizabeth' there, either!) and her father was shoemaker Edward Sanders.
The informant on Jane Everard's death certificate was Thomas Gardiner, "friend", who had married Jane's granddaughter, Elizabeth Gilmartin, in 1902. According to Thomas, Jane had married John Everard in Melbourne when she was 23 years old, and their children were Elizabeth Jane 54; John 52; Mary Jane 50; Thomas 48 and Anna dead.
Jane Sanders Everard was buried in the Echuca Cemetery on June 3, 1908. She had made a will which left what few possessions and money she had to her daughter Elizabeth Newby.

I will post the death certificates of John Everard and Jane Sanders Everard after I complete the postings on their children.