Joseph and Sarah Ann Mitchell

Joseph (left) and Henry

In 1856 Joseph married Sarah Gandy. Joseph's occupation was given as grazier, Sarah's as schoolmistress.

Joseph and Sarah were to have 7 children, 5 of whom lived beyond 21.

During the 1860s, the Town Board rates of Wellington record Joseph as the owner of a shop in Ingestre Street (now the western end of Vivian Street) in the block between Willis and Cuba Streets. The occupier is listed as 'Mitchell and Gandy'. William John Gandy was Sarah's brother. Shopkeepers dressed in style or 'most expensively' Charlotte Godley noted in the 1850s.

In the Evening Post of 8 May 1865, there was an advertisement for the shop stating:

 

 

MITCHELL and GANDY have received from Melbourne: 9 Casks whiting 50 Bags flour (Adelaide), 12 Cases kerosene, 50 Half-chests tea, 18 Bags Company’s sugar, 20 Boxes mould candles, 5 Kegs American cut nails 2½ in., 12 Do treacle, each two cwts., 8 Do dried apples, each 56lbs.

Joseph died just after Christmas in 1868, at his house Willow Lodge in Willis Street, aged 41 of "congestion of the brain". His death certificate gave his occupation as butcher. He had retained his interest in the Polhill Gully land with Henry. Sarah was left with seven young children ranging from a few months to 11 years. She remained a widow until her death aged 94 in 1925.

 

Photo kindly provided by Diane Young