Lavinia Jane Laws
Robert Laws > Charles Laws > Lavinia Laws
Lavinia Jane Bennett (Lillie) Laws was my great-grandmother. She died in 1967 when I was four years old so I only have vague memories of her.
Early Life
Lillie was the second child of Charles Vincent Laws and his wife, Mary Ann, nee McGarry. She was born on 8 June 1874 at home in Curtis Road, Balmain. Charles was a baker at the time and the family seems to have been comfortably off as Mary Ann employed what was then called a "monthly nurse" when Lillie was born.
Marriage and Life in Sydney
On 18 March 1905, Lillie married Charles Michael Merrin, a travelling salesman who had been born and raised in Gulgong and Mudgee. Charlie had moved with his family to Sydney early in 1900 where he continued to work as a travelling salesman.
By this time Lillie's father was a publican, running a series of hotels in the Liverpool area in Sydney. We know from family stories that Lillie used to work behind the bar in the hotel which was unusual for a young lady in those days and it's likely the couple met when Charlie stayed at the hotel where her father was the licensee.
Charlie and Lillie were married at St Mary's Cathedral and lived for a while at 11 Moorgate Street, Chippendale, perhaps with the rest of Lillie's family (the building is no longer there).
On 23 August 1906, 17 months after their wedding, Lillie gave birth to the couple's only child, a daughter they named Noreen.
Lillie, Charlie and Noreen seem to have been a happy, loving family and to have enjoyed a comfortable life together. Photos taken when Noreen was a baby show a well-dressed family and Charlie was an adoring father who wrote affectionate postcards to his daughter when he was away from home on business.
By 1909 Lillie and her family were living at 18 Duxford Street, Paddington, probably with Charlie's brother, John George Merrin, and his family. The house is one of a series of two-storey terrace houses built in the 1890s and is still standing today.
By this time Lillie's father was a publican, running a series of hotels in the Liverpool area in Sydney. We know from family stories that Lillie used to work behind the bar in the hotel which was unusual for a young lady in those days and it's likely the couple met when Charlie stayed at the hotel where her father was the licensee.
Charlie and Lillie were married at St Mary's Cathedral and lived for a while at 11 Moorgate Street, Chippendale, perhaps with the rest of Lillie's family (the building is no longer there).
On 23 August 1906, 17 months after their wedding, Lillie gave birth to the couple's only child, a daughter they named Noreen.
Lillie, Charlie and Noreen seem to have been a happy, loving family and to have enjoyed a comfortable life together. Photos taken when Noreen was a baby show a well-dressed family and Charlie was an adoring father who wrote affectionate postcards to his daughter when he was away from home on business.
By 1909 Lillie and her family were living at 18 Duxford Street, Paddington, probably with Charlie's brother, John George Merrin, and his family. The house is one of a series of two-storey terrace houses built in the 1890s and is still standing today.
Charlie and Lillie seem to have been very much in love and doing quite well for themselves but, sadly, their happiness was shattered on 27 April 1909 when Charlie died suddenly at home of acute pneumonia at the age of only 28. He was buried at Rookwood Cemetery in the same grave as his sister, Lena Roberts, who had died in 1899.
After the sudden death of her husband, Lillie may have moved back to live with her own family, however, I think it's likely that she and Noreen continued to live with members of her husband's family in the house at 18 Duxford Street in Paddington.
But, while both the Laws and Merrin families were large and close, neither family was wealthy and they would not have been in a position to support Lillie and her daughter indefinitely.
So Lillie needed a job and somewhere to live.
After the sudden death of her husband, Lillie may have moved back to live with her own family, however, I think it's likely that she and Noreen continued to live with members of her husband's family in the house at 18 Duxford Street in Paddington.
But, while both the Laws and Merrin families were large and close, neither family was wealthy and they would not have been in a position to support Lillie and her daughter indefinitely.
So Lillie needed a job and somewhere to live.
On 16 July 1910, the NSW Government Gazette published a call for offers from people "willing to conduct a Semi-official Post and Telephone Office at Nelson's Bay" and Lillie was the successful applicant.
I have located a thesis (submitted in 2009) which focuses on the experiences of postmistresses and other female employees of the postal service in New South Wales between 1838 and 1938 [1]. There seems to have been a well-established system of providing patronage for middle-class women of good character in financial distress and Lillie benefitted from this system when her husband died. Lillie may also have benefitted from the help of one of her brothers-in-law, Arthur Merrin, who was a well-known and well-regarded salesman in the Newcastle area.
Lillie and Noreen probably moved to Nelson's Bay (now Nelson Bay) in late 1910 and lived for some years in the residence behind the post office. We know that they were still in Nelson's Bay in 1917 because I have a 1917 postcard Lillie received from one of her sisters which shows a photo of their brother, Leo, in uniform.
I have located a thesis (submitted in 2009) which focuses on the experiences of postmistresses and other female employees of the postal service in New South Wales between 1838 and 1938 [1]. There seems to have been a well-established system of providing patronage for middle-class women of good character in financial distress and Lillie benefitted from this system when her husband died. Lillie may also have benefitted from the help of one of her brothers-in-law, Arthur Merrin, who was a well-known and well-regarded salesman in the Newcastle area.
Lillie and Noreen probably moved to Nelson's Bay (now Nelson Bay) in late 1910 and lived for some years in the residence behind the post office. We know that they were still in Nelson's Bay in 1917 because I have a 1917 postcard Lillie received from one of her sisters which shows a photo of their brother, Leo, in uniform.
Death
Lillie died on 29 September 1967 at the age of 93. Her funeral was conducted at St Columba's Catholic Church in Leichhardt. She is buried at Macquarie Park Cemetery in Grave No.58, Section FF3 and is interred in the same grave as her daughter, Noreen Mary Bent, née Merrin.
[1] https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:9062/SOURCE02