I am standing in Rodgers Street one of the two streets in Bedgerabong proper, the other being Noakes Road. If you were several thousand feet up in the sky the picture below shows what you would see. That’s right, from up there there’s not much to see, and from down here there’s not much either.
I have just travelled the five kms from Grudgery where we saw that in 1877 William and Harriet Hodges arrive with their wagonette and their twelve children including Ellen my Great Grandmother on my father’s mother’s side.
I look around and see that it is 1899 some 20 years after my visit to Grudgery. The Barbe family are still in the area and the children of Edward Francois Barbe and Mary Jane Peacock are having children of their own. Some of those children are marrying into the Hodges and related families of the same generation.
The Hodges children also are making lives of their own in the area and in fact Ellen has met William Simon Fraser and married him in 1888. They now have four children William 1890, Isabel 1892, James Roy 1894 and Colin 1895.
Other families now associated with the Hodges include, Ablett, Field, Pasley, McColm, Simmonds, Constable, Young, Burgess, Beddie, Grant, Fraser and Piercy. The interesting thing is that the Field family who we traced from Sydney in 1792 , Elizabeth Field (Mitchell) being my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandmother on my father’s fathers side have become related to relatives on my father’s mother’s side.
So my chances of existence are looking up. With all these ancestors getting together I’m bound to be born, but I do have another fifty years of waiting.
Talk about counting your chickens before they hatch: the man I expected to be my Great Grand father William Simon Fraser dies.
Apparently on the 5th August 1897 he has an accident, falling off his horse, he injures his skull and dies aged 46. That could be the end for me, however as fate would have it Ellen, my Great Grandmother is pregnant and on the 21 December 1897 Lexie Fraser is born and she is to be my Grandmother.
I find the graves of William Simon Fraser and Helen Fraser in the Bedgerabong Cemetery and realise just how lucky I am to be here. William Hodges has passed away in 1894 and Harriet Hodges in 1899. I take the time to reflect on conversations I had with Agnes Piercy who helped me when I started out on this journey a few years back.
Agnes was the daughter of Orton Field and Jessie Peasley, her line goes back through Josiah Field and Sarah Morris, Edward Field Jnr. Esther Lees, Edward Field and Elizabeth Mitchell. The mother of Edward James Piercy, Agnes’s husband, was Emma Mildred Sabina Hodges, my Great Grandmothers sister. Sadly Agnes passed away in May 2005.
Agnes Piercy in carriage outside Lexie Fraser’s home.
SEAN B FRASER the Dolls Point Blogger. 
That must be something to learn about your roots Sean. The sad story about William Fraser’s early death and how it nearly impacted your existence is quite a gem of a tale.
Hi Slamdunk, …..yes I hope I make it.
Hi, again. Drifted back to your blog while having lunch at my desk. Went back to Bedgerebong in the early 80’s and took photos for my dad (Gordon Fraser). Went back again a few years ago and climbed over fences and took more photos. Have now started rifling through my box of stuff from back then . William Simon Fraser died from ” the effects of injuries accidentally received through falling from a buggy he was driving” (AO NSW ref: Reel 2225) My dad told me he was coming home from the Forbes races. I am still haunted at times by how it would have impacted on Helen and her young family. He was a native of Inverness, parents were Alexander and Isabel. Can you hear the bagpipes calling??
Hi Paula, thanks for visiting …I’ll contact you via e-mail in the next day or so
Hi Sean. Noticed a little mistake in placing Edward James Piercy as Agnus’ husband. He actually met and married Emma Mildred Sabina Hodges at Forbes after the family’s arrival from Watttle Flat. They went on to work in the condobolin area until her untimely death after the birth of their fourth son. Edward and the children returned to Bedgerabong where the sons remained farming. Edward left the area several years later to pursue work in the Nowra area, where he late remarried. Emma is buried near family at Grudgerie. Her children Isabell went to Melbourne, Malcolm who married Agnus ,Ralph and Charlie remained near Bedgerabong, while Ron went to Condobolin. Hope this sheds a bit more light, although we are still searching for any photos taken of Emma Hodges and affirmation as to who brought the five children up after their mother’s death.
Dear Annette, I’m so sorry I made that mistake I’ll get on to it in the next day or so and fix it. And thanks so much for the extra information about the family I really appreciate it. It has been some time since I was last at Bedgerabong but I found it very rewarding to trace the family back through the years.
Regards
sean
Hi Sean,
I found your post most interesting. I am currently researching the Hodges family. My great grandfather Thomas Henry was Helen (Ellen)’s brother. I am interested to talk more with you about William and Harriet’s home at Grudgery.