Family of Thomas Dollin:
First Generation in Australia

-- Son of John Dollin and Mary Ann Gould.

-- Grandson of Robert Dollin and Elizabeth Long.

Married Mary Ann Amor on 21 Nov 1854 in St James Church, Taunton, Somerset, England. Mary Ann was born in Chard, Somerset, on 21 Nov 1831. Her surname was spelled 'Amore' on their marriage certificate and her father was listed as Thomas Amore, agriculturalist. At the time of her wedding her occupation was recorded as a 'glover'.

Right: The beautiful medieval St James Parish Church in Taunton where Thomas and Mary Ann Dollin were married in 1854. Photo by Nick Chipchase.

Thomas and Mary Ann Dollin came to Australia as assisted immigrants. They sailed on the ‘Herefordshire’, a ship of 1,354 tons, in 1857 with their son, Henry Isaac, aged 1, departing from the Port of London. They arrived in Australia on 27 May 1857. Fortunately they had been unable to book a berth on the ill fated ‘Dunbar’ ship that sank in Sydney in 1857 with the loss of 121 lives - there was only one survivor.

The list of assisted immigrants for the 'Herefordshire' states that Thomas was a stone mason aged 25 and Mary Ann was a house servant aged 23. Thomas' parents were listed as 'John and Mary living in Dunster' and Mary Ann's parents were 'Thomas and Caroline living at Chard'. The shipping record also notes that Thomas had a brother in the Colony at that time: Henry, at Clarence Town.

The evidence now suggests that three Dollin brothers may have come to Australia in the 1850s:
-- Henry Dollin - July 1855
-- Thomas Dollin - May 1857 and
-- William Dollin - Aug 1858

Thomas and Mary Ann Dollin settled 25km north of Raymond Terrace on rich farmland on the William River at Clarence Town, NSW. Their daughter, Caroline, was born in Clarence Town in 1858. Then they moved to St Marys, NSW, in 1859.

Thomas Dollin and his son, George Albert Dollin, were bricklayers who assisted in the building of the railway viaduct between St Marys and Werrington in 1885.

Mary Ann Dollin (nee Amor) was the local St Marys midwife. One story was that she once delivered a Barrett baby in Bridge Street, St Marys, near South Creek on a kitchen table with flood waters swirling around her legs.

Mary Ann also was the first woman to have a sewing machine in St Marys.

Thomas Dollin died in St Marys on 22 Jan 1890 aged 58. Mary Ann Dollin (nee Amor) died on 8 May 1922 aged 90. Both are buried at St Mary Magdalene Church, St Marys, NSW.

Children of Thomas Dollin and Mary Ann Amor

Henry Isaac Dollin - b 1856; d 8 Dec 1861 aged 5 years
Caroline Dollin - b 1858; d 1931
George Albert Dollin - b 1860; d 1935
Mary Ann Dollin (Polly) - b 1865; d 1922