Annie Williams Mills

Precolumb - Uley School 1871

Uley School teacher 1876 - 1877

Annie Williamson Graham was born early 1828 to George and Elizabeth.  She was christened on the 7th of April 1828 at St Peter’s Church, Liverpool, Lancashire, England. The 1841 census of England shows Annie, her mother and sister, Jane still living in Lancashire, but by 1853 Annie had migrated to South Australia.

On the 29th of September 1853, at Trinity Church, Adelaide, she married John McFarlane.

It is believed that John came to Australia on the ship India. The ship departed Greenoch and the Clyde (Scotland) with Captain Hugh Campbell and at least 94 passengers bound for Adelaide,

Port Phillip and Sydney.  The India arrived at Port Adelaide on February 23, 1840, James was one of thirteen passengers in steerage.

Annie gave birth to her first child, Duncan on the 20th of July 1854 in Adelaide. The McFarlane family were residing at North Adelaide at this time. 

Four years later in 1858 Annie was living in the Tea Tree Gully area and had commenced teaching at Steventon school (Tea Tree Gully) where she remained until 1869, returning in 1874.

In 1855 a group of residents of Steventon approached the District Council to erect a schoolroom.  The Council did not feel able to appropriate funds for this purpose at the time, but supported a school conducted by Miss Elizabeth Carter in the Wesleyan Chapel which was built that year. 

In 1869 the residents of Steventon decided to build a school house on a piece of land donated in 1854 by William Haines Snr as a site for an institute and library.  The school was built on the foundations of the unfinished institute which had been laid in 1855.  The building was completed in April 1870.

An inspection of  the Steventon school took place in December 1859  and December 1861 with pleasing results, as the inspector’s comments show……“A very orderly and well conducted school, consisting chiefly of girls. The older boys of the neighbourhood attend the school at Houghton.

In 1859, the Steventon school consisted of 15 boys, 21 girls, a total of 36 pupils.  Because of the schools small size the number of subjects taught was also quite small, the three R’s (Reading Writing and Arithmetic) grammar and geography.

The Tea Tree Gully Assessment books show that Annie occupied a quarter of an acre of land, consisting of a cottage on section 5629.  This section was just below the township of Tea Tree Gully.

Annie’s second marriage

John McFarlane had presumably died by 1865 (although no record of his death has been found).  Annie, aged 37 married the widowed John Everall, aged 38, a cordwainer of Tea Tree Gully on the 2nd of July 1865 at the residence of Mr. John Opie, Blacksmith of Steventon.  A cordwainer is someone who made shoes, as opposed to a cobbler who repaired shoes.

Annie and John had three children. 

Charles McLelland                  b. 26th June 1867 at Tea Tree Gully

Luna                                            b. 13th July 1869 at Tea Tree Gully

Jane Irven                                  b. 3rd August 1870 at One Tree Hill

Annie returned to teaching at Precolumb - Uley School  in 1871 when her youngest child was only one.  In 1876 she became the Head Teacher, remaining there until 1878.

The Precolumb school near One Tree Hill, was erected in 1863 as both church and chapel.  The school was mainly attended by children from One Tree Hill, but also children north of Snake Gully.

David Mills

Inspection reports of that time show that there was considerable improvement in the school under Annie’s teaching, both in regard to attendance and general work.  It was noted that some of the older students are quite deficient in the basic elements of reading and that she would have her work cut out for her.

Annie’s third marriage

On the 9th of January 1890 Annie married for the third time, to widow, David Mills, aged 66 years. Again, no record has been found of the death of her second husband John Everall. 

David and Annie were married at the Baptist Church in North Adelaide, Annie was by then aged 61. David was born at Dilton Marsh, near Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, England on the 25th of June 1823.

David’s first wife Emma, were married by 1843 in Westbury, Wiltshire. David, Emma and their son George emigrated to South Australia with David’s brother Ebenezer and his wife Ann (nee Humphries) on the ship Sibella. They boarded the barque at Plymouth and sailed on the 6th of April 1848 arriving Port Adelaide on the 16th of July.

The Mills family settled in Jerningham Street, North Adelaide in 1848 and by 1851 moved to Tea Tree Gully, where in 1852 he purchased from John Hector, a real estate investor 80 acres of land for  the sum of £160 - now $320, being section 5487. This is now the suburb of Ridgehaven. David Mills farmed the land and raised his family in Tea Tree Gully until 1874 when he sold out and took up larger holdings at Crystal Brook.  Emma was 62 years old when she died in September 1887 at Crystal Brook.

Rowland Mills, son of David and Emma Mills married Luna daughter of Annie and John, on the 4th July 1895 at Norwood, South Australia.  It is probable that through their marriage Annie made acquaintance with David her third husband.

Annie’s death

Annie passed away at the age of 69 years at Crystal Brook, and her husband David, within five months of her on the 15th of April 1898, aged 75 years. David and Annie are buried at the Crystal Brook Cemetery.  Annie in grave 715B Row 3 with headstone. David, in grave 710B Row 3 also with headstone.