The Grace Family are numerous in our local cemeteries according to the Australian Cemetery Index. There are 32 interments at Bowraville, 9 at Nambucca and 2 at Macksville.
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A word of caution though, the index only records graves where a headstone or marker is in place. So there is always a chance that there are more interments with now unmarked graves.
The main resource for this article is a wonderful 190 page publication by Nancy MacKay Edge called The Grace Family Early Years, printed about 1990. The book has been compiled with care and the information bears enough evidence to be relied upon.
The Grace family story starts with James Bannister Grace and his wife Ann, nee Alexander, who were married in the parish of Boscombe, Wiltshire, England in 1840. He was 28 and she was 17. They were married in April and their first child Walter was born 7 months later. They had four more children before deciding to immigrate to Australia in 1854.
They arrived on the ship "Bengal" in 1855. The family's first stop was the Hunter Valley. Nancy Edge assumes he was hired as a farm worker directly from the ship. Sometime between 1861 and 1864 they made the move north to the Macleay River.
The family of, by now, seven children endured weeks of weary travelling over rough tracks. It seems likely that James selected land at Kallatina in the Macleay Valley and later resided in Belgrave Street in Kempsey until his death in 1913. Ann predeceased him in 1906.
James carried on a very successful business as seedsman and fruiterer for many years. Even in 1913, the year of his death at the age of 101, he is listed in Kempsey electoral records as a seedsman.
In 1864 the biggest flood for many years hit the Macleay. The Grace family had all their buildings and possessions swept away in the flood waters, however, unlike others, they suffered no loss of life.
In 1868 James took up owning a hotel, the Rose Inn at East Kempsey but soon left this to build his residence and shop on Belgrave Street. One by one, five of their children settled on the Nambucca.
Their eldest son, Walter married Catherine Simon in 1868. Walter was 14 when his family immigrated and his occupation was listed as a shepherd.
It was noted that he could read and he no doubt worked with his father on the farm at Kallatina and likely helped out in the shop in Kempsey. In the 1891 census Walter and his family were living at Bowra at North Arm.
Walter and his wife had eleven children. Walter died in 1898 at the age of 57. Catherine survived him by 35 years dying at the age of 86. They are both buried at the Bowraville cemetery.
Another of James and Ann Grace's children to settle on the Nambucca was the third child Frank. He married Rebecca Argent at Kempsey in 1872.
Frank was a farmer and they had seven children. Rebecca pre-deceased James, dying in 1914. Frank survived her by 21 years and they are buried at Bowraville Cemetery.
In Frank's obituary he is hailed as a grand pioneer of Bowraville. His occupations included butcher, farmer, bullock driver and drogher man.
Frank visited Nambucca in 1866 and put in for a selection at Graces Road with his brother Walter. A year later he accompanied the Argent family to Nambucca by driving their bullocks. He took up another selection adjoining the first in 1870.
It is said that Frank sent the biggest cedar log ever grown on the river to Sydney. It produced 60,000 feet and one log cut specially from it measured as a cube 6 feet each way. This was sent to London and was exhibited in the London Exhibition.
Frank held several civic offices. During the Switching on Celebrations of the Nymoida Electric light at Bowraville, Frank was given the honour of performing the ceremony. Frank's funeral in 1935 was one of the biggest ever seen in the district.
Mary Jane Grace, sister to Walter and Frank, married cedar cutter Robert Mackay. He worked in the bush, cedar cutting for weeks at a time. Mary Jane's letters to her family tell of these lonely times, her wishes for them to visit, domestic tasks like cooking and sewing and the antics of her six children. They lived at Missabotti. Mary died in childbirth at the age of 31 and is buried at Kempsey.
I will leave the Grace's story here but there is a lot more to tell thanks to the book by Nancy Mackay Edge. This article also used the records of the Nambucca Headland Museum.
