Oakman ^of Ireland

James Robert Oakman was born on 22 October 1842 in Harrington Street, Sydney (in the area known as "The Rocks"). He was baptised by Father P A Hogan on 30 October 1842 at St Mary's Church in Sydney. His godparents were Bernard McAnnenny and James Hyte.

On 31 January 1860 we find James arriving back in Sydney aboard the ship "Staghound". James had been working as a "cabin boy" for Mrs Batement while she was travelling around the South Sea Islands.

James Robert appears to have moved to Ballarat after his father's death as his marriage certificate states he was a "Miner" living in Ballarat. He married Alice Grant at St Ignatious Church in Richmond, Melbourne in 1867.

Alice was the daughter of publican John Grant and Ellen Tierney who had emigrated to Melbourne in the early 1850s. She had been born in Tipperary, Ireland.

After their wedding James and his bride lived at Langridge St, Collingwood (between Wellington & Rokeby Streets), close to the hotel owned by Alice's parents. They were still there in 1871 when their second child, James Thomas Oakman, was born.

By 1873 James and Alice were living in Albury, where their third child, Arthur Joseph, was born. They appear to have returned to Melbourne about 1877 where they are known to have been living in Park Street, Collingwood until about 1880. They then moved to 19 Charles St, Collingwood, where they remained for about 10 years.

In July of 1889 Alice's father, John Grant, became ill. The following year, on 25 March 1891, John Grant purchased a house at 35 Nicholson Street, Abbotsford for the sum of £640 and transferred ownership to his daughter Alice (being for "love and devotion and instead of the legacy" to Alice mentioned in the Will of John Grant). Alice and James then cared for Alice's father in their home until his death in August of that year. 35 Nicholson Street (Crown Portion 57 in the Parish of Jika Jika, County of Bourke) was a "7 roomed brick and stone house with usual outhouses" with the land having a 33 feet frontage to Nicholson Street and a depth of 165 feet.

By the time James died on 18 Feb 1896, at the age of 53, he and Alice were still living at 35 Nicholson Street, Abbotsford. Post Office Directories at the time list Alice as still living there in 1900, but by 1905 Alice is listed as living at 46 Charles Street, Abbotsford, and later at Surrey Hills, where she had moved to live with her daughter Margaret. She died there on 6 April 1937 when she was 93 years of age. Alice and James are buried together at Booroondara in Kew (site RC 'A' 1210). Buried with them is their son John who died in 1910.

Death notices which appeared in "The Sun" newspaper following Alice's death listed the following names: Grandma of Mrs Lalla Woodhouse, Jim, Rita, Nellie Dowling, Nancy, Jack, Arthur, Bernie, Phil; mother of Arthur and mother-in-law of Mary, grandma of James, Len, Sheila and Joan; Great-Nan of Des, Phil and Jim; Grandma of Jim and Bessie Howes and greatgran of Buba and Peggy; mother of John (dec), Ellen Nixon (dec), James, Arthur, Maggie (Howes, Michael (dec), Charles, William (dec), Thomas and Leo.

In 1981, I photographed the headstone of James and Alice's grave (see below). At the time the headstone was missing some of it's lettering but was still easy to identify and read. In 2005, I returned to Booroondara Cemetery and to photograph the grave again. Sadly the headstone has decayed even further. All the lettering has now gone, leaving only a slight imprint of the wording.

Sources:

• NSW Baptism Certificate, V18422532 133/1842
• Vic Marriage Certificate, 1753/1867
• Vic Death Certificate, 1842/1896