Dadswell Family History

Generation 8
Alfred Otto Dadswell (1860-1946)

On this page:
Ancestors of Alfred Otto Dadswell
Alfred Otto's story
Key family dates
Photographs
Further information

Ancestors of Alfred Otto Dadswell

Robert Doudeswell 1560 > Robert Doudeswell 1606 > Edward Dodswell 1659 > Alexander Dodswell 1686 > Thomas Dadswell 1732 > James Dadswell 1786 > Thomas William Dadswell 1828 > Alfred Otto Dadswell 1860

Alfred Otto's story

Alfred Otto Dadswell was the first son of Thomas Alfred and Helena Aurora (Scheer) Dadswell, and was born at Moorabool (Geelong), Victoria, on 28 February 1860.

Otto loved horses, but around the age of 14 he fell heavily while racing a horse and almost lost his life although after his eventual recovery he continued to ride.

After his schooling, he led a wandering life for many years, travelling much of Victoria and New South Wales, carrying his belongings on packhorses.

Otto eventually moved to the Mt Cole area in the central west of Victoria, and was working at Lewin's timber mill when he met Emma Lewin, born 1862, the second of eight children and first daughter of sawmill owner Francis Henry (1830-1907) and Margaret (Johnstone) Lewin (1830-1899). Otto and Emma married on 25 April 1894.

Otto had a reputation for working with steam engines, and appears to have worked at a number of the many timber mills in the district.

The couple settled at Warrak, near Mt Cole, where Otto built a family home for the couple and their two sons and daughter. By the early 1900s, he had left the milling business and had become a carpenter and builder, constructing many farm buildings around the district.

Otto and Emma lived to see their two sons both fighting in Europe during World War One, with one, Stan, badly wounded before war's end.

After the death of Emma on 12 June 1918 at the age of 56, Otto continue to live with family members at Warrak. He made many of the tools for their Warrak farm, and constructed two wind mills by fashioning the components himself.

He was active in a number of community groups up until his death at the age of 86, on 18 June 1946.

Both he and Emma are buried in the Mt Cole Cemetery.

Key family dates

Abbreviations: b = born; d = died.

Children -

1. Henry William Dadswell b 20 July 1894 - d 7 Aug 1978

2. Stanley Alfred Dadswell b 23 April 1896 - d 19 Nov 1957

3. Ethel May Dadswell b 13 Aug 1897 - [marr C. Mitting] - d 2 Feb 1943

Photographs

Click on any picture to see a larger size photograph.

Another early photograph of Otto and Emma Dadswell is on this website - see:
   Dadswell/Lewin Family Photograph, 1904 or 1905.

Further information

Henry William Dadswell (generation 9, first son of Otto and Emma Dadswell)
Stanley Alfred Dadswell (generation 9, second son)
Ethel May Dadswell (generation 9, third child)

Brothers/sisters of Alfred Otto Dadswell

Thomas William Dadswell (generation 7, father of Alfred Otto)

Brothers/sisters of Emma Lewin