Dadswell Family History

Generation 8
Charles Thomas Dadswell (1863-1940)

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

Ancestors of Charles Thomas Dadswell

Robert Doudeswell 1560 > Robert Doudeswell 1606 > Edward Dodswell 1659 > Alexander Dodswell 1686 > Thomas Dadswell 1732 > James Dadswell 1786 > Thomas William Dadswell 1828 > Charles Thomas Dadswell 1863

Charles Thomas's story

Charles Thomas Dadswell was born at Pleasant Creek (now Stawell) on 24 May 1863 and moved with the family to Dadswells Bridge where he would have been educated in the schoolhouse at the family hotel.

Charles was 16 when the railway was extended from Stawell to Horsham and was presumably working with his father.

His son Tom (1900-1985) believed Charles bought out cheaply his father's declining hotel business but by 1886 Charles was in Horsham carrying on a timber and ironmongery business with his father, living and working in Wilson Street. The business was subsequently sold to the Weight family, and is still conducted in that name.

After the timber business, Charles became a contractor and is mentioned in the Borough of Horsham minute books between 1891 and 1892. He became a builder, constructing many buildings including the grandstand at the Horsham showground.

In 1900, Charles married Susan Broadwood, the fifth of fifteen children of Henry and Mary Ann (Baulch) Broadwood, and who was born at Kirstall, near Koroit, Victoria, in 1865. They lived at 33 Stawell Road in a house built by Charles himself.

Susan had had two children before going to Horsham - Alice Maud, born at Macarthur in 1886 and Elsie, born at Hamilton in 1889. Members of the family believe they were brought up by Susan's mother in Hamilton.

About the time of the marriage of Charles and Susan, Charles began a career with the West Wimmera Waterworks Trust, which was subsequently taken over by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SR&WSC). He was involved in establishing the present Wimmera-Mallee farm irrigation scheme which today consists of 11 major storages and 1O,000km of distribution channels.

As a foreman and later a bailiff, he was probably responsible for supervision of contractors building the channels and later in their upkeep. He was still with the project (then controlled by the SR&WSC) when he retired.

Charles was apparently in poor health in his later years, and he died at Horsham on 17 July 1940, aged 77.

Charles and Susan had five children - Charles (1893-1917), Elena Ivy (1895-1967), Olive Myrtle (1898-1951), Thomas William (1900-1985) and a male child who died at birth in 1902.

After Charles' death, Susan moved to Golton Vale in 1944 to live with her daughter Myrtle who had married Alex Heslop.

She moved back to Horsham in December 1949 and remained at 45 Stawell Road until her death at the age of 85 the following year. Charles and Susan are buried in the same grave at Horsham Cemetery.

Key family dates

Abbreviations: b = born; d = died; marr = married.

Children -

1. Charles Dadswell b ? April 1893 - d 22 April 1917

2. Elena Ivy Dadswell b 25 Dec 1895 - [marr Walter Hartman] - d 29 Sept 1967

3. Olive Myrtle Dadswell b 9 April 1898 - [marr Alex Heslop] - d 9 March 1951

4. Thomas William Dadswell b 7 May 1900 - d 30 Dec 1985

5. Male child Dadswell born & died 1902

Photographs

Click on either picture to see a larger size photograph.

Further information

Information on Charles Dadswell (generation 9, first child of Charles and Susan Dadswell)
Information on Elena Ivy Dadswell (generation 9, second child)
Information on Olive Myrtle Dadswell (generation 9, third child)
Information on Thomas William Dadswell (generation 9, fourth child)

Information on brothers/sisters of Charles Thomas Dadswell

Information on Thomas William Dadswell (generation 7, father of Charles Thomas)