Pedigree

Birth, Death, Marriage

John Dunbar was born in 1817 in Scotland.1 
He married Ann Campbell, daughter of John Campbell and Catherine MacCallum, on 5 December 1852 in Glasgow, Scotland.2 
He died in 1876.3 

Family

Ann Campbell b. b 14 Apr 1833, d. 7 Aug 1889
Children
ChartsCampbell, John, descendant chart

Story

John Dunbar and Ann Campbell married in Glasgow in December 1852.2
 
Family and Move to Australia
The following year, now with a one year-old son John in tow, the trio set sail for Australia aboard the Oithona.4
 
A family of three left Scotland, but four arrived in Portland on Victoria's south-west coast on 30 January 1855.4
 
Some time in January, while still at sea, Ann gave birth to another child. On arrival, the boy was named James (registration no. 174 or 174M). While no death registration can be found, it seems this James died within 12 months of arrival in Portland.5,6
 
The Victorian Pioneer index and Victorian registry show a second James Dunbar was born in Portland in 1956 and died the following year. The Victorian registry death shows age 4, but the Pioneer index shows 4 months. While this is only a year after the birth of John and Ann's previous James, the high birth registration number (13329) and low death registration number (1647) are consistent with the late 1856 birth and early 1857 death of the four month-old James (II).7,8,9
 
Another child, Campbell, was born in Prahran, before the family moved to the Rutherglen area. Here five more children were born including twins Joseph and Mary Ellen who died as infants.10,11
 
Building Bridges
According to authors Brian Lloyd and John Kennedy, in Rutherglen: Wine Centre of North-East Victoria, The Murray River Bridge Co. began construction of the first major crossing of the Murray in November 1860 by a contact managed by John Dunbar, a carpenter from Argylshire. He then worked on railway construction in Melbourne, before moving to Rutherglen. In 1976 the company undertook major repairs and John Dunbar was contracted to renew the arches. It was his last job; he died in November 1876, after a long career in charge of major works.12,13
 
John Dunbar is buried in Carlyle cemetery, Wahgunyah. He shares a grave with Ann, two of their children, Joseph and Mary Ellen, and Ann's mother Catherine Campbell.14
Headstone of John, Ann, Joseph & Mary Ellen Dunbar and Catherine Campbell, Carlyle cemetery, Wahgunyah
Image: BillionGraves

Citations

  1. [S388] Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists 1839-1923, online, ship 'Oithona', January 1855, viewed 5 October 2014.
  2. [S161] FamilySearch, online, Scotland, Marriages, 1561-1910, John Dunbar and Ann Campbell entry, Glasgow, Lanark, 5 December 1852, viewed 20 November 2014, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XYW8-B48
  3. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, John Dunbar entry, death registration no. 13095, 1876.
  4. [S388] Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists 1839-1923, online, Oithona, 1855, Dunbar entry, viewed 5 October 2014.
  5. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, James Dunbar entry, birth registration no. 174M, 1855.
  6. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, James Dunbar entry, birth registration no. 174, 1855.
  7. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, James Dunbar entry, birth registration no. 13329, 1856.
  8. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, James Dunbar entry, death registration no. 1647, 1857.
  9. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, James Dunbar entry, birth registration no. 13329, 1856.
  10. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, Mary Ellen Dunbar entry, birth registration no. 25376, 1874.
  11. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, Joseph Dunbar entry, birth registration no. 25375, 1874.
  12. [S412] Libby Brown, personal communication, 4 February 2017.
  13. [S1] Libby Brown quotes Brian LLoyd and John Kennedy, Rutherglen: Wine centre of north-east Victoria, Histec Publications, Brighton East, 2007.
  14. [S422] BillionGraves, online cemetery data, Ann Dunbar entry, 1889, viewed 20 June 2017, https://billiongraves.com/grave/Ann-DUNBAR/4180470#/
  15. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, birth registration no. 13329.
  16. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, birth registration no. 7715.
  17. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, birth registration no. 12165.
  18. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, birth registration no. 23484.
  19. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, birth registration no. 5753.
  20. [S3] Victorian Pioneer Index 1836-1888, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, birth registration no. 20309.