Edward Steer
Image: Dorothy Winter, 'Steer Family'
FatherEdward Steer1 b. c Jun 1798, d. 9 Feb 1842
MotherAnn Field Dalton1 b. c 1794, d. 19 Jul 1876
Pedigree

Birth, Death, Marriage

Edward Steer was born in 1819 in Crockham Hill, England.2 
He married Ann Dutnall, daughter of George Dutnall and Maria Heale, on 31 October 1844 in Croydon, England.3 
He married Agnes Borrett, daughter of James Borrett and Agnes Donnen, on 10 July 1872 in Adelaide, South Australia.2,4,5,6 
He died on 5 January 1898 in Wellington, South Australia.4,2 

Family 1

Ann Dutnall b. 27 May 1827, d. 25 Jul 1864
Children

Family 2

Agnes Borrett b. 22 May 1846, d. 20 Sep 1922
Children
ChartsMcDonald, Irene, pedigree chart
Steer, Edward, descendant chart

Story

Within a 13 km radius area just south of London, Edward was born, married Ann Dutnall, and worked as a farm bailiff to support their growing family. The family travelled to South Australia in 1852. They lived near Langhorne Creek where six more children were born. Sadly, Ann and their tenth child died during childbirth in 1864. In 1872 at age 53, he married Agnes Borrett and they had three more children.

Edward was a farmer, timber miller and hotelier in areas variously given as Lake Plains, Langhorne Creek, Wolseley, Milang, Robe, Strathalbyn and Wellington. He died in Wellington in 1898.
 
Edward was born in Crockham Hill, Westerham parish, Kent, England in 1819. He was christened in Westerham on 15 February 1820. He was the oldest child of Elizabeth and Edward.7,8
 
In 1841, Edward, Ann and seven of the family were shown living in Crockham Hill in the parish of Westerham in Kent.9
 
Marriage and UK Family
Ann Dutnall and Edward Steer were married at the Croydon parish church in Surrey, England on 31 October 1844. They had ten children between 1845 and 1864, with one early death.3
 
Four children were born in Surrey; Maria in Reigate, Anna in Leigh, and Caroline and George in Charlwood.

At the time of his marriage, Edward was a farmer. Later, he was a farm bailiff, someone who collected rent from tenant farmers and inspected their work, which may help explain why the family moved several times within a few years.10,3,11
 
From Surrey to South Australia
The couple decided to moved their family to the other side of the world. With George less than a year old, they set sail from Plymouth on the Sultana in June 1852. They arrived in Adelaide 16 weeks later on 7 October 1852.12
 
Edward and Ann's Aussie Family
The family settled in the Lake Plains area of South Australia near Langhorne Creek and Milang, where six more children were born between 1853 and 1864.

At least Edward (1853), Philip (1855) and Frederick (1859) were born in Langhorne Creek, and probably also Charlotte (1857), Alice (1862) and Robert (1864).2
 
Ann's Death 
Robert was Ann's last child; she died seven weeks after his birth. Ann Steer died in Lake Plains, South Australia on 25 July 1864, aged 37. She was buried in Milang, South Australia.5,8,13,14
 
Robert Dalton Steer 
Robert Dalton Steer was born in Lake Plains, South Australia on 4 June 1864. He was the tenth child of Ann and Edward, and died as an infant. The second name, Dalton, is Ann's mother's maiden name.

He was adopted by Robert and Amy Adamson, and baptised Robert Dalton Adamson Steer at St Mary's Anglican church in Echunga, South Australia on 6 November 1864.

Robert Dalton Steer died in Lake Plains, South Australia on 9 November 1864, aged five months.14,13,15
Image: Margaret Sellwood
Second Marriage and Family 
Agnes Borrett and Edward Steer were married at Trinity church in Adelaide on 10 July 1872. They had three children between 1873 and 1877.6
 
After they married, the family moved to the Bordertown area near the Victorian border. They are shown as having three sons, John Borrett Steer (1873, Robe district), Erskine Steer (1875, Wellington district) and Albert Watson Steer (1877, Strathalbyn district).4,2,16
Agnes & Edward Steer
Image: Margaret Sellwood
Edward & Agnes Steer
Image: Trevor & Tricia Steer
Mulgundawa Hotel
Edward and Agnes later moved back near Lake Alexandrina. Edward became the proprietor of the Mulgundawa Hotel near Wellington.17,4
Mulgundawa Hotel, near Wellington SA, Edward Steer proprietor
Image: Dorothy Winter, 'Steer Family'
A couple of wanderers
...
Miss Florence Thurmatt is a young woman also of nomadic habits. Some twelve months ago she strayed away from her home, and after a somewhat extended walking tour stranded at Hartley, where a heart-rending, though altogether ficticious story enlisted the sympathy of Mr Cross, who enacted the the part of the good Samaritan. Eventually Florence was brougnt to Strathalbyn, and MC Uppington dissected her tale of woe so effectually that she confessed her misdoings and was sent back to the care of her parents. Like the proverbial bad penny, however, she has turned up again in the district, this time selecting Mr Steer, of Mulgundawa, for the Samaritan business. That gentleman was too old a bird to be caught with chaff, and an advertisement in the daily papers as to a missing young woman having been noticed by him he communicated with the advertisers with the result that Florence, who is a thoroughly sane young woman of about 20 years or so of age, is once more in the care of her parents.18
 
Edward Steer died in Mulgundawa near Wellington, South Australia on 5 January 1898, aged 75.8,4,19
 
STEER.- On the 5th January, at his residence Mulgundawa, South Australia, Edward, the beloved husband of Agnes Steer, aged 75 years. A colonist of 46 years. English papers please copy.20
 

Citations

  1. [S309] International Genealogical Index (IGI).
  2. [S99] Biographical Index of South Australians 1836-1885, South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society Inc., May 1986, p. 1539.
  3. [S401] Edward Steer and Ann Dutnall, marriage registration no. 82, 31 October 1844.
  4. [S366] The Steer Family: Descendants of Frederick Steer & Mary Ann Moar, booklet, unpublished.
  5. [S365] Trevor & Tricia Steer, personal communication, 31 October 2014.
  6. [S368] Genealogy SA online database search, index, Edward Steer and Agnes Borrett entry, marriage registration 92/96, 1872.
  7. [S268] Ancestry.com.au, online, Kent, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1538-1914, Edward Steer entry, christening, 1820, viewed 22 April 2020.
  8. [S99] Biographical Index of South Australians 1836-1885, South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society Inc., May 1986.
  9. [S197] UK Census 1841, Edward Steer household, Crockham Hill, Westerham parish, Kent.
  10. [S127] UK Census 1851, 'Edward Steer' household, Charlwood parish, Surrey.
  11. [S246] 'Bailiff', Wikipedia, online, Wikimedia Foundation, see 'Farm bailiff', viewed 24 April 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailiff
  12. [S364] South Australia, passenger lists 1847-1886.
  13. [S368] Genealogy SA online database search, index, 'Robert Dalton' Steer entry, death registration no. 19/236, 1864.
  14. [S1] No birth registration has been found for Robert, only a death registration, and a memorial card says that he died at age five months and five days.
  15. [S368] Genealogy SA online database search, index, 'Robert Dalton Adamson' Steer entry, baptism, 1864.
  16. [S368] Genealogy SA online database search, index, Steer births 1875 +/- 3 years.
  17. [S365] Trevor & Tricia Steer, personal communication, 2 July and 31 October 2014.
  18. [S684] 'General news: A couple of wanderers', Southern Argus, 1866-1954, newspaper, Southern Argus printing office, 16 January 1896, p. 2, viewed 18 April 2022, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/98923181
  19. [S368] Genealogy SA online database search, index, Edward Steer entry, death registration no. 248/184, 1898.
  20. [S650] 'Deaths: Steer', Adelaide Advertiser, 1931-, newspaper, Advertiser Newspapers Ltd, 10 January 1898, p. 4, viewed 18 April 2022, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/35102105