BELLETTE, Jemima 1812–1885
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Title
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BELLETTE, Jemima 1812–1885
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Description
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Daughter of former convicts, born in 1812, who with husband George farmed at Sorell and Bream Creek and raised a large family. He died at Bream Creek in 1885.
In 1852 CHT Costantini painted the family portrait – George, Jemima and seven of their eleven children. The National Portrait Gallery purchased the painting in 2016.
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Biographical text
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Jemima Larsom born in 1818, was the daughter of ex-convict Norfolk Island settlers, married farmer/landowner George Bellette/Billet in 1835 and from 1836 settled at Sorell.
George and Jemima's marriage is registered as having taken place in the school house at Clarence Plains in February 1835; and the record of the birth of their eldest child, Ann, in 1836, lists George as a farmer resident in the district. By the birth of their next child, James, in February 1838, George and Jemima are recorded as living at Sorell, where their further ten children were born between 1840 and 1858.
The variant spellings of the family’s surname – whether through misspelling on the part of government clerks or an attempt to distinguish themselves from convict forebears – complicates the tracing of George and Jemima’s lives beyond the establishment of facts relating to births, deaths and marriages. Newspaper reports, however, offer the occasional proof that George maintained an active interest in local political and agricultural matters; served as a magistrate; and contributed significantly to farming activity in the district.
In 1880, George sold the Sorell property – ‘A Farm, 76 acres, situated on the Sorell Rivulet … Good four-roomed cottage, a barn, dairy and out-buildings’ – and relocated to a farm at Bream Creek. On George’s death there in March 1885 he was noted a 'a quiet, inoffensive man, and had all his lifetime followed the pursuits of a farmer’, and that George had ‘gathered around him many friends, while enemies were almost unknown to him’.
Jemima died at Bream Creek in August 1891, her death certificate stating that she was 72 years old and a ‘farmer’s widow’.
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Family name
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Bellette (also Billet, Billett, Bellett)
Larsom
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Given name
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Jemima
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Date of birth
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1818
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Gender
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Female
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Occupation
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Farmer
Home maker
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Spouse of
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George Bellette
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Parent of
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Eleven children including Ann (1836–?) and James (1838– ?)
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Date of death
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August 1891
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Contributor
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National Portrait Gallery
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Creator
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Melinda Reed
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Related Items
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BELLETTE, George 1812–1885
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COSTANTINI, Charles 1803–1860
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Mrs Bellettes boy on horse Dec 1910 [rocking hourse]
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Mr and Mrs Ernie Moore (ne Blanche Bellette) and child [parents of Marj Larson, Corrie Newitt, Clare Jones whose children were Neil, Errol, Ernie, Cliff, Bill, Phillip, Monare Lin?]
