James Zadok Bellamy

  General Notes:

Peter Morris notes:
James Zadok was the eldest child of William and Anne Bellamy. Born at Pennant Hills, he was first granted 60 acres of land at the south side of Castle Hill Road at the west of the present Cumberland National Forest. In 1824 he successfully requested to Governor Brisbane for a further grant of another 60 acres. By this time he had a number of horses and cattle and was supplying wheat to the Government Store. In 1821 James was appointed a Special Constable when he and his younger brother (John) shot and killed a bushranger who had earlier broken into his house. The verdict of the ensuing court case was 'justified homicide'. Later James shot and killed an escaped convict at what is now the suburb of Beecroft.
'In 1833, James "being anxious to form a vineyard" sought to purchase 40 acres at Berowra Creek [and] in 1835 he made an unsuccessful bid for 320 acres adjoining James Milson's 1000 acres near the township of Wollombi. He did purchase several portions of the Parish of Hay, one of which became the site of Murray's Run Public School'. He also acquired 50 acres on the right bank of Watagan Creek. The 'small farms owned by James Bellamy around Watagan Creek were rich pasture lands, good for pig-raising. James would drive herds of pigs to the markets in Sydney, taking four or five days for the journey'. Later James returned to the Castle Hill area and built a house (part of which is still standing) at 99 Castle Hill Road where he ran horses and cattle and started an orchard.
James purchased considerable parcels of land around Pennant Hills and at the site where Hornsby railway station is now situated. In 1843, James gave to his daughter, Susannah and his son-in-law James Smith 63 acres of the Thorn grant, being his first ownership in the valley. When James inherited his father's 'Bellamy Farm' in 1850 he already owned much land in the district. Indeed, James bequeathed land holdings to most of his daughters on the occasions of them marrying and leaving the family home. Not far, to be sure, as they mostly stayed within the Pennant Hills district, then a much larger area than it is at the present time. In fact, the Thorn grant totalled some 640 acres and James had ownership of it all, certainly by 1871 when he wrote his original Will. It should be remembered that the giving of property to one's daughters was not considered normal practice in those days.
'In later life James and Hannah Bellamy made a striking couple. James, tallish and strongly built, had silver hair and wide, deep-set eyes, a well-moulded mouth, a square jaw; on formal occasions he wore a fine frock coat with velvet lapels, a waist coat with matching lapels and the loop a watch-chain, and grey trousers with a swirling excess of cloth. Hannah, too, had strong, well-cut features; she was a good figure of a woman and wore a floral bonnet … they struck an heroic pose, he standing, she sitting, their smiles all the warmer for being all but suppressed … they were Currency Lad and Currency Lass, born and bred in the Colony.'
'James Bellamy became a wealthy man - his goods, excluding land, was valued for probate at in 1875, but details are not so well recorded. His orchards and pig-raising brought in only a moderate income; his buying and selling of land was probably a good source of profit.'
On 18^th June, 1818 James Zadok Bellamy married Hannah Singleton at St. John's, Parramatta and together they had four sons and ten daughters, nine living to adulthood. Hannah died in 1869 and was buried in the small graveyard behind St. Paul's Church of England at Castle Hill. When Hannah died 'James had a vestry added' onto the church building, in her memory.
Two years after Hannah died, on the 18^th July 1871 and at the age of 73, James remarried to a much younger woman, Martha Martin (b. 1845). Two daughters were born of this union, Alberta Amelia (b. 1873) and Florence Matilda (b. 1874). James died on March 6, 1875 (no wonder) and was buried with Hannah, his first wife, at St. Paul's, Castle Hill. Martha, 'his young widow took her daughters to live in Factory Street, Parramatta, where she worked as a midwife for many years.'
A most interesting outcome of the life of James Zadok Bellamy and the resultant impact on the lives of his children can be had by with referring to The Weekly Notes of the NSW Supreme Courts, July, 4^th and August 4^th of 1890 wherein some of the children of James Bellamy opposed the proposal by others to sell off some of the property. This dispute was to stay on the statute books for many years, well into the 20^th century until there were no assets left to continue the legal proceedings and all the original proponents had deceased. The interesting aspect, however, is as indicated on page 13 of Vol. VII, where it states that 'James Bellamy had 17 children, eight by his first wife - all of whom were of age, except one - and nine by his present wife, of whom the eldest was 14 and the youngest three months, all of whom had a contingent beneficial interest in the property. Of these, all of the first family opposed the application on the ground that the land was likely to increase considerably in value. The guardian for the infant children filed a consent in writing to the applications and put on record in an affidavit his reasons…' Fairly obviously more work could to be done to investigate the lives of James Bellamy and his progeny.

  Noted events in his life were:

• source.

• connection.

• connection. ¹⁹

James married Hannah Singleton, daughter of William Singleton and Hannah Parkinson, on 15 Jun 1818 in St Johns C of E, Parramatta, Sydney, NSW Australia. (Hannah Singleton was born on 11 Mar 1802 in Mulgrave Place, Windsor, NSW Australia, died on 14 Oct 1869 in Castle Hill, Sydney, NSW Australia and was buried in St Pauls, Castle Hill, Sydney, NSW Australia.)

James next married Martha Martin on 18 Jul 1871. (Martha Martin was born in 1845 ⁸⁷⁰.)