Clyde 3978 Victoria

Early Clyde Families
1854, SYKES-William 66, (1821-1887)

William and Mary Sykes (nee Jones) arrived in Melbourne aboard “Wallace” in November 1941. Both came from Lancashire, William a shepherd and Mary a housemaid.

Both were 21 years of age when they settled in Brighton. It seems that William gained farming experience there and, before 1849 acquired property.

The Sykes were freehold property owners in the Port Phillip District before Victoria became a State in 1851.

Land owned by William Sykes
Copied from Cranbourne Parish Map

(Modern Address 211 Grices Road, Clyde North)

Continuing on from service at the Brighton Wesleyan Methodist church, William Sykes became an earnest local preacher around Dandenong and in Gippsland. It is assumed that Sykes supported Embling Hardy in running the Clyde Wesleyan Methodist Church on the Clyde Berwick Road. He is acknowledged in the official history of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. William Sykes was one of the founding trustees of the Cranbourne Cemetery Trust (1857)

1854 William Sykes was among the first people to buy land in Clyde. His family of five children moved to Clyde, about two years later in 1856. Three more boys, including twins, were born to him. Tragically one twin drowned in a nearby dam.
(see Amazing Local Stories for details)

Newspaper advertisements of sales indicate his success at farming. He purchased further land from Alfred Sikes, T & C Rossiter, and later a block next to Anthony Ridgway .

Following the death of his wife Mary in 1879 his property, Mount John, 710 acres was sold by auction in 1880.

After moving to a Dandenong farm, William married Anne Kinder (1884) and planned his return to Britain. Unexpectedly his story became Australia wide news.
He died at sea in October 1887.

10 Children of William and Mary Sykes

1	John, 61	(1842-1904)	m. 1866 Matilda Whitbread
2	Ann, 86	(1843-1929)	m. 1869 George Wymark
3	William, 41	(1846-1887	m. 1876 Julia Moore
4	Sarah, 53	(1855-1908)	m. 1878 James Bullock
5	Mary, 23	(1850-1873)	m. 1871 Charles Cochrane
6	Eliza, 71	(1852-1923)	m 1 1889 William Hallam
			m.2 1914 William Dalton
7	Alexander, 79	(1854-1933)	m. 1881 Mary Banton
8	Thomas, 84	(1856-1940)	m. 1881 Eliza Taylor
9	James Bickford, 82	(1861-1943)	m 1888 Sophia Heath
10	Robert, 10	(1861-1871)

4 Grand children of William Sykes who born or lived in Clyde
Children of John Sykes & Matilda Sykes (nee Whitbread)

1	Robert Sykes,	(1867- ?)
2	Amy Sykes, 85	(1869-1954)	m.1894 Frederick Gouldsmith
3	John Norman Sykes, 70	(1874-1943)	m. Annie Goodwin

John Norman Sykes, a founding member of the 1909 Methodist congregation which financed the first public building in Clyde Railway Township.

Children of Alexander & Mary Elizabeth Sykes ( nee Banton)

Robert Andrew Sykes, 84

(1882-1865)

Served overseas in WW1

From the Editor
1. Sykes Family researchers can find the Will of William Sykes via the Public Records Office of Victoria. How can you do this? Instructions are provided under the heading
Will and Probate Records at http://clydehistorytools.blogspot.com.au/
Clyde Family History Tools is the companion blogsite to provide hints for Clyde family research.
2. If you are a Sykes family researcher do you have more information to add to this page?
3. Are you a descendant of Ann Wymark, daughter of William and Mary Sykes?

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Sources
1. Ancestry.com
2. Dalton Family Historian and Sykes Family researchers.
3. The Argus Newspaper
4. Blamires & Smith "The Early Story of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Victoria"
5. Clyde Methodist Church History: Rev Eric Thomas
6. The Good Country
7. Register of Births Death and Marriages
8. The"Wallace" Bounty Immigrants List - NSW State Records Online microfilm of shipping lists