FLORENCE
signed petition to King William IV 1837 BOI JL
note was a surveyor in Canada then Australia 1817 sgb
12 children but not all survived to adulthood sgb
AF LDS submitter:
Helen May ROY, 25 Alma Street, Dannevirke, Dannevirke, Southern Hawkes Bay 5491
also:
Fernanda FRASER
37 Juilett Street Marrickville New South Wales 2204
also
Marion Edith MCRAE
279 Lieutenant Bowen Drive Bowen Mountain N.S.W.
1834 and 1835 Kaeo LCF
RMP has Thomas immigrated may 1834 and wife and three children followed in October.
a brother also had land next to Thomas's land in Kaeo probably John, RMP
1849 had eleven children RMP
note book published on the family history:
"Footprints in the Sand" ( The FLORANCE story from London to Kangaroo Island)
Author ( and descendant) Dean FLORANCE ISBN 9780646916101
available in National Library Canberra.
The Weekly News, March 30th 1867 reported the death of Thomas Florance. On March 28th, Mr Thomas Florance, surveyor aged 84 years - Home papers please copy.
The Weekly News, September 10th 1870 reported the death of Elizabeth Florance. On August 27th at her residence, Palmer Street Sydney, Elizabeth Florance, relic of the late Thomas Florance, surveyor, and daughter of the late Rev. Thomas Kendall. Aged 65 years.
NZGG 20 oct 1841 Land Claim no. 311 Whangaroa 1834-39
WIKI
Thomas Florance is said to have been born in Chichester, England. [1] [2] [3] He was the son of Richard Florence and Sarah Florence (nee Abrahams).
He worked in Upper Canada as a surveyor and engineer in 1803-16 and served in the Royal Engineers in the war of 1812-1815 between the United States and the United Kingdom. [4]
He arrived in Sydney in the Duke of Wellington in November 1817 and sought from Governor Lachlan Macquarie a position as surveyor and applied for a grant of land. He was later allotted 110 acres (45 ha) at Clarence Plains, Van Diemen's Land. He reached Hobart Town on 16 May 1818 and in June, with G. W. Barnard, another free settler, applied for permission to erect a water saw-mill at Port Davey or Macquarie Harbour. After submitting their scheme to Macquarie, Lieutenant-Governor William Sorell refused the application, but on 24 October instructed Florance to make a survey of the west coast. Well qualified to do this, he sailed a week later in the Sophia, James Kelly, taking with him six experienced men, a government boat, other necessary equipment and gifts for Aboriginals. He was told to verify latitudes and longitudes, take bearings, measure distances and to report on varieties and stands of timber and the suitability of country for grazing. He was also advised to name principal points around the two harbours and the River Gordon for the purpose of identification. Although he submitted maps and reports on his return on 29 December, the place names he gave are not now known. In 1819 he was appointed a member of the Lieutenant-Governor's Court at Hobart. In August he was given the sole right for a limited period to ply a scow capable of carrying animals and vehicles from Hobart to Kangaroo Point. In March 1820, at Commissioner John Thomas Bigge's request, he gave him particulars of the west coast rivers and timber. A vessel he was building at Canadian Point in May 1822 was seized for debt, but on 16 December 1823, he was able to launch the Liberty, 40 tons, from his property.
In 1825 he was surveying near the South Esk River; surveyor Thomas Florance named the Chichester River in 1827. [5] [6]
In October 1825 Florance moved to Sydney. In December 1827 he was appointed assistant surveyor with a salary of £200 and allowances, and next year made surveys of the coast near Cape Jervis. On 14 May 1829 at Sydney he married Elizabeth, second daughter of Thomas Kendall. Soon afterwards he resigned and opened a private survey office in Sydney. It did not thrive and in 1830 he moved to the County of St Vincent, where he was granted 1280 acres (518 ha) and leased another 1920 acres (777 ha), naming his farm Curribie. He remained there and continued surveying in the district until May 1834 when he went to New Zealand.
Thomas Florance settled with his family at Whakapu in the Bay of Islands, his earlier known surveys in New Zealand are dated 1834. [7]
He later moved to Auckland. In 1840 he applied for a post in the Survey Department, but an unfavourable report from Governor Sir George Gipps led to his rejection. In 1840, he advertised a survey, both map and chart of the Bay of Islands to be paid for by subscription. [8]
Thomas Florance bought farm land at Riverhead, and in the Waikato.
He died at Auckland on 28 March 1867, aged 84. [9] His widow died in Sydney on 25 August 1870, aged 65. Thomas Florance immigrated to Sydney to Whakapu, New Zealand on the Columbine, on 6 May 1834.
4,11 He was in surveyor in 1839.
1