Keeping It In The Families

Old family Bibles sometimes contain a family tree tracing its passage through the generations. This small, more personal Bible was owned by Herbert Stanger Budden (1864–1948) and reveals an entangled and interesting family history.

Herbert was the eldest son of Arthur Budden (1832–1922) and Sarah Stanger (1840–1873). The Budden and Stanger families were early white settlers in the village of Rockley. Joseph Stanger (1811–1892), Sarah’s father, built the first flour mill in the town and owned commercial stores in Bathurst. His son-in-law Arthur ran a general store in Rockley before becoming manager of the AJS Bank in Rockley.

The 1879 inscription in this Bible is to Herbert ‘from his loving mother.’ However, the loving mother was actually Emily Stanger (1848–1904), Sarah’s sister who became Herbert’s step-mother. Sarah died from typhoid when Herbert was eight years of age at a time when the disease was rife throughout the district. A situation that continued until sanitation measures and access to clean drinking water were instituted in the twentieth century. Arthur’s marriage to Emily after her sister’s death was not an uncommon occurrence. A small local population and poor transport links to larger centres reduced the pool of potential partners to the immediate vicinity.

Herbert moved to Berry, married Emma Vincent (1871–1936) in 1899 and followed the reverse of his father’s career path by working in a bank first then purchasing a shop in Wollongong. Population growth and improved transport links in the early-twentieth century allowed the search for partners to expand beyond the local area. It is therefore somewhat surprising that Herbert and Emma’s daughter Zaidie (1900–1958) would marry Norman Stanger (1892–1936) the grandson of Joseph Stanger. A quite entangled family tree.