CHARLES VALER WALTON
Born: 3 may 1841 - Adelaide, S.A.
Married: EMMA ELLEN HATFIELD
Date: Abt 1861 - Woodside, S.A.
Died: Abt 1885 - Unknown

EMMA ELLEN HATFIELD
Born: 30 March 1843 - Mt.Barker S.A.
Married: CHARLES VALER WALTON
Date: Abt. 1861 - Woodside, S.A..
Died: 4 Feb 1917 - Port Pirie,, S.A.

Their children:

CHARLES PETER WALTON
Born: 19 MAY 1862 - Woodside, S.A.
Married: MARY JEMMA RATHBONE
Date: 1897 - RedHill,Hampton Plains,Vic.
Died: 31 July 1946 - Fremantle, W.A.

MARY ANN WALTON
Born: 14 July 1866 - The Burra, S.A.
Married: JAMES HENRY THOMAS
Date: 17 Nov 1888 - Broken Hill, N.S.W..
Died: 8 Oct 1954 - Perth, W.A.

SARAH JANE WALTON
Born: 19 June 1871- The Burra, S.A.
Married: JOHN CECIL JORDAN>
Date: ???.
Died: 8 Jan 1955 - Adelaide, S.A.

ELLEN EMMA WALTON
Born: 21 Aug 1874 - The Burra, S.A.
Married: HARRY BURNETT
Date: 1 June 1893 - Methodist Manse Adelaide,S.A.
Died: 19 May 1964 - Pinjarra, W.A.

RACHEL EDITH WALTON
Born: 25 June 1877 - The Burra, S.A.
Married: GILES ROWLEY
Date:1 Sept 1896 - Port Pirie, S.A.
Died: 12 July 1938 - Perth, W.A.
Second Husband: FREDERICK ERNEST FREE

ELSIE LUCINDA WALTON
Born: 10 Feb 1880- The Burra, S.A.
Died: 1899 - Cue, W.A.

FREDERICK ERNEST WALTON
Born: 19 Oct 1882 - The Burra, S.A.
Married: CHRISTINA M.PATERSON
Died: 25 Feb 1969 -Adelaide, S.A.

Frederick Ernest with Neice F.E.Davidson (nee Walton) and
Sarah Jane, Charles Peter, Mary Ann & Ellen Emma Walton.

Also in the Adelaide area was the family of CHARLES WALTON (Sometimes shown as Wharton & Warton) and his wife SARAH ELIZABETH (nee Valler?) the parents of CHARLES VALER WALTON born on 3.5.1841 & his sisters ELIZABETH VALER WALTON born 10.10.1845, ELLEN WALTON born 18.2.1848 and EMMA WALTON, 17.1.1850 all being born at the New Tiers, Adelaide Hills.

Sometime about 1860, EMMA ELLEN HATFIELD and CHARLES VALER WALTON lived together in the Adelaide Hills. After the birth of their first child at Woodside & towards the mid 1860's the small family moved to Burra, now only about an hour's drive north of Adelaide. They eventually settled in Redruth, (now part of Burra) mostly inhabited by Cornish miners.

Burra began with the discovery of copper in the Burra Burra creek by a shepherd, Thomas Pickett in 1845. At a time when S.A. was struggling financially, the rich copper ore at Burra quickly became famous and Cornish & Welsh miners flocked to the area. Accommodation was at a premium, so some set up homes in dugouts hewn out of the banks of the Burra Burra creek, several being up to four rooms in size. There are several left even to this day and they are a great tourist attraction. Many other interesting sites are to be found in the area and every effort is being made to maintain the historic buildings.

In the first year of operation the Burra Burra mine had a mile & a half of underground workings. The copper was hauled in drays by horses 90 miles to Port Adelaide, from where is was shipped to smelters in Wales. It was common for 1200 drays to be on the road at the same time. Each dray carried approximately 2.5 tonnes of copper ore and it took six weeks for the round trip. Later, a port was established at the head of St. Vincents Gulf now known as Port Wakefield.

The Burra was a Company Town. The Company owned all the facilities available to the workers including the Hospital. by the late 1840's five towns named Kooringa, Aberdeen, Redruth, Hampton and Coppertown had been built around the mine.

The mine ceased operations in 1877 and the town settled down to a quiet rural existence, eventually becoming the supply centre for people in the station country north & east of the town and local agricultural activities. Many of the mining families moved on to the Yorke Peninsular to mines at Moonta, Walleroo & Kadina or to the new mines at Broken Hill.

In 1878 the Burra Model School was opened. The school was built to accommodate 800 children but, in reality it never saw more than 400 in attendance. School was compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 13 but, they were required to attend school for only 35 days per quarter, this being the equivelent of three days per week.The fees ranged from 4d. to 9d. per week per child - no small amount when the average wage was less than two pounds per week and there were many children in each family. It was common for the poorer families to have their children take turns to attend school. Fees were abolished in 1879. There are records which show that some of our family attended this school. ( Of particular interest to our immediate family, Ellen Emma Walton attended only until about 8 or 9 years of age when she was forced to stay at home to take care of her younger siblings while her mother went out to work. So hence her schooling was very elementary. Although she could read reasonably well her, writing & word usage was very poor.)

CHARLES WALTON Senior became the owner of several bullock teams and started delivering supplies to the northern areas. Sometimes he was accompanied by young Charles now in his late teens. Unfortunately,sometime after 1881 on one of these trips north, on his own this time, he disappeared and was never heard of again. We can only speculate as to what fate had in store for him. Did he desert his family to escape a nagging wife. ( We are led to believe she was somewhat difficult at times.) Or was he attacked and killed by natives or renegade whites, his team & supplies plundered or did he die a lonely death of thirst?

In due course EMMA ELLEN WALTON, now left with a fairly young family, married a Mr. Thomas George MARTIN. Her choice was not very wise as, although he was a lay preacher, he was a wardrobe drinker and was a cruel step father to the younger girls.

Towards the end of the 1890.s she departed with her youngest daughter ELSIE for W.A. by ship to Fremantle then on to Geraldton. From there they journied by wagon for several days to the latest new and exciting gold discovery at Cue in the Pilbara. What a journey that must have been!!! Suffering from the heat, flies, poor food, water shortages , sleeping rough and with the ever present danger from unfriendly aboriginies and with a young teenage girl. She certainly proved to be a tough old lady.

EMMA ELLEN opened a shop in the main street of Cue, where unfortunately young ELSIE contracted typhoid fever and died during 1899. She was buried in the Cue cemetery which was filling quickly due to an outbreak of diseases caused by a lack of good water and food, together with poor sanitation. Her mother eventually returned to Perth where she lived for some time before returning to Port Pirie S.A., where she passed away on the 4.2.1917, aged 74 years from stomach cancer, at her daughter's residence Mrs. J.Jordan (nee Sarah Jane Walton) in Port Pirie West. S.A.

Back to Hatfield Family Genealogy