Thomas (Gynn) was born in
Warbstow during 1843, the son of
James Trease and Elizabeth Gynn
and a grandson of
William Trease and Martha Uglow.
Thomas trained as a Blacksmith, first with his father and then at the Forge in Boscastle Harbour, Cornwall.
In 1866 whilst living there Thomas married Mary Baker Mably in Forrabury church, Boscastle being in Forrabury Parish.
Mary was the daughter of Henry Mably the publican of the ‘Ship Inn’ in Boscastle and she was 19 years old.
Shortly after their marriage, Thomas and Mary left England from Liverpool for Melbourne, Australia on the ‘Star of India’.
Thomas and Mary initially lived in Ballarat before they moved to St Arnaud, Victoria. In both places Thomas carried on his trade of blacksmith.
Thomas’s wife Mary died in 1875, shortly after the death of their last child, and they are both buried in St Arnaud cemetery.
She was only 28 years of age.
During 1877 Thomas re-married, a widow Mary McDermott nee Morrison.
Around 1888 Thomas left St Arnaud and leased land at Dumbalk North in Gippsland which he cleared to create a farm called “The Mount”.
Thomas’s farm suffered heavily during the 1898 bush fires which raged throughout South Gippsland.
He lost half his milking cows and nearly all fencing and grass.
Tom junior was sent off to Canada (where relatives seemed to be having a good life) to see if a better life could be had there, but his
advice was to stay put.
In 1905 Thomas bought a nearby property known as “The Marsh” and leased it out.
In 1910 he leased out “The Mount” and moved to Northcote where his wife’s father came to live with them for a while.
After two years there they returned to “The Marsh” where Thomas built a big two gabled house called “Treswayne”.
In 1914, shortly after they moved in, Thomas’s second wife Mary’s died aged about 58.
After his second wife Mary died, Thomas went to live in Melbourne with his daughter Polly Bray for a short time.
He then moved to a boarding house ran by two women.
In 1917 at the Methodist Parsonage at Williamstown, Thomas, then aged 74, married Emma Wilson aged about 41 and one of the proprietresses
of the boarding house.
Thomas died, age 79, in Melbourne in 1923 and is buried in the Coburg cemetery whilst Emma died in 1951 aged about 75 years.
Thomas and had five children by his first wife Mary, one son and four daughters:-
- Elizabeth Maria (“Lizzie”) was born in Ballarat in 1867 and married Joseph James Cox in 1893.
It is thought they had two sons. Elizabeth died in St Kilda in 1920 and Joe died in Fitzroy South in 1927.
- Mary Letitia (“Polly”) was born in Ballarat in 1869 and married Robert Bray in St Arnaud in 1887.
They had at least 5 children, 4 sons and one daughter. Polly died in Melbourne in 1923 and Robert died there in 1951.
- James Henry (“Jim”) was born in 1871 and married Alice Felstead (‘Florrie’) in 1920.
He died in 1930 in Shepparton and his wife died in 1942 in Mooroopna. There are no known descendants from this marriage.
- Christiana (“Chris”) was born in St Arnaud in 1873 and married Richard Sydney Nicholas in 1894 and had at least 4 children, 2 sons and 2 daughters.
Chris died in Leongatha in 1954, one year after her husband died there.
- Amelia was born in St Arnaud in 1874 and died 7 months later.
Whilst living in St Arnaud with his second wife, Mary, Thomas had five children, 4 sons and a daughter: -
- William Thomas (Bill) was born in 1878 and married Clara Clementine Hine in Stoney Creek Victoria in 1901.
After trying his hand at wheat farming he came back and leased a farm at ‘Riversleigh’, Dumbalk until about 1940.
Bill died in Korumburra in 1964 and Clara died in Wooreen in 1943. They had children who married and had families.
- John (“Jack”) was born in 1880 and married Alma Mary Hamilton in 1909.
They were the first couple to be married in Dumbalk North Methodist Church.
They had at least ten children, 3 sons and seven daughters.
Jack, and his brothers Dick and Bill went North to try their hand at wheat farming in the Wimmera.
Jack returned in 1913 and acquired half of ‘The Marsh’ farm with his brother Tom acquiring the other half.
Jack moved into ‘Treswayne’ and Tom built his own house on land near the river.
Jack became one of the leading farmers of the day. He was the first in the district to make grass hay, was a foundation member of the
Herd testing Association and one of the first to buy a stud Jersey Bull.
In the hands of his children, the farm won an Australasian Award for herd production and a Victorian Award for farm management.
Jack died in Meeniyan in 1940 and Alma died there in 1951.
- Thomas (“Tom”) was born in 1882 and died in Meeniyan in 1909 from tuberculosis.
- Ethel May was born in 1884 and died aged 11 months. She is buried in St Arnaud cemetery.
- Richard (“Dick”) was born in 1886 and married Margaret Crystal Hamilton (“Pearl” - sister of his brother Jack’s wife)
in Dumbalk North in 1912. They had at least 4 children, 1 son and 3 daughters. Dick died in Leongatha in 1960 and Pearl died there in 1955.
While in Dumbalk, a further six children were born: -
- Gertrude Ewan was born in 1889 and married Grayson Dodd in Dumbalk North in 1914.
They had at least 3 children, 1 son and 2 daughters. Gertrude died in Meeniyan in 1974 and Grayson died there in 1964.
- Clara Melva was born in 1891 and married Thomas Edward Robbins in 1914 and had at least three children, 1 son and 2 daughters.
Clara died in Meeniyan in 1930 and her husband died there in 1950.
- Albert (“Ab”) was born in 1893. In 1919 he married Ruby Gladys Willis in Netherby.
They had at least 6 children, 4 sons and 2 daughters. Ab died in 1965 in Leongatha and Ruby died there in 1980.
- Ethel Clifford (“Cliffie”) was born in 1895 and died in 1904 from diphtheria.
- Jessie was born in 1898 and married Samuel John Jackson in Dumbalk North in 1920.
They had at least 3 children, 1 son and 2 daughters. Jessie died in Meeniyan in 1990 and her husband died there in 1946.
- Frederick Baden (“Baden”) was born in 1900 and married Doris Kate Henrietta Benn in 1924 and had two daughters.