Elizabeth Anne Richards ⁶

   Cause of her death was Hypostatic Pneumonia, cardiac failure.

   Ancestral File Number: 9861-JC.

  General Notes:

Death certificate shows Eliza's name as Eliza Ann White rather than Elizabeth Anne White- this is the same as the name on her second marriage certificate.
At the time of her second marriage Elizabeth put her place of birth as Wales (changed from Wales England).

Buried Grave 145, Anglican section 1, Woronora Gardens. NSW.
No headstone

Amos & Eliza sailed on the "Dirigo" out of Liverpool on 20 Dec 1859, arriving 13 Apr 1860.

Name:Eliza Pearce
Birth Year:abt 1836
Age:24
Gender:Female
Arrival Date:13 Apr 1860
Vessel Name:Dirigo
Amos noted as tailor from Somerset, Eliza noted as wife from Devon. William H 7 months, son born Somerset Niece also born inn Somerset. Travelling with Julia 7 years old- niece. Both Amos and Eliza could read and write. Their Niece Julia could read only and their son could do neither.
State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood New South Wales, Australia; Persons on bounty ships (Agent's Immigrant Lists); Series: 5316; Reel: 2139

Amos and Eliza Pearse, who had been resident in the district for some years, purchased a little over an acre of land adjacent to George Preddey's other Bexley property and on it they erected a General Store.
Mrs. Pearse's Bexley Store was to remain Bexley's only store for nearly 20 years.

Eliza Pearse was, by calling, a lady's maid. She had arrived in Australia with her husband in 1860. One of their two children had died on the terrible four month long voyage. Another nine children were to be born to them in Australia.

The original building was a tiny white-washed structure of wooden slabs built almost flat on the ground with a wooden shingle roof. Later it was provided with a brick front and the roof changed to corrugated iron.

The rear of the property was leased to a Scottish blacksmith Henry Hoggan, whose son became General Manager of the Australian Gas Light Company, and Amos Pearse, although a tailor by trade, became a competent market gardener keeping the small community supplied with poultry and vegetables.

THE BEXLEY POST OFFICE

With the break-up of the old Bexley Land Grant in the 1850s and the establishment of a settlement at Gannon's Forest, Bexley was regarded in official circles as being part of that area and it was not until November, 1882, after considerable local agitation, that an unofficial post office was established in Mrs. Eliza Pearse's Bexley Store with Mrs. Pearse as Postmistress.

The huge increase in population in the late 1880s resulted in requests to expand its services from that of selling stamps and providing a mail bag for the receipt of letters, but all to no avail.

In August, 1899, Mrs. Pearse's daughter, Jessie, who had married John P. Clune, a member of the well-known hotel family from Arncliffe, wrote to the Postmaster General's Department to inform them that her mother's health was failing and offering to take over her duties.

Mrs. Clune was appointed Postmistress the following month.

Occupation: Postmistress

Eliza Pearce- lady's maid
Eliza's portrait in her later years discloses nothing of the vast changes she witnessed in her life time. She was born in a small Somerset village, Withycombe, in 1838. In 1860, when she was 22 years old she sailed with her husband, Amos, and two children. One of these children died during the voyage and Eliza was to bear another nine in her new land.
Eliza Pearce was lady's maid but in Bexley the Pearces purchased land close to the junction of today's Forest and Bexley Roads and in 1876 opened their general store, the first in Bexley. This simple store provided necesseties for rustic Bexley. In 1882 a post office was establishyed in the store and Mrs Pearce acted as postmistress. In 1890 Mrs Jessie Clune, Mrs Pearce's daughter, succeeded her mother as postmistress and acted as such until 1911 when the post office moved to another store. It was 1928 before an official post office opened at Bexley.
Mrs Pearce hadrly had time for reflection with her various activities. When her husband, Amso died she later marride David White, a founder of Christ Church, Bexley. Eliza Pearce died in 1920 when she was 82. Her life in Australia had spanned a period from the beginnings of Bexley and the development of the district through ot the dary days of World War 1.
Lawrence, J. Pictorial Memories St George; Rockdale, Kogarah, Hurstville. Kingsclear Books, Alexandria, NSW, Australia. p31

Amos and Eliza Pearse, who had been resident in the district for some years, purchased a little over an acre (4,000m2) of land in 1876. Eliza had been born in a small village in Somerset, England in 1838. On 20 Dec 1859, 22 years old, she migrated to Australia with her husband and
two children on the "Dirigo" out of Liverpool, arriving in April 1860. After Amos Pearse's death, she married David Saunders White, a founder of Christ Church Bexley and changed her name to Eliza Ann White. She died on 29 Jul 1920 and was survived by ten children.
As you may have noticed, the families in Bexley were large, though there were only four. Children of landowners usually took up residence on their parents' holdings when they grew up. Thus by the mid-1870s more than 50 people resided in the Bexley area, and Eliza Pearse was able to
successfully open a shop.

Bexley Store
Bexley Store was a general store opened by Eliza Pearse in 1882 on Forest Road near the
corner of Bexley Road, on the acre (4,000m2) of land she had bought in 1876. It was the
first shop in Bexley (although Dick Stone had been selling meats in the Rockdale/Bexley
area since 1868) and would remain the only one for almost 20 years.
The shop itself was a tiny whitewashed building made from wooden slabs, with a dirt floor and a shingle roof. Later, a brick front and a corrugated iron roof were built. The rear of the property was leased to a Scottish blacksmith named Henry Hoggan, whose forge remained intact until the early 1950s.
In 1882, an unofficial post office was established in the store with Pearse as postmistress. The Bexley boom of the late 1880s resulted in requests to expand its services from simply selling stamps and providing mail bags for the receipt of letters, but to no avail. In September 1899, Eliza Pearse passed the business on to her daughter Jessie Clune because of her declining health.
Eric Rong, Windows into Bexley (part 1: to 1899) https://www.rockdale.nsw.gov.au/library/pages/pdf/RonRathbone2015/rong_eric.pdf

Informant of death- Arthur Pearse, son. Living at Bellevue St. Arncliffe
Length of last illness 42 days

  Medical Notes:

Name:Eliza A White
Death Date:1920
Death Place:New South Wales
Father's name:John
Mother's name:Elizabeth
Registration Year:1920
Registration Place:Rockdale, New South Wales
Registration Number:12237
Ancestry.com. Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Elizabeth married Amos Pearse, son of William Pearse and Mary Vickery, on 25 Sep 1857 in Old Cleeve Somersetshire, England.²²³ (Amos Pearse was born on 24 Apr 1829 in Withycombe Somerset, England ²²⁴, christened on 26 Apr 1829 in Withycombe, Somerset, England,^224,225 died on 9 Aug 1895 in Hospital for the Insane, Rydalmere New South Wales, Australia ²²⁶ and was buried on 11 Aug 1895 in Hurstville C of E Cemetary, New South Wales, Australia ²²⁴.). The cause of his death was Senile decay.

  Marriage Notes:

Name:Amos Pearce
Gender:Male
Age:Full (Bachelor) Tailor
Residence at time of Marriage: Broadwater
Father: William Pearse (Tailor)
Marriage or Bann Date:25 Aug 1857
Marriage Place:Old Cleeve, Somerset, England
Parish as it Appears:Old Cleeve
Father:William Pearce
Spouse:Elisa Ann Richards
Age: 20 (Spinster)
Residence at time of marriage: Old Cleeve
Father: James Richards (Shoemaker)
Witnesses John Rogers and Elizabeth Barsham
Somerset Heritage Service; Taunton, Somerset, England; Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914; Reference Number: D\\P\\cle.o/2/1/10

Elizabeth next married David Saunders White, son of David White and Ellen Morrison, on 26 Apr 1900 in Holy Trinity Church, Erskineville, New South Wales, Australia.²²⁸ (David Saunders White was born about 1844 in St Peters, New South Wales, Australia ²²⁸.)

  Marriage Notes:

David was a widower at the time of his marriage.
Witnesses of marriage were Isabella Dalrymple and R. Gorrell