Volume 074-4 - October 2020 (6 pages)

NCHS Bulletin October 2020 Cornwall as they did in Ireland because the Cornish had already established a “culture of mobility.” The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 opened international trade and the flow of British capital around the world. The British invested in mining, especially in Mexico, South America and Australia, and where sterling traveled the Cornish followed. Alongside various church and government emigration schemes, mine operators recruited Cornwall’s miners, considered the world’s best. Opportunities for higher pay “pulled” the Cornish abroad. Then, by the 1840s, famine “pushed” them abroad. As a consequence of hunger, miners left the duchy in droves, and certain parishes lost 25% of their inhabitants to foreign shores*. The timing of William and Betsy’s marriage suggests they shared dreams of better prospects overseas. In November 1852, William, 29, and Betsy, 30, married, taking the first step towards Elizabeth “Betsy” Dyer Best (1822-1882) bore five children in Australia and raised them in America, where they pursued opportunities opened to them as a result of immigration. Her grandchildren pursued education beyond high school. Courtesy Best Family. one between the other two for married couples and children. The passengers organized themselves into messes, obtained food rationed and cooked by the crew, and ate with their own plates and cutlery. They slept in bunks with up to four people per bed’. The Magdalena made a swift passage, which likely meant the ship pitched and rolled in high seas off the African cape, making up to 15 knots as a cold gale screamed in the riggings. Calmer seas and warmer weather prevailed on the ships long approach to Australia. Seasickness was common and Betsy must have suffered—she was six-months pregnant when she boarded. William and Betsy’s first son, William, was born in Australian waters a few days before they disembarked in Adelaide. _ They arrived August 26, 1853, ending a voyage of three months and five days. Several passengers who didn’t survive the voyage fulfilling those dreams. Each made an “x” instead of signing their marriage certificate, which in their time didn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t read, but surely meant they had no practice in writing’. 16,000 Miles to Australia Six months later, in May 1853, William and Betsy took a train to Southampton, England. There they boarded the 870-ton sailing ship Magdalena bound for the British Crown Colony of South Australia. The likely route took the Magdalena around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and easterly along the 40" parallel south. Over the course of 250 years the Best family had moved from Bodmin to St. Austell—less than 16 miles. William and Betsy sailed more than half way around the earth—over 16,000 miles. Like nine out of ten of their fellow emigrants, William and Betsy traveled in steerage. For the long duration of their voyage, they lodged in a long low room the length of the ship and divided into three compartments: one for single men; one for single women, supervised by a matron; and were buried at sea. Cornwall of the Antipodes Like Cornwall, South Australia was a land rich in copper, and the mining industry there was “regarded as nothing more or less than extension of Cornish mining enterprise to the Antipodes”’’. Unlike other Australian colonies, South Australia wasn’t settled by convicts. Possibly a mine had recruited William Best, because at the time the colony was desperately short of labor. The cause of the shortage was a gold rush underway in the neighboring colony of Victoria and an overwhelming majority of miners left to join it. Meanwhile, many of the South Australian mines either suspended operations or struggled to maintain production with diminished crews. The Bests remained in Adelaide at least a year, which may have been the length of William’s contract to work there. In Australia he likely earned as much per week as he had earned per month in the old country, or “’over ‘ome,’ as the Cornish called it’. Having saved some of their earnings, the Bests were ready to join the rush to Victoria. The usual

NCHS Bulletin October 2020 Cornwall as they did in Ireland because the Cornish had already established a “culture of mobility.” The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 opened international trade and the flow of British capital around the world. The British invested in mining, especially in Mexico, South America and Australia, and where sterling traveled the Cornish followed. Alongside various church and government emigration schemes, mine operators recruited Cornwall’s miners, considered the world’s best. Opportunities for higher pay “pulled” the Cornish abroad. Then, by the 1840s, famine “pushed” them abroad. As a consequence of hunger, miners left the duchy in droves, and certain parishes lost 25% of their inhabitants to foreign shores*. The timing of William and Betsy’s marriage suggests they shared dreams of better prospects overseas. In November 1852, William, 29, and Betsy, 30, married, taking the first step towards Elizabeth “Betsy” Dyer Best (1822-1882) bore five children in Australia and raised them in America, where they pursued opportunities opened to them as a result of immigration. Her grandchildren pursued education beyond high school. Courtesy Best Family. one between the other two for married couples and children. The passengers organized themselves into messes, obtained food rationed and cooked by the crew, and ate with their own plates and cutlery. They slept in bunks with up to four people per bed’. The Magdalena made a swift passage, which likely meant the ship pitched and rolled in high seas off the African cape, making up to 15 knots as a cold gale screamed in the riggings. Calmer seas and warmer weather prevailed on the ships long approach to

Australia. Seasickness was common and Betsy must have suffered—she was six-months pregnant when she boarded. William and Betsy’s first son, William, was born in Australian waters a few days before they disembarked in Adelaide. _ They arrived August 26, 1853, ending a voyage of three months and five days. Several passengers who didn’t survive the voyage fulfilling those dreams. Each made an “x” instead of signing their marriage certificate, which in their time didn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t read, but surely meant they had no practice in writing’. 16,000 Miles to Australia Six months later, in May 1853, William and Betsy took a train to Southampton, England. There they boarded the 870-ton sailing ship Magdalena bound for the British Crown Colony of South Australia. The likely route took the Magdalena around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and easterly along the 40" parallel south. Over the course of 250 years the Best family had moved from Bodmin to St. Austell—less than 16 miles. William and Betsy sailed more than half way around the earth—over 16,000 miles. Like nine out of ten of their fellow emigrants, William and Betsy traveled in steerage. For the long duration of their voyage, they lodged in a long low room the length of the ship and divided into three compartments: one for single men; one for single women, supervised by a matron; and were buried at sea. Cornwall of the Antipodes Like Cornwall, South Australia was a land rich in copper, and the mining industry there was “regarded as nothing more or less than extension of Cornish mining enterprise to the Antipodes”’’. Unlike other Australian colonies, South Australia wasn’t settled by convicts. Possibly a mine had recruited William Best, because at the time the colony was desperately short of labor. The cause of the shortage was a gold rush underway in the neighboring colony of Victoria and an overwhelming majority of miners left to join it. Meanwhile, many of the South Australian mines either suspended operations or struggled to maintain production with diminished crews. The Bests remained in Adelaide at least a year, which may have been the length of William’s contract to work there. In Australia he likely earned as much per week as he had earned per month in the old country, or “’over ‘ome,’ as the Cornish called it’. Having saved some of their earnings, the Bests were ready to join the rush to Victoria. The usual