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Matilda Jane EVANS nee CONGREVE
When researching family or local history, there are times when an intriguing piece of information will send you on a side-branch of research. Such was the case when I was researching the various Baptist Churches in the South Rhine region, near Springton in South Australia.
The Salt Creek Baptist Chapel and the Zion Salt Creek Baptist Chapel were of interest to family historians and often confused as they are in the same vicinity, not too distant from one another, at least by today’s standards. I had puzzled frequently over these two chapels so I decided to do some intensive research in order to sort out their establishment.
This brought to light that the Rev. Ephraim Evans, who had established the Salt Creek Baptist Chapel, on B. Roeslers Road, Eden Valley, in South Australia, had married Matilda Jane Congreve, the first woman author to be published in South Australia. Further research led me to a book on her life published in 1994.
Matilda Jane Congreve arrived in the colony of South Australia in 1852, and it is of this time that she wrote about in her novels. She is the first South Australian woman author to be published in South Australia, with her novel ‘Marian’ written with the pseudonym ‘Maud Jeanne Franc’ printed in 1859. (Her name is recorded with many different variations in spelling). The story tells of farm life near Mount Barker in South Australia, and gives an indication of social conditions of the time and the life of pioneer women. This was firstly published as a four part series, issued monthly, by Alfred Waddy of Mount Barker, and perhaps with the assistance of her half-brother George Thomas Congreve, who lived in Surrey, it was soon published by co-operation between Waddy of Mount Barker, Darton & Co of London and Binns & Goodwin; all co-publishers of the first English edition in 1860. Her books numbered many, and were often reprinted. Today we are able to download them via various sources on the internet.
Matilda arrived in South Australia with her parents Henry and Elizabeth in the ship CHATAM in 1852, two of her brothers, Henry and William, having sailed to the colony on the ship TRAFALGAR in 1848. As Baptist Church followers they believed that the religious climate of the colony would suit them. The two daughters of the family came as assisted emigrants, but father Henry was over-age and so paid £32 for himself, his wife and James, who was considered a child. Matilda and Emily paid £4 each (full fare being £25), and were described as servants or needlewomen. Governesses, which they aspired to become, were not acceptable occupations for assisted emigrants. On the journey, mother Elizabeth, died just out of Cape Town and was buried at sea, and father, Henry, was not well on arrival, with his condition described as ‘dangerous’ by the doctor on board the ship. Their arrival was later described as a ‘miserable disgrace to our fair land’, however Matilda did add that ‘sunshine does much to beautify and refresh what would often look very blank and desolate without it.’
With her father, Henry, ill for some considerable time, and her brothers, Henry and William, away at the gold rushes (as were many male members of the community in the 1850s), Matilda must have felt an obligation to provide for the family. Although quiet and gentle in nature, she had drive and determination, and decided to set up a school at their home in Finniss Street, North Adelaide, and applied for a licence as a teacher and by 25 September 1852, just three months after the families arrival in the colony, she had set up a schoolroom and had 24 students on the books. Life as a teacher was not easy, with the stipend paid by the Board of Education just £40 per annum, paid quarterly, and having to justify attendance of student numbers in order to qualify for this stipend. Life was improving; however, suddenly in December 1852, Henry Congreve died. It became difficult for the family to afford the rent for the Finniss Street premises, and with school numbers difficult to maintain, Matilda asked to conduct the school from a large chapel building in Kermode Street. This was accepted provided numbers of attendance could be maintained, and this was hopeful as at the time the address was a much better one. Despite the success of this venture, Matilda decided to move to the Mount Barker area and became a teacher at Yunkunga, a licensed teacher of the Board of Education, which lasted until January 1856, when she resigned. At the end of 1856, however, she had applied for a license to teach at a school in the heart of Mount Barker, on Hutchinson Street, just north of Gawler street. It was here that she stayed for several years, seemingly settled and able to put her experiences into a novel.
Eltham Church, image taken 2015. This church was known as the South Rhine Baptist Church in the 1860s.
On 16th February 1860 Matilda Jane Congreve married Ephraim Evans, Baptist Minister of Nuriootpa, at the Zion Chapel, Pulteney Street, Adelaide. It is not known how they met, but one can imagine a dynamic preacher such as Ephraim Evans, attracting visitors to the various chapels where he carried out his duties. These included those around the Mount Barker region.
Rev. Ephraim Evans was accepted as the school teacher at Tungkillo Mine (also known as Reedy Creek) in May 1854, however was unable to attract enough pupils for consideration of a licence to teach, despite this being the only school in the Mount Pleasant district at that time. However by July 1854 he had twenty four pupils and was granted a licence to teach, whilst preaching on Sundays. In 1856 Ephraim resigned his licence at Tungkillo, and requested a licence for the school at Nuriootpa.
Whilst, today, these regions are all within an hour of one another, in the 1850s, with no real roadways planned in the area, it must have taken some hours, if not a day or two, to travel the district.
It was in the Barossa region that he became a leader in the spread of the Baptist faith, preaching at Lyndoch Valley, Sheoak Log, Nuriootpa, Angaston, Collingrove, Tarrawatta, Flaxman’s Valley, South Rhine, Salt Creek, Tungkillo and Gumeracha. On New Year’s Day 1858 Ephraim arrived home from preaching to find his first wife had died, and he was then left with two small children to look after. In August 1859 concerned parents sent a letter of complaint to the Board of Education, and although these complaints were not substantiated, eventually Ephraim resigned his teaching duties and then devoted himself to pastoral duties.
After his marriage to Matilda, in 1860, he was much involved in travelling to visit various preaching stations and in 1861 held 231 services, attended nine tea meetings, five trustee meetings, eight church meetings, spoke to three Bible classes and baptised six believers; a considerable work load, given the travelling was on horseback at the time. Now with three children to look after, Pollie, who was five Ebby (Ebenezer), now three, and her own child, Henry Congreve Evans, born in 1860, Matilda was kept busy, dealing with daily happenings mostly on her own. Early 1861 saw Ephraim preach at the new Salem Baptist Chapel at Tungkillo, nearly 50 kilometres from Nuriootpa, where the family lived; a whole day’s ride away. In June 1862, another child, William James Evans had arrived, adding to the workload.
A new Baptist chapel was opened in January 1859, at the south end of the Barossa Valley on the Williamstown road near Lyndoch, and Ephraim became its first minister, despite still teaching at Nuriootpa. By 1862 this chapel was being subsidised by George Fife Angas annually, until it was decided to sell the chapel and build a new one in the heart of Lyndoch. On 30th August 1862 the new chapel was opened, with Ephraim as the pastor, preaching the morning service. He was one of the original trustees and set up a Sunday School there; still living at Nuriootpa.
At the same time he held services at Flaxman’s Valley, at Alexander Wishart’s residence, and later Jacob Grigg held services at his home at South Rhine near Craneford. On 11th December 1859 it was decided to establish the South Rhine Baptist Church also known as Salt Creek Baptist Chapel. Soon after, Ephraim was forced to give up the school in Nuriootpa, and one can understand why, with so much travelling to the various districts, and his continued commitment to serve both the Lyndoch Valley and South Rhine congregations.
John Barraud donated land on Section 512 Hundred of South Rhine for the South Rhine Baptist Chapel (known as Eltham Church) and the foundation stone was laid at an open air service on 19 November 1861.
This was walking distance from his property, Eltham Farm. Previously a section of land on Section 148 Hundred of South Rhine had been donated by Stephen Finn on which to erect a Baptist chapel, and trustees had been named on the deeds, however an upset occurred and the congregation soon decided on that which was given by John Barraud.
South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) Friday 6 December 1861 p 3 Article
Angaston. December 4.
Special services were held at the South Rhine on Tuesday, the 19th ult, to celebrate the laying of the foundation-stone of a new Baptist Chapel, which is being erected for the accommodation of a church and congregation of which the Rev. E. Evans is pastor, and which have met for more than two years at the house of Mr. Jacob Greig. The land on which the chapel is being built is the gift of Mr. J. Barraud, and is within about 300 yards of the South Rhine Post-Office. A large number of persons, many of whom were from Angaston, attended the ceremony. The first service commenced about half-past 3 o'clock, and was con- ducted by the Rev. E. Evans, assisted by Mr. Howard, of Reedy Creek. At its conclusion Mr. Evans laid the corner-stone, under which was placed a bottle, containing a copy of the Observer, in which the advertisement calling the meeting appeared, and a document bearing the names of the trustees and pastor, and describing the position of the church and the causes which led to the erection of the building. Many of the spectators then laid their offerings on the stone, and about £6 was then subscribed towards the building fund. An excellent tea had been provided by the ladies connected with the congregation in a tent erected for the purpose, and about 200 people partook of it. An evening meeting, which commenced about 7 o'clock, was also held in the tent. The Rev. E. Evans occupied the chair, and addresses were de livered by the Chairman, the Rev. J. Hannay, Mr. Howard, and one or two other friends. The proceeds of the tea and the collection amounted to about £20, and I believe about £80 has been subscribed in all, besides £50 promised by the Hon. G. F. Angas, on condition that £80 should be raised from other sources.
In January 1863 Ephraim wrote that he had ‘travelled nearly 4,000 miles, held 205 public services, delivered 5 lectures, attended 8 tea meetings and baptized twice.’ In March 1863 the family, now with four children, moved to a house adjoining the South Rhine Church; perhaps to ease the workload for Ephraim. However, the morning of the opening service of the chapel, Good Friday, Ephraim left after breakfast and family worship, to attend the chapel, but not far from his home he collapsed and was carried home unconscious, with paralysis. He remained in a semi-conscious state until his death on Easter Monday, 6 April 1863.
The opening of the chapel went ahead as planned…
OPENING OF THE NEW BAPTIST CHAPEL, SOUTH RHINE AND DEATH OF REV. E. EVANS.—An esteemed correspondent at Angaston has favoured us with the following communication:—"On Good Friday, the 3rd inst., the opening services of the new Baptist Chapel, South Rhine, were held. An appropriate sermon was preached in the afternoon by the Rev. John Hannay ; after which, an excellent tea was provided by the ladies connected with the chapel. A public meeting was held in the evening, at which Mr. Kealley presided. The attendance was very good, the chapel being well filled. Interesting addresses were delivered by the Chairman, the Rev. J. Hannay, Mr. John Williams, of Barossa, Mr. Baker, of Salt Creek, Mr. Thomas, of Lyndoch, and Mr. G. C.Thyer. About £13 was collected towards defraying the building expenses of the chapel, which is a neat and commodious stone edifice. A feeling of sadness pervaded the whole of the proceedings owing to the sudden and alarming illness of the pastor of the church, the Rev. Ephraim Evans, who had risen that morning apparently in tolerable health; but congestion of the brain, brought on by over-fatigue, had laid him low before noon, and during the services he lay, seemingly unconscious, at his residence, close to the chapel. Dr. Millner was called in, but all his skill and attention proved unavailing; paralysis came on, and the patient gradually sank until last Monday evening, when he breathed his last. The funeral took place in this township on Thursday afternoon. The first part of the service was held in the Angaston Chapel where the Rev. J. Hannay delivered a solemn address to a large congregation; after which, the earthly remains of the departed were followed to the cemetery by a large number of persons, many of whom were members of Mr. Evans's own congregation, and had come ten or twelve miles to show a last token of their respect for their pastor. Mr. Hannay delivered another short address at the grave, and the coffin was then consigned to the silent tomb. On Sunday morning, 12th inst., a funeral sermon was preached in the Angaston Chapel by the Rev. J. Hannay, who took for his text the words "It is expedient for you that I go away"—John xvi. 7. Many came from a distance to be present on the occasion, and the attendance was unusually large. Perhaps a few particulars concerning Mr. Evans's life and labours may be interesting to your readers. Before coming to Australia he resided in London, and was employed as a missionary in connection with the New Park-street Church. He arrived in this colony about nine years ago in the same vessel as our highly-esteemed and much-regretted fellow-townsman the late Dr. Birks. He lived for some time at Reedy Creek, but about seven years since settled at Nuriootpa, where he was employed as a licensed teacher. He also commenced preaching in the neighbourhood. The number of his preaching stations soon so increased that he was led to give up his school and devote his whole time to the work of the ministry. He held services at the Sheaoak Log, Lyndoch Valley, the South Rhine, Tarrawatta, and Nuriootpa, and occasionally in other townships, often preaching three times and riding from 15 to 30 miles on the Sabbath. He afterwards gave up the service at the Sheaoak, and about ten days before his death left Nuriootpa to reside at the South Rhine, intending to devote his energies more especially to the service of the Baptist Churches there and at Lyndoch Valley, both of which had been established and built up in a great measure through his instrumentality. His health seems to have been impaired by his arduous labours. He had long been subject to disease of the heart, and this complaint being aggravated by the fatigue and excitement consequent upon his removal from Nuriootpa, and preparations for the opening of the South Rhine Chapel, brought on the disease which terminated his life. Mr. Evans has left behind a widow and four young children who are not very well provided for. A subscription list has been opened for the benefit of the widow and children, and several gentlemen have already contributed liberally.
Throughout its life the chapel hosted regular speakers commenting on subjects such as "Modern Heroes", "Robert Burns", Ëngland a hundred years ago"and "Japan and the Japanese - the war and its causes", as well as concerts and the like.
Mr Henry Rogers, who died in 1898, was a well respected member of the church and treasurer of the South Rhine Baptist Church.
Today the chapel is still standing and is in reasonable condition, on private land, and I presume that the bottle placed under the corner-stone is still in situ; there is no evidence of the house in which the Evans family once lived.
Matilda was left a widow, once again reliant on her own devices, with four children – two step-children and two of her own. Throughout her marriage she had continued writing her books and articles for various papers and magazines. Now she had to again rebuild her life.
By the beginning of 1864 Matilda had moved her family to Angaston and by the end of that year she had established a new school for young ladies. It is probable that Emily, her sister, who had been suffering illness throughout her life, and had been teaching in Adelaide, decided to assist Matilda at this school, at least for some of the time. By June of 1868 there is evidence that Matilda was renting two properties, a house and garden, and a schoolhouse and garden, as she had rental in arrears, but had managed to pay this by the end of the year. She advertised for 12 boarders, but would have taken paid day students as well. Angaston was an affluent area and at the time the wealthy of the district would have been happy to have such a qualified teacher for their daughters.
Once again settled, Matilda continued her writing. These stories were always based on her life experiences, with a religious comment, and so give an insight into the community and living at the time, not unlike that of the Bronte sisters. The female characters are always strong and have ‘qualities of endurance and persistance necessary to survival.’ Ephraim Evans had been strong in the temperance movement where he had clashed with people in both Nuriootpa and Angaston. His influence included Matilda and Minnie’s Mission, published in 1869 was the first of four temperance novels. Alcoholism had become an issue in the Angaston district and there was a strong movement, resulting in the formation of the Angaston Band of Hope and Total Abstinence Society (although it is not known if Matilda was a part of this). Hall’s Vineyard, published in 1875, was requested ‘by some of the leading citizens of Angaston who believed that wine was proving too much of a temptation to young people’. Matilda had a reputation for writing successful temperance stories, but despite her success, her financial circumstances were precarious, resulting in her step-children being sent to Ephraim’s stepmother in England, who in actual fact did not want them, and so their treatment was not good. They remained there, however, until they were old enough to fend for themselves, and in 1878 they returned to South Australia where Ebenezer took charge of a store at Tarcowie, with Pollie as his housekeeper.
Pollie taught music in the Tarcowie district, eventually marrying Joseph Lines and having eight children. She never lost touch with Matilda and visited her at North Adelaide, where Matilda decided to move after the step-children had gone to England. Ebenezer married Rachel Drake of North Adelaide in 1881 and continued as storekeeper at Tarcowie before moving to Fremantle in Western Australia where he continued his work as a storekeeper for some years.
In 1869 an advertisement for Matilda’s new school at North Adelaide, called ‘Angaston-Cottage’ but renamed Angaston House within a few days, was placed and was to be ‘an Institution for Young Ladies conducted by Mrs E. Evans and competent masters’. On her return to North Adelaide she joined the Baptist Church and regularly attended there for the remainder of her life. Her book Silken Cords and Iron Fetters is set in North Adelaide, and there are comparisons with her time there in 1852 to that of 1869. It was serialised in The Gawler Times and Goldfields Reporter, the former being a new paper set up and edited by John Baptist Austin, the son of Rev. J. B. Austin.
By 1873 the school had moved to larger premises just across the road from the previous school, and there were always vacancies for two or three young ladies as boarders each term. Again, in 1880, there was a move to larger premises, not too distant from these previous schools, and throughout, Matilda continued to write in some form, be it books, serialisations or the like. By 1883, however, advertisements for her school ceased, and Matilda was no longer in charge of a school, but did continue her writing in retirement. She was elected a deaconess of her church and was allotted a special district for visiting which included Bowden-on-the-Hill, Ovingham and the west side of Prospect. This would have been a large area to visit on foot, but it is unknown how she travelled. In the last year of her life she moved to Prospect with her boys, and probably Emily, making it easier in her pastoral work. After her death there was a memorial window placed in the North Adelaide Baptist Church where she served for so many years, but today there is no evidence of this window, or where it went.
Throughout her life Matilda was in constant contact with her brothers, sister and extended family. She died on 22 October 1886, of peritonitis and was buried at the West Terrace Cemetery. Rev W.E. Rice, on the Sunday morning following, preached a special sermon in her honour…
In her death we have lost a valued friend and a devoted helper in the work of the Lord. Those of us who know her best loved her most. Her quiet, unassuming, gentle disposition captivated our affection, and I believe I give expression to the feelings of the members of this Church generally when I say we didn’t know how much we loved her until she was taken away from us. We mourn our loss and deeply do we sympathize with her bereaved children and the other members of her family. But while her death to us is ‘loss’, to her it is ‘gain’. When for a few minutes I was permitted to see her in her extreme weakness, and with that thoughtfulness which characterized her whole life she told me I had helped her to attain the rest of faith, I felt and do feel that if I had lived and preached only to help upwards and heavenwards such a one as ‘Maud Jeanne Franc’ it were worth living for.
In the Gawler newspaper The Bunyip her brother Henry wrote in her obituary…
Naturally of a retiring disposition, only a select circle of friends were enabled to appreciate the full value of her character. Utterly unselfish, she lived only for others, and even within a few minutes of her death was her marvellous love for others and her self-forgetfulness displayed. As a daughter, sister, wife, mother or friend she was everything that could be wished. Looking death full in the face, not a cloud or doubt darkened her mind, but she dropped asleep, relying on the promises and love of God.
The Kapunda Herald wrote…
South Australian literature has lost a bright ornament. On Friday night, at Prospect, died Matilda Jane Evans (widow of the late Mr. Evans, Baptist minister, dead many years, and I believe brother of Mr. Henry Congreve, of Gawler). Mrs. Evans's writing name was “Maude Jeanne Franc," and she was a very prolific authoress, whose every line was eagerly welcomed by English publishers, and widely read. She suffered greatly, but she never wrote a gloomy line. Her spirit was devoutness itself, and yet not a chilling phrase occurred in all her boots. Her sketches of home life are really beautiful; her characters are all true to human nature, and her descriptions of Australian scenery are remarkable for the certainty with which in a most unobtrusive way they introduce absolutely all the striking points of that scenery. Maud Jeanne Franc was a diffident lady, rarely appearing in any public manner, but she wrote with a higher purpose than money-making. She tried to do good, and she has done good. No one can read one of her books without being softened by it, and without receiving some inspiration of higher things.
The genius of the mother has in some degree descended to her two sons. Harry Evans, the elder, is chief reporter on the Advertiser, a smart newsman, and writer of several short tales, published here and there. The longest, "For dear Art's sake," appeared in the Port Augusta Dispatch four or five years ago and, although it was marred by unavoidable haste, there was some good writing in it. His brother, W. J. Evans, engaged in the same office, is a remarkably clever caricaturist. His etchings are irresistibly humorous and if he would only develop this gift he would make a great name. He is a capital singer, and a good-natured, kind-hearted fellow of such fantastic conceits that in the days of the Pilgrims Club he was always looked to, and never vainly, to move the members to uncontrollable mirth at their monthly "halte" rights. One or two of his comic poems remind one of Bret Harte's, and as a writer of more serious verse alone he would be entitled to a high reputation. He won a Literary Societies Union prize for some dramatic lines in 1883, and recited his poem in the Town Hall. He has moreover often brightened the Christmas and other issues of the Observer with his works.
There are no direct descendants of Matilda Jane Evans nee Congreve. Her two sons were unmarried and both died young, Harry in January 1899, aged 38 years, of pneumonia arising from a cold he contracted when a weather change arrived whilst on a bicycle ride in the hills, and Willie in September 1904, aged 41 years, from a paralytic stroke, like his father. They were ‘talented journalists, entertaining literary men, with wide circles of friends’. The presence of the Premier, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, the Mayor of Adelaide, and the Under Treasurer at the funeral of Harry testifies to the great respect they received. Both sons were much admired which is a testament to their upbringing and the standing they had in the community.
Matilda’s estate only amounted to £100. She left £25 to her sister Emily together with clothing, her canary and ‘all Miss Warner’s books’. Her sons, as executors, were asked to give some article as a remembrance of her to her brothers and stepchildren. Emily lived a further ten years, dying in 1896, leaving an estate of £975. Small legacies were left to her nephews and niece, sister-in-law, inmates of the Destitute Asylum, the Bible Society and the Norwood and Adelaide poor. The remainder of the estate was divided between her brothers, Henry, William, Frederick and James. Emily’s first request was to be buried with her father and sister in West Terrace Cemetery, with instructions as to what wording was to be placed on the headstone. When Matilda’s sons died their headstones were erected by friends and admirers on the same grave.
Three of Matilda’s brothers are buried at Payneham Cemetery. Frederick died in September 1906, William in July 1907 and Henry in 1918. James had moved interstate and died in Brisbane, aged 94 in July 1934.
Barbara Wall’s book, ‘Our Own Matilda : Matilda Jane Evans 1827-1886 : Pioneer Woman and Novelist’, is a fascinating read, and gives an extensive description of the books and articles written throughout the life of Maud Jeanne Franc. I am a long way from my research on the Baptist Chapels in the South Rhine/Eden Valley area, but the journey I have travelled in learning of the life of this remarkable woman has been an interesting one, and one that has been a pleasure to partake.
(This article was written by myself for the Australian Family Tree Connection magazine, which no longer is in print.
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