unknown 17 High Street Launceston Tasmania Australia William Fordyce William Overend, Bessie Best, Eric George & Emily Alice

Mrs Elizabeth Martha Fordyce was born in 1858, the second daughter of Best Overend and his wife Elizabeth Gould. She had three sisters and five brothers, all born in Brunswick, Victoria, where their father was an undertaker. Three of her siblings died young. On 13 Feb 1879 Elizabeth Overend married William Fordyce from the Shetland Isles, Scotland. Their first three children, William Overend, Bessie Best and Eric George, were born in Hawthorn, and their fourth, Emily, was born in Launceston in 1887. William Fordyce was a warehouseman in the DW Murray building at 16 Paterson Street. Eric George fought in World War I, gained the rank of Major and was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1918. All their children married: Bessie to Henry Russell in 1906 in Launceston; Emily, who was a nurse before marriage, to Frederick Grutzner in Victoria in 1916; William to Amelia Pincott in 1924; and Eric to Sarah Curtin in 1928. Elizabeth died in Camberwell, Victoria, on 23 Jun 1915.

Pauline Blyth Oct 2008