Mabel Hartrick – grave tales

Mabel Hartman – Photo Ancestry.com

Mabel Hutchinson was born in Walhalla, Victoria in 1874. She was the daughter of William Hutchinson and Mary Ann nee Lapping. At the age of 24yrs, young Mabel Hutchinson travelled to the Western Australian town of Geraldton where she married Charles Francis Fade Hartrick in 1899. The following photograph shows Charles with his brother Harry in Walhalla so I would think that Mable already knew Charles before coming to WA.

Harry and Charles Hartrick in Walhalla VIC 1895 – Photo Ancestry.com

Charles had moved to Lennonville to engage in mining. He applied to secure a mining lease with George Miller and Charles Birch in 1902 and was one of the shareholders of the Young Colonial Quartz Claim. Soon after the marriage, the couple moved to Lennonville, and their first and only child was born, Roland Standish Hartrick, on 13 Oct 1900. Their marriage was not to be a long one and on the the28th Sep 1907, Mabel succumbed to Tuberculosis.

Mt Magnet Miner and Lennonville Leader 6 Oct 1906

Photos of the grave by Doug Hardman

Hers is the only identified grave in the Lennonville Cemetery. After Mabel’s death, Charles returned to Victoria where he met and married Gertrude Mary McCoy nee Strickland. This was also Gertrude’s second marriage. The couple had no children but Gertrude had a daughter from her first marriage, Agnes Shepphers McCoy.

So Mabel is indeed resting a long way from home and in a very isolated cemetery with less than 30 burials. I think that an effort to mark her grave appropriately was made and this is why it survives today. Rest in peace, Mable.

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Moya Sharp

Owner at Outback Family History

My name is Moya Sharp, I live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia and have worked most of my adult life in the history/museum industry. I have been passionate about history for as long as I can remember and in particular the history of my adopted home the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Through my website I am committed to providing as many records and photographs free to any one who is interested in the family and local history of the region.

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