Biography: Susannah Waples (1855-1927)

Susannah Waples
(1855-1927)
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Susan Jolliffe (nee Waples), circa 1909
Susan Waples was born at Berkeley, in the Illawarra district of NSW, on 4 May 1855. She was the tenth child of George Waples and his wife Amelia (nee Carlisle). When Susan was a young child, the family moved to a small farm on Mt Kembla where she lived throughout her childhood and into her early twenties.
Susan's mother died in the winter of 1876, when Susan was 21 years old. Her 69 year old father expected her to look after him in his dotage but Susan wanted to get married. Against her father's wishes she married James Jolliffe, a widower with two daughters, on 30 December 1878. The Jolliffe family was also a well-established dynasty in the Illawarra but James and Susan moved to the central-west of NSW where they lived for the remainder of their lives.

James and Susan's first child, Herbert George, was born in 1879. He was followed by William Alexander (1881), James (1883), Emily (1885), Arthur (1887), David (1889), Mary (1890), Amelia (1892), Albert (1894), Elizabeth (1896) and Eileen (1897).

During the first years of their marriage, the couple moved around to wherever work was available. In time, however, James bought land and the family settled at Gooloogong, near Canowindra.

Susan passed away on 30 July 1927 aged 72. She is buried at Gooloogong with her husband who survived her by nine years.