James Thomas Lenton & Amy Gard

While living in the old house on the stony hill, overlooking the Jordan River, at Brighton, Amy met James Lenton. Robert Gard objected to their friendship, but they met secretly and Amy ran away from home to marry James. A story she told us many times, was how she put a lighted candle in the window of her bedroom to signal to James where he lived on the other side of the river. She told me that when new candles were made her mother would put some extra ones in a draw in her bedroom but never said a word about them.

There was a small foot bridge across a narrow part of the river at that time, used by Amy and Jim. They had two daughters, Beryl and Rosa, who were still only small children when James died from cancer. During his illness and after his death was a very hard time for Amy. She and her two little girls lived for a time with Mrs Lenton and her daughter at Brighton where Amy earned a living by doing sewing. Later she moved to several places to work as the housekeeper, including "Fernihurst" at Pelham and for Mr Sargeant at Risdon. It was while at "Fernihurst" that she met Fred Iles.

Amy and Fred were married at Trinity Church in Hobart on 1st June 1905. My mother Elvie Emma, was always called Jean was their only child. They had lived at Brown Mt. and my mother was born while they were living at Richmond. Later they moved to Hobart where Grandfather worked for Roberts and Co. and J.G. Turner. They lived at Bellerive and Sandy Bay before settling at Batter Pt. My mother and father lived with them there for most of my childhood days and I have fond memories of my Grandmother there. She was a great gardener and knew all the botanical names of the flowers and always and always had a colourful display in her garden, while Grandfather grew vegetables and kept bees in a garden on ground at the back of their place.

All their relatives lived in the country and when they came to town, they always came to see "Aunt Amy" and "Uncle Fred", always a meal made for them and often beds were found when needed. Amy was godmother to the eldest son of a cousin of Grandfather and for all that branch of the family she was called Godmother and was "mother" to all the family.

When Grandfather retired, they built a small house at Margate next door to daughter Rosa and her husband Ted Dunne and once more made a lovely garden and had lots of visitors. While they were able, they enjoyed walks in the bush and on the beach. Fred died in 1953 and my husband, Noel, daughter Deb and I, lived with Amy for four and a half years. Though her sight was failing, she still did a lot of crochet work and taught Deb to crochet when she was only four years old. Amy often asked me to read to her from her old books though she could remember every word and still recited poetry. She could remember her early days better than what had happened yesterday and I deeply regret not having asked her more about it all and written it down. Her brother Walter came to live nearby with his daughter Gladys and he and Amy spent time together going over the old days. Amy was loved by all and was sadly missed when she died in her 92nd year.

Nanette Worsley