Family:George Groves and Ellen Dixon (1)

In 1880 Ellen married George Groves in Portland. Marriage witnesses were John Keill (?) and Hannah Holdsworth. The marriage certificate gives Ellen's surname as Lewis, her age as 31 (although she was probably 38 or 39), and indicates that she was a widow and that her husband died in 1877. It also gives George's age as 30 years when he would only have been 23. It is not yet known for certain whether the deceased husband to which this certificate refers is the unknown Lewis or John Power. However, there is a death certificate for a John Power of the appropriate age in February 1878. As no record of a marriage to Lewis has been found, it appears that it is probably the death of John Power that is referred to. The marriage certificate also indicates that Ellen had only 1 child from a previous marriage. This may mean that the other children were in the care of someone else at this time. Or perhaps Ellen was embarrassed by her past. It may also be that this one child is Emma and that George was the son of George Groves, rather than Lewis, born out of wedlock. (His name, George, does lend some weight to this possibility.) Power's children may have stayed with their father or his family.

Ellen and George had 3 children after their marriage - William, Elizabeth Ellen and Ellen. Ellen was about 45 years old when she had her youngest child, also called Ellen (although young Ellen's birth certificate states that her mother was 39 and born in Geelong). It appears that Ellen and George also raised Jessie May, born in 1892, daughter of Jane (father not given), as their own. On Jessie's death certificate, they are named as her parents. There is also a child, May, listed on Ellen's death certificate, who is probably Jessie May.

Three of Ellen's earlier children, Jane, Emma and George, all appear, on later documents, to have adopted the surname Groves. It therefore appears likely that they lived with their mother and stepfather after their marriage. So far, no information has been found about the children from the marriage to John Power, except for Mary, who died at about 17 months of age, and David, who appears to have died in Ararat in 1950.

1. ↑ Vic Marriage Reg. No. 4726/1880.