THE WATTS FAMILY OF NINE MILE
The GLEN ELLEN property was a black soil piece of country of the Nine Mile/Alton Downs Road area where Anthony WATTS from Mackay, Qld and Katherine Sophia STRUBER, his wife, established a farm which was bought from a family called RATTENBURY. Their family began with twins - Stephen and Ellen (Nellie): Dorothy: Frederick: Herbert: Mary and Thomas. Dairy farming was the main income for the family.
As the family grew they all attended the Dalma Road State School, Katherine Sophia, aged 42 years, lost her life (1922), her youngest child was still a baby. Anthony settled to a second marriage to Mary Anne MOORE from the Alton Downs/Dalma district. With her help to rear the young children and with her dressmaking ability, all the family grew to adulthood and settled as married people.
The eldest son, Stephen married Elizabeth HYNES from the Alton Downs area. Her father opened and owned the only hotel in the area. They settled in Ridgelands on a dairy farm having four children - James, Kevin, Elizabeth and Veronica.
The eldest daughter of the WATTS family, Ellen (Nellie) married a neighbour - Joseph ROSEL. They settled on a dairy farm at WATER-VIEW, Nine Mile and had two children - Frederick and Maureen.
The third WATTS member, Dorothy married Matthew TYRRELL and settled on the STONEY POINT Farm, Nine Mile. Matthew was a building contractor and there are four children - Irene: Marjorie: George and Donald.
The fourth WATTS family, Frederick married Mavis HOARE from the Alton Downs area and they settled on a dairy farm at Ridgelands for some years. There are two children, namely Lionel and Pauline.
The fifth member of the WATTS family was Herbert, who never married. He helped his parents at GLEN ELLEN till he moved to Ayr, North Queensland and worked in the sugar cane industry.
The sixth member of the WATTS family is Mary and she married Frederick HOARE. They spent most of their married life at HAZELDENE, Westwood, with dairying and cattle grazing. They had five children - Marlene: Beryl: Catherine: Lorraine and Gordon.
The last member of the seven was Thomas, who spent some years in the army in Korea and New Guinea. On return, he moved to Ayr, North Qld and married Josephine WHELAN. He worked with the sugar cane industry. They had three children- Philip: Colin and Gail.
As the family moved on into their new lives, as married people, GLEN ELLEN was sold. Anthony and Mary Anne WATTS retired to Rockhampton in the year 1951 after working for over forty years in a rural environment.
