birthday greetings and life changes
1890 was a big year for George Elliott Goodwin. Having just turned 20, he married Jane Eliza Binning at the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church (pictured), and moved into her family home on Barbadoes Street, where Jane's parents were also living. George was a storeman, and may have lived with his parents in Colombo Street prior to marrying. Jane was 22 when the pair married and may have been working up until their marriage, although there’s no record of this.
When George moved into Jane's house, he brought with him a poignant reminder of his own family: a birthday card given to him by his mother Mary the previous year. The front of the card features blue flowers, a Bible verse (Isiah 30:15) and a sentimental image of a bird looking over a nest whilst another flies in with a stick to add to the nest. Perhaps the card was chosen for this image, in the knowledge that George would soon be marrying and moving into his own home?
On the back, George’s mother Mary had written:
To my dear Son
George Elliott
Goodwin from
His loving Mother
on his 20 Birthday
May Joy and...
With Love Always
This card was found in the walls of 'the cottage on the corner' during renovations.
The house George moved into was tiny - less than 90 square metres. And it would soon have felt smaller, with the birth of George and Jane's only child, Rosanna Jane Olindo Goodwin, in 1891. Jane's parents - Ann and (another) George Binning - continued to live with the young family until their deaths, in 1897 and 1898 respectively.
