Dear Marlene,
I can provide you with the following basic biographical information about David Pierpoint.
David Pierpoint was born abt 1817 in Sussex and baptised in 1820 in Lewes, East Sussex. He travelled to Newfoundland at around 18-20 years of age, possibly as a qualified stonemason and settled in St Johns where he married Elizabeth Richardson Pitt. During his time in Newfoundland, he was the witness for at least two marriage ceremonies in St Johns, presumably friends (one in 1847 and again in 1851). David & Elizabeth Pierpoint had five known children in Newfoundland: Caroline b. 1841; Elizabeth b. 1845; William b. 1845 (probably twins as this runs in our family); David b. 1848; Mary Ann b. 1852 d.1852 and Mercy b. 1853 in London. He and his family must have returned to England in around 1852 because Mercy, their youngest was born there and they emigrated from Southampton to Port Phillip in 1855 on the vessel, Sea King.
After emigrating, they settled in Geelong where David worked on the roads and was initially paid 15 shillings per week plus rations. Three more children were born in and around Geelong David b. 1857; Joseph b. 1860 d. 1860 and Louisa Ann b. 1861.
David worked as a stonemason or a mason, according to various local directories. In around 1871, David by then aged in his 50s, appears to have changed his occupation and became a publican or hotelkeeper in Ballan operating an as yet unknown hotel in Inglis Street, Ballan and remained in the hotel trade until at least 1876.
David's son, William, also a stonemason, followed him into the hotel trade in 1873 by obtaining a license to operate a hotel at North Ballan and appears to have had a chequered career.
In 1875 and again in 1876 David was declared insolvent- the cause of which appears to be debts run up by one of his sons (probably William).
The family moved to Shepparton, in central Victoria sometime in the 1880s which is where David died. His recorded occupation at the time of death was bricklayer. His wife died in 1892 in Ballan which is where one of her sons was residing.
His probate papers show that David Pierpoint was a man of very small means. The family certainly did not strike it rich in the colonies, but they seem to have enjoyed a comfortable living standard - and have many descendants here in Australia - mostly still in Victoria.
Family legend has it that Elizabeth Richardson Pitt (b. 1820 Dorset, England) went to the Americas as a nanny for a wealthy family. She would have been barely 18 years of age at the time. The story goes that she knew David Pierpoint before this trip and he followed her there with a view to renewing the acquaintance. This story has been difficult to validate as I have never found any records of their voyage to Newfoundland. There are also some tantalising hints that this story may not be based in fact. For instance, Elizabeth Pitt's father and brother were also resident in Newfoundland, which tends to undermine the notion that she travelled there as a nanny.
I am a descendant of David Pierpoint via their second daughter, Elizabeth Pierpoint who married Joseph Briggs, an engine driver, at Creswick in 1864 and they had 12 children, all born in Creswick in central Victoria, including two sets of twins. I have a photograph of one set of twins (Henrietta and Mary Ann Briggs) taken in the 1880s with their sister, Ada Briggs who was my GG grandmother. Please email me at
CoolJazz@y7mail.com if you would like a copy of this portrait. Apologies if you already have this information.
This is about all that I know of David Pierpoint. I do not believe that there are any surviving photographs of him or his wife. However, I do have a small photo of his son, William. And, as mentioned I have a photo of three of his grand-daughters.
Kind Regards
Bronwyn Higgs