Ben Hall Family 1802-1977
Late in the evening they discovered horses and afterwards a man collected them and led them a short distance and hobbled them. The man then camped while the Police surrounded him but could not close as they feared the horses grazing nearby would alarm the sleeper. About half past six in the morning the man was seen going to the horses. The sub inspector identified the man as Ben Hall. He called him to stand and fired at him when he did not. The sergeant and black tracker fired immediately afterwards and five other police also fired. About 30 shots in all. Hall fell. His body was perforated with bullets. He was buried at Forbes. He was 27 years of age.
His son Henry survived him. His wife later married Taylor and died at Cobargo on February 8, 1923.
The date of birth of the next child Catherine is doubtful. Some accounts give her birth as 1843, her marriage certificate would indicate 1840 but if her age at death was 75 she must have been born in 1838.
She remained in Murrurundi and at Blandford until on December 8, 1864 she married Joseph Downing Woods a wheelwright of Haydonton who also had one of the Pentland farms. She appears to have lived in Haydonton for some years after her marriage but later returned to her father's farm at Blandford where after the death of her mother she appears to have taken charge of the domestic arrangements and to have acquired a dominating influence over her father.
By her father's will she received the greater part of his farm and she continued to reside on the farm until in 1883 she and her family moved to Gunnedah.
After her husband's death she moved back to the farm where she was living when she became ill in 1908. She was taken to the Murrurundi Hospital where she died on December 25, 1908. She was buried in St. Joseph's churchyard.
She had six children of whom five survived her.
After her death her children sold her section of the farm to Barbara Idstein on October 16, 1910.
The next child Robert grew up in Haydonton and as a youth and young man was often joined with his brother Edward in acquiring cattle and horses so much so that he was a frequent defendant in the Murrurundi court. He was a capable stockman and found no difficulty in getting rural employment. He normally resided with his father.
In 1870 he married Mary O'Neill and set up his home at Murrurundi. His wife died before 1873 and he returned to the farm.
In 1875 he married a widow Kathleen Roworth who already had three children. His wife owned a number of selections of Doughboy Hollow Creek, near Kankool where Robert lived after marriage and which thereafter managed.
When he married he announced he was abandoning his old ways. Nevertheless in 1878 he was charged with cattle stealing. He was acquitted and was then charged with suborning crown witnesses. To defend this case he engaged Mr R. G. D. Fitzgerald of Muswellbrook who successfully defended him.
On 19th May, 1887 his wife Kathleen died leaving him with four young children of his own and three step children somewhat older. Robert remained on the property which he had obtained from his wife and continued the occupation of a small grazier. Some years later he married again but there were no children of the third marriage.
Robert having attained the greatest age of any of Beniamins children died in 1935 and was buried in St. Joseph's churchyard.
The youngest boy Henry became the most able of Benjamin's family. He was the only one to receive any education.
In his youth he was like Robert involved in Edward's escapades and became under notice of the Police. There is however no record of his ever being convicted of any offence.
He was an accomplished horseman and on occasions was a member of Bernard Haydon of Bloomfield team of musterers who mustered wild horses and cattle found in the mountains of Murrurundi district. He was clearly thought well of by Bernard Haydon who on several occasions gave evidence in his favour when the Police threatened to charge him with stealing.
On 19th August, 1866 he married Elizabeth Rideout. After marriage it seems that he rented a cottage on Glenalvon as his home.
On January 26, 1876 he became a member of the Murrurundi Lodge of the MUIOOF and remained a member for the rest of his life.
In that year also he became a mail contractor for the mail run Murrurundi to Tambar Springs via Glasston, Blackville, Yarraman and Bundella and held the contract for a great number of years.
After 1870 there is no record of him being involved in any Court proceeding other than the cattle stealing case launched against him and Robert in 1878 and the later charge of suborning witnesses. He was acquitted on both occasions. Mr. J. P. Abbott (later Sir Joseph) appeared for him in each case.
Henry, while still mail contracting in 1878, purchased a property which he called Braefield from Tom Curley who had operated an inn there which closed after the railway opened to Quirindi. In 1883 he bought his brother Edward's land adjoining. He apparently established his residence on the land after he bought Curley's land and in 1887 erected a new residence.
Early in 1884 he applied to the Railway Department to establish a siding near Braefield. This application was refused. Later the Railway Department did establish a siding between Willow Tree and Quirindi which was called Braefield and still later one near Braefield (Henry Hall's residence) which was called Kankool.
In addition to the Braefield blocks Henry also selected a number of parcels of Crown land in the vicinity. He established a flock of sheep and concentrated on improving both their wool yield and the quality of the wool. In this, in the beginning, he was assisted with advice from Bernard Haydon. He also became a member of the Sheepbreeders' Association.
He was elected as a Councillor to the newly established Warrah Shire Council in 1908 and remained a member until his death. Somewhat earlier he had become a member of the Quirindi Pastoral and Agricultural Society and in 1917 became its president. This office he also held until his death.
He was also appointed a member of the Local Repatriation Committee with the task of aiding the re-establishment and settlement of returned soldiers.
He died in May 1919 and was survived by nine of his 11 children. He was buried at Willow Tree.
The youngest child Ellen was born on June 19, 1850 but possibly because of her father's journeys to the Lachlan district was not baptised until February 19, 1854.
She resided with her parents until she married Daniel Meehan a boundary rider employed by the Australian Agricultural Company on 30th April, 1873.
As mentioned her father had allotted four acres of his farm on which her residence was erected. This land was devised her by her father's will.
After her sister Catherine went to Gunnedah it appears that she and her family took over the whole of the farm until she died in 1893. She was buried at St. Joseph's. She was survived by six children.
Her land was sold by her children to Barbara Idstein on June 21, 1909.
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