Emma Saltmarsh
1845–1934 · Tasmania
Emma’s life stretched across almost nine decades of Tasmanian history. Born at Longford in 1845, she became a mother at 21, later married Joseph William Torley and raised a large family as they moved from the Midlands into north-eastern Tasmania. Through her daughter Clara, Emma’s story continues directly through my family to the present day.
First Fleet → Norfolk Island → Tasmania → Emma → Clara → Pearl → Lexie → Shirley → Peter → Ashley
Emma’s Story
Emma Saltmarsh was born at Longford, Tasmania, on 18 March 1845, the daughter of John Saltmarsh and Elizabeth Letitia Hodgetts. Her family was already deeply rooted in Tasmania, with earlier generations reaching back through Norfolk Island to the First Fleet.
In 1866, when Emma was 21 and unmarried, she gave birth to my great-great-grandmother, Clara Elizabeth Saltmarsh. Clara’s original birth registration names Emma as her mother and records no father. The birth was registered by Emma’s mother, Elizabeth Saltmarsh, giving us a remarkable contemporary record linking three generations of the family.
Three years later, Emma married Joseph William Torley in Launceston on 19 January 1869. Together they went on to have a large family. Clara retained the Saltmarsh name, but the records suggest she remained connected with her mother as Emma and the Torley family gradually moved from the Longford district towards north-eastern Tasmania.
That move became a defining part of Emma’s life. Her children’s birthplaces trace the family from Longford through Evandale and Morven to Ringarooma, where Emma was still living in 1914. Clara was also at Ringarooma when she married Herbert Daniel Neal there in 1888, placing mother and daughter in the same north-eastern Tasmanian community.
Emma and Joseph were married for almost sixty years before Joseph died in 1928. By the early 1930s Emma was living at Winnaleah. A photograph from this period shows her as an elderly woman sitting outdoors reading—a wonderfully personal glimpse of her near the end of a life spanning almost nine decades.
Emma died at Winnaleah on 10 August 1934, aged 89, and was buried at Moorina two days later. Through Clara, Pearl, Lexie and Shirley, her line eventually reaches me and my daughter Ashley.
Emma’s Family
John Saltmarsh + Elizabeth Letitia Hodgetts
↓
Emma Saltmarsh
Clara Elizabeth Saltmarsh
↓
Pearl Neal → Lexie Atkinson → Shirley Hyland → Peter → Ashley
Emma Saltmarsh + Joseph William Torley
↓
Nine children