Shep's Place Family Tree

Thomas Spencer West was raised by his mother who married Henry Oliver, a fisherman of Teddington. At the age of 19 he became apprenticed to his stepfather as a fisherman.

He married Lucy Jennings of Teddington on the 10th July, 1819. They set sail on the 28th September, 1820 in the Duchess of York, after paying £20 for the cabin. The ship sailed directly to Hobart, arriving there on the 25th February, 1821, and spent four weeks in port before sailing on to Sydney, arriving on the 5th April, 1821.

Thomas Spencer West went to see his father, whom he had last seen when he was four years old. Thomas West had established a new family in N.S.W., and owned the Barcom Glen estate near Rushcutters Bay, where he operated a water mill. A rift between father and son developed, and they had nothing further to do with each other.

Thomas Spencer West became a warehouse keeper for the firm of Jones, Riley and Walker, then later opened his own shop in Kent Street, Sydney. In 1832 he became the publican of the Barque Woodlark in Kent Street, which was later known as the Woodlark Inn and the Ship Inn.

On the 30th December, 1843 he purchased lot 19 of the Kingsgrove Estate. The 20 acres and 35 perches cost him £300. He built a brick cottage named Pembroke Cottage ‎(which is now No.9 Bennett Street, Kingsgrove)‎ to provide a home for his daughter Margaret and her husband Charles Mason.

In 1845 Thomas Spencer West and Lucy moved in with the Masons at Kingsgrove, and remained there after the Masons moved to a property called Barambah in Queensland in 1849. ‎[Thomas West of Barcom Glen, p.131]‎