CRICHTON - SHAND. ? On the 24th September, at St. Peter's, Mornington, by the Rev. Thos. Quinton, Hugh, youngest son of Mr. John Crichton, Glenlee, Dromana, late of Ayrshire, Scotland, to Ellen, second daughter of Mr. Alexander Shand. Wannaeue. (P.182, Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers,3-11-1875.)

I found this while I was researching Finsbury estate, Dromana which I found while researching Railway estate, Dromana which came to mind while I was researching agitation for railways on the peninsula. I wanted to record the above marriage notice in case I never found it again; I've corrected the digitisation in the article but not the summary. Thus this very short journal.

The late Ray Cairns told me of several family relationships before I turned my voice recorder on,so they probably didn't make it into my transcript: TALKING HISTORY WITH RAY CAIRNS. He told me that a Crichton had married a Shand and that a Barker had married a Shand.

Glenlee fronted the west side of Boneo Rd between Browns Rd and Limestone Rd and the Shands were obviously near Shands Rd, quite some distance apart. However John Crichton's family had also bought John Lovie's grants north of Glenlee and received grants for bush paddocks near Main Ridge, one of which is now bisected by Valleyview Lane (Melway 254 H,2-4)and John would earlier have ridden east to visit his good friend, Thomas Ormiston Martin, who appointed John as one of his executors.

Thus Hugh and Ellen most likely met in the vicinity of Main Creek which the Shand and Martin properties fronted. Alexander's farm straddled Main Creek and was in the parishes of Wannaeue and Flinders.

There is much information about the Shands and Crichtons in my other journals including a very long report of the marriage of another of Alexander Shand's daughters.
N.B. As in many early ratebooks the Glenlee family's surname was written as Crighton in the family notices!
Glenlee was a heck of a long way from Dromana but the steamer destination was often tacked onto Red Hill, Main Ridge, Rosebud etc.to give some indication of their locality.