written by Maureen Duffus
Annie Deans
Annie Deans is an early Victorian woman saved from obsurity by letters written to her family in Scotland.
Her husband George was one
of a group of Craigflower men who "struck work" in only three months
after their arrival in 1853.
George left Craigflower to
work at the fort and for other settlers, and made enough money to buy land
in 1854.
Proud Annie wrote, with her
unorthodox spelling and disregard of punctuation:
"Geordie has bought a town lot,he is going to build a house it will take about 80 pounds...five or six rooms in it and as this is a promising place and (with) luck our house will soon pay itself. Geordie and myself is working and saving asmuch as possible for it."Annie was "busey makeing a marriage order. Sewing pays beautiful the houses here is built of wood
there is plentyof wood here but labour is very dear."
Her story is touching and
sad, especially when she writes of the illness and death of her daughter
Mary
Jane, but she and Geordie and brother-in-law James prospered on their large
familyfamily in the Richmond/Lansdowne area.