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Freeborn House

Andrew Freeborn was born in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in 1835. He was the son of William and Catherine Freeborn. When he married Elinor Sharpe, daughter of John and Margaret on the 6th of May 1858 at Kiama he was 23 and she was 16.

In 1865 Andrew and Elinor and Andrew's brother, Thomas Niblock, moved to Ballina and supplied timber to the Prospect Mill.

On the 21st of December 1865 they became Duck Creek Mountain's first selectors. Andrew selected Portion 1, Parish of Tuckombil, County of Rous, while Thomas selected Portion 2.

Andrew became the first person from the area to commercially sell butter in Sydney. It was shipped in wooden kegs to Sydney by ship. He also grew arrowroot. When Thomas died in 1884 he took over his land and later bought Lot 7. Thomas' land now has the Alstonville Bowling Club, playing fields and Geoff Watt Oval built on it. The first cricket match was played there in 1876.

Andrew Freeborn, along with John Barlow, Martin Schmidt, Frank Morrish and G.T. Kemp applied for a school in Alstonville. Alstonville Primary School opened on the 11th of January 1875. At the time Andrew had six children of school age. Andrew Freeborn became secretary of the School Board but was removed from it in 1879 because he had organised a verandah to be built on without the approval of the rest of the Board. When asked to pay an amount of thirty-five pounds ($70) he declared himself bankrupt to avoid payment.

The local newspaper 'The Northern Star' ran the following advertisement on the 21st of August 1880:

For sale, 40-acre farm situated at the Lemon Grove, near Duck Creek. The farm is nearly all fenced, has 22 acres cleared, and other improvements, together with a never-failing supply of water. Apply to the proprietor, Andrew Freeborn of Lemon Grove.

The farm was a lot different from the original selection which had been covered with trees such as beech, rosewood, teak, black and red bean, iron bark and white and brown pine.

When Elinor died in 1876 they had a family of eleven children. In 1877 he married Isabella Moore Brown, daughter of John and Mary. He died on the 6th of February 1905 and is buried in the Wollongbar Cemetery. His brother is also buried there. Andrew's son John (1866 to 13th September 1951) and John's wife, Annie (nee Smith) who was born in 1873 and died on the 14th of June aged 25 is also buried there.

The family moved away from the area and some grandsons went to America where they were involved in the Studebaker Car Company. Today, a memorial to Andrew Freeborn stands in Alstonville in his memory.
 

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