Helen "Ellen" (twin) Murray

   Another name for Helen was Ellen Beaton.

  General Notes:

Helen (aka Ellen) Murray sailed to Australia with her younger 17 year old brother James "Seanair" Murray on the ship "Aurora" which arrived in Port Phillip on 7th December 1848.
She obtained employment with a John Leigh who was establishing a rural property in the fertile Barabool Hills 10km west of Geelong.
She married a farm labourer, Archibald Beaton, on 9th October 1849 in Geelong.
Their first child, Mary Anne (or Marion) was born in 1850, but their is no record of her birth at BDM Victoria. Their second child, Kate (Catherine), was born on 28th April 1851, and baptised on 11th October 1852 (birth details on the Register of Baptism).
Helen's husband Archibald appears to have died between these birth and baptism dates, but there is no record of his death at BDM Victoria.
His occupation changes from labourer on his marriage record, to farmer and miner on later Scottish records (Helen's census and death records, and daughter Kate's marriage records).
It seems highly likely that Archibald became swept up in the Ballarat gold rush, where there were many deaths from sickness and accidents. In the chaos, many of these deaths were never recorded, nor did they have funerals or burials/ graves - the body was just buried in the bush or on a hillside somewhere.
This left the widowed Helen with 2 toddlers in Victoria and no family or other support (except her 22 year old brother James).
On 1st April 1853 (after delays caused by crew desertions to the goldfields), Helen and her 2 daughters departed Victoria to go home to her family in Scotland on the ship Golden Land destined for London.
There are Scottish census and death records for Helen, and also for the illegitimate birth of a son Alexander in 1860, for which the Tain Sheriff Court awarded her maintenance payments from the father, Alexander Brook.

Helen married Archibald Beaton on 9 Oct 1849 in The Church of Scotland, Geelong, Australia. (Archibald Beaton died about 1852 in Victoria, Australia.)

Helen had a relationship with Alexander Brook Unmarried.