Mary JaneÕs background is as fascinating as Charles. She was born in Woodstock, Upper Canada on 17 March 1835 to parents Lyndon Philip Poingdestre and Mary Eleanor Agnew who had been married in the Parish Church of St. Helier in Jersey on the 1 July 1834.
Lyndon Philip was the son of Jean Poingdestre, and advocate of the Royal Court of Jersey and fifth generation Jurat of the Parish of St Saviour. His mother was Marguerite Harris Le Lievre of Guernsey. Mary Eleanor Agnew was descended from distinguished families fro Co. Durham and was the daughter of Major James Agnew, who in 1835/6 went to Tobango as Barracks Master, having had a varied career in the Army. Mary Eleanor Bowes, her mother, was the daughter of Thomas Bowes, an attorney in Darlington, Durham and Dorothy Stepherson. She died during JameÕs posting in Tobango in 1839.
It is not known why Lyndon Philip and Mary Eleanor were in Canada. Another daughter, Sophia Elvina was born there in approximately 1836 and the family returned to Jersey prior to 1838. On the death of his father in 1838 Lyndon Philip succeeded to the family property Mont-au-Pretre, although he was living in St. Helier at Le Rouge Bouillon and later, Les Vaux. His occupation was given as being of Òindependent meansÓ.
Between 1838 and 1847 in St Helier, Mary Eleanor gave birth to 7 more children, 6 sons, including twins, and 1 daughter. The children, Alice (1838), Alfred Nelson (1842), Gerald (1844), twins Edmund and Hubert (1845), James Agnew (1847), died within months of birth of various ailments - marasme (wasting), convulsions and inflammation of the lungs. Of the children born in Jersey, only one survived, Lyndon John Agnew (1840) who was later to become a mounted ploiceman in the Cooktown area in Far North Queensland.
The reasons for the family coming to Australia are unknown and can only be surmised - perhaps the tragedy of the childrenÕs deaths could have prompted them to leave Jersey. Mary Elenor had a brother, Edward Agnew, who was already living in the colony in Sydney and was later to be a witness at the marriage of Mary Jane and Charles.
The family sailed to Melbourne on board the ÒHydaspesÓ, which left Liverpool, England on 31 March 1849, arriving in Melbourne on 20 July 1849. Another daughter, Laura Bowes was born in Collingwood, Victoria in 1850. The family then sailed from Melbourne on 9 July, 1853 on the ÒNew OrleansÓ and arrived in Sydney on 17 July with SophiaÕs first husband, Henry Patteson, who died in Ryde in 1856, Sophia then married Charendon Stuart, a surveyor, in 1859 and was living in Bowen, Queensland in 1865.
Within two years Mary Jane had met Charles and they were married on 28 November 1855 in the Parish of St. James, Sydney. On their move to Yass in 1861, Mary Jane opened the Preparatory School for Young Boys in Mount Pleasant, North Yass, whilst Charles was the Head Master of the Yass Crammer School.
Mary JaneÕs father, Lyndon Philip died in Yass in 1861 and is known to be buried in St. ClementÕs chruchyard but the position of the grave is unknown as the chruch grounds were re-landscaped in the 1970Õs. LyndonÕs occupation at the time of his death was ÒtutorÓ so he perhaps had something to do with the schools that Charles and Mary Jane were conducting. Lyndon PhilipÕs occupation has also been given as Immigration Agent and Victorian Civil Service on various records. Mary Eleanor went to live in Bowen in Queensland and was living with her youngest daughter, Laura and husband, Archibald Macmillan at the time of LauraÕs death in 1880. When her son, Edward Joseph, went to live at Kurri Kurri, NSW in 1903, she went to live with him and his family. In 1914, they moved to Morpeth, NSW, where she died on 9th July 1919 and is buried in Morpeth Cemetery. Her obituary in the ÒMaitland MercuryÓ dated 11th July 1919 described her as Òa most respected and beloved citizen - a grand old lady in the true sense of the word, who bore her years with remarkable activeness.Ó