This website traces the genealogy related to Richard Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh who was known as Dick to his friends and family. Dick was a farmer and wool classer in the Albany region of Western Australia but was born in 1917 in Woollahra, New South Wales. After WWII Dick married Denise Cheesman (Dell) and they both settled on farming land close to the Porongorup Ranges, where they raised their four children. Dell died suddenly in 1973 and Dick died in 2012 at the age of 95.
Dick and Dell have sons, daughters, grandchildren, and great grandchildren living in Australia, the UK and Asia. This website focuses on their ancestral line, which can be traced directly back to English and Northumbrian origins from c1020, through to Ireland, where the family fled after the battle of Worcester in 1651, and then onto Australia, where Dick’s great grandfather Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh (The Governor) and his family migrated in 1852.
Historical notes, images and stories have also been included to provide colour and context to the lives lived, including the seats they occupied at various times. At this time I am yet to complete the pages on the Australian line – but they are coming! … and later I also hope to add information on related family branches such as the Mackenzies and Murchisons, who were also early Australian pioneering families.
As our ancestral line will intersect with many other Fetherstonhaugh family lines, some of the information on this website may have broader appeal outside of Dick’s extended family. I have endeavoured to ensure the information provided on this site is evidence based, but a mixture of primary and secondary sources have been used. The website’s pages have been ordered chronologically for easier reading. If you have other updated information you can add, I would love to hear from you. The site is licensed under a Creative Commons Share alike copyright CC BY-SA 4.0