Name/Title
Rose Thyme MathesonEntry/Object ID
005.46.66Description
Rose Thyme Matheson
Black and white. Beige cardboard. Green borders around the photo plus there is a border in the design of ribbon at the top and bottom and pearls all the way around.
At the top in black ink says Aunt Rose. She is facing straight ahead. She is wearing a dress.
Aunt Rose
Rose Thyme
born: June 26, 1851, Perth.
died: April 10, 1895, Perth.
buried: Craig Street Cemetery.
· Died of pneumonia.
Note: We may only speculate as to why only three of the eleven Matheson children who grew to maturity undertook to marry. The two older sons did not get along with their father, and were not welcome in the family home, thus it was natural that they should establish households and families of their own elsewhere. The three younger sons had a comfortable home on Gore Street, were probably well looked after by their five maiden sisters, and devoted their lives to their respective careers, hobbies and charities; thus, they were under no pressure to marry. Of the daughters, it is amusing to consider that Flora may have “captured” the one suitor who would have been acceptable to her father, i.e. the son of another prosperous pioneer merchant and staunch Conservative, James Shaw. A family story is told that, after observing the great difficulties Flora encountered in bringing children into the world (four of her infants died, and she suffered severe post-partum depression after each birth), her sisters may have decided that life was better (or at least simpler) without marriage, and having a comfortable home, sound financial status and their own companionship, they had no particular inclination to seek the matrimonial state.