Tyson is an old Cumberland name. Joseph Tyson Stevenson's mother was an Eliza or Elizabeth Tyson, probably born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, in the early 1800s. Little is known about the Tyson families of Cumberland at this time. Take a look at our Cumberland Research page for more Tyson information.
A family story relates that Joseph was distantly related to James Tyson (1819-98), the Queensland cattle millionaire, and an old family memoir dictated by Joseph's daughter Eleanor to her daughter records:
Tysons are an old Cumberland family
on Mother's Father's side.
(ie. Eleanor's father, Joseph Tyson Stevenson)
Tysons are an old Cumberland family
on Mother's Father's side.
There were papers to prove his Mother's relationship to (Margaret Tyson)
Jimmy Tyson, but Grandfather's aunt
died before she could sign them.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography records:
TYSON, JAMES (1819-1898), pastoralist, was born on 8 April 1819 near Narellan, New South
Wales, third son of William Tyson and his wife Isabella, nee Coulson, who had arrived in the
colony on 19 August 1809 in the Indispensable with a seven-year sentence for theft in Yorkshire.
Her husband and son William came free in the same transport; by 1819 William senior had a 40-
acre grant at Narellan. James started work about 1833 as a farm-hand for the Vine brothers near
Appin and spent a short time in Sydney in 1837 apprenticed to a bootmaker; he then worked as a
pastoral labourer for Henry O'Brien [q.v.] at Douro near Yass. Later he took up Barwigery
(Barwidgee) on the Ovens River for John Buckland.
James was unsuccessful with his brother William on Bundoolah (Goonambil) in 1845, and next
year with his brothers William and John he moved to Tyson's run (Toorong) on the west bank of
the Lachlan near its junction with the Murrumbidgee : this holding became the nucleus of his
Tupra-Juanbung complex. Early in 1852 James and William arrived at the Bendigo goldfield with
a small mob of cattle, set up a slaughter-yard and butcher's shop and in three years established a
business which was sold late in 1855 for an estimated £80,000. James and John bought three sheep
stations, South Deniliquin, Congaro and Deniliquin, which they improved with fencing and earth
tanks. James made important experiments in digging channels for water, and was interested in the
Deniliquin-Moama rail link, the Deniliquin and Echuca Electric Telegraph Co. and the Riverina
separatist movement as well as local matters. John died at Deniliquin on 3 June 1860 leaving his
estate to James who, in 1862, sold most of his Deniliquin holdings and moved back to Lachlan and
began the aggregation of leasehold pastoral land. In 1864 when James McEvoy refused to pay his
share of costs of arbitration in their dispute over a boundary, Tyson successfully sued him in the
Supreme Court but McEvoy appealed to the Privy Council.
By 1898 Tyson held 5,329,214 acres including 352,332 acres freehold. His stations included
Tupra, Juanbung, Bangate, Goondublui and Mooroonowa in New South Wales; Heyfield in
Victoria; and Glenormiston, Swanvale, Meteor Downs and Albinia Downs, Babbiloora,
Carnarvon, Tully, Wyobie, Felton, Mount Russell and Tinnenburra in Queensland. He held other
runs as mortgagee. Uninterested in stud-breeding he bred and fattened stock for the metropolitan
markets. At Tully his nephews tried to grow sugar on his behalf as well as run cattle. Tyson also
owned some land in Toowoomba, Hay and Brisbane and made two abortive visits to New Zealand
to investigate the possibility of land investment.
Tyson was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council in 1893-1898 but made only one short
speech. He was a magistrate on the Maude, New South Wales, and Jondaryan, Queensland,
benches, and a prominent lobbyist against the building of the Queensland transcontinental railway
line by overseas capitalists on the land grant system; he opposed the Victorian border stock tax and
campaigned actively for the land tenure reforms embodied in the Crown Land Acts of 1884 in New
South Wales and 1885 in Queensland. Generous to a wide range of charities, he contributed £1000
to the New South Wales Sudan Contingent and variously to the building funds of the Women's
College, University of Sydney, and the Church of England at Leyburn.
Unmarried and intestate, Tyson died 'apparently [of] inflammation of the lungs' at Felon near
Cambooya, on 4 December 1898. He was buried in the Toowoomba cemetery, but his remains
were moved to the family vault at St. Peter's Church of England, Campbelltown, New South
Wales. His estate, realizing £2 million, was divided among his next of kin after an extended series
of court cases involving the question of his domicile. A byword for wealth and a legend in his own
lifetime, Tyson was usually called 'Hungry' by the Bulletin and was commemorated by A.B.
Patterson in 'T.Y.S.O.N.'. Frugal, he was never known to drink, smoke or swear.
(The Australian Dictionary of Biography,
Volume 6 : 1851-1890 R-Z, pages 319-320.
Section Editors : Geoffrey Serle and Russel Ward.
Melbourne University Press 1976.)
Family Tree of James Tyson
The tree below is intended as a research guide only. Further research is required to produce a wholly accurate family tree.
1 William Tyson
Born: c1781, Cumberland, England.
Baptised: 25 December 1781
Died: 1827, East Bargo, New South Wales, Australia.
Arrived Australia: 19 August 1809, as a free passenger on the convict ship Indispensable.
+Isabella Marie Coulson
Born: 1786
Baptised: 26 December 1786, Chester Le Street, Durham, England.
Married: 27 Nov 1805, All Saints Church, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England.
Father: John Coulson
Mother: Isabella Unknown (possibly Smith)
Arrived Australia: 19 August 1809, on the convict ship Indispensable.
2 Margaret Tyson
Born: 1806
No further details, but it appears she was left in England when her parents went to Australia.
2 William Tyson
Born: 1808, Westmoreland, England.
Died: 1875, Cunnamulla, Queensland, Australia.
Arrived Australia: 19 August 1809, as a free passenger on the convict ship Indispensable.
+Margaret Cantillon
Married: 1838, Appin, New South Wales, Australia.
Note: William Tyson also had a relationship with Emma Adams.
2 Isabella Tyson . . .  E-mail Rita Sheil
Born: 1810, Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, Australia.
Baptised: 1810, St John's Church of England, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V1810661 148 and V18102230 1A)
Died: 1849
+George Doneley
Married: 1827, St Mary's Roman Catholic, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V1827225 127 and V1827217 128)
2 Charles Tyson
Born: 1813, Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
Baptised: 1813, St Luke's Church of England, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V18133535 1A)
Died: 1834, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia.
Death registered: St Peter's Church of England, Co. Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V18342132 18)
Unmarried.
2 Mary Ann Tyson . . . E-mail Bernard & Janette Childs
Born: 1815, Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
Baptised: 1815, St John's Church of England, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V18153800 1B, V1815933 148 and V1815983 148)
Died: 1896
+Patrick Moore
Married: 1838, St Mary's Roman Catholic, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V1838792 127 and V1838678 128)
2 Elizabeth Tyson
Born: 1817, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia.
Baptised: 1817, St Peter's Church of England, Co. Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V1817411 10)
Died: 1888, Picton, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: 7738)
+Edward Hewitt
Married: 1842, Church of England, Appin, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V1842715 26C)
2 James Tyson
Born: 8 April 1819, Cowpasture, New South Wales, Australia.
Baptised: 1819, St Peter's Church of England, Campbelltown, Co. Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V18197634 1C and V1819412 10)
Died: 4 December 1898, Cambooya, Queensland, Australia.
Occupation: Pastoralist.
Unmarried millionaire.
2 Barbara Tyson
Born: 1821, East Bargo, New South Wales, Australia.
Baptised: 1821, St Peter's Church of England, Campbelltown, Co. Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V18217636 1C)
Died: 1857
+William H (Diogenes) Herring
Married: 1838, St Peter's Church of England, Campbelltown, Co. Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V18381865 22)
2 Hanna Tyson
Born: 1822
Died: 1822
2 John Tyson
Born: 1824
Baptised: 1824, St Peter's Church of England, Campbelltown, Co. Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V1824414 10)
Died: 3 June 1860, Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: 3693)
Occupation: Pastoralist.
Unmarried.
2 Peter Tyson
Born: 1824, Appin, New South Wales, Australia.
Baptised: 1825, St Peter's Church of England, Campbelltown, Co. Airds, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V182510424 1C and V1825524 15)
Died: 1879
+(1) Margaret Sheil
Married: 1852, Church of England, Appin, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: V1852460 38C)
+(2) Blakely Crawford
Married: 1879, New South Wales, Australia.
(Ref Number: 3426)
James Tyson was celebrated in poem by the Australian poet A.B. (Banjo) Patterson:
T.Y.S.O.N.
Across the Queensland border line
The mobs of cattle go;
They travel down in sun and shine
On dusty stage, and slow.
The drovers, riding slowly on
To let the cattle spread,
Will say: "Here's one old landmark gone,
For old man Tyson's dead."
What tales there'll be in every camp
By men that Tyson knew!
The swagmen, meeting on the tramp,
Will yarn the long day through,
And tell of how he passed as "Brown"
And fooled the local men:
"But not for me - I struck the town,
And passed the message further down;
That's T.Y.S.O.N.!"
There stands a little country town
Beyond the border line,
Where dusty roads go up and down,
And banks with pubs combine.
A stranger came to cash a cheque -
Few were the words he said -
A handkerchief about his neck,
An old hat on his head.
A long grey stranger, eagle-eyed -
"Know me? Of course you do!"
"It's not my work," the boss replied
"To know such tramps as you."
"Well, look here, Mister, don't be flash,"
Replied the stranger then,
"I never care to make a splash,
I'm simple, but I've got the cash;
I'm T.Y.S.O.N."
But in that last drafting-yard,
Where Peter keeps the gate,
And souls of sinners find it barred
And go to meet their fate,
There's one who ought to enter in
For good deeds done on earth,
One who from Peter's self must win
That meed of sterling worth.
Not to the strait and narrow gate
Reserved for wealthy men,
But to the big gate, opened wide,
The grizzled figure, eagle-eyed,
Will saunter up - and then
Old Peter'll say: "Let's pass him through;
There's many a thing he used to do,
Good-hearted things that no one knew;
That's T.Y.S.O.N."
A.B. (Banjo) Paterson.
The following article appeared in the Journal of the Cumberland Family History Society:
A century ago anybody and everybody with the name Tyson, possibly for the first time in their lives,
suddenly became fascinated with the precise details of their ancestry. In an article about the importance
of Wills the treasurer of the Cumberland Family History Society wrote:
"When I became the Vicar of the remote parish of Ulpha, in every register I found several old letters
addressed to one of my predecessors thus: 'Dear Sir... re Tyson millions' from which I gathered that the
said Mr. Tyson had died intestate and dozens of hopeful Tysons hoped to acquire a share of his
wealth..."
(B.S.Wignal Simpson, Treasurer, Cumberland Family History Society.
CFHS Newsletter No. 1, November 1976)
As the bachelor millionaire's father William was born in Cumberland (reputedly the 11th of 14 children
of Henry Tyson and his wife Margaret nee Porter of Foulsyke, Nether Wasdale) doubtless many other
Cumbrian vicars received their share of hopeful letters as, like my own, many 'Cumbrian' families have
at least one line of Tyson ancestors. However, as I revealed in my article James Tyson [1819-98] - "A
LEGEND IN HIS LIFETIME" in Newsletter No. 6, February 1978, none of the English 'relatives' got a
penny.
Mrs. Dorothy Cowley, 8 Ebor Lodge, 22 York Road, Birkdale, Southport PR8 2AD.
It is remembered that at some stage Joseph Tyson Stevenson wrote to James Tyson claiming a family relationship. Amazingly James Tyson wrote back saying, in effect, 'yes we are related, but don't think that you're getting any money!'
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