Sidney Swann was born in the fenland town of March, Cambridgeshire, England. Sidney moved to Stevenage as appenice to large national manufacturer of school furniture. He met Olive through her brother who was also an apentice at the same place.
After the were married they lived in a company house in Bournmouth Road. The hase was still ther in 1956 put had been replaced by 1978. Following an horrific accident with a circular saw (when Sidney lost about a third of his right hand) they lost their house and he and his very young family had to seek work elsewhere.
He set up in private enterprise as a carpenter and moved to a hous in the middle of old Stevenage where Molly was born. In 1912 Sidney & Olive Swann (nee Pinn), and their three surviving children, left Stevenage, England for Australia.
The family settled in Goulburn NSW where Sidney worked as a carpenter for the NSW Government Railways. Four more children were born in Goulburn. One of these children was my father - Donald.
Sidney built a house at 510 Auburn St., Goulburn. Later Sidney and Olive moved to a house in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield. Both of these houses bore the name "Stevenage".
In March, Cambridgsire, there are many "Swann" or "Swan" headstones in the cemetery of St Wendreda located at "Town End" on the southern edge of the town.
In 1978 we were able to inspect the original church registers and visit the museum which has rate notices and maps etcetera. These records show a long and prosperous association of Swanns with March.
Unfortunately the house where Sidney was born, and from which his father (Robert) ran a building business, has been replaced. The new buildings do at least bear the name "Swan" (sic) and the area behind them was still called "Swann's Yard" in 1997.
