Six of William Richard and Mary Ann's  children did not live into significant adulthood. Their lives are documented here:

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Joseph Barsden SMITH: was clearly named after Mary Ann’s father Josephus Henry Barsden. Joseph was the third child of William and Mary and born on 29th April 1845 at Kelso NSW. Kelso was where his grandfather lived and ran a pub and also his great grandfather on the Blackman side. He was baptised at Kelso on 22nd February 1846. On the 30th May 1867 at the age of 22 years Joseph died at Native Dog Creek of typhus fever. Likely he died on his parents 100 acre property. He is buried in the Kelso Cemetery in an unmarked grave which is not to say he did not have a headstone.  He was buried on 2nd June 1867.

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Charles Richard SMITH: named I suspect after William’s brother or half-brother Charles and his father Richard. Charles was born 10th August 1847 and baptised in Bathurst on 14th May 1848. He was their 4th child. He died at his parents property Native Dog Creek on  6th September 1866 one year before his brother Joseph. Charles died of tuberculosis or phthisis at the age of 19 years. He was buried at Kelso on 8th September 1866 and again is in an unmarked grave now.

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Did these young men have girlfriends? Were they planning their futures? To lose two young men so close in different disease outbreaks would have been devastating.

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Frances Amelia SMITH: named after William Richard’s mother Frances Green and her sister Amelia Frances [Carrick]. Frances was born in 1852 at Kelso also. Her great aunt Amelia Frances would die a year later in 1853 in Woolloomooloo. She would have given birth to her youngest child  George Frederick Carrick on 27th June 1852. Her grandmother Frances would die a year after that in 1854 in Camperdown having visited her sisters children. Little Frances died in 1854 the same year as William Richard’s mother but we do not know if it was before or after her grandmother. We do not know why little Frances died.

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Margaret Jane SMITH: named after her great aunt Margaret Jane Barsden. Margaret was the 7th child or William and Mary Ann. She was born on 1st October 1854 so poor Mary Ann would have most likely been pregnant with Margaret when Frances died. How awful. Margaret was baptised on 29th October 1854 relatively quickly at Kelso. Margaret Jane died at Native Dog Creek on her parents property on 14th May 1867 of typhoid fever, 16 days before her brother Joseph Barsden died. She was buried in Kelso on 17th May 1867.

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The incubation period of typhoid and paratyphoid infections is 6–30 days. The onset of illness is insidious, with gradually increasing fatigue and a fever that increases daily from low-grade to as high as 102°F–104°F (38°C–40°C) by the third to fourth day of illness. Fever is commonly lowest in the morning, peaking in the late afternoon or evening. Headache, malaise, and anorexia are nearly universal, and abdominal pain, diarrhea, or constipation are common. Vomiting and diarrhea are more common in children compared with adults. People can also have fatigue, myalgias, dry cough, and sore throat. Ref: CDC.

Did poor Margaret infect her brother Joseph or did both succumb to a spreader incident in the community?

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Agnes SMITH: little Agnes was born in 1857 and died on 17th April 1858 at Native Dog Creek. Oberon Cemetery records indicate she died of Dentitis (teething). She was buried on 19 Apr 1858 at Native Dog Creek, likely on her parents property. Agnes was the 8th child.

Charles SMITH: was born in 1867 and died on 8th October 1867 at Native Dog Creek. He was the last of William Richard and Mary Ann’s children. He was born a year after his brother Charles Richard died and would have been named after him I suspect.

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Charles SMITH: was born .September 1867 and died aged 3 weeks from debility on 8th October 1867. He was buried at Native Dog Creek on 9th October. 

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References to the causes of death of these children were obtained from primary source documents by Lyn Agland.