Thanks to Robert Mote (Canberra) for much of the information on the Mills side of the family, but particulary for his research on Jeremiah Crossley.

Towards the end of his life, Jeremiah suffered from rheumatism very badly and, finally, unable to stand the pain, he shot himself early on the morning of 1 August 1884 at the age of 73 while his family were sleeping. He was buried after 1 August 1884 at Church of England cemetery, Yass, NSW; The inscription on the headstone reads - Jeremiah, born Yorkshire, England, husband of Sarah, died 1 Aug 1884 aged 73 years.

On Monday 4 April 1831 Jeremiah, at the age of 20, was sentenced at the York assizes to 7 years transportation for larceny. He was tried at Pontefract where there were 10 witnesses to his armed robbery of various clothing materials worth a total value of five pounds and four shillings. He was a convict aboard The Ship John 1 which sailed from The Downs, (off the south east coast), England, on Tuesday, 7 February 1832 on its fourth voyage to Australia, third voyage to Sydney where it arrived on 8 June 1832. The Master was Samuel J Lowe and the Surgeon was James Lawrence. During the trip there was a plot by the convicts to take over the ship. Upon his arrival in Sydney he was described as 21 years of age, single, literate, protestant, 5 foot 8 3/4 inches in height, sallow and freckled of complexion, with grey eyes and sandy brown hair. Jeremiah Crossley was assigned to George Macleay to work on the property "Brownlow Hill" near Camden between July 1832 and May 1838. He and Sarah James had 15 children, two of them still born and unregistered, between 1842 and 1870. The results of a Coroner's Inquest into his death appeared in The Yass Courier, Yass, NSW, on Monday, 4 August 1884 as follows:

CORONER'S INQUEST
Dr. Blake held an inquest at Wargeila on Friday last when the following evidence, touching the death of deceased (Jeremiah Crossley) was taken.

Hezekiah Crossley Deposed.
I am a son of the deceased and lived in the same house with him; the last time I saw deceased alive was about half past 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the 31st of July. He complained that he was suffering acute pains in his legs; deceased had been suffering for some time past from rheumatic pains; I was absent from home from half past five o'clock yesterday afternoon until ten o'clock at night; when I returned home at ten o'clock I did not see deceased.

About two o'clock this morning my mother woke me up, telling me to come out, that she wanted me; I came out onto the verandah and saw deceased lying dead there; I lifted deceased up, and carried him into the house, and placed him on a sofa; when I lifted the deceased up I saw the double barrel gun produced; it was lying under deceased; I was using the gun last night shooting opossums; when I brought the gun in I left it hanging on one of the beams of the roof; it was not loaded in either barrel; when I picked the gun up, after lifting deceased on the sofa, I noticed that it had been recently discharged; I am sure that no one but deceased took the gun after I hung it on the beam; I did not hear the report of a gun being fired during the night; it would be possible for a gun to be fired on the verandah of the house without me hearing it as I sleep in a room some distance from the verandah.

I informed my brother of what had taken place and he reported the matter to the police; my brother's name is James Crossley; when I hung up the gun on the beam, the hammers of both barrels were cocked, and when I found it where deceased was lying, the hammer on the right-hand barrel was down and battered cap on the nipple; the gun is my property; deceased often used it.

Sarah Crossley deposed:
The deceased (Jeremiah Crossley) is my husband; deceased is 73 years of age; I last saw deceased alive at eleven o'clock last night, July 31st, 1884; he was suffering from rheumatic pains in his legs; I bathed his legs with hot water and turpentine about nine o'clock; he then went to bed, and shortly afterwards I went to bed also; we slept in the same bed; after we went to bed we slept a short time, and about eleven o'clock deceased complained that the pains were very severe, and he would get up; he told me not to get up, or that I had better go into the bed with my daughter; I told him I would stay where I was, but that I would leave him plenty of room to get in and out without disturbing me; deceased then got up and I heard him making a fire; he sat by the fire, and I went to sleep; about two o'clock this morning I was awakened by hearing a noise like something falling on to the ground; I thought that deceased had fallen down; I got up and when I came into the room where the fire was, I could not see deceased; both doors of the room were open; I called to deceased, asking where he was, and, hearing no reply, went in search of him, and found him lying on the verandah; I noticed that blood was flowing from the left side of his head; I then called my daughter and son, and when my son carried deceased to the sofa, I saw the gun produced lying where the body of deceased was lifted from; the gun is the property of the last witness; deceased, when he complained of the pains, said if he suffered another night as much as he had done on last Tuesday night, he could not stand it; I am quite sure deceased fired the shot that caused his death; he had said he would make away with himself rather than again suffer the pains he endured on last Tuesday night; deceased appeared to be quite dead when I found him; deceased and myself always lived on the best of terms, and the only reason I can assign for deceased committing suicide was the acute pains he was suffering.

Alton Kingsley Hoets deposed:
I am a legally qualified medical practitioner, and reside at Yass; I have made a post mortem examination of the deceased (Jeremiah Crossley); immediately in front of the right ear I found a large irregular wound, communicating with the interior of the skull; the edges of the wound were blackened, and smelt strongly of burnt gunpowder; on opening the skull, I found the bones on the right side of the head extremely fractured; the interior portion of the brain is severely lacerated; on the left side of the brain I found a large quantity of small sized shot; it appears to be No. 4 shot; I produce some of the shot found in the brain; there were no other marks of violence about the body; I am of opinion that the cause of death was injury to the brain, caused by a gunshot wound; the wound could have been inflicted by deceased, who could have placed the muzzle of the gun produced to his head, and fired it by touching the trigger with his foot; he could not have pulled the trigger with his hand; a shot fired from the gun produced would cause such a wound as I have described.

The jury found the following verdict that the deceased Jeremiah Crossley of Wargeila died on the first day of August 1884 from the effects of a gunshot wound inflicted by himself on the same day.