The following Extract is from Page 264 in Book 2 of 'Along the Windsor Richmond Road'. The complete article can be read online at Naomi Grace (Grace) EZZEY (22 Mar 1870 -14 Aug 1930) and advises "....Robert had lost two wives in childbirth, and although in each case the infant had died two, on both occasions he was left to care for older children. When his second wife died in 1885 his eldest daughter was only 12, and with four children under the age of 15, he needed some-one to care for them until he was old enough to take over the reins...."

My late cousin Grace Douglass wrote regarding William WITNEY and Isabella Jane BURNS. "Being childless they seem to have had a number of William's neices and nephews living with them over the years. When Robert's first wife, Annie Harvey died, they took the newborn baby, William and possibly the two youngest children back to Bathurst to live where William died the following year. Robert, however has all his children back living with him when his second wife, Mary Elizabeth MILNE dies. Mary's baby daughter, Mary Florence, aged two months when her mother died from Cholera, appears to have gone to live with her grandparents, Charles and Elizabeth MILNE in Kiama. Robert had the remainder of the children living with him in Sydney and my grandmother, Naomi Grace EZZEY acted as his housekeeper for several years until his daughter, Elizabeth was old enough to take over. William and Sarah (possibly here, Grace meant to say Isabella?) may have taken Lillian for a time when her mother had her hands full with her third child Arthur, who lived for only a short time. Lillian, however, is back living with her parents in Sydney prior to her marriage. Elizabeth WITNEY, daughter of Robert WITNEY and Annie HARVEY, is known to have spent varying periods of time living with William and Isabella, and is definitely living with them in 1903 when her father remarries for the third time."

Rosemary advised Robert WITNEY, b. 11 February 1838, Chinnor; d. 2 April 1925, Stanmore, Sydney. However a file note indicates date of death as 15th April 1925 and has been so noted on headstone as Buried with his wife. Refer :
Rookwood Cemetery Transcriptions CD of Society of Australian Genealogists : Headstone Details & Inscription
Name Date of Death Age
WITNEY, Robert 15 Apr 1925 87
WITNEY, Catherine 05 Feb 1933 83 [Inscription : 'Wife of above']
WITNEY, George 14 May 1949 79

• Married: 1867 in Kiama NSW Australia
• Note: NSW Marriage Registration : 2248/1867 WITNEY ROBERT HARVEY ANNIE KIAMA

1. Robert Sidney WITNEY b: 1868 in NSW Australia
2. George WITNEY b: 1870 in NSW Australia
3. Elizabeth (Cis) WITNEY b: 1873 in NSW Australia
4. William H. WITNEY b: 1875 in NSW Australia

• Married: 1879 in Kiama NSW Australia ⁴
• Note:

  Mary's surname incorrectly transcribed on NSW BDM Indexes:
  Refer NSW Marriage Registration : 3523/1879 WITNEY ROBERT MULNE MARY E KIAMA

1. Charlotte May (Lottie) WITNEY b: 6 SEP 1879 in Kiama NSW Australia
2. Charles Edmund WITNEY b: 1882 in NSW Australia
3. Mary Florence WITNEY b: 1885 in NSW Australia

• Married: 1903 in Marrickville, Sydney NSW Australia ⁴
• Note:

  1450/1903 WITNEY ROBERT MACELHERAN CATHERINE MARRICKVILLE
  1450/1903 WITNEY ROBERT MCELHERAN CATHERINE MARRICKVILLE

1. Author: Elizabeth Gadd (Chown, Witney, Narroway , Dimmock, Huggill, Franklin, Scholes , Belson, Potts, Dutton, Pope and Dytton)
   Note:
   Thomas CHOWN (1725) son Robert (1756), dau Phoebe (1791 via son Thomas HEALEY (1819). Liz is also descendend via Thomas (1725) via his youngest son William (1764) son
   Richard (1799), Francis CHOWN (1824) who
   married Lucy WITNEY [dau of William Witney
   (1781) and Mary NARROWAY (1776)] to Mark
   Chown (1850),Mark Chown (1878),Freda (1908)
2. Author: Grace Douglass (1930 - 2003)
   Note:
   This page is dedicated to the memory of my
   late cousin Grace Douglass (1930 - 2003) in appreciation of all her assistance over the years and for the wonderful research that she and Laurel Legge published in their book 'Along the Windsor Richmond Road' 1985 (ISBN 0 9589831 0 0 and ISBN 0 9589831 3 5).
3. Author: Rookwood Cemetery Transcriptions CD of Society of Australian Genealogists
4. Author: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages*
   Note:
   New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages