My Green Roots Roll Call

It is appropriate on St Patrick's Day that I remember my Green Roots - ie those ancestors who came from the Emerald Isle.

May I introduce my direct Irish ancestors who all arrived in New South Wales prior to 1876. They include several convicts, an Earl Gray orphan, some assisted immigrants and a couple of mysteries :

Catherine Connolly
Patrick Curry/Corry
Mary Cregan/Crigan/Criggin/Cligan/Gregson
Elizabeth/Eliza D'arcy
Mary Kealy
Margaret McKeon/McEwan
Ellen/Eleanor Moore
Catherine Jane Maxwell
Michael Molloy
Dennis Tierney

Please follow the links above to visit these ancestors at my family website.

Surprize, Surprise

 Last month I attended a free webinar, Floating Prisons: Irish Convict Hulks and Voyages to NSW,  hosted by the RAHS. 

During the webinar Anne McMahon, the author of the book Floating Prisons: Irish Convict Hulks and Voyages to New South Wales 1823-1837, discussed the history of the Irish hulks and gave details on the lives and conditions of the convicts incarcerated on them. I learnt that one of the hulks, the Surprize, was in Cork Harbour around the time my 3xGreat-Grandfather, Patrick Curry/Corry, was transported from there. Did Patrick spend time on the Surptize?

I realised that I needed to purchase the book which was published in 2017, I'm surprised that I didn't learn about it when it was published. I was hoping to purchase an eBook copy of the work but, when I asked during the webinar, if the book was available in that format the author was quite surprised, said she didn't know about those things and it would not appear in an electronic format!!

The book was available from several online sites but I opted to buy it from Amazon because it was 9.95 cheaper there than the recommended retail on other sites. 

I received a surprise when the parcel containing the book arrived. I had expected a paperback but the book is a heavy hardcover. It has all the features of a well documented work - bibliography, contents, indexes and references and contains a few illustrations and maps.I have yet to read the book, I don't think it will identify many individual convicts but I hope it provides a valuable insight into the lives of Irish Convicts in the early 19th century. Dr Perry McIntyre wrote an honest  review of the work in 2017 for Tintean Magazine, https://tintean.org.au/2017/08/06/floating-prisons/.

Playing around on Google I found this article, https://gsq-blog.gsq.org.au/irish-prison-hulks/, by Meg Carney who, after reading McMahon's book, thinks that her ancestor spent time in Cork on the Surprize. I wonder if I will come to the same conclusion for Patrick after reading the book. 

E is for ...Esther : the extraordinary true story of the First Fleet girl who became first lady of the colony

 I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

Sometimes I read fiction to learn about the history and environment of the times in my ancestors lived. While the works in this genre of fiction based on fact may not be 100% accurate, if the author has researched her topic assiduously, they give one an insight into ancestors' lives and times. I like the sugarcoating this genre gives to learning history.

Ten of my direct ancestors including several women landed in Sydney Cove as convicts so I am most interested in reading works set in the early 19th century in New South Wales. 

In 2019 I attended a lecture by Jessica North at Toronto Library where she spoke about her writing and research for the book Esther : the extraordinary true story of the First Fleet girl who became first lady of the colony Jessica had consulted hundreds of diaries, letters, books, records, maps and journals to produce this her first novel. 

I borrowed the ebook version of this book from another local library. I enjoyed this book which told the story of a strong woman and expanded my understanding of the early years in the colony in Sydney, it was well written and very easy to read.

From the Archives - Australia Day Post 2011

I penned this post ten years ago and am reposting it with a few extra phrases typed in this colour.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Shifty Ancestors in The Lucky Country

Thanks to Shelley from Twigs of Yore for setting this Australia Day Challenge. Shelley will be putting together all the responses to the challenge and posting them on her website. I look forward to some illuminating reading from those with Australian links.

Meanwhile I have been procrastinating about which document from which of my convict ancestors I will share. Should it be something from Elizabeth Phipp's shady past or should I share something from one of her partners James Westbrook or William Magick?  I don't know which of these gentlemen is my ancestor as they seemed to fall in and out of favour with Elizabeth. Who was she with when she conceived James Westbrook/Magick my first direct ancestor born in Australia?

The Challenge

Find the earliest piece of documentation you have about an ancestor in Australia. If you don't have an Australian ancestor, then choose the earliest piece of documentation you have for a relative in Australia.

Because it deals with three of my ancestors I am going to share an English document from 1812. I have earlier documents that tell of Births, Deaths and Marriages but this document is several pages long, quotes actual words spoken by my ancestors and gives information on the lives they led in London that caused them to be transported to Australia.

What is the document?

The document I have is a faded photocopy of part of Old Bailey Proceedings, 16th September 1812 in which JAMES WESTBROOK ,  ELIZABETH PHIPPS ,  SUSANNAH PHIPPS , and  SAMUEL WESTBROOK , were indicted for feloniously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of  Joseph Covington , about the hour of eight in the forenoon, on the 1st of April , and stealing therein, eighteen gowns, value 3 l. seven petticoats, value 1 l. six pair of blankets, value 3 l. a feather bed, value 3 l. a bolster, value 5 s. two pillows, value 5 s. a time-piece, value 6 l. a silver cup, value 1 l. and five yards of muslin, value 5 s. the property of  Joseph Covington .

As there are copyright restrictions on the reproduction of this document I am only pasting a snip.

Do you remember the research process that lead you to it? How and where did you find it?

Some time last century, using microform resources at The State Library of New South Wales, I identified my convict ancestors Elizabeth Phipps and James Westbrook. On a trip to the UK in 2004 I spent time at various institutions trying to discover more about them and other ancestors from the Old Country. As part of that visit I visited the stunning National Archives at Kew armed with a list of my forebears and the ships that bore them to Australia.

Mr Geniaus and I were quite bewildered during our one day at this august institution but we managed to find a number of treasures including the transcript of the Phipps/Westbrook trial. How we managed to find the transcript I cannot remember! Today I can find a digital copy of that same transcript from the comfort of my home by searching The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 online. The typed transcript is, however, much easier to read, do take a look as it is an interesting story.

The highlight of that day was handling the surgeon's journal for the journey my ancestor Patrick Curry made on the Hooghley. Sadly I did not take photographs of the entries that told of Patrick's episodes of scurvy and their treatment.

Tell us the story(ies) of the document. You may like to consider the nature of the document, the people mentioned, the place and the time. Be as long or short, broad or narrow in your story telling as you like!

A reading of the document will tell its story but it told me more than just a story; reading the spoken words of my ancestors from 200 years ago gave me spine tingles. It also gave me more facts and background on my ancestors.

1. I learnt the name of my 4th Great-grandmother, Susannah Phipps (nee Harris) and have been able to find her BDM details.

2. I learnt that James had a brother Samuel Westbrook.

3. Reading Elizabeth's defence tells me that she spoke quite well and coherently. "On the morning that Mrs. Covington left town, she called me down stairs, between six and seven. She said, where is your mother? Why does not she live at home? Mrs. Covington gave me a five-pound note, and two lace caps. I was rather fearful. I would not take them until I went up to Westbrook. I was to deliver them to my mother in Fetter-lane, where she then was. They all deal in stolen property. The things that were moved out of the place were my own."

4. I was able to identify the places of residence of my ancestors in London and have put them on a list to find on my next trip. One such place Woods Buildings (now demolished) was a haunt of Jack the Ripper. I have since visited the area in which the family lived in Golden Lane.

5. I learnt the Elizabeth and James knew each other and were probably living in a common law marriage before they were transported. Another researcher claims they were married and had a child before Elizabeth was transported but the only evidence I can find to support this is from the transcript "The child with them had the key". I now think the child may have been Elizabeth's younger sister and that Elizabeth was pregnant while waiting for transportation.
6. I surmise that Ann Price was Samuel Westbrook's woman as she gave him an alibi.

Elizabeth, James, Susannah and Samuel also got a mention in The Criminal recorder:or, Biographical sketches of notorious public characters, including murderers, traitors, pirates, mutineers, incendiaries ... and other noted persons who have suffered the sentence of the law for criminal offenses ; embracing a variety of curious and singular cases, anecdotes, &c, Volume 2 (Google eBook). The British Newspapers collection on FindMyPast has has many mentions of Elizabeth, James and accomplices.

I am fascinated by the life of Elizabeth Phipps and was thrilled when I came across the transcript that told me so much about her and her environment in early 18th century London. Elizabeth, widow of William Magick, died as a respectable married woman in Richmond, NSW on August 8, 1869.

Due to the deeds of my ten shifty convict ancestors (and a few who were upright citizens) Australia was ordained as my birth place. 

As I celebrate Australia Day I will reflect on the courage and determination of past generations who triumphed over a harsh environment. I thank them for their contributions to to our nation and for paving the way for my family to live a charmed life in The Lucky Country.

From Distress to Deliverance

In Covid times The Hawkesbury Family History Group has been holding its meetings both in person and via zoom and inviting interested genealogists to attend their meetings virtually. When I lived in Sydney I attended their meetings in person but, as I have moved away from the big smoke, I have not attended recently. One of the benefits of Covid is that I can now take advantage of the Group's excellent program. Their September speaker was Heather Garnsey and in November it will be Kerry Farmer who are both excellent, established presenters.

Yesterday Stephen Gow, a descendant of a Hawkesbury convict, spoke about the new book he has written about the life and times of that ancestor, William Gow. Stephen gave a most informative and interesting presentation in which he shared some information about the Gow family and discussed the planning, writing and publishing process of his book "From Distress to Deliverance". Stephen's Powerpoint presentation was rich in relevant images and light on text, it demonstrated how a slideshow can enhance a verbal presentation. I learnt some valuable tips on producing a high quality publication from Stephen's talk.

At the conclusion of his talk Stephen indicated that, as a self-publisher, he didn't have a formal distribution network for this book. Some copies are available from the Hawkesbury Regional Museum, alternatively intending purchasers can email Stephen at wptgowdescendants@gmail.com to organise delivery. I immediately emailed Stephen as I wanted to ensure that I snagged one of the three hundred copies from the limited print run.

I was surprised that I got an immediate response from Stephen, who said he would be passing close to Lake Macquarie today on his way home to Armidale. He offered to deliver a copy of the book to save me postage on the item. It's just an hour since Stephen popped in to deliver the book and have a chat.

Image: Courtesy Stephen Gow

I haven't had time to read the book yet but I am already impressed. "From Distress to Deliverance" is a solid tome, weighty in both form and content. A thing of beauty, it has a hardcover and is larger than A4 size, printed on thick paper, the layout is well executed and it is overflowing with colourful and clear illustrations. What warmed the cockles of this old librarian's heart are the features that make it easy to access and understand the information within its solid covers: a contents' page, conversion tables, references at the end of each chapter, a bibliography and source list, family history pages and a detailed index. This book will be too weighty for bedtime reading, I may even have to place it on a table to read comfortably but I know that it will be a rewarding experience. 

Congratulations, Stephen, on producing such a superb work. It is a testament to your passion for family and local history.

A Reference from Macarthur

Read to the end of this article and you will know why I felt like dancing.

My ancestor Patrick "Paddy" Curry has been the subject of a number of my blog posts. The last time I told Paddy's story was here in 2016.

In a recent weekly members' Hang Out with SAG  on Zoom the theme was emigration so I decided to share Paddy's interview on "The Advantages of Emigration" with Caroline Chisholm. Prior to the Hangout I set up my browser with several websites so that I could share my screen and show the interview during the hangout. 

After I reread the interview in the Sydney Morning Herald I gave some thought to the original source of the article "Douglas Jerrold's Paper" and realised that I had never followed that up.

1848 'Advertising', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 8 June, p. 3. , viewed 17 Mar 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12902254

After a little bit of googling I discovered an article about Jerrold on the Victorian Web. He was "a boy with minimal schooling from a lower middle-class family raised in a dockyard town in Kent goes up to London, where, after an apprenticeship as a journalist, he emerges in the 1830s as one of the country's most popular writers."

Listed on the page of Jerrold's works on the site I found that Jerrold edited "Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper, 1846-1848" and that fitted the timeframe for the original article. I popped that title into Google and, hey presto, found a link to a record in the catalogue of the National Library of Australia.

NLA Catalogue Record

I was on a roll. I found my NLA Library Card and logged into their site from the link on the catalogue record which took me straight to the digitised paper in the Gale collection. I did a search for Caroline Chisholm and found three articles. One of these was the one I was seeking. In addition to the article that was published in the Sydney Morning Herald the original contained the following introduction written by Caroline Chisholm. 

Gale Document Number  

GALE|FRNYPS256237397

"I have a great respect for him, have always found him most trustworthy, honest and punctual."

Any tenant would love to hear a reference like that from his landlord! 

On reading that sentence from one of the McArthurs I was elated. This was my best geneafind of the year. Being able to share it with my genimates from SAG on the day I found it was a bonus.

Paddy was a convict but like so many fellow convicts he was a victim of his times. My great (x3) grandfather, Paddy,  was a good man

Down a rabbit hole with the Pusells

As I turn my research focus to my Pusell ancestors I am reminded of a story I read on Trove recently. I am not sure which William or Walter Pusell in my tree this chap was. The article reports on a visit by the Rabbit Controller to a property where Pusell was working.

1948 'MORE RABBIT CASES', National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954), 27 November, p. 1. , viewed 14 May 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161680544

 

This article is a fitting analogy for the task facing me. I currently have 424 descendants listed for the Pusell line in Australia which descends from my convict ancestor, James Pusill/Pusell who arrived in the colony on "James Pattison" in 1837.  As much of this research was done in the days before online databases were freely available some of the my records are poorly sourced.  

Like Mr W Pusell in 1948 I will be going down several rabbit holes as I chase cousins and their details. As well as updating my database in Family Historian I will be correcting articles I find on Trove and adding them to my Trove List for Pusell Deescendants. I will leave a website update until I have done a reasonable amount of  burrowing.

I wonder how many more Pusells I will find or if I will need to lop off any branches ! 

Cousins Baited

I have been in contact with two distant cousins who share my convict ancestor Elizabeth Phipps for around 25 years. We found each other some time last century and shared and communicated for a while.

Then, when along came DNA which proved that we really were cousins, we resumed communications. One of the cousins set up a private Facebook Group where we discuss our research on Elizabeth, her descendants and the paternity of her children. We are hoping that one day we will have a connection with a distant cousins that will give us some clues to solve our paternity problem.

The cousins follow my GeniAus Facebook page and saw that I was to be presenting a talk on "Cousin Bait" at SAG so they signed up. They were baited! I can add this new method of baiting cousins to future presentations.

Please don't tell the other genies who came along to my talk yesterday but meeting Lyn and Leonie, who travelled from outside Sydney to hear and meet me, was the high spot of my day. I'm sure we will see each other again soon.

Leonie, Jill, Lyn

101 Reasons to Attend #congress_2018 - Cockatoo Island

If you have a few days to spare while in Sydney for Congress you can hop on a ferry at Circular Quay and visit Cockatoo Island, a convict site. You can read all about the island's convict history here: http://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/visit/history/convicts.

If you don't have convict blood you'll still find a visit to this historic site, a former shipyard, most interesting.

Just don't feed the birds.

A Convict Success Story

While my convict ancestors were an ordinary bunch many other convicts became successful business men and women. James Squire was one success story.

I spotted this clever advertising in the city today.

Trove Tuesday - Irish invasions

At the moment I am focusing on my Irish research and revisiting research done years ago which I  had put in the too hard basket.

I am more than 60% Irish so I wonder about my Irish ancestors and the many members of their extended families who came to New South Wales and Victoria in the nineteenth century. The convicts, of course, had no choice in the matter but the others came of their own free will.

Knowing nothing about the numbers who came I turned to Trove to find some contemporary information on the subject. I learnt that over 200,000 Irish came to Australia between 1851 and 1876 and that huge numbers went to the US and Britain - perhaps I should be looking for cousins in those places.

1877 'EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE.', Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 - 1954), 9 June, p. 4. , viewed 03 May 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170436026

Many Irish arrived earlier than the dates covered in the article above. My Irish convict ancestors including Ellen Moore, Mariner, arrived in the 1820s and my famine orphan, Mary Criggan, on Derwent in 1850. The first three of my Tierney/D'arcy line arrived in 1839 on China.

1825 'SHIP NEWS.', The Australian (Sydney, NSW : 1824 - 1848), 14 July, p. 3. , viewed 03 May 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37071634

1839 'Shipping Intelligence.', The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), 21 December, p. 2. , viewed 03 May 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2549634

1850 'PORT PHILLIP.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 6 March, p. 2. , viewed 03 May 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12916203

Trove Tuesday - Irish Ancestors

My task for the month of May is to revisit and research the Irish branch of my tree. Hopefully I can demolish a few walls along the way.

As I have a couple of Irish convict ancestors I enjoyed reading this par I found on Trove this morning.

1897 'HIS ANCESTORS.', The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942), 29 May, p. 3. , viewed 26 Apr 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104404964

I want for nothing

On the 17th March, St Patrick's Day, each year I think of my Irish ancestors who made the perilous trip to Australia. Seven years ago I wrote about my ancestor Patrick Curry/Corry.

I have edited and am reposting that article today.

I wonder what our ancestors thought as they left their homes in England, Ireland and Scotland to sail to this distant and strange land. A dozen of my ancestors were convicts transported to Australia for petty crimes, some were young Irish lads and lasses, bounty (assisted) immigrants, who left home during the time of The Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840’s. A couple were free settlers, people who travelled to Australia of their own free will in the hope of a better life.Recently I spoke to a distant cousin, a 75 year old Scottish lady, who emigrated with her family in 1953. When they left Scotland food rationing was still in place; on arrival in Australia they could not believe the quality and quantity of food they were served at their first family lunch, she thought she was in heaven. She said that her parents never regretted leaving Scotland as they wanted a "better life" for their children and she felt that this goal had been achieved.

My 3rd great grandfather, Patrick (Paddy) Curry from Limerick in Ireland , arrived as a convict on the Hooghley in 1825. He was assigned to work at Camden Park a property of the pioneering Macarthur family. On 8th June 1848 The Sydney Morning Herald published an interview from 1846 from Caroline Chisholm with Patrick on the advantages of emigration. Patrick felt that he was most fortunate to be in New South Wales.

1848 'Advertising', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 8 June, p. 3. , viewed 17 Mar 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12902254

I and Paddy's descendants can now access this interview via Trove but when I first went in search of it after following a reference in Alan Atkinson's book, Camden: Farm and village life in early New South Wales, it took me ages to locate the interview on microfilm. The copy I retrieved from the film was very hard to read whereas the image from Trove is quite clear in comparison.

GeniAus Geneavlog - These Few Lines

I'm giving my fingers a rest today so have recorded my blog post, a book review, on Youtube.

The bibliographic details for the book in question can be found at the NLA. Apologies for the booboo I made in the broadcast where I quoted an incorrect title for the book (I am blaming stage fright).

You will need to turn your sound up to listen to the recording as (for a change) I was speaking quietly.

---

Pack of Thieves.

I just got around to reading this book I bought for a song at a remainders bookstore in Chatswood Chase last year.

Pack of Thieves by Hamish Maxwell-Stewart & Susan Hood relates the stories of 52 convicts who served time at the Port Arthur penal settlement in Tasmania. While it is well written I found it a bit boring and repetitive after I had read the stories of twenty or so convicts. If one of them had been an ancestor of mine I would have been enthralled.

Pack of Thieves

What makes this book valuable is its excellent glossary and bibliography.

The Road Builder

Anne-Maree signs a copy of her book for me 

Yesterday I attended a talk by Anne-Maree Harriet Cox Whitaker at the monthly meeting of the  Hawkesbury Family History Group

I was rather excited as she was talking on her latest book "William Cox and Cox's Road" and two of my convict ancestors had worked for Cox on the construction of the road. Can you imagine my disappointment when Anne-Maree showed a slide of the thirty convicts that worked on the road and my men weren't on the list?

While the talk continued I grabbed my phone, brought up my family tree and checked my sources. Yes, my men earned their conditional pardons for working on the road. James Westbrook and William Magick were "On list of prisoners recommended for mitigation of sentence by Wm. Cox" as a result of their work making bricks for the road  (State Records NSW Reel 6065; 4/1798 p.107) As Anne-Maree didn't want the flow of her talk interrupted I had to wait until the end of her talk to ask if the thirty were the only convicts who worked on the road. She assured me that there were indeed more.  I wish she would have mentioned this during her talk!

The talk which Anne-Maree read was supported by interesting and relevant historical and contemporary images. The presentation firstly focused on the genealogy and history of the Cox family before moving on to the story of Cox's road. I found it most interesting to discover that Cox's first career was as a watch and clock maker. Because of my ancestor's connection I would have liked to hear more about the road but, as I have purchased the book which includes a transcription of 36 pages of Cox's Journal I am sure that I will be able to discover more of the story of the road's construction right from the horse's mouth.

Sneak peek

I was privileged this morning to have a play on the new Claim a Convict website.

When Lesley Uebel was ill some generous souls volunteered to take over the Claim a Convict site that Lesley had curated for many years. I was one of the genealogists who was able to make connections with distant cousins via the site, I know that many other genealogists have benefitted over the years from all the work that Lesley put into the project. It is fitting that Lesley's memory will live on in this new site.

The URL for the site that will be launched on Australia Day is http://claimaconvict.hawkesbury.net.au.  At the moment the link only shows a countdown to the launch time. The new Claim a Convict team of Michelle Nichols and Jonathan Auld have given the site a new look that is crisp and clean with a few graphics designed by a local Hawkesbury artist.

I have been playing around on the site this morning, it was easy to register as a user (I had dropped off probably because I hadn't notified the site about a change of email address), claim a few convicts and change the password I was issued with to something a bit easier for me to remember. The site is easy to navigate and all of the links I tested worked. Not being able to help myself I did make a couple of suggestions that Jonathan swiftly implemented.

Richard Aspinall - One of the convicts I have claimed on Claim a Convict

I am not going to steal the thunder of those who are working on this project but I urge you to save some time in the near future to visit the site and claim your convicts. Several of my convicts are not yet listed and Jonathan is working on a mechanism for people to contact the site with details of those convicts who are missing from the list.

Lesley Uebel

A note just came through on the  AUS-NSW-HILLS-HAWKESBURY-HUNTER-VALLEY Mailing List  from Coralie Hird:

"It is with great sadness that I have to inform the list that our beloved
Lesley Uebel passed away peacefully on Monday evening the 20th of January.

Lesley was not alone on her final voyage and she has sailed away with a full
pardon and is now a free settler in the bosom of her family and friends."

Those of us with Convict Ancestry will remember Lesley for the wonderful work she did on the Claim a Convict site which enabled us to connect with other descendants of our miscreants. The site which has now been archived but I believe that the site will be relaunched on Australia Day.

Michelle Nichols has taken over the administrative role for two Rootsweb lists that Lesley looked after.

Condolences to Lesley's husband, Colin, and family at this difficult time.

Trove Tuesday - Can't share this one

As many new resources have been added to Trove since I did some serious searching on my maiden name, Curry, I thought I would see if I could dredge up anything new on my ancestors this week.

As my first Curry ancestor, Patrick the convict, settled in the Camden area I started with a simple search for Curry Camden. I was rewarded with a couple of photographs. One that interested me was a photo of a distant Curry relation's home in Elderslie near Camden.

Sadly I can look at the image of Trevor Curry's abode but I cannot copy and share it because the copyright statement says "This photo may be copied for personal use. For all other purposes permission of the holder of copyright must be obtained." . As I'm not sure if  adding a photo to a blog post  is considered personal use I will refrain from posting it.

What I can tell you is that it belongs to a set of photos from The Camden Images Past and Present Collection at the Camden Library that can be searched via Trove.

If you replicate my search on Trove you will be able to view the image too.

Australia Day Blog Challenge - James Westbrook (1784-1859)

In her blog challenge for Australia Day 2013 Helen V Smith has challenged geneabloggers "to tell the story of your first Australian ancestor."

I think James Westbrook was my first ancestor to arrive on Australia's shores but as there is no way to verify the paternity of Elizabeth Phipps' offspring I cannot be 100% sure that he is my ancestor. 

James WESTBROOK, son of Edward WESTBROOK  and Elizabeth FITCHETT , was born on 3 November 1784 in London, England and was christened on 23 November 1784 in St. Sepulchre Holborn, London, England.²  He claims to have married Elizabeth PHIPPS before 1812 in England but I cannot find any evidence to support this.  

On 1 April 1812 he was a butcher  living in Angel and Porter Court, Golden Lane Parish of St Luke Old Street, London, England with Elizabeth Phipps, a cotton spinner. He and Elizabeth had a bit of trouble with the law and found themselves before the court at The Old Bailey indicted for "feloniously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Joseph Covington." A transcript of this trial is available online.

As a result the hapless pair were sentenced to Transportation.  James was one of 200 convicts who left England on the Earl Spencer on 2 June 1813 and arrived in the Colony of New South Wales  9 October 1813.  On arrival he was assigned to William Cox; James worked as part of Cox's gang that built the road over the Blue Mountains. 

James and Elizabeth were both assigned to the Windsor area and had several children together. It is just not clear which of Elizabeth's children were Westbrooks and which were fathered by William Magick.

He appeared in the convict muster in 1814 in Windsor, NSW, Australia.  Between January 1816 and January 1818 he was resident in Bathurst, NSW, Australia.  On 7 July 1818 he was  a prisoner resident in Bathurst and he reappeared in the convict muster in Windsor in 1822 with a Conditional Pardon. James earned his pardon as a result of the work he did for Cox on the building of the road. 

He appeared in the census in 1825 in Sydney listed with children Louisa, Harriett, Emily, William, Ann and Sarah. This could indicate that these were his children.  

In the 1828 Convict Muster he was back in the Windsor area at Richmond where it is presumed that he lived until his death.  James must have lead an ordinary life as I have not been able to dig up any stories about him on Trove!

When he died on 14 July 1859 in Windsor Hospital, Windsor, NSW, Australia James was listed as a pauper.^3,4  He was buried on 16 July 1859 in St.Matthew's Church of England, Windsor, NSW, Australia.