tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-712533163901970222024-03-16T12:09:33.638+11:00Robert Forrester, First FleeterLouise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-67608044323942512882023-04-08T06:41:00.003+10:002023-04-09T07:52:42.836+10:00Who was Catherine Ridge, born Sydney c.1796?<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">A great deal of sleuthing has been necessary to uncover my forthcoming story of Robert Forrester's son-in-law <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/richard_ridge.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Richard Ridge</span></b></a>, who was an intriguing Third Fleeter with a long history as an officer of the court (bailiff) in the early days of New South Wales. </span></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">Part of my detective work involved investigating the unregistered birth of a Catherine Ridge in Sydney around 1796. </span>The original intention was to include her full story as an Appendix in the Richard Ridge book, he being the only man named Ridge living in Sydney at that time. But
Catherine was unlikely to have been Richard’s biological child and, in the interests of relevance to his story, I'm publishing what I know of Catherine's life story here.</p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">It is postulated that Catherine was
actually the natural child of William O’Neal and Mary Cunningham or Coningham
a.k.a. Mary Carroll, conceived aboard the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marquis
Cornwallis </i>but born after the ship reached Sydney in February 1796. The
Irish convicts William and Mary, both educated enough to be literate, likely
formed a bond during their long journey to Australia. But in 1796, as
newly-arrived convicts, the system for placement of women meant that William
and Mary could not stay together by choice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrt_AzQKnUTwaHRAp9Fz4bF6ogEZS7dEUPPPTE3B5V2f0VaCOCGQLL96Ps849m4YmTTsP5-iv6fS2l6J8jY1uEM77v1zOnitjOoOHjHa4YnoXl_SxbC9yOnNFCaRz5HePx_83HkGQYwp5XgSzsmSahi8dMUZGLhhPGK0JMnZWSAoUJcpvoYTZK7RW1/s1280/Marquis_Cornwallis_in_1793.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="1280" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrt_AzQKnUTwaHRAp9Fz4bF6ogEZS7dEUPPPTE3B5V2f0VaCOCGQLL96Ps849m4YmTTsP5-iv6fS2l6J8jY1uEM77v1zOnitjOoOHjHa4YnoXl_SxbC9yOnNFCaRz5HePx_83HkGQYwp5XgSzsmSahi8dMUZGLhhPGK0JMnZWSAoUJcpvoYTZK7RW1/w400-h258/Marquis_Cornwallis_in_1793.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Marquis Conwallis</i> in 1793, by Frans Balthazar Solvyns, <br />Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, ML1346</div><p></p><p class="MsoBodyText">Perhaps Mary was assigned as the
housekeeper in Richard’s hut, under his ‘protection’, and when her baby was
born she acquired the surname Ridge out of common usage. This happened to Isabella Forrester, the girl who later became Richard's sister-in-law: after her mother died, young Isabella was raised from infancy by <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/paul_bushell.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Paul Bushell</span></b></a> and his wife and in some places is referred to as Isabella Bushell.</p><p class="MsoBodyText">The given name of Catherine
might have honoured Mary’s friend Katherine Neil from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marquis Cornwallis</i> voyage, who perhaps attended the birth and who married Richard's co-accused William Shaw in December 1796. Since Richard’s mother was also named Catherine, he would have readily accepted the
name.</p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">After Richard’s sentence expired in
September 1796, he and Mary and baby Catherine moved to the Hawkesbury. For the time being, William and Katherine Shaw remained in Sydney.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">Mary’s second daughter <st1:placename w:st="on">Mary</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Ann</st1:placename>
Ridge was born around 1798, her birth also unregistered. Richard was the acknowledged father
and later documents prove the connection. (His land grant of August 1804 was subsequently gifted by him to ‘Mary
Ann Ridge his daughter’ in August 1838. Mary Ann’s 1856 death certificate gives
her father’s name as <st1:placename w:st="on">Richard</st1:placename> Ridge and
her eldest ‘brother by the half blood’ James Bligh Ridge of Windsor announced
his intention to prepare an application to the Supreme Court for Letters of
Administration over her estate.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">At the Hawkesbury Mary met up again with
William O’Neal, her fellow Irishman and shipmate from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marquis Cornwallis</i>. Mary left Richard, taking her two infant daughters with her, and took up with O’Neal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">As soon as O’Neal was free-by-servitude
Mary married him at Parramatta, on 30 December 1799, signing her name as Mary
Coningham. He signed as Wm O’Neal. Witnesses were Patrick Burn, a fellow shipmate and an
Irish political prisoner, who made his mark, and Burn’s new wife Sarah Best who
signed. In subsequent administrative records the Mary living with William O’Neal
is recorded as Mary Carroll, not Cunningham or Coningham.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">Both Catherine and Mary Ann Ridge were
then raised by their mother and her husband, who became a baker and publican in
Sydney, with some background details included in Richard Ridge's story, because of his direct connection to Mary Ann.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">In 1814 Mary Ann’s older half-sister Catherine
Ridge makes her inaugural official appearance in the records, being mentioned by name for the first time. She was around
eighteen years old when she witnessed a wedding in Sydney:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoQuote"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><blockquote>Henry Buckley, aged 35, Bachelor, Abode:
Sydney [NSW AUS], Brazier, Signed X; & Hannah Jones, aged 30, Spinster, Abode:
Sydney [NSW AUS], Signed X; married 29 Sep 1814, registered St Philips Church
of England Sydney [NSW AUS] by Banns by William Cowper, Assistant Chaplain;
Witness: John Kern, Signed X; Witness: Catherine Ridge, Signed.</blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">Henry and Hannah Buckley then disappear
from NSW records. The groom may have been the merchant who died in Lancashire
in 1816, aged 37. John Kern may have been a soldier named John Kean.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">Catherine is literate, in keeping with
two literate parents. Her exact connection to the Buckley couple is unclear
but the merchant and soldier connection is plausible. Catherine lived in the
business heart of Sydney, close to the army barracks, and her half-sister Mary
Ann Ridge will soon become the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de facto</i>
wife of another merchant in Sydney, R.C. Pritchett. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">Fifteen months later when she is around
nineteen, Catherine witnesses another wedding in Sydney:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoQuote"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><blockquote>James Jenkins, aged 40, Bachelor, Abode:
Sydney [NSW AUS], Stonemason, Signed; & Elizabeth Saunders [signed]
Elizabeth Sanders, aged 21, Spinster, Abode: Sydney [NSW AUS], Signed; married
12 Dec 1815, registered St Philips Church of England Sydney [NSW AUS] by Banns
by William Cowper, Assistant Chaplain; Witness: Thomas Saunders, Signed X;
Witness: Catharine Ridge, Signed </blockquote><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">This time it seems likely that Catherine
is a friend of the bride. James Jenkins, recently widowed, lived at the Rocks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">Then on 9 April 1821 it’s <st1:placename w:st="on">Catherine</st1:placename> Ridge who is married, to James McDonald at
St Phillip’s Sydney. The bride was a 24 year old spinster of <st1:city w:st="on">Sydney</st1:city>,
able to sign her name, and the bachelor groom was an illiterate 28 year old
labourer, also of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sydney</st1:place></st1:city>. The date of this marriage and the bride's age implies she was born after 9 April 1796. To fit with the supposition that she was conceived aboard the <i>Marquis Cornwallis</i>, she must have been born by November 1796.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">There were several James McDonalds in
Sydney at this time but his choice of Arthur Little as a witness suggests James
was possibly the man from Armagh in Northern Ireland who’d stolen a horse and
had arrived on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Providence</i> in
1811, along with Little. The marriage was performed after banns by William
Cowper, and was witnessed by Arter (Arthur) Little and Mary Little (nee Norman). The Littles had both arrived on different ships as convicts in 1811, had met in
Sydney and by now were the parents of four children. In 1828 Arthur was a
dealer at King St, Sydney and he died a wealthy man at his palatial home
‘Rockwall’ in Macleay St, Darlinghurst in 1862.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">James McDonald (a.k.a. MacDonald and McDonnell) had a life sentence but he’d been
emancipated by Macquarie c.1818. He applied for a grant in July 1820 on the basis
that he had been brought up to agriculture. He did not mention a wife at that
point. However a daughter Mary A McDonald was likely born in 1820, and a son
James in 1822. The land grant was approved on 22 September 1824, provided James
settled on it. This appears to have been 30 acres at Long Reef, where Arthur Little also had a land grant, his being 100 acres. James, a grasscutter, employed various convict tradesmen and was occasionally
in trouble for not paying for them, up until October 1824. Muster data shows James
and Catherine (born colony) living together in Sydney in 1822 and 1825 but, apart from her date of
birth around 1796, the research process (to date) has not uncovered any further
definitive information about Catherine. </span></p><p class="MsoBodyText"><span lang="EN-US">DNA tests should help resolve the puzzle: descendants of Catherine should share DNA with the Pritchett descendants of Mary Ann Ridge but not with the descendants of the eleven children fathered by Richard Ridge with his wife Margaret Forrester.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText">More details of Catherine's half-sister Mary Ann Ridge will be included in the <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/richard_ridge.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">forthcoming biography of Richard Ridge</span></b></a>, which I hope to publish later in 2023. Please <a href="mailto:louisewilson@tpg.com.au" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">email</span></b></a> me, or contact me on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LouiseWilsonAuthor" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Facebook</span></b></a> or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/louise.wilson.author" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Instagram</span></b></a>, if you'd like to be added to the waiting list for this book. </p>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-53504623823427828972023-02-22T18:04:00.002+11:002023-02-22T18:11:04.944+11:00Sentenced to Debt - What's in a Name? <p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">When I read a book, I always pay attention to its title because it often encapsulates the author's decision to write that particular book. What was it that resonated with the author, that they would devote the long, arduous hours to writing all those pages? </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">Some titles, especially for family histories, make the book's content obvious from the start. Usually the family name forms part of the title, to make it easier for extended family members to find the book on various search engines. Some authors of family histories are more creative, such as my cousin (by marriage) John Jennings when he wrote 'A Lot about a Little'.<br /><br />When I read Behrouz Boochani's powerful book 'No Friend but the Mountains', the author's choice of title did not mean anything to me until I'd read three-quarters of the book, when the author wrote about his home country. Similarly, readers of my book 'Margaret Flockton: A Fragrant Memory' had to reach her retirement years to discover the reason for my subtitle. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">For my most recent book </span><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 14.6667px;"><a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></a></span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">, published in 2020, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">the title was carefully chosen for three reasons. In 1783 in London Robert Forrester escaped his sentence to <i>death</i> and I liked the play on words. In 1794 in Australia he received a small free land grant beside a flood-prone river and my research proved that this sentenced him to a lifetime of <i>actual debt</i>. Today, his descendants everywhere are beginning to acknowledge that they remain in <i>virtual debt</i> to the original owners of the land taken from them by the colonial government without their permission. </span></span></p><p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vhp6AcByjJQ/X3QinmacoAI/AAAAAAAAC9w/Ab37zJWUVEo7zgM3D7CUpvkLBdfx1YNkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s548/cardinall-garrow%2B%25283%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="548" height="216" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vhp6AcByjJQ/X3QinmacoAI/AAAAAAAAC9w/Ab37zJWUVEo7zgM3D7CUpvkLBdfx1YNkwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h216/cardinall-garrow%2B%25283%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">More miseries: Being nervous and cross examined by Mr Garrow, <br />Thomas Rowlandson, 1 April 1807</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">It has taken me many years to learn about, understand and come to terms with these three themes, especially the last one. My journey towards understanding began in my childhood.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">In Sydney from
1958 I attended a school located 'out amid the flannel flowers' on 'bare plains swept by sea winds clean'. These were the opening words of the school song for Narrabeen Girls High School, no longer in existence by that name. </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"> There the broad sweep of history always attracted me and I achieved First Class Honours in Modern History in the old NSW Leaving Certificate. Sensitive about my inability to reel off names and dates 'to order'- that's what historians are meant to do, isn't it? - I took another tack at university, a problem-solving tack based on economics and mathematics.</span></div></span><p></p><p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GfXaQ4ugfpI/X3OsxeyewAI/AAAAAAAAC9E/pjfjhVoX65gHZ3UX5V5iph8vqxlSvoWigCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Flannel%2Bflowers%2BPatsy%2BTempleton.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="600" height="339" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GfXaQ4ugfpI/X3OsxeyewAI/AAAAAAAAC9E/pjfjhVoX65gHZ3UX5V5iph8vqxlSvoWigCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h339/Flannel%2Bflowers%2BPatsy%2BTempleton.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Flannel Flowers, <br />Image courtesy Patsy Templeton, 2020</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Growing up in the old Manly-Warringah Shire of Sydney (now called the Northern Beaches), abounding in beautiful bushland, sandstone caves and lagoons, I never gave much thought to Aboriginal matters although we sang the following words as the second verse of our high school song: ‘Where our native people gathered, where they danced
corroborees, young Australians climb Parnassus, on the plains of Narrabeen’. These
words turned out to be true because in 2005 the skeleton of 4,000-year-old
‘</span><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-12-21/speared-man-unearthed-after-4000-years/994510" style="font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank"><b>Narrabeen Man</b></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;">’ was unearthed near a bus shelter at Narrabeen. </span></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">In May 1966,
at my graduation ceremony at the University of Sydney, the Great Hall resounded
with applause for Charlie Perkins, who’d led the famous <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/explore/features/indigenous-rights/civil-rights/freedom-ride" target="_blank"><b>Freedom Rides</b></a> around
New South Wales the year before. That day he became the first Aboriginal
graduate of an Australian university. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">When I voted for the first time in
1967, I happily joined the overwhelming majority vote at the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-26/larissa-behrendt-mythbusting-the-1967-referendum/8349858" target="_blank"><b>Referendum</b></a> for permitting the Federal government to make laws for Aboriginal
people and count them within the census. We naively thought it would lead to an instant improvement in the lives of our country's original inhabitants.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">In 1967 and 1968, just into my twenties, I
taught mathematics to some Aboriginal children at South Dubbo High School but
remained ignorant about the disadvantaged neighbourhood where they lived. </span></p><p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-79Ggm2cDrUw/X3OtoeLoFEI/AAAAAAAAC9M/2Tp9ZnhxZnQK0_m6A78kkux5Kz0kTTLXACLcBGAsYHQ/s1617/Dubbo%2BSouth%2BHS.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="973" data-original-width="1617" height="241" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-79Ggm2cDrUw/X3OtoeLoFEI/AAAAAAAAC9M/2Tp9ZnhxZnQK0_m6A78kkux5Kz0kTTLXACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h241/Dubbo%2BSouth%2BHS.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Re-visiting Dubbo, 1987</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">In the 1970s I was co-founder of the Cameragal Montessori School at Lavender Bay, North Sydney – the name honoring the Aboriginal clan of the area. My parents lived in a street named Wallumatta Road. </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">I liked Aboriginal-sounding names so</span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"> I made up the name "Billalooa Farm" for our farm.</span></div></span><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCA4n7jSDIY/X3Oy22zevAI/AAAAAAAAC9Y/Wf25gogX1hsEqyu-HFhTxnofZYncrLR4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/DSC04982%2Blow%2Bres.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCA4n7jSDIY/X3Oy22zevAI/AAAAAAAAC9Y/Wf25gogX1hsEqyu-HFhTxnofZYncrLR4ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/DSC04982%2Blow%2Bres.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cameragal Montessori School, 2012</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">For almost thirty years life then took me in other directions and I gave little thought to Australian history. I
remained unaware that a man named Robert Forrester had once lived on a Crown
grant at the Hawkesbury, that he played a prominent part in early interactions there
with Australia’s First Peoples and that, through a grandson, he has Aboriginal
descendants who have lodged a Native Title Claim in Queensland. </span></div></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8k7yL5sMy-I/X3O1cB23FpI/AAAAAAAAC9k/_35BoaCjIispUIudH4ecQmIBx6nWcAKWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s941/AnchorVista2%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="941" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8k7yL5sMy-I/X3O1cB23FpI/AAAAAAAAC9k/_35BoaCjIispUIudH4ecQmIBx6nWcAKWwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h285/AnchorVista2%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Anchor Memorial, Thompson Square, Windsor, 1999</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">In 1999 my mother Julia Woodhouse and I stopped for a coffee in
Windsor, on our way towards Wilberforce, the birthplace of my mother’s grandmother
Varah Jane Bushell. We stood in front of the Pioneer Memorial in Thompson
Square, looking for the name Robert Forrester. He was named as the father on the death
certificate for Varah’s grandmother. The digital age had not arrived and I was tracking the family tree the old-fashioned way by working back through the official birth, death and marriage certificates for each generation. There he was, listed as an arrival in
1788. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;">It was only then</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">that we realised</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> that</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> we were descended from a First Fleeter. Australian
history has absorbed me ever since. And naturally I'll be voting in favour of The Voice at the forthcoming referendum.</span></p><p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 14.6667px;"><a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></a></span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">is a complete rethink and rewrite of the first book I wrote about Robert Forrester back in 2009. Get your copy of this book </span><a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html" style="font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.</span></div></span></div><div><p></p></div>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-79166019880520476202020-10-29T07:52:00.000+11:002020-10-29T07:52:00.330+11:00What Happened to Jane Metcalf?<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Most family histories are set in the third person, <b>past</b> tense. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Somehow the third person, <b>present</b> tense energises a story but it's very hard to sustain a book-length story of the past using this writing style. Some writers have managed it, such as Hilary Mantel in 'Wolf Hall'.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="text-indent: 18.9333px;"><span style="text-indent: 18.9333px;">A recent writing exercise set by the GSV Writers Circle in Melbourne challenged us to tell a short story in the third person, <b>present</b> tense.</span><span style="text-indent: 18.9333px;"> </span>I chose an example from my latest book <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></span></a> to explain what happened to Robert Forrester's long-term de facto wife after his death in 1827. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 18.9333px;">Italics in the following short story show the use of the present tense.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">In
1828 Jane Metcalf <i>is</i> still alive, working at Wilberforce as a seamstress and
living with her Forrester stepsons Robert (Jnr) and William. In 1833 she <i>comes</i> before the Supreme Court,
indicted as the receiver of meat from a calf stolen from a neighbour by her stepson Robert and his friend John Norris. Some sort of neighbourhood dispute <i>is</i>
in play.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">When
the men <i>are</i> sentenced to death even their horrified accuser <i>rallies</i> to their
defence. So <i>does</i> their neighbour and local magistrate, William Cox: “I never
heard one of the family charged with </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; text-indent: 14.2pt;">doing
wrong until now. A</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">mong the young men of these districts they are
considered as standing high.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">The
death sentence <i>is</i> waived and the two men with their wives and children <i>are</i> sent
to Tasmania for seven years, where Robert (Jnr) <i>works</i> for a son of William Cox.
Jane <i>is</i> sentenced to 12 months gaol at the Parramatta Female Factory. She <i>is</i>
now in her late seventies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YYSs9pNXe4k/X3pUyXG-NEI/AAAAAAAAC-A/BWhQjBdEDQ0OCOwuww8zMaES-d8lhuPxACLcBGAsYHQ/s969/Parramatta_Female_Factory.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="969" height="245" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YYSs9pNXe4k/X3pUyXG-NEI/AAAAAAAAC-A/BWhQjBdEDQ0OCOwuww8zMaES-d8lhuPxACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h245/Parramatta_Female_Factory.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Second Parramatta Female Factory, 1818-1848<br />By Augustus Earle (1793-1838) - National Library of Australia., Wikimedia</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">After
gaol, Jane </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">needs</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;"> economic support. She </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">issues</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;"> a summons seeking maintenance
from James Metcalf, her much younger legal husband, although </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">they’ve</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;"> lived apart for twenty
five years. He </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">agrees</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;"> to resume co-habitation, with Jane keeping house for him.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Described
as a 71-year-old pauper, James Metcalf </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">dies</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;"> in hospital in Windsor in 1843.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Jane
Metcroft, a 98-year-old widow, <i>is</i> buried in Windsor in 1854. Four Forrester
siblings now <i>live</i> in this town but none of them <i>are</i> entirely sure of her correct surname.
<i>She’s</i> simply Jane, their stepmother since 1810.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">******</span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">The full version of Jane's end-of-life story, written in the past tense, is on pp 365-366 of
</span><a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">, available online through </span><a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>BookPOD.</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;"> </span></div><div><p></p></div><p></p>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-41021928889745256762020-10-13T08:21:00.001+11:002020-10-13T08:21:02.592+11:00Bella Ramsay Makes a Stand<p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">In my <a href="https://robertforresterfirstfleeter.blogspot.com/2020/10/bellas-journey-into-history.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>last post</b></span></a> I mentioned that the Third Fleet convict Bella Ramsay is being considered as an entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography's 'Colonial Women' project. Why might that be? </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">In 1791 Bella had a tough start to her life in Australia. But she did not let that cow her. Using some of Bella's own words, selected from court documents of 1799, we begin to see a feisty young woman prepared to make a stand against a large group of vengeful men running a kangaroo court inside her home. Here is a taste of that story.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iT7PTc3Jbz8/X3po32J5VtI/AAAAAAAAC-c/R8oQ77p1SRkpqGuUFSdRtPhTtu0bULuWgCLcBGAsYHQ/s820/Pic%2B63b.%2BBella.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="690" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iT7PTc3Jbz8/X3po32J5VtI/AAAAAAAAC-c/R8oQ77p1SRkpqGuUFSdRtPhTtu0bULuWgCLcBGAsYHQ/w336-h400/Pic%2B63b.%2BBella.jpg" width="336" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Original Sketch by Julia Woodhouse, 2008</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">My
husband was away. I was preparing the evening meal, alone with my five small
children, when our farm worker James Metcalf arrived along with three young natives,
each armed with a spear, a warmaraa and a waddy. </span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-urXI0OvBmfI/X3pnu5QlTCI/AAAAAAAAC-M/7Yu8OO46Vsgbf_20hNaqiE8C-phm6_xOQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1201/Pic%2B63a.%2BAborigines%2BJulia%2BWoodhouse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="943" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-urXI0OvBmfI/X3pnu5QlTCI/AAAAAAAAC-M/7Yu8OO46Vsgbf_20hNaqiE8C-phm6_xOQCLcBGAsYHQ/w314-h400/Pic%2B63a.%2BAborigines%2BJulia%2BWoodhouse.jpg" width="314" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Original Sketch by Julia Woodhouse, 2008</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Metcalf said ‘These natives were
in the woods with Hodgkinson the night before he was massacred. Give them a
piece of bread as they might be the means of finding out the natives that
killed Hodgkinson.</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">’</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Metcalf
left us to find the widow Hodgkinson, who is my friend, and alert seven other neighbours. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Left alone with
the natives, I was glad to see Constable Powell come in, for I was in fear for
myself and the children. We have been robbed by the natives, but from their
general inhuman behaviour I am the more afraid of them.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Powell
said they should be killed for they had killed a worthy good fellow, and it
would be a pity to see them go away alive.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EY8Li7i591Y/X3ppHlldoMI/AAAAAAAAC-k/-GYQGPosQL0SpXN1B9dyTFP5a9RPeBt3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Pic%2B51.%2BBoomerang%2Bthrower%2BIMG_6219%2Bcopy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1715" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EY8Li7i591Y/X3ppHlldoMI/AAAAAAAAC-k/-GYQGPosQL0SpXN1B9dyTFP5a9RPeBt3gCLcBGAsYHQ/w335-h400/Pic%2B51.%2BBoomerang%2Bthrower%2BIMG_6219%2Bcopy.jpg" width="335" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">'On Trek', from front doorway of Mitchell Library, Sydney. <br />Photo by Louise Wilson, 2018</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Gradually all our neighbours arrived at my house. Butler
came with a bright cutlass, saying ‘What sentence shall we pass upon these
black fellows – I will pass sentence myself – they shall be hanged.’</span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Powell
wanted to hang them on the beam in my house. I did not consent, knowing he had
a place of his own. Powell asked me for a rope and I said I had none. I tried
to save the lives of the natives.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">Two neighbours went home to collect ropes and the
hands of the natives were then tied behind them by a rope put about their
necks. They were taken out of my house.</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">About a quarter of an hour
afterwards I heard the report of two muskets. Two natives lay dead. The other
ran away and he later identified the real murderers.<br /><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">*****</span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">The above dramatic excerpt condenses the main event but not the aftermath. The full version is outlined in 25 pages of meticulously researched historic detail in "More Killings, 1799", Chapter 11 of the book </span><a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></span></a>, available online through <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>BookPOD.</b></span></a><p></p>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-52281046764883674292020-10-06T08:12:00.001+11:002020-10-06T08:12:00.261+11:00Bella's Journey into History<div style="text-align: justify;">In Melbourne I belong to the GSV Writers Circle and occasionally we practise the writing of a meaningful excerpt of our family history in a word-limited story. It certainly helps focus the mind on content and pace. We try to avoid wandering off the highway and down narrative byways. Here's an example of such an exercise - a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, told in approximately 350 words. It's a concentrated taste, a short-form version, of the adventures of Isabella Ramsay, a key character in my latest book <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></span></a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In May 1790 16-year-old Bella stole a man’s coat, a checked apron and red duffle cloth from a farmer’s wife,
her former employer. Found guilty at the
Carlisle Assizes and incarcerated in the Carlisle Citadel, she soon heard about a new British
government policy requiring women prisoners of child-bearing age to be sent to
New South Wales.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She was moved to the assembly point at
Newgate Prison in London. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On 14 February about 70 female prisoners were moved
onto two lighters lying off Blackfriars Bridge. A vast crowd of curious Londoners
gathered on that cold winter’s morning to watch them set off down the Thames
towards Woolwich, where the transports bound for Botany Bay were moored.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bella was loaded aboard the <i>Mary Ann</i>, stripped of her clothing,
shaved of her hair and issued with a woollen cap, a jacket and a petticoat of
blue baize. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next day the <i>Mary Ann</i> set sail. She made a fast voyage, anchoring in Sydney Cove
at 2pm on Sunday 9 July 1791, ahead of the main Third Fleet ships.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A grim fate now awaited Bella, not yet
eighteen years of age. Marines, soldiers and settlers crowded aboard the <i>Mary Ann</i>, keen to have first pick of
prospective servants and ‘wives’. Women not selected were permitted to go with
any man they chose, or else become hut-keepers for from two to ten men. For a
virtuous woman, the available options were highly disagreeable. Paraded
before the ogling men, Bella was selected by James Manning, a former First Fleet
marine. They lived first in the barracks in Sydney, then on a farm near Parramatta.</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fk7wY5vMNSU/X3FIwkVUktI/AAAAAAAAC84/zRD5ADEYD3cXl-0xyCVAAdCPBJD22nHjACLcBGAsYHQ/s568/Sydney%2B1791%2Bcollins1-03%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="568" height="286" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fk7wY5vMNSU/X3FIwkVUktI/AAAAAAAAC84/zRD5ADEYD3cXl-0xyCVAAdCPBJD22nHjACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h286/Sydney%2B1791%2Bcollins1-03%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sydney in 1791, looking westwards towards Parramatta, <br />from David Collins, <i>An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales</i><br />Aborigines are standing near today's southern approach to the Sydney Harbour Bridge</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Women, being so scarce in the colony, were able to wield some power of their own. Within two years Bella chose a male partner more to her liking. With industrious Robert
Forrester, a former First Fleet convict, she had nine children before her death
in 1807, thereby becoming a founding mother of modern Australia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bella made a mark during her short life in Australia. She's been nominated for inclusion in the Australian Dictionary of Biography's 'Colonial Women' project. Read her full story in <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></span></a>, available online through <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html"><span style="color: blue;"><b>BookPOD</b></span></a>. </div>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-55702484308611344512020-09-28T09:49:00.000+10:002020-09-28T09:49:55.281+10:00Elizabeth Forrester, 1794-1814<p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Promises are often hard to keep. </span>I should have known better back in 2009, when I published 'Robert Forrester, First Fleeter', that promising a follow-up book about his and Isabella Ramsay's children would be a challenging exercise. As a descendant of their daughter Ann I started first with her story ('Southwark Luck', 2012). Recently I updated the 2009 book with 'Sentenced to Debt'. Details for both books are listed below. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Today I'm making a minor start on the rest of the family with this cameo picture of the short life of Robert and Bella's eldest child.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Elizabeth Forrester was born in the infant colony of New
South Wales on 16 March 1794 but it’s unclear whether she was born near
Parramatta or on her parents' new farm at Cornwallis, beside the Hawkesbury River.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></a>
Her parents definitely lived at Cornwallis by early September 1794 and when her
sister Margaret was born there on 2 April 1795 both girls were taken on the long and dangerous journey to
Parramatta to be christened.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></a> O</span>n 25 October 1795 Rev Samuel Marsden dabbed holy water on the infants under a large spreading tree, as the church of St John's was yet to be constructed. He misinterpreted Robert's Scots-Irish accent and recorded the surname as Foster.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jN6hpfLz-Y8/X2-8PQoyZ-I/AAAAAAAAC8c/VTaPWHKi4H8wc8VxwX1s1V5EQj7Os_FOACLcBGAsYHQ/s1122/Pic%2B56.%2BBap%2BEF%2B%2526%2BMF.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="1122" height="173" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jN6hpfLz-Y8/X2-8PQoyZ-I/AAAAAAAAC8c/VTaPWHKi4H8wc8VxwX1s1V5EQj7Os_FOACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h173/Pic%2B56.%2BBap%2BEF%2B%2526%2BMF.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Elizabeth's and Margaret's Baptism Record <br />Registers, St John’s Parramatta, SAG 55, SLNSW</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">When her mother died around February 1807, Elizabeth would have been
about twelve years old. Onto her shoulders fell the primary responsibility for housekeeping duties inside the family home and childcare duties for her younger siblings.
These numbered seven, until baby Isabella went to live with the childless Bushells.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span></span></a>
Forrester family finances were tight after the 1806 floods and there would have
been pressure on Elizabeth to find paid employment as a servant or housekeeper, her next younger sister Margaret being available as a backstop housekeeper at
home.</span></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">The convict James Chapman now enters Elizabeth's story. Tried at Portsmouth
in January 1801 and sentenced to a seven year term, he arrived in the colony on
11 March 1802 aboard the ship <i>Glatton</i>.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span></span></a>
At the 1806 Muster he was a prisoner employed by ‘Mr Arndell’.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span></span></a> This was Thomas Arndell, formerly a medico but now a free settler with a farm near Portland Head several miles further down the Hawkesbury. Although Chapman was literate (proved in 1814) he did not sign an address written to the Rev Samuel
Marsden by 300 principal inhabitants of the Hawkesbury on 1 January 1807, as he
was still a prisoner.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jfojOd4Nr0w/X2-9Nv_vhxI/AAAAAAAAC8k/77OQ1xUrCYoLPB-4ddARHyd4aPNNse94QCLcBGAsYHQ/s488/Sig%2BJames%2BChapman%2B1814.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="101" data-original-width="488" height="41" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jfojOd4Nr0w/X2-9Nv_vhxI/AAAAAAAAC8k/77OQ1xUrCYoLPB-4ddARHyd4aPNNse94QCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h41/Sig%2BJames%2BChapman%2B1814.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Chapman's Signature on 26 December 1814, <br />Marriage
Registers, St Matthew’s Windsor, SAG 53, SLNSW</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">When Chapman's sentence expired in 1808 and he could make his own life for himself, he was around 28 years old and Elizabeth would have been about 14 years old. Soon they were married. The ceremony would have been held on the ground floor of the government granary at Windsor, a space used as a place of worship on Sundays and as a school on other days.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 15.3333px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span></span></a> James would have signed on the dotted line, but there’s no evidence that Elizabeth ever received any schooling.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">A record
of their marriage has never been found, suggesting that it took place before
the commencement of the parish registers for St Matthew’s. The first marriage
recorded therein was on 18 April 1810. By the 1811 Muster when she was about
16 or 17 Elizabeth had definitely married, her entry as Elizabeth Chapman,
‘free’ and born in the colony, immediately preceding James Chapman’s.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title="">[7]</a></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Elizabeth and her new husband lived beside the river on the Atkins
grant just downstream of Wilberforce, in the house once belonging to James
Metcalf. Perhaps he had facilitated the Chapman-Forrester match. His house was not far from the Arndell property where Chapman had recently worked, and Metcalf had once worked for Elizabeth’s father at Cornwallis. When
Metcalf’s assets were sold off in March 1811 to satisfy creditors, his former
house was described as <i>‘late Chapman’s’</i>.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span></span></a> </span>The property was bought at auction for ₤33.10s.0p by Richard Ridge, Elizabeth’s brother-in-law. <span lang="EN-US">Ridge and Chapman may have been in business together as </span>Chapman was a shoemaker by trade and Ridge had bought shoemaking
items at an auction in Windsor
in February 1811.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span></span></a>
Most likely they also worked with Paul Bushell, the man raising Chapman’s young
sister-in-law Isabella Jane Forrester. Bushell was known to be the proprietor of a shoemaking
business at Wilberforce from about 1814 to about 1828.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title="">[10]</a></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">After the floods in late March 1811 James Chapman seems to have moved his home and shoemaking activities into the town of Windsor.</span> H<span lang="EN-US">ere he found himself in trouble over
debts to William Baker, once a Second Fleeter, now a hard-nosed businessman. On 22 July 1811 James Chapman issued a Cautionary Notice declaring invalid a Promissory Note of
Hand he had drawn in favour of William Baker as it was James’ intention to
‘resist payment of the same’.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn11" name="_ednref11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span></span></a>
James’ plan came to nought. On 23 October 1811 James Chapman of Windsor
transferred to William Baker of Windsor, for </span><span lang="EN-US">£</span><span lang="EN-US">32.0.0
consideration, a house & 38 rods (about 9½ acres) of ground situated at
Windsor. The document was signed by Chapman and witnessed by the Chief
Constable Thomas Rickerby and a man named Bolton.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn12" name="_ednref12" title="">[12]</a> </span></span></span></span>The latter is assumed to be John Bolton, who was in a farming partnership with William Ezzy at Cornwallis but soon ran off to Sydney with Ezzy's wife Jane.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="font-size: 13.3333px;" title="">[12a]</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Chapman must have had some substance in his English background because, in May 1812, two notices appeared in the <i>Sydney Gazette</i> advertising that a letter
had arrived from England on the <i>Clarkson</i>
for James Chapman. It was awaiting collection at the General Post Office in
Sydney.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn13" name="_ednref13" title="">[13]</a> </span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Chapman’s financial affairs were in general disarray. On
13 February 1813 a notice in the <i>Sydney
Gazette</i> advertised that at Windsor on the following Saturday, on the
premises of James Chapman, a quantity of household furniture, the property of
James Chapman, would be sold by the Provost Marshal unless events intervened
beforehand.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn14" name="_ednref14" title="">[14]</a> </span></span></span></span>The said Provost Marshal was currently his wife's brother-in-law Richard Ridge. <a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14; text-align: left; text-indent: -15.1333px;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 15.3333px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14a]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -15.1333px;"> </span> Their shoemaking partnership had not worked out! This might mark the time when Paul Bushell stepped in to the shoemaking business, presumably helping Richard Ridge and not Chapman.</p></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">The short life and childless marriage of Elizabeth Chapman n</span><span lang="EN-US">é</span><span lang="EN-US">e Forrester ended with her death in Windsor on 25 August 1814. If she died in childbirth we will never know. </span></span></span></span></span>The John Chapman who died in September 1814 was not her son but a 5-year-old child from the Liverpool district, a son of Robert Chapman.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">The St Matthews burial register describes her as Elizabeth Chapman of Windsor, born in the colony, aged 20, the wife of James Chapman.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn15" name="_ednref15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 15.3333px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></span></span></a> In St Matthew's Churchyard her headstone describes her as Elizabeth Chapman, daughter of Robert and Isabella Forster. The wording ‘daughter of’, not ‘wife of’, suggests the headstone may have been paid for later by Elizabeth’s siblings, after her father Robert, brother William, nephew Robert and sister-in-law Lucy were buried alongside her. Elizabeth's siblings did not care to mention their former brother-in-law.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tmCxn6mr4n0/X2-9a31o7LI/AAAAAAAAC8o/w-qTMx_r60Yed5yb5PYavlyOnRPz5xc1QCLcBGAsYHQ/s375/Grave%2BElizabeth%2BForrester.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="277" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tmCxn6mr4n0/X2-9a31o7LI/AAAAAAAAC8o/w-qTMx_r60Yed5yb5PYavlyOnRPz5xc1QCLcBGAsYHQ/w295-h400/Grave%2BElizabeth%2BForrester.jpg" width="295" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Elizabeth's Headstone at St Matthew's C of E, Windsor, <br />Photo by Louise Wilson</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN-US"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Elizabeth's husband quickly 'moved on', as the saying goes. He was
recorded as a shoemaker in the 1814 Muster, free and 'off stores', meaning that he was able to support himself.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn16" name="_ednref16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span></span></a>
He remarried on 26 December 1814, only five months after young Elizabeth’s death.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn17" name="_ednref17" title="">[17]</a> </span></span></span></span>His new wife was the convict Mary Ann Carpenter, recently arrived from London on the <i>Broxbornebury</i> to serve a seven year sentence for theft and currently a servant of Windsor's schoolmaster and parish clerk, Joseph Harpur. She re-offended in New South Wales and was sent to Newcastle in November 1820 to serve a 12-month colonial sentence.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">She returned to Sydney and James Chapman was a labourer in Windsor in 1822, again living with his second wife.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn18" name="_ednref18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[18]</span></span></span></a>
At the next Muster he was a shoemaker in Wilberforce, his wife no longer present.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn19" name="_ednref19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span></span></a>
He was not included on a ‘List of Owners and Occupiers of Houses and Land
within the Hawkesbury-<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Nepean</st1:city></st1:place>
District’ in 1827.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn20" name="_ednref20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[20]</span></span></span></a> The following year saw James Chapman listed as a 50-year-old shoemaker, once again working at Portland Head but this time for the farmer Edward Churchill.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn21" name="_ednref21" title="">[21]</a></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Sixty-year-old James Chapman died in Windsor on 11 June 1840
and was buried next day at St Matthew’s Windsor, nowhere near his first wife.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_edn22" name="_ednref22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[22]</span></span></span></a> Despite the claims made in various online family trees, there is no record of any children for James Chapman by either of his wives. </span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><p style="text-align: center;">******</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Elizabeth's parents earned their own special place in history when the European settlement of Australia commenced in 1788. Read all about their adventures in '<b><a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank">Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</a>'</b>, available online through <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html"><b>BookPOD</b></a>. Elizabeth's sister Ann features in the book '<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/southwark_luck.html" target="_blank"><b>Southwark Luck</b></a>', also available through <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/7997176/southwark-luck.html" target="_blank"><b>BookPOD</b></a>. The story of Elizabeth's sister Margaret and brother-in-law Richard Ridge is in active preparation. Tales of Elizabeth's brothers and youngest sister are in draft form but the final versions are yet to come.<br clear="all" />
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<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Louise Wilson, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sentenced to
Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</i>”, (South Melbourne, 2020), pp 119-121<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Elizabeth Foster, Baptism record, 25 Oct 1795, St John’s
Parramatta, SAG Film 55, SLNSW <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> ‘Louise Wilson, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sentenced to
Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</i>”, (South Melbourne, 2020), pp 252-253<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Convict Indents, NSW, James Chapman, NSWSA: NRS 12188, [4/4004],
Reel 392<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Carol J
Baxter, (Ed), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Muster of New South Wales
and Norfolk Island, 1805–1806</i> (ABGR in assoc with SAG, Sydney 1989)</span><span lang="EN-US">, line A0823, p 23<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Ritchie, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Evidence to Bigge
Reports,</i> Vol 1, p 152, Evidence of Rev Robert Cartwright describing the
local places of worship at the start of 1810</span><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Carol J
Baxter, (Ed), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">General Muster of New South
Wales, Norfolk Island and Van Diemen’s Land, 1811</i> (ABGR in assoc. with SAG,
Sydney 1987),</span><span lang="EN-US"> p 23<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Col Sec Special Bundles No 5, NSWSA:
NRS 898, (ML [C197]), Reel 6040, p 25, 30 Mar 1811 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Col Sec Special Bundles No 5, NSWSA:
NRS 898, (ML [C197]), Reel 6040, pp 3-5, 13-15, 17, 22, Feb 1811 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> ‘Louise Wilson, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Paul
Bushell, Second Fleeter’</i>, (South Melbourne, 2010), pp 132-137<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Caution, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Syd Gaz</i>, Sat 27
July 1811<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Old System Records, NSW Land Registry Services, Reference numbers to
be provided </span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="text-indent: -15.1333px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 15.3333px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12; text-indent: -15.1333px;" title="">[12a]</a> </span></span></span></span></span>Classified Advertising, <i>Syd Gaz</i>, Sat 2 Jan 1813, p 4<o:p></o:p></span>
</p></div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="EndnoteCharChar"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="layout-grid-mode: both;">S</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">yd Gaz,</span></i><span class="EndnoteCharChar"><span lang="EN-US" style="layout-grid-mode: both;"> 9 May
1812, p 4, col b, and </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Syd Gaz,</span></i><span class="EndnoteCharChar"><span lang="EN-US" style="layout-grid-mode: both;"> 23 May 1812, p 4, col c</span></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Sales by Auction, <i>Syd Gaz</i>, Sat 13 Feb 1813, p 1, col b </span></p><p class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14; text-indent: -15.1333px;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 15.3333px; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14a]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -15.1333px;"> </span><i>Syd Gaz</i>, 23 May 1812, p 4, col b <o:p></o:p></span>
</p></div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Elizabeth Chapman, Record of death 25 Aug 1814, St Matthew's C of
E, Windsor, Film SAG 54, SLNSW<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref16" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Carol J
Baxter, (Ed), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">General Muster of New South
Wales, 1814</i> (ABGR in assoc. with SAG, Sydney 1987)</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref17" name="_edn17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Marriages, St Matthew's C of E, Windsor, Film SAG 53, SLNSW<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref18" name="_edn18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Carol J
Baxter, (Ed), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">General Muster and Land and
Stock Muster of New South Wales, 1822</i> (ABGR in assoc. with SAG, Sydney
1988),</span><span lang="EN-US"> p 86<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref19" name="_edn19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Carol J
Baxter, (Ed), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">General Muster List of New
South Wales 1823, 1824, 1825</i> (ABGR, a Project of SAG Sydney 1991)</span><span lang="EN-US">, p 94<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref20" name="_edn20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> List of Owners & Occupiers of Houses & Land Within the
Hawkesbury-Nepean District, 1827, Mitchell Library Ref 908/88 (b)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref21" name="_edn21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Keith
Johnson & Malcolm Sainty, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Census of
New South Wales, November 1828</i> (Library of Australian History, Sydney
1980), </span><span lang="EN-US">p 87<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Elizabeth%20Forrester,%201794-1814%20V2.docx#_ednref22" name="_edn22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> James Chapman, Burial </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Record, St Matthew’s Windsor,</span><span lang="EN-US"> 12 June 1840, No
1243,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> [<i>NSW Register
of Baptisms, Burials & Marriages Pre 1856</i>], </span><span lang="EN-US">Ref
V1840780 24A/1840<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</span><p></p></div></span><p></p></span><p></p><p></p>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-31056431153963602932020-09-17T15:46:00.000+10:002020-09-17T15:46:17.174+10:00Effort Involved in Clearing 25 Acres<div style="text-align: justify;">Robert Forrester, a First Fleeter who arrived in Sydney in 1788, officially received his land grant at the Hawkesbury late in 1794. For an incoming farmer, a European, being able to use this land productively required a great deal of hard work that was often shared by groups of men working together. The virgin ground had to be cleared of standing trees, the branches lopped, and all rolled together and burnt, leaving the tree stumps in the ground.<div><br /></div><div>By August 1800, Robert Forrester had cleared 25 acres of his farm at the Hawkesbury, with 19 acres planted to wheat and 6 acres ready for planting maize (p 204 of 'Sentenced to Debt').</div><div><br /></div><div>This information prompted a response from Ian Nicholls, a reader who'd lived on a farm beside the Hawkesbury at Freemans Reach in his childhood. Ian wrote:<div></div><blockquote><div>Some people might think that clearing 25 acres in 5 years was a bit slow. I assume we don’t
really know how big the trees were on the flood plain? I can tell you that some
of them were enormous. On our farm on the same flood plain, every now and
again, after heavy rain or heavy traffic, we would get sink holes. Some of
these were 3.0 metres in diameter, sloping in to a centre up to almost 0.75
metres deep.</div><div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div>I was forbidden to ride on the mud guard of tractors Dad would bring
in to do disc ploughing. One day I was on the tractor when the whole ground
under the tractor sank into an enormous sink hole almost a metre deep and the
diameter of the whole tractor, but not the plough. I almost fell off the
tractor as it gradually climbed out of the hole. That was the largest sink hole
I ever saw. The alluvial soil on our farm was very deep, well over 6.0 metres, and
not a stone in sight. There is a rumour that way down deep there are round
stones which can be crushed to make blue metal for roads and building, just
like the stone up at Castlereagh.</div></blockquote><div></div><div>A good indication of the enormous size of the largest trees comes from a painting of the district done around 1810. The land being farmed by Robert Forrester was near the bend in the river. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-poAdQIckyn0/X2Lw_rDF9bI/AAAAAAAAC74/VTDWvGrehagda2pNUe2pUa45aVbW4zgmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Pic%2B65.%2BHawkesbury%2B1810%2Ba3531001%2BOriginal%2Bcropped.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1613" data-original-width="2048" height="315" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-poAdQIckyn0/X2Lw_rDF9bI/AAAAAAAAC74/VTDWvGrehagda2pNUe2pUa45aVbW4zgmgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h315/Pic%2B65.%2BHawkesbury%2B1810%2Ba3531001%2BOriginal%2Bcropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"A View of the River Hawkesbury, NSW", c 1810, <br />by John William Lewin, courtesy State Library of NSW</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div>In 1800 Robert had not only cut down huge trees to clear his land, he'd tilled it, planted 19 acres with wheat and prepared 6 acres of ground for maize. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ploughs were almost unheard of in the colony, and because the hardwood tree stumps couldn’t be grubbed out, ploughs were mostly troublesome and often dangerous to use. In any case, Robert had no animals to pull a plough. To prepare the soil for planting, the only tools available to him were an axe, a mattock and a hoe. </div><div><br /></div><div>In December 1804 Margaret Catchpole, a farmer herself, wrote: "In clearing new land, it is broken up by men with very large hoes, and it is the hardest work that is done in the country. A great price is paid for this labour, and men work too hard at it. They frequently destroy their health, and their lives, by their over-exertion. (Cobbold, <i>History of Margaret Catchpole</i>, p 319) </div><div><br /></div><div>Robert must have been a strong, tough man. His track record proves he was a hard worker, but he managed to survive as a farmer to the age of 69 years.</div><div><br /></div><div>Read more about life at the Hawkesbury in early colonial times in <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b>'Sentenced to Debt'</b></a>, which can be purchased <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>.
<br /></div></div></div>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-85111333637779184392020-08-21T10:41:00.000+10:002020-08-21T10:41:59.275+10:00Jerkin Roof Styles at the Hawkesbury<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="" lang="" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">People are reacting to the most unexpected items in my latest book <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank">'<b>Sentenced to Debt'</b></a>. Here's another response from a dedicated reader, Ian Nicholls.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span face="" lang="" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">I’ve been intrigued by the house roof designs used in the old days in the Hawkesbury. They could not have been cheap to build. My family used these shapes despite the cost. I’ve attached a photo of William Nicholls [1]’s old house on the corner of Freemans Reach Road and Gorrick’s Lane.</span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2_DVhaV197E/XyEU8CZTK2I/AAAAAAAAC6c/pFHhu_2LePAcjp_SZKYsR4HP7_Zt0Xk3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/WilliamNichollsHouse.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2_DVhaV197E/XyEU8CZTK2I/AAAAAAAAC6c/pFHhu_2LePAcjp_SZKYsR4HP7_Zt0Xk3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/WilliamNichollsHouse.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House of William Nicholls, c 1800-1888, Freemans Reach Rd<br />by courtesy Ian Nicholls</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Ian draws our attention to the jerkin roof: </span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><font face=""></font></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span face="" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Note the change in slope as you go up to the top. Also, how the gable is cut off with a small sloping piece on each end. This is called a ‘jerkin-roof’ and was used on a lot of old houses and important buildings in the Hawkesbury. The jerkin-roof was supposed to reduce wind loading on the vertical end faces. There are still a few examples of the double slope and jerkin-roof. Elizabeth Farm house, on page 205 of your book 'Sentenced to Debt', is a variation on this style.</span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KEThpj9QUk4/XyET49Uwl3I/AAAAAAAAC6U/djp3gUhLGW4ud_aarjIn3jnbT17rOJD8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Pic%2B64a.%2BIMG_2730.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KEThpj9QUk4/XyET49Uwl3I/AAAAAAAAC6U/djp3gUhLGW4ud_aarjIn3jnbT17rOJD8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Pic%2B64a.%2BIMG_2730.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth Farm House, Parramatta<br />photo by Louise Wilson, Oct 2019</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Ian then found another old family photo and commented further: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><font face=""></font></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span face="" lang="" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">I think I can now see
why, the first slope in the roof, over say a verandah, was so steep. All these
old buildings had wooden shingle roofs originally and the extra slope was to
prevent leakage ……just a deduction. See the attached photo of Frederick Nicholls’ [1] house, built c.1850s on the ‘Highlands’, between Freemans Reach (Blacktown in those days) and Wilberforce. Note the jerkin-roof style as well.</span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-25uyqQDYVgc/XytpKEm8G_I/AAAAAAAAC6o/cCF78tthZHEjXAp4ke9NwHmxkd3BtHHAwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/FarmHouseHighlands%255BB%255D%255BAL%255DC1880.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="2048" height="221" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-25uyqQDYVgc/XytpKEm8G_I/AAAAAAAAC6o/cCF78tthZHEjXAp4ke9NwHmxkd3BtHHAwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h177/FarmHouseHighlands%255BB%255D%255BAL%255DC1880.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House of Frederick Nicholls, c 1815-1880, 'Highlands', <br />by courtesy Ian Nicholls
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">
Many thanks for your feedback, Ian. I've had a lifelong interest in community education and I love it when my books stimulate reactions like yours. Readers, if you too would like to reflect upon the interesting historic details in 'Sentenced to Debt', you can obtain your copy <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="" lang="" style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span></div>
Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-20814341558850689112020-07-29T12:22:00.003+10:002020-08-07T21:38:40.846+10:00Hawkesbury Floods - Then and Now<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My new book ‘<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></span></a>’ strongly features the economic impact of the Hawkesbury floods on an early settler in that district. Page 160 provides some background context:</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Two centuries later, it’s difficult to conceive the frequency of the massive flood problems that early settlers like Robert Forrester faced at the Hawkesbury before the Warragamba Dam was constructed. People have become complacent and authorities today recognise the area’s ‘constrained evacuation road network and low levels of community awareness of flood risk’, explaining that: </span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Most river valleys tend to widen as they approach the sea. This is not the case in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. Narrow sandstone gorges between Sackville and Brooklyn create natural choke points. The floodwaters from the five major tributaries back up and rise rapidly, causing deep and widespread flooding across the floodplain. It is much like a bathtub with five taps turned on, but only one plug hole to let the water out. The Insurance Council of Australia considers that the valley has the highest single flood exposure in NSW, if not Australia. </i>(Infrastructure New South Wales website, <a href="http://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/media/1525/hnvflooding_factsheet_feb2018.pdf">http://www.infrastructure.nsw.gov.au/media/1525/hnvflooding_factsheet_feb2018.pdf</a>)<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Authors are always encouraged when readers engage intellectually with their work. I’m happy to make public some recent correspondence from Ian Nicholls, who has been a thorough researcher of Hawkesbury history for many years. Two 'East Coast Low' weather systems have hit the Sydney region within the last two weeks, bringing heavy rain and winds and alerting Ian to the potential flooding consequences for the Hawkesbury:</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">I’ve had a keen interest in Hawkesbury floods ever since I climbed into a flood boat outside our front door at Freemans Reach one dark night in June 1949. Page 160 reminded me of this experience. </span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang=""><br />
</span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang=""></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MBOSo4S31rI/XyDT7w9iATI/AAAAAAAAC6I/75P1hFl64y41gZgEOv1rcvFO-il8EnwDACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Freemans%2BReach.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MBOSo4S31rI/XyDT7w9iATI/AAAAAAAAC6I/75P1hFl64y41gZgEOv1rcvFO-il8EnwDACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Freemans%2BReach.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freemans Reach, looking upstream, July 2019, photo by Louise Wilson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">Complacency is alive and well in the Valley, but it took a jolt in February this year when a 9.2 metre flood arrived, without any water coming from Warragamba. </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">The Hawkesbury- Nepean River has two distinct catchments. About 20% of the catchment is on the Nepean and 80% on the Warragamba. The Nepean water is fast flowing, about twice as fast as the Warragamba. When there is a large low-pressure system off the coast of NSW the worst scenario is for the low to start at the Hunter and travel down to the south coast. If this happens the Colo and Grose Rivers start to flood just before the water comes down the Nepean from Wollongong and Robertson areas, and it comes fast, within 24 hours. </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">If the rain pattern extends inland far enough the water feeds into the Warragamba, but it takes longer, 48 plus hours to reach the Valley, assuming Warragamba is full. The only thing holding back the Nepean catchment water are the four dams, Avon [83%], Cataract [72%], Nepean [64%] and the Cordeaux [73%]. Current levels in brackets. </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">In February this year these four dams were much lower and the Hawkesbury Valley dodged a bullet even though Robertson had 395 mm in one day. As I stated above, the river at Windsor reached 9.2 metres with NO water coming from Warragamba, and the low was off the South Coast. 9.2 metres starts to cover the flood plain, but it could easily have been a 12.0 metre flood if the 4 dams had been full. </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">The SES has reason to be worried about the Valley, because you could have a 12.0 metre flood without any water from Warragamba and it can happen in 24 hours. If the low-pressure system stays around too long, Warragamba Dam fills to overflowing and adds more misery. The plan to increase the height of Warragamba will not save the Valley from a fast flowing flood from Wollongong/Robertson.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
My take on the proposed 14 metre addition to Warragamba is it will hopefully keep the flood height at Windsor below 17.4 metres which is the minimum flood level build height for living area in the Hawkesbury City Council region. Hopefully the extra retention time in the dam will allow the fast flowing Nepean water to get away and not add to it.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
My experience in 1961 or 1964 was we had a big flood from the Nepean, Grose etc., then the gates at Warragamba were opened and we had a bigger flood. If there is going to be a big flood, the Nepean will flood first and cut the roads on the flood plain. What happens after that will be caused by Warragamba overflowing, if the rain event in the catchments persists. The new Windsor bridge is open and the north side is now at flood plain level of about 10.5 metres compared to the old bridge level of about 6.0 metres. The North Richmond bridge is to be rebuilt at a higher level as well. So, traffic will be able to cross Windsor bridge in a 10.5 metre flood and access the flood plain on the north side. Wilberforce Road will be cut however, at Buttsworths Creek, at about 8.2 metres. So, the new Windsor bridge buys a few more hours to evacuate the north side.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Warragamba construction was finished in the late 1950s and was designed to supply water to Sydney and has NEVER been used for flood mitigation, i.e., the water level has never been varied to protect downstream areas from flooding.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">Because of big floods in the early 1960s, when on one occasion the water continued to rise even though the gates were fully open, several reports were prepared for the Government based upon new thinking about frequency and potential flood heights. Several interesting things came out in these reports. The water capacity of the dam, as built, could only be reduced by 40% by opening the gates. It was calculated that to limit the height of another 1867 flood [19.68 metres] to 16.0 metres at Windsor the dam needed to be at a 10% level before inflow, and there was evidence in the gorges upstream from Penrith that there had been floods approaching 25.0 metres [equivalent at Windsor] before 1788. </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">Several proposals were made based on the reports. Increase the dam wall height by 15.0 or 23.0 metres. The final decision was to increase by 5.0 metres and build an auxiliary spillway (a rocky wall) containing ‘fuse plugs’. This plan had nothing to do with flood mitigation, it was to stop the water over-topping the dam wall, and it introduced another possible disaster for people downstream. The auxiliary spillway is designed to erode away rapidly [fuse plug] when over-topped, resulting in a wall of water up to 5.0 metres high going into the downstream flow. No flood mitigation here! </span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">The latest proposal, now before Government, is to add another 14.0 metres to the wall height to act as short term retention and not be the new operating height. This is the first proposal to use the dam in flood mitigation. It is controversial because some of the World Heritage Park could be flooded, even if in the short term, until a flood passes. My view is the 14 metres will not save the Valley from a 1867 size flood if the worst case arises, which is, having to release water when the Nepean is still in flood. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="">P.S. 26 July 2020: I’m sitting here tonight listening to the wind and rain and thinking what it must have been like in 1867. A lot has been written in reports about preparing for the next big flood, but one thing being overlooked is the damage caused by the wind in 1867. There was up to 10 kilometres of open water around Windsor and the wind was gale force from the south-east, causing 1.0-2.0 metre waves to form in the non-flowing backwater, on the south side of Windsor, and roll across and through houses partly submerged in the flood water. Houses which could have survived being flooded were lost, just due to waves, and it could happen again.</span></span></div>
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Many thanks to Ian Nicholls for providing such a clear explanation of this topic, using his valuable local knowledge and experience. <br />
<br />
'Sentenced to Debt' is available for purchase <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>here.</b></span></a></div>
Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-26845439559854590622020-06-16T17:47:00.008+10:002021-09-16T14:33:01.566+10:00Charles Forrester, 1850-1923<div class="MsoNormal">
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During 2018-19 a man with the surname Forrester emerged as sharing DNA markers with descendants of the First Fleeter Robert Forrester and his partner Isabella Ramsay. He shared DNA with three of Robert’s children, the siblings Ann Forrester, Isabella Forrester and Robert Forrester Jnr, and had traced his forebears back to a Charles Forrester, said to have been born at Windsor, NSW around 1850. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Follow-up DNA tests revealed that his Y-DNA markers matched up to three male descendants of Robert Forrester Jnr and the McGaw line in America, making Charles Forrester born c 1850 a hitherto unknown grandson of the First Fleeter. <span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Unfortunately there is no record of this birth but his connection to the First Fleeter is taken, for now, to be through son William. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">William was living in Windsor around 1850 but was estranged from his wife Maria Carroll. Evidence from a Windsor court case in 1846 refers:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">_ Forrester was summoned to appear for abandoning his wife and family and refusing to maintain them. The case was dismissed, their Worship’s ascertaining that Mrs Forrester refused to live with her husband, although she had taken him “for better for worse,” as the Magistrate facetiously informed her; but as “a separate maintenance” appeared to be the object sought by the complainant, the Bench refused to interfere further in the matter.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-AU" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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In 1846 four Forrester brothers resided in or near the town of Windsor but two of the brothers were currently in stable marriages and the third was a widower. The unnamed Forrester who appeared in court is therefore assumed to be William. There were two Maria Forresters alive in Windsor at the time but, since Henry’s wife Maria was childless, it must have been William Forrester’s wife Maria who was the complainant<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">. She was the mother of William ‘Black Bill’ Forrester, born at Windsor in 1842.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Maria was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1814 and, as the 21-year-old widow Maria Carroll, she was tried there on 24 April 1835 for stealing books. She was a housemaid, able to read but not write.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"> She arrived in Sydney on 25 Feb 1836 aboard the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Roslin Castle</i> and married William Forrester on 9 March 1837 at Windsor. Neither party could sign their name on the register. It was a mixed Catholic/Protestant marriage and did not fare well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">By November 1849, if not sooner, Maria was supporting herself as a dealer (shopkeeper) in George St, Windsor. In that month she appeared in the Parramatta Quarter sessions charged with larceny (for stealing a salt cellar from the innkeeper S H Carter at Windsor on 6 September) but was acquitted.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Six months later Maria had a second interaction with the law. On 15 May 1850 she was accused of sly grog selling at Windsor, specifically </span>for illegally selling three glasses of rum to Jane Gribble.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"> <span lang="EN-AU">She was brought before the Windsor Police Court on summons. She was not represented in court but asked for the case to be deferred until she could locate her witness for the defence.</span></span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">At the resumed hearing</span> at the Court of Magistrates, Windsor, before John Panton and James Ascough, <span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">barristers represented both the prosecution and the defence. After much court room discussion, which included mention of a little girl coming into Maria’s bedroom to fetch a book:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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the bench found her guilty. She was fined in the sum of thirty pounds, and one pound eleven shillings costs, or in default of payment, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in Her Majesty's gaol at Parramatta. Mr. Gould applied for fourteen days to pay the fine, but Mr. Lambton having stated that he was credibly informed that Mrs. Forrester had been engaged until as late as two o'clock that morning in removing her goods for the purpose of evading payment of the fine, the bench only allowed her three clear days. The Court was unusually crowded, and the case appeared to excite considerable interest, from a variety of circumstances.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Someone had paid for Maria’s barrister. Was it her estranged husband William? </span>If so, their brief reconciliation didn't last. It seems Maria didn’t pay the fine and she was sent to Parramatta Gaol for 3 months. In her appeal from gaol on 27 June 1850, she described herself as a poor woman supporting herself and a child aged five by keeping a small shop for the sale of groceries etc in the town of Windsor. No mention was made of her being heavily pregnant at this time, so was she the mother of Charles? The Bench did not recommend mitigation of her sentence, describing Maria as:</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div>
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a woman of but indifferent character’, who had ‘for some time past borne the reputation of being a sly grog seller – witnesses for prosecution stated it was not the first time they had bought spirits of the petitioner.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Maria’s ‘child aged five’ must have been the unnamed little girl mentioned in court evidence, whose birth appears to be unregistered and whose father has not been identified. Maria did not claim to be supporting another child, her seven-year-old son William Forrester Jnr. He<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span>x"Forrester:William (1842-1901)"<![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-end'></span><![endif]--> must have lived with his father after his parents separated, or certainly after the 1846 court case. According to the author Patrick McCarthy, young William attended the Episcopal Church primary school at Agnes Banks, near Richmond, along with the son of his much older cousin George Forrester, the red-haired William James Forrester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two boys were distinguished by the nicknames ‘Black Bill’ and ‘Red Bill’, after their differing hair colour. Where McCarthy obtained this information about schooling is unknown, as the NSW State Archives do not hold the records of this school.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span></span></span></span></a> The story does suggest, though, that the two 'Bills', a year apart in age, were in close contact during their childhood.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Returning to Charles, when the birth of his daughter Gladys Lucy Maud Forrester was registered on 12 August 1896 his age was given as 46 and he died on 8 December 1923 aged 73 at Dalby Hospital, both dates consistent with his birth in 1850, before 12 August. When the birth of his daughter Doris Elma was registered on 9 August 1902, he gave his age as 51 years and his birthplace as Windsor. Assuming he was speaking the literal truth when he gave his age on both occasions, this narrows his date of birth further, to after 9 August and before 12 August 1850. Nine months earlier, in late 1849, Maria had faced her troubles with the local law. Had she turned to her legal husband William for 'help' at this time?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After her stint in gaol Maria moved to Sydney, one assumes with the little girl. Forty-year-old Maria, of Pitt St, Sydney, was buried by Rev John F Sheridan on 26 May 1854 at St James Roman Catholic Church.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">William Forrester Snr remarried in 1863 and had two daughters, Isabella Jane born in 1864 and Edith Mary born in 1869, before he died of ‘disease of the chest’ at Cornwallis, Windsor just before Christmas in 1869. </span>His second wife Sarah was the informant on the death certificate. She said he was a farmer aged 66 and recorded his children only as the two daughters she had borne, one living and one dead. She did not mention his first marriage or any other children and William did not leave a Will saying otherwise.</div></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">It’s after William’s death, when Charles was nineteen,</span><span lang="EN-AU"> </span>that Charles emerges from the shadows. Charles had worked at ‘Tilbuster’ near Armidale, the property of George Cross from the Hawkesbury, since mid-1873 according to a statement by a Patrick Elliott in March 1875.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></span></span> ‘Tilbuster’ adjoined ‘Terry Hie Hie’, which was owned by another Hawkesbury identity, George Bowman of Richmond, and managed by Bowman’s son.</div>
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This means that Charles had been in the New England region for at least two years. He was probably the Charles Forrester kicked by a horse on 22 May 1871 and having his arm and ribs fractured while urging his team up the Liverpool Range. He was conveyed to Dr. Gordon at West Maitland for surgical treatment.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a> There must have been a further accident or illness because the Armidale and New England Hospital. Treasurer's accounts to 19<sup>th</sup> January, 1874 included an amount of 2s 6p collected from Charles Forrester.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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In April 1875 the NSW Police Gazette carried the item:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Stolen, on the 20<sup>th</sup> ultimo, from a stable at Tilbuster, near Armidale, the property of George Cross, - A plain saddle, with a rough seat newly stuffed, branded “R. Drew”, on flap, oval stirrups.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn13" name="_ednref13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[13]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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This saddle belonged to George Cross Jnr, born around 1854 at ‘Derri Derri’ Station and baptised back at Windsor in October 1855. A long-winded description of the adventures of this saddle followed in evidence given at the Armidale Police Court and reported in great detail in the local paper.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn14" name="_ednref14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a> The outcome was summarised in the Police Gazette: <o:p></o:p></div>
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John Elliott, charged with stealing a saddle (recovered), the property of George Cross, has been arrested by Senior-constable Rafferty, Armidale Police. Discharged, he having proved he got the saddle from a man named Charles Forrester, for whose arrest a warrant has been issued by the Armidale Bench. Forrester is 25 or 26 years of age, 5 feet <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9 or 10 inches high, red face, freckled, light hair, large sandy whiskers and moustache, shaved chin, good looking, a native of Windsor, supposed to have gone in the direction of Murrurundi, making for Windsor.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn15" name="_ednref15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[15]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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This description largely agrees with the physical description later given by his wife Minnie in 1908. (So the Charles Forrester sentenced at Gunnedah and gaoled for 12 months in May 1880 for ‘stealing from the person’ seems to be a different man, aged 29, born in Sydney, fully-bearded, 5 ft 8½ ins tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a scar on his forehead, with another conviction for ‘refusing to pay a steamer fare’ listed on his gaol record.)<o:p></o:p></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 1875 description of Charles' 'Celtic' colouring uncannily resembles that of 'Red Bill' Forrester, who had auburn hair.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn15" name="_ednref15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title="">[15a]</a></span></b></span></span></span></span> Was it Charles and 'Red Bill' ... not Charles and 'Black Bill' ... who were brothers or half-brothers? Was Charles another son of George Forrester, Black Bill's cousin? This might explain why Charles' birth was not registered back in 1850, when George was living well beyond the settled districts. Yet the name Charles is carried down in the next few generations of Black Bill's family. and not Red Bill's. Hopefully DNA results will eventually emerge to help solve the puzzle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">George had moved to his property at ‘Yarraman’ near Murrurundi by 1875 when another clue to Charles’ family emerges:</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div>
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A warrant has been issued by the Armidale Bench for the arrest of Charles Forrester, charged with stealing a saddle, the property of George Cross. This offender may have gone to Mudgee, where his sister, a Mrs Druit, resides.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[16]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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This Mrs Druit must have been named Margaret, the mother of Albert Druit, born at Mudgee in 1878 to a James H and Margaret E Druit, and was not Charles' half-sister Isabella Jane, born in 1864. Nothing more is known of Margaret but if DNA links to these Druits could be found they might reveal more.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As for the charge against Charles, in 1878:
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The Armidale Police report that the charge against Charles Forrester for stealing a saddle, the property of George Cross, cannot now be sustained as the evidence is not forthcoming.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16; text-align: justify;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">[16a]</span></b></span></span></span></span></a></blockquote></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Perhaps the two young men, both with strong Hawkesbury connections, had been in dispute over something and all was forgiven.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div>
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Charles makes his next appearance in 1884, at Coonamble, and subsequently at regular intervals when his eleven children were born in various places, indicating that he was a station hand. It would be helpful if descendants could provide copies of all their birth certificates so that his occupational history could be revealed. When his daughter Phyllis married many years later she said her father was a shearer.<br />
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<li>21 Feb 1884 – son Henry Edgar (alternatively Lawrence Edgar) born at Coonamble</li>
<li>14 Sep 1885 - <span lang="EN-AU" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-AU;">Charles married Mary Ann Kezia Pearce (known as Minnie) at Coonamble</span>.</li>
<li>10 Sep 1886 – daughter Minnie Lucy Maria Forrester born at Coonamble</li>
<li>31 Oct 1887 – daughter Minnie Lucy dies at Dunumbral, a sheep station on the Narran or Barwon<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rivers, near the old properties one owned by George Forrester and his extended family.</li>
<li>17 Apr 1888 – daughter Hilda Maud born at Collarindebri [sic], on the Barwon River</li>
<li>11 Dec 1888 – daughter Hilda Maud dies in Walgett</li>
<li>1 Mar 1890 – daughter Eunice May born at Dubbo</li>
<li>21 May 1891 – at Toowoomba Police Court, a Charles Forrester was discharged with a caution for ‘the prevailing offence’, which at the time was drunkenness.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn17" name="_ednref17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a> This may have been Minnie’s husband, if he was tramping the countryside along with thousands of other men<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>looking for work during the great Shearer’s Strike of January-May 1891.</li>
<li>31 Dec 1891 – son William Charles born at Orange</li>
<li>26 Feb 1894 – son Sydney Roland born at Pallamallawa near Moree</li>
<li>3 Jun 1896 – daughter Gladys Lucy Maud born at Mungindi near Moree. Charles said to be a labourer.</li>
<li>24 Nov 1898 – daughter Phyllis Eileen (or Irene) Grace born at Mungindi</li>
<li>1901 – son Walter H born and dies at Moree</li>
<li>12 Jun 1902 – daughter Doris Alma born at Moree. Charles said to be a labourer and gave his birthplace as Windsor, NSW.</li>
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From around 1904 Charles was based in Queensland, at first in Warwick and Toowoomba on the Darling Downs and later at Dalby in the Maranoa District, where he died in 1923. His occupation was given as ‘labourer’ on all Commonwealth electoral rolls from 1903, except for several appearances as a cook during the Great War. Minnie was always engaged in domestic duties during her time with Charles.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<li>6 Aug 1904 – grandson Leslie James, son of 14-yr-old Eunice, born at Warwick and raised by grandparents.</li>
<li>1905- Charles and Minnie both at Grafton St, Warwick.</li>
<li>1908 – Minnie at Mort St, Toowoomba with eldest son Lawrence Edgar, a railway employee, now of voting age but Charles was missing:</li>
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Charles Forrester, 58 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, medium build, dark complexion, brown hair whiskers and moustache turning grey, dressed when last seen in a dirty brown tweed suit and grey soft felt hat; untidy appearance; a labourer. Was discharged from Narrabri Hospital on the 13<sup>th</sup> August, 1908, where he had been an inmate suffering from sciatica. Inquiry at the instance of his wife Minnie Forrester, Russell-street, Toowoomba, Queensland.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn18" name="_ednref18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[18]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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In 1911 Minnie’s connection to her family of origin was in evidence, when a man named Charles Forrester (Black Bill’s son Charles Albert Forrester) controlled the horse events in the ring at the 1911 Liverpool Show. He was assisted in this task by S T Pearce, Minnie’s brother, and another relative M S Pearce was successful as an exhibitor of draught horses.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn19" name="_ednref19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Meanwhile the family of Minnie and her husband, living at Neil St, Toowoomba, were in trouble with the law in 1911. The case suggested that they were hard up:<o:p></o:p></div>
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At the police court yesterday before T. Mowbray, Esq. P.M., Charles Forrester and Sydney Forrester appeared in custody to answer the allegation of stealing from the premises of George Cochran, on October 6, a quantity of wearing apparel and five fowls. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… Margaret Cochran gave evidence that on the evening of the 5th inst she hung out a line full of wearing apparel, and on the following morning found only the clothes-pegs strewn about the grass. She also missed five fowls from her yard.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn20" name="_ednref20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[20]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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Further details incriminated one of Sydney’s sisters as Sydney’s accomplice and:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Charles Forrester was discharged. Mr. O'Sullivan pleaded guilty on behalf of Sydney Forrester, and the accused was sentenced to three months' imprisonment with hard labour.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn21" name="_ednref21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[21]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a></blockquote>
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<li>1912 – Charles, a labourer, and Minnie both at Herries St, East, Toowoomba</li>
<li>1913 - Charles a labourer at Dalby, Minnie living at Condamine St, Dalby</li>
<li>1913 & 1914 – Charles a labourer at Herries St, East, son Henry Edgar a labourer at Railway Boarding House, Minnie at home in Mort St, all being addresses in Toowoomba.</li>
<li>In 1915 or 1916 Charles and Minnie parted company. Charles remained in the Dalby area for rest of his life, with none of his family around him, while Minnie moved to Brisbane. </li>
<li>1917 & 1919 – Charles was a cook at ‘Loudon Station’, Dalby, but by 1918 Minnie had moved to Sydney with her three surviving daughters: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gladys Miller and her husband and family, Phyllis and Doris. Their five sons remained in Queensland. </li>
<li>In 1918 Phyllis married a Maltese man named Joseph Caruana in Sydney, the marriage witnessed by Minnie and Gladys. </li>
<li>In 1921 Doris married Henry William Sheppard in Paddington, Sydney.</li>
<li>1922 – Charles a labourer of Moreton St, Dalby </li>
<li>Charles died in Dalby Hospital on 8 December 1923, aged 73 years. A descendant has been to his grave in Dalby and says it is only marked with a number on a stone in the ground. No headstone.</li>
<li>By January 1925 the widow Minnie called herself Mrs Minnie Madden, although there is no evidence of a marriage. Minnie was living with John Madden and her divorced daughter Phyllis in Brisbane St, Sydney when she chased out intruders in her shop with a broom after they’d attacked her husband, who she described as ‘an old man’. The press of the day contains many colourful stories of this episode.</li>
<li>December 1925 - Phyllis Caruana, apparently suffering from a guilty conscience over her treatment of her former husband, committed suicide.</li>
<li>17 Nov 1929 – Minnie’sad life continued when her daughter Gladys Lucy Maud Miller died of breast cancer at The Moorings, Condamine St, Balgowlah.</li>
<li>Minnie died in 1935, aged 69, when she was living at 192 Hargrave St, Paddington. Only one of Minnie’s six daughters survived her, Doris Sheppard, who died in 1974. </li>
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I hope the descendants of Minnie’s son William Charles and of her daughter Gladys, who have asked me for help with information about their forebear Charles Forrester, will find this story useful. A third descendant, of Minnie's daughter Doris, has done so and has provided helpful feedback allowing me to correct several dates and further refine the story. In September 2021 another descendant of William Charles Forrester supplied further helpful information about Eunice May.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div>To conclude, Charles Forrester’s movements around outback NSW and QLD as an adult fit ‘generally’ with the known activities and abodes of George, Black Bill and Red Bill Forrester. Charles is proven by Y-DNA results to have belonged to the Forrester family, but his father's identity will likely emerge only with the help of further DNA testing of descendants. </div><div><br /></div></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">©</span>Louise Wilson, 16 September 2021</div>
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<br />
Read all about the first generation of Forresters in Australia in <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank">'<span style="color: blue;"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></span>'</a> which is available for purchase through <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">BookPOD</span></b></a>.<br />
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<!--[endif]--> <br />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hawkesbury Courier and Agricultural and General Advertiser</i>, Thu 12 Mar 1846, p 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[2] </span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Convict Arrivals, (1836) SRNSW Fiche 720/724, or p 221 SRNSW Reel 908<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[3] </span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Parramatta Quarter Sessions, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sydney Morning Herald</i>, Thu 22 Nov 1849, p 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> Colonial Secretary’s Index, Post 1825, SRNSW Ref 50/6070, Shelf 4/2905<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">News from the Interior’,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sydney Morning Herald</i>, Sat 1 Jun 1850, p 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">News from the Interior’,</span><span style="text-indent: -11.35pt;"> </span><i style="text-indent: -11.35pt;">Sydney Morning Herald</i>, Sat 15 Jun 1850, p 5</div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> Colonial Secretary’s Index, Post 1825, SRNSW Ref 50/6655, Shelf 4/2907, 20 Jul 1850<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US">McCarthy, Patrick, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Man Who Was Starlight</i>, (Allen & Unwin, <st1:city w:st="on">Sydney</st1:city>, 1987), p 14</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="Endnote" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Maria Forrester, Burial Record, 26 May 1854, "St James Roman Catholic Church, Sydney," [<i>NSW Register of Baptisms, Burials & Marriages Pre 1856</i>], V18541804 119/1854, State Library of Victoria<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Local Intelligence’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Armidale Express & New England General Advertiser</i>, Fri 23 Apr 1875, p 6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Murrurundi’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser</i>, Thu 25 May 1871, p 3 and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Armidale Express & New England General Advertiser</i>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sat 3 Jun 1871, p 4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Advertising’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Armidale Express & New England General Advertiser</i>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sat 7 Feb 1874, p 8<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> Police Gazette, 28 April 1875, p 108<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Local Intelligence’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Armidale Express & New England General Advertiser</i>, Fri 23 Apr 1875, p 6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> Police Gazette, 28 April 1875, p 130 </span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="text-indent: -15.1333px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15; text-indent: -15.1333px;" title="">[15a]</a> </span></span></span></span></span>Maitland Daily Mercury, Mon 2 Aug 1897, p 6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref16" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> Police Gazette, 5 May 1875, p 134<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px;" title="">[16a]</a> </span></b></span></span></span></span></span><span style="text-indent: -15.1333px;">Police Gazette, 9 Oct 1878, p 366</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref17" name="_edn17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘General News’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darling Downs Gazette</i>, Sat 23 May 1891, p 4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref18" name="_edn18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> NSW Police Gazette, 23 Dec 1908, p 463<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref19" name="_edn19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Liverpool Show’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cumberland Argus & Fruitgrowers Advocate</i>, Sat 1 Apr 1911, p 5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref20" name="_edn20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Alleged Stealing’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darling Downs Gazette</i>, Tue 10 Oct 1911, p 5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin-left: 11.35pt; text-indent: -11.35pt;">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Charles%20Forrester%202%20Culled.docx#_ednref21" name="_edn21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Police Court’, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darling Downs Gazette</i>, Wed 11 Oct 1911, p 4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<br />Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-86401861497650229332020-06-09T07:27:00.003+10:002020-10-01T15:21:11.472+10:00Richard Ridge's English Origins<div style="text-align: justify;">
According to his age at death in Windsor, NSW in January 1842 ‘in the 76th year of his age’, the Third Fleet convict Richard Ridge would turn seventy-six during 1842, meaning that he was born in England in 1766. Richard's English origins have hitherto not been properly researched but this hasn't stopped his name being added to 797 family trees on the Ancestry website, claiming that he was born in 1771, at Horsham, Sussex. Yet the 1841 Census of England has him alive there, living at Pondtail Lane, Horsham with his wife Sarah and vital records show him dying in Sussex in 1845.<br />
<br />
The Ancestry trees seem to rely on the mention at an Old Bailey case in 1789 that Richard was walking towards 'Hessham', which sounds near enough to be good enough for early researchers to think this must mean Horsham in Sussex. <br /><br />In fact Richard was walking close to Hounslow in West Middlesex in 1789. An exhaustive Google search of historic names and maps does not reveal any places within walking distance of Hounslow named Hessham. However the village of Heston was close to Hounslow. Horsham was miles away, two-thirds of the way from London to the English Channel, on the road heading southwards to Brighton.<br />
<br />
I abandoned any idea that Richard came from Horsham and my concentrated efforts to find Richard's birthplace have yielded the following conclusions.<br />
<h4>
Richard Ridge came from Oxfordshire</h4>
<div>
The family name at his baptism at Ducklington with Hardwick, Oxfordshire on 21 December 1766 was Rudge, but all the marriages of his siblings and the deaths of his parents William and Catherine were subsequently recorded in parish records as Ridge.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OTTDvPCRnu4/Xt1h7gwAXAI/AAAAAAAAC3Q/UjHI8utzkQM2sGa2swZegbpZ_S1S5hCVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/BapRichardRidge%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="658" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OTTDvPCRnu4/Xt1h7gwAXAI/AAAAAAAAC3Q/UjHI8utzkQM2sGa2swZegbpZ_S1S5hCVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/BapRichardRidge%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baptism of Richard Rudge, Ducklington with Hardwick, 21 Dec 1766</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The parish lay around 10 miles or 16 km west of the city of Oxford and north of the Thames River. Ducklington, an ancient village on the River Windrush, a tributary of the Thames, was supposedly named after the central duck pond where many ducks and ducklings have lived for centuries. Hardwick was a hamlet or chapelry within the ancient parish of Ducklington, with Cockthorpe lying between both places.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bKc9Z0ANTS0/Xt1vq3N9ExI/AAAAAAAAC3c/n_fw2Mo3KM4IccSVtblC4PfSqMrJSv05wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/MapCockthorpe%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="951" height="217" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bKc9Z0ANTS0/Xt1vq3N9ExI/AAAAAAAAC3c/n_fw2Mo3KM4IccSVtblC4PfSqMrJSv05wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/MapCockthorpe%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of Ducklington, Cockthorpe and Hardwick</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is where Richard lived with his family throughout his life in England. Located close to the beautiful Cotswolds, the general district has an incredible history outlined in great detail on the <a href="https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol13/pp110-118" target="_blank">British History Online website</a>.<br />
<h4>
Family Inheritance</h4>
Stepping back a little, Richard’s mother Catherine Hewett was born in the ancient village of Buckland in 1727. Although it too is close to the city of Oxford, because Buckland is about one mile or 1.6 km south of the River Thames it lay within Berkshire's county boundaries at that time. Catherine married William Rudge in her home village of Buckland on 3 January 1743 but their first child William was baptized at Ducklington with Hardwick on 28 April 1745.<br />
<br />
It seems that Catherine and her husband were helping her childless uncle Richard Hewett to run his farm at Cockthorpe. In 1752 Richard’s mother Catherine ‘the wife of William Ridge’ inherited from her Uncle Richard:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
my freehold messuage or tenement with the appurtenances in Bampton in the County of Oxford commonly called or known by the name of the Flower Deluxe (?) and all my estate and interest therein and also all that my copyhold messuage or tenement with the appurtenances in Great Farringdon in the County of Berkshire now in the occupation of John Clough which I hold by copy of Court Roll of the Manor of Great Farringdon </blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qwesmwXJC8o/Xt14Ai5kIOI/AAAAAAAAC3o/JOccgqGad3MxyCOPH9b_7RQtFWURyv3hACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Richard%2BHewett%2BBequest%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="791" height="91" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qwesmwXJC8o/Xt14Ai5kIOI/AAAAAAAAC3o/JOccgqGad3MxyCOPH9b_7RQtFWURyv3hACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Richard%2BHewett%2BBequest%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Hewett's Estate Bequeathed to his niece Catherine Ridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Richard left all the rest and residue of his goods, chattels, money and estate to Catherine's husband William Ridge, who was the sole executor of the Will.<br />
<br />
Bampton, about four miles or 6-7 km south-west of the Ridge abode and one of the oldest towns in England, is famous today as the setting for the outdoor locations in the BBC series ‘Downton Abbey’ and the local authorities have established a <a href="https://bamptonoxon-parishcouncil.gov.uk/history-of-bampton.asp" target="_blank">website</a> with excellent information about the area.<br />
<h4>
Richard's Siblings</h4>
At the time Richard Hewett wrote his Will, in January 1751, his niece Catherine had four children, William, James, George and Mary, all named as residual beneficiaries of his estate. Nine more children were born into the family. Richard was the youngest of the thirteen children, but four of his older brothers died in infancy. Only two of his siblings were girls, Mary and Martha. The names of Richard’s mother and two sisters fit neatly with the names Richard later chose for his daughters Catherine, Mary Ann and Martha, born in Australia around 1796, 1798 and 1803.<br />
<br />
All the Rudge/Ridge children including Richard were literate and signed their names on legal documents. Employment-wise, there was a stone-hewing pit at Hardwick during the eighteenth century but the Ridge family appears to have been yeomen farmers and quite well-to-do. Richard’s sister Mary and brother Joseph married by Licence. Although not a church member, his brother Nathaniel was buried as a ‘gent’ by the Quakers in Witney in 1836. <br />
<br />
Richard had six older brothers who needed somewhere to raise their own families. William moved to the family’s inherited property in Berkshire, where he married in 1770 (at Hinton Waldridge or Waldrist). From the 1770s Richard’s older brother George also lived on property inherited by their mother, at Bampton. Richard’s brother James, the next to marry, moved to the nearby market town of Witney, one mile or 1.6 km north of Cocklington. Witney was an important crossing point for the River Windrush and a centre of leather trades, blanket making and mop manufacture. Brothers Robert and Nathaniel also moved to Witney but appear to have remained as bachelors. Richard’s brother Joseph continued to work on the family farm near Hardwick. Sisters Mary and Martha both married in 1775.<br />
<h4>
Richard Leaves Home </h4>
In May 1788 Richard’s mother died. Richard's older brother Joseph married in October 1788.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dujFLvznvGo/Xt1hjmSRiuI/AAAAAAAAC3I/8oIgW1PWzWcgKD4Xwbou08eF7NLQ_oiUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/BurialCatherineRidge%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="932" height="163" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dujFLvznvGo/Xt1hjmSRiuI/AAAAAAAAC3I/8oIgW1PWzWcgKD4Xwbou08eF7NLQ_oiUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/BurialCatherineRidge%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard's Mother Buried, 2 May 1788</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Their father was still alive (until 1795) and Joseph was his helper on the farm where the family had lived for over forty years. Perhaps Richard, the youngest child, couldn’t see anything coming his way because in 1789 when he was almost 23 years old Richard left home to walk to London and find work.<br />
<br />
These were stirring times. The French Revolution had just taken place, with the storming of the Bastille in Paris on 4 July and the overthrow of the monarchy in France.<br />
<br />
Richard would have crossed the Thames at Newbridge near Northmoor before walking to Abingdon and Dorchester, the crossroads for the main horse post route to London through Nettlebed, Maidenhead and Hounslow. As the crow flies, it was around 54 miles or 86 km from Hardwick to Hounslow, near today’s Heathrow Airport. He would never see his home again.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of the Route to London from Hardwick in 1789</td></tr>
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Richard now disappears from the parish records and enters the history books ... on 21 August 1789. He was accused of a crime at Brentford that night, as he walked eastwards from Hounslow through Brentford and on to Acton. Brentford, then a country village, is now a western suburb of London, on the northern bank of the Thames directly opposite Kew Gardens. He appeared at the Old Bailey on 9 September 1789 and was transported to Australia with the Third Fleet of 1791. But all of the events in this paragraph form another story.</div>
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In Australia, Richard eventually married Margaret Forrester. Much of her story as a child and their story as a couple is told in the book about her father <i><a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</span></b></a></i>, which can be purchased online at <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/9417869/sentenced-to-debt.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">BookPOD</span></b></a>. A book covering the lives of Robert Forrester's children has yet to be finalised, other than the story of his daughter Ann Forrester and her husband Charles Homer Martin, published in 2012 in <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/southwark_luck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b><i>Southwark Luck</i></b></span></a>.<br />
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P.S. You are invited to 'Like' Louise Wilson, Author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LouiseWilsonAuthor/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Facebook</b></span></a>. </div>
Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-70735244026157844922020-06-06T14:50:00.000+10:002020-06-10T14:11:38.477+10:00Discussion Points for 'Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter'<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mpg0ZmXppKk/XtsSgaqc5AI/AAAAAAAAC1I/eYHpDpPzodMW05J2_D91UECmu1hkbknNwCK4BGAsYHg/s768/Sentenced%2Bto%2BDebt%2BFront%2BCover%2BV2%2Blow%2Bres.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="517" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mpg0ZmXppKk/XtsSgaqc5AI/AAAAAAAAC1I/eYHpDpPzodMW05J2_D91UECmu1hkbknNwCK4BGAsYHg/s320/Sentenced%2Bto%2BDebt%2BFront%2BCover%2BV2%2Blow%2Bres.jpg" /></a></div><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li><span lang="EN-AU">Many books have been written about the establishment of modern Australia but few like this one. Robert Forrester was an illiterate convict but when officialdom’s paper trail is followed in chronological order a powerful underlying story emerges. Do you prefer this 'case study' approach to telling Australia's early colonial story? Does this book have general applicability beyond this particular family, as a social history suitable for Australian libraries and classrooms?</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">The book’s title is a deliberate play on words, intended to convey three meanings. What are they? </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">What did you make of Robert’s concept of ‘home’ in this book? At what point do you think he became an Australian? Does this book tell the story of migration for today’s ‘new Australians’?</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">The author’s original version of this story, <i>Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</i>, published in 2009, was the first sustained attempt to explore the economic impact of government policies and natural disasters on an individual convict settler. <i>Sentenced to Debt</i> continues the author's focus on economic history. Does this theme of the 'haves' and 'have nots' still resonate today?</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">The author, with all of her forebears originating in the United Kingdom and northern Europe, has had a long involvement in community education and humbly offers Chapters 7-11 of this book, in particular, as a ‘truth telling’ exercise. Did she succeed?</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">What attitudes towards women surfaced in this book? What did you make of the relationships between Robert and Mary Frost; between Robert and Bella Ramsay; between Robert and Jane Metcalf; between Robert and his children; between Robert and his friends and neighbours? Does the voice of women emerge from this book?</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">The Past. Did you learn anything new about Australia’s early colonial history? Has it broadened your perspective on anything personal or societal? Did you learn anything new about environmental issues, geography and climate in this book? Did this book convey a sense of place?</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">The Present. Do the issues described in the book affect lives today? The year 2020 has intensified the world’s focus on the ‘Black Lives Matter’ issue? Did this book change your attitude to the issues facing the Aboriginal people of Australia? Did this book strengthen or weaken your own sense of personal identity?</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">The Future. Some of the themes in this book relate to the notion of the Australian identity, citizenship, the concept of national heroes and the celebration of Australia Day. Although the Uluru Statement from the Heart is not mentioned in this book, its resolution is a necessary part of Australia’s future. Did <i>Sentenced to Debt</i> clarify, confirm or change your views about these issues?</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">Because ‘comprehension’ is not routinely taught as a skill in today’s classrooms, the creative writing exhortation to ‘express an idea in your own words’ often allows old meanings to be carelessly distorted. In this non-fiction book did you find the extensive use of quotations from history, to convey the original meaning of any given situation, useful or tedious? </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-AU">Readability. Did this story flow? Was this a book that you ‘couldn’t put it down’ or did you need to digest it in small doses? Did any specific passages strike you as memorable? Were the illustrations helpful? How did you feel as you reached the end? Satisfied? Enlightened? Angry? Confused? Grateful? What did you find most surprising, intriguing or difficult to understand? What adjective would describe the stand-out feature of this book for you? Would you recommend this book to others? </span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU"><i>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</i> was published by Louise Wilson, South Melbourne, 18 May 2020, ISBN 978-0-9804478-6-6. </span><span lang="EN-AU">For more details, see <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">here</span></b></a>.</span><br />
Purchase <i>Sentenced to Debt</i> online at <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">BookPOD</span></b></a></div>P.S. You are invited to 'Like' Louise Wilson, Author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LouiseWilsonAuthor/" style="font-weight: 400;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Facebook</b></span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-55518077143556096342020-04-02T11:10:00.000+11:002020-04-02T11:10:12.386+11:00The Tracker - Essential Viewing<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Last night I watched my neighbour's DVD of ‘The Tracker’, a movie produced in 2002 by Rolf De Heer but even more relevant and meaningful today, now that we seem more willing to face the ‘truth-telling’ needed in this country. ‘The Tracker’ tells a shocking story anchored in the unwelcome realities of Australian history.<o:p></o:p><br />
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It was brilliantly filmed in the stunning countryside of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia and is worth viewing for that reason alone. The scenery is almost mystical.<br />
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It was brilliantly acted too, especially by David Gulpilil in the lead role, who surreptiously led his three white ‘bosses’ by the nose throughout the film. At face value, he was the inferior being, made to walk the whole way while the white men took the easy way, looking down on him from horseback, but floundering without their horses. Who was really the fittest, physically, and the strongest, mentally? As The Tracker, even when chained, he captured flawlessly the advanced sense of humour and irony reported by early colonial diarists among the Aborigines they came across. He demonstrated vividly what Watkin Tench<!--[if supportFields]><span
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I recoiled at the role played by Gary Sweet as the lead trooper, the policeman in charge. It mirrored too closely the experiences of my forebears in the 1790s at the Hawkesbury, where the first massacre of Aborigines took place in 1794. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I liked the part played by Damon Gameau as the young policeman, who started off clearly terrified by his situation but who began to recognise the skills possessed by The Tracker and finally stepped up to do the right thing. Oh that there had been more like him in our history. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I liked Grant Page's depiction of the laid-back older trooper, fully aware of what was going on but laconic, stoical and passively accepting cruel figures of authority. He was typical of the physically tough ‘she’ll be right’ loners who populated our outback.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The scenes of violence towards Aborigines which we all know darken our history were handled with imagery … artwork. It somehow made a more vivid and lasting impression. The payback killing within the Aboriginal community reflected the way in which their own tribal laws worked.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The film has a haunting musical score, with songs sung mournfully by Archie Roach.<br />
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All Australians should watch this unusual, engrossing film! I see it can be seen for a few more days (until 6 April 2020) on <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/movies/video/1563080259854/The-Tracker" target="_blank"><b>SBS Online</b></a>.</div>
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Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-51814782746836578462019-02-10T14:57:00.000+11:002019-05-02T14:26:58.918+10:00Robert Forrester's Wife Mary Frost<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
On 19 October 1791, the marriage of a Robert Forster to a woman named Mary Frost was recorded in the parish registers of St Philip's Church of England in Sydney<span lang="EN-US">.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Robert made his mark but Mary signed her name, unusual for women in Sydney at that time..<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Excerpt from Parish Registers, St Philip's Sydney, SAG Film 90, Mitchell Library</td></tr>
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Who was Robert’s bride? When '<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</span></b></a>' was published in January 2009, it contained an Appendix canvassing Mary's possible identity (Appendix 3). With a Second Edition of the book nearing completion, that Appendix has been omitted to allow space for new material.<br />
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Despite extensive research for the Second Edition, we still don't know who Mary was.<br />
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Here's why.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Living on Norfolk Island at the end of 1791 were Robert Forrester and his wife Mary Frost, fresh from their marriage in Sydney. </span><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Proof of Robert’s arrival on Norfolk Island comes from the government’s victualling lists, giving his date of arrival as</span><span lang="EN-US"> 4 November 1791, aboard <i>Atlantic</i>. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In another government list, those aboard the <i>Atlantic</i> included 10 ‘male convicts become settlers’ (one being Robert Forrester), no free women, 13 female convicts and 3 children of convicts.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-no-proof: yes;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> It’s the only evidence we have that Mary must have been a convict. Her transport ship and date of arrival in Sydney remains unknown. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Mary’s arrival at Norfolk Island<b> </b>with Robert on 4 November 1791 is taken as a fact, as he was recorded as a married man there on 5 November.</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></a></span></span><span lang="EN-US"> He was also recorded as a married man in a list dated 6 December, that list included in correspondence dated 29 December 1791.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> From this date Mary disappears from the records.</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Her husband </span><span lang="EN-US">Robert Forrester is recorded in the Norfolk Island Victualling Book throughout 1792 with an arrival date of 4 November 1791 and a departure date of 9 March 1793.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> But no-one named Mary Frost was listed as an arrival or as a departure on those dates, making her an example of ‘a number of major errors and missing people in the Norfolk Island Victualling Book, 1792 - 1796’.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Unfortunately, this means that Mary, an unlisted arrival in NSW, w</span><span lang="EN-US">ith no specific record of her presence or death on Norfolk Island, or her departure from there, is unlikely ever to be identified. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The material which follows proves that she could not have been one of the three other women named Frost a</span><span lang="EN-US">lready living on Norfolk Island when she arrived there in November 1791. Two of these women were named Mary Frost and one was named Frances Frost. They’d been there for 18 months, being shipped</span><span lang="EN-US"> there from Sydney on 7 August 1790 aboard the <i>Surprize</i>, the Second Fleet transport vessel making its homeward journey via Norfolk Island.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>Surprize</i> definitely brought the Mary Frost who was tried at Thetford in Norfolk on 19 March 1789, for the theft of wearing apparel and some flour, and was then reprieved from a death sentence to transportation for 7 years. She arrived in Sydney in June 1790 aboard the Second Fleet ship <i>Neptune</i> and two months later was sent to Norfolk Island aboard <i>Surprize</i>. There she teamed up with Joshua Peck, married him in November 1791 and had a number of children, the eldest being John, born on Norfolk Island in 1792 but too young to make an appearance in the victualling records before the Pecks left for Sydney in 1793.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In 1792 the Norfolk Island Victualling Book records her as one of two convict women named Mary Frost being fed from the government store, both women having arrived on the island on 7 August 1790 aboard <i>Surprize</i>.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9] </span></span></span></span></a>Read on - the other Mary was not Robert's wife.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796 shows this Mary Frost {i.e. Joshua Peck's wife) receiving rations for </span><span lang="EN-US">a total of 365 days in 1792 and 89 days in 1793</span><span lang="EN-US">.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Her husband also received rations for 365 days in 1792 and for 89 days in 1793, with his record showing the Pecks leaving Norfolk Island aboard <i>Chesterfield</i> on 30 March 1793.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn11" name="_ednref11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Victualling records prove that the Pecks with their children returned to the island some years later. Only one Mary Frost was still ‘on stores’ in the Muster taken in February 1805 on Norfolk Island.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn12" name="_ednref12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> This ‘woman from sentence expired’ would have been Joshua Peck’s wife.</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Mary and her husband Joshua Peck and their children were resettled in Tasmania at the end of 1807.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn13" name="_ednref13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Mary Peck/Frost’s life on Norfolk Island, in New South Wales, back on Norfolk Island and then in Tasmania has been well tracked by others until her death in Tasmania in 1847.</span></div>
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<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><!--[endif]-->3. Mary Frost</span><o:p></o:p></h2>
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<span lang="EN-US">From later records, the second Mary Frost on Norfolk Island appears to have been an unlisted arrival in Sydney on 3 June 1790 aboard the <i>Lady Juliana</i>, the so-called ‘floating brothel.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn14" name="_ednref14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Victualling records show her as arriving on Norfolk Island aboard <i>Surprize</i> on 7 August 1790, receiving either full or meat only </span><span lang="EN-US">rations for a total of 365 days in both 1792 and 1793, and full rations for 365 days in both 1794 and 1795</span><span lang="EN-US">.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn15" name="_ednref15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> No details of her crime, trial or sentence are known. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It’s possible that Mary was the mother of a mysterious convict’s child named Mary Frost, added in 1792 to the bottom of a page in the Norfolk Island Victualling Book with no other details.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn16" name="_ednref16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Her listing in the Mutch Index as born on the island in November 1791 is an estimated date of birth.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn17" name="_ednref17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> It’s possible that baby Mary was born during or soon after the voyage of the <i>Lady Juliana</i> in 1790. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Mary Frost Snr is assumed to be the mother of a convict’s child named </span><span lang="EN-US">Sarah Frost, who was born on the island on 17 June 1791, ten months after Mary arrived there, and died there on 23 October 1795 according to victualling records.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn18" name="_ednref18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-no-proof: yes;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Unless she made a trip to Sydney after 17 June 1791 and before October 1791, this Mary Frost could not have been marrying Robert Forrester and signing her name on the marriage register in Sydney on 19 October 1791, as she’d been living on Norfolk Island since August 1790. Rations issued to her indicate that she did not leave the island from the start of 1792 through to the end of 1795. However Norfolk Island researcher Cathy Dunn has listed Mary Frost, convict, Mary Frost, convict’s child and Sarah Frost, convict’s child among 62 passengers aboard the <i>Atlantic</i> when it sailed from Norfolk Island to Port Jackson (Sydney) on 21 September 1792.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn19" name="_ednref19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Rations issued indicate that Mary (on full rations) and her daughter Sarah (on half rations) soon returned to Norfolk Island (if they ever left, because there are no gaps in issuance of mother Mary’s rations).</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn20" name="_ednref20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Babies Mary and Sarah did not draw rations in 1792 but baby Mary didn’t draw rations later either, suggesting that she never returned to the island with her mother and sister. Baby Sarah drew half-rations for most of 1793 (from around the time she turned two?), all of 1794 and up until the 296<sup>th</sup> day of 1795, 23 October, the day 4-yr-old Sarah died. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Still living on Norfolk Island at the end of 1800 was settler Mary Frost, pardoned by Governor King on 16 December 1800.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn21" name="_ednref21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> She’d arrived in Sydney on the <i>Lady Juliana</i> in June 1790 after trial in 1787.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn22" name="_ednref22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Her benefactor, the newly-arrived Governor King, now living in Sydney, would have known her during his previous role as Lieutenant Governor on Norfolk Island. As the other Frost women who’d lived on the island (Mary Frost/Peck and Frances Frost) did not need a Pardon, their sentences of 1788 and 1789 having long-since expired, the pardon must connect to this ‘mystery’ lady. With no subsequent references to her, it could be that she took the surname of her unknown husband, or permanently left the colony. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">There is no death for a Mary Frost on Norfolk Island.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn23" name="_ednref23" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Settlers remaining at Norfolk Island after 1804 were mostly resettled in Tasmania but, other than for Mary Frost/Peck, Tasmania has no record for a death of any other Mary Frost/Foster/Forster/Forrester of an appropriate age.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn24" name="_ednref24" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In New South Wales, a Mary Foster was buried on 1 December 1801, not described as a convict or as a wife, as some others were at the time, just as a ‘woman’ whose abode was Sydney.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn25" name="_ednref25" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> The 1800-1802 Muster book records the death of two adults named Mary Foster, on 1 December 1801 and 30 December 1801, but the second Mary is not listed in parish burial records and could be a duplicate of the first burial.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn26" name="_ednref26" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> She appears to have been the Mary Foster who arrived aboard <i>Britannia</i> on 27 May 1797 after being tried at Dublin City in January 1796 and sentenced to 7 Years.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn27" name="_ednref27" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> The Mary Forster who died in Sydney Hospital aged 51 in September 1826 was a convict who’d arrived aboard <i>Indispensable</i> in 1809.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn28" name="_ednref28" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[28]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><!--[endif]-->4. Frances Frost</span><o:p></o:p></h2>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>Lady Juliana</i> also brought Frances Frost from England. At her trial at the July 1788 Devon Assizes held at Exeter, 20-yr-old Frances Frost received a 7 year sentence.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn29" name="_ednref29" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[29]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Her crime was the theft of a linen gown and other items.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn30" name="_ednref30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[30]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Peter Selley, from Devon in England, advises that Frances was born in 1768 in Sandford, Devon as the seventh child of Francis Frost and his wife Sarah nee Collins. Her victim was young Jane or Jenny Drake, born in 1771, the eldest of four daughters of the local miller. Jane married Richard Browne, in 1802.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn30" name="_ednref30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;">[31]</span></span></span></span></a><br /><br />Frances, living on Norfolk Island from August 1790, had at least one child, a ‘convict’s child’ named Margaret Frost who was born on the island on 21 Dec 1793.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn30" name="_ednref30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;">[32] </span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US">Peter Selley has located a separate published record for the father of another daughter Sarah, born 17 June 1791, died 23 October 1795, the father's name given as John Frith and rations are issued in Sarah's name for most of 1793, all of 1794 and up to her death in 1795.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn30" name="_ednref30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;">[33]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Margaret’s rations issued in 1794 and 1795 fitted the pattern for Frances Frost, who received stores continuously through 1792, 1793, 1794 and for 310 days in 1795.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn31" name="_ednref31" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[34]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Frances Frost, a married woman who’d arrived in Sydney on the <i>Lady Juliana</i> in 1790 and on Norfolk Island on 7 August 1790, departed Norfolk Island after November 1795.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn32" name="_ednref32" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[35]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> With Margaret, Frances departed from Norfolk Island on 6 November 1795 on the <i>Supply</i>.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn33" name="_ednref33" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[36]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Frances returned to Norfolk Island and was back on stores on 1 October 1796.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn34" name="_ednref34" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[37]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> This is the date noted for the birth of her third daughter, the second Sarah (alias Elizabeth Frost, according to the Biographical Database of Australia), father once again listed as John Frith, about whom nothing is known</span><span lang="EN-US">.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn35" style="font-size: 9pt;" title="">[38]</a><span lang="EN-US"> The convict’s child receiving rations from that same date was listed as Sarah Frost, not Margaret.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_edn35" style="font-size: 9pt;" title="">[39] </a>Does this mean the almost 3-yr-old Margaret had been left behind in Sydney, or had died?</div>
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<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />To conclude, </span></span></span></span>the old Appendix 3 information about Mary Frost, as published in 2009 and uploaded to this blog on 12 December 2018, badly needed revising and this current post is the result of that work. Hopefully it clarifies the confusion about the four women named Frost who lived on Norfolk Island in the early 1790s. I believe it eliminates three of them as the potential wife of Robert Forrester. We are left wondering who she was and what happened to her. I thank Cathy Dunn of <a href="http://www.australianhistoryresearch.info/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Australian History Research</b></span></a>, a specialist researcher into Norfolk Island history, for her input into some of the points I raised with her </div>
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<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: small;">Don't forget to </span><a href="mailto:louisewilson@tpg.com.au" style="font-size: medium;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">email</span></b></a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">me if you'd like to join the waiting list for the new book. For more details, see my</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" style="font-size: medium;" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">website</span></b></a><span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><!--[endif]-->Endnotes</span><o:p></o:p></h2>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> PRs, St Philip’s, Sydney, SAG Film 90, ML<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">HRNSW Vol 1 Part 2, p 561, ‘State of the Settlements at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island the 18<sup>th</sup> of November, 1791’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn3">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Bigge's Appendix, <i>Return of Lands Granted in His Majesty's Territory of New South Wales</i>, 5 Nov 1791, Ref A2131 CY Reel 727, p 61, ML <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Bigge's Appendix, <i>A List of Persons Settled on Norfolk Island who have not got their grants</i>, 29 Dec 1791, Ref A2131 CY Reel 727, p 55, ML<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book, 1792 - 1796, p 28b, A1958, ML (microfilm copy in State Records NSW at SR Reel 2747 and at SLV, GM)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Email from </span>Cathy Dunn of Australian History Research to Louise Wilson, 8 Feb 2019<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Research of Cathy Dunn, <span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.australianhistoryresearch.info/surprize-to-norfolk-island-august-1790/"><span lang="EN-AU">http://www.australianhistoryresearch.info/surprize-to-norfolk-island-august-1790/</span></a></span> , accessed 2 Feb 2019<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Flynn, Michael, <i>The Second Fleet, Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790</i> (Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1993), pp 280-281</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 59b & p 60a, GM 115, SLV<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 59b, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref11" name="_edn11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 21a, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref12" name="_edn12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Baxter, Carol J, (Ed), <i>Muster of New South Wales and Norfolk Island, 1805-1806</i> (ABGR in assoc with SAG, Sydney 1989)</span>, Ref D0517 p 195<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref13" name="_edn13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Departed Norfolk Island 26 Dec 1807 aboard <i>Porpoise</i>, ‘Convict Settlement on Norfolk Island’, Compiled by Kaye Vernon, SRNSW, 2012, p 260</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Recommendations for Absolute Pardons, 1826-1846, NRS 1179, Australian Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons, 1791-1867, SRNSW, Reel 800<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref15" name="_edn15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 60a, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref16" name="_edn16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 77b, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn17">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref17" name="_edn17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Cathy Dunn to Louise Wilson, Facebook post on Norfolk Island History Researchers, 5 Feb 2019<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref18" name="_edn18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 76a, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn19">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref19" name="_edn19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Research of professional Norfolk Island researcher Cathy Dunn on her Australian History Research website <a href="http://www.australianhistoryresearch.info/atlantic-from-norfolk-island-to-port-jackson-september-1792/">http://www.australianhistoryresearch.info/atlantic-from-norfolk-island-to-port-jackson-september-1792/</a>, accessed 31 Jan 2019</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref20" name="_edn20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 60a & p 76a, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn21">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref21" name="_edn21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Baxter, Carol J, (Ed), <i>Musters and Lists, New South Wales and Norfolk Island, 1800-1802</i> (ABGR in assoc with SAG, Sydney 1988)</span><span lang="EN-US">, Governor </span>King’s Lists 1801, List 6, Ref BF088, p 119<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn22">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref22" name="_edn22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Recommendations for Absolute Pardons, 1826-1846, NRS 1179, Australian Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons, 1791-1867, SRNSW, Reel 800<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn23">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref23" name="_edn23" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Email from </span>Cathy Dunn of Australian History Research to Louise Wilson, 8 Feb 2019<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn24">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref24" name="_edn24" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Tasmanian Pioneer Index, 1803-1899, Archives Office of Tasmania, CDROM 2003, at SLV<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref25" name="_edn25" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">PRs, St Philip’s, Sydney, SAG Film 90, ML; also NSW V18011600 2A/1801</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref26" name="_edn26" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Baxter, Muster, 1800-1802, King’s Lists 1801, List 9, General Return of Deaths in the Territory of New South Wales from 1st September 1800 to 31st December 1801, Refs BJ087 & BJ095, p 129<i><sup><o:p></o:p></sup></i></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref27" name="_edn27" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Biographical Database of Australia, Mary Foster Person ID B#10011615801, accessed 2 Feb 2019</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref28" name="_edn28" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[28]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>NSW BDM <span lang="EN-US">1329/1826 V18261329 44B</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref29" name="_edn29" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[29]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Biographical Database of Australia,<span lang="EN-US"> Biog Item No. 100111017</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref30" name="_edn30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[30]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Convict Records website, <span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/frost/frances/129072"><span lang="EN-AU">https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/frost/frances/129072</span></a></span>, accessed 7 Feb 2019<o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref30" name="_edn30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;">[31]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Email</span> from <a href="http://medicalgentlemen.co.uk/aus-nz" target="_blank">Peter Selley</a> to Louise Wilson, 16 Apr 2019<br />
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref30" name="_edn30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;">[32]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 81a, GM 115, SLV<br />
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref30" name="_edn30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;">[33]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 76a, GM 115, SLV and Donohoe, James Hugh, <i>Births in Australia, 1788-1828</i>, (J S Shaw North Publishing, 2004), p 186</div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref31" name="_edn31" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[34]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 81a, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref32" name="_edn32" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[35]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Biographical Database of Australia<span lang="EN-US">, Biog Item No. 120211836</span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref33" name="_edn33" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[36]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 58a & p 81a, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn34">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref34" name="_edn34" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[37]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 62b, GM 115, SLV</span><br />
<o:p></o:p><a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref30" name="_edn30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13.8px;">[38]</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Donohoe, James Hugh, <i>Births in Australia, 1788-1828</i>, (J S Shaw North Publishing, 2004), p 186</span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Frost%20Women%20on%20Norfolk%20Island%20in%201790s%20V4Blog.docx#_ednref35" name="_edn35" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[39]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Norfolk Island Victualling Book 1792-1796, p 84a, GM 115, SLV</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-90198787169361310262018-12-14T15:54:00.000+11:002020-06-10T14:14:28.760+10:00Second Edition of Robert Forrester's Story<div style="text-align: justify;">
The First Edition of '<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</span></b></a>' was published in January 2009. At the time I was very new to the field of researching and writing about Australian history but it was easy to see that Robert's story was compelling. Despite my inexperience as an amateur historian, the judging panel of the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies (since re-named as <a href="https://www.familyhistoryconnections.org.au/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Family History Connections</span></b></a>) rated the book as 'Highly Commended' in the <a href="https://www.familyhistoryconnections.org.au/index.php/awards/65-alexander-henderson-award" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Alexander Henderson Award</span></b></a>, 2009.</div>
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That book incorporated my own extensive 'deep delving' into original records (primary sources), trying to track whatever I could find about specific events in Robert's life. In many other places in that book I relied on the published research of others to tell the general story of his times. Virtually every point made in the book was supported by an endnote, so that others could cross-check my work and could use the same often obscure sources for their own research. I've been told that my book significantly raised the standard of non-fiction Australian family histories and set a good example for others to follow.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7Y3-eAHOON8/XBHDuYTtoZI/AAAAAAAACVE/rK1uEsCoEJE_rPRwflm2met6o8hUI2M6wCLcBGAs/s1600/Aborigines%2BJulia%2BWoodhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="943" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7Y3-eAHOON8/XBHDuYTtoZI/AAAAAAAACVE/rK1uEsCoEJE_rPRwflm2met6o8hUI2M6wCLcBGAs/s400/Aborigines%2BJulia%2BWoodhouse.jpg" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sketch by my mother Julia Woodhouse of the three Aborigines in 1799</td></tr>
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Ten years have now passed, and I've gained a much greater understanding of the early days of Sydney and the Hawkesbury and the Aboriginal history of those times. Robert and Isabella have each found a place in our country's history of the interactions between our First Peoples and our first settlers. I can see how I could have described many aspects of that historical period more accurately, or more clearly. Other researchers have been at work too, since my Forrester research was completed in 2008, and I've benefited from their thinking and writing.</div>
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'Robert Forrester, First Fleeter' has been popular and already reprinted twice, in 2011 and 2014 but, when supplies once again began running out in 2017, I decided to take this opportunity to update the book. It will contain:</div>
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<ul>
<li>some exciting news about Robert's family of origin</li>
<li>a new interpretation of 'the crime' in London</li>
<li>additional information about Robert's partner-in-crime, Richard McDale/McDeed</li>
<li>more information about the London landlady, Letitia Coleman</li>
<li>an improved description of events on 21 & 26 January, 1788 </li>
<li>an update on Sydney's 'orgy myth'</li>
<li>a more precise definition of the location of Robert's grant on Norfolk Island</li>
<li>an update on Isabella Ramsay's family of origin</li>
<li>a more precise definition of the location of Robert's 1794 grant beside the Hawkesbury</li>
<li>much more about settler interactions with the Aborigines (the 'Frontier War' and massacres)</li>
<li>more about Robert's killing of an Aborigine in 1794</li>
<li>information about Isabella Ramsay's interesting role when two Aborigines were killed at Cornwallis in 1799</li>
<li>the counterargument to the criticism of Robert Forrester in '<span style="text-align: start;">Hawkesbury Settlement Revealed' and several other publications</span></li>
<li>less reliance on excerpts from 'An Account of the English Colony In New South Wales' by David Collins</li>
<li>numerous other minor amendments and additional pictures</li>
</ul>
This new material added many extra pages to the original book, so Appendices 1-8 in the First Edition have been omitted. The content is preserved, either within the revised book or as individual posts on this blog:<br />
<ul>
<li>Robert Forrester's Origins - posted on <a href="https://robertforresterfirstfleeter.blogspot.com/2018/12/robert-forresters-origins.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">10 December 2018</span></b></a></li>
<li>Richard McDale/McDeed - now incorporated within main text of Second Edition</li>
<li>Mary Frost of the Neptune - posted on <a href="https://robertforresterfirstfleeter.blogspot.com/2018/12/robert-forresters-wife-mary-frost.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">12 December 2018</span></b></a> as 'Robert Forrester's Wife Mary Frost'</li>
<li>Duncan Forrester - posted on <a href="https://robertforresterfirstfleeter.blogspot.com/2018/12/duncan-forrester-of-new-south-wales.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">13 December 2018</span></b></a> as 'Duncan Forrester of the New South Wales Corps'</li>
<li>Isabella Ramsay's Origins - posted on <a href="https://robertforresterfirstfleeter.blogspot.com/2018/12/isabella-ramsays-origins.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">11 December 2018</span></b></a></li>
<li>Argyle Reach Grants, 1794 - now incorporated within main text of Second Edition</li>
<li>Isabella Jane Forrester/Bushell - now incorporated within main text of Second Edition</li>
<li>James Metcalf - now incorporated within main text of Second Edition</li>
</ul>
The book has been streamlined in other ways too, to make it no longer than the First Edition, despite the inclusion of additional material. Its publication date awaits confirmation of the DNA links to prove, as far as possible, Robert's parentage. Please <a href="mailto:louisewilson@tpg.com.au" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">email</span></b></a> me if you'd like to join the waiting list for the Second Edition of the book. To reflect its substantial revisions, it will have the new title '<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</span></b></a>'.</div>
<br />
P.S. You are invited to 'Like' Louise Wilson, Author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LouiseWilsonAuthor/" style="font-weight: 400;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Facebook</b></span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-62539174115874447522018-12-13T17:30:00.000+11:002018-12-13T17:30:05.295+11:00Duncan Forrester of New South Wales Corps<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When ‘<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</span></b></a>’ was tried at the Old Bailey in London in 1783 he said he was a stranger in that city. Looking for clues about his origins, at first I wondered whether the New South Wales Corps soldier Duncan Forrester was somehow connected to Robert. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yeLEXKd973A/XBDfBODslMI/AAAAAAAACU4/OaQ5O1CddYI7hI0PrstAyL4BkI5XoWQEwCLcBGAs/s1600/NSW%2BCorps.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="512" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yeLEXKd973A/XBDfBODslMI/AAAAAAAACU4/OaQ5O1CddYI7hI0PrstAyL4BkI5XoWQEwCLcBGAs/s400/NSW%2BCorps.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NSW Corps Re-enactment, Ebenezer 2009, © Louise Wilson</td></tr>
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Many coincidences tempted me to think this way. After Robert was transported with the First Fleet to Sydney, arriving there in January 1788, Duncan enlisted in the newly-formed NSW Corps on 8 August 1789 and arrived in Sydney with the Second Fleet in June 1790. Once Robert was a free man, he and Duncan both travelled to Norfolk Island on the <i>Atlantic</i>, arriving there on 4 November 1791, and both sailed from Norfolk Island for Sydney on the <i>Kitty</i> in 9 March 1793. Robert did not move from Sydney to the Hawkesbury until after Duncan's burial in Sydney on 20 June 1794.<br />
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Yet, if the men had been connected through kinship, surely Robert would have named one of his sons in honour of Duncan.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">No age was given when Duncan Forrester was buried in Sydney on 20 June 1794, so tracking his likely place and date of birth is problematic. Of the very few Duncan Forrester births listed various online parish records, only two are listed in the time frame 1740-1780, both siblings from the same family in Scotland. The first Duncan died young. If the second surviving Duncan became the soldier Duncan Forrester,</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-US><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span>e "Forrester:Duncan (1750-1794)"</span><![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-US><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-US"> he would have been 44 years of age when he died.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Duncan Forrester of Caltown, South Leith, Edinburgh</span></h3>
<span lang="EN-US">The two Duncans and their siblings were born at Caltown and baptised at South Leith, the harbour area of Edinburgh, Midlothian, all being children of a heelmaker named William Forrester. The witness for the baptisms was a shoemaker named John Forrester of Caltown. This was another tempting clue, as many of Robert’s circle in Australia were shoemakers. The only other Forrester appearing in the baptism registers for South Leith between 1740 and the end of 1770 was Ralph Forrester, a bottle blower of Leith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">These three Forrester men are likely to have been the brothers John (born 1715), William (born 1722), and Ralph (born 1728) who were christened in Glasgow, Lanarkshire as members of the large family of Alexander Forrester</span><!--[if supportFields]><span lang=EN-US><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span>x "Forrester:Alexander (abt 1685- )"</span><![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span lang=EN-US><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-US"> and Mary Govan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">After the brothers moved from Glasgow to Edinburgh, William married his first wife Margaret Smith in South Leith on 9 December 1742. William was recorded as a heelmaker</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-US><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span>e "Shoemaking:Forrester, William"</span><![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><span
lang=EN-US><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span lang="EN-US"> in Caltown at the baptisms of his children, who were:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">William Forrester, born in Caltown on 17 November 1743 and christened in South Leith on 21 November 1743.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Jean Forrester<span lang="EN-US">, born in Caltown on 11 December 1745 and christened in South Leith on 15 December 1745. Jean</span><span lang="EN-US"> died in infancy, before 1752.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Duncan Forrester, born in Caltown on 11 November 1746 and christened in South Leith on 14 November 1746. The child was possibly named after an Andrew Duncan<span lang="EN-US">, another Caltown heelmaker, who might have been his father’s business partner. Young Duncan</span><span lang="EN-US"> died before May 1750.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">John Forrester<span lang="EN-US">, born in Caltown on 11 October 1747 and christened in South Leith on 13 October 1747.</span></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">
Duncan Forrester<span lang="EN-US">, the second child in the family with that name, born in Caltown on 12 May 1750 and christened in South Leith on 16 May 1750. </span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Presumably he was the Duncan Forrester</span><span lang="EN-US"> who married Jean Proven on 2 December 1775 at Linlithgow</span><span lang="EN-US">, West Lothian, not far away.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Duncan%20Forrester.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">[1]</span></a> One child is recorded for them in the IGI - Agness</span><span lang="EN-US">, born on 26 September and christened on 6 October 1776 at Linlithgow.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Duncan%20Forrester.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">[2]</span></a> Her father was described as a ‘workman at Kingscavell’, which was a small town just outside Linlithgow on the road towards Edinburgh. Witnesses to the baptism were Alex. Murray and Andrew Graham, who witnessed a number of baptisms and were probably parish officials. Parish records contain many baptisms for the children of ‘Dragoon in 10th Regiment’, and ‘soldier in South Fencibles’ and mention is also made of the ‘1st Royal Regiment of Dragoons’.</span></div>
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Online parish records indicate that no more children for Duncan and Jean Forrester were baptised in this parish, or any other Scottish parish, suggesting that one of the parents died, or the father was absent from home. Duncan’s wife and daughter still seemed to be alive, so did Duncan enlist as a soldier and fight in the American War of Independence?</div>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Jean Forrester<span lang="EN-US">, born in Caltown on 31 January 1752 and christened in South Leith on 7 February 1752.</span></li>
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<span lang="EN-US">The South Leith parish records I consulted did not contain relevant burial records, but it seems that as well as several of his infant children, William Forrester’s first wife Margaret died young.</span></div>
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<h3>
<span lang="EN-US">Robert Forrester of Caltown, South Leith, Edinburgh</span></h3>
<span lang="EN-US">After the death of his first wife Margaret, William Forrester married his second wife Anne Hamilton in South Leith on 7 January 1756. They had three children:</span></div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Barbara Forrester<span lang="EN-US">, born in Caltown on 30 November 1756 and christened in South Leith on 12 December 1756. She</span><span lang="EN-US"> married Murdoch Campbell</span><span lang="EN-US"> in South Leith on 11 August 1792.</span></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">
Thomas Forrester<span lang="EN-US">, born in Caltown in March 1758 and christened in South Leith in March 1758. The specific dates were unreadable on the microfilm I consulted.</span></div>
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I did not track his life but he seems NOT to have been the Thomas Forrester who was buried on 13 March 1806 at St John's Parramatta, NSW.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Duncan%20Forrester.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">[3]</span></a> This man was an adult who lived at Parramatta, and was therefore most unlikely to be related to Robert Forrester, as a close relative would surely seek to live near Robert at Windsor, NSW. Thomas Forrester of Parramatta was not classified as either a soldier or a convict when he was buried, and was not included in the 1800 - 1802 Muster, suggesting that he arrived after 1802. He was probably the convict named Thomas Forrester who arrived aboard <i>Coromandel</i> on 7 May 1804, to serve a sentence of fourteen years imposed at his trial at Warwick on 24 March 1803. No further details are contained in the relevant convict indents.</div>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Robert Forrester, born in Caltown on 8 June 1761 and christened in South Leith on 15 June 1761. This baptism record does not exactly fit with the known facts for Robert Forrester of the First Fleet, whose date of birth was most likely between 1757 and 1759.</li>
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<span lang="EN-US">This 1761 Robert was definitely a younger half-brother of the 1750 Duncan Forrester, who is presumed to have arrived in Sydney as a soldier in 1790 and died there in 1794. But was the 1761 Robert 'our' Robert, the First Fleeter? It seems not.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">DNA testing conducted in 2018 has yielded the surprising tentative result that ‘Robert Forrester, First Fleeter’ is most likely the Scottish-born son of an unmarried Forrester woman and a man named John McGaw. Further Y-DNA testing is underway. If true, Robert appears to have adopted his mother's surname. Final conclusions about Robert's origins will be published in the Second Edition of 'Robert Forrester, First Fleeter'. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Having now decided to scrap the theory that Duncan and Robert might have been related, I won’t be including Appendix 4 from the First Edition of ‘<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</span></b></a>’ within the Second Edition of the book. It will free up space for new material located during the past ten years. But, just in case it might help other researchers, my genealogical research into Duncan is preserved here in this blog post</span>.<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">Please <a href="mailto:louisewilson@tpg.com.au" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">email</span></b></a> me if you'd like to join the waiting list for the updated version of the book</span>.<br />
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Duncan%20Forrester.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> PRs, Linlithgow, West Lothian, Marriages, LDS Film 1066634<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Duncan%20Forrester.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> PRs, Linlithgow, West Lothian, Births & Baptisms, 1674-1799, LDS Film 1066632<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Duncan%20Forrester.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> NSW </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">V18062037 Reel 2A/1806</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-31477709884474616332018-12-11T17:32:00.002+11:002018-12-11T17:32:46.235+11:00Isabella Ramsay's Origins<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Many of the First Fleeters who arrived in Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788 never found a wife. There just weren't enough women to go round.<br />
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The story of the convict <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank">'<b><span style="color: blue;">Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</span></b>'</a>, published in January 2009, would never have been told if he'd been one of these men. Luckily, he found a mate in Isabella Ramsay, who arrived in Sydney Cove as a convict on 9 July 1791. Robert and Isabella had nine children together, making her one of the founding mothers of modern Australia. Their numerous descendants retain a keen interest in their story.<br />
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But who was Isabella and where did she come from?<br />
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<h3>
The Ramsays</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The details of Isabella's trial at Carlisle, Cumberland in 1790 (published in full in the book) narrowed the focus of the search for her to north-west England, on the border with Scotland. Her child-bearing years extended from 1794 to 1806, placing her date of birth somewhere between 1750 and 1780.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kiryDEYt6WM/XAepzwLagXI/AAAAAAAACTw/17AruLJ70KgVsZA9v1rrCHKBWWOZR_HkwCLcBGAs/s1600/MapCumberland.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="1600" height="312" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kiryDEYt6WM/XAepzwLagXI/AAAAAAAACTw/17AruLJ70KgVsZA9v1rrCHKBWWOZR_HkwCLcBGAs/s400/MapCumberland.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isabella Ramsay's Place of Origin</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ten years ago, before the advent of Ancestry, Find My Past and the like, the International Genealogical Index (IGI) was the obvious place to start the search for Isabella’s family of origin. For baptisms of girls named Isabella Ramsay in the period 1750-1780, only two children emerged as serious options, both baptised in 1773 in Cumberland.</div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>The first child was Isabela Ramsey, daughter of Thomas, christened on 10 June 1773 at All Saints Cockermouth.<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> (Source: Bishop's Transcripts, 1689-1830, Cockermouth, Cumberland, LDS Film 0090596)</span></span></li>
<li>The second was Isabella Ramsay, daughter of William, baptised on 17 October 1773 at Workington.<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> (</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Source: </span></span>Bishop's Transcripts, St Michael, Workington, Cumberland, LDS Film 90689, Items 4-6)</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Ten years later, no-one else has emerged as a possible contender.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">Cockermouth is not far from Workington and parish records are consistent with Thomas and William being brothers, along with another man named James Ramsay. Brief descriptions of their families follow.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Thomas Ramsay of Cockermouth</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Thomas Ramsay was christened at the Presbyterian Church in Workington, Cumberland, in 1749 as a son of William Ramsay and Ann Buckingham.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">He married Ann Paul in Gateshead, Durham, on 22 December 1765.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">On 10 June 1773 at All Saints Cockermouth, three daughters of a Thomas Ramsey, hatter, were baptised. The youngest of the three was Isabela Ramsey. This baby was buried 17 days later, so could not have been the woman transported to New South Wales.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">Two more children were born to Thomas and Ann.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">If baby Isabela’s father was the same Thomas baptised back in 1749, then she was a cousin of the other Isabella who was baptised in 1773.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">William Ramsay of Workington</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">William Ramsay was christened at the Presbyterian Church in Workington, Cumberland, in 1753 as a son of William Ramsay and Ann Buckingham. His age at death suggests that he may have been born around 1750. At that time, Workington was a major seaport and shipbuilding town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">William Jnr became a seaman, and in the course of his travels he met Mary Wind, who he married in Gateshead, Durham, on 22 December 1771. Gateshead was directly across country from Workington. His likely brother Thomas also married in Gateshead, in 1765. William and Mary lived in Gateshead for a short period before returning to Workington.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">William Ramsay and Mary Wind had the following children:</span></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Margaret Ramsay was christened in Gateshead, Durham, on 11 October 1772. Margaret, daughter of William Ramsay, was buried on 26 January 1777 at St Michael's in Workington, Cumberland. Her age was not given but she was four years old.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Isabella Ramsay, daughter of William Ramsay, and one of a set of twins, was christened at St Michael’s in Workington on 17 October 1773.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Ann Ramsay, daughter of William Ramsay, and the other twin, was christened at St Michael’s in Workington on 17 October 1773. Ann died before December 1777, when a second child named Ann was baptised.</li>
</ol>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u_J2YaEJ5Ls/XApKfXhATrI/AAAAAAAACT8/LbviRQeg694PDHZ3AmDnMiOU8Fu3onnXACLcBGAs/s1600/BapIsabella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="1600" height="80" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u_J2YaEJ5Ls/XApKfXhATrI/AAAAAAAACT8/LbviRQeg694PDHZ3AmDnMiOU8Fu3onnXACLcBGAs/s400/BapIsabella.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baptism, Ann & Isabella, daurs of Wm Ramsay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</span> <span style="text-align: justify;">The record for the first Ann’s burial has not been found in the parish transcripts for St Michael’s in Workington, but the transcripts contain only two burials in December 1773, an unusually low number, suggesting that some records from the original registers were missing or illegible. Alternatively, it is possible that Ann was baptised twice, in 1773 and again in 1777.</span></div>
<span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: justify;">Assuming that baby Ann did die in December 1773, it seems likely that the twins’ mother died too, as William Ramsay, a mariner, married a woman named Mary Ramsay at St Michael’s in Workington on 30 May 1774. Mary was possibly William’s first cousin, brought in to look after his two infant children (Margaret and the surviving twin, Isabella).</span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">William Ramsay and Mary Ramsay had the following children:</span></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">James Ramsay, son of William Ramsay, was christened at St Michael’s in Workington on 2 July 1776. James was buried on 11 February 1799 at St Michael's in Workington. No age was given, but he was aged 22.</li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">
Ann Ramsay, daughter of William Ramsay, was christened at St Michael’s in Workington on 7 December 1777. She married the mariner Leonard Crosthwaite at St Michael’s in Workington on 21 July 1796. He died at sea soon after their marriage, along with two brothers (Source: The London Chronicle, Vol 82, J Wilkie, 1797, p 482), but not before fathering a son Leonard Crosthwaite Jnr, who was baptised at St Michael’s in Workington on 29 January 1798 as the son of Leonard (dec’d) and Ann Crosthwaite. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ann survived as a grocer, later helped by her son, and remained a widow until her death at Beckfoot, on the coast north of Workington, in the district of Holme Cultrant Abbey. She was buried at St Michael’s in Workington on 14 June 1832, her age given as 57 years. As a precise calculation, the age at death puts her date of birth between 15 June 1774 and 14 June 1775, in between the two baptism records for Ann Ramsay, but ages given at death are often an approximation. In Ann's case, the informant was likely her elderly father or her son.</div>
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Elizabeth Ramsay, daughter of William & Mary Ramsay, was christened at St Michael’s in Workington on 20 February 1780. Elizabeth, daughter of William Ramsay, was buried on 19 April 1799 at St Michael's in Workington. No age was given, but she was 19 years old.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Mary Ramsay, daughter of William & Mary Ramsay, was christened at St Michael’s in Workington on 10 February 1783. Mary, daughter of William Ramsay, mariner, died on 5 October 1807, and was buried two days later at St Michael's in Workington. She would have been 24 years old.</li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: justify;">The names Isabella Ramsay later chose for her Australian-born children led to the conclusion that her father was indeed William Ramsay of Workington. Isabella Ramsay’s four Australian daughters were named Elizabeth, Margaret, Ann and Isabella, the same names as for herself and her half-sisters, except for Mary. Perhaps Mary was not chosen as a name in Australia because Bella and her step-mother Mary did not get along.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">Only one of Isabella’s siblings lived long enough to marry, which also fits with her own apparent death at a relatively young age.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">Yet another point of support for this being Isabella’s family of origin is the disappearance of Isabella from parish records (Bishops Transcripts) in Cumberland. No marriage was recorded for Isabella, and no burial, whereas the life cycle for the rest of this family can be traced, except for her twin, as noted. Isabella’s departure from Cumberland is therefore consistent with parish records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">Isabella’s step-mother Mary, wife of William Ramsay, mariner, was buried at St Michael’s, Workington on 11 January 1819. Her age was stated at 68 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">Isabella’s father William lived on for another thirteen years. He died two months after his daughter Ann, and was buried at St Michael’s in Workington as an 82-year-old mariner, on 11 August 1832. His entire family in Cumberland had predeceased him, except for his grandson Leonard Crosthwaite, who died in 1867, unmarried and childless. William probably never knew about the fate of his daughter Isabella and his numerous grandchildren on the other side of the world.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">James Ramsay of Whitehaven</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Isabella’s uncle James Ramsay was christened in 1756 at the Presbyterian Church in Workington, Cumberland. He was a son of William Ramsay and Ann Buckingham.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">James Ramsay and his wife Dinah née Banks lived in Addison’s Alley, Whitehaven, a booming seaport a little further to the south of Workington. At the time it was the second busiest port in England, after London. Baptisms for James and Dinah’s four children were recorded in the Scotch Presbyterian Church in James Street, Whitehaven between 1778 and 1784. Their daughter Dinah died in 1782, aged two years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">James Ramsay was buried in St Nicholas Old Chapel, Whitehaven on 26 January 1785. Six weeks later his youngest daughter died, also named Dinah. Dinah was left to care for her surviving daughter Nanny and son James.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span> <span lang="EN-US">Dinah remarried on 30 January 1788, to a man named Archibald Stoup. Both of Dinah’s marriages are recorded in the parish records of St Nicholas, Old Chapel. Dinah remained a resident of Addison’s Alley, where two Stoup children were born, Mary in 1788 and Alexander in 1792, and the Stoups then moved, as Dinah’s last child Isaac Stoup was born at Michael St, Whitehaven in 1796. All three Stoup baptisms are recorded in the same parish records as their Ramsay half-siblings.</span><br />
<br />
<h3>
Note</h3>
The above details provide an updated version of Appendix 5 in the book <b><span style="color: blue;">'<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</span></a>'</span></b>, a book which contains much more about Isabella herself and is currently being revised. The new book won't include the above genealogical details, to save space, so they are 'preserved' here. This culling will leave room in the Second Edition of the book for all the new perspectives on the lives of Robert Forrester and Isabella Ramsay, collected over the past ten years. <br />
<br />
Please <a href="mailto:louisewilson@tpg.com.au" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">email</span></b></a> me if you'd like to join the waiting list for the new book. For further details, see my <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">website</span></b></a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-34951673352268092572018-12-10T17:14:00.000+11:002018-12-10T17:14:32.424+11:00Robert Forrester's Origins<div style="text-align: justify;">
Generally speaking, Forrester is a northern English/Scottish lowlands surname, but Robert was arrested in London, and proclaimed himself as a stranger in London, providing a flimsy basis for determining his birthplace.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Despite extensive consideration of the three traditional genealogical points of reference (place of birth, date of birth and marital status), Robert’s origins remained unclear when '<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Robert Forrester, First Fleeter'</span></b></a> was published in January 2009. Various options were summarised in Appendix 1 of that book and are re-published in this post to 'preserve' the lines of enquiry, although they are now rejected as possibilities.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Working back from his stated age of sixty nine at the time of his death in February 1827, this being a notoriously unreliable genealogical indicator, he was born between 15 February 1757 and 14 February 1758. If his recorded age of twenty four years when he was incarcerated in the hulks on the Thames is reliable, his date of birth was around 1758 or 1759.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tZDktXJMWGs/XAsLPUCn0YI/AAAAAAAACUc/7CWaDXI3MYAYk6oK1iraDY__I7QgHPbQwCEwYBhgL/s1600/GraveRF1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="421" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tZDktXJMWGs/XAsLPUCn0YI/AAAAAAAACUc/7CWaDXI3MYAYk6oK1iraDY__I7QgHPbQwCEwYBhgL/s400/GraveRF1a.jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Forrester's Headstone, Windsor, NSW</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Back in 2008, of the thirty or so specific baptism entries in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) for the years 1757, 1758 and 1759, only three contained the correct spelling of this surname, and many of the other twenty seven were the sons of fathers with given names like Jonathan, Ridgway, James and Francis, names not chosen by Robert for any of his own sons.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A selective analysis of these baptismal records follows, and one marriage for a Robert Forrester with the correct spelling has been reviewed. Others may disagree with the conclusions drawn, and may care to research every single option.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When he came into contact with the law, Robert was living in the major parish of St Giles in the Fields in London, and although he claimed at his trial to be a stranger there, this could have been untrue. If so, finding his baptism in London would be a long, slow process. Many of the parish records for London have not yet been added to computerised indices, so many possibilities for the birth of a Robert Forrester in London may be hidden in the extensive microfilmed records at the London Metropolitan Archives or the City of Westminster Archives Centre.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<h3>
Option 1</h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The first correctly-spelled Robert Forrester baptism which has been indexed was recorded at Founders Hall. Lothbury. Scots Church London in September 1757.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span></a> Some descendants claim him as the First Fleeter, but this researcher has studied the parish records and does not agree with that conclusion. That particular child was the second of six children born to a tallow chandler named Robert Forrester and baptised at the family home, York Buildings, Buckingham St, Strand, no mother’s name being given. The Strand was very close to St Giles in the Fields, so the geographic link is strong. The tallow chandler must have been a man of some means, as all his children received private baptisms at home. The other sibling names in that particular family were Stephen, Joseph, Rebecca, Elizabeth and Susanna.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Although the general location and spelling of the surname is correct, economic circumstances and naming patterns suggest that the family concerned is almost certainly NOT relevant to Robert Forrester of the First Fleet. Unless the tallow chandler had fallen on hard times or died, why would Robert Forrester live in a doss house when his own family lived close by in relative comfort? Furthermore, the First Fleeter did not choose Stephen, Joseph, Rebecca or Susanna as names for any of his later children, although he did utilise the popular girl’s name of Elizabeth. For those who disagree with the author, further examination of the affairs of the tallow chandler might yield further insights.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<h3>
Option 2</h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A second Robert Forrester with the correct surname was baptised a long distance from London, in Newcastle on Tyne on 5 March 1759. His parents were Matthew and Mary. His background needed further analysis, using original parish records, but the name Matthew aroused suspicions and none of his daughters was named Mary.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<h3>
Option 3</h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
An interesting third option was the Robert Forrester baptism on 10 April 1757 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span></a> Many families of Scottish origin had moved to America by this date. At that time Marblehead was an important fishing and trading port not far from Boston, where the famous ‘Boston Tea Party’ of 1773 symbolized the start of demands for independence from Britain. Proposing that Robert might have been an American-born ‘refugee’ in London in 1783 is not a far-fetched notion, as large numbers of displaced American loyalists moved northwards to Canada or across the Atlantic to Britain after America’s War of Independence resulted in defeat for the British and their supporters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This child’s baptism record gives the parent names as John Forrester of Nerne (the seaport Nairn?), Great Britain (Scotland) and his wife Abigail née Oakes, who were married in Marblehead on 3 January 1750.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[iii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></a> His other siblings were John, Samuel and Francis. John, the eldest boy, was married in Marblehead in 1775 but soon died (fighting in the war?), as his widow Eleanor remarried in 1779.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[iv]</span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Of these names, only John turns up in the family of the First Fleeter Robert Forrester.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Family naming patterns were not promising, but further investigations seemed necessary. The 17 volume publication ‘Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War’, on CD, did not contain any mention of any Robert Forresters, or any variations of that surname. Assistance was sought from the Reference Librarian at Lynn Public Library, Massachusetts.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[v]</span><!--[endif]--></span></a> She searched through the library’s information concerning the revolutionary war, viz: 'Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War 1775-1783' by Vermont; 'British Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England 1774-1789' by Norton; 'Mary Beth Encyclopedia of the American Revolution' by McKay; 'Loyalists in the American Revolution' by Van Tyne; and 'Claude Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution' by Lossing, Vols I & II. Again, there was no reference to anyone with a name like Robert Forrester. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<h3>
Option 4</h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Regarding his marital status, evidence given at his trial in April 1783 implies that young Robert was unmarried, since he shared a room in a lodging house with other men. If he was married, a wide range of possible marriages exist. Only one has been followed up: the marriage of Robert Forrester to Mary Pratt after Banns on 22 May 1780 at St Andrew, Enfield, north of the City of London.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[vi]</span></span></a> The groom was a bachelor of the parish, the bride a spinster of the parish. The groom made his mark and the bride signed, in the presence of the Vicar Richard Newbon and witnesses Thos Brewer and John Bradshaw, who both signed. Several other weddings at this church during the 1770s involved Pratt family members, but there were no other Forrester weddings. The groom must have been a temporary resident of the parish.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If the Robert Forrester who married Mary Pratt then moved to the parish of St Giles in the Fields, this was not evidenced in parish registers. There were no baptisms in the latter parish from May 1780 to February 1784 for any children of a man named Robert Forrester. The only Forrester baptism in the parish during the period March 1777 to February 1784 was for Christopher Forrester on 17 August 1783, a son of Christopher and Elizabeth Forrester, whose possible connection to Robert Forrester has not been examined.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Turning to baptisms of children with surnames similar to Forrester, the starting point must be St Giles in the Fields. This being a major London parish, the parish clerks here would have been very well educated and aware of spelling for names. The relevant parish records have been checked, but the Robert baptised there on 22 October 1758 was a son of John and Elizabeth Fewster, and the Robert christened there on 8 June 1759 was a son of Robert and Mary Forrest.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[vii]</span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Robert’s name was spelt as either Forrester or Forester in court, and it is presumed that he knew how to say his own name correctly, even if he was unable to write it, so the Fewster and Forrest baptisms at St Giles in the Fields are unlikely to have been relevant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Although Robert was associated with a man from Ireland when arrested, indexed baptism and marriage entries provide no particular links for Robert back to Ireland.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<h3>
Option 5</h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Given his later rapid alliance with a woman from Cumberland, Robert Forrester of the First Fleet could have been the Robert Forster christened in November 1757 at Kirkandrews Upon Esk, north east of Carlisle in Cumberland, as a son of Arthur Forster.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[viii]</span></span></a> A large group of Forresters/Forsters lived in this parish, including men named John, Henry, William, Robert and George, all being names later used in the First Fleeter’s family. However, during a time when family naming traditions were much stronger than now, none of Robert’s later sons were given the name of Arthur, perhaps casting doubt on this as Robert’s family of origin. For similar reasons, other children from this county were considered unlikely.</div>
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However, as the Forrester book went to print in 2009, the author concluded that 'these parish records now provide the best hope of ‘finding’ Robert, and detailed research by others, connecting these Cumberland Forrester/Forster family members, may yield good results'. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<h3>
Note: Please Discard All of the Above Options </h3>
The further research in Cumberland, recommended in 2009, was taken further during November 2017, and written up as one of my earlier <a href="https://robertforresterfirstfleeter.blogspot.com/2017/12/on-trail-of-forresters-in-cumberland.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>blog posts</b></span></a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jghqPp4JWo0/XA4DW8su8wI/AAAAAAAACUs/_raje6cDFu0z3Uzb8IEpw4bI3zTd-KNKgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jghqPp4JWo0/XA4DW8su8wI/AAAAAAAACUs/_raje6cDFu0z3Uzb8IEpw4bI3zTd-KNKgCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_0896.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kirkandrews upon Esk, November 2017</td></tr>
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BUT, due to further research during 2018, the theory that Robert came from Cumberland has now been discarded and it's unlikely he was baptised at Kirkandrews upon Esk in 1757. Indeed, it became clear during 2018 that none of the above five options apply to the First Fleeter named Robert Forrester.</div>
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Thanks to the analysis work conducted throughout 2018 by my fifth cousin Stuart Hamilton, another Forrester descendant, DNA testing has short-circuited the guessing game about Robert's family of origin. DNA testing has yielded the surprising result that Robert was most likely the Scottish-born son of an unmarried Forrester woman and a man named John McGaw. Robert adopted his mother's surname and appears (at this stage) to have been unbaptised. Further details will be published in the Second Edition of 'Robert Forrester, First Fleeter', due to be published in 2019.<br />
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The new book won't include the genealogical details published in Appendix 1 of the old book, to save space. As explained at the start, those details are retained here, in this blog post. This change in content will leave room to include all the new perspectives on the lives of Robert Forrester and Isabella Ramsay, collected over the past ten years. See my <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">website</span></b></a> for basic details and updates. Please <a href="mailto:louisewilson@tpg.com.au" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">email</span></b></a> me if you'd like to join the waiting list for the Second Edition of this book.<br />
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> PRs, Founders Hall Lothbury & Scots Church London Wall, Film MS 4962, Guildhall Library, London <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> From website Vital Records of Marblehead, MA, <a href="http://www.ma-vitalrecords.org/EssexCounty/Marblehead/BirthsEtoG.html#F">http://www.ma-vitalrecords.org/EssexCounty/Marblehead/BirthsEtoG.html#F</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> From website Vital Records of Marblehead, MA, <a href="http://www.ma-vitalrecords.org/EssexCounty/Marblehead/MarriagesDtoG.html">http://www.ma-vitalrecords.org/EssexCounty/Marblehead/MarriagesDtoG.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> Ibid<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="layout-grid-mode: both;">Lisa Kulyk-Bourque, Reference Librarian, Lynn Public Library, </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.refquest@noblenet.org/"><span style="layout-grid-mode: both;">www.refquest@noblenet.org</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="layout-grid-mode: both;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> PRs, St Andrew Enfield, Middlesex, England, LDS Film 585399<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> PRs, St Giles in the Fields, London Metropolitan Archives <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Louise/Documents/Rejected%20Robert%20Forresters.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"> IGI, on Website <a href="http://www.familysearch.com/">www.familysearch.com</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-66530378115056308992018-08-29T08:32:00.006+10:002023-02-13T12:24:58.216+11:00Seven Dead Babies in Ten Years<div style="text-align: justify;">
Family history came into sharp focus for me last week when Kathleen Folbigg made the news again. In 2003 she was found guilty of the murder of three of her infant children and the manslaughter of a fourth, for which she is serving a sentence of 30 years imprisonment. Damning evidence against her claimed there had never been three or more infant deaths in the same family attributed to unidentified natural causes. Smothering was suspected. Following <a href="https://www.theherald.com.au/story/1866540/legal-centre-in-push-for-judicial-inquiry/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">appeals by her legal team</span></b></a> over the forensic evidence offered in her trial, the NSW Attorney-General has now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/22/kathleen-folbigg-nsw-announces-inquiry-into-serial-killers-convictions" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>ordered a judicial inquiry</b></span></a> into her convictions.</div>
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History tells us that women can be serial killers and <a href="http://unknownmisandry.blogspot.com/p/index-female-serial-killers.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>a long list</b></span></a> of candidates has been compiled to prove it. Several books have been written about Kathleen's dastardly crimes, but is she Australia's worst female serial killer .... or not a serial killer at all? Have authorities in NSW considered the experience of Martha Nicholls, who lost seven infants in quick succession back in the 1880s and 1890s? If confronted by her maternal record today, what would the authorities do with poor Martha?<br />
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Martha Margaret Buttsworth was born at Wilberforce NSW on 15 January 1858. In 1883 she married her second cousin, local farmer George Nicholls of Freemans Reach. Their grandmothers were the sisters Margaret and Ann Forrester, the daughters of the First Fleeter, <a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Robert Forrester</span></b></a> and Isabella Ramsay, who died in her early-mid thirties after bearing nine children. Isabella's two full-sisters died in infancy in Workington, Cumberland, England, and only one of her four half-siblings lived long enough in England to marry and produce one child.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From information on the public record, here is the heart-breaking series of infant births and deaths for the children born to Martha and George Nicholls:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Ella May Nicholls was born in Mar 1884 and died on 24 Nov 1884, aged 8 months.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Arthur George Nicholls was born in Mar 1885 and died on 21 Apr 1885, aged 4 weeks, 2 days.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Martha Nicholls was born in Nov 1886 and died on 16 Nov 1886, aged 9 days.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Florrie Alice Nicholls was born in Feb 1888 and died on 6 Mar 1888, aged 1 month.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Minnie (or Millie) Myrtle Ridge Nicholls was born in Apr 1890 and died on 6 Aug 1890, aged 4 months.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Elsie Jane Nicholls was born in Apr 1892 and died on 16 May 1892, aged 5 weeks 4 days.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Alfred Ernest Nicholls was born in Mar 1894 and died on 7 Apr 1894, aged 3 weeks. His demise was the only reference made by the local paper to the extraordinary events in this family: "A child of Mr George Nicholls died last week. Mr and Mrs Nicholls are deeply sympathised with in their sad bereavement." ('Wilberforce', <i>Windsor & Richmond Gazette</i>, Sat 14 Apr 1894, p 10)<br />
</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Martha’s eighth and youngest child survived her infancy and childhood. Essie Margaret Nicholls was born in 1896. She married Ernest Roy Rutter in 1921 at Rockdale in Sydney and they had three children, Eric, Ted and Marie. Essie died on 11 December 1988 and is buried with her husband Roy in the churchyard of St Matthew's Windsor.</li>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdh3RMAfOT8KsbWDL9TWJuKOxcw7T5DiveyHdSoVn04PMpgAMsDe_yPWyndT5x24HiylwgQzQgJfXl38n9xfZgcfZEHZfxWKHlVh19IUjMbq6SaG6rznAvLNSm2KCSjBtOp8YsYn8vkeMfD699lUtN6spluxpPKEFqpSRUX6NEgHKX9KfNobpWJXgU/s1162/EssieNicholls%5BE%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1105" data-original-width="1162" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdh3RMAfOT8KsbWDL9TWJuKOxcw7T5DiveyHdSoVn04PMpgAMsDe_yPWyndT5x24HiylwgQzQgJfXl38n9xfZgcfZEHZfxWKHlVh19IUjMbq6SaG6rznAvLNSm2KCSjBtOp8YsYn8vkeMfD699lUtN6spluxpPKEFqpSRUX6NEgHKX9KfNobpWJXgU/s320/EssieNicholls%5BE%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Essie Rutter nee Nicholls, image by courtesy of Ian Nicholls</td></tr></tbody></table><br />As part of their review of the Folbigg case, the NSW authorities would do well to examine the death certificates for the Nicholls babies. No suspicion surrounding these infant deaths seems to exist. All the babies were buried at the Wilberforce Cemetery, at the time a consecrated Church of England burial ground. Their parents, who were second cousins, later joined them here. Ian Nicholls, a keen researcher of Hawkesbury history, spent his childhood on the farm next door to Essie and Roy Rutter and Ian says that the locals believed George and Martha Nicholls 'were too close genetically, not that this was stated openly'. <span style="text-align: left;">What is not
widely known, says Ian Nicholls, is George and Martha raised Evelyn Collison, born in 1894 to George's niece Louisa and her husband Andrew Collison, who was habitually drunk and abusive, causing Louisa to divorce him in 1902. Clearly George and Martha were trusted as parents.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpm7ZmIiA_Jdt95UmrWzVnEQU5sSfx0S4U_iI-jpagPo1dx0UXhUmX6kAxYwoQtJrV07hgnl5Lb-9CMfvYjCi6wAC3J4Dg_-GjVv4OO6T1kHOT0_47yZYqrrFzEou2S2-05iazg0l0u_9xGMwqDXzL1YTLF3oK84Vx9uLFz3Y6L6gS0t2QQYyXeptr/s969/GeoMarNichollsChildrenHdStone.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="573" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpm7ZmIiA_Jdt95UmrWzVnEQU5sSfx0S4U_iI-jpagPo1dx0UXhUmX6kAxYwoQtJrV07hgnl5Lb-9CMfvYjCi6wAC3J4Dg_-GjVv4OO6T1kHOT0_47yZYqrrFzEou2S2-05iazg0l0u_9xGMwqDXzL1YTLF3oK84Vx9uLFz3Y6L6gS0t2QQYyXeptr/w236-h400/GeoMarNichollsChildrenHdStone.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Headstone for the seven Nicholls children, Wilberforce Cemetery<br />Photo by courtesy of Ian Nicholls</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">Happily for her, Martha had become a grandmother when she herself died suddenly on 24 July 1929, aged 71. Excerpts from her obituary in the local paper indicate that she was well-regarded in her community:</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
Much sympathy was expressed throughout the Hawkesbury district when it became known on Wednesday that Mrs. Martha Margaret Nicholls, wife of Mr. George Nicholls, a well-known identity of Freeman's Reach, had passed away that morning. Apparently in good health, the late Mrs. Nicholls visited Windsor last week to make arrangements in connection with some property which she owned, and her sudden passing caused a shock in the community.<br />
Born at Wilberforce, the deceased was a member of a well-known Hawkesbury family, the late William and Margaret Buttsworth. She was married in Sydney 46 years ago to Mr. George Nicholls, a well-known and highly respected Freeman's Reach farmer and one of the original members of the Hawkesbury District Agricultural Association. The issue of the marriage was eight children, only one of whom (Mrs. Roy Rutter, of Freeman's Reach) is living.<br />
The late Mrs. Nicholls, who had reached the allotted span of three score years and ten, was beloved and respected by all who knew her. Possessing a quiet and unassuming disposition, she was a true Christian woman, and was a great help to her husband on the farm. We join with many friends in expressing heartfelt sympathy with the bereaved widower. <span style="font-size: x-small;">('Obituary', <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Windsor & Richmond Gazette</i>, Fri 26 Jul 1929, p 3)</span></blockquote>
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George was also described as an exemplary citizen when he died in 1941. The first part of his lengthy obituary states:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
Few there are whose public service and personal merit over a long period of years gains them such standing in their district as to cause their passing to be looked upon almost as the loss of a cherished institution, but such a one was George Nicholls, estimable district citizen and resident of Freeman's Reach, whose death in the Hawkesbury District Hospital on Tuesday of last week, at the age of 87 years, has since been the subject of general and sincere expressions of regret throughout the Hawkesbury.<br />
One of that select band who are prepared unselfishly, to give up a great proportion of their time to the service of their fellow men without expectation of reward, and withal an exemplary neighbor and kindly and generous friend, the late Mr. Nicholls throughout his long lifetime set an example for all to emulate, and for few to excel. Himself the fortunate possessor of robust health and the capacity to overcome these difficulties which beset every path of human endeavor, his readiness at all times to extend a helping hand to those not so well endowed, earned him a circle of staunch friends such as is granted only to such personalities, and his memory will be cherished for many years to come in the district of which he was always so proud.<br />
A son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Nicholls, of Freeman's Reach, where he was born and remained throughout his life, the deceased came of a sturdy pioneer stock whose influence was reflected in his character. Even as a young man he took a close interest in various public bodies in his own centre and the district generally, and throughout his more mature years a great deal of his leisure from the farming activities in which he was engaged throughout his life was devoted to the public duties which he voluntarily undertook from a sense of citizenship which was always one of his most prominent traits.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">('Obituary', </span><i style="font-size: small;">Windsor & Richmond Gazette</i><span style="font-size: x-small;">, Fri 13 Jun 1941, p 4)</span></blockquote>
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It's clear that the parents George and Martha Nicholls lived a normal lifespan, even if Martha died suddenly and unexpectedly. Her death certificate, as well as those for her babies, might throw possible light on what was wrong with the Nicholls children. Ian Nicholls says that Essie's sons Eric and Ted are both deceased but daughter Marie is believed to be living. The thought occurs that Marie's genes might reveal clues to the fate of her mother's siblings. Does this family history case offer fresh food for thought for Kathleen Folbigg's legal team?</div><div style="text-align: justify;">
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P.S. This post was updated on 19 June 2022 using information kindly provided by Ian Nicholls in emails dated 6 & 18 June 2022. Then the third paragraph of this post was updated on 13 February 2023 to make the genetic history of this couple a bit clearer. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">P.P.S. You are invited to 'Like' Louise Wilson, Author on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LouiseWilsonAuthor/" style="font-weight: 400;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Facebook</b></span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></div>
Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-42814719185814155082018-06-11T09:05:00.000+10:002018-06-11T09:05:00.873+10:00William Norris and daughter Nellie Norris - Update<div style="text-align: justify;">
Be patient - the 'juicy bits' of this story come later in this post.</div>
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Subsequent to the publication in August 2012 of my prize-winning book about the life of Charles Homer Martin, Ann Forrester and their children, <i><a href="http://www.louisewilson.com.au/southwark_luck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Southwark Luck</b></span></a></i>, many more newspapers have been digitised by the National Library of Australia, with their content accessible via that marvellous online resource Trove - so aptly named, being every researcher's treasure trove. </div>
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This meant I was able to confirm certain matters about Susannah Martin's husband William Norris, published in a blog story on 13 June 2013. This new post updates that original post.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3a8HT-gTPQw/Wx2WLtNBGGI/AAAAAAAACOg/SdOmyXeZyJ4uau7mdNJU9b4uaVlGybORQCLcBGAs/s1600/William%2BNorris2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="506" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3a8HT-gTPQw/Wx2WLtNBGGI/AAAAAAAACOg/SdOmyXeZyJ4uau7mdNJU9b4uaVlGybORQCLcBGAs/s320/William%2BNorris2.jpg" width="244" /></a>In the five years since then, one of William's distant relatives by marriage, Carol Roberts of Windsor, has come into possession of an old family photo album. In November 1916 we met at Windsor and discussed the photos therein and, now that identities have been sorted out, I'm happy to publish this photo of William Norris, 1840-1887, by courtesy of Carol Roberts.<br />
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The obituary for William & Susannah's daughter Nellie <span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>(Windsor & Richmond Gazette, Fri 16 Mar 1928, p 3, col b)</em></span> states that her father was licensee of the Railway Hotel in Windsor for a period. Therefore the William Norris life events I described on pages 282-285 of my book <i><a href="http://www.louisewilson.com.au/southwark_luck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Southwark Luck</b></span></a></i> definitely applied to Nellie's father and not a different man by that name.</div>
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Finding Nellie's published obituary also allowed me to correct the details about her date of death, as published on page 292 of <i><a href="http://www.louisewilson.com.au/southwark_luck.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Southwark Luck</b></span></a></i>. She died on 9 March 1928, as Nellie Dowling. Her new name points to a much more important aspect of Nellie's life and times. Please read on.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7aOq5Es2yoo/UaiURJ_vxUI/AAAAAAAAAhE/2pgU1jkwkQM/s1600/Nellie+Norris+2+-+F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7aOq5Es2yoo/UaiURJ_vxUI/AAAAAAAAAhE/2pgU1jkwkQM/s320/Nellie+Norris+2+-+F.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
She was Nellie Dowling because two years earlier, on 27 February 1926, at St Mary Immaculate Church in the Sydney suburb of Manly where her new mother-in-law lived, Nellie had married Charles Edward Dowling. He'd gone to war in 1916 over-stating his age and claiming to be a 21-year-old farmer, but his marriage record ten years later declared his true age (28 years) and gave his occupation as linesman.<br />
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Pianist Nellie, on the other hand, was now 46 years old but she stated her age as 31 years. It was true, she looked youthful in her photo (taken at an unknown date) but it's often hard for women to disguise their age to that extent.</div>
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Why did she do this? Did Charles know, or ever learn, the truth? By all accounts the Dowlings were a devoted couple during their short married life, and young Charles mourned the loss of his wife. He honoured her with 'In Memoriam' notices in 1929 and 1930 before his own death in Queensland in 1935.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oLUoQ_e4a2I/Wx2T9N9aFbI/AAAAAAAACOU/GGI5aTtDP58eSqJa-u8ziQ6W5vTON7EpQCLcBGAs/s1600/Nellie%2BNorris2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="993" data-original-width="642" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oLUoQ_e4a2I/Wx2T9N9aFbI/AAAAAAAACOU/GGI5aTtDP58eSqJa-u8ziQ6W5vTON7EpQCLcBGAs/s400/Nellie%2BNorris2.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
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Carol Roberts of Windsor has also recently discovered a wonderful photograph of Nellie, taken in Sydney much later in her life. Despite the poor quality of this old photo, Nellie did look much younger than her age! </div>
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Later press coverage suggests that no-one from Windsor was present at the 1926 wedding ceremony - the witnesses were young Manly-based friends of the groom (William Patrick Daley and his brother Fred). If deliberate deception was intended, the marriage venue and choice of witnesses might have suited Nellie very well, as Windsor-ites might have let slip that she'd 'been around' for many years. But the groom no doubt knew this, as he'd been living locally, at Pitt Town, prior to the marriage. </div>
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There's a hint that community disapproval was behind Nellie's startling claim - definitely at Windsor (as will be seen), but possibly also among the groom's young friends. Maybe as a couple the Dowlings decided to maintain this public image, to avoid being objects of ridicule, because they immediately moved to live 'out west', far from both Windsor and Manly.</div>
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Let's step back to Nellie's character. Her photos do not suggest a flamboyant, 'Auntie Mame' type of personality, trying to be 'mutton dressed up as lamb', as that old saying goes. Indeed, she looks rather earnest, prim and proper in her younger photo and rather intelligent and thoughtful in the second photo, which probably indicates the way she presented herself to the world as a professional singer. And on page 288 of <i>Southwark Luck</i> I did not do her justice in describing her selfless community-mindedness, an attitude apparently absorbed from her mother. I'll redeem myself by re-publishing her obituary <span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>(Windsor & Richmond Gazette, Fri 16 Mar 1928, p 3, col b)</em></span>, which tells Nellie's story very well:</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Hawkesbury district was shocked on Friday last when the news became known that Mrs. Charles Dowling (nee Miss Nellie Norris) had passed away in Jenner Private Hospital, Sydney, after a short illness. The deceased was well-known throughout the district, where she did wonderful philanthropic work for many years. She was an accomplished pianiste, and. as Nellie Norris, as she was always affectionately called, carried on the profession of a musician in Windsor from girlhood. A wonderful organiser, she was one of the foremost workers at the farewell and welcome home functions to the soldiers during the war. She also arranged numerous entertainments for the District Hospital, and other local institutions, and with the tact and ability she displayed they were always a huge success. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Deceased was a native of Windsor, a daughter of the late William Norris, who was a successful farmer at Cornwallis for a number of years, and later the licensee of the Railway Hotel, Windsor. After the death of her parents, the subject of this notice lived with her brother-in-law, Mr. John Lamond, senr., the well-known Windsor hairdresser. About two years ago she married Mr. Charles Dowling, of Pitt Town Bottoms, and the couple subsequently took over the license of the Coolabah Hotel, at Coolabah, where they met with outstanding success. The late Mrs. Dowling continued her charitable work in the Nyngan district, and she and her husband, to whom she was greatly attached, became popular residents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">She had, however, not been in the best of health for some time past, and about a month ago entered Nyngan Hospital suffering from internal trouble. About a fort night ago she was brought to Sydney for treatment, but the case was a hopeless one and she passed away on Friday. At the time of death she was 48 years of age. The funeral took place on Saturday afternoon, the remains being laid to rest in St. Matthew's Catholic cemetery, Windsor, Rev. Father McNally performing the last sad rites.</span> </div>
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Nellie's unconventional marriage must have shocked the citizens of her home town because two weeks after her death a local resident complained of the districts' ingratitude for Nellie's decades of community service and the show of indifference at her passing:</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Being one who frequently admired the public spirit and charitable disposition of the late Mrs. Dowling (nee Nellie Norris), I was somewhat surprised that a public farewell was not tendered to her on the occasion of her marriage and departure from Windsor two years ago. For a period of about 35 years the deceased figured prominently at numerous entertainments in the old town, which never could claim a musician of a higher standard. I am led to believe that upon one occasion about £30 was raised from her own efforts in aid of the Windsor District Hospital, and with the Government subsidy that institution received approximately £60. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">At all the functions in honor of 'The Boys' who went to the war, or returned home, Nellie Norris did her part and did it well. At different times her talents, her time, were freely given for the benefit of anyone or any public body that needed assistance yet when the time came for her to leave the old town where she had spent so many years of her life for the benefit of others, she was allowed to go without even the slightest recognition for all the valuable assistance so freely given. Surely she was worthy of some kind of testimonial of public farewell, just to show that her many years of service were valued and appreciated. Should not the hospital committee of the day and the general public hang their heads in shame!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This was not all. When the news filtered through the town and district that the Grim Reaper had claimed her as a victim in the noon day of her life, under circumstances both sudden and sad, what respect did Windsor public show when her remains were brought to her native town for burial? One could almost count on their finger tips the number who joined in that sad cortege at the graveyard. Should not the public of Windsor be doubly ashamed for the cold indifference manifested towards one of the finest musicians and citizens the town ever possessed?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">It would have been only a fitting tribute of respect to her memory had all the public institutions flown flap [sic] at half mast high, and the public joined in hundreds at the graveside in loving memory of one who did so much for the slow, sleepy old town of Windsor.</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>(Windsor & Richmond Gazette, Fri 30 Mar 1928, p 6, col a)</em></span></div>
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A subsequent article suggested that ‘it is not too late to perpetuate her memory by obtaining a life-size portrait and have same nicely framed, suitably inscribed, and hung, in some public place’. <span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>(Windsor & Richmond Gazette, Fri 20 Apr 1928, p 12, col d)</em></span> </div>
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Nearly a century later, the above-mentioned Carol Roberts, whose short article about Nellie was published in the Hawkesbury Gazette on 29 May 2013, thinks it's possible that a plaque was eventually dedicated to Nellie's memory.</div>
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Today, nothing is known of either a portrait or a plaque honouring one of Windsor's premier, if unconventional, female citizens. At least we now have this second picture of Nellie. The story reminds us that back then, and often today, it's acceptable for a man to marry a woman many years younger than himself, but not vice-versa.</div>
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<br />Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-56787001641464112012017-12-29T17:50:00.004+11:002023-02-22T17:45:32.434+11:00On the Trail of the Forresters in Cumberland<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
I haven't forgotten Robert Forrester and his family, despite the infrequent posts on this blog. Far from it. I’ve just spent a month in England, including four days in and around Carlisle, trying to work out whether he originated in Cumberland, an English county on the border with Scotland.<br />
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Having eliminated a number of other possible options for his home district in Appendix 1 of my book 'Robert Forrester, First Fleeter', on page 324 I flagged Cumberland as worthy of further investigation. (This book, published early in 2009, is now out of print but has been replaced by '<b><a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank">Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</a>'.</b>)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">Was he, in fact, the Robert Forster who was born at Kingfield, Nicholforest and baptised at Kirkandrews upon Esk on 13 November 1757? (There'll be more on the Forster vs Forrester surname later in this post.) This was a baptism complying exactly with the right range of dates for the First Fleeter's birth, according to his early prison records and his age at death. The Robert born at Kingfield seemed to be the youngest member of a Forster family living at Kingfield at that time, with an older brother named William and another possible brother named John.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Location of Nicholforest, Cumberland, from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholforest" style="font-size: smallest; text-align: justify;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholforest</a></td></tr>
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I started my research in the Carlisle Archives with the idea of tracing all the men with a name like Robert’s (Forrester/Forester/Forster/Foster) to see which of them might have disappeared out of the district, just as Robert’s partner Isabella Ramsay had disappeared from hers after her trial at nearby Carlisle. But during the 1780s and 1790s a number of Roberts remained in the Kirkandrews and Nicholforest area, marrying, having children and being buried, and there was no way of telling one from the other.<o:p></o:p></div>
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During the three days I spent in the Carlisle Archives I was fortunate to meet Chester Forster, the former Chairman of the Friends of Cumbria Archives and a local expert on the Forrester/Forester/Forster/Foster families of the specific parishes I was researching. I was able to tap into his years of research. He kindly emailed me his parish records of these families. Now that I am back in Melbourne, I need to do much more cross-checking within these parish records, especially the death records.<o:p></o:p></div>
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More importantly, Chester offered to show me round the district on the fourth day, Saturday. My marvellous Yorkshire friends and hosts Sir Stephen & Lady Pamela Brown and myself, in one car, followed Chester and his wife in their car to all the places mentioned in the parish records I’d just spent days poring over. It was invaluable as an experience and I’m very grateful to Chester - and the Browns.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chester Forster (left) explains local history to Sir Stephen Brown</td></tr>
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We started with the church of Saint Andrews beside the river Esk (Kirkandrews upon Esk), today located within Scotland. The church is a surprise package in itself, so Spartan on the outside, yet so Mozartian on the inside. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kirkandrews upon Esk</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of Kirkandrews upon Esk</td></tr>
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Further along the valley we crossed the river back into England and moved on to Kingfield. Even Kingfield’s ‘gatehouse’ was impressive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kingfield Lodge</td></tr>
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Our wonderful guide Chester came from this area so he walked up the driveway to the main house and spoke to the owner, Mr James Thomson-Schwab, who readily gave permission for us to enter and photograph his property. This was despite the presence of the local gentry who happened to be gathered there that day for a ‘shoot’. It was exceedingly obliging of the owner.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f05c7ngkZFA/WkWdT4h-k1I/AAAAAAAACDA/GsKUq1sxmEsinZzr2gWCNSmLa4rJiYYswCLcBGAs/s1600/Pheasant%2Bshoot%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1037" height="298" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f05c7ngkZFA/WkWdT4h-k1I/AAAAAAAACDA/GsKUq1sxmEsinZzr2gWCNSmLa4rJiYYswCLcBGAs/s400/Pheasant%2Bshoot%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evidence of the Pheasant Shoot</td></tr>
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We drove in and I was astonished. Surely Kingfield had not once been Robert’s home? It was far too grand. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HIT_9qHb3gc/WkWYfwUhfII/AAAAAAAACCw/Cmny-ryI-s42hWV3cLGJN4VCGR3UgccaQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0912.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HIT_9qHb3gc/WkWYfwUhfII/AAAAAAAACCw/Cmny-ryI-s42hWV3cLGJN4VCGR3UgccaQCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0912.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kingfield House</td></tr>
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The parish church for the Robert Forrester born here in 1757 was at Kirkandrews, but close to Kingfield was the chapel of ease known as Nicholforest. We stopped at Nicholforest, which was not a separate parish back in 1757, nor was this church building in existence at that time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WzRuzFAa_2A/WkWYfE-2CEI/AAAAAAAACCw/e3CAkUuothwKQ33U12yoLhIdcCfketF8gCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0910.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WzRuzFAa_2A/WkWYfE-2CEI/AAAAAAAACCw/e3CAkUuothwKQ33U12yoLhIdcCfketF8gCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0910.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Church of St Nicholas, Nicholforest</td></tr>
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The road took us onwards past The Nook, where other Forresters had lived.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Li0JfyEOBbI/WkWYgrlUiLI/AAAAAAAACCw/mYCEyX6mldAyaC92EimkQGYR1L6NDib7gCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0968.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Li0JfyEOBbI/WkWYgrlUiLI/AAAAAAAACCw/mYCEyX6mldAyaC92EimkQGYR1L6NDib7gCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0968.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signpost for The Nook (Nuik)</td></tr>
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Once again, Chester walked down a laneway and once again obtained permission from the owners for me to take photographs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bWOVeJ0cJOg/WkWYiUolVhI/AAAAAAAACCw/3e2ngrfqCNAgT78K4-AmCkUAV7d1HgIhQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0970.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bWOVeJ0cJOg/WkWYiUolVhI/AAAAAAAACCw/3e2ngrfqCNAgT78K4-AmCkUAV7d1HgIhQCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0970.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Nook Farmhouse</td></tr>
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We ended up at Stonegarthside (sometimes written as Stingerside, always pronounced Sting-aside!) which Chester says is generally acknowledged as ‘the ancestral seat of the Forsters and that Forrester is interchangeable, depending upon the hearing of the vicar.’ (This spelling variation is also apparent in the early convict records for Robert Forrester.)<br />
<br />
The house looks formidable and well evokes its local history. The district has a long history over many centuries of border clashes, as Scottish reivers (raiders) swept in from the north. Back in the sixteenth century the Forster/Forrester clan chief’s daughter married into the Armstrong clan which Chester described as ‘the most notorious of the Scottish reiving clans’.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xuYkZJjUc_o/WkWYoQ0jsaI/AAAAAAAACCw/nUwFHrhNGqYps7c9GCnVkE7EPFQ3QJmAwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0986.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xuYkZJjUc_o/WkWYoQ0jsaI/AAAAAAAACCw/nUwFHrhNGqYps7c9GCnVkE7EPFQ3QJmAwCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0986.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stonegarthside</td></tr>
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The extensive farmyard lies between the house and the road, somewhat shielding the main house from view.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K87KY1DqN50/WkWYmCvIZ0I/AAAAAAAACCw/svChVq9UYmId2QhrG_wdl0vXOFu4fcCIgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0978.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K87KY1DqN50/WkWYmCvIZ0I/AAAAAAAACCw/svChVq9UYmId2QhrG_wdl0vXOFu4fcCIgCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0978.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stonegarthside Farmyard</td></tr>
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Stonegarthside's bird life was also impressive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jgp1SQ3vgsI/WkWYnnopO_I/AAAAAAAACCw/bd5hqhk1i3QYSFO0zoFixe-C2lryv6EwwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0982.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jgp1SQ3vgsI/WkWYnnopO_I/AAAAAAAACCw/bd5hqhk1i3QYSFO0zoFixe-C2lryv6EwwCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0982.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puffed up like a turkey – local pride at Stonegarthside</td></tr>
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As we left the district for a very late lunch at Longtown we passed by Netherstonegarthside or Nether Stonegarthside, half a mile from the main property.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fXq0JJEoS8s/WkWd8MzZVcI/AAAAAAAACDM/7yk4X5fx8OgYqn7jJE8VmaV_cIUIpku8ACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0988.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fXq0JJEoS8s/WkWd8MzZVcI/AAAAAAAACDM/7yk4X5fx8OgYqn7jJE8VmaV_cIUIpku8ACLcBGAs/s400/IMG_0988.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Netherstonegarthside</td></tr>
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My first reaction to seeing Kingfield and Stonegarthside was to doubt that ‘our’ Robert was the 1757-born son of Arthur. The Forresters seemed to have been local gentry and the housing seemed far too grand to be the former home of the man we have always pictured as a humble First Fleeter.<o:p></o:p></div>
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However many other clues pointed to this district as Robert’s place of origin. For a start, in his new country Robert took up with Isabella Ramsay almost as soon as they met, although both were married to others. Did their bond form so quickly because they shared the same home district and regional accents, powerful comforts in the alien land of Australia to which they had both been banished?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Second, Robert bestowed upon his sons the given names which were very common in the parish of Kirkandrews upon Esk - Robert (after himself), John, Henry and William. A grandson was named George. These very traditional English names were not common in other potential places of his birth, including Scotland and America, or even among Forrester families living in London, where Robert said in 1783 that he was ‘a stranger’.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Third, when I spent a day driving around the geographically quite large parish of Kirkandrews upon Esk and its ‘offspring’ Nicholforest, I was struck by how similar was the landscape to the Hawkesbury Valley at Windsor. Both areas were once heavily-forested, and the evidence remains. There is a strong emphasis on farming and it seems it was ever thus, with the population of this affluent rural area seemingly as thinly spread as it would have been at the Hawkesbury in Robert’s day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cN0NMOy3TsM/WkWYikZa-uI/AAAAAAAACCw/lV8dVVJ3BNgKhQLW2PtU2trX7x0PsHuMACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0972.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cN0NMOy3TsM/WkWYikZa-uI/AAAAAAAACCw/lV8dVVJ3BNgKhQLW2PtU2trX7x0PsHuMACEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0972.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rural Scene near Stonegarthside, with river in view</td></tr>
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And there was the local parish church Kirkandrews, perched high above the river Esk just like the church of St Matthew overlooking the Hawkesbury River. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2zrGqJnvWuI/WkWYQlkUjXI/AAAAAAAACCw/q_BY4zc4xEUy3L9Dm0miuvjS335VzFgqgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_0898.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2zrGqJnvWuI/WkWYQlkUjXI/AAAAAAAACCw/q_BY4zc4xEUy3L9Dm0miuvjS335VzFgqgCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_0898.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kirkandrews is built on high ground beside the River Esk</td></tr>
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As we drove along and I gazed at the landscape, my intuition kicked in – ‘If Robert came from here, no wonder he loved his farm by the Hawkesbury so much and wouldn’t give it up, no matter how many floods he endured. The district reminded him of home.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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There was a major stumbling block however, a giant flaw in the logic of my theory. The Robert Forrester baptised at Kirkandrews upon Esk in 1757 was the son of a man named Arthur, another very English name. Following naming traditions common at that time, any son of the Robert born here in 1757 should have been named Arthur, in honour of his grandfather. But First Fleeter Robert had no son named Arthur. I hung onto one shred of hope – Robert may have rejected long-standing cultural traditions if there was bad blood between him and his father.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And therein lay a possible explanation. As well as the Scottish reiving families, some English families living along the border were reivers too, causing feuds within and between English families. Were father and son on opposite sides of a clan-related feud? Did this explain the First Fleeter’s choice of names for his four sons and the absence of a son named Arthur?<o:p></o:p></div>
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In 1783 Robert was arrested in the company of a Chelsea pensioner, a soldier wounded in the American War of Independence. It’s likely that Robert too went off to this war to fight for the English cause, as many loyal young men of good families did. Chester told me that the local regiment at the time was the 34th Regiment of Foot. But unless the First Fleeter was an officer, or a Chelsea pensioner like his co-accused, there is little chance that his name could be found in army records. I have yet to follow up that avenue of investigation at the State Library of Victoria.<o:p></o:p></div>
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To conclude, my research in Cumberland came to nothing as I still haven’t <i>proved</i> anything about Robert’s origins. He wasn’t literate but I don’t know (yet) whether the Kingfield Forsters were literate either. More research into parish records is needed and is underway. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As for his other qualities and attributes, I <i>do</i> know he was regarded as responsible because he was placed on the night watch in Sydney. He was a good shot with a gun, suggesting military service ... or much practice at pheasant shooting! He proved himself in Australia as a good farmer, against the odds. He raised his children well, to become upstanding citizens in their own right. He was very independent of government assistance and handouts compared with many other early settlers. It’s possible that these attributes all mean he came from a good family, something never before regarded as a possibility for him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Having now absorbed the atmosphere pervading the parishes of Kirkandrews upon Esk and Nicholforest, I’m simply left with the gut feeling that somehow this district was Robert's 'place'. A lot more delving and checking will occur before I publish my final conclusions in the Second Edition of this book, to be entitled ‘Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter’.<br />
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<h3>
IMPORTANT UPDATE, December 2018:</h3>
My gut feeling was wrong. Possibly Robert came from a place with this kind of geographic 'feel', but it was not this specific place. DNA testing conducted in 2018 and analysed by Stuart Hamilton, another Forrester descendant, has yielded the surprising result that ‘Robert Forrester, First Fleeter’ is most likely the Scottish-born son of an unmarried Forrester woman and a man named John McGaw. Robert adopted his mother's surname and appears (at this stage) to have been unbaptised.<br />
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Further details will be published in '<a href="https://www.louisewilson.com.au/sentenced_to_debt_robert_forrester,_first_fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b>Sentenced to Debt: Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></a>'.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-64017832686933874042016-11-03T09:27:00.000+11:002017-02-01T22:57:35.450+11:00Dark Emu <div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8MpkT1LOd5E/WBloGd0j_fI/AAAAAAAABpk/piTXRgx9gk8sgpCtR8rObqZF8XtEI3uwwCLcB/s1600/Dark%2BEmu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8MpkT1LOd5E/WBloGd0j_fI/AAAAAAAABpk/piTXRgx9gk8sgpCtR8rObqZF8XtEI3uwwCLcB/s320/Dark%2BEmu.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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Every Australian should read <i>Dark Emu, Black Seeds: agriculture or accident?</i> At the very least, this mind-blowing book should be on the compulsory reading list for all secondary schools. It overturns all of our ignorant assumptions about pre-colonial times in Australia.<br />
<br />
The book has received an overwhelmingly positive response on the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21401526-dark-emu?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Goodreads</b></span></a> website, with a very high average rating of 4.5 out of 5, far in excess of most other books on this site. Nearly everyone leaving a comment agrees that this well-written, easy-to-read and relatively short book is essential reading for all Australians.<br />
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I was privileged to hear the author, Dr Bruce Pascoe, speak at the Melbourne Writers' Festival a few months ago. His emotion was obvious when he referred to archaeologists discovering grindstones proving that the Australian aborigine was grinding seeds more than 30,000 years ago. Being the first bakers of bread is an accolade usually given to the Egyptians around 17,000 BC. But as Pascoe says in his book, it was the Australian aborigines who were ‘the bakers of antiquity. Why don’t our hearts fill with wonder and pride?’ (Read more in the article <a href="http://renew.org.au/articles/the-worlds-first-baker-australian-indigenous-innovation/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>The world's first baker: Australian indigenous innovation</b></span></a>.)<br />
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As Pascoe spoke, I wondered whether our community’s entrenched views of Aborigines could be blamed on the first European settlement being beside Sydney Harbour, a heavily-wooded area on thin soils. It was not farming country, as the incoming settlers soon discovered. With sandstone caves providing a natural shelter for the indigenous population there was little need for housing structures. Many of the First Fleet journal keepers referred to the nakedness of the natives, but we forget that the incoming Europeans arrived at the height of summer, a time of year when many of today’s citizens of Sydney would wear no clothes, if they could get away with it. The first but false impression that the Aborigines were hunter-gatherers took firm hold.<br />
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Bruce Pascoe is from Victoria but well aware that Captain John Hunter reported in 1788 that ‘the people around Sydney were dependent on their yam gardens’. The word ‘garden’ is telling, its significant implication of permanent settlement having been ignored. Yams, a highly-nutritious form of sweet potato, were cultivated by a resident tribe, not gathered by wandering tribes. And, as Pascoe pointed out, the cattle imported in 1788 had escaped to the Camden region, where they prospered on these yam gardens until 1795, when exploring parties came across the escapee cattle, in prime condition. The area was promptly named as the Cowpastures.<br />
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After 1788 it took decades before European explorers found a way across the Blue Mountains and discovered that Aborigines lived in villages and towns and, aside from their yam gardens, they cared for a grain belt across most of inland Australia. His amazing map of this grain belt is produced in the article <a href="http://renew.org.au/articles/the-worlds-first-baker-australian-indigenous-innovation/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>The world's first baker: Australian indigenous innovation</b></span></a>. Today we heard <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-03/rock-shelter-shows-early-aboriginal-settlement-in-arid-australia/7983864" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">news from the Flinders Ranges</span></b></a> that shifted back by 10,000 years our knowledge of Aboriginal occupation of arid inland Australia, to 49,000 years ago. They possessed amazing technologies much earlier than we thought.<br />
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The back cover of Bruce Pascoe's book quotes him as saying "If we look at the evidence presented to us by the explorers and explain to our children that Aboriginal people <i>did</i> build houses, <i>did</i> build dams, <i>did</i> sow, irrigate and till the land, <i>did</i> alter the course of rivers, <i>did</i> sew their clothes, and <i>did</i> construct a system of pan-continental government that generated peace and prosperity, then it is likely we will admire and love our land all the more.'<br />
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Now that I’ve read Bruce Pascoe’s book I fully accept the startling truths he espouses. The full range of his evidence is presented in chapters headed 'Agriculture', 'Aquaculture', 'Population and Housing', 'Storage and Preservation', 'Fire', 'The Heavens, Language and the Law', 'Australian Agricultural Revolution'.<br />
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But it was his closing chapter, 'Accepting History and Creating the Future', which really made me think. I’m sometimes irritated by the strident calls that we should change the day we celebrate as Australia Day because it was ‘Invasion Day’. From my perspective, Australia was always going to be invaded by someone. While the Aboriginal tribes had their own territorial boundaries they were not organised as a group to defend this large continent, whereas all other human societies fought strongly to protect territorial interests. Aborigines just weren't aggressive enough. It never occurred to me, until I read this book, that the age-old Aboriginal society might have evolved to a level of enlightened self-interest, mutual co-operation and steady-state economic welfare operating on a higher plane than existed elsewhere on this planet. In a way, the Aborigines were psychologically unprepared for people who did not play by their advanced rules.<br />
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The old ways of Aboriginal society tantalise us with a vision for a different more sustainable future for the world. Thus one of Pascoe’s closing remarks resonated with me: ‘It seems improbable that a country can continue to hide from the actuality of its history in order to validate that fact that having said sorry we refuse to say thanks’.<br />
<br />
I tried to see both sides of the settlement story when writing <a href="http://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</b></span></a> but the need to revise the book in the light of Pascoe’s insights has taken on a new urgency. A Second Edition will also include other research which has come to light in the eight years since the Forrester book first went to print. For example, it will consider another interpretation of the 1783 scam; it will correct reference to the non-existent orgy in February 1788; it will show the true position of Robert's 1794 land grant; and it will review new research into his involvement in the Frontier War with the Aborigines pre-1800.<br />
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Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-78950340201941049432016-09-29T16:20:00.000+10:002017-02-01T22:58:00.277+11:00Legacy of Andrew Goodwin & Lydia Munro<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Books about Australia’s earliest days of European settlement are becoming thick on the shelves, so it’s rewarding to find one containing a new angle on the accepted version of events.</div>
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<a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/197482519?selectedversion=NBD55435328"><i>The Legacy of Andrew Goodwin & Lydia Munro</i></a> by Patricia Kennedy corrected my understanding of the supposed foundation 'orgy story' of 6 February 1788 and, after meeting the author at an event in Melbourne in May 2016, I wrote a <a href="http://louise-wilson.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/sydneys-orgy-myth-6-february-1788.html">blog post</a> about it. On pages 22-25 of Patricia’s book, the conventional views about Lydia Munro and her rape charge against William Boggis in September 1788 are also challenged, if briefly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Writing family history is perhaps the most difficult genre for any writer to tackle. In part this is because its <i>story line</i> usually does not begin with a coherent overview but emerges in bits and pieces, as research progresses. Then comes the challenge of deciding on a meaningful structure. Patricia has settled on the structure I used in 2008 when writing about my <a href="http://www.louisewilson.com.au/from_buryan_to_bondi.html">Dennis</a> forebears from Cornwall, this being to start with the founding couple, move to a chapter on all of their children and then select the child of personal interest to the author and repeat this process down through the generations. This approach somewhat limits the eventual ‘market’ for the book, but works if the opening chapters appeal to all descendants of the founding couple.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This book should please all Goodwin descendants, as a lengthy chapter covers the Goodwins’ nine children, the first born in Sydney in 1789 and the others born on Norfolk Island. With only two sons and seven daughters, the Goodwin surname, with any number of spelling variations, struggles to survive in subsequent generations. Patricia, researching her husband John’s family, chose to follow the Goodwins’ second child Sarah, born on Norfolk Island in 1791, and then the line Sarah and her husband Benjamin Briscoe created through their son William Briscoe.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The book interested me because my own forebear <a href="http://www.louisewilson.com.au/robert_forrester.html">Robert Forrester</a> came with Andrew Goodwin on the First Fleet vessel <i>Scarborough</i>, and also went to Norfolk Island, but returned to Sydney after 18 months. This meant that my knowledge of the settlers’ enforced move after 1807, from Norfolk Island to the newly-established settlement around Hobart in Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), was rather sketchy. It was helpful for me to read Patricia’s summary of Collins’ attempt to settle Port Phillip Bay at Sorrento in 1803 and the change of plans dictated by the lack of its supply of fresh water, with Collins moving south to ‘create’ Hobart. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Goodwin family’s adventures in Tasmania then become a series of ‘Days of Our Lives’ cameos, with multiple marriages, name changes, some divorces, children born to different or unknown fathers, most of whom were fresh convicts arriving from England, activities on the wrong side of the law, drinking problems and stories of gritty, often long-lived women making their choices and enduring everything that life could throw at them. Tracking all of these events through the various name changes was clearly challenging and quite an undertaking. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Should there ever be a Second Edition, some of the detail in the Family Charts, so valuable to readers in following any family history, needs to be slightly amended. While the correct names are there, dates and places do not always match the written text.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Patricia describes her genealogical credentials on the inside back cover of her book, which fulfils all of the requirements for the Alexander Henderson Award offered by the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies. It contains a ‘pre-Australia’ chapter on Andrew’s and Lydia’s lives in England, a clear table of contents, family charts, some interesting illustrations, eight pages of appendices, a five page bibliography, twelve pages of endnotes and a seven page index. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The research effort involved, its cost and the time expended is not for everyone, and descendants of Andrew Goodwin & Lydia Munro should be very grateful for Patricia’s hard work and the clear presentation in her book, available <a href="http://fffmidnorthcoast.com.au/html_files/forum.html">here</a>.</div>
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Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-58117032126700822402016-06-05T18:02:00.002+10:002018-12-08T16:31:14.847+11:00Bullocks, not Bollocks<div style="text-align: justify;">Sometimes it takes a while before a 'brilliant idea' for a post becomes a reality. But, as the clich<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">é</span> goes, 'better late than never'. And another clich<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">é</span> tells us that 'a picture tells a thousand words'. It's true. I want you to know there's now a 'moving picture' version of the word picture I struggled to convey back in 2012 in my book <i>Southwark Luck,</i> although I tried my best in the 'Sawyer' chapter. It involved bullocks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dkG3t5gRkIA/V1PISZsogzI/AAAAAAAABfk/V8fiRexIxSUaJsvzFQsBGSBZPrCgeWEXQCLcB/s1600/SAWYER%2BCAMP%2Bcopy%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dkG3t5gRkIA/V1PISZsogzI/AAAAAAAABfk/V8fiRexIxSUaJsvzFQsBGSBZPrCgeWEXQCLcB/s400/SAWYER%2BCAMP%2Bcopy%2B2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last summer, on ABC TV, a wonderful modern-day depiction allowed me to step back in time to Charlie Martin's strenuous life as a timber-getter, bullock-wagon driver and bush sawyer in the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s of New South Wales. It's hard to conceive of a man raised in the heart of London at Southwark, conscious of fashion, with the bright lights of the Royal Circus round the corner, becoming such an isolated worker during his long years of exile in Australia.<br />
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He worked with a few mates (usually his brothers-in-law) in the forests of the lower Blue Mountains, in the area extending behind Wilberforce towards Kurrajong. Via claims made in the Court of Requests (pp 80-82 of <i>Southwark Luck</i>), there are hints that he was contracted at one point to help clear the track up the steep escarpment to Kurrajong Heights, prior to the construction of the Bell's Line of Road. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">My time travel came courtesy of a repeat showing of that wonderful ABC program, Landline. The scenes showed, more than my words could manage, the whole process of Charlie's bullocky (muscle-bound) occupation and the skill involved in training and managing a team of bullocks. Watch it <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2014/s3955005.htm" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">here</span></b></a>. It's well worth it. Definitely not bollocks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Note: If you're a descendant of the Charles Martin who arrived in Sydney Cove on the <i>General Stuart</i> on 31 December 1818, and you don't yet have a copy of my award-winning book <i>Southwark Luck: the story of Charles Homer Martin, Ann Forrester and their children</i>, then you <i>should</i> have a copy. Of course you should! Get it <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/7997176/southwark-luck.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">here</span></b></a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As a descendant of Charlie's you're also the descendant of a First Fleeter, Ann's father Robert Forrester of <i>Scarborough</i> fame, and you'll need his story too, available <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/738990/robert-forrester-first-fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">here</span></b></a>. Postage costs are cheaper overall if you order both at the same time.</div>Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71253316390197022.post-4897488878307997732016-03-05T16:32:00.000+11:002016-03-09T09:08:46.924+11:00Revisiting Robert Forrester's 1794 Grant<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s
seven years since <i>Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</i> was published. In that
time technology has overtaken our lives and Google Earth has become a godsend
to many, including family historians. I love Google Earth even if it has proved me wrong in my understanding of </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 16.8667px;">Robert Forrester’s first land grant of 1794</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have to
fess up. Robert’s first land grant was not where I thought it
was. It did not lie alongside Deerubbin Park but was further along Cornwallis
Road. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was alerted to this fact by that excellent researcher Michael Flynn, as
he compared the old parish map with today’s view from space. Here’s the
original parish map: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4WGibcS-4Y/VtpaP4LzTbI/AAAAAAAABaA/lno2kTahnjU/s1600/Parish%2BMap%2Blow%2Bres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4WGibcS-4Y/VtpaP4LzTbI/AAAAAAAABaA/lno2kTahnjU/s400/Parish%2BMap%2Blow%2Bres.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">And here’s much that same view today, courtesy of Google Earth. The view is slightly extended at the bottom edge to show the location of St Matthew's Church, just to the left of the word Google. It's hard to get your bearings when you drive along Cornwallis Road, but close examination of the Google Earth map of Robert’s
original land grant reveals a shed complex close to its northern boundary. Michael
Doyle’s old grant has a shed complex with a shiny roof relatively close to its southern boundary. My objective was to find this combination of features at ground level.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzsAwuFrbPA/Vtpf-lMaQ6I/AAAAAAAABaU/H_1NCEhEJ-M/s1600/Google%2BEarth%2Blow%2Bres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzsAwuFrbPA/Vtpf-lMaQ6I/AAAAAAAABaU/H_1NCEhEJ-M/s400/Google%2BEarth%2Blow%2Bres.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Recently I spent a fascinating hour of detective work, simulating a drive down Cornwallis Road, Windsor, NSW while sitting at my desk in Melbourne. It was fun. I could
turn my imaginary car around and drive back the other way, and turn sideways to
look at individual properties. Amazing
stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What was I looking for? As explained above, I wanted to locate adjoining properties with the correct building
configurations as viewed from space. Eventually I worked out that the address
of Robert’s property today is 104 Cornwallis Road.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Next I asked myself - by what landmark can this
property be identified when driving along Cornwallis Road from Windsor? Here's an easy guide. Drive past the avenue of palm trees and the ‘Windsor Turf’ sign on your left, and stop when you reach the large spreading tree
seen in the background of the following picture.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d1MVVesn-W0/VtpU2cy7Q8I/AAAAAAAABZU/oZ4t1DZ-8yI/s1600/DSC01922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d1MVVesn-W0/VtpU2cy7Q8I/AAAAAAAABZU/oZ4t1DZ-8yI/s400/DSC01922.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Opposite the tree is the sign commemorating members of the Eather family drowned in the 1867 floods. The sign fronts their old block (originally the Lachlin Ross
grant). Next door, beyond the Eather farm gates, was Robert’s land, the property with the green grass in the middle
distance of the next photo.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rZVSk2UsSDc/VtpVA8V5H8I/AAAAAAAABZY/JEWwVz8U6S8/s1600/DSC01925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rZVSk2UsSDc/VtpVA8V5H8I/AAAAAAAABZY/JEWwVz8U6S8/s400/DSC01925.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Drive on a short distance down Cornwallis Road, either in reality or via
Google Earth, across the land which was once Robert’s original grant. His northerly boundary is marked by the fence post between two driveways leading towards the Hawkesbury River. The
property on the right hand side of the fence post belonged to Robert in 1794.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2JmKcvIuBGI/VtpVKsqsiRI/AAAAAAAABZc/UuFV_Dmx_zo/s1600/DSC01933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2JmKcvIuBGI/VtpVKsqsiRI/AAAAAAAABZc/UuFV_Dmx_zo/s400/DSC01933.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Robert’s
original grant was always bisected by Cornwallis Road. Turning 180 degrees from
the fence post and looking across the road, the remaining section of his property faces the lower Blue Mountains. The whole property is now as level as a bowling green and
apparently used for growing turf.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wC89ZnpNuWU/VtpVSixNrhI/AAAAAAAABZg/p8IOEHWzcAw/s1600/DSC01931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wC89ZnpNuWU/VtpVSixNrhI/AAAAAAAABZg/p8IOEHWzcAw/s400/DSC01931.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Beyond the large green shed on his former block, another
section of the paddock is screened from the river by a high levee bank. Oh for
that degree of flood protection in his day! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The view of the river when standing on this levee bank is today obscured
by trees and tall shrubs, but it’s still possible to see the tower of St
Matthew’s through the foliage. Robert spent the last few years of
his life living back on his original grant, in the abode beside the river, enjoying
this same view of the church tower. Don't forget that his son-in-law Charles Homer Martin was
punished for his part in the building scam involving St Matthew’s Church. (More details are in my book <i><a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/7997176/southwark-luck.html" target="_blank"><b>Southwark Luck</b></a></i>.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1ScnwwDIfSo/VtpVfCPyYGI/AAAAAAAABZo/UM1JqVwH9Cg/s1600/DSC01937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1ScnwwDIfSo/VtpVfCPyYGI/AAAAAAAABZo/UM1JqVwH9Cg/s400/DSC01937.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Steep
river banks, lush foliage and rampant weeds make life difficult for
photographers, but here’s another view of the Hawkesbury River taken while
standing on Robert’s old land. The river flows from left to right.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZgfHebWPTQ/VtpV9fLJVwI/AAAAAAAABZw/BNZl-zSAlSE/s1600/DSC01938.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZgfHebWPTQ/VtpV9fLJVwI/AAAAAAAABZw/BNZl-zSAlSE/s400/DSC01938.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Should
I ever get to revise the Forrester book, pages 114-117 will need to be amended in line with this 'virtual tour'. Meanwhile, copies of <i>Robert Forrester, First Fleeter</i> can be
purchased through <a href="http://www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/p/738990/robert-forrester-first-fleeter.html" target="_blank"><b>BookPOD</b></a>.</span></div>
Louise Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09220084273709377095noreply@blogger.com0