ALL ABOUT ........ Convicts in the family
Convicts: The Wood/Blaney Connection
Thomas Wood and Margaret Mary Blaney were married in Sydney on the 14th February 1829.
Thomas had arrived in Sydney in 1820 as a convict on the ship the "Mangles". He had been tried at the Worcester Assizes on July 24 1819 for housebreaking. He had been originally sentenced to death but this was later changed to transportation for life. In the 1822 muster he was listed as a government brassfounder, but in that same year he was sentenced to six months goal for street robbery. In the 1825 census he is shown as in government employ at Port Macquarie, while in 1828 he was at Hyde Park barracks in Sydney. He obtained his "ticket of leave" in 1829, which was renewed again in 1833 and 1838. By 1839 he had gained a conditional pardon.
Margaret Blaney came from Kildare in Ireland, also arriving in the colonies as a convict. She had been tried in Dublin for stealing blankets and sentenced to 7 years goal. Her trip to the colonies was on board the Elizabeth" in 1827. She was assigned to work at Hazard and Sutton at Parramatta and also spent some time in the Female Factory at Parramatta. Her convict indent states her as a Catholic.
Margaret and Thomas lived for a time in Sydney and at some stage moved to Brisbane Waters, on the Hawkesbury. They had children, one of whom, Ann married Jeremiah Saul,(and after his death George Cooper). Ann and Jeremiah were Beat's grandparents.
William Roberts came from Manchester and was the son of Isaac and Agnes. His father was a coach builder. He is believed to have arrived in Tasmania in 1828, probably as a convict.
He married Agnes McMillan in Tasmania. Agnes is believed to have been born in Kilmarnock in 1820. It seems she had a number of convictions which resulted in her being transported to Australia in 1836, arriving on the " Westmoreland" in Tasmania on December 3, 1836. She then proceeded to be difficult, having a number of bad conduct records until she was finally given her freedom in 1843. Her convict records are on file in Hobart, Tasmania.
After Agnes and William had their freedom, they took their children to the gold field of Ballarat, where they are believed to have witnessed the Eureka Stockade. They eventually moved to the north coast of New South Wales. Their 5th child, John Edward Roberts born in Tasmania on 14th February 1850, married Harriet Smith, and became Beat's grandparents.
Have any convict tales of your own? Email us at :bown_family@yahoo.com
hume/bown|saul/bown|saul/roberts|arthur|eunice|erica|joy|jack|marie|royala
