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I am a member of the Maitland Historical Society & have done some research on the original settlers of Maitland (Wallis Plains). O'Donnell was one of the original 'convict' settlers granted 30 acres each in 1818 (Patrick Malony was another) by Commandant James Wallis. It is now known one of the 13, John Eckford was not a convict, but son of convicts. William O'Donnell is still a bit of a mystery, but it is not certain he was a convict. The other 11, including my ancestor, William Jones, definitely were. (O'Donnell's land allocation was between Jones & Riley's grants) O'Donnell was supposedly 75 years old when given the grant and known as the 'patriarch of Wallis Plains'. (His age for that era has created some doubt as to his true identity, as he theoretically did live to 102yrs) He claimed to have come to NSW a free man on the 'Ceres' in 1818. No ship of that name arrived in 1818, although one of that name did arrive in 1805. O'Donnell stated in the 1828 census he was an Irishman who had been stationed in India as a non-commissioned officer and travelled to NSW after his wife died. He also stated he had a daughter Julia, who married Captain Jarvet in India. When Jarvit died she followed her father to NSW. (I found no record for her) His two allocations of land now form much of Maitland's CBD. According to the 1828 census he was married (common-law) to Eleanor in 1810, (Either Eleanor Hall or Eleanor Challenor from the convict ship Speke 1808) and they had a daughter Martha who married Thomas Prentice of Hinton in 1827. A number of their decedents, Prentice & Lumley still live in the district. William died in 1838 NSW Birth Death & Marriages 3348/1838 V18383348 22 records his age as 102 years. You can order a copy at the below link which might give more details. https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search/result?4

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/140495240?searchTerm=William%20O%27Donnell