How many Convicts are you descended from?

[WoodElf]

Convicts, geez! Recently I have discovered heaps of convicts in my line that I'm related to. Originally, I thought I had one but was shocked to discover that I have roughly 9 convict ancestors. Yes, I know it's a lot but Di certainly takes the cake!

- James Griffith Perram (Married daughter of Daniel Mc.)
- Daniel McCarthy
- Sion Clarkson Freebody (Second Fleeter)
- Mary Wells (wife of Sion)
- Daniel Hanchard (Second Fleeter: married daughter of Sion)
- John Green (married Daniel Hanchard's daughter)
- Samuel Freeman
- Ellen Nowland ('John Bull', 1821) Wife of Edward Taylor
- Edward Taylor ("Atlas III", 1822)

Also, it's interesting to note that these convicts are only on my paternal grandmother's side of the family.

N.B. I think I may have found another one; I was looking at the 1828 NSW Census and it seems that Samuel Freeman's wife, Elizabeth nee Smith was a convict transported for 7 years on the Canada in 1810. That'd make ten now!

[JAP]

To paraphrase from "Oliver";

I wish I had a convict or two ...

Yes, how can it be that my Aus ancestors (and my children's ditto) all go back to the 1800s - earliest so far to 1841 - and not a single one came as a convict.  If only - given all those wonderful details!!

Unfair, unfair ...

JAP

[WoodElf]

Well.. my mum says to me all the time my family were all "free settlers". She's really proud of it too. If only I could find one convict on her side; then she's probably disown that side of the family! 

[MarieC]

To paraphrase from "Oliver";

I wish I had a convict or two ...

Yes, how can it be that my Aus ancestors (and my children's ditto) all go back to the 1800s - earliest so far to 1841 - and not a single one came as a convict.  If only - given all those wonderful details!!

Unfair, unfair ...

JAP

Hi JAP,

Did they mainly come to Sth Aus?  It never had convicts, as I recall!

MarieC

[JAP]

Hi MarieC,

No.  They all came to Victoria - which is where I was born and grew up.

You are right about SA not having convicts - a pity really as it would have leavened the mix. 

JAP

[trish251]

Well.. my mum says to me all the time my family were all "free settlers". She's really proud of it too. If only I could find one convict on her side; then she's probably disown that side of the family! 

Hi Woodelf

My Mum was exactly the same - she loved the fact that all her ancestors were  free settlers. I don't know that she was too impressed when I told her my husband came from a 1st Fleeter!! I thought it was just so wonderful.

Trish

[peterb]

I think that you will find that South Australians are also proud of their "free settler" heritage. Quite a few religious dissenters arrived here from Silesia. Hence the many German place names.

PeterB

[WoodElf]

My mum's were basically all South Australian emigrants. It gets a tad boring, I reckon all family trees need some spice by a convict or a buried family secret (lol)

[trish251]

I think that you will find that South Australians are also proud of their "free settler" heritage. Quite a few religious dissenters arrived here from Silesia. Hence the many German place names.

PeterB

But to be a free settler in SA is the norm - to be a free settler in NSW & Tasmania - not such a common event