Thanks Robyn, nice to have friends who can remind you of what you have done when you have forgotten! Can you tell me where I parked the car?
Ok- Catherine Rook(e) and the sealers- William Rook- John Mcanally- James Macanally alias Wilson ) presumably James Wilson)
I got excited when I found Catharine Rook as a crew member on "Perserverance" in 1811 with another crew member James Macanally alias Wilson. However there was no further reference to her in Sydey Gazette, nor in NSW BMD. Then a reference indicated she was killed in the Boyd massacre, but identified her as Bourke/Rourke. But Boyd massacre was 1809. But I searched for her under the names Bourke/Rourke anyway, and came up with SG 15/5/1803 a marriage of Catharine Rourke , widow of the Rocks, to Henry Simpson, a catholic marriage. If Catharine Mcnally was born 1789, then she was a widow and remarrying at 14. Could be,but it seems i lost interest at this stage due to lack of further information. So she is still in the mix.
William Rook aappears in Sydney Gazette regularly as a sealer from 1805 -1824- I believe he died in 1825. Always Rook, never Rourke. I didn't prove a relationship with Catharine Rook- but have assumed daughter- and so discarded Rourke as her name, so Widow Rourke was not her.
James macanally only appears once as a sealer( the perserverance record), but James Wilson appears in Sydney Gazette 4 times in 1810-1811 re dead letters- then a james Wilson is granted Ticket of leave in Hobart Hobart Gazette 19/4/1817. James Mcnally appears in 1818 muster at Port Dalrymple and subsequently in Gazette and HRA , and supplying wheat to Commissariat in 1822.
There seems to be a continuing overlap and association between a John and a James McNally- remember in1818 muster at Port dalrymple John is shown per Boddingtons, but it was james on Boddingtons,. But there do seem to have been two seperate people in VDL at this time
Add in the registration of John by John Mcnally and Catharine in 1811, and the employment of John McNally and wife by Cummings in 1816, and the continuing crewing on Governor Macquarie by a John McNally including 1818 at Hobart, and I think we have enough Mcnallys!
Further reserch on Catharine Rook after 1811 seems justified
David