. CATHARINE BROWN - International Genealogical Index JOHN X CHRISTIANA
Gender: Female Christening: 25 JAN 1789 Quay Meeting House-Independent, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England
Sorry ,Team, am in too much of a rush these days, so have lead you astray by not providing the correct detail in my throw away remark re Catharine the Methodist/Quaker
I searched for an IGI hit involving 1789 as a birth/christening date, Catharine wiv an "a"as the forename and a mother called Christina or Christiana, and up popped the only hit as the above. I have googled and Jeeved through Methodist Missionaries etc and history and records of the Quay Meeting House, to no avail. We would be looking for a Catharine nee Brown in Sydney in partnership with a McNally giving birth to a John McNally in 1811, to fit the rest of our construct from 1816 on- not exactly a pillar of Methodist rectitude.
She would have come either on her own( why?) say between 1805 (age16) 1810, or with her parents. Unless her mother's maiden name was McNally ( I think I checked and it wasn't), she could only have become Catharine McNally by association or identity swapping for some reason.
A bit thin all round, but all is grist to the mill while we flail, although Brown is only marginally less challenging than Smith.
Catharine McNally mother of Thomas 1820 ,assumed to be the "wife" of Thomas Ransom in 1819 Muster, was either a free unencumbered spirit called McNally, or belonged to someone called McNally whose name she was prepared to carry despite no continuing association, or had stolen the name because it hid her true identity. We know nothing certain about her under this name before 1820, other than the claim she was born c1789. All other Catharines in VDL 1811-1819 per the usual available records seem(!) to have been accounted for ( why does Catharine Belbin tinkle bells with me). She was McNally at birth of Thomas in 1820, She is McNally in Thomas' will 1829, she was McNally at marriage to FLS in 1830. What was the impediment to marriage in 1825 that didn't exist in 1830?. Is there evidence in the Archives of the snitch's advice to Governor Arthur or did he just whisper in his ear or was it such common knowlege but overlooked in such a small community because whe was generally liked and respected. Seems to me that it is the 1825 records that need to be sought and searched , if they exist- back to the newspaper reports,get dates, and then to Archives to search for the scuttlebutt.
David
