Hi yes my problem is that in a court case of 1800 Marthas age is recorded as being 10 or 11 so that makes her only 13 or 14 when she goes with her mother on board the ship, and as we know she has an affair with LT Bowen and gets pregnant...it is not such a stretch to believe they fudged her age to make it more respectable and once declared her age as 17 in australia was thereafter 3 or 4 years older then she really was...the other alternative was that they lied in court making her younger then she really was, although the judge does say small girl, so that she was not tried for receiving also? but children much younger were tried and deported so I dont know if that is the answer. the other thing is that with time if you have adopted your age and tell everyone that you were born in such and such you might actually come to believe it yourself, we are not talking about highly educated people here, I know that Martha Marys sister couldn't even sign her own name . The other interesting thing I have found is a CHRISTENING record for a Martha HayNes Quinn it is from St James Westminster so right church father is down as James Quinn and mother is Mary which fit... the only problem is it is dated 24 MAY 1802 so I am thinking that it cant be her...but then I think what if James takes Martha as a 12-13 year old and has her christened just in case she dies on the voyage? As her mother was sentenced for deportation on the 20th MAY 1802 ???WHAT DO YOU THINK?
