Some interesting research into Esther Blades and her husband Joseph Harris has been done by Margaret Lyall and is recorded in the pages posted by ~MERLIN~ in the post immediately above.
In summary re Esther Blades (with some research of my own thrown in):Esther Blades, from York, had a son named Cuthbert Joseph Harris. For this reason she is believed to be the Esther Blades who was baptized on 28 Apr 1783 at Richmond near Leyburn, York as the daughter, and one of the younger children, of Cuthbert Blades, “a Junior Sergeant, North York Militia” & his wife Elizabeth Nicholson who had married on 26 Jan 1765 in Richmond, Yorkshire
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NV88-DM5 . Cuthbert’s next child to be baptized was Alice on 9 Sep 1783 Richmond near Leyburn, York. This shows that his daughter Esther was born in 1782, as she also had an older sister Ruth baptized on 14 February 1781 at Saint Albans, Hertfordshire. They also had a daughter Alice baptized on 30 Jan 1779 at Saint Sampson, York.
(7) Alice 30 Jan 1779:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NBKG-FW5( 8 ) Ruth 14 Feb 1781:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NR4V-T32(9) Esther 28 Apr 1783:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NYJV-QY3(10) Alice 9 Sep 1783:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NLBZ-1S9 Earlier children baptized at Richmond from the Index of England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 were:
(1) Ann, 23 Dec 1765
(2) Cuthbert, 30 Jun 1767 (married Anna and living in London in 1851)
(3) Elizabeth 30 May 1769
(4) Thomas 25 Nov 1770
(5) William 17 Jan 1773
(6) Thomas 9 Jun 1776.
So it appears that Esther was 1 of 10 siblings.
Esther’s father Cuthbert Blades was baptized in Richmond, Yorkshire on 20 Jul 1744 (Index of England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906). He was the son of Cuthbert Blades and Ann Norman who married on 28 Feb 1742 in Richmond (Index of England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1940). His father Cuthbert Blades born in 1715 in Richmond, Yorkshire the son of Solomon Blades,
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N1FS-C23https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N1FS-C24Both Cuthbert (1744) and his son Cuthbert (1767) served in the Yorkshire Militia, and have records in the British Archives.
Esther is believed to have had an illegitimate child baptized on 21 March 1803 at Richmond near Leyburn by the name of William Atkinson, and “the reputed father was a cabinet maker Richard Atkinson”.
Some of the details of Esther’s trial have been detailed in previous posts, and more is on the 1st web-page containing the research by Margaret Lyall listed by ~MERLIN~ in the previous post. Esther’s sentence of 7 years transportation on 31 July 1813 at the York Assizes was recorded on the list of 120 female convicts aboard the Broxbornebury documented in England before the ship sailed.
Esther arrived in NSW on 28 July 1814, and in 1814 Esther is shown to be working for Lt. Col. George Johnson. She would have been working as a Household Servant. Joseph Harris had also been assigned to the same employer, and was probably working as a farm labourer.
Esther and Joseph must have almost immediately begun a relationship as just less than 12 months later, on 11 Jul 1815, their first child Esther was born. Joseph and Esther married on 30 Jul 1817 when she was pregnant with their next child. The marriage record reveals that Esther could read and write, but that Joseph was illiterate. After the marriage Joseph continued to be assigned to Lt. Col. George Johnson as shown by this record in the Colonial Secretary’s papers, which also shows that Joseph had worked for Lt. Col. George Johnson from his arrival in the colony in 1811 (had worked for him for 7 years):
c.1818 Jan - Servant of G Johnston; requesting indulgences and a ticket of leave (Reel 6026; 4/1715 pp.9-10)In the document Joseph Harris is described as having a wife, 1 child, and to be “daily in expectation of another”. This document also reveals that Lt. Col. George Johnson was living at Annandale (Farm).
http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/AnnandaleLt. Col. George Johnson was an important man in the history of Australia being instrumental to the quashing of the convict Vinegar Hill rebellion in 1804, and to the arrest of Governor Bligh and military rebellion and take-over of the Government of NSW in 1808. In this mititary coup Johson took on the roll of Lieutenant-Governor and administered the colony. What is interesting is that Johnson was in London in June 1811 being court-martialled and did not return to NSW until 30 May 1813. The “Admiral Gambier” with Joseph Harris aboard did not arrive in Sydney until 29 September 1811. When Johnson stated in 1818 that Joseph had worked for him for 7 years he was including a period when he had been overseas and his farm and household had been run by his wife in his absence.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/johnston-george-2277(continued in next post)
