How many convict relatives in your tree?

[dowdstree]

Not discovered any who were transported .......yet!!!

There are two others with definite convictions - one in the 1870's and one during WW2.

There must be more so I will keep looking.

Dorrie

[clairec666]

Quite a few convicts amongst my extended family. My direct ancestors seem to have been a well-behaved bunch. Apart from one, a baker who was fined for selling underweight loaves of bread.

[LizzieW]

I've only found one convict who was transported, she was the sister of my 2 x g.grandfather.  His mother, my 3 x g.grandmother was also convicted of accepting stolen goods (from the one who was transported) but at the age of 65 she wasn't transported, just sent to prison for 6 months with hard labour.  It didn't seem to have done her much harm as she lived until she was 85. 

I haven't found any other convicts who were deported.  It's possible that one of my g.grandfather's was convicted of petty theft whilst drunk and fined, but as I haven't managed to find evidence of my g.grandfather before 1884, the newspaper reports could have been about another man with the same (very common name).

[coombs]

Thomas Tanner was my 5xgreat uncle, brother of my 4xgreat granny. Transported in 1827 to Aus.
Edward Childs was my 5xgreat uncle, brother of my 4xgreat granny. Transported in 1837 to Aus.

Thomas was done for horse stealing and Edward for maiming. I found Thomas on the 1828 NSW census on a hulk in Sydney dock, he was then sent to Wollongong. Edward ended up in Port Macquarie.

[smudwhisk]

I've found several distant relatives who were transported, but also two direct ancestors who were sentenced to transportation, albeit only one got transported.   John Easterby was sentenced to 14 years transportation in August 1814 for receiving stolen goods (a quantity of rope, he was a ropemaker by trade).  He died in Sydney in 1844, whether his five children, all of whom remained in the UK (as have all my subsequent ancestors as well as myself), ever knew what had happened to him I've no idea (nobody in recent generations knew anything about it that's for certain).  The youngest was only a couple of months old when he was transported.  I've managed to find all the relevant documents on him which helped confirm he was my ancestor, but one of these days I shall have to spend some money to try and get a readable copy of a petition he made to the Colonial Secretary.  Unfortunately the copy on ancestry is albut unreadable because it is so feint.  I suspect he was petitioning for something, but would like to know what.

Another direct ancestor was sentenced to 10 years transportation in 1845 for stealing a sheep, he never made it to Australia (they were still transporting at that time) but spent five years on a prison hulk and died in an army camp in Kent in 1850.  He was 55 years old when he was sentenced and from all accounts not in particularly good help, so probably the reason they didn't ship him to the colonies.  Its amazing he managed to survive 5 years on the prison hulks at Woolwich considering the conditions on them.

[pinefamily]

I have neglected to mention the brother of my wife's 4x great grandfather. He was transported for fraud (not his first offence) in 1822. Once again, hard to trace after his sentence was served. I have a feeling he may have changed his name to Samuel, but this is only supposition.

[coombs]

Yes, you would think convicts were easy to trace even after they were given a cert of freedom and maybe mentioned in obituaries when they died and such but not always so, they were probably on the same level as free settlers. After they got their freedom cert they lead a simpler life and a humbler life. I am still trying to find out when my Edward Childs got married as I did find his asylum record at Parramatta and it said he was a widower.

I think even though they could return to the British Isles after serving their sentence, very few convicts did so, maybe the enormous 10000 mile journey or they liked the warm environment too much.

[pinefamily]

I remember reading somewhere that the cost of returning was prohibitive. That's probably why so many free settlers received assisted passage.
Plus so many freed convicts ended up marrying, despite having left a wife or husband in England.

[Beeonthebay]

In 2007 when I was in Australia I went to Wollongong to do a skydive, and I had not idea that my 5xgreat uncle lived there for years as a convict. Now that Anc has a free Easter weekend I can do some hardcore research on this man.

I used to live there!!