Help - Why did women end up in Tasmania in the 1830's - 1840's?

[tedscout]

Hi,

I am trying to find out how a lady who was having children in the 1840's in Hobart, Tasmania, arrived in Australia. All records of her later in life say she was born in Suffolk, England.

I cannot find her as a convict, and I cannot find when the father of her children arrived in Tasmania. I cannot find the couple arriving together. However, the man is a shipwright.

Anyway, just a question that might put me on a new track.

Cheers, Ted

[majm]

Would she have come when perhaps her Dad arrived as part of the garrison forces? If family came with the soldier, then they can be very tricky to find arrival details for.   
 
Could she have come as a steerage passenger, so only a number and not a name on a passenger list?

Could she have travelled under her birth surname, or perhaps as wife .... and then become a widow to remarry in VDL to the chap she had children with in Hobart? 

Could she have arrived in NSW or one of the other colonies (including NZ) and then moved to VDL later?

Perhaps if you shared her name and details  someone could find her arrival or clues to her arrival

JM

[hurworth]

Do you have records of the births of the children?  When was the first child born?

If you think she arrived in the 1830s then it won't be via New Zealand.  Around 1833 there were quite a few immigrants who were NOT convicts who arrived in Tasmania from Britain. 

[majm]

Early Europeans in NZ may well have sailed from NSW or VDL before 1840 .... Missionaries, escaped convicts, whalers etc   http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/history-of-immigration

JM

[hurworth]

I wasn't suggesting that there were no Europeans in New Zealand in the 1830s.  There were a few, but they weren't your average woman from Suffolk.  Organised immigration where you could buy a passage on a ship commenced later for New Zealand with the departure of the first NZCompany ships in 1839, whereas ships had been bringing non-convict immigrants to Tasmania for a few years by then.

[majm]

Some names of Europeans in NZ in 1820s .... 

http://www.methodist.org.nz/files/docs/wesley%20historical/4(2)-2%20first%20years%20at%20hokianga%20.pdf 

Add .... Keziah BEDFORD mentioned in the above booklet was from England, from Surrey, (so not that far from Suffolk) and her descendants would likely explain that she believed she was 'your average woman' .... sorry for not agreeing with hurworth on this occasion.

JM

[tedscout]

Her name was Hannah and she had twins Esther and Hannah DAVIDSON, in 1841 in Hobart Town.

The name of the father on the baptism records is James DAVIDSON.

On her marriage certificate in 1866 to James DAVIDSON she states her name as Hannah INGRAM.

[Jebber]

Have you investigated what became of the Hannah Ingram baptised in Beccles, Suffolk on 7 December 1806?

To rule her out, it may be worth looking to see if you can trace her life in England.

Jebber

[cando]

And

Baptism
DAVIDSON Henry
Father James and Mother Hannah
13 Aug 1844
At Hobart  Reg#2323

Cando