Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2019, as prompted by Jill from GeniAus

Thanks to Jill from GeniAus for kicking us off in 2020 with her Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2019.

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was Les Snider, a half-brother to my grandfather, George Millard Kerville. I only found him because the boy's mother, Marion Snider, was advertising in the Melbourne newspapers for my great-grandfather, Leo Brenell Gabriel, to claim child maintenance from him. The poor little mite died at six weeks, only two weeks after the Police Gazette entry. He was admitted to the Receiving Depot for Neglected Children at Brunswick, Victoria. Very sad.

2.  A great newspaper article I found was in the Kyneton Observer in 1875, where my great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Ambrose, was sent to gaol for 14 days for house-breaking and larceny. She was 16 years of age at the time. More research required!

3.  A geneajourney I took was all the way to London for my first RootsTech!

4.  I located an important record: rates assessment notices for a property my 4G-aunt, Helen Brownlow Dixon Cruckshank, used as a boarding house in Macquarie Street Sydney in the late 1800s. I'm writing her biography at the moment. I say at the moment, but it's been five years in the pipeline. I'm determined to have it finished by the middle of January when my three-year university course starts.

5.  A newly found family member, Marilyn, shared information on her ancestor, who is a brother to my ancestor. Then I was lucky enough to meet up with her at DNA Down Under in Sydney in August. Another newly found cousin was Penny, a descendant of convict Esther, from England but living in Finland. She flew to London to meet me, which was fabulous. Also Bella, another one of Esther's descendants. She lives in England and we spent my last day there visiting some churches as well as Bevis Marks Synagogue.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was a distant DNA match with genealogy & Facebook friend Maureen.

7.   My 2019 social media post that I was particularly proud of was consolidating many years of research and speculation into a blog post about the 16 children of my ancestor, Esther Salamon Spencer.

8.   I made a new genimate who lives nearby, Regina. We met up prior to travelling to London. Before our lunch date I thought "Do I really have time for this?", but when we did meet we had a million things in common & I'm so glad I made the time.

9.  A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was DNA painting, thanks to Jonny Perl's website.

10. I joined the crowd of Aussies going to RootsTech, along with my 3rd cousin Cheryl. We had a fantastic time.

11. A genealogy education session or event from which I learned something new was RootsTech London!! What an amazing experience in so many ways.

12. A blog post that taught me something new was: all the posts written by State Archives, the National Archives of Australia, The National Archives UK, etc. I love seeing what's new, and the tips they provide.

13. A DNA discovery I made was visual phasing, thanks to Blaine Bettinger at DNA Down Under in August, although it will take some more practice before I'm proficient.

14. I taught a genimate how to interpret their father's y-DNA results

15. A brick wall I demolished was figuring out all of Esther's 16 children when there were only 13 that we could account for up to now (see #7)

16. A great site I visited was (not a website, a real site) 3 churches and a Synagogue in London where some of my ancestors were baptised. Seeing Stonehenge and St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle was pretty special too.

17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was Nathan Dylan Goodwin's novels, as well as meeting the man himself!

18. It was exciting to finally meet Blaine Bettinger in August at DNA Down Under where I was lucky enough to be an Ambassador.

19. I am excited for 2020 because the NSW state conference is being held fairly close to home, in Newcastle. I'll still stay onsite though, so I can easily join in with the after-hours get-togethers and spend more time with friends who have travelled from further away to be there.

20. Another positive I would like to share is back in March I attended a UTP event at Ryde called Researching Your Irish Ancestors, because I have lots of them. One of the speakers was David Rencher from FamilySearch. He blew me away with the breadth of his knowledge about his subject matter, in all the talks he presented. When I was in London for RootsTech I couldn't get into the talk that I wanted to because it was oversubscribed, so I chose a beginner's FamilySearch talk just because David was the presenter. Although I'm frequently on FamilySearch, I still learned things at this talk. I went to see David at the end to tell him that he was THE best presenter I'd ever heard, & he was gracious about the praise, but I think he was happy to hear it as well.

Some of the earliest burials in Sydney

The City of Sydney Archives has a spreadsheet listing the known burials at the Old Sydney Burial Ground, where Sydney Town Hall now stands. It was in use from 1790s until around 1820. At the time the burial ground was on the outskirts of Sydney's settlement, but now that settlement has far outgrown the 1.6 kms that the Town Hall is from Sydney Cove. A few of my ancestors are buried there, and people are invited to add some detail about their relatives, for the benefit of other researchers.

My relatives were Joseph STUBBS, Sophia STUBBS, Geoffrey STUBBS and their father Thomas STUBBS. Thomas was the actual father to Sophia and Geoffrey, and stepfather to Joseph. Sadly, these children were all infants when they died.

From the spreadsheet:

#2114 

Joseph Stubbs was born on 29 December 1799 to John Fitz and convict Esther Spencer, and baptised as Joseph Clark Fitz on 2 February 1800 in Sydney (NSW BDM V1799855 1A). He died age nine months as Joseph Stubbs (NSW BDM V18001008 4 and V18001515 2A). No records can be found regarding John Fitz after the baptism of Joseph, so presumably Esther had begun a relationship with Thomas Stubbs before October 1800.

#2115 Sophia Stubbs was born to Thomas Stubbs and Ester Spencer on 18 June 1803 and baptised on 03 July 1803 in Sydney (NSW BDM V18031168 IA). Her father was Thomas Stubbs and her mother was convict, Esther Spencer. Sophia died at age three months and was buried on 27 September 1803 (NSW BDM V18031825 2A).

#2116 Godfrey Stubbs was born on 09 October 1814 and baptised at St Philip’s Church of England, Sydney, on 23 October 1814 (NSW BDM V18143435 IA). He was baptised as the son of Thomas and Esther Stubbs. He died on 02 November 1814 in Sydney, and was buried four days later (NSW BDM V18143284 2A), age 24 days. I can find no record of his name ever being Geoffrey. Possibly this is a transcription error. According to this table his age at burial was two years three months, but according to NSW BDM records there were no children of that name (or similar) being born in 1812, or dying in 1814. The only Stubbs death in 1814 was a Godfrey, NSW BDM 304/1814 V1814304 7 and 3284/1814 V18143284 2A.

#2117: Thomas was the father of Sophia and Geoffrey. He was a convict and builder/bricklayer. Born in 1774 in London, he was convicted at the Justice Hall, Old Bailey on 26 May 1790 to seven years was “indicted for stealing, on the 8th of March, a cloth coat, value 42 s. a pair of velvet breeches, value 16 s. two shirts, value 6 s. a pair of silver knee-buckles, value 3 s. the property of William Cook; two coats, value 4 l. a waistcoat, value 10 s. a pair of breeches, value 10 s. the property of John Weyman, in the dwelling house of the said John Weyman”.

(Source: http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17900526-31-defend329&div=t17900526-31&terms=Thomas|Stubbs#highlight )

Thomas sailed on the Third Fleet’s Albemarle, which departed Portsmouth on 27 March 1791. The Albemarle sailed via Madeira, the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at Port Jackson on 13 October 1791, after 200 days at sea. 

In the 1801 Muster he is listed as living in Sydney, expired (presumably meaning his sentence), with Jewish convict Esther Spencer (who arrived on the Indispensable in 1796).

In the 1806 Muster he is classified as being Free By Servitude, a bricklayer, with Esther Spencer (who is also listed as FBS although this is incorrect. She had a life sentence & there is no record of a pardon).

In the 1811 Muster he is shown as living in NSW, Convicted May 1790 at the Old Bailey for seven years, with Esther Spencer of the Indispensable 1, who has 7 children (with Thomas – she had two or possibly three children to previous partners), and that Esther was the wife of John Cant who arrived as a convict on the ship General Hewitt (I dispute this interpretation of a Colonial Secretary's letter from Cant. I believe that he was a lodger at Esther's boarding house in Phillip Street, Sydney, and Cant’s weekly payments to her were rent. Source: Third Fleet Transport: Albemarle – an alphabetical listing of convicts, masters, crew, naval & military complied by Merrilyn Minter).

On 6 February 1813 Thomas and Esther were tried at the Sydney Bench of Magistrates for violently assaulting Thomas & Catherine Clarkson, whose property in Hunter Street, Sydney adjoined Thomas and Esther’s house. The result was: “The court, on consideration, adjudge that Thomas Stubbs shall stand committed until he enter into a recognizance to keep the peace towards Thomas Clarkson and his wife for the space of Six Months himself in the sum of £20 - and two sureties in the sum of £10 - each.” (Source: http://home.mira.net/~merowley/clarkson/vstubbs.html ).

His son, auctioneer Thomas Stubbs, died in 1878 and on his death certificate it states that his father was in the Royal Navy. This was either the family “story” to hide his convict past, or maybe even a family joke.

Thomas and Esther had nine children together: my ancestor Mary Ann born 1801, Thomas born 1802, Sophia born 1803, Cecilia born 1805, Elizabeth born 1807, Annie Esther born 1809, George born 1811, John Emery born 1812, Godfrey born 1814.

Thomas died on 11 January 1815 in Kent St, Sydney (NSW BDM V18153327 2B). 

During excavation work to build Sydney Town Hall remains of some of these pre-1800 burials have been found. These remains have been moved to Rookwood Cemetery, and a monument erected in the memory of these people. Maybe Thomas and his children are together at Rookwood, or possibly still buried under or around the Town Hall.

The memorial to the remains of people removed from the Old Sydney Burial Ground,
now reinterred at Rookwood Cemetery

Plaque on the Rookwood memorial

Sydney Town Hall
Postcard courtesy of Flickr

Convict Ancestors Story for UTAS Diploma in Family History

I'm loving the Diploma offered by the University of Tasmania. Another subject completed, and lots of information learned along the way. This article below was a submission for the final assessment in the Convict Ancestors subject. There were also two breakout articles, which I have left off the story. I might add them later as separate posts.

My 5x great-grandmother, Esther Salamon, was a formidable convict woman, who showed great strength and fortitude throughout her long life. After 482 days in London’s Newgate prison, a voyage of 5 months and 19 days, through at least four marriages and de facto partnerships, she established and ran successful businesses as a dealer, boarding house mistress, and bathing house proprietor in the colony of Sydney, as well as providing for her 16 children [1].

Based on Esther’s age at her trial, later marriage, and date of death it seems that Esther was born sometime before 19 July 1775, presumably in England. The readily available UK census starts in 1841, by which time she is well established in Australia, and it’s not possible to find a missing person gap in a census. Esther was Jewish and the first of several records to confirm this fact is the list of prisoners in Newgate prison. It is unlikely that she was baptised, and I have not been able to locate any sacrament for her in the Church of England or non-Conformist registers, and the birth of Jewish girls was not recorded in their own registers [2]. As a result, I have had more than 20 years of fruitless searching for her parents or English family of origin.

The Old Bailey Sessions House 1790, John Ellis, Corporation of London Libraries and Guildhall Art Library  

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/The-old-bailey.jsp

Copy of Old Bailey transcription of Esther Spencer’s trial 19 July 1794 http://www.londonlives.org/browse.jsp?id=t17940716-64-defend646&div=t17940716-64#highlight

Sometime before her conviction Esther married a Mr Spencer, as her surname was recorded as Spencer on her Old Bailey trial records [3] and she was described as a married woman in the Newgate prison registers.

No marriage record between Esther and Mr Spencer has been found to date.  Subsequently Esther was convicted of theft on 16 July 1794 at age 19, and tried at The Old Bailey. She was “indicted for stealing, on the 17th of July, two silver salt holders, value 18s. two silver salt spoons, value 2s. two silver pepper castors, value 1£. a silver table spoon, value 14s. the goods of Jacob Ruffy.” The Newgate Prison entry book describes her as being “19, 5’4”, dark hair, dark eyes, dark complexion, London, married woman Jewess” [4].

A variety of records exist detailing Esther’s ordeal in London as a prisoner in Newgate, during the 16 months she waited for decisions to be made about her pardon, and her many months of incarceration before boarding the Indispensable.  These can be found on the London Lives website www.london.lives.org , which also links in with the Old Bailey trials. 

This example is A Continuation of the names of the several Prisoners Confined in Newgate on the 28th Septr  1794. Here she is described as “19. 5/4 dark hair dark Eyes dark Complexion London Jewess Marr'd”.  These descriptors are almost verbatim from the Home Office: Criminal Registers, Middlesex and Home Office: Criminal Registers, England and Wales [5] which was compiled at the end of July 1794 and can be found on www.Ancestry.com. One can assume that the list in this image was drawn up from the Home Office’s July Sessions for Middlesex document. If any of these details were incorrect in the original document, they are likely to remain incorrect on all subsequent documents, as Esther was illiterate. It is unknown whether she would have been a party to the writing of the entries other than verbally responding to questions about her age and marital status, etc. This can make searching for other records more difficult, as we may be looking for a red herring. For example, if Esther wasn’t indeed aged 19 at this time we are unlikely to find a baptism record for her around 1775.

Various sources, such as the New South Wales, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-18346 shows us that Esther arrived in Sydney on 30 April 1796 where she had quickly took up with convict John Fitz, with whom she had her first two children, Joseph [7] and Susannah [8]. Joseph, died as an infant [9] and was buried in the Old Sydney Burial Ground where Sydney Town Hall now stands [10]. Fitz then disappears from the records and in 1800 Esther takes up with fellow convict and builder, Englishman Thomas Stubbs. Esther’s son, Joseph, was buried under the name of Stubbs, so the relationship between Esther and Thomas must have begun between Joseph’s baptism on 2 Feb 1800 and his burial in October 1800. They have nine children together, the first being my 4x great-grandmother, Mary Anne (Marian) Spencer Stubbs [11].

The Biographical Database of Australia at www.bda-online.org.au holds a wealth of records pertaining to the convict indents, musters and early church records. From these I have created a timeline of Esther’s particulars in relation to her convict status.

From these records it seems that Esther appears to have been classed as “Free By Servitude” by August 1806, as indicated in the NSW General Muster. This ties in with information from the State Records of New South Wales website on Pardons: “Convicts with life sentences generally received pardons. In the formative years of the colony the Governor possessed the discretion to grant free pardons and conditional pardons as rewards for good behaviour, for special skills or for undertaking special responsibilities. Governor Macquarie introduced new regulations setting minimum periods to be served for both pardons and tickets of leave.” [12] No record of a Ticket of Leave or Conditional Pardon have ever been found for Esther, so it is assumed that her pardon was one of these indulgences by Governor Macquarie.

These records only touch on the great amount of information that exists regarding Esther’s life before and after her conviction. She died at age 80, after many years of child-bearing and business owning. In 1855 she was buried in the Jewish section of the Devonshire Street Cemetery, which was disturbed in 1901 for the construction of Central Railway Station. Exhumations were relocated to Bunnerong Cemetery in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, although none of Esther’s remains were found at the time.

References:

[1] "Browse - Central Criminal Court". 2016.Oldbaileyonline.Org. Accessed June 10 2016. http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17940716-64-defend646&div=t17940716-64#highlight

[2] "Birth | Jewish Virtual Library". 2016.Jewishvirtuallibrary.Org. Accessed June 10 2016. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_03015.html

[3] "Browse - London Lives". 1794.Londonlives.Org. Accessed June 11 2016. http://www.londonlives.org/browse.jsp?id=t17940716-64-defend646&div=t17940716-64#highlight . 

[4] Source Citation Class: HO 26; Piece: 4; Page: 15 Source Information Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Original data: Home Office: Criminal Registers, Middlesex and Home Office: Criminal Registers, England and Wales; Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies, Series HO 26 and HO 27; The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.

 [5] Source Citation Class: HO 26; Piece: 3; Page: 86 Source Information Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Original data: Home Office: Criminal Registers, Middlesex and Home Office: Criminal Registers, England and Wales; Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies, Series HO 26 and HO 27; The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England. 

[6] Source Citation Class: HO 10; Piece: 2 Source Information Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO10, Pieces 1-4, 6-18, 28-30); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.

[7] NSW Birth Certificate, 1797/468, Fitz, Joseph C

[8] NSW Birth Certificate, 1799/615, Fitz, Susannah S

[9] NSW Death Certificate, 1800/1008, Stubbs, Joseph

[10] "Old Sydney Burial Ground - City Of Sydney". 2016. www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au . Accessed June 11 2016. http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/sydneys-history/people-and-places/old-sydney-burial-ground . 

[11] “"Convict Records — State Records NSW". 2016. www.records.nsw.gov.au . Accessed June 11 2016. http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/research-topics/convicts/convicts#pardons-conditional-and-absolute.

Sign here

I've recently discovered a new addition to Ancestry, the New South Wales Land Grants 1788 - 1963. They are provided to Ancestry through the awesome State Records NSW. Much as I love visiting their facility, it's great to not have to trek to Kingswood, and be able to look these records up from my lounge room. I have several ancestors and their partners who received land grants, including Thomas Dixon, Richard Brownlow, Esther Spencer, James Brackenreg, and Joseph Bigge. These records are fantastic for helping me figure out exactly where these parcels of land were, and other little snippets of information. Eg, one of my ancestors (Esther's daughter and my 4x great grandmother) was born Mary Ann Spencer. Spencer was her mother's surname, and even though she had Thomas Stubbs as her partner and father of her child, because they weren't married Mary Ann was christened as a Spencer. Thomas does get a mention on the christening record, though. So Mary Ann grew up and married Charles James Brackenreg, named after his father, James Brackenreg, who was a soldier on the Second Fleet. Charles was almost always known as James, which makes it nice and confusing of course. These land grant records showed me two things that I love: one is that Mary Ann was known as Marian, and secondly, these grants were all signed by the Purchaser, so now I have actual signatures for some of my people!! By comparing the signatures on land grants to Charles James and grants to James, I could tell that the grant was to the same man, the son of the soldier, because the signature was the same on each record. I find it thrilling to see these people's names hand written on the page. It really brings them to life for me. I was happy to see Marian's name as that, to help differentiate her from her daughter-in-law who was also Mary Ann, but also to know that she had a pet name within the family, like a lot of us do.

Esther wasn't literate, as far as I can tell, and/or maybe they didn't ask for the spouse's signature on documents back in the 1830's, so I've never seen anything signed by her. I would love to have faces to put to these names, but sadly they had all died before photography took hold. Having their signatures is the next best thing!

Charles James Brackenreg 1797 - 1878

Thomas Dixon 1801 - 1847

Richard Brownlow 1794 - 1845

Joseph Bigge 1768 - 1833

A day in 'The Big Smoke' - without the smoke

A few Sundays ago I had a fantastic day in Sydney, with a fellow (sister?) genie, my friend Suellen. We started off with at Hyde Park Barracks with a bit of a look around using their audioguide to help us learn about the various displays. We interrupted this with a tour run by the delightful Sydney Living Museums guide Amy Armour around The Mint building next door to the Barracks, where we learned all about how it used to be the southern wing of Governor Macquarie's Rum Hospital before it was used as a Mint.

In the foyer there's a machine to mint an oval-shaped design from, starting with a blank the size and colour of a 1 cent piece (remember them??!), you choose a design, roll the handle and out pops a little thingy that you can keep as a memento of your day at the Barracks. The four designs were: a rat (no thanks), a convict man, the broad arrow (convict symbol), or a design of the Barracks themselves. I chose the building, made two of them, and used them as earrings. Beware that if you choose the image of the convict man, when the hole punch goes through it does line up with his head, which I thought wasn't such a nice look on a man. Or a woman.






















The staff were amused at my new fine art jewellery, so Amy took a photo, and now I'm now on their homepage! The new face of Hyde Park Barracks!! Well, until someone else has their photo taken anyway. Fleeting fame.

Amy's article mentions the husband of my ancestor, Esther Spencer. She married Joseph Bigg in 1822 in St Phillip's Church of England. Joseph came out with Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie on the Dromedary as their coachman in 1809. He drove the Governor on his tours of inspection to the Cowpastures in 1810, Bathurst in 1815, Mittagong and Goulburn in 1820, and assisted during the trips to Newcastle in 1818, and Van Dieman's Land, Newcastle, and Port Macquarie in 1821. He'd seen more of the colony than almost everyone in that time. While driving Elizabeth Macquarie in her curricle in George Street in October 1814 a child suddenly ran into the horses and was killed. There was a newspaper article in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser two days later which details the accident, but curiously, makes no mention of the driver or his important passenger, which is why it took me forever to find it on Trove. Elizabeth's PR team must have worked overtime to keep this news quiet.

Thankfully, the inquest gives a lot more information. 

At midday, on 6 October 1814, Joseph Bigg (1768-1833), the Macquaries' coachman, accidentally ran over and killed a small child, named Charles Thomas, in George Street, Sydney while Elizabeth Macquarie was a passenger in the coach. Biggs had observed a group of children playing in the street and had drawn his curricle to a halt. He then proceeded on again, little realising that one of the children had run under the vehicle.
When it was realised what had happened from the cries of the bystanders, Elizabeth Macquarie called out to Bigg to stop, dismounted immediately, and carried the injured child into the nearby Thomas family home. Dr. William Redfern was immediately sent for, however, he was unable to revive the child, and Charles Thomas died soon afterwards.
Eyewitness testimony at the coronial inquest chaired by J.W. Lewin cleared Joseph Bigg of any charge of negligence or recklessness in his driving. However, it should come as no surprise that as a consequence of the accident Elizabeth Macquarie suffered a severe nervous collapse and was confined to her bed for several weeks thereafter.
Source: http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital//lema/1814/thomas6oct1814.html

After lunch at the Barracks cafe we were lucky enough to gatecrash a private tour of St James' Anglican Church opposite the Barracks, in King Street. What a gorgeous building it is too. 

It was designed by convict architect (and forger) Francis Greenway, and a number of my forebears were christened and married there. The church website says: St James’ Church was constructed between 1819 and 1824. It is the oldest church building in the City of Sydney and has been in continuous use from its consecration on 11 February 1824 to the present.

This is the view from the Hyde Park Barracks, which is the eastern elevation of the church. The front faces north.

The altar with a gold-leaf lined dome above. Just stunning.

Our impromptu tour took in some of the marble memorials around the walls, then we took the stairs leading to the choir loft and bell pulling ropes, and it was such a beautiful view from up there. We were invited to the next level again, which houses the bells, but we were in a rush to get to the The Scots Church in Margaret Street, so we couldn't hang around any longer. An organised tour that includes the crypt and the bell tower is a must for me one day.

The Scots Church was the venue for a talk by Heather Garnsey from the Society of Australian Genealogists (of which I am a member) on tracing our London ancestors. The talk was arranged by the Huguenot Society of Australia, who were very welcoming and friendly at the afternoon tea that followed. It was great to learn more resources that are available online, seeing that (sadly) a trip to the UK chasing my English, Irish and Scottish ancestors isn't going to happen for me any time soon.

We ended that part of the day with a few drinks at The Menzies Hotel near Wynyard, which finished the afternoon off nicely. I'm looking forward to another Sunday spent touring the city. If only that lottery win would speed up, then I could immerse myself in it every single day.

A Convict In The Family?

On Saturday 13 April I went to the Museum of Sydney for the opening of Mine Konakci's exhibition A Convict In The Family? It was wonderful to hear Mine speak about her inspiration for the photographs, and it was fun to spot the faces in the crowd who were also featured in Mine's photos. I saw another two photos that are linked to families that I am researching for friends, the Butt(s) and Cable families, but didn't get a chance to speak to the subjects. One lady I did catch was Anne, who is descended from a convict also named Anne (there were two with matching names of the 40 images). Her ancestor was a convict of the Second Fleet's Neptune, and my 5xg-grandfather James BRACKENRIG, was a soldier on the same ship, which arrived in 1790. Anne's ancestor went on to marry another soldier off the Neptune. I wonder if there was any power imbalance in those relationships that started in such sad and possibly violent circumstances.

The exhibition is related to a previous blog post that I wrote in October 2012.

Here I am with Mine's photo of me

Our new book has arrived!!

A group of us Genies Down Under podcast listeners decided to publish our convict stories in a book

(http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=convicts+down+under&categoryId=200468)

which was launched a couple of days ago on the December podcast.

 

"Cheers!" she says, holding up an imaginary glass of champagne to our tireless leader, Maria Northcote, who steered us through the painless process, and to all the other authors: Andrew Black, Ros Escott, Dot Elder, Jennifer Goodwin, and Gill McMillan.

 

My story is about Esther Salamon (or Esther Spencer), who I wrote about in a previous post.

 

 

 

For a Pittance photos

At the Easter weekend last year I had the privelige of being chosen by Mine Konakci to be photographed for her "For a Pittance" gallery of work, and the results are below. Mine's photography skills are amazing, if you want to check them out see www.forapittance.com.au . She had advertised in the Australian Family Tree Connections magazine for anyone with convicts in their family who might be interested. Seeing as I have 5 of them (Australian Royalty - hand chosen by the finest judges in England!), I thought I'd honour one of them in this way.

Here's what she wrote about her inspiration for the project:

“Most convicts transported to Australia were convicted of petty theft, the majority of which were considered to be minor crimes by today’s standards. Stolen items varied from shoes to fabrics, coats to pocket watches, purses to sheep, and jugs to yarn. More than 160,000 people, an overwhelming number, were transported ‘beyond the seas’ between 1787 and 1868 to serve their sentences, which were usually seven or 14 years.

As a photographer, what interested me was the impact that the theft of objects—most of a relatively small value—could have on people’s lives. As a result, the photographs depict the descendants with a representation of the item that their ancestors had stolen; with the items providing a link between the ancestor and descendant.” Mine Konakci

My ancestor chosen was my 5x great-grandmother, Esther Spencer, who I have blogged about in an earlier post. According to the Old Bailey she was “indicted for stealing, on the 17th of July [1794], two silver salt holders, value 18s. two silver salt spoons, value 2s. two silver pepper castors, value 1l [sic. Shilling maybe?]. a silver table spoon, value 14s. the goods of Jacob Ruffy.”  Initially she was sentenced to death, but that was thankfully reduced to transportation for life instead. Lucky for me!!

 

 

 

The bottom photo includes my daughters, Kate, aged 7 (on the right) and Georgia, aged 4.

We don't have the items that Esther stole at the time - they would have been returned to their Mr Ruffy I presume -  so we improvised with various other bits of silverware.

 

Thanks to Mine Konakci for permission to use the photos in this way.

 

PS Next time I have such an important photo taken I'll make sure my fringe is cut straight ;)

 

My favourite convict, Esther (Salamon) Spencer

I have 5 convict ancestors, and following is my account of my favourite, Esther Spencer (nee Salamon), who was a most remarkable woman. I hope someone out there knows more about her story and can fill in some blanks for me!

 

Esther was born sometime between July and October 1775, presumably in England. Sadly the UK census doesn’t start until 1841, by which time she is in Australia, and it’s impossible to find a missing person gap in a census. I have no details of her baptism because she was Jewish, and the birth of Jewish girls wasn’t usually recorded. Consequently I have had 20+ years of fruitless searching for her parents.

Sometime before she turned 19 she married a Mr Spencer (the marriage record can’t be found, either), and then was convicted of theft on 16 July 1794 at age 19, and tried at The Old Bailey. She was “indicted for stealing, on the 17th of July, two silver salt holders, value 18s. two silver salt spoons, value 2s. two silver pepper castors, value 1l. a silver table spoon, value 14s. the goods of Jacob Ruffy.” The Newgate Prison entry book describes her as being “19, 5’4”, dark hair, dark eyes, dark complexion, London, married woman Jewess”. Originally she was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to transportation to Sydney for life. In her appeal against the death sentence she said she was pregnant (as you would!) but this may have been a fabrication. She spent a couple of years in Newgate before sailing.

Esther arrived in Sydney on the Indispensable in 1796 where she had quickly took up with fellow convict John Fitz, with whom she had her first two children. She had her first child, Susannah, baptised twice, a year apart, and with a different father listed each time! Her second child, Joseph, died as an infant and was buried in the cemetery where Sydney Town Hall now stands. Fitz then disappears from the records and in 1800 Esther takes up with fellow convict and builder, Englishman Thomas Stubbs. They have nine children together, the first being my 4x great-grandmother, Mary Anne (Marian) Grace Spencer Stubbs. Their second son, Thomas, was a well renowned auctioneer, composer and musician.

Governor Hunter gave Esther land in Phillip Street in 1797, not long after her arrival, where she ran a boarding house. She and Thomas were also known as “dealers” which involved selling goods from arriving ships.

Esther and Thomas Sr were never married, presumably because Esther was still considered married to Mr Spencer, even though they were to never see each other again. Esther and Thomas had a colourful life in the centre of Sydney, being involved in a few court cases, one where Thomas allegedly threatened to strike a man with a tree branch who was stealing quinces from their tree.

Thomas died at the young age of 41, and within a year Esther started a relationship with Joseph Bigge, who had been the coachman for Elizabeth Macquarie. He arrived as a free man in 1809 on the Dromedary. They had two children together, and “Joe the Coachman” as he was known also apprenticed one of Esther and the late Thomas’ sons to him at the livery stables. Sadly Joe died at age 65 in 1833 of horrific burns after falling into his bedroom fireplace at their house above the stables in Phillip Street, Sydney, where the old Police Station building is, down near Circular Quay. According to newspaper reports he had been insane for some time prior to this.

Esther sold off the livery business after his death and used the proceeds to establish the first bathing house in Sydney for ladies and children, at the site of the Andrew “Boy” Charlton Pool at Woolloomooloo Bay. She charged “1 pound per quarter for a lady and three children – for a single lady ditto 10s, and a single baths 6d.” The site was a natural rock shelf into the Harbour where Aboriginal people have been bathing for centuries. As well as providing a bathing service there was also a religious need being met by these baths, as it is Jewish custom for the bride to bathe in sea water on the day of her wedding or the day before, as a form of purification before the ceremony. So Esther was helping keep alive her Jewish traditions in a predominately Christian Sydney. All of her children were baptised in the Anglican Church, presumably as there was no other option available to Esther at that time.

 

Esther was never granted a Pardon, or Ticket of Leave, and died at age 80 in 1855 and was buried in the Jewish section of the Devonshire Street Cemetery. In 1901 the cemetery site was needed for Central Railway Station, and Esther’s remains were re-interred at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, known then as Bunnerong. Unfortunately there is no headstone to mark her grave.

 

She had a very long and colourful life and I’m proud to be descended from such a strong and resilient woman.

Hopefully there are some researchers out there who see a gap in their Salamon family tree and realise now who fits in the spot!