Well its a relief to find his marriage was legal he seems to have eventually been able to set up a happy family in Australia I wonder if he ever wondered about his first family though. Mary did not remarry she bought his remaining two children up the first having died aged 4 before he got involved in the robbery. Mary had a daughter in 1850 by an unknown father the entry in the baptism register making the situation very clear ""23 Feb 1851 Ellen The illegitimate daughter of Mary Overton the husband undergoing transportation abroad" In 1851 and 1861 Mary is a laundress with the three children probably working in her brother in law's laundry (from newspapers, censuses and his will it was a fair sized establishment) In 1881 she was still a laundress but living with a married daughter up till then she was always listed as married , I wonder if she was still hoping William would return, but in 1881 she was a widow.
Mary is the connection to my tree so I feel sad for her she was so harshly punished for his night of drunken stupidity.I think his brother Jesse was looking out for herfamily though. Jesse witnessed his niece's marriage and newspapers show that he was a prominent member of his non conformist church and the "Garibaldi lifeboat crew" a temperance society. He and his wife are listed as donators to a fund to build a new Anglican church to, So altogether a reasonable end to this sorry incident
