My gt-gt-gt-grandfather James Peter VIVIAN was born around 1805 or 1806. He arrived in South Australia in the mid-1840's after working as a cattle drover along the Murray River. He married Mary Ann WALLIS in 1848, and settled in the Mt Pleasant area, to have several children. Family folklore has it that he was a remittance man. He died in 1890.
There is a James VIVIAN who arrived on the convict ship Claudine in 1829 to serve a life sentence for cattle stealing. He was born in 1806, and convicted in Dorset in 1828. In 1838, he was granted a conditional pardon, and given permission to marry Catherine FORREST (b. ~1821 in Cork, Ireland).
They were married at Wollongong on 12 Feb 1839. Three children soon followed:
1. Mary Jane VIVIAN, b. 2 May 1839 at Dapto
2. Jacob VIVIAN, b. 1 July 1841 at Dapto
3. Charlotte VIVIAN, b. 4 Oct 1843 at Jervis Bay
Catherine second marriage (date unknown) is to Christopher Terry DUKE (b. 1824), from Devon. They had two known children:
1. Jemima Forrest DUKE, b. 29 Aug 1856 at Balmain
2. Christopher Terry DUKE, b. 12 Oct 1860 at Balmain
So James Vivian disappears sometime between 1843 and 1855. Is there a record of his death, or any other info post-1843? Or could he be my gt-gt-gt-grandfather?
Cheers
Nudge
