MERRIMAN Samuel born abt 1817, England

[mareanna]

I am trying to track a Samuel MERRIMAN born abt 1817 in Leicestershire.  He was convicted at Leicester courts in March 1844 and sentenced to 15 years transportation.  He appears to have been on board the Barossa, sailing in May 1844 to Van Dieman's Land.  I think he may then either have been shipped to NSW or perhaps settled in Australia.  He was pardoned after just over 9 years in to his sentence (the online record doesn't show where he was though).

Can anyone look up Census returns  to see if he did stay in Australia and perhaps marry??  I've looked for a marriage in NZ but found nothing there and nothing back in England to suggest that he returned.   

[kala]

Hello,

Have you checked his Convict records at TAHO?

http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au/menu.aspx?search=11

http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au/menu.aspx?detail=1&type=C&id=49199

He has the following digitised files you can access:

Conduct Record: CON33/1/59 
Indent: CON14/1/8 
Description List: CON18/1/40

 

[Siouxsie]

Hi,
A Samuel Merriman also married and had kids in Tasmania......although I can't be totally sure this is your Samuel . He married in 1861 when your Sam would have been 44.

In 1861 at WESTBURY,Tasmania  Samuel Merriman married Ellen Barry

Westbury is near Launceston.

They had two children (with Sarah's details registered twice with differing spelling) : 

MERRIMAN,  SARAH ANN in 1861   (registration number :393707)   
MERRYMAN SARAH ANN in   1861 (registration number : 393814   )
MERRIMAN CAROLINE ELLEN in 1863 (registration number : 393701)

You can find this information at http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au/menu.aspx?search=8

Cheers
Siouxsie

[~MERLIN~]

This marriage fits with his age:

MERRYMAN SAMUEL age 36 yrs married  ANNON BRIDGET age 30yrs   16 Apr 1855   HOBART #273/1855 RGD 37

[Siouxsie]

....Ahhh the other spelling....this couple don't appear to have had a family (or died prior to 1900) in Tasmania....wonder where they moved on to?

Cheers
Siouxsie

[~MERLIN~]

There is a death for Bridget:

MERRIMAN BRIDGET age 72yrs d. 4 Apr 1891 HOBART #465/1891 RGD 35

Back to the other spelling...

Can't see any children to them though.

[mareanna]

Yeah, found him    Thank you all so very much for the pointers and clues where to look.  Duly noted that although the convict details are in alphabetical order of surname, once within a letter, the names are in no particular order.  Took a while for that penny to drop.

Despite con(viction) records giving the wrong age at one point, (37 not 27) and his birth place as Emerton, Derbyshire (should be Hemmington, Nottinghamshire) the real give away was in the Indent(ity) details and the further notes that show his mother and father, and his siblings, all spot on with my records and his correct age.  Another error on the 1841 Census for England also conspired to give a wrong transcribed age as 30 not 20 - they were rounded down and a check with the actual record gives his true age as 24.  I've ordered his marriage certificate (surname in the GRO as Meryman) to an Ann(e) and a birth certificate for their son Joseph (b1840).
So Sam did not marry in VDL, Australia or NZ, but did his wife and child travel out, where did they live, did they have more children??  Can't see them on the census returns in England.

Once again many grateful thanks.  This is now the second person we have found in our tree to have been forceably removed, hopefully he is the second to have found a new life and family down south.

Mareanna

[sparrett]

Hi mareanna,

So Sam did not marry in VDL, Australia or NZ, but did his wife and child travel out, where did they live, did they have more children??  Can't see them on the census returns in England. MAREANNA..

Would like to comment if I may.

The fact that you have found a marriage for this man in UK, does not necessarily  mean that he did not marry again in Australia or NZ.

The cost of bringing a family to Australia in those times was very high (assuming of course that the other half wanted to come at all) and many couples decided to let the past stay in the past and remarry. Both those in UK and here in Australia did so and there was an understanding loosely known as the seven year rule where a spouse who had not been heard of for seven years could be presumed dead and the other free to remarry.
Many did not wait for the seven years and there were frequent bigamous unions.
When you establish the maiden  name of ANNE, you may try searching to see if she married again in England under that or her MERYMAN name.

Sue

[mareanna]

Thank you all for this information.  Samuel is not on any subsequent census returns for England, nor his wife Ann(e) or son Joseph.  It's quite possible Ann remarried, Joseph may have died or been "adopted" by another Merriman family.  Sam's records on the other hand indicate he was pardoned 17 January 1854, one of the last remarks mentions Hogan Sandy Bay.  Further up, in red ink, it says "not to reside south of Bridgewater".  Pittwater is mentioned a few times too. 

I don't have an eye for reading old handwriting, and there are abbreviations and shortened words/phrases too.  I can make out "absent without leave from his master's premises at night. Hard lab (then something I can't make out) 6/10/48"