All responders - John PURCELL is my umpteenth great grandfather. He was born in Co Mayo, Ireland in 1782. I have DNA matches to other people who are descended from one generation earlier than John (most in USA NOW). I won't give chapter and verse regarding provenance as this will make this note far too long, but if you look him up in Family Seach's One World Tree it is all there.
I do not know why nor how he came to be in Great Yarmouth when he married Priscilla PAGE in 1799. Yes that is quite young, but I have done a LOT of work on this man. Supporting evidence of his age abounds. I have a theory regarding an uprising in Co Mayo, with John being sent 'away' to keep him out of trouble, but I have absolutely no proof.
Priscilla died in Jan 1808. No children recorded that I can find.
John joined the army in Yarmouth 28th Nov 1813. The Northamptonshire Regiment (48th Foot) was recruiting all over England. I have read his enlistment papers.
The army records are not complete, but a John PURCELL was with the 48th in Fermoy (Ireland) Dec 1816, then in New South Wales in 1817. He and Ann sailed (waltzed?) to NSW on the Matilda.
I have not clearly identified the Ann who was married to John by the time the regiment left for garrison duty in Australia. This was the first regiment who were allowed (or encouraged) to take the wives of the lesser ranks to the colonies. One theory regarding his marriage is that he married Ann in order to have a wife in the colonies - ie not long before the regiment left Ireland. They were certainly married, as I am CERTAIN the army would not have been transporting de facto partners.
The 2 Australian children were born (I believe) in George Town (northern Tasmania) whilst John was stationed there. John was the pay clerk for George Town. There are a couple of newspaper ads regarding financial stuff where he is named.
Elizabeth died at the age of 6 in India, and William (my ancestor) and John and Ann were back in Yarmouth shortly after that.
One more child was born after they returned to Yarmouth, George or George William in 1825. In 1841 William was in the lock up in Yarmouth (14 days for debt) clearly showing a birthplace of New South Wales.
Yet another theory follows, but I need to explain first that (1) I was born and lived in Yarmouth for my first 10 years (2) I keep in contact with other close relatives from this branch who still live there, two of whom are also researching the family (3) I understand the local Yarmouth Dialect.
My theory regarding the name change is that John well knew his name was PURCELL, but no other people with that name lived in Yarmouth. A few people named POSTLE did though. In the Norfolk dialect, POSTLE and PURCELL would sound almost the same. Hence over time the name simply became POSTLE. To support my linguistic theory, one memorable marriage certificate has the bride named as PARCEL. Also a word that would sound remarkably similar to the other 2 when drawled out by a Yarmouth citizen.
I will gladly answer all queries.