Woodham family - Wiltshire 1800s - completely disappears

[dtcoulson]

oh yes and while we're discussing it,

ANCESTRY showed me evidence of a William Woodham from Wiltshire who was sent as a convict to NSW Australia in 1799, arriving the next year. There are two applications for convict marriage bearing the name William Woodham that could be the same or different men. One is the case you have discovered. I don't have a date for the other.

I am inclined to think that the William you discovered is the man sent down south in 1799.
If he were to be my William then we are faced with the predicament of a man convicted and transported and applying for marriage all within the 11 months since his son was conceived.
OTOH if it is the man sent to Aus in 1799, then he is considerably older than his Australian wife (thirty years or so).

-DC

[LizzieL]

"husband transported, not father of child". 

I think, you are right and that it means he was transported to Australia and therefore couldn't have been James's father. If that was the case, he must have been transported between Sept 1829 and a least 9 months before James's birth.

Elizabeth seems to be having a relationship with another man after William was transported, maybe she lived with him as his wife and the family assumed his surname.

[groom]

oh yes and while we're discussing it,

ANCESTRY showed me evidence of a William Woodham from Wiltshire who was sent as a convict to NSW Australia in 1799, arriving the next year. There are two applications for convict marriage bearing the name William Woodham that could be the same or different men. One is the case you have discovered. I don't have a date for the other.

I am inclined to think that the William you discovered is the man sent down south in 1799.
If he were to be my William then we are faced with the predicament of a man convicted and transported and applying for marriage all within the 11 months since his son was conceived.
OTOH if it is the man sent to Aus in 1799, then he is considerably older than his Australian wife (thirty years or so).

-DC

Can't be as the man marrying in 1829 was only born in 1798!

[dtcoulson]

Well done, Groom. Somehow I didn't catch that when I read the earlier entries.

Familysearch gives a number of suitable births for William Woodham in 1798 or close, none in Wiltshire.

I am scratching my head and wondering where I got the birth year of 1809 from.
If I let this go and assume he was born elsewhere in 1798 and moved to Easton Royal, then the story ties together nicely.

-DC

[dtcoulson]

[1]
William Westley Woodham
b 24 May 1797 bapt 9 Sep 1798 The Old Meeting House, Presbyterian, Haverhill, Suffolk
son of William & Ann Woodham




[2]
William Woodham
bpt 18 Nov 1798 St Phillip and St Jacob, Bristol, Gloucester
son of Samuel & Ann Woodham



I suppose the thing to do now is see which of these fellows appears in the 1841 census.


-DC

[dtcoulson]

I just noticed in Familysearch that the William Woodham born in Cholderton 1809 appears in the 1851 census with a family of his own. This rules out 1809 as the birth year for my William Woodham who seems ever more likely to be the man sent to Australia, born in 1798.

-DC

[majm]

Re : William WOODHAM and the Application to Marry and further info

The image shows the application was dated in 1842.  The application was granted.  They married 21st March 1842.  The groom’s age was 23, and the bride’s age was 24. 

Re William's bride : Her name was recorded as Bridget McGRATH.  She had arrived per the ship Margaret in 1839, under a sentence.   

Re William
He had arrived per the ship Hope. 

They were married at St John's C of E, Parramatta, Rev H H Bobart.   William WOODHAM was a bachelor, and he signed his name.   Bridget McGrath was a widow and she made her mark.

The bride’s 27 July 1845 Certificate of Freedom shows as wife of William WOODHAM her living with her husband, in King St, Sydney, NSW.   

The municipal electoral rolls for King Street, Sydney for 1845 show William WOODHAM in King Street Sydney. 

http://www.bda-online.org.au/

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=369703.0


JM    I will post same on your thread on the Australia Board.

[dtcoulson]

I'm going to try and summarise what we have so far, regarding William Woodham.

Born 1798, as indicated by Australian records as well as prison record.
The latter suggested he was born in Wiltshire.
(The birth in 1808 was a red herring).

Married in Easton Royal in 1828 as indicated on FamilySearch.
An adjacent record appears to have a spelling mistake,
William Bircham, and suggests a different location.

Served time in prison, 1819 & 1828-1830, separate occasions.

Probably though not necessarily transported to NSW 1829,
as indicated by comment in OPC, Wiltshire. 
(realise this clashes partially with the prison story)
Possibly married there in 1829.

This all seems to happen in a very narrow period of time,
which I personally find a bit of a challenge to accept,
but it works better than any alternatives.



That leaves us to ponder the life of William's English wife, thought to be Elizabeth Whitebread on the basis that her surname is carried down into the grandchildren generation.

Such a person was born in Wiltshire in 1809 according to FindMyPast but not in Easton Royal according to the OPC. The OPC contains several births within the local tribe of Whitebreads but Elizabeth is not one of them. I think I saw it on FamilySearch that she was born in 'Grey Easton', presumably not far from Easton Royal.

However I just saw on FindMyPast an Elizabeth Woodham who lived 1810-1826, dying in Wiltshire.
I am thinking that this is the Elizabeth Whitebread said to be born in Wiltshire in 1809, in which case we may be looking for an entirely different person.

Doing a search in GRO's new database I found an Elizabeth Woodham born 1800 who dies in Risbridge Union in 1847. A quick lookup on Google revealed that Risbridge Union is (or contains) a poorhouse in Suffolk,  a place I can imagine the wife of a transported convict to end up.

However this is all a matter of weaving a story through some convenient data.
I may be looking at data from two or three Elizabeths.

I'd be interested in your opinions and suggestions.

-DC

[majm]

...
Probably though not necessarily transported to NSW 1829,
as indicated by comment in OPC, Wiltshire. 
(realise this clashes partially with the prison story)
Possibly married there in 1829. ....

NO record of any convict arrival for a William WOODHAM to NSW in the 'right' timeframe.
NO record of any marriage for a William WOODHAM in NSW in 1829.

The William WOODHAM from Wiltshire who was transported to NSW and who arrived in NSW in  came of the second transport voyage of the Royal Admiral arriving Sydney 22 November 1800.   His records are digitised and freely available at NSW Archives.   From the online INDEX he was aged 45 years at the time of that trial.  The date on the index for that trial is 09/03/1799.  He received a sentence of 7 years beyond the seas.    He MAY HAVE received an Absolute Pardon (ie was free to return to Britain) on 1 Mar 1804.  There were TWO chaps named William WOODHAM at that time.  The other was from Surrey.   ** See Below   


http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/registry-records.aspx
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/location/1927080?region=Australia

https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/
https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-and-indexes/convict-indents-digitised-index

** The William WOODHAM tried Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey had an alias : William GLASTON.  His sentence was for Life, and trial date was 20 March 1797.  He arrived per Hillsborough 29 July 1799.   See INDEX http://www.bda-online.org.au/ 

I have not yet found a William WOODHAM marrying Ellen McALOONE in 1829 as per

I wonder? There is a William Woodham who was granted permission to marry in 1829 in New South Wales. His bride was 19. He had been sentenced to 7 years transportation.

William Woodham
Age:   31
Birth Year:   Abt 1798
Spouse:   Ellen McAloone
Request Status:   Granted
Date of Permission/Refusal:   27 Nov 1829

Might be worth asking on the Australian board if they can help as they may have access to convict records. Link it back to this thread.

       JM mentions that it is sinply a mis-read by Ancestry.   

According to NSW State Archives INDEX , Ellen McALOONE's 1829 application to marry was for a marriage with  William WOODHOUSE.   It was at St Johns C of E, Parramatta.   Ancestry have uploaded the parish register for St Johns.  The Rev Marsden conducted the marriage.  The register shows William WOODHOUSE.   The signature is a bit of a scrawl towards the end of the surname but MAY at a push be mis-read as WOODHOUS, and at a greater "need new specs" push as WOODHAM.    The register shows the groom arrived on the Earl St Vincent and was 30 years of age.   

On Ellen McALOONE's Certificate of Freedom (issued in 1833, #147) she is noted as the wife of William WOODHOUSE. 

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTCY-Q6T  WOODHOUSE = MCALOONE 1829.

JM