RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: dtcoulson on Wednesday 09 January 19 19:25 GMT (UK)
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Hi people,
I've just received an email from someone who has an alternative fate for William Woodham, whom we discussed in great detail a couple of years ago.
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=761184.msg6125905#msg6125905
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=761184.msg6125905#msg6125905
To remind you, William Woodham (in the UK) was sentenced to transportation in 1829 and then disappeared from history completely. A very thorough search was made through Australia's archives and nothing came up that survived closer scrutiny. The conclusion reached was that William had most likely died in the UK awaiting transportation or had been transported to some colony other than Australia (Barbados was mentioned).
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This new researcher claims that William Woodham was sent to Tasmania in 1830 on a ship called the 'William Glen Anderson'.
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Can someone look into this for me and tell me if the claim makes sense?
I don't know Australian archives well enough to do the research myself.
Thanks for any assistance
-David C
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Can't see a Woodham arriving on that ship, but there is:
William Wadham
Wife Elizabeth and one child at Pusey
Sentenced Wilts 24 July 1830 to 7 yrs transportation for house breaking
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-46$init=CON31-1-46p136 (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-46$init=CON31-1-46p136)
M
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Double up on information,
Deleted ;D
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and from his Indent:
Ploughman, 24yo
Native place near Marlboro' Wilts
Protestant, can read and write
2 brothers and 2 sisters - 1 brother in navy
Father Isaac at native place
http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON14-1-2,95
imgs 83 and 84
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In this marriage permission his name is spelled 'Woodham'
The police number '1306' confirms it as same the person
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON52-1-1p093
M
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Oh My ....... !!! https://www.rootschat.com/forum/Smileys/classic/shocked.gif
That is a perfect hit. All the details associated with those records match what I know about William.
His father was Isaac.
He comes from Wilts.
He was sentenced to seven years.
His wife is/was Elizabeth and he had a son.
There are some questions I want to ask but I need to view your posts again which I can't do while this response post is open.
-DC
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William Wadham
Wife Elizabeth and one child at Pusey
His son (left behind in UK) spelled his name as Wadham on at least one record that I have.
Where is Pusey?????
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William Wadham
Wife Elizabeth and one child at Pusey
His son (left behind in UK) spelled his name as Wadham on at least one record that I have.
Where is Pusey?????
There's a Pusey in Oxfordshire of it may be a misspelling of Pewsey not far from Marlborough in Wiltshire?
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https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-46$init=CON31-1-46p136 (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-46$init=CON31-1-46p136)
Am having trouble deciphering the curly handwriting.
Can anyone transcribe this for me?
I can make out bits here and there but not all.
-DC
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[/quote]
There's a Pusey in Oxfordshire of it may be a misspelling of Pewsey not far from Marlborough in Wiltshire?
[/quote]
ANOTHER PERFECT HIT!
I did not recognise it as a misspelling of Pewsey.
Pewsey is where William lived in the decade before he was sent off to Aus.
The proof is overwhelming!
-DC
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https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-46$init=CON31-1-46p136 (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-46$init=CON31-1-46p136)
Am having trouble deciphering the curly handwriting.
Can anyone transcribe this for me?
I can make out bits here and there but not all.
-DC
It also reads "in prison before" ..."Once for stealing wine 12 months"
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The red writing - "Transported for house breaking. Gaol report indifferent.Connex? (connections?) In prison before. Hulk report good. Married one child. Stated this offence house breaking. Once for stealing wine 12 months. Wife Elizabeth at Pusey. Married one child"
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http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON14-1-2,95
imgs 83 and 84
How ever did you manage to find his name in such a big file??
-DC
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[/quote]
It also reads "in prison before" ..."Once for stealing wine 12 months"
[/quote]
Yet another hit!
William was indeed imprisoned previously and I think it was for 12 months.
Some kind of stealing offence.
-DC
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black writing - "January 12 1832 WG Walker (his master)/appearing to prefer a frivolous & vexatious complaint against his master. Rep(reprimanded?)MSH?(magistrate's initials)
February 8th 1836 TL(ticket of leave) Having been in a public house, Admonished/AWH
Free certificate ?? 1846"
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In this marriage permission his name is spelled 'Woodham'
The police number '1306' confirms it as same the person
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON52-1-1p093
Just to be clear, how can you be sure this is a marriage application?
-DC
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Is there any way to determine if he stayed in Tas or returned to the UK?
Also, his son migrated to NZ in 1860.
Is there any way to investigate whether the son or father ever tried to cross the ditch
to meet each other? My guess is that the two were completely cut off from each other.
The son lived out his life in NZ.
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Is there any way to determine if William stayed in Tas or returned to the UK?
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In this marriage permission his name is spelled 'Woodham'
The police number '1306' confirms it as same the person
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON52-1-1p093
Just to be clear, how can you be sure this is a marriage application?
-DC
CON52 is 'Registers of Applications for Permission to Marry'
https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/tas/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fARCHIVES_SERIES$002f0$002fCON52/one (https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/tas/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fARCHIVES_SERIES$002f0$002fCON52/one)
His is marked 'EO' for 'Ecclesiastical Objection' most likely because his convict record shows him as married. The church in Tasmania at this time would ask to see applicant's convict records and refuse to marry them if they thought they were already married
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Is there any way to determine if William stayed in Tas or returned to the UK?
Trove digitised historical newspaper mentions of him in Tasmania, with the latest possible one I can see at this stage being a court case in 1847
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/result?q=%22william+wadham%22&exactPhrase=&anyWords=¬Words=&requestHandler=&dateFrom=&dateTo=1880-12-31&l-advstate=Tasmania&sortby=dateDesc
Add: or possibly him in a jury 1866
1866 'SUPREME COURT.', The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 - 1880), 28 April, p. 3. , viewed 10 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72359648
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I saw the date Sept 10 on the marriage objection but I didn't see the year.
Can you see elsewhere on the page what year that was?
-DC
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I saw the date Sept 10 on the marriage objection but I didn't see the year.
Can you see elsewhere on the page what year that was?
-DC
There are 2 marriage permission records for William Wadham, 1840 and 1842
https://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=william&qu=wadham&qf=NI_INDEX%09Record+type%09Marriage+Permissions%09Marriage+Permissions# (https://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=william&qu=wadham&qf=NI_INDEX%09Record+type%09Marriage+Permissions%09Marriage+Permissions#)
The 1842 one has the note "cannot approve on account of Wm Wadham's certificate"
Not sure what that means but it may be that he did not yet have his certificate of freedom - it was available for him in 1837...
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65949784
...but he doesn't look to have collected it until 1846?
M
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2 brothers and 2 sisters - 1 brother in navy
Father Isaac at native place
Just confirmed from my family tree that he had two brothers and two sisters.
-DC
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There are 2 marriage permission records for William Wadham, 1840 and 1842
...
The 1842 one has the note "cannot approve on account of Wm Wadham's certificate"
Not sure what that means but it may be that he did not yet have his certificate of freedom - it was available for him in 1837...
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65949784
...but he doesn't look to have collected it until 1846?
Maybe he'd caused some trouble during his sentence that inspired people to extend it?
And regards the certificate, maybe it had details of his marriage in the UK?
Am also wondering about the conditions of his imprisonment.
Would he have been kept in a work camp or do you think he had a degree of freedom to go around on his own? One of the documents we looked at said he had a master and it occurs to me he might have been used as a servant for some officer.
So we know he survived at least until 1846?
-DC
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Any additional sentencing would show on his conduct record, and there's nothing there
He arrived here during the assignment period where well-enough behaved convicts were assigned as workers for settlers. After a term they could get a Ticket of Leave allowing them to work as if free, but under restrictions
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William received his ticket of leave in November 1835.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232801158
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Great Result :) Well Done, :D
JM
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Have been thinking about the latter years of Wm Wadham... how long he might have lived and what he might have done with his time.
There is a family tree in Ancestry that says he died in Victoria Australia, and identifies him as the husband of Elizabeth Whitebread (the woman he married in England in the 1820s). Therefore I know this is the same man as the one we are looking for.
Can anyone take a look at that for me and obtain a year? I don't have an Ancestry subscription.
BTW,
There are dozens of mentions of a Wm Wadham in South Australia 1850-1895.
The obit for this fellow shows he is a different man of the same name.
-DC
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Have been thinking about the latter years of Wm Wadham... how long he might have lived and what he might have done with his time.
There is a family tree in Ancestry that says he died in Victoria Australia, and identifies him as the husband of Elizabeth Whitebread (the woman he married in England in the 1820s). Therefore I know this is the same man as the one we are looking for.
Can anyone take a look at that for me and obtain a year? I don't have an Ancestry subscription.
BTW,
There are dozens of mentions of a Wm Wadham in South Australia 1850-1895.
The obit for this fellow shows he is a different man of the same name.
-DC
What were his folk’s names?
No William WADHAM deaths on VICBDM.
No William WOODHAM to fit either.
Jamjar
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Tree says 14 Feb 1894, Ararat
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So far as I can see, William never spelled his name in any other way but 'Wadham'.
It is his son Charles that modified this to Woodham.
Charles was born a year before his father was sent away and therefore never really knew him.
He would have had to work out the spelling of his name as he grew up.
(The life of Charles has been pretty well researched before so please don't go hunting for him).
Oh! One exception springs to mind:
In 1833 William's wife in England appears on a parish register as Elizabeth Woodham.
The spelling was no doubt decided by the person keeping records.
-DC
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83 1894 WODEM Wm parents unknown Arat Hosp Aged 80
Jamjar
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Possibly him here "Drunkeness..."
1867 'CITY POLICE COURT.', The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), 26 September, p. 7. , viewed 10 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article185503571
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You could email here to see if they have record of his burial. Maybe he’s buried with someone:
https://www.ararat.vic.gov.au/ararat-cemetery-trust
Jamjar
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I see no VIC marriage, under the various surnames, for him.
Was he eventually granted permission to marry in TAS?
Jamjar
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83 1894 WODEM Wm parents unknown Arat Hosp Aged 80
Jamjar
Age is way wrong: My William was born in 1806.
He was a father by 1829. He'd be fifteen years old according to your Hosp age.
There was another William Wadham, a gentleman, who died in South Australia in 1895.
He was born in 1810 or so.
My William's father was Isaac. I can;t remember the mother just yet. I can look it up.
His Australian descendants would have no idea of the names of his parents
as the parents lived in England.
-DC
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New information from my contact in Australia,
who has good but not totally conclusive evidence
she is a descendant of the man we are talking about.
William marries under the surname WARREN in 1843 (Launceston),
presumably to get around the marriage
restrictions placed upon him. Marries a Mary Gifford.
They have two daughters born in Tasmania:
Marianne Wadden in 1843 & Catherine Wadham circa 1846.
A third daughter, Elizabeth Wadham is born in Victoria in 1850.
This means the family moved to the mainland 1846-1850.
Earlier in this discussion we noted that our William picked up
a document in 1846 certifying his release from his sentence some years earlier.
It could be that he needed this document to be permitted to leave.
My contact links this man with the death of a William Wadham in Ararat hospital February 1894.
The details on the death cert are consistent with what we know about the man from Tasmania.
*HOWEVER* though the trail of data is good, it has not been possible to absolutely prove that the man who died in Ararat is the man who was transported to Tasmania in 1831.
Can anyone double-check and verify that data I have provided and find a conclusive connection
between the Victoria Wadhams and the Tasmania convict?
-DC
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William Warren signs the marriage register in 1843 with 'his X mark' and I'll check again but I'm fairly sure his convict record says he can read and write - so I'm doubtful about this being the right William
https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-3p32j2k
also note that Elizabeth Wadham born Victoria 1850 had a sister Mary Anne registered at the same time, reg nums 25799 and 25800
M
Add: His indent does list him as being able to read and write
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These are all the convict records available online for William Wadham from the Libraries Tasmania site with image numbers noted to save searching
Appropriation list
http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON27-1-5,128
image 97
Conduct record
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-46$init=CON31-1-46p136 (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-46$init=CON31-1-46p136)
Description list
http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON18-1-21,304
image 129
Indent
http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON14-1-2,95
images 83 & 84
Muster roll
http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/ImageViewer/image_viewer.htm?CON13-1-5,201
image 98
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William Warren signs the marriage register in 1843 with 'his X mark' and I'll check again but I'm fairly sure his convict record says he can read and write - so I'm doubtful about this being the right William
https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-3p32j2k
Add: His indent does list him as being able to read and write
Quite right. Some of us discussed this off forum and noted that the William Woodham who
married in the UK in 1828 (before transportation) also signed with an X,
implying he could not write. So there is contradicting evidence over his literacy.
If the William Warren that married in 1843 is not our William Wadham using a false name,
we then have to ask why this man would give the surname Wadham to his children.
-DC
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Thanks for the documents, Matthew.
Feels like I know the fellow quite well now.
Even know what he looked like!
-DC