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Hi all,

I was wondering if someone with a bit of knowledge about the historic convict situation in Tasmania might be able to answer a general query I have.

I'm interested in what happened to the families of those men and women convicted of a crime in England and then transported out to Australia. In researching my partner's tree I've come across situations where men who had wives and children in England as well as women with husbands and children in England, were shipped off to Australia and then remarried in Australia and started new families.

Were these new marriages legal? The ones I've seen all had approved "applications to marry" granted to them. Were convicts given divorces from their wives/husbands when they were deported?

Also could the children or spouses of convicts join them in Australia? Could female convicts in particular, take their children with them? One of the convict forms I found seem to suggest that perhaps the three children of one convict mother may have travelled with her though I haven't yet been able to find a passenger list for that trip.

Can anyone help me out on what may have happened back then?

Cheers,

Debs

Hi all,

I'm trying to trace my partner's family tree as a Christmas present and am currently following back the BETTIS family line, which I have just learnt comes from Essex.

According to his convict papers, on 21 May 1844 in Chelmsford, Essex, William BETTIS was put to trial and found guilty of stealing a lamb, being subsequently sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Tasmania, Australia. At the time of his trial he was 22 years old and had a wife Ann and one child, though this didn't stop him from remarrying in Tasmania in 1854.

I don't have currently have access to the Ancestry website so can't check the census records for more details but perhaps someone with a better knowledge of the Essex area (and more experience with old handwriting) could translate some of the fields from the attached image for me.

I know the offence involved stealing a lamb but other than that I'm really struggling with translating the notes. I would particularly like to know if anyone recognises the place name in the field "Native Place".

If anyone has any ideas, or other information about the Bettis family, I'd love to hear from you.

Best wishes of the season,   

Debra

Hi all,

If there is anyone out there with the 1851 unfilmed census records for Lancashire I would dearly love a look-up.

I'm desperately trying to find Christopher EMMETT or EMMOTT who I have been unable to find in any of the filmed census records (despite exhaustive searching). I know he was definitely in Lancashire or Yorkshire, but I have a hunch that he may have perhaps been around Ardwick as that's where his future wife-to-be was living in 1851.

In other records I have noticed the Emmett name spelt in a vast variety of ways so if anyone has access to the unfilmed records I would hugely appreciate a look-up on anyone with a surname beginning with EMM* - I'm casting my net as widely as I can to find this fellow.

Christopher was born in Stanley, Yorkshire on the 5th Feb 1832 and has eluded me for years so any help in finding him would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Debra
Hamilton, New Zealand

Hi all,

If anyone has access to the 1851 & 1861 Census records for Lancashire I would greatly appreciate a look-up.

I'm looking for John McALLISTER - or two of them to be precise. 

The information that I have to work from is:

Name: John McALLISTER
Born: circa 1842, probably in Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Father: John McALLISTER, possibly warehouseman

I was hoping that these two may show up in the 1851 Census where John Jnr would have been around 9 years of age. I know that John Jnr left England for New Zealand around 1863 so he would have hopefully been covered in the 1861 census as well.

If anyone would mind having a look for these two, it would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Debra