RootsChat.Com

I've enjoyed reading all your comments and notes.  I've always thought stout people were short, but of course whoever the transcriber was, it might have meant something slightly different to them. If she was skimming food all I can say is "good on her", lucky she wasn't caught!

It was regarding appearance, and I couldn't work out the word next to fr(esh) bro(wn) gr(een). The others on the page were all slender, however she is 5/6 height - quite tall for a woman - and I guess it might be stocky! or solid?

I have a lot of information on Susan Doherty Birch, it’s John , her partner/husband who is the mystery.
I know that Susan MARRIED Walter Neiles in Tasmania 1848, I have found a record for a baby Walter born 1848 and dying 1850 in Tasmania. There was a second child - Sarah Jane Neiles -so I’m assuming this child was also Walters’. She remains with Susan, travelling to the Victorian goldfields and marrying etc etc. Then in 1853 a child is born to Susan Doherty and John Birch , his name Joseph Henry Birch. I must say I cannot find birth records for Sarah or Joseph so I’m thinking that maybe Susan and John weren’t that fussed about registering properly? I think that because I suspect that John and Susan didn’t officially marry either! After baby Walter died I suspect Susan and Walter Neiles relationship broke down. Would appear he went to NZ, and she went to Victoria with John Birch (and started calling herself Birch ). The only family member I can find official records for is Emma Jane Birch , my relative, born in 1856. It’s her records that have provided me with the little information I have on John Birch. I was hoping the records for Sarah and Joseph could be found and might provide more clues.
Also, John Birch states his occupation in 1856 on Emma’s birth certificate is “servant” - which sounds strange. Could it mean “ servant of her majesty” or in other words still a convict?
And, on her marriage record his occupation is “miner” - this is in 1878, but on her death certificate (she died tragically in 1884 at 28 years of age) he is stated as being a “storekeeper”. My question is: if he died in 1863 as Susan claimed in a court document I have found, would it be noted that he was already deceased on Emma’s records? I thought so, but then maybe Susan is lying about him being dead. She is a very colourful character so maybe fabricating a back story isn’t beyond her!
I just don’t know when John Birch arrived in Australia, how he got there ( was he a free settler, convict, soldier, born there? ) and when or where he died. Just that he was born in Armagh, Ireland about 1809.

Thank you but neither of these John Birch’s are mine. The Bangalore one is the Bermuda one, died in Geelong Gaol in 1883, he was 31 y.o when he arrived in 1848 making his birth year approx 1817, and native place is Shoreditch. The Palmyra one also is from Shoreditch but was 20 y.o when he arrived in 1846 , so born about 1826, again too young. My John Birch, in 1856 on Emma’s birth cert he states his age as 47 - making him born approx 1809. Also he states he is from  Armagh, Ireland. He couldn’t read or write as he marks an X as signature.
Believe me when I say I have checked all the records I have found with no joy. But I’ll accept any other suggestions!