James Sidebottom (or Sidebotham)

[felicia smith]

John smith as I know him by is a descendant of my late grandfather Keith William smith as I am still trying to put it into place all I know is when he was transported to Sydney nsw he married a woman by the name of Mary Brian/furber after johns wife passed he remarried Mary in Sydney at parramatta then he went on to become chief countable in Sydney then he was transferd to Newcastle where he is now buried in an Anglican cemetery at the cathedral but unfortunately he is buried under neath the there

[Brutus]

Hi Felicia,
    You have some of the names right, but it's a bit different and more complicated.  Easy to put right from memory, if I still have one!!!
    A female convict named  Elizabeth Dean (or Deane) was transported on the (in)famous "Lady Juliana", and a convict named Anthony Bryan (or Brion or Brian) on the "Surprise", both arrived Oz circa 1790.  That is what is nominally called the "second fleet", except it wasn't a fleet.  They got together somehow, and had a child Mary, and 3 more.  (That I know of).
    Their daughter Mary Bryan married a William Phillip Furber, who arrived on the 'hell ship' "Neptune".  The marriage was at a very young age.  They had 1 child, George Furber.  Then Furber died, and Mary Furber, nee Bryan, married John Sidebotham, who was calling himself John Smith by then, at Paramatta.  As far as I know John Smith didn't have a previous wife, and certainly no legit children.
    Then he got into more trouble, and was transported to Newcastle, the penal colony for the penal colony.  Once there, he impressed the commandant, Morisset, and was made Chief Constable.  (He seems to have decided at that point that "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em".   Much follows from there.
    About his death.  I'm not entirely sure of the final details, but he was buried in what was then the Cathedral Cemetery.  Then, some years later, the old Cathedral burned down.  An ignorant or corrupt administration, before the existing much larger cathedral was built, 'bulldozed' the whole place.  (Or whatever they did in those days, probably a team of draught-horses with a scoop).  The headstones were all dumped somewhere, and there was something in recent media about them being recovered and re-erected somewhere, but I haven't kept up with that.
Regards,   "Brutus"