Convict or Free Settler?

[Suewarsash]

I am trying to find out more about EDMUND VIMPANY.  He was born in England in 1812 and by 1834 he was in Hobart Tasmania,  I have his life and descendents from then on quite well documented but I would like to find out when and why he went to Tas.

There is also a CHARLES VIMPANY who was convicted at the Old Bailey for grand larceny in 1833. He arrived in Van Dieman's Land on the John Barry in 1834.  He seems to have been given his freedom by 1842 but I can find nothing more about him after that date.

Both men are listed as coming from Gloucester, England and I feel sure they must have been related.

Any further information on either of them would be gratefully received.

Sue

[sparrett]

Hi, Others will be able to help better than me on your enquiries, but thought you may not have seen these Vimpany headstone references.  - as a starter anyway.

http://eheritage.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/

Sue

[PrueM]

Hi Sue,

How do you know he was in Tas in 1834?  Did he get married or have children?
If he was a convict then he would have had to apply for permission to marry, so there should be some paperwork dealing with that, but the Tas Archives index shows nothing under the name VIMPANY.  The only VIMPANY showing on their convict index is Charles.

He may have gone to Tas to be with his (possible) brother, and/or on one of the British government immigration schemes.  My own g-g-g-g-grandfather and his family came to Tas in 1832 on such a scheme, for Chelsea Pensioners. 

Prue

[PrueM]

P.S.  You might want to check out Jenny Fawcett's site:

http://www.hotkey.net.au/~jwilliams4/ozzlinks.htm#TAS

This is an index to names found in old Tas newspapers, you may be lucky and find something out there.  She also has some passenger lists etc. on her site. I've found a few nice little snippets about my family there.

[Suewarsash]

Thank you for your reply.  I know he was in Tas by 1834 because a son James was born to his future wife, Sarah Wiggins (Little).  They could not marry because Sarah was already married to James Little. 

I will have a look at the web site you suggest.

If Charles was his brother, is it likely he would have sailed to be with him, I mean, did such things happen?

Sue

[PrueM]

Hi Sue,
I think it was reasonably common to have paying passengers on convict ships, so that's always a possibility.  If you know what ship Charles came out on, you could see if there is a passenger list for it and whether Edmund is on it.
Prue

[Suewarsash]

Hi Prue,

Thanks for your reply - I know that Charles arrived on the John Barry in August 1834 because I have been lucky enough to get a copy of his record.  Unfortunately, I cannot find passenger/convict lists for the John Barry either on the Ships List site or Jenny Fawcett's site.  If Edmund went on some sort of assisted immigration scheme, can you suggest how I can check this out please.

Many thanks
Sue

[PrueM]

Hi Sue 

If you search this site: http://www.blaxland.com/ozships/  for the "John Barry" you will find four primary sources listed which reference its arrival in 1834...click on "Contents" in the left-hand menu, and then "Shipping Indexes > Vessel Index" to find your ship.  The "Help" topic on the left-hand menu should tell you what the references are.  You could check those references if you can find them in the library or wherever, and see what further information there might be about who was on board.

I checked the Bounty Immigrants List on Ancestry.co.uk but Edmund is not listed there.  This was the main government immigration scheme at the time.  There were  lots of private immigration schemes too, so you might have to spend a morning doing a search of the Tas Archives or Library catalogues and see if you can spot him.

I would say though that convicts were very well documented, at all stages of their convicted lives, so if your Edmund was a convict I think you would have found records of that by now.  The questions now are whether he was an assisted or unassisted immigrant, or did he come out as ship's crew?  You may never find out, but I think you can draw the conclusion that he was free when he came out here 

Prue

[Suewarsash]

Hi Prue,

Thank you very much for your very prompt reply.  I will follow your suggestions.

Thanks to all the Rootschatters who are always so very helpful.

Sue