How many Convicts are you descended from?

[Bellejazz]

Hi all,

I have found 2 and potentially 3 convicts as my direct ancestors.

I have seen how quickly a family line expands and how many descendants one person can produce .... (how many convicts were transported in total? Has anyone ever attempted to estimate how many Australians/percentage of the population have a convict ancestor?)

Anyway, until I started my research I always thought that it was relatively rare to have a convict ancestor, I never would have thought I would find 3!

Is this typical or does it speak volumes about the general social standing of my ancestors? 
ie: That people of like circumstances/backgrounds gravitated towards each other.

Thanks,
Belinda.

[Bellejazz]

To add to the comment about people of like backgrounds; one of my Convicts was William Smedley, he married Irish famine orphan Margaret Ward, I assume this marriage was determined to be a suitable match because as an Orphan she was of low social standing and she had no family to object to her marrying a convict?

- Belinda.

[Robert Coble]

Belinda
Where and when did this all take place as it hard to search there with out a state there in Australia.
As I have three convicts in my tree ,I am going back in the 1800's there.

[PrueM]

Hi Belinda 

I've got two convicts in my direct tree, my 4xg-grandparents Joseph Danks and Mary Holmes.

Prue

[Bellejazz]

Belinda
Where and when did this all take place as it hard to search there with out a state there in Australia.
As I have three convicts in my tree ,I am going back in the 1800's there.

Bob,  of the 3 convicts I am researching 1 was transported to NSW, 1 to VIC and 1 to TAS. Many of their descendants eventually ended up in VIC. I'm not at home so my records aren't accessible but from memory the NSW one arrived around 1836, and the VIC one around 1847.

The TAS one was quite a bit earlier, in the 1820's.

Anyway I am doing pretty well with my convict research, I was just curious about other peoples experiences and wanting to know if it was unusual to have multiple convicts in your family.

- Belinda.

[Bellejazz]

Hi Belinda 
I've got two convicts in my direct tree, my 4xg-grandparents Joseph Danks and Mary Holmes.
Prue

Hi Prue,
did they marry each other or are they from two separate lines?

regards,
Belinda.

[Lones]

Hi Folks 

I have two sisters that were both convicts, one my gggrandmother.  Her sister came out first and then she came out a couple of years later, she was only 16 yrs old.....  I cannot find much on the gent she married and they later changed their name, so I am somewhat sus about him too, I think he was a bit dodgey!!  .  I also have another possiblity with their son-in-laws father, he could have been too or perhaps not, no idea how he got here either....

I was so happy when I found my first convict, it was a real surprise, I too thought they were pretty rare....     Iwouldn't trade them for a king.......

Cheers

Lones

[Bellejazz]

Hi Lones,
part of the reason I was interested in asking this question is because my Husband (who came here to Australia with his parents in the 1950's and is thoroughly English) was quite surprised when I found the first one. By the time I found the second one he was quite skeptical, and insisted the odds of me having not only one but two in the family was highly unlikely.

I will take great delight in telling him about this thread and how it's not so unlikely after all!
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I haven't told him about the third one yet 

 

- Belinda.

[Andcarred]

Hi Belinda,

Nobody knows the exact number of convicts who came to Australia but a rough estimate is 168,000.  It will probably never be possible to come up with accurate figures as there were so many who died on the voyage, some were sentenced but for all sorts of reasons (ship wreck etc) never arrived, lots brought children who were never entered on passenger lists (mainly Irish).   Then there was Molly Morgan who managed to escape back to England, live there for 6 or 7 years and then get transported again under another name. Do we count her once or twice??

I think someone has estimated that 20% of the present  Aussie population are descended from convicts.  Don't know how scientific this is or just a guess but I feel it might be near the mark.  What do others think?

I have heard of families descended from up to 8 convicts but these were rare and of course in the early years (1788 to 1810), as there were not many free settlers.  The proportion of men to women was also very high so it often didn't matter how old, ugly or alcoholic the women were, they nearly always found a husband (or multiple husbands sometimes)

I am descended from only 2 convicts but they came in the later years of transportation when there were already plenty of free settlers.  Lucky for them conditions of transportation were also very much improved over the early years.

Andcarred