How many Convicts are you descended from?

[Bellejazz]

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)

  ;  

thanks for responding Andcarred, that was all very informative.

- Belinda.

[trish251]

I have no convicts in my tree      but my husband has a first fleeter who married? a second fleeter. We are unsure as to whether the marriage took place, but if it did it was bigamous as at least one & probably both had a spouse back in England 

Belinda - can you explain your Victorian convict - I didn't think it was a penal Colony? Perhaps he/she was a free settler?

Trish

[MarieC]

I have two convicts - a man and a woman - both were sent to New South Wales.  Interestingly, the man married a daughter of the woman.  Both were from Rowley Regis, Staffs, and were transported for minor crimes.  I'm delighted to have them!

Interestingly, the later family became ultra respectable and there was never a mention of convicts.  I doubt that recent generations knew about them - I certainly didn't until cousin Jennie, who is researching that line, found them!

MarieC

[PrueM]

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.

They were married - Mary had been married at least 3 times in the previous 10 years or so prior to marrying Joseph.  They had two children together, the son drowned aged 6 and I am descended from their daughter Sarah, born in 1828 

[PrueM]

I do seem to remember someone in the Australian contingent of Rootschat having several convict ancestors...can't recall who it was now, though   

[JAP]

As far as I know, I have no convict ancestry (unfortunately) despite my own (and my children's) earliest (known) ancestors having come here in 1841, some having come ca 1850 and none later than 1890.  I'm still hoping!  The closest is a GggUncle on my children's paternal side who was sentenced to 7 years transportation in 1848 for forgery and uttering - but was pardoned before he set sail (and just a few years later came free and became a successful businessman!)  And, as far as I know, there is only one on either side who married a convict (again, this is on my children's paternal side! - their Gggma); of her three relationships/marriages, the first (a marriage) was with an ex-con, the second (not a marriage and my children's line of descent) was with a chap who doesn't seem to have been a convict, and her third (a marriage) was with an ex-convict but she was past child-bearing age.

I recall that my late mother was always very keen to show the passage certificates of one set of her maternal ancestors (who came in 1850) to prove that they weren't convicts.

I guess the Australian Bureau of Statistics would be able to put some limits on the percentage?  First step would be to discount the % of the current population born overseas (not precise of course - after all, one of my children was born overseas) but at least a rough estimate.  And comparisons of this with similar % in earlier censuses.

I guess that, the further back one can trace one's ancestors in Australia, the more likely it is that there will be some convict connexions.

Family lore had it that Henry HACKING of the 1st Fleet was connected - he married a convict but (unfortunately) he's definitely not an ancestor.

Bellejazz, it's a very interesting question and I hope you get some good answers.

JAP

[Lady Di]

Oh dear  

Me thinks I may be throwing all your theories out the window!

I have 17 confirmed (third Fleet onwards) direct line convicts and one extra possibility

and I'm also proud of every one of them.

Di

 

[Bellejazz]

Belinda - can you explain your Victorian convict - I didn't think it was a penal Colony? Perhaps he/she was a free settler?

Hi Trish,
he was William Smedley, details can be found on this page here: http://www.convictcentral.com/ just type "Smedley" into the search box.

It says they were discharged upon arrival in Williamstown. Does that mean made free?

- Belinda.

[Bellejazz]

ok have done more reading ... I think they were classified as exiles ... are they still convicts? 

- Belinda.