I am the great-great-great-granddaughter of George Barnett and Elizabeth Bacon.
George and his brother Jonathan were indeed convicted of horse stealing which was a capital crime at the time. In their case the sentence was commuted to transportation for life (he was transported in 1825, aboard the Medina). In Van Dieman's land he was assigned first to Captain Clarke at Bothwell and then to Philip Anstey at Oatlands. George's convict and transportation records are easy to find online -- the UK government has digitized records of transported convicts and you can even read about his conduct and punishments on board.
Elizabeth (b. 1812-1859) was tried and convicted in Surrey in April 1832 and arrived in Van Dieman's Land on the Frances Charlotte in Jan 1833 with her infant Jonathan. She was assigned to the "Female Factory" (House of Correction) in Hobart and young Jonathan would die there (I have his death certificate; he died in April 1834 and the Female Factory is listed as the place of death).
Elizabeth's story can be found in the wonderful database of Female Convicts in Van Dieman's land (
https://femaleconvicts.org.au/). But her convict and transportation records have also been digitized and can be found online in the UK convict and transportation databases. One hand written report states:
Transported for stealing four silver tea spoons, one blue moreen bed curtain, one linen sheet,one linen pillowcase and two table knives. Gaol report indifferent. Single. One child. Stated this offense flg (?) silver spoons. "They were given to me by my master’s son to provide for my child. My master asked me to swear the child to somebody else and said he would not prosecute me if I did which I refused to do." Orderly on board. Single.
Perhaps I'm reading too much into this brief account but it seems pretty clear that she was impregnated by her master or his son, that the son gave her some valuable items ostensibly to support the child but actually to frame her, and then when she was "caught" with the items, the master pressured her to lie and say the child was someone else's, but she refused. This information was apparently reported to the gaoler after the trial and did not come out in the trial. She was given a 7 year sentence, the minimum for transportation. The convict description says she was 4'11'' with red hair and grey eyes.
After the Female Factory, she was assigned to Philip Anstey in Oatlands. George Barnett was also assigned to Anstey so presumably they met there. They would have 4 children in Oatlands (Mary Ann, Bridget, William and Elizabeth). After obtaining their freedom they took the family to Adelaide in 1845 where my great-great-grandmother Sarah Ann Mary Barnett was born in 1848. In 1853 the family returned to Launceston on the Yarra Yarra (the passenger manifest is online). Elizabeth would die there in 1859 but the Cypress Street Cemetery where she was buried has not been maintained and her grave cannot be identified.
George and at least some of the children would then head to gold country in Victoria (Campbell's Creek/Kangaroo Gully/Kangaroo Flat area). George died in 1874 and was buried in the Kangaroo Flat Cemetery which I visited last year. But the cemetery, which suffered a fire, is in a state of disrepair and his grave cannot be located.
George and Elizabeth's daughter Bridget and husband James Shelton raised a large family in Kangaroo Flat. Bridget's death in 1918 is reported here:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219781658?searchTerm=bridget%20shelton.
Note that the obituary states that she came from Adelaide to Kangaroo Flat. That's not quite true. In fact her family went from Adelaide to Launceston, where she married James Shelton in 1853 and had her first daughter Elizabeth (named after her mother) in 1854. Only later, presumably after mother Elizabeth's death in 1859, did George and the family head to Kangaroo Flat in Victoria.
In 1992, the descendants of Bridget Barnett and James Shelton (and thus, the descendants of George Barnett and Elizabeth Bacon) held a large family reunion in Kangaroo Flat.
As I mentioned I am descended from George and Elizabeth's youngest child, Sarah. She would marry Alfred Pike in Campbell's Creek but she was widowed at a young age. Her son, Alfred Pike Jr., was my mother's grandfather. Sarah would marry again only to be widowed within a couple of years. She married a third time and is buried in Sydney with her daughter.
I hope this information is helpful and of interest.
