Catherine TOBIN b1787 County Cork.Transported 1817 to VDL [Tasmania].Descendent

[VDLstories]

Hello
I am currently in Cork from Tasmania [Aug-Sept 2010]. I am hoping to meet TOBINS related to me via Catherine TOBIN, my  gggg grandmother, who was sentenced to transportation 4 August 1816 for stealing some muslin.[A long shot!]. It appears she was then 30, born c. 1787. In April that year [1816] more than 300 people were waiting in County Cork for their trials. It was mayhem. 89 Irish women including Catherine, 11 from County Cork, were shipped on the "Canada" that sailed on 21 March 1817 from Queenstown [Cobh] to NSW, then Tasmania on the "Elizabeth Henrietta". The "Canada" reached Sydney in 138 days, on 6 August 1817. I don't know from where in County Cork Catherine Tobin was from, which Parish, or if she had been married previously. She had two daughters in Tasmania in 1820 and 1822. Is anyone missing a gggg aunt from their family tree? Any ideas for how to locate her origins with this scarce information?
Julie

[shanew147]

Not an easy task to start a search for Catherine's origins, due to the the early date and a sparse information. As you've probably already discovered Cork is a large county - so the search for Catherine's family covers a wide area.

Some newspapers may exist from the time, and it might be worth check Cork City Library to see what's available. Often very little detail is mentioned on trials.

Very few church records exist for such early dates (usually cities and large towns have earlier records), and if you found a possible match it would be difficult to prove without other clues - such as her parents names or place of birth.

RC records for the city and west of the county are available on - www.irishgenealogy.ie



Shane

[VDLstories]

Many thanks Shane
Yes - the newspapers have proved interesting, but not shed more light, though two of the 1816 papers at least mention Tobin, the only 'evidence' I have from this side of the world [Ireland] that she existed here. Which was very heartening.

Cork Mercantile Chronicle  Monday 9 Sept 1816
mentions Catherine's sentence, along with others, but not the trial.
[Thanks to Colman O Mahony for this  newspaper idea and information]
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Cork Mercantile Chronicle  Monday 9 Sept 1816

"The following are the convictions in the County Court:
Richard Goswell, Martin Naughton, Edw. Kelleher, Chas. Dawley, Jeremiah Sullivan, Pat Sullivan, manslaughter to be imprisoned 12 months each, and burned in the hand; Jas. Gosnell, Mary and John Lyne, to be imprisoned 6 months; Eliz. Keeffe, Rd. Driscoll, Geo. Clarkson, Michael Coghlan, Dan.McAuliffe, for an attack on the sheriff, to be imprisoned 6 months; Rd. Barry, Jas. and Florence Driscoll, John Danoehy, John Fitzgerland, Andrew Ryan, Catherine Lyne, James Dunn, to be imprisoned three months each; Patrick Sheehan, for an assault, with an intent to commit a rape on Catherine Parker, to be imprisoned a year; Anne Boland, Mary Fitzgerald, Catherine Tobin, Mary Shea, Arthur Keeffe, to be transported for 7 years; Morty Downey, Philip and Patrick Hodnett, and Florence Harrington, fined 1 s each; Patrick Ahern to keep the peace.
Cork Mercantile Chronicle of Monday 9 Sept 1816
unknown page # "
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I am wondering how those transported got such a harsh sentence considering some of the others sound worse than having stolen some muslin to me....

Only 11 of the 89 women aboard were from County Cork. See: http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/confem52.html
I also searched
CORK MORNING INTELLIGENCE
from April to  9 Sept 1816
To try and find a longer account eg: Tobin’s Trial
and on 7 Sept 1816 found the same account as above.

Many of the women on board the ship "Canada" were sentenced 4+ months after they are first mentioned in a newspaper as being charged and by whom. If I could find that [laying of charges] for Catherine I might then have a parish/location via the identity of the person laying the charges.

Julie

[celtic liberty]

Hi Julie,

Have a look at the national archives site there is a section on transportation  http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/transportation/transp8.html

It mentioned Prisoners Petitions and cases (PPC) 1778-1835  files arranged alphabetically by year.  You would need to contact the national archives before going to Dublin to look up the records to see if there is a chance that your Mary Tobin's case could be listed.  They don't do look ups for you.  It just might be worth taking a trip to Dublin to see if you can shed some light on your relations.

Good luck with it

Mary

[VDLstories]

Many thanks Mary,

This is a great research tip, I will check it out and will be going back to Dublin, so can head back into the Archives, though Archives  didn't suggest searching that while I was there last week, and seemed only to have transported Tobins  from the 1830s on their online transportation index:

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/transportation/search01.html

But I didn't know about the other indeix you found:
http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/transportation/transp8.html

I looked up the online 1901 census out of curiosity re: TOBINS today and in 1901 there were 762 Tobins in County Cork and 3859 throughout Ireland. Quite a few.

I will let you know how it pans out, thanks again for this advice and info about this  I am hopeful, I would have petitioned if I got 7 years transportation for stealing some cloth!

Julie

[celtic liberty]

Hopefully Mary's case is amongst those listed.

It will probably be a bit tedious going through the records manually but if they are listed alphabetically it will be easier.

I would be inclined to contact the archives section in advance in case you make a wasted journey. 

Also if you are travelling to Dublin ( seeing as you are not a native!!) if you are going by train look up iarnrod eireann site to try to get the €10 tickets for single journey.  To get these value tickets you need to book online and print off your ticket. I'm sure a return regular ticket is as much as €65 .
Also you could choose to fly with Ryanair where you might  get a return ticket for as little as €12.   Usually you need to book well in advance to get flights this cheaply.  I am not promoting either just a tip for a foreign traveller in Ireland!!!

Mary

[feralchyld]

I think your Looking for me I am a Direct Descendant of Catharine Tobin who married John Simmons, had a daughter Ann Simmons who had a daughter Ellen Simmons, who married Thomas Deverell who had a son Edgar Deverell, who had a daughter Beatrice Deverell who had a son Peter Shaw who had me (John Brown)