The clues to working this one out are in the documentation. (All the below has been gleaned from google searches and from searches of the archives held by ancestry.com.)
In summary:-
* Mrs Sarah Presnell who arrived in Hobart at the end of 1822 and died in Hobart in 1823 was the mother of William Presnell the convict from Essex.
* Mrs Sarah Presnell was NOT Sarah Tooth from Sussex.
* The family came from Essex, much of which today is part of the metropolis of London.
* Some of her children married in London.
* Her son Thomas married in London but moved his family to Oxfordshire before immigrating to Tasmania.
* Two of her other sons married in London, and settled in London before immigrating to Tasmania.
* Her husband’s name is unknown. (It is unsafe to assume that her children were baptized at Leyton, Essex as the children of a Thomas Presnell. Available evidence suggests that the Leyton, Essex family is the wrong family.)
Evidence for the summary above follows:-
1) The family in Sussex can be eliminated as per the posts of Debra (Dundee) on 5 October 2011 and 25 Jun 2013. In other words the matriarch Sarah is NOT Sarah Tooth who married James Presnell in Piddinghoe, Sussex in 1765.
2) When the matriarch Sarah died in Hobart on 27 Mar 1823 the notice in the newspaper said :
DIED—On Thursday morning last, after a short illness, Mrs. Presnell, mother of Mr. William Presnell, of Argyle-street, leaving a numerous family both in this Colony and in England to lament her loss. —The deceased arrived only a few months ago from England, in apparently good health, and lived to see the 86th year of her age. (Hobart Town Gazette, Saturday 29 Mar 1823)
Please note that Thursday morning last was 27 Mar 1823.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1089873The death registration identifies her name at death as Sarah Presnell.
This tells us-
(a) Sarah was the mother of William Presnell of Argyle St
(b) Sarah had only recently arrived in Tasmania
(c) Sarah had a large family in England and Tasmania
(a) William Presnell (c1765-1839), the convict who had been moved from Norfolk Island with his wife Ann Fowler (c1764-1846) and their children, had been granted a building plot in Argyle Street, Glenorchy (a suburb of Hobart) in 1816. There is further documentary evidence of William Presnell’s association with his property in Argyle Street including that he built a residence there, that he established a bakery there which he leased out in Nov 1819, that he brewed beer and established a tavern there, and that he ran a "Horse, Cart and Dray Establishment" from there. On 23 Aug 1823 his son-in-law George William Robinson took over the running of the tavern and the cartage business at Argyle Street, while William continued from that address in his brewery business, appearing as such in an advertisement in 1824, and shown as “Wm Presnell, Brewer, Argyle Street” in the 1825 Tasmanian Almanack, and as “Presnell Wm., Carter & Brewer, Argyle Street” in 1826. William Presnell the convict was therefore known as William Presnell of Argyle Street.
Willam Presnell the convict (who received an Absolute Pardon in August 1821) is therefore the son of Sarah who died in 1823. William was convicted in Essex in 1797, establishing the place of origin of the family. (At William’s conviction he was recorded as from the Parish of Plaistow, Esssex. His Parish in Essex, however, is recorded differently for each of his four convictions, the other 3 parishes named being Chinkford, Little Ilford, and West Ham.)
(b) Sarah arrived in Hobart with her family on the “Regalia” on 30 Dec 1822.
Ship News.—Arrived on Monday last the ship Regalia...
The names of the passengers per the two arrivals this week from England, are as follow: Per Regalia, 70 in number, viiz…Mrs. S. Presnell and family. (Hobart Town Gazette, Saturday 4 January 1823)
Please note that Monday last was 30 Dec 1823.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1089828The family who accompanied her were her son Thomas and some of his children.
(Continued in next post)
