Mary Preston was convicted of theft at London's Old Bailey and
transported to Port Jackson, New South Wales (not Brisbane) on the
"Canada" in 1810. The voyage was a slow one, taking nearly six months
to reach NSW, leaving England in March, sailing via Rio de Janeiro, and
arriving at Port Jackson in September 1810. Mary fell pregnant on the
journey. Her daughter whom she named Mary Ward was born in early
February 1811 and baptised later that month, her baptism at the church
of St Phillip's and recorded under the heading of "baptisms of
illegitimate children in 1811". She was baptised as Mary Ward, and her
parents were named as James Ward and Mary Preston.
There is no James Ward listed - as far as records are available - as
crew of the Canada and there were no male convicts on this voyage. The
presumption is that the ship's master, John Ward was most likely the
father, unless Mary just pcked a name out of a hat. Nothing has been
found about John Ward, in spite of research by several descendants over
many decades. It is thought he was most likely English or Scottish, but
with a fairly common name and no idea of his country or county of
origin, or his age, it is more than difficult to trace his origins
reliably - he may have had no connection with London.
OK that said....The Family here have had DNA done with familyfinder which has an area for ancestral surnames...People submit their DNA and surnames connected to their family. As we're not allowed to track descendants of this family that are alive, we have to wait
However every Ward that comes up as a distant cousin match we will be able to email and ask if they are from the Durham line.descending from the John B Ward [no one yet..one day we'll get a Bullseye...cant help wonder what the B stands for in his name....cheers and Thanks Rick
