Charles WILSON Sarah WATSON convict Sarah BOND Ireland Lincs Tas NSW Qld

[searchr]

2, 3 or 4 people?
I am having trouble sorting out who is who.
A Charles WILSON married a Sarah WATSON in 1844 in Tasmania. From Tasmania’s wonderful records it can be seen that Sarah was a convict sentenced in Dublin in Aug 1842 at 19y (so b abt 1823) and sentenced to 7 y transportation. She was sent over on the Waverley and given permission to marry Charles, who seems to have been a gardener at the time, and free, from the marriage in Hobart Church of St Joseph (RC).
They had a child, Charles, from the Tasmanian records, born 28 Jan 1846, with Charles a labourer and the mother Sarah WILSON formerly WATSON. (On Family Search there is a child called Thomas born on that date to Charles WILSON and Sarah, and buried in Toowong cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland, from Brisbane grave location search, 29 May 1928 79y with wife Katherine & children: but this means he was b 1849 not 1846. A trove article gives his age as 84, making his birth about 1844. His death in the Queensland records just gives his parents as Charles and Sarah WILSON.)
Sarah WATSON’s convict number is 506 so she is fairly easy to confirm up to here as one person and Tasmanian records online even have her description. Find my Past has some more information e.g. at the end of 1846 Sarah seems to have received a conditional pardon.
It’s possible that in 1846 “Sarah WILSON” may have gone, without her husband, to Victoria on the Swan from Hobart 29 Oct 1846, but this is only a guess.
A Sarah Ann WILSON died at 10 months 26 May 1847, child of a convict. This is the last possible trace I can find of Sarah WATSON in Tasmania, possibly as Sarah Ann’s mother. It doesn’t give a father in the Tasmanian d records and I haven’t found a b.
After this a Charles WILSON, fisherman or boatman, has children in Hobart with Sarah WILSON formerly BOND, starting with Sarah Ann WILSON b 29 Aug 1847. They go to New South Wales, possibly (from Blaxland Oz Ships) on the Africa as Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and family May 1853, and have more children.
There is a Sarah WILSON bu Camperdown Cemetery 25 Jul 1860 37 y from e.g. Find A Grave and Project Gutenberg. This fits Sarah WATSON from her age and Sarah BOND from the burial of “Rosina” in the same cemetery, 3mos old in 1854, one of a Charles and a Sarah’s children in that year being “Rosanna” in the New South Wales b and d records. Does this mean Sarah WATSON and Sarah BOND are the same person?
I can’t find anything about Sarah BOND or Charles WILSON really, except that family search has Charles as b 1814 in Lincolnshire.
Libraries Tasmania’s convict portal says convict women were encouraged to marry, some into families of free settlers, but that because neither men nor women could remarry without evidence of their spouse’s death, they tended to go on to have children with others without remarrying.
It’s possible that there were 2 different Charles Wilsons.
It’s possible that Sarah Watson changed her name for some reason, maybe to disguise her convict past, and didn’t go to Victoria.
It’s possible that the same Charles WILSON started a relationship with a Sarah BOND, possibly after Sarah WATSON went off to Victoria and they couldn’t marry. The Sarah Ann child dying and then a new Sarah Ann being born makes me think this is the same Charles WILSON.
An Ancestry tree has Sarah as WATSON or BOND.
What do people think: 2, 3 or 4 people? I’m guessing 3, maybe 2 but not 4. I’ve tried bdm, bu and trove abt their children, with info about their partners from family search, and found no more clues. I’m wondering if I should get the d cert of the Sarah WILSON who d in 1860
WILSON SARAH; 8791/1860 V18608791 122B; AGE 37 YEARS
but I don’t hold out a lot of hope abt the information that could be in it and these people are sideways relations rather than direct. I will do it though, I think, if people can’t cast further light.

[majm]

2, 3 or 4 people?
I am having trouble sorting out who is who.
A Charles WILSON married a Sarah WATSON in 1844 in Tasmania. From Tasmania’s wonderful records it can be seen that Sarah was a convict sentenced in Dublin in Aug 1842 at 19y (so b abt 1823) and sentenced to 7 y transportation. She was sent over on the Waverley and given permission to marry Charles, who seems to have been a gardener at the time, and free, from the marriage in Hobart Church of St Joseph (RC).


They had a child, Charles, from the Tasmanian records, born 28 Jan 1846, with Charles a labourer and the mother Sarah WILSON formerly WATSON.

(On Family Search there is a child called Thomas born on that date to Charles WILSON and Sarah, and buried in Toowong cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland, from Brisbane grave location search, 29 May 1928 79y with wife Katherine & children: but this means he was b 1849 not 1846. A trove article gives his age as 84, making his birth about 1844. His death in the Queensland records just gives his parents as Charles and Sarah WILSON.)


Sarah WATSON’s convict number is 506 so she is fairly easy to confirm up to here as one person and Tasmanian records online even have her description. Find my Past has some more information e.g. at the end of 1846 Sarah seems to have received a conditional pardon.

It’s possible that in 1846 “Sarah WILSON” may have gone, without her husband, to Victoria on the Swan from Hobart 29 Oct 1846, but this is only a guess.

A Sarah Ann WILSON died at 10 months 26 May 1847, child of a convict. This is the last possible trace I can find of Sarah WATSON in Tasmania, possibly as Sarah Ann’s mother. It doesn’t give a father in the Tasmanian d records and I haven’t found a b.


After this a Charles WILSON, fisherman or boatman, has children in Hobart with Sarah WILSON formerly BOND, starting with Sarah Ann WILSON b 29 Aug 1847.

They go to New South Wales, possibly (from Blaxland Oz Ships) on the Africa as Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and family May 1853, and have more children.


There is a Sarah WILSON bu Camperdown Cemetery 25 Jul 1860 37 y from e.g. Find A Grave and Project Gutenberg. This fits Sarah WATSON from her age and Sarah BOND from the burial of “Rosina” in the same cemetery, 3mos old in 1854, one of a Charles and a Sarah’s children in that year being “Rosanna” in the New South Wales b and d records. Does this mean Sarah WATSON and Sarah BOND are the same person?


I can’t find anything about Sarah BOND or Charles WILSON really, except that family search has Charles as b 1814 in Lincolnshire.


Libraries Tasmania’s convict portal says convict women were encouraged to marry, some into families of free settlers, but that because neither men nor women could remarry without evidence of their spouse’s death, they tended to go on to have children with others without remarrying.


It’s possible that there were 2 different Charles Wilsons.

It’s possible that Sarah Watson changed her name for some reason, maybe to disguise her convict past, and didn’t go to Victoria.

It’s possible that the same Charles WILSON started a relationship with a Sarah BOND, possibly after Sarah WATSON went off to Victoria and they couldn’t marry. The Sarah Ann child dying and then a new Sarah Ann being born makes me think this is the same Charles WILSON.

An Ancestry tree has Sarah as WATSON or BOND.


What do people think: 2, 3 or 4 people? I’m guessing 3, maybe 2 but not 4. I’ve tried bdm, bu and trove abt their children, with info about their partners from family search, and found no more clues.

I’m wondering if I should get the d cert of the Sarah WILSON who d in 1860
WILSON SARAH; 8791/1860 V18608791 122B; AGE 37 YEARS
but I don’t hold out a lot of hope abt the information that could be in it and these people are sideways relations rather than direct. I will do it though, I think, if people can’t cast further light.

That reference is NOT for NSW civil registration death certificate. It is for an Early Church Record from 1860,  volume 122B,  line 8791.  It is a burial record only.  It will NOT have the vital family history section about where  when the deceased was born, where, when married, name of spouse, name and age of the then living children, nor will it have cause of death or duration of illness. 

JM

[wivenhoe]

You have too many possibilities / variables here....and Tas, NSW, Vic and QLD locations.

Who are you researching?  Are you researching the origins of someone, which leads you to these possibilities.   

Who are you researching?

[searchr]

Thanks so much for the information about the NSW record. I didn't know that.
I am focusing on these 2, 3 or 4 people at the moment. I have checked a lot about their children and tried trove about their specific events in the hope that their parents would be mentioned. I just put this in here on the outside chance that someone might actually be researching these people too and have some more information. It's a bit tricky to enter information in a tree if you don't know if it's 2, 3 or 4 people. Sarah WATSON's being a convict is of extra interest. I came to it through one of the children of Charles WILSON and Sarah formerly BOND. If there's no more information that's fine I guess.
Thanks.

[matthewj64]

She has been researched for the Female Convicts Research Centre database. Their research suggests that she was also known as Sarah Bond and died in Sydney in 1860 reg.1375
It lists a number of relatives and other information that would be best to view and evaluate directly from their database (free registration required)
https://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/

M

[Dundee]

They had a child, Charles, from the Tasmanian records, born 28 Jan 1846

A Sarah Ann WILSON died at 10 months 26 May 1847

To have the same mother the second child would have to be a few months premature and is unlikely to have survived the birth.

Find my Past has some more information e.g. at the end of 1846 Sarah seems to have received a conditional pardon.

The date of the conditional pardon was 4 Jul 1848, not 1846.

https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON40-1-10  (image 226)

Debra 

[searchr]

Thanks for the last 2 posts. I'll investigate further soon. I've started the registration process for the database.
I'll look again about the pardon. I don't think I was certain about the date at the time, or could be certain about it from the image. It was from HO 10/60 from the tab, and was about an indulgence. In the National Archives HO 10/60 seems to be about conditional pardons. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1905897

It looks like this is Sarah's d registration, from your information:
WILSON SARAH; 1375/1860; UNKNOWN; DIED SYDNEY; SYDNEY; Unavailable
I'd looked at it and wondered.
I see what you mean about the Sarah Ann birth. It was just an idea.
It looks like Charles and Sarah are 2 people at this stage, do you think? It also looks like that wasn't the Sarah who went to Victoria,.
Thanks again.

[majm]

After this a Charles WILSON, fisherman or boatman, has children in Hobart with Sarah WILSON formerly BOND, starting with Sarah Ann WILSON b 29 Aug 1847. They go to New South Wales, possibly (from Blaxland Oz Ships) on the Africa as Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and family May 1853, and have more children.

Convictism to NSW effectively ceased in 1840.  So, the numbers of those who were still serving under a bond continued to diminish significantly. By 1846, the population of NSW excluding the Port Phillip District was roughly 189,600 and by 1851 it had only slightly risen ... to 189,950

BUT by 1856 the population of NSW was 269,700 and by 1861 it was 353,000 - GOLD fever had echoed around the world, people rushed to the colonies of NSW and Vic. 

WILSON as a surname is not just a popular surname among convicts to NSW or VDL.   It was also a popular surname among those who came free, some as part of garrison forces, others as emigrants seeking a new start.    Even in this current era, Wilson continues to be in the top 5 surnames in Australia (Smith, then Jones, then Williams, then Brown and then Wilson).

Charles as a first name was and continues to be another of those popular names, and can be found as Chas in many 19th century newspaper cuttings. 

From Trove in 1854 to support the Wilson family our OP mentions moving from Tas to NSW via the vessel Africa in 1853.

  Charles and one other noted by the Chairman of a Committee as a fisherman skilled to fish salmon, mullet, etc of the well-boat referred to as Boat 7 in the report for a proposed Sydney based fishing fleet.   https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12959813  SMH 14 Feb 1854

  Charles of the well-boat Trumpeter off Bradley’s Head (Sydney harbour) Empire 12 June 1854 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60196268

But how to confirm or eliminate either the Charles Wilson above or any of the other sightings of him or others of that name ...   for example :

  There was a Chas H WILSON at Yanko Creek offering £5 reward for recovery of stolen horse from Yarrahee, Yanko Creek.  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118308575  Goulburn Herald & Argyle Adv. 12 Sept 1857.   

There is a chap with the honorific ‘Esq.’ as a Steward at the Annual Races
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/59868419 Bells Life 27 March 1858

     There is a chap up in the Inverell area who along with many others, suffered when the Mail was stolen at the Chain of Ponds in Oct 1861  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/192531338 Armidale Express 9 Nov 1861

Or from City of Sydney's Archives https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/history/archives
  for Sands Directories 1858 Charles A WILSON, wine and spirit merchant of 145 Pitt Street Sydney
or from City of Sydney's Archives for Assessment books
  the Charles Wilson a tenant in 1858 off 1 Athlone Place, Sydney
  or the Charles Wilson a tenant 56 Brisbane Street, Sydney in 1861

Re NSW births to Charles and Sarah WILSON
  if the index registration number has 'V' it is not a civil registration, but it is an Early Church Record, so it is a baptism.  Not all babies were baptised, not all baptisms were for babies, and not all early church records were shared with the Registrar of the NSW Supreme Court.  It is those NSW Supreme Court records that make up the bulk of those 'V' records. 
  those Early Church Records can also have several entries for the one event... so for example if a baptism was performed in a parish some distance away from Sydney Town, the clergyman conducting that ceremony would record it in his own register, and was meant to transmit a summary record of that to his superiors who were then meant to forward the information to through to their denomination's head office.   It is not possible to determine how many of the church ceremonies of these baptisms, burials, marriages were a) recorded b) transmitted and c) were legible for the volunteers who prepared the indexes by inspecting and transcribing the longhand handwriting for the 'V' series in the 1930s, after decades of people thumbing through the originals, folding corners, significant ink bleeds, and general damage through usage of the records that were not actually bound up into volumes until around 1912 ...

WILSON of course can be mis-read as MILSON and other variations.

But, looking at the current iteration of the NSW BDM index, available online  for baptisms 1853-1856 for parents as Charles and Sarah WILSON
and considering Volume numbers :
https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-and-indexes/births-deaths-and-marriages-registers-1787-1856

1853 Charles F and Sarah were parents for Charles S, Volume 39A (Church of England) line 571
1854 Charles and Sarah were parents to Rosanna, Volume 71 (Roman Catholic) line 1738 
1855 Charles and Sarah A were parents of Frances Volume 42B, (Church of England) line 3127
1856 Charles and Sarah were parents to Josephine S Volume 142A line 926.   

Quite possibly four different couples just in those four years, in NSW.  And we need to consider that NSW at that time included all of Queensland too.

JM

[majm]

....
It looks like this is Sarah's d registration, from your information:
WILSON SARAH; 1375/1860; UNKNOWN; DIED SYDNEY; SYDNEY; Unavailable
I'd looked at it and wondered.....

In the last several years, the NSW BDM has commenced the option to provide their certificate as a pdf.  And so, whenever they have been requested to provide their document as a pdf, they have noted 'available' at the online index under their 'new' column headed PDF availability.  So all the entry 'Unavailable' means is that the document under registration number 1375/1860 has not yet been provided to anyone as a pdf.  If an order is received for it to be delivered as a pdf, then once the pdf has been made, it will become 'available' and that column heading will read 'Available'. 

JM