52 Ancestors #5 Simeon Lord

Simeon Lord was born on 28 January 1771 at Todmorden in West Yorkshire, England.  Simeon's parents were Simeon Lord (1744-1787) and Ann Fielding (1745-1786). Both the Lord and Fielden families had lived in the area near Todmorden for many generations.Many members of the Lord family were buried at St Mary's Church, Todmorden.

Names of  members of the Lord family on sides of memorial in front of the church

St Mary's Church, Todmorden

Being on the border, Todmorden is sometimes listed as being in Lancashire and at other times in Yorkshire. The Todmorden Information Centre provides a brief history of the area. An informative website on the area and its history is Todmorden and Walsden.In 2012 I wrote a post in this blog about the Lord family in the Todmorden area from the mid 1600s. Todmorden is situated where three valleys converge and many small farming settlements existed in the surrounding hills. One of the settlements was at Howroyd. Members of the Lord family also lived at Dobroyd and Knowl. In the 1700s it was usual for a group, maybe four, families to build their houses at one location on the slopes and farm sheep in the surrounding area. A room in one or more of the cottages would be used for spinning and weaving the wool. The cloth would then be transported by packhorse to market. Additional wool and, from the mid 1750s, sometimes cotton would be brought back to be processed in the cottages. This is the world into which Simeon would have been born.

On 22 April 1790 Simeon, aged 19, was found guilty at the Manchester Quarter Sessions of stealing a quantity of cotton cloth and calico from Robert Peel and Associates (a calico printing firm in Blackburn) and was subsequently sentenced to seven years transportation. His mother had died when he was 15 and his father died a year later. The young Simeon appears to have ended up in the Manchester area but little is known of this part of his life. What we do know is that on 27 March 1791 he left Plymouth aboard the transport, Atlantic, part of the Third Fleet, and arrived at Port Jackson on 20 August 1791. There were 220 male convicts aboard the Atlantic and 18 convicts died during the voyage.

Shortly after arriving in Australia Simeon was assigned to Lieutenant (later Captain) Thomas Rowley of the 102 Regiment and this is when his luck began to change. Thomas Rowley was almost illiterate and as Simeon had had some education and could read and write he was able to assist the soldier in his business ventures. Rowley appears to have encouraged Simeon and assisted him, when he emancipated, in establishing his first business selling spirits and general goods purchased from the NSW Officers Corps.

But this was just the beginning. Within a few years Simeon had become a wholesale merchant, sealer, auctioneer, captain's agent, pastoralist, timber merchant and manufacturer. When Governor Macquarie arrived in the colony Simeon was one of the emancipist magistrates appointed. Simeon was actively involved in most aspects of commerce in the colony and was one of the founders of the Bank of New South Wales. At times he had partnerships with other emacipists including James Underwood and Henry Kable and with the merchant Robert Campbell. Simeon was therefore, usually, a successful and wealthy businessman. He had a house built that was, at the time, reputed to be the grandest house in the colony.

What I find particularly interesting is that, from 1806, Simeon established a woollen mill and other manufacturing enterprises at Botany. One assumes that this interest was inspired by his experience and knowledge of textiles acquired back at Todmorden. As well as textiles, hats, shoes and harness were produced. At one stage Simeon and a partner were experimenting with glassblowing and pottery was another project. Many men were employed in these enterprises. Goods were not only sold in Sydney but his manufactured items were shipped to Tasmania.

On 27 October 1814, at St Philip's Church, Simeon married Mary Hyde who had arrived in Australia as a convict in 1798. Simeon and Mary already had five children before their marriage - Sarah born 1806, Louisa born 1808, Simeon born 1810, Francis born 1812 and Edward born 1812 (a week before the wedding). They had another three children - Thomas born 1816, George born 1818 and Robert born 1821. Simeon has also an adopted daughter Joanna Short born 1792 and Mary had two children from a previous marriage - John Black 1799 and Mary Ann Black born 1801.

This is only a short summary of some of the events in the life of Simeon Lord. Not all of his projects went to plan. Like many of the settlers in the new colony he was often in court over one dispute or another. He also had disputes with some of the governors. Partnerships were formed and dissolved. Some ventures were more successful that others. Ships carrying cargoes disappeared en route to their destination. Yet as D R Hainsworth writes in his Australian Dictionary of Biography Online article about Simeon - If his plans were over-ambitious for the times or his own resources, he pioneered commerce in Australia and helped to transform a prison farm into a flourishing colony capable of attracting men of capital. With a few others, he strikingly demonstrated what emancipists could achieve in a new country.

In 1821 Simeon leased the Sydney house and moved to a house in Botany. Simeon died at Botany on 29 January 1840 leaving his wife and large family well provided for. A small report in the newspaper, Australian 30 January 1840 reads - Death. Yesterday at his late residence, Banks House Botany, Simeon Lord, Esq. aged sixty-nine years, deeply lamented by a large circle of relations and friends.

Most books on the early settlement of Sydney contain references to Simeon Lord. There have also been booklets and books written about him including D R Hainsworth's book, The Sydney Traders: Simeon Lord and his contemporaries 1788 - 1821 (1971).

Simeon Lord was my great (x3) grandfather.

Unlocking family stories - Google Maps

Although I have mentioned using Google Maps as a research tool in other posts, it may be useful to look at how it can be used in a little more detail.

Recently I was writing a post about my great (x4) grandmother, Kezia Brown, and decided to check in Google Maps the village where she lived. The village is Severn Stoke in Worcestershire.

After searching for Severn Stoke I clicked Maps. Part of the map appears above with the red marker showing the location of the village and its surrounding countryside. The slide on the left of the map allows you to zoom in for a closer look at the image.

Dragging the 'yellow man' at the top of the slider and positioning him on a street allows to to have a street view of the village.

A white arrow appears and dragging the arrow allows you to 'walk' along the streets.
When exploring the village I saw a church in the distance and turned down the next road to locate the church where Kezia was baptised and where her parents were married.

Members of Kezia's family would be buried in the cemetery in the church grounds.
If I had typed in St Denys Church Severn Stoke into the search box the red marker would have located the church. If the red marker is not obvious on the screen you can use the cursor, or depending on the computer or device use the touch screen,  to drag the map to have a look at parts of the image not readily visible.

Kezia left home when she was about 18 and travelled to the town of Gloucester. Google Maps can help you locate the distance between locations.

Click the Get Directions box at the top left of the screen and then fill in the two locations. Click the blue Get Directions box.

Google Maps shows the possible route between the towns. The roads would have been different two hundred plus years ago but an indication of possible routes is provided.

In the panel on the left of the map one set of directions is provided. However what I found useful was the number at the top of the directions which indicated that the distance between the two locations would have been 24 miles. This provides an indication of the journey undertaken by Kezia to travel to Gloucester in 1789.

52 Ancestors #4 Mary Bateman

Mary Bateman was born in England, possibly in London, in 1773 or 1774. There are a number of baptisms for babies named Mary Bateman in these years but at present there is no certainty that any of these are 'our' Mary Bateman.

The 1780s were a time of social upheaval in England. One event which greatly impacted upon the employment opportunities for women was the disbanding of the British Amy returning home in 1783 after the American War of Independence. Many of the former soldiers returned to the cities increasing the population and displacing women from the workforce. Many women who had worked in shops were forced from the workforce to be replaced by men. In 1785 a tax imposed upon the employment of maid servants above the age of 15 also resulted in many young girls and women being left without employment and / or accommodation. For many women living in the cities, prostitution and crime associated with prostitution was the only way to survive. How Mary ended up working as a prostitute we can only surmise. We do know however that after her arrest on 20 April 1788 her life changed dramatically.

Mary Bateman was tried at the Old Bailey in London on 7 May 1788. The day before the trial The Times reported - "There are about 100 prisoners in Newgate for trial at the ensuing sessions, which begin on Wednesday at The Old Bailey". Mary was indicted for "feloniously stealing, on the 19th of April, a silver watch value 3 l (pound) the property of James Palmer, in the dwelling house of Elizabeth Sully ..." The trial summary can viewed on the Old Bailey Online website.

Elizabeth Sully was the landlady of an establishment in Long Alley, off Cable Street, where teenage prostitutes encouraged men to visit and then stole items from them. On this occasion Mary and Elizabeth Durrand (Durant) met James Palmer, who had been spending the evening drinking, and encouraged him to accompany them home. An hour after leaving, Palmer discovered that his watch was missing. It was later discovered hidden in a mattress. Mary was sentenced to seven years transportation. On the committal statement, signed by Mary with an X, her age was given as 15.

Elizabeth Sully was also tried and sentenced to transportation. As Elizabeth Durant had provided evidence she was not tried for her participation. Four months earlier two other girls living and working at the same establishment, Mary Butler and Mary Randall, had also been sentenced to seven years transportation. At the trial the judge had made a point of limiting the value of the stolen watch to 3 pounds - a higher value would have resulted in the death sentence.

After the trial Mary returned to Newgate Gaol. Conditions in the gaol were overcrowded and unhygienic. In the book, The Floating Brothel, Sian Rees describes the conditions -

By December 1788, 151 female convicts were living in three female cells in Newgate, which had been built to house a maximum of 70. They lived on rations fixed for that theoretical maximum and not for the number actually confined. Each cell had one window opening on to an interior well. There were no beds. Instead, there was a ramp at one end of the room with a wooden beam fixed to its top end which served as mattress and pillow. To sleep on the ramp and beam was a privilege, to be paid for weekly. To rent a blanket woven of raw hemp cost extra. Those who could afford neither curled up together on stone slabs awash with saliva and urine. (page 61 Large Print edition)

These were the conditions in which Mary lived until 12 March 1789 when 108 females (including Mary) were transferred from the prison to the transport ship, the Lady Juliana - a ship carrying a total of approximately 250 female only prisoners. A report about the ship appeared in The Times 7 February 1889 p3 -

The ship, Lady Juliana, which is ordered by Government to carry over the convicts to Botany Bay, is a fine river-built vessel, and was the first ship that was taken by the Americans on her passage from Jamaica to London, and was afterwards retaken by a man of war, and conveyed to England. One hundred marines are ordered by Government to be raised to go to Botany Bay in the Lady Juliana.

The ship remained on the Thames until early July when it sailed to Portsmouth and then to Plymouth before beginning the long voyage to Australia on 29 July 1789.

Detailed records were kept of the voyage of the Lady Juliana and Charles Bateson's book, The convict ships 1797-1868, and Sian Rees book,  The floating brothel: the extraordinary true story of an eighteenth century ship and its cargo of female convicts, are recommended reading. The ship travelled to New South Wales via Teneriffe, Cape Verde Islands, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town arriving at Port Jackson 6 June 1790. Only five convicts died during the trip. Bateson suggests that this was because

• the women were issued with sufficient rations
• the ship was kept clean and fumigated throughout the voyage
• the women had free access to the deck instead of being confined below deck
• long stays at ports visited with access to fresh provisions

During the voyage the women had a daily routine which included cleaning the ship and cooking. Some of the women also sewed shirts to be sold when they arrived at the colony.

When the ship arrived  at Sydney Cove the much needed supplies were unloaded first. The convicts were finally allowed on shore on 11 June to stay in the hospital building or huts or tents. On the Sunday they attended a church service where babies born on the ship were baptised.

After a short stay at Sydney Cove many of the women, including Mary, boarded the ship, Surprize, to sail to Norfolk Island where they arrived on 7 August 1790. George Guest had arrived on Norfolk Island  in January 1790 and shortly after Mary's arrival on the island they were living together. They were married in November 1791 when the Reverend Richard Johnson visited the island. Their children for whom we can find records are Sarah born 1792, George born 1794, John born c 1798, Mary born 1803 and William born 1804.  The baby Mary died in May 1804 aged twelve months.

On Norfolk Island George and Mary acquired and farmed areas of land and by 1804 George was reputed to be the largest land owner on the island with holdings of 250 acres and 600 sheep.

When the decision was made to transfer the Norfolk Island settlement to Van Diemen's Land the Guest family volunteered to leave. In September 1805 George Guest and his family were transferred to Van Diemen's Land and settled at New Norfolk. However George felt that he had never received his just entitlements in the land transfer and spent much of his life, including several trips to Sydney, disputing this and other decisions of government officials.

Unfortunately Mary's last years appear not to have been happy ones. On one of the trips to Sydney with Mary and four of the children, George wrote that his disputes over his land entitlements had deprived his wife of her reason and that he had to hire two men to restrain her. In 1828 Mary is recorded as an inmate of the Liverpool Lunatic Asylum in New South Wales where she died in April 1829 and was buried at St Luke's cemetery on 2 April. She would have been 56 years old.

Mary Bateman was my great (x4) grandmother.

See the post - Mary's Story - for additional material about Mary Bateman

52 Ancestors #3 Kezia Brown

Kezia Brown was born in 1771 in Severn Stoke, Worcestershire. Her parents were Aaron Brown and Mary Farley. On 10 March 1771 Kezia was baptised at St Denys Church at Severn Stoke.

Part of the existing Church of St Denys was built in the 12th century.

When her grandfather, William Farley, died in May 1787 he left Kezia the sum of three pounds which she inherited when she turned 18. By 1789 Kezia appears to have left home and is working as a labourer in the garden of a property belonging to Mr James Wheeler and his family in Gloucester, approximately 24 miles from Severn Stoke. In July 1789 Kezia contracted smallpox and was looked after by the Wheeler family for six weeks. On 20 August 1789 Kezia ran away from the Wheeler house and was found by Edward Wheeler at Norton, probably on her way home to Severn Stoke. She was arrested for allegedly taking with her items belonging to the Wheelers.

On 9 October 1789 at Gloucester City Sessions Kezia was tried for the theft of one black silk cloak and hood, one piece of black lace and one piece of black ribbon, one flannel petticoat, one dimity petticoat,, two shifts, three muslin aprons, one shawl, five caps, one apron cloth and one check apron. She was found guilty and sentenced to seven years transportation.

In November 1789 female prisoners from county gaols were taken to the transport ship, Neptune. The ship was to carry 421 male convicts and 78 female convicts to New South Wales. On the short journey from Plymouth to Portsmouth a number of convicts died and were buried at sea. Unfortunately this was a sign  of worse things to come as the mortality rate on the Neptune during the voyage was 31% with 147 male convicts and 11 female convicts dying during the six month voyage. The contractors were paid for each convict who boarded the ship with no concern for the number who arrived in the colony alive. The contractors were also allowed to sell any surplus stores when they reached the colony so convicts were expected to survive on minimum rations. An enquiry was held when the ships returned to England however that did not assist the convicts who had had to endure incredible hardship.

The ships of the Second Fleet were due to leave England in December 1789 but stormy weather postponed the departure. Instead they set sail on 19 January. The Neptune arrived in New South Wales on 28 June 1790. Charles Bateson's book, The convict ships 1787-1868 (2004) and Michael Flynn's book, The Second Fleet: Britain's grim convict armada of 1790 (1993) describe in detail the Second Fleet voyage. The following two posts in this blog - Second Fleet and Second Fleet Ships Notes - provide some information about the journey.

By the time the ships of the Second Fleet arrived supplies in the colony were running low and there was general dismay when it was realised that instead of ships carrying much needed supplies the ships carried additional people that the colony had to support. The condition of the new arrivals added to the despair of those attempting to manage the colony. Under the circumstances it is amazing that so may convicts did survive.

Once settled in her new environment Kezia shared accommodation with William Roberts. Their first child, William, was baptised in Sydney on 4 September 1791. A daughter, Mary, was born 15 June 1793. As William had a wife and family in England, William and Kezia had to wait seven years from the day of his sentence before they could marry. On 14 August 1792, William and Kezia were married at St Phillip's Church in Sydney. William and Kezia had an additional eight children, Sarah born 1795, James born 1798, John born 1801, Robert born 1803, Maria born 1805, Hariett born 1807, Ann born 1809 and Edward born 1813.

From 1804 William received a number of grants of land initially near Sydney and later in the Windsor area where the family eventually settled. They lived on a property known as Hobby Farm (named after the original owner of the land, Thomas Hobby) which they successfully farmed. There were challenges as the area near the Hawkesbury River was prone to flooding and from time to time there were disputes between settlers. There would also have been disputes in the area with the Aboriginal people who had been displaced when Europeans started subdividing the area. Kate Grenville has written about the challenges of surviving in the early years of the colony in her novel, The Secret River, the first book in a trilogy written about this era.

When William died in 1820, Kezia and her family continued to live at Hobby Farm. The General Muster of 1822 provides information about the land and livestock belonging to Keziah Brown. In her final years Kezia lived with her son, Robert, in Richmond where she died on 22 June 1854 aged 83.

The two volume work, A rich inheritance: William Roberts and Kezia Brown, their background and their family (1988) provides additional information about what is known about the life of Kezia.

Kezia was my great (x4) grandmother.

52 Ancestors #2 William Roberts

William Roberts is the second member of my family who travelled to Australia with the First Fleet aboard the Scarborough.

The book, A Rich Inheritance: William Roberts and Kezia Brown - their background and their family published c 1988, contains two volumes of research providing information about William Roberts and his family. Since then resources on the Internet have helped provide additional information.

William Roberts was born in Cornwall, England possibly in 1756. Family trees on Ancestry suggest that his father was John Roberts (1717-1792) while his mother was Jane Lugg (1727-1793). They were from St Keverne, Cornwall. The Cornwall OPC Database provides information about birth, death, marriage and other records in Cornwall. On 28 August 1757 a William Roberts (son of John and Jane Roberts) was baptised at St Keverne. On 1 July 1778 at Helston, Cornwall, William Roberts married Mary Russell (1757-1802). They had three children, Mary, William and Robert who was born after his father had been arrested.

In August 1786 a Launceston newspaper reported that at the Bodmin Assizes William Roberts was tried for stealing five and a half pound weight of yarn, the property of William Moffat of Launceston. William was sentenced to seven years transportation. He was a prisoner at the Bodmin Jail which had opened in 1779 so conditions were possibly not as bad as in some of the other gaols in the country. During the day the male prisoners were employed at tasks such as sawing wood, cutting and polishing grave stones or weaving on the prison looms.

On the 25 September 1786 William was transferred to the hulk, Dunkirk, anchored at Plymouth. Hulks were old ships used to house prisoners. During the day the convicts usually worked in chain gangs carrying out tasks such as dredging or working on the roads. At night the convicts slept in an over crowded area between the decks. William remained on the hulk until 21 March 1787 when he was transferred to the transport ship, Charlotte. Ten days later he was transferred to the transport ship, Scarborough. On 13 May 1787 the First Fleet left Plymouth and spent the next eight months travelling to New South Wales. Details of this arduous trip can be found in an earlier post on this blog First Fleet Voyage to Australia.They arrived in Sydney Harbour on 26 January 1788.

Almost two and a half years after his trial William arrived in this new colony on the other side of the world from his family in Cornwall, including a son he probably never saw. He now had to make a new life. Initially the convicts would have lived in tents and later wattle and daub huts. The climate was very different from home in Cornwall. Apart from anything else the seasons were back to front. Arriving in New South Wales in the middle of summer would provided a challenge to the convicts and soldiers in the new colony. The ships had brought provisions but it was necessary for crops to be planted to sustain the colony and herds of animals to be developed from those brought out on the ships. The land around the first settlement proved unsuitable for the growing of crops so it was necessary to look for better land that could be used for farming. There was a shortage of skilled labour among the convicts required to build the new settlement. So far no record has stated William's occupation in Cornwall but he may have possessed some carpentry skills as family stories suggest that he had worked in this field in his first years in the colony.

William's seven year sentence ended in August 1793. Convicts were allowed to remarry after seven years separation from their former spouse so on 14 August 1793 William married Kezia Brown, a convict who had arrived in New South Wales with the Second Fleet. They were married at St Phillip's Church in Sydney by the first clergyman in the colony, Richard Johnson. William and Kezia already had two children, William and Mary, and then added a further eight children to the family, Sarah, James, John, Robert, Maria, Harriett, Ann and Edward.

Like many of the convicts, William appears to have had little formal education - when he signed his will he signed it with his mark - however this was not a barrier to making a successful living in the colony. Once he was free, William became a farmer. On 8 January 1794 he received a grant of 30 acres of land near Sydney. In September 1800 he sold the land for sixty pounds. In 1796 William Roberts received, from Governor Hunter, a grant of 50 acres of land in the district of Mulgrave Place (near Windsor). Initially William rented some of this land to other settlers thus earning additional money to support his growing family and purchase additional land. In June 1809 William purchased 50 acres from Thomas Hobby. The land was known as Hobby's Farm. He later purchased additional land in the town of Windsor. By all accounts William made a success of farming. The General Muster of 1822, two years after his death, described Hobby Farm as comprising of 20 acres of wheat, 8 acres of maize, 6 acres of barley and half an acre of potatoes. Half an acre of the property was devoted to a garden and orchard. The rest of the land was pasture. At the time of the muster there were 40 cattle and 50 pigs.

William Roberts died on 14 February 1820 aged about 64. He was buried at St Matthew's Anglican Church Cemetery in Windsor.

He was my great (x4) grandfather.

52 Ancestors #1 George Guest

Amy Johnson Crow decided to include in her blog, No Story Too Small, a blog post each week for a year about an individual ancestor and issued a challenge to other bloggers to do the same - 52 ancestors in 52 weeks.

 

I am a few weeks behind but Australia Day seems a good time to start a similar project. On 26 January 1788 ships of the First Fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour. Two of my ancestors were aboard those convict ships - George Guest on board the Alexander and William Roberts aboard the Scarborough. George Guest is the subject of the first post in this series.

 George Guest was born in Gloucestershire, England possibly on 31 March 1765. He was a labourer but his life changed dramatically when on the 24 October 1873, at the age of 18, he was arrested for stealing animals. At the Gloucestershire Lent Assizes on 24 March 1784 he was convicted for stealing, with force and arms, ten live pigs, goods and chattels of John Hathaway and a chestnut mare plus goods and chattels of Thomas Wills. Stealing livestock, particularly a horse, was considered a major crime resulting in the death sentence, however George received a reprieve with the sentence commuted to transportation to America. After the American War of Independence this was later changed to transportation to New South Wales.

In February 1787 George was transferred to the Alexander in Portsmouth Harbour. The ship left Portsmouth on 17 May 1787 for the eight month journey to New South Wales. Two hundred and eight male convicts were aboard the ship when it left Portsmouth. Charles Bateson in his book, Convict Ships 1787 to 1868, describes the experiences of the convicts on this long trip.

More than four years after his arrest George arrived in New South Wales. It is difficult to imagine the shock that the convicts and soldiers must have felt arriving at what was to be their new home which had no settlement as they knew it but was just bush. The vegetation was very different from that in England with plants that they had never seen before. The Aboriginal people living near the harbour lived a very different lifestyle from Europeans. The animals and birds were strange and they had arrived in the middle of an Australian summer. Still the convicts would have had little time to think about their surroundings as shelters had to be erected and a source of fresh water located. Gradually the settlement evolved.

On 7 January 1790 George Guest travelled with a number of other convicts aboard the Supply to the new settlement at Norfolk Island. This first settlement, established in February 1788, on the island was an experiment to try and establish crops to supply the main colony at Port Jackson. Twenty-three people made up the original settlers including 15 convicts. They all had trades that may be useful in the new settlement. During the week the convicts worked for the government but on Saturdays they were allowed to clear land and plant their own vegetables. As well as planting crops  the men built huts for the new settlement. Fishing supplied a regular source of food. However there were problems including plagues of rats, ground worms and grubs as well as weevils in the wheat seed and parrots feasting on newly planted crops.

When George arrived on Norfolk Island the population had grown to 150. The ships, Sirius and Supply then brought another 200 convicts plus supplies. but unfortunately the Sirius hit a reef  and every effort was made to rescue as many of the supplies as possible. Martial law was declared and rations were halved. The colony was saved by the arrival of flocks of shearwaters that could be used as meat as well as provide eggs. With supplies of food scarce severe floggings were the punishment for anyone caught stealing food.Consequently when the Supply returned to the island on 7 August 1790 with plenty of provisions as well as another group of convicts it was a welcome sight. Mary Bateman was one of the convicts aboard the ship.

George Guest and Mary Bateman were soon living together. When the Rev Richard Johnson visited the island from Port Jackson in 1791 he performed a number of marriages and baptisms. On 9 November 1791 he married George and Mary. Between 1792 and 1804 George and Mary had five children - Sarah, George, John, Mary and William. (As not all records of births and deaths have survived there may have been other children.) We do know that Mary died on the island aged one year.

Until 1793 George was still a convict. He was reported to have been flogged on several occasions for telling a lie to Major Ross, for 'neglect of duty' and for employing convicts without permission. Despite these setbacks he started to build a life for his family on the island. After receiving his pardon he continued to receive rations until 1794. In 1796 he was granted 14 acres of land and was then able to supply the government with maize and pork. He gradually increased his acreage and purchased purchased sheep. He is reputed to have acquired 250 acres of land and built his flock to 600 ewes and 342 wethers by 1805. Life on Norfolk Island was not easy and the settlers faced many challenges. A number of books have been written about this period of history on Norfolk Island - Convicts and Commandants of Norfolk Island 1788-1855 by Margaret Hazzard being one of them. However George continued to acquire land and was considered by Major Foveaux to be a most industrious settler.

When the first Norfolk Island settlement was to be closed, George and his family were offered land in Van Diemen's Land as compensation for loss of property in the island. In September 1805 George and his family left Norfolk Island. George was now 40 and most of the rest of his life was spent arguing with authorities about his entitlement. Records show that he frequently sailed to Sydney from Hobart and back to put his case for what he considered he was owed. In January 1806 he was granted 24 acres at Macquarie Point but he considered he was entitled to a further 400 acres.

When Governor Bligh travelled to Hobart in July 1809 after being ousted from Sydney, George Guest was listed as one of the men in Hobart who provided fresh provisions for the Governor on board his ship on the Derwent. In Van Diemen's Land George once again acquired property though disputes about transactions continued. One of his properties was the Seven Star Inn in Campbell Street, Hobart which he owned until his death.

As the signature of George Guest shows, like many of the convicts, he could not write his name when he came to the colony. However lack of education did not stop him from becoming a successful, if disgruntled, land owner and businessman. One suspects that George may not have been an easy man to live with. Life was not necessarily easy in the new colonies and each of the locations that he moved to was newly established. When his family moved to Van Diemen's Land in 1805 the initial settlement at Hobart Town had only been established for a year. With each move the family would need to start over again and face the challenges of a new settlement. George Guest died in Hobart on 23 March 1841 aged 75. He was buried at St David's Cemetery.

George Guest was my great (x4) grandfather.

Web Link:
First Fleet Fellowship Victoria - George Guest

Historical currency values

Recently I was asked if I knew where to locate information on converting a sum of currency in the past to today's prices.

A Google search for 'historical money value comparison' provided a number of sites with currency converters to locate a comparison of money values over the years.

There is a variety of methods for calculating the comparisons of currency values over time but the websites below provide a guide, particularly for the UK and Australia.

The UK
National Archives Currency Converter  provides a calculator for comparing UK prices up to 2005.

Measuring Wealth provides five ways to calculate the relative value of the UK Pound amount from 1270 until today.

UK Inflation Calendar  provides a guide to the value of money from 1900 with prices today.

Historical Value of Money in the UK Two tables providing possible values.

Australia
How Much is it Worth provides a calculator for Australian currency from 1850 until today. It is based on the Retail Price Index produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

General
Historical Currency Conversions The calculator allows the conversion of the buying power of US and British currency into current American dollars.

Current Value of Old Money provides a collection of tools and online resources on this topic. The data was collected by the University of Exeter.

How Much Is That? on Economic History Association website.

Mundia

I have recently been working with an elderly library patron who wants to reseach part of his family tree but has minimal computer skills. As an experiment I added the information that he had into a family tree in mundia.com/au which is a free basic family tree site associated with Ancestry.com.

This currently is a beta project so some of the functions, no doubt, will change but at present it is possible to create and view a family tree with records viewed as a family tree or pedigree format. Basic information can be added for each person and stories and images can be attached to records. The green leaf appears as a hint if there are records for the person in other family trees on Mundia, however any searching for additional information needs to be done in Ancestry.com or other resources.

Mundia is relatively easy to use and could be a useful tool for recording family tree information. The files can be saved as GEDCOM files. GEDCOM files can also be imported. The site states that the basic services such as creating a family tree will remain free though there may be charges in the future for additional features.

Additional Note: Changes were made to Mundia in 2014 - see the following post in the blog, Genea-Musings, for an update.

Remembrance Day

Armistice Day. With the centenary of World War I fast approaching major collecting institutions are announcing special projects to mark the centenary. 

National Archives of Australia have a new site - Discovering Anzacs.

'Discovering Anzacs' is a website being jointly developed by the National Archives of Australia and Archives new Zealand. It will have a unique profile of every Anzac who enlisted in World War One, linked to their service record. You can help tell the story of Australia and New Zealand during the War by building on profiles and adding your own family stories, photos or details of their service. 

The National Archives (K) has launched a new portal - First World War 

National Archives (UK) hold the official UK government records of the First World War, including a vast collection of letters, diaries, maps and photographs. Discover the online collections, research guides and educational resources to learn about the history behind the war.

The Archive will be marking the centenary of the war with an extensive programme, spanning a five-year period from 2014 – 2019. With a rolling series of digitised record releases, online and on-site events and education resources being added to this portal as we move through the centenary period, this will open up the unique collection of First World War records as never before.

Papua

During the past month or so I have been investigating family members who lived for a time in Papua, now part of Papua New Guinea. From 1906 the territory of Papua was administered by Australia. A number of Australians went to Papua to manage rubber plantations which it was hoped would prove to be find a successful export market. During World War I Australia took over the administration of New Guinea from the Germans. An expatriate community of Australians lived in the territories, particularly in and around Port Moresby. In 1942 when it was obvious that the Japanese were heading south to Papua New Guinea the Australian women were sent home. The men joined the Australian army to fight the Japanese.

Trove has been a great source for locating information about individuals and also the life style of the expatriates as north Queensland newspapers, particularly in Cairns but also Townsville, had regularly columns containing news from Papua New Guinea.

The worth of checking the latest issues of genealogy magazines such as Ancestor was proved this week when I found an article by Judy Rochow in the June issue of Ancestor about researching family in New Guinea. In the article she mention a cd-rom at the State Library - Index to Australians and other expatriates in Papua New Guinea. This resource may help me fill in some gaps - worth a try.