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Archiver > AUS-CONVICTS > 2004-03 > 1079265859


From: Pamela Dowling <>
Subject: Re: [AUS-CON] Letters Home
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 01:04:19 +1300
In-Reply-To: <000201c409a7$6658caa0$c7931ad3@hal9000>


Hi Mark,

There is no cause of death on your death certificate because it's not a
civil record, not a "death" certificate as such, it's only a burial record.
Civil registration didn't commence until 1856 in NSW and the BDMs before
that (and some after) are compiled from church records of baptisms,
marriages and burials.

I don't know if the Govt would have written to tell his family - was he
still a convict when he died? From the convict records I have, I doubt the
govt would even have known who his parents were, or indeed if they were
still alive. None of the convict records I've seen seem to record such
details.

The best place for you to look is probably in the Reese Index to Colonial
Sec Correspondence which you'll find at State Records or the larger
libraries and geneal societies, just to see if he is mentioned. That said,
I'm not sure what year the Reese index goes up to - whether it goes as far
as 1849.

You might also check newspaper/s for the area where he died in case there
was a report, a death notice or obit. Another thing you might check, just
in case, is the AGCI index, which again you'll find in many libraries and
societies.

Hope this helps
Pam
An Aussie transplanted to Rotorua, NZ.

At 22:26 13.03.04 +1100, Mark Roberts wrote:
>My Convict (John Roberts - "Prince George" 1837) died in 1849 and I was
wondering if the Government of the day wrote letters home to the parents to
let them know that there child had died in the Colony and if so where would
I search for it.???
>
>I have his death entry but there was no cause of death on the listing and
I was hoping to find the cause in a "letter home"

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