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From: "Tony Stein & Darlene Thornton" <>
Subject: The good, the bad and the evil - John TURNER
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 11:09:37 +1000
References: <ADEKKLPOCHIKFGGPFGEJOEAECDAA.shirleyjcarr@optusnet.com.au>


Hello PJ'ers,

Here's one of my ancestors, one I consider the most interesting of all:

John TURNER (c. 1793 - 10/03/1867)

Possibly a local of Liverpool, England, he was convicted (I dont have
details) and was sentenced to 7 years transportation. He arrived Sydney on
"Mariner" in 1816 and was listed as a man of colour or as of West Indies.
His occupations were listed as anchorsmith and blacksmith. From the General
Muster and Land & Stock Muster of 1822, his status was listed as "Ticket of
Leave" and that he was a "husband of E. Humprhy of Sydney". (Not sure if
they were already married under some unrecognised ceremony as they were
actually listed as being married in 1825 at Port Macquarie.)

Within few years of his arrival, he had a daugher, Mary Ann (b. 1822) with
Elizabeth HUMPHRIES/HUMPHREYS, a colony-born daughter of 1st and 2nd Fleet
convicts (Edward HUMPHRIES and Mary WILLIAMS). However wtihin a year after
the birth of Mary Ann, John was caught for something and sentenced to 7
years at Port Macquarie. Somehow Elizabeth and Mary Ann joined him there at
Port Macquarie then, and there John and Elizabeth was wed on 21 March 1825.
Their other two children, John Jnr (c. 1825) and Sarah (c. 1828) were born
there.

However, in 1828 John got into hot water again and was sent to Moreton Bay
for 3 years. Elizabeth made a petition to be allowed to accompany John to
Moreton Bay, but as we know, women and children were not allowed at Moreton
Bay, they were then not reunited since.

Elizabeth died in August 1830 aged 35, as a single mother of three children
and was waiting for her John to return to her. After her death, John was
allowed to return to Sydney to take care of his children. However, I am not
sure where the children were then and who they were actually taken care of
by.

John was granted a Certificate of Freedom in 1833 (details?). There are a
lot of gaps here, however, on what he'd be doing, etc.

During his stay in Sydney, he got married again to Ellen HAMER (various
spellings - her background unknown), however their marriage was not a happy
one. We are not sure of any children of theirs.

Apparently he "escaped" to Tasmania and there he married a Mary Ann BENNETT
and together they have 6 children. John died on 10 March 1867, aged 74, at
Hobart, TAS, a well-known local who loves to gamble on horses. He was also
regarded as a gentleman and his son was also a blacksmith (his grave was
decorated with symbols of blachsmith).

There were stories in the family (my paternal's maternal family) that there
were some members with dark skin and also with red hair, etc. There was a
sad story about one of his daughter or granddaughter being shunned from her
family because of her skin colour - the family was actually rejoiced on the
news that she died on her way to a wedding of a family member so they would
not be embarassed of her appearance.

Ah well, that's all, folks!

Cheers,
Darlene Thornton


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