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From: "kenmero" <>
Subject: How I found my convicts.
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:09:48 +1000


Lesley and List. I was told at the age of about 12 by my father that the Meredith family was founded by a sailor on the first fleet. I wasn't told that on the female side the ladies all wore marks of chains on their ankles and their clothing was provided by the English government. Years later after I had made contact with other members of this large family and with the availability of official records the following items of interest re convicts were discovered.
Mary Allen, "Lady Penrhyn" first fleet non paying passenger is the first recorded young lady to fall for Frederick Meredith and bore them a girl child 18 months after the founding of the settlement.
Frederick left these shores on the fateful voyage of the "Sirius" and landed up in England where he paid off and the ladies of Sydney Cove were left to lament his absence. Having had a taste of the joys available down under he returned as one of the first free settlers on board the "Bellona" January 1793 and the convict girl Ann Case found the means to share his charms in the shadows of the rigging and five months after arrival,May 1793, she bore them a girl child.
Less than a year later, April 1794, the convict girl Mary Kirk, "Royal Admiral" 1792, stood at the Christening font of St. Philips church Sydney cove cradling the girl child fathered by, yes, Frederick Meredith.
The first legal Mrs, Meredith was Sarah Mason, also transported on the "Bellona" arriving January 1793. IN 1811 Frederick and Sarah were married accompanied by their four young children at their side who gained the benefit of this legitimacy. Two further children followed after the marriage. After the death of Sarah and at the age of 69 he married Mary Ann Day, a widow with 2 children transported on "The Brothers" 1827.
Sorry about the length of this e-mail but I couldn't think how to make it any shorter. Owing to the conditions of the times, more convicted than free residents, many of the descendents of the union also married (shame horror) convicts.
Regards
Ken Meredith at Timbertown

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