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From: "Louise Leslie" <>
Subject: WILMOTT on Tam O'Shanter
Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 10:51:01 +1000


Hi everyone,
I am looking for any clues or advice which might help to get to the bottom
of this.
Some of the 'story' I have shared before, but hope some of you will bear
with me and might have some idea of where to from here.

Robert WILMOTT married Mary SMITH in Launceston 5 June 1858
Their first child's birth was registered under WILLMOT, and then the next
four are registered as SMITH, father Robert, mother Mary Francis, Mary
Salter (it changes from birth to birth)..
Robert (WILLMOT) SMITH died on 13 Dec 1895 at (from memory) Table Cape, and
his death was notified, by letter from his son, noting WILLMOT also known as
SMITH.
Why change from WILMOTT to SMITH?

now to the other snippets we have found...

23 May 1853
Robert WILMOTT (Ship 'TamO'Shanter') and Mary O'BRIEN (Ship 'BlackFriar')
sought permission to marry, but they don't seem to have actually followed
through and married.... (would anyone know if records are kept to say why a
marriage wouldn't have occurred after seeking permission?).... and it would
seem that a month later the same Mary O'BRIEN is seeking permission to marry
Patrick CURTIS (free), and this marriage did go ahead.

Can some-one see if Robert WLMOTT was indeed a convict, arriving on the
TamO'Shanter... (One story we have been told, is that he arrived freely on
the TamO'Shanter and later committed a crime in Launceston, in the 1840's or
1850's, and was convicted.)
Would the Launceston library have a record of this, or is there an index to
search?
And, if he arrived 'freely', then committed a crime, does it seem right that
on the permission to marry, the ship would be noted?
And is there a passenger list, or even some dates of when the TamO'Shanter
came... (A limited search at the archives, yesterday proved fruitless)...

This man, and his eventual wife in Mary SMITH (also Salter, or Francis) are
proving to be more mysterious as we try to find out more about them.
They registered the birth of their first child in Morven, under WILMOTT, and
then the other four sons were registered under SMITH at Emu Bay, having been
born at Table Cape.
(and of the five sons, only two have been given names ont heir birth
records, so tracing what becaome of them all is, once again, frustrating)

So, any thoughts, at all, would be really appreciated.
regards
Louise


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