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Archiver > BlackSheep > 1998-01 > 0884347114


From: Michelle Kahler <>
Subject: [BlackSheep-L] Convicts: TOFT, MITCHELL & MEMORY.
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 22:58:34 +1100 (EST)


Hi All,
Thrice times I have convicts appear in my pedigree....Aha. I am a Sheep with
a Pedigree!
Please, let me explain...

In , we are being asked to compete in our convict heritage.
I felt that the information was just as important on this list as it is on BSSG.
To all those who have no idea what I was referring to with the sheep,
I am a member of BSSG: Black Sheep Society of Genealogists at
.
Where a being a black sheep with a pedigree is something I am proud to be!!!
We are Baaaaad to the Booooone!

I have to start off with 5x great grandfather, James TOFT, b.1758,
Godalming, Surrey. He embezzled 21 pounds in the January of 1813 and was
convicted in London to fourteen years in Australia. He was transported in
August, 1813 on board the ill-fated General Hewitt but died on the way,
being buried "at sea, Rio Di Janiero".
His wife, Elizabeth (nee MITCHELL), their four sons and four daughters made
the hard choice of splitting the family, the boys all remained in England
whilst mother and daughters traveled on board the "Broxbornbury" to be met
in Sydney Cove with the news that their husband and father had not survived
the journey.
In the 1814 Census Elizabeth and her four daughters, Mary Ann, Elizabeth,
Ann and Sarah were mentioned as being on Widow charity. Elizabeth later
became the housekeeper, and eventually the wife of William MANNIX, a free
settler.
Now another convict enters the picture...
William MITCHELL, (4xgrt) an Irishman b.c1794, Coalisland, co.Tyrone who was
convicted of stealing a cow [they had better sense than to steal a sheep!!!]
and sentenced to seven years in 1818. He arrived on board the "Martha" and
must have made a very good impression on sixteen year-old Elizabeth (the
younger). For a child was born, though not recorded nor baptised (darn-it!),
a daughter named Eliza who was raised not by her parents but just to
complicate the scene she was raised by Elizabeth senior and her not-yet-wed
William Mannix. They also had a daughter, Jane Mannix, born c.1815 who
appears with her parents in the 1828 Census. Of course, MY Eliza appears on
her lonesome as Eliza Mitchell, aged 10 at the home of Wm.Mannix.
Oh, yes, Elizabeth later married William after his sentence was completed,
having nine children, not reclaiming Eliza and also nameing another daughter
Elizabeth just to confuse the researching descendant!
And then we get to the third convict...
John MEMORY, (3xgrt) born c.1806, London (now ain't that nice of 'em to
narrow down the search!), he tried very hard to get here, the first time
when he stole a lady's gown from a laundry woman's washbasket he got thrown
into Newgate for two months. The second time he was caught when he "dropped
a shilling on the floor behind the counter of a tailor's shop, and when he
picked it up he saw half a crown" the nasty tailor accused our upright young
man of stealing- as IF!
Well, he got a seven year one-way ticket for an Australian holiday and
cruised onboard "Hercules II" to arrive in Sydney Cove in September of 1825.
In 1836 John applied to marry a convict ten years his senior but when the
approval finally came through in 1838, Mary Ann Jelliman was long gone.
Which was all the better coz then he was free (with no record of such mind
you!) and in 1841 he married the aforementioned Eliza Mitchell.
So there you have it- 3 generations of convicts.
I forgot to mention the little play on names that gave me a chuckle.
Elizabeth Toft was born Elizabeth Mitchell in Godalming, Surrey, daughter of
one William Mitchell. Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth Toft then married
William Mitchell and her daughter Eliza was born Eliza Mitchell. Now I
wonder if they ever tossed that around the kitchen table to confuse a guest!

Seeya, Michelle :} () BSSG.
Baragwanath/Baynes/Coldstream/Curnow/Debell/Desanges/Fox/Francom/Guihot/
Helton/Jose/Maudsl*y/ Memor(e)y/Mi(t)chell/Quick/Soames/Trewhella/Tuckett.
CFHS #6392; QFHS #M2705; Woolwich&DFHS #1023.
"Genealogy- Where you confuse the dead and irritate the living!"

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