William Douglas, convict and farmer
William Douglass (1763-1838) was born in Lincolnshire,
England, the son of John Douglass and Jonas (Johanna). The Douglass'
originally came from Colsterworth, England. He was baptised on
Tuesday the 7th of June 1763 at St Martins, Church, Lincoln,
England.
William Douglass was held for trial "for picking the
pocket of John Brown of a silver watch at Hornecastle on Tuesday the
20th day of April 1785." He was tried found guilty and sentenced at
Lincoln on Saturday the 9th of July 1785 to transportation for 7
years. He was held at the 'Justitia' hulk while awaiting
transportation.
Transportation Document
Lincolnshire.
To wit the Jurors for our Sovereign upon their oath present that
William Douglass late of The parish of Lincoln on the ninth day in
the reign of our Sovereign King George 111 and with force and arms
at the parish of Lincoln aforesaid in the parts of the county
aforesaid.
Charged by the oaths of John Brown and Robert
Tasker with having picked the pocket of the said John Brown of one
silver watch, his property on the 20th day of April last at
Hornecastle, committed by Benjamin Bromhead, esq., April 21st. Then
and there being feloniously did wrongfully act against the peace of
our Sovereign George Crown and Dignity.
On the 6th of January
1787 William Douglass was delivered to the 'Alexander'. A three-masted,
barque-built vessel, 'Alexander' weighed 452 tons. She was 114 feet
long on the lower deck, with an extreme breadth of 31 feet at the
beam and was of 452 85/94 tons burthen. Built in Hull, England, in
1783 the bark vessel 'Alexander' carried 213 male convicts, 37
marines, and approximately 30 seamen (officers included). She was
the largest of the 11 ships in the
First Fleet. Master Duncan
Sinclair skippered her and the surgeon was William Balmain.
The 'Alexander' left Portsmouth, England on the 13th of May 1787.
Teneriffe was the first port where the ships of the first fleet
layed anchor on their journey to New South Wales. The Alexander
dropped anchor on the 21st of January 1788 at Botany Bay. She was
251 days at sea on the voyage. Botany Bay proving unsuitable, she
moved on to Sydney Cove. William Douglass was about twenty-five
years of age when the 'Alexander' arrived at Sydney Cove on the 25th
of January 1788.
On Saturday the 18th of December 1789,
William Douglas, William Bradbury and Jeremiah Leary were charged
with assaulting (they most likely deserved it) two seaman from the
supply ship 'Braydon and Storey'. Magistrates, Captain Collins,
Reverend Johnson and Mr Alt found the three men guilty. Both
William's were committed to work in a convict gang, Leay (Leary) was
reprimanded.
On Sunday 1st June 1788 Mary Groves and William
Douglas were married, with the consent of Arthur Phillip, Governor,
by the colony's Chaplain Reverend Johnson, at St Phillip's Church of
England, Sydney Cove, Port Jackson - William Rowe and Stephen Barnes
witnessed their marriage which was one of the first June weddings in
Australia.
Mary was also a convict. Charged by the oath of Edward Copper
with feloniously stealing one yellow canvas bag, thirteen guineas in
gold and eight shillings and sixpence in silver, the property of the
said Edward Cooper. Committed by Benjamin Bromhead, Esq. April 14th.
Then and there being feloniously did wrongfully act against the
peace of our Sovereign George Crown and Dignity.
Mary Groves
was tried on Tuesday the 9th of July 1785 at Lincoln, she was
charged with stealing "one yellow canvas bag containing 13 guineas
and some silver, the property of Edward Cooper". Mary was found
guilty and was sentenced to transportation for seven years. She had
no occupation recorded.
The 'Prince of Wales' sailed from Portsmouth, England, with Mary
Groves on board on Sunday the 13th of May 1787. She was about thirty
years old when she arrived at Sydney Cove on Saturday the 25th of
January 1788.
It is highly debatable how many children
William Douglas and Mary Groves had; the number is hotly contested.
The Hawkesbury Pioneer Register had named seven; they were George,
John, Elizabeth b.1796, James b.1797, Thomas b.1804, William b.10th
of June 1809 and Sarah b.1810. Described as "The Douglas
Controversy" it appears totally unlikely that James, Thomas, William
and Sarah were the offspring of Mary Groves and William Douglas.
Mary Groves and William Douglas had one daughter, Elizabeth,
born on the 8th of February 1796; they had two sons, John born on
the 9th of April 1793, he died and was buried in the grounds of St
Phillip's Church of England, Sydney. The other son was Joseph (a
twin to Elizabeth) born on the 8th of February 1796, both boys died
in infancy. Elizabeth married Daniel Jurd, founding the 'Jurd
Dynasty'.
William and Mary Douglas were one of the first
twenty-two pioneer farmers of the Hawkesbury Valley in an area known
as "The Green Hills". A plaque in Governor Phillip Park at Windsor,
with the words that were written by Lieutenant Governor Grose in
April 1794, honour's those first settler families.
Mary was
born about 1757 in Lincolnshire, England. Her Father was John Groves
and her mother was Frances Ayscough. Mary's family came from
Colsterworth, England. Several of the largest and most elaborate
headstones of the Groves' family are located just outside the Church
door in the Church graveyard.
Mary's time of death and place
of burial are unknown, it could be assumed she died between 1797 and
1800. Mary might have been buried on their farm at the Hawkesbury?
It is also possible and very likely that she was buried in the
cemetery that existed where today Sydney Town Hall stands, that old
cemetery extended into George Street. That early cemetery was first
used in the 1790's and replaced because of Sydney's expansion in the
1840's; a new cemetery was opened on the site that Sydney Central
Railway Station now occupies. It in turn was relocated to Botany and
Rookwood (to make way for Central Railway Station) in the early
1900's. Unfortunately many thousands of headstones and grave sites
of convicts and early settlers were lost in the re-use of early
cemetery land.
William's 'housekeeper' Sarah Dailey (Daly)
was living with William possibly from the time of Mary Groves' death
in the late 1790's, or at the very least by 1801. Sarah who was a
convict transported from Dublin, Ireland, also had a daughter named
Elizabeth. William witnessed his stepdaughter Elizabeth's marriage
to Thomas Jones at Sydney in 1807. Sarah Dailey was tried and
convicted in Dublin Ireland and sentenced to transportation.
In the General Muster of 1806 Sarah is listed as William's
housekeeper. In the Settlers Muster Book of 1801, Sarah's name is
entered immediately after William's; Mary's name is absent, I assume
she was already dead. It would not have been possible for Mary to
return to England as has been suggested convicts were responsible
for paying their own return journey.
Elizabeth Jones nee
Dailey died at the age of 55 in 1845, which places her birth about
1791 - 1792 possibly on board the 'Kitty'. Elizabeth Jones had two
children and named them William and Sarah after her mother and
stepfather William Douglas.
In 1814 William Douglas was
working and living in Sydney where he remained until 1828 showing up
on records in 1814, in 1822 as a labourer, and 1825. Stock muster
records show that he owned two horses in 1822, he used them for work
about Sydney.
By 1822 William was living at his house in
York Street, Sydney, with Eleanor Cathorne also known as Ellen
Holden who arrived as a convict (7 years) on the sailing ship
'Canada' in 1810.
In 1826 William transferred ownership of
his house and premises at 5 York Street, Sydney, to his son-in-law
Daniel Jurd. With the condition that he and his housekeeper could
live in the house rent-free. In 1828 William moved to Pitt Town
where he traded as a butcher, and he was living with Daniel and
Elizabeth Jurd and family. Two years prior to Daniel's death at Pitt
Town in 1833 William joined his daughter Elizabeth and Daniel and
their children on Daniel Jurd's farm at the Branch, on the Upper
Macdonald River in the Macdonald Valley.
William Smith. Per
'Asia' 1820 who was tried in London, was on a list of convicts
mustered in the employ of William Douglas of Sydney in 1823-25.
William Douglas of Sydney gave testimony as to William Smith's
character for a ticket of leave. William Smith was a servant from
17th of January 1821 to January 1825 of November
1825 William Smith was assigned as servant of William Douglass for
four years and three months. On the 21st of November 1825 William
Smith was a convict in the service of William Douglass of Sydney at
the last two musters.
William died on Tuesday the 27th of
November 1838 at St Albans, New South Wales, and was buried at the
Old General Cemetery near St Albans, in the Macdonald Valley, New
South Wales.
William Douglas(s) and Mary Groves' children
are:
John Douglass, b. 9 Apr 1793 Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia.
Died bef. 1798 Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia. Elizabeth
Douglas(s), b. 8 Feb 1796 Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia. Died 25 Jan
1877 St Albans, NSW, Australia. She married Daniel Jurd.Joseph
Douglass, b. 8 Feb 1796 Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia. Died 1796
Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia.
Notes:
1.
a. Other researchers report that First Fleeters William DOUGLAS and
Mary GROVES married in Sydney on 1 June 1788 and that their children
included William George DOUGLAS or DOUGLASS, who, on 14 Nov 1814,
had a daughter Mary Ann DOUGLASS with Mary Ann CROSS.
b. But this is contested by a source
that states that Mary Ann Cross married William George Douglass (b.
1768) from the "Coromandel" in 1809 and that he was no relation to
the 1788 William Douglass.
2. Since preparing this article just two
days ago (including the note above), I have received an essay on
'The Douglas Controversy', written by Carol Baxter. The
controversy centres around three fathers and two sons and raises the
question of "who begat who". The three fathers were convicts who
arrived in the colony in its early years: William Douglas on the
Alexander in 1788, Thomas Douglas on the Canada in 1801 and William
Douglas on the Coromandel in 1804. They were the only men in the
colony with the surname Douglas who appear to have been fathering
children prior to 1810. The two sons were born in the colony
prior to 1810, Thomas Douglas and William Douglas. I may have
to amend the above in the light of
this essay contributed by
Carol Baxter.
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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