30 September 2011

My family's shady past

So far, reading through this blog you could be forgiven for thinking that all of my ancestors were law-abiding citizens. However, in Australia, people of British heritage often have convicts lurking in their family trees. It used to be a shameful thing but these days it is seen to be quite a badge of honour. My family tree is no exception, I just haven't gotten around to mentioning them yet!

I can't think of any direct ancestors on my father's side who were convicts, but there are some on my mother's. My husband has way more convicts in his family tree, but this is about my ancestors, so I'm not going to tell you about them!

Mum and Dad were out and about the other day and did some grave hunting. They found the graves of two of Mum's convict ancestors: Thomas Huxley and Ann Forbes. I'm not going to give many details of Thomas and Ann here because many people before me have researched them and you only need to google their names with "convict" for pages and pages of information on them!

Thomas Huxley was born in 1768, in Middlesex England, died 4 Jul 1854, Richmond, NSW. Thomas was transported in the Third Fleet, for stealing a silk handkerchief, on the Salamander. He was buried in the cemetery at St Peter's Anglican Church, Richmond.

Ann Forbes was born in 1768, in England, died 29 Dec 1851, Sackville, NSW. She was transported in the First Fleet, for stealing some cotton fabric, on the Prince of Wales. She was buried in the cemetery of St Thomas' Anglican Church, Sackville.

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