NOT ANOTHER JOHN MARSDEN!

Kathleen Lewis (094/198)

It is with some interest that I have read various researchers’ stories in the Marsden Family History News and noted how many have been named John Marsden. In my own line, I have had three generations of John (in so far as I have traced) and there are a few more along other lines of the family. For ease of reading I haved numbered them John (1), (2) etc.

Unlike in past generations, the select 10% of Australians that can trace their ancestry back to a convict, consider themselves extremely lucky as they can find quite detailed information of their black sheep. I do not think my mother would have been very happy about my research had she still been living, and to this day, I don’t believe she even had an inkling that both her great grandfather and his father before him, were convicts.

As a child, I can remember being quite put out that other children had two sets of grandparents and numerous Aunts and Uncles and all I had was one Nanna. and one Uncle and his wife. Perhaps it was this shortage of relatives and the dismissal of "they died before you were born", that gave me the very strong desire to find out more and claim them for my own.

My starting point was that my dear Nanna who died when I was nine years old, "came from Tasmania". The only other information I had been told was that her parents were John Marsden and Ellen Crowley and she was raised in Launceston. Ellen’s father had come on the first convict ship to Tasmania as captain of the convict guard. Her mother had died and he had smuggled her aboard wrapped in a blanket as children were not supposed to travel without a mother. Where he had smuggled her from, what his name was, and what happened to him, nobody knew. Three to four years later, I am still none the wiser on Pop Crowley, but my Marsden research has given me a very real insight into history, found me some very dear people and enough descendants that, when printed out, just about cover a small wall.

My first introduction to research was the Tasmanian Archives films of Births, Deaths and Marriages to find my grandmother’s birth, which I found in 1875. I also found a female child in 1873 and Elizabeth in 1854. Why was there such a big gap in between? I didn’t know, never mind there was a whole lot of other Marsdens being born earlier still. Lucky for me, I had been given the very good advice by an experienced researcher - take down everyone with the name you are researching, so I kept adding and adding until I had 10 children to John Marsden and Elizabeth Beaven (sic), one of which was John (3) - my grandmother’s dad, and then his parents’ wedding in 1832.

Well, I was over the moon. Look at all these people I excitedly reported to my elder sister. But why do you only have three children in Nan’s family? She was the youngest of twelve you know. I didn’t know. Did you find out the name of the first convict ship to Tasmania? No, I hadn’t. Back to the library.

Further research revealed that the "Indefatigable" was the first transport ship to reach Tasmania direct from England and arrived in Hobart on 19th October 1812, with the report of one death from the 200 who had embarked. She was preparing to sail for Port Jackson when a despatch was received from Governor Macquarie urging that a convict ship should be despatched direct to Tasmania. Their voyage was in two parts. Sailing from London on June 4 in company with the "Mistrel", they made Rio in 54/55 days and sailed on August 11. A further 69 days found them in Hobart, a total of 137 days. With the exception of prisoners transferred from Port Philip by Collins in 1804, all the previous convicts to reach Tasmania, had been trans-shipped from Sydney.

Hobart, in 1812 when the "Indefatigable" arrived, was only eight years old. It was started when David Collins had settled from Port Phillip. The town had slowly grown with convicts from Sydney and the settlers from Norfolk Island, together with the first few free settlers.

The date of this event caused me some problems. It was far too early for Ellen to have been smuggled on board and from John (2’s) death registry in 1882, (followed four days later by his wife Elizabeth), I knew his approximate birthdate as being between 1800-1802. The "Indefatigable" had a John Marsden listed, tried at the Nottingham Assizes 9th August 1810 sentence - life. What a coincidence I said to myself, there’s another John Marsden. He can’t be ours though, he would have only been 8-10 years old, and any rate, we don’t have any convicts in our family!

Having exhausted the available archive records in Perth, (Western Australia) my next advice was to write letters. The Genealogical Research Directory was searched going back eight years and four researchers for Marsden discovered. As my research was still very scanty, my letters did not contain all that much, other than establish who I was descended from and enquiring were we researching the same name. At the same time a request to the office of the Tasmanian Archives in Hobart was sent asking if they could help me with the arrival of John Marsden who married Elizabeth Bevan in 1832, both shown as free.

The Archives letter was first to arrive and informed me that they had four John Marsdens, all convicts that had arrived prior to 1832 and that a fifth was eliminated (per "Manlius" 1828) as he was not free at that date. They were:

Indefatigable 1812
Shipley and Haweis 1820
Caledonia 1822
Woodman 1826

Well, only four. Much better than the 10 or so John Marsden convicts shown on the New South Wales index. By this time I was resigned to the fact that my John Marsden was a convict, but which one? I had just started eliminating them one by one, starting with the latest date, when two of my GRD enquiries responded. Surprise, surprise, not one, but the first two on the list were both related to me! The key to the whole story was an obituary in the Launceston Examiner of May 1882:

"An Old Colonist. - Our obituary notices recently record the death on 15th inst., at his residence, York-street, at the age of 82 years, of Mr. John Marsden, one of our oldest settlers in the colony. Mr. Marsden was born in Nottingham, England, 1800, and emigrated to Sydney with his father when only nineteen years of age. After remaining a brief time in New South Wales, he came here and settled in the northern part of Tasmania. In 1826 he was employed by Mr. Nathaniel Lucas, cutting tracks on the West Tamar, in the neighbourhood of where Cormiston now is, and he afterwards worked for some time at Circular Head, on the North-West Coast. The deceased, however, spent most of his life in Launceston, and 47 years ago purchased the house in York-street, where he died, having resided in it 46 years at the period of his death. He would have been married 50 years had he lived until the 29th of next August, and was looking forward with pleasant anticipations for that date to arrive, in order that he might celebrate the event. But "Man proposes and God disposes," and it was willed otherwise. Mr. Marsden brought up a very large family, having twelve children, ten of whom are now living, fifty grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. He was siezed by an attack of erysipelas on the sixth of this month. He was a hale, hearty man up to that period, having worked continuously for the last seventy-two years. His father, John Marsden, arrived in the colony before him and was killed by the natives on a farm owned by him a short distance beyond where the Mowbray Racecourse now is, in 1828 at the age of sixty-three years, the subject of this obituary having at the same time a narrow escape from sharing his parent’s fate."

With a death date of his father (incorrect as was proven) and a place of birth, this obituary opened up many leads. A search was made for the death certificate of John (1). This read:

John Marsden, abode near Launceston, on 14th September 1827, aged 66, Farmer, of the ship "Indefatigable". A notation by chaplain James Norman stated "murdered by natives".

The Hobart Town Gazette of Sat Sept 22 1827, p8, col 2, confirms the nature of death:

"We regret to learn, that the black natives continue to show a hostile disposition, at least one particular tribe. Last week, within the short distance of two miles and a half of Launceston, on the further side of the river North Esk, they attacked from ambush, an old man named Marsden, whom they put to death."

A local researcher advised that trial records had not survived for the Nottingham Assizes, but turned up a report in the Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties. This described in great detail how John Marsden and John Dennis were indicted for sheep stealing. Witnesses were called who testified in minute detail how the skin and entrails were found, a greasy, bloody smock, together with two cakes of rendered tallow. Several joints of mutton and a sheep’s head were also found in Marsden’s house.

Wm. Goddard was called who deposed that he searched the house of Dennis; found two shoulders of mutton as well as two pieces of the breasts and a neck; also four pieces of mutton which had been salted. Evidence also was given as to the amateur method of slaughter, which could not have been done by a butcher. Several witnesses were examined on the part of Dennis, proving him to have been at his own house on the evening, and to have slept at home all the night when the robbery was committed. Several persons were called to speak to Dennis’s character, who stated him to be an honest and industrious man. The Jury found Marsden guilty and acquitted Dennis. His Lordship immediately passed sentence of Death on Marsden who seemed affected at his awful situation, and implored his Lordship to have mercy on him. The court’s mercy was, at length, exercised. John would not go to the gallows but was instead to be transported.

The book "Portrait of Nottingham" by Emrys Bryson paints us a very grim picture of this period. Nottingham at the time had turned from a garden city into a slum second only to Bombay throughout the whole Empire. In 1750 it was home to 11,000 people. By 1800 it had 29,000 - all squeezed into the same space, one and three quarter miles in perimeter, the same as for hundreds of years. Bordered on the west by the Duke of Newcastle’s park and Lord Middleton’s park, on the east by Colwick parish owned by the Musters family and to the north and south by the common fields and meadows, the biggest stumbling block of all, it was clamped into a green but steely ring.

It is known from the IGI that John and his wife Jane Wessley, whom he had married at St. Mary’s Nottingham in 1799, had four young children at the time of the offence and were expecting a fifth. They were Jane christened 1800, John (1802), Thomas (1805) and Mary Ann (1807). Benjamin was christened after the trial in 18ll. One can only imagine the desperation that John was driven to in order to feed them. He paid a very high price.

Research had thus far established how John (1) had arrived in Tasmania, but what of John (2)?

In researching her Jane Stonehouse ancestor, Cheryl Timbury was intrigued by how many times John Marsden was mentioned as a witness at christenings, land transfers and informant at various happenings. As the colonial secretary’s correspondence was indexed she found the following in 1821/22? (copy illegible):

"Hon Sir,

I humbly beg leave to lay the accompanying letter before your honr trusting you will be pleased to permit me to join my sister at Launceston agreeable to her wish, and the favour will be most gratefully acknowledged by Your Honor’s most Obed’t humble servant

John Marsden

O’Briens gang"

Also, written Feb 11 1822,

"This is to certify that I shall give a passage to Port Dalrymple free of any expenses to John Marsden providing he gets liberty from the Secretary’s office.

D. Jamieson, Master

Brig Haweis"

The 72t Brig HAWEIS departed Sydney 6 July 1822 with Master D Jamieson, destination Port

Dalrymple. The passengers were Dr. Cameron Esq. M.D., W. Thos. Collicott, Late Mast Orphan School and " JOHN MARSDEN, convict of Shipley 3 proceeding with permission to be assigned to his father at Port Dalrymple."

One can only imagine the emotional reunion on the deck when father, son and sister finally were together after such a long separation. Sadly, having gathered two of his children together, and having acquired what to John Snr. would have been a large holding, his land grant of 30 acres in June 1825, he met his death so tragically only two years later.

The Convict Indent for the SHIPLEY 3 which arrived in Sydney on 26 September 1820 with 146 male prisoners, described JOHN MARSON (sic) as age 17; native place Nottingham; Trade Hosier: Offence, larcency; tried Nottingham Assizes 10 March 1820; sentence 7 years; Height, 5’4"; complexion, florid; Hair, brown; eyes, hazel. (His obituary states he was born in 1800 - his baptism was in 1802)

The Nottingham Journal March 18 1820, reads in part:

"John MARSON (sic), James GODBER and Samuel ADAMS for stealing a money drawer, containing about thirty shillings in silver and ten shillings in copper from the shop of Mr. Samuel GIDDINGS, baker of Bingham".

Having reached Tasmania, the only offence registered against young John on June 1 1825 was: Riding in a cart drawn by bullocks without reins to guide them, for which he was fined 10/- and on June 7th, the same year, " Not attending when summonsed to attend at the police office and leaving Launceston without a transfer", for which he got a reprimand. Heavy stuff indeed.

August 1832 saw John Jnr. marrying Elizabeth Beaven (sic) in Launceston and they had thirteen children. Operating a cartage business, dabbling as a licensed victualler, of which early Launceston had no shortage, and in later years a gardener, he acquired considerable wealth and property, at one time owning 10 houses. His family as they married all lived within a very short distance of each other and no further transgressions were recorded against any family members. This goes to show that given the opportunities denied him as a child, he was capable of becoming a respected member of society. His obituary mentioned his 50 grandchildren but did not mention that his wife of many years died within 4 days of him.

As in all research, just when you think you have found all that is to be found, something comes out of the blue, or in this case an old cigarette tin. Some time before the pioneer cemetery was bulldozed (I kid you not) for a childrens’ playground, and all the headstones reduced to rubble in the 1950’s, a member of the Marsden family took photographs of a couple of headstones. Even then, they were not aware of the early family details, as they were forwarded to another member with a request for information on who they were. Luckily for us researchers, the photos which showed only half the details were accompanied by handwritten transcript. The photos languished forgotten for over 40 years, then were forwarded to a cousin, Betty Broomhall, as it was known she was interested in family history. She in turn forwarded copies to me.

The first read, all on one stone: "Sacred to the Memory of John Marsden who was cruelly murdered by natives, Sept 11 1828 (sic), aged 67 years (sic). Jane, beloved wife of Robert Stonehouse, died Feb 10th 1839 aged 39 years, also Henrietta Stonehouse, died July 30 1849 aged 11 years. Also, John Marsden, died 15th May 1882, aged 81 years. Also, Elizabeth Marsden, died May 19th 1882, aged 69 years."

Although our records show Jane died 21 February 1838 and there is an error in John Snr’s. death, it proved the connections made.

It was the second photo that nearly caused me to fall off my chair: "Thomas Marsden who was thrown from his cart which caused death. Oct 4th 1839 in the 37th year of his age, Also, Thomas Marsden, son of John Marsden died May 23rd 1840, aged 7 months 14 days."

The elder Thomas was another of John (senior’s) children from Nottingham! The link was that baby Thomas had been born a few days after his uncle’s death and was named after him. Prior to this photo there was nothing to link this Thomas Marsden to our family. Betty had always assumed because of the source that it referred to her uncle, not realising the dates pointed to a generation before.

A subsequent search turned up an inquest . After surviving gangrene and having his foot chopped off without anaesthetic and then dying with the record left "if he had been a man of more temperate habits he would have survived," is an indication of the very harsh times. Either the shock or gangrene would have killed even the most robust person.

Incidentally, Dr. William Russell Pugh, whose care he was in, performed the first operation in Australia with the use of anaesthetics at Morton House, corner of Charles and Frederick Streets, Launceston in 1847 - a whole eight years after the death of Thomas.

We have not yet discovered how Thomas and wife Maria arrived in Tasmania, or when, other than that he was a free settler. The child Jane born to them in Nottingham had obviously died, as no children were shown living with Maria and her new husband in the 1842 census.

So now we have traced three of the five children. What happened to his wife Jane, Mary Anne and Benjamin we have yet to find out. The family naming pattern was repeated in the other two Johns’ families.

In trying to keep this article as brief as possible for the magazine, a lot more information has of necessity been edited. However, I would like to give credit to fellow researchers, without whose sharing of information this story would not be printed:

Cheryl Timbury - Jane Marsden/Stonehouse
Betty Broomhall - Thomas Samuel Marsden
Eileen Graham - John Marsden (3)
Dianne Wingate - Alice Louisa Marsden/Harris
Kerry Vickers - Jane Stonehouse

By the way, should you be wondering, my grandmother’s other 9 siblings’ births were never registered. I found them in the Baptismal records of St. Josephs, Launceston.

Since submitting the original article, Kath has contacted me to say that she has now found John (1) committed to the prison hulk "Laurel" on 12 June 1811 following commutation of his death sentence. It would be here that he would have been held whilst awaiting transportation.