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Thomas Stewart (1803-1888) |
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PART 2: ANCESTORS’ CHARTS (parents of Joan Gaffey): INDIVIDUAL SUMMARIES |
Line of Descent to Joan Gaffey
Thomas
Stewart
(Great Great Grandfather) |
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| Father |
Michael STEWART
[1] |
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| Mother | Anne TIMMINS[2 | ||
| Birth | 1803 (or 1794) in County Louth, Ireland[3] | ||
| Convicted | Jul 20 1830 in Louth, Ireland[4] | ||
| Transported | 1831 to Australia (on the Waterloo) (age 27?)[5 | ||
| Occupation |
Labourer/Reaper (Ireland)[7];
Farmer (NSW)[8] |
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| Death | Jul 16 1888 near Wiseman's Ferry | ||
| Burial | Jul 18, 1888 in St Joseph's cemetery, Central MacDonald (St. Albans)[6] | ||
| Marriage |
Margaret
DALEY (1823 in County Louth, Ireland) |
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| Children |
Mary Anne STEWART (b. Mar 1824)
Catherine STEWART
(Jun 1825 – 1908), married
Tom Berryman, 1844, Leets Vale, Hawkesbury River, NSW
Alleck STEWART (1831 - 1836)
Anne STEWART (b. 1837}
Margaret STEWART (b. 1839)
Thomas STEWART (b. Jul 24 1841)
Elizabeth STEWART (b. 1844) Peter STEWART (b. Jul 2 1847) |
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One of
the many convict tales in the Williams' family tree is that of Thomas
Stewart, an Irish farm labourer and reaper.
Tom was born in John Street, Ardee, in County Louth[9],
possibly in 1803, but if you believe his gravestone and death certificate,
in 1794.
According
to the convict records, Thomas, the son of a stone-mason, was 27 years old
when he was convicted, on July 20, 1830, of housebreaking.
It was his second offence and the judge sentenced him to seven
years' transportation "beyond the seas".
When Tom set sail in the Waterloo
for Botany Bay, as the fledging settlement was still colloquially known, he
left behind a wife, Margaret, and three children, the eldest seven years
old and the youngest, Alleck, a mere infant, born after his father had
been sent to prison. He was
not to see them again for six years, and young Alleck, never. On arrival at Port Jackson in May, 1831, Tom was assigned to the Elkins' farm, at Lower Portland Head, near Wiseman's Ferry, on the Hawkesbury River. He stayed out of trouble while working for Mrs. Elkins, so much so that she gave him a good character reference some years later, when he sought to have his family brought out to Australia to join him. His application was granted, but too late for young Alleck , who died before he could join his mother and two older sisters for the voyage south on the Thomas Harrison in 1836. |
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Tom was
not a big man, even by the standards of that time: the convict records
describe him as being 5ft 3½, with a sallow, pock-pitted complexion, dark
brown hair and grey eyes, with a 'blue mark between left forefinger and
thumb." These early
records show Tom’s name as “Stuart”, but later ones all favour the
“Stewart” spelling. When Tom gained his freedom, he and Margaret set about farming in the same area of the MacDonald Valley he had worked as a convict. Over the years, they added another five children to their family. Farming was obviously a healthy life for them - Tom lived well into his eighties, dying in 1888, just one year after Margaret. When he died, without leaving a will, his goods and chattels, according to the administrators of his estate, were worth £271, a not inconsiderable sum for that time.
The picturesque MacDonald Valley, near Wiseman's Ferry on the Hawkesbury river, north of Sydney, where the Stewarts settled after Tom earned his freedom.
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Tom and his wife were buried in the now abandoned cemetery alongside the ruins of St Joseph's Church in the MacDonald Valley, near St. Albans. While overgrown, their gravestone (right) was still quite legible more than 100 years later
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[1]
Thomas’ NSW death certificate
[2]
As above
[3]
As above
[4]
Convict records – shipping list of the Waterloo [5] As above
[6]
As above
[7]
Convict records – shipping list of the Waterloo
[8]
Thomas’ NSW death certificate [9] Research by Stewart family researcher, Coralie D. Hird.
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