A Battle against the odds. Chapter 12 part 1

 

Our ancestors, convicts John Smith (1795 – 1866) and Mary Tully Smith (1799 – 1868), were transported to New South Wales (NSW) in 1816 and 1817 respectively. They married in Windsor, NSW in 1820 and had thirteen children.

My knowledge of this family comes from a now out of print family history book published in 1990:

Brown, Arthur John (1990). A Battle Against the Odds: Stories of Our Pioneering Families on Norfolk Island, the Hawkesbury River, Mulgrave Place, Green Hills, Box Hill, and Nelson.

The descendents  of John Smith and Mary Tully are scattered far and wide. And The Battle Against the Odds  book is only available in a few Australian libraries.

I have written about John Smith and Mary Tully Smith previously and often receive enquiries about them.

 

In the interests of those who can't locate a copy of A Battle Against the Odds I have decided to transcribe and post Chapter 12, the chapter relevant to convicts John Smith and Mary Tully. 

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Transcription Part 1 

Battle against the odds, Chapter 12
John and Mary Smith
(1795-1866) (1799-1868)

By Hilda and Eric Lukeman

A difficult start

Some interesting facts about the origins of a pioneering family in the Windsor District: The Smiths of Nelson

This essay is part of our contribution to the first family reunion of descendants and friends of John and Mary Smith to be held at Windsor on Sunday, 9th March 1986.

We have gathered the material over a number of years and, as some of it may not be widely known we would like to share it with you. Hilda is descended from the second born child of John and Mary. Born 1822 he was named John, no doubt after his father. John Jnr. married Margaret Farrell in 1849. From 1857 to 1879 there were fifteen floods in Windsor. After the record flood of 1867 John Jnr. Margaret and their children left the district and went first to Sunny Corner near Bathurst, NSW and then to Collie near Warren NSW . Hilda’s husband Eric is an amateur family historian and has a keen interest in history. We have retired and live quietly in Queensland. Our two sons. We hope this essay will help further the understanding and appreciation of the difficulties faced and overcome by John and Mary Smith. Maybe this day will be the first of many and the numbers of descendants and friends attending will increase as more people find that they too are connected in one way or another with these worthy pioneers.

to be continued...