Using a mystery to teach about writing?

 

                                                               Nothing like a mystery to catch people's attention

A DNA group that I'm a member of has gone to a new format as the person who used to be the coordinator has said she's done and it's time for the membership to take over. So the consensus was that each of us will run one of the monthly meetings presenting on a topic about DNA. I'm not nearly as advanced in researching my genetic genealogy as the other members of the group. Sometimes what they talk about is way over my head but they haven't kicked me out yet. My topic will be about writing - go figure. At least that is something I do know about. I don't have to do my gig until 2027 so have a while to prepare. So it seemed like a good idea to have a look at what I've written about DNA on my blog.

I've written a lot of posts about DNA over the years but I took time out from trawling the posts when I found a family mystery that I posted about on January 22, 2018. It's a mystery about John who was born in 1845, the youngest son of Mary Rideout nee Maidment. He grew up with his older siblings but Mary's husband Thomas Rideout had died in 1842. So who was John's father? Could DNA be used to shed any light on this situation?

Mary Maidment was my 2 x great grandmother, so finding out about her is within the reach of autosomal DNA. In fact, I was able to take Mary's line back further by using DNA and there was a complication that arose as her father, Elias Maidment, married Martha Rideout just to keep the family ties closer.

I think I can use the original story as an illustration of writing and maybe get some pointers on how to proceed at the same time. And maybe, just maybe, I can use DNA to take the story further as it did when I found Mary's parents and went down a rabbit hole researching my game keeping ancestors. 

Plans to take my Australian research further

 

                            I haven't found anything to take my family tree further with my research on Francis Cavanagh

Well, my DNA strategy to find out more about my family's convict roots will take time so it's not the quick fix that I thought it might be. But really it was wishful thinking dependent on there being descendents from my two transported convict ancestors, Francis Cavanagh and Thomas Arment. It may be that my Australian DNA matches who show up on Ancestry were immigrants after the convict era. There is one line, the McKay/Chubb line, that I was able to follow through the military records of William McKay in which the family was bounced from place to place and finally, when he retired, they moved from Bangalore to New South Wales. The McKay/Chubb family were on my maternal side and Ancestry indicates that my Australian journeys are paternal. Still, I found one DNA match from Australia that seems to be related to that maternal line. From other matching surnames I've found among my Southern Hemisphere matches, I think there were some later immigrants who maybe came during the 10£ Pom era. 

To further my knowledge, I'm reading about the history of Australian settlement. I'm currently working my way through A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia and intend to pick up some books on Australian genealogical research at the library. Maybe I'll find a way to take my research on Francis Cavanagh further. 

Sources:

Ancestry – DNA matches

DNA update with an Australian slant

 

I haven't had much time to concentrate on finding a way to take Francis Cavanagh's story past his stint at Cockatoo Island which probably ended in 1858. No doubt there is a way to carry my research forward somehow but I have to find out what that is as I'm not that familiar with Australian research. Looks like it's time to watch some webinars and also find some written advice on how to find out about Australian ancestors.

In the meantime, I've made a list of my Ancestry DNA matches from the Southern Hemisphere. There are 35 of them that have put in a location. But there are probably more that haven't added their location to their Ancestry DNA. I know I haven't because the location where I currently reside is not where I was born or where I grew up and really isn't a location that has much to do with my family history.

I'm hoping that the matches who have declared a location on Ancestry DNA actually have some family connection to where they now live. Perhaps their family trees might give me some clues to follow that match with the convicts I've found records for so far, although in the case of Thomas Arment there were no children recorded as a result of his marriage. I'm also not sure that Francis Cavanagh would have been allowed to marry but you never know. We'll see what I can find out.

Sources:

Ancestry DNA matches by location

The hunt for Francis Cavannah/Cavanagh after 1858

 

                                            Documents for Thomas Arment, the other convict in my family tree who was 

                                                                                   transported to Australia 

So far, my research on Francis Cavannah/Cavanagh has basically filled in 20 years of his life, from his arrival in Australia on the Emma Eugenia to his assignment to Cockatoo Island in 1854 for a period of 4 years. Assuming that he made it to the end of that time period that would take him to 1858. Now I'm hunting around for information to take his story further. It's still a work in progress so there's nothing much to report at this time.

I did think that the information on the other transported criminal in my family might hold some clues as to how to find out more. Now that I've looked more closely at the information about Thomas Arment that was shared with me by another researcher, I find that Thomas Arment arrived in Australia in 1852. So a later date than Francis Cavannah. That meant Thomas's destination was Western Australia rather than New South Wales. It also means that the avenues of research to find out more about Francis will be different, as the information about Thomas Arment came from the Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc., Convict Special Interest Group. I wonder if there is something similar for New South Wales. Looks like I need to have a look to see what is available.

Figuring out what Francis Cavanagh's 1854 convict records mean

 

                                                             Google map of Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour

I'm still on the track of Francis Cavanagh, my 3 x great uncle, who disappeared from records in London due to the fact that he was transported to Australia in 1838. I've been able to track him through convict records and newspaper articles in Australia but was left with a conundrum when I found that he was issued with a Ticket of Leave in 1854 and also sent to Cockatoo Island to perform labour in the same year. Did one cancel out the other?

Cockatoo Island was established as a penal station for reoffending male convicts in 1839. It was in Sydney Harbour. Using convict labour, buildings were begun at that time to house the prisoners, those who were to guard them and also for the officials to run the site. Convict labour was also used to build Fitzroy Dock on the island in a project that began in 1847. As the dockyard wasn't finished until 1857, Francis Cavanagh may have worked on that project. The penal station on Cockatoo Island closed in 1869.

Trawling online, I found the answer to the conundrum about Francis Cavanagh with his Ticket of Leave and his assignment to Cockatoo Island in an article in Epoch Magazine. The article explained that European prisoners who had conditions on their freedom such as being tied to a certain district, were often sent to Cockatoo Island. This fits with the Ticket of Leave awarded to Francis Cavanagh in 1854 as there was a district included, that of Yass. So his freedom was indeed conditional. But the record from Darlinghurst had indicated that his period of labour on Cockatoo Island was to last for 4 years. Was he then unconditionally free and will I be able to find out what happened to him after 1858?

 Sources:

Cockatoo Island information https://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/en/learn/island-history/convict-penal-establishment/ 

Australian Convict Sites Booklet https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b3997467e3c3a94b303bbd0/t/61c0194aed71ef2513556f06/1639979386613/Australian+Convict+Sites+Booklet+WEB+.pdf

Epoch magazine  https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/diversifying-a-digital-dataset-cockatoo-island-convicts

Matching Francis Cavanagh to the right newspaper reports

 

                                         Hyde Park Barracks where Francis Cavanagh and other convicts were housed 

I've made progress in my hunt for Francis Cavanagh in Australia. From the MHNSW website, I learned that much of the information about New South Wales convicts is on Ancestry. I had a deeper look at what's available and found the New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930. A search for Francis Cav* turned up lots of entries including ones for the last name Cavey and also for Fras Cavanagh. They all seem to relate to the man I'm looking for especially as a convict's ID included the name of the ship he or she came in on.

The entry for the Description Book >Darlinghurst > 1841-1849 (Darlinghurst was a gaol or jail) had entries for John Cunningham, Francis Cavanagh and Darby Corr or Carr all following each other with the entry numbers of 605, 606 and 607. Those three men were named in newspaper accounts from 1845 as the accused in the robbery of a cash box at Government House. All three were from Hyde Park Barracks, a place for male convicts at that time. Subsequent reports stated that Cunningham and Carr were found guilty but there was no evidence against Cavanagh who was discharged.

I need to make a closer study of the rest of the newspaper accounts and compare them to the sketchy timeline I've made for Francis Cavanagh based on the New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930. I'm not sure what happened to Francis in 1854. On one hand there's his Ticket of Leave with the Remarks - District Yass; Tried Sydney 1854. Does that mean he obtained his Ticket of Leave that year? On the other hand one of the Entrance Books for Darlinghurst records that he was admitted for labour for 4 years to Cockatoo Island on 23 Aug 1854. Does admitted in that case mean sentenced? I need to figure out what it all means.

Sources:

Ancestry              New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930

MHNSW             website

Trove                        https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/

Images:

Image of Hyde Park Barracks from Wikimedia commons

By Unknown author - https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/digital/4NOW6xjk4kMO0, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=135791690

Doing the math on Francis Cavanagh's Australian records

 

                                                        Trying to make sense of Francis Cavanagh's convict timeline

I've spent more time digging around in online sources for Australian research looking for information about Francis Cavanagh, the young man transported from London in 1838 at the age of 19. As part of the research, I also watched a webinar on the MHNSW website about their State Archives Collection. Their website also has a Guide to New South Wales State archives relating to convicts and convict administration which researchers can leaf through online. It explained that the certificate of freedom indicated the end of a convict's sentence. Francis Cavanagh received his Certificate of Freedom May 11, 1846. He had been sentenced to 7 years on March 13, 1837. He arrived in New South Wales on February 9, 1838. It appears that only the time after landing in Australia counted toward his sentence.

Even with a Certificate of Freedom, he was still included in the penal system of New South Wales. It doesn't seem fair, but I suppose the colony would have been hard to keep in order if every one of the transported convicts was allowed to wander free after their sentence was up. The next item up in a convict's progress appeared to be the Ticket of Leave. According to the Guide to New South Wales State Archives, there was a set timetable on which these tickets were issued. It depended on how many years a convict had served with a master. The timetable for the granting of tickets could vary from 7 years to 14.

The Ticket of Leave for Francis Cavannagh appears to have been issued in 1854 as the remark on his ticket reads: District: Yass; Tried Sydney 1854. But this would mean it took 16 years for Francis to qualify for his ticket, a little longer than the timetable outlined in the guide. What had happened to cause the delay? Looks like more digging will be needed.

Sources:

MHNSW        Guide to New South Wales State archives relating to convicts and convict administration p 41

MHNSW State Archives Collection https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/  Convicts index 1791-1873