Hester Wright - 4 x great grandmother and her daughter Mary Ann Eastwood / Heastwood / Hestwood née Wright - 3 x great grandmother

Updated August 2019 based on research by Leonie Fretwell in 2017: see here 

Mary Ann's birth, parentage, and early life

Records show that she was born in Tasmania as Mary Wright on 10 September 1819, and baptised ten days later.  Her mother was Hester (sometimes Esther) Wright, a convict who was convicted at the Bristol Assizes on 13 January 1817. She was convicted of stealing five yards of lace and sentenced to transportation for seven years.  Hester was transported on the Friendship on 3 July 1817. After the ship arrived in Sydney, she was transferred aboard the Duke of Wellington to Hobart in January 1818.  and was aged about 22 on arrival.

Hobart Town, 1819 (detail) by George William Evans. Original in Dixson Library, State Library of NSW

Leonie Fretwell writes: 

"Peter Cosgreave, the surgeon on board the Friendship, labelled Hester 'A prostitute and mutinous', an opinion he perhaps justified by the fact that when she reached Hobart she was about seven onths pregnant with a child conceived en route, father unknown. The child was born on 10 May 1818 and baptised as Eliza six months later by the Rev Knopwood, who diligently recorded in the 'Quality or Profession' column that the mother was unmarried.  

"The 1820 muster shows Hester to be 'With Eastwood, Hobart Town'. The man in question was most likely to have been the Joseph Eastwood who, with John Eastwood (possibly his brother) had been convicted at Lancaster in March 1808 for being in possession of forged notes, and both sentenced to fourteen years transportation. The pair arrived in Sydney on 26 February 1810 on board the male convict ship Anne. John, aged 46, died at Parramatta in may 1811. Joseph was transferred to Hobart in 1816 abord the Kangaroo. By 1820 Hester was the mother of two girsl and, from a subsequent record, it is apparent that Hester and Joseph may have become acquainted some time before the muster of that year. 

"Although his name does not appear on [Mary Wright's] baptism record, Joseph [Eastwood] was probably the father, although in the 1822 Settler and Convict list there are no children ascribed to him. 

" Joseph Eastwood was not a model convict. His charge sheet shows that he had been absent from muster in 1817, for which he was given extra labour for a week. In October 1818 he had embezzled some beef for which he received 25 lashes and one month in the Gaol Gang. But more seriously, in June 1821, he was back to his old tricks, as reported in the Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser.

"Joseph Wilkes and Joseph Eastwood were found Guilty of forging two notes of hand, purporting to be drawn by Henry Creswell, of New Norfolk; one for the sum of 12l, the other for 10l sterling; and were sentenced to be transported to Newcastle for the remainder of their original terms of transportation.

"What was to become of Hester without any ‘man about the house’ and with two babies to care for? At this time, even if she had been desperate enough to consider it, there was no Female Factory where she might have sought refuge and accommodation. Indeed Governor Macquarie was firmly opposed to any such establishment at Van Diemen’s Land given the relatively small number of female convicts and the demand for them to take on roles as servants, partners and wives. But eventually Macquarie yielded to pressure and in mid-1821 directed that plans be drawn up for a female factory to be established. It was not until 1824, when George Arthur became Lieutenant-General, that consideration was given to the establishment of an orphan school."

Hester's marriage to William Watts

"Hester did what so women in her situation did. Within two months of Joseph’s departure, she had not only taken up with another man, she had actually married him. On 27 August 1821 Esther Wright, convict, age 25, and William Watts, convict, age 24, were married at Hobart Town in the presence of Sarah Scott and George Northam. Neither groom nor bride could write their names, and their union was sealed by each making their mark. The 1822 muster records Hester as the wife of Wm. Watts and the mother of three daughters.

Hester had a third daughter, Ann on 20 June 1821. It is possible the father was again Joseph Eastwood. Or it could have been William Watts, another convict, who was in Tasmania from late 1819.

"William Watts, a native of Bristol, and recorded as both a horse-breaker and pipe maker, was one of 220 convicts transported on the Lord Eldon which arrived at Port Jackson in on 30 September 1817. During the six month voyage one prisoner escaped and swam ashore at Madeira and four others died during the passage, but those who did arrive were described by Governor Macquarie as being ‘in good Health’. 

"William had been tried and found guilty at the August 1816 Bristol Quarter Sessions for stealing muslin and sentenced to seven years transportation.

 "Having spent two years consigned in New South Wales, on 18 November 1819 William was embarked on the Admiral Cockburn ‘for the Public Service in Van Diemen’s Land’. 

"The 1820 muster records him having been sent to Mr. Carter. It was not too long before the first entry was made on William Watts’ conduct sheet. On 20 May 1821 he had been absent from his lodgings at night and absent from Muster at Church (at which all convicts were required to present themselves). These two offences earned him 25 lashes. Three months after his marriage to Hester he escaped from the custody of the constables and, having been apprehended, was dealt out 50 lashes. Only one month later the Hobart Town Gazette recorded that:

"William Watts, convict, charged with having in his possession a canvas bag, the property of His Majesty, was found guilty, and sentenced to receive 25 lashes.

"Clearly the patience of the authorities was being sorely tried because, for his next offence committed on 1 December 1821 – receiving stolen property belonging to one Charles Rowcraft, William was ‘to be transported to such part of the Territory as His Honor the Lieut Govr may deem proper for 3 years’.  He was sent to Macquarie Harbour, but whether he did his full time there is not clear. In May 1822 he offended again. This time he had absconded from his work place and taken off into the woods. Again he was caught and duly punished with one hundred lashes and six months’ labour in irons. Notwithstanding his poor conduct record, and his original sentence having expired, in July 1823 William Watts obtained his Certificate of Freedom. He committed his first offence as a free man in September of that year. He was caught retailing beer without a licence which cost him a hefty £30.

"For the 1823 muster Hester Wright is listed as a servant, employed in Hobart by a Mrs Wells, possibly Mrs Charlotte Wells, wife of Thomas Wells, Principal Clerk of the Colonial Office, and farmer. This raises the question as to whether she and William Watts were still living together by this time. If they were, William was proving to be a feckless, irresponsible and frequently absent husband. And if they had parted, perhaps Hester was better off. Regardless of their situation at the time, within a few years their separation would become permanent." 

William Watts' story is very interesting in itself. After a sentence to return to Macquarie Harbour, in 1829 with other prisoners he hijacked a brig The Cyprus, sailed it to Canton, was repatriated to England under the mistaken belief they had been shipwrecked, and then recognised in London by two  men who happened to be there - Thomas Capon, High Constable of Hobart Town and an ex-prisoner, John Popjoy, who had been pardoned for rescuing the abandoned crew and passenger of the Cyprus.

Watts was executed on 16 December 1830.

More about the Cyprus hijacking uncovered in 1817. 

Meanwhile, in 1822, Joseph Eastwood had petitioned the Governor for a land grant on the Derwent, and arrived back in Hobart in mid-1822.  He died in 1823.

Painting of the Brig Cyprus by samurai Makita Hamaguchi

Mary Ann and Eliza in the Orphan School

Leonie Fretwell continues:

"Within a space of ten years Hester Wright had given birth to three daughters and had formed relationships with at least two men who proved to be more trouble than they were worth. Despite her situation Hester had managed to keep out of trouble, or had at least avoided drawing attention to herself, and had received her Certificate of Freedom in June 1824. But by 1828 she was struggling and was forced to resort to the Queens Orphan School, as evidenced by three rather confusing records."

"In September 1828 the ages of Hester’s three daughters would have been Eliza 10, Mary 8, and Ann 7. The [records below] seem to relate only to the two older girls. This begs the question as to why daughter Ann was not registered. Perhaps, assuming that Ann was still alive, Hester had managed to keep her youngest child with her. However this child might have been the subject of an inquest reported in the Hobart Town Gazette in November 1825."

"An inquest was held last week at New Norfolk, before Mr G. Brooks,     Esq. Coroner, on the body of Ann Watt, a child of five years of age. Mrs Watt [sic] having occasion to leave the house for a short period, shut the door, placing the child outside. It appeared that the unfortunate girl, being enticed by some article that was cooking, entered at the window, and in her attempt to obtain the object of her wishes, burned herself so dreadfully, as to live but a few hours."

MaryAnn and Eliza's Orphan School records:

Number 5552: Eliza/Elizabeth WATTS
Mother: WRIGHT, Esther/Hester
Father: WATTS, William
Mother’s ship: Friendship
Father’s ship: Lord Eden [sic]
Age when admitted: 10 yrs
Dated admitted: 9 Sep 1828
Date discharged: 12 Apr 1832, 19 Sep 1836
Discharged to: Thomas Forster, mother
Remarks: Joseph Eastwood, convict to NSW
References: SWD24p379, 28, CSO5/86/1885

Number 5554: Mary/Mary Ann WATTS
Mother: WRIGHT, Esther/Hester
Father: WATTS, William
Mother’s ship: Friendship
Father’s ship: Lord Eden [sic]
Age when admitted: 8 yrs
Dated admitted: 9 Sep 1828
Date discharged: 8 Mar 1832
Discharged to [not recorded]
Remarks: child has been with Whiteburn
References: SWD24p233, 28, CSO5/86/1885

Number No 5839: Mary Ann WRIGHT
Mother: WRIGHT, Hester/Esther
Father: EASTWOOD, Joseph
Mother’s ship: Friendship & D Wellington
Father’s ship: [not recorded]
Age when admitted: 8 yrs
Dated admitted: 6 Sep 1828
Date discharged:[not recorded]Discharged to: [not recorded]Remarks: recommended for Queens Orphan School – children illegitimate
References: SWD24p82, CSO1/122

 "Mary/Mary Ann Watts/Mary Ann Wright was apparently recorded twice, with a minor difference in the admittance date, and with alternative names for the father. As Mary/Mary Ann Watts she was discharged in 1832 [at age 12], but to whom is not recorded. The record for Eliza could be interpreted as her having been discharged in 1832 [at age 14] to Thomas Foster, returned, and again discharged in 1836 [at age 18], this time to her mother." 

Hester as offender

"Despite her situation, Hester had managed to keep out of trouble, or had at least avoided drawing attention to herself, and had received her Certificate of Freedom in June 1824."

"On 12 January 1829, not long after her children were placed in the Orphanage, Hester’s first colonial offence was recorded against her name in the convict conduct register. She was convicted of being drunk and disorderly and fined 5 shillings. She was fined twice more that year for the same offence on 11 February and 9 June. For each of these her status was given as ‘Ux Watts’. It was as ‘FS’ (free by servitude) that, on 24 January 1837, she was committed for trial for her fourth and last offence – ‘Stealing part of the Carcase of a Sheep, the property of Robt. Patterson otherwise receiving the same well knowing &c’. I [Leonie Fretwell] have found no record of the Hester’s trial, but a case brought before the Supreme Court in Hobart on 7 March 1837 may be connected. In this matter Robert Patterson of Hamilton deposed that on 21 January 1837 he had seen two men (then prisoners) driving some of his sheep away from his property where they were subsequently found at the prisoner’s hut. If the two matters were linked it might suggest that by this time Hester was living in the Hamilton district."

Eliza's marriage

It appears that Eliza married a former convict named John Morgan in the Hamilton district in 1850. They had numerous children. See Leonie Fretwell's blog. 

Mary Ann's marriage and children

New Norfolk circa 1834. The 'Bush Inn' at right

Mary Ann married George Osbaldeston Green in New Norfolk in Tasmania on 23 May 1836. Mary Ann was 16 years of age, George about 24. Green had been sent to Tasmania by his father, a member of the British aristocracy, about whom a lot is known, including that found in his own braggadly autobiography. His mother was a "Miss Green" of Linclon, referred to by George's father as a "member of the frail sisterhood" (see separate blog on Miss Green) 

Mary Ann bore 15 children. A baptism record exists for their first daughter and son:

• Mary Ann 16 Oct 1836 - 8 Feb1926, married Robert Geddes. 12 children
• George 27 Sep 1838 - 18 July 1868, married Dorothea Lenz. 5 children. George and Dorothea are my great-great grandparents)

Six more children were born in Tasmania before the family moved to Victoria:

• Henry 1840 - 24 December 1840
• William George 27 Sep 1841 - 20 Dec 1864 (he died in Tasmania, so may have moved back)
• Charles Henry 9 September 1843 - 1932, married Emily Ann Burnett. 7 children
• Agnes Esther 23 July 1845 - 1938, married Michael Campbell. 2 children
• James 1846 - 1928
• Henrietta 29 June 1848 - 28 Dec 1917, married James Monds. 9 children

After removal to Victoria, seven more children arrived:

• Emily Edith July 1851 - 30 May 1866
• Martha Alice 1854 - 17 Dec 1866
• Amelia Jane 1856 - 1863
• Sophia Louisa 1858 - 1860
• Anna Louisa 1859 - 1861
• Frances Ada 1 Aug 1861 - 3 June 1940, married 1. Charles John Marshall. 7 children 2. Robert Stanley Snarey. 1 child
• Laura Matilda 1863 - 1949, married 1. Henry Tanner 2. Thomas Collins. 6 children

Moving to Victoria 

A descendent of one of Mary Ann's children, Frances Martin, wrote to me in the 1980s that:

"In 1845 [year is wrong, as children's births are registered in Tasmania until 1848 - her newspaper obituary says 1850] they sailed from Hobart to Port Albert [Gippsland, Victoria] then overland by bullock wagon to Flooding Creek (later Sale). There may have been a number of families on this trek. [The first white settler was Archibald McIntosh who arrived in 1844 and established his 'Flooding Creek' property on the flood plain .... Port Albert was the hub of the squatting enterprise in Gippsland].

"The men went on to the goldfields, leaving the women and children in a camp where they were 'terrified by menacing Aborigines.' [Sale's prosperity grew on the Omeo gold rush and its strategic location on the route between Port Albert and the gold diggings.]

"When George returned he set up as a butcher and took up a large tract of land which is now the business area of Sale.

"When NSW and Victoria were separated, all the land was advertised for sale - the name of the place being called 'Sale'. As none of the people knew this - it was always called Flooding Creek - they lost all their land and homes. [This story may be inaccurate. official histories state that Sale was named in 1853 after General Sir Robert Henry Sale of Jellalabad who won fame in the first Afghan war and died in battle in Moodkee, India, in 1845.]

"George and Mary Ann seem to have travelled around - a trip to England and two trips to Tasmania. On one of these George bought some Huon Pine for 50 pounds. He had this carved for the pulpit and altar rails for the Sale Wesleyan church. This church was burnt down in 1921 and all the records destroyed.

"After George died in 1887 Mary Ann travelled around, staying with her children. She seemed to be a very strong woman who travelled with no sign of fatigue."

The travelling interests me because she was married to George Osbaldeston Green, son of Miss Anne Green of Lincoln, about whom I wrote in the previous blog. As his father publicly acknowledged George as his son, perhaps he had to return to the England to continue receiving money? Or were they just making a journey to visit his family? It was not a common thing to do in the nineteenth century, and implies that there was some means.

Death of George, Mary Ann's husband 

George died on 4th April 1887. His death was reported in the Gippsland Farmers' Journal and Traralgon, Heyfield and Rosedale News on Thursday 7 April 1887. He was found drowned in a waterhole on the property of someone with whom he had been staying. It was described as a "melancholy death" and that he was "not in good health, but suffered from some affection of the heart, and at times it was noticed that he seemed to be in a very low and desponding state of mind." At the time he was farming at Glenmaggie, having previously had a butchery business at Sale. He was one of "the oldest identities of Gippsland, having resided there for upwards of thirty years."

An 'affection of the heart'? Did they mean affliction? Whatever that was about, it seems that he committed suicide. A sad end.

This is further borne out by the local Inquest. Mary Ann swore:

"He had been under the care of Dr McLean of Sale for the past three weeks. He complained very much of pains in his head and he has been troubled in (?) very much over family matters. The deceased and myself have been stopping at Mr Schroeder's for a few days previous to going home to Glenmaggie. We were to go home on the evening of the 4th but he did not like the idea of going. Saw him quite well at breakfast...and did not see him again alive. Saw the body in the waterhole. He was of very temperate habits. "

Fritz Schroeder said that Green came to his place on the 1st, complained of pains in his head and that he was "rather strange in his manner." Schroeder described the water hole as about 100 yards from the house and about two and a half feet deep. Caroline Schroeder confirmed that Green was "in a delicate state of health."

Mary Ann's life after George's death

Mary Ann lived on for another 21 years. She died on 22 February 1908 at Heyfield. Victoria, aged 89. Her death certificate states that she was in Victoria for 63 years. Her death was reported in The Gippsland Times Mon 24 Feb 1908:

"Many old Gippslanders will regret to hear of the death of Mrs Green of Heyfield, which took place on Saturday in her 90th year. The deceased old lady came to Gippsland in 1850. She bore 15 children, of whom eight are living. Her grandchildren number 50, and great grandchildren 57....Mrs Green's illness was a brief one. Her remains will be interred in the Sale Cemetery to-day. She was born in Tasmania."