William (the first) (convict) Townsend

  General Notes:

source: Keith Shrimpton where it is noted that he arrived on the ship "Batavia" 5 Apr 1813
In 1824 he received his freedom and petitioned for a land grant, taking of possession of 50 acres at Kurrajong which he called "Mount Pleasant"
William died under suspicious circumstances in 1848

Source: - The Pragmatic Pioneers Page 132-134
William Townsend, a porter from St.Marylebone in London, was tried at the Old Bailey and convicted in 1816, at the age of eighteen, of stealing a gown, two shawls and a towel. He was transported on the Batavia, arriving on April 5 1818. The Batavia's indent recorded that he was five foot five and a, quarter inches in height, with a ruddy complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes.

On arrival in Sydney he was sent by water to Parramatta, together with others from the Batavia, for general distribution among the settlers within the district. By August 1819 he was working for John Lacey at Parramatta. Lacey was the keeper of a licenced beer house near the Toll
gate leading to Sydney. On August 5 1820, at St.John's Parramatta, William married Rebecca Sunderland the eldest daughter of John and Mary Sunderland. Rebecca's brother, George, and her sister, Sarah, served as witnesses to the marriage. Both William Townsend and George Sunderland
signed their names, but Rebecca and her sister simply made a cross.

William and Rebecca's first child, William, was born November 13 1820 at Parramatta. A muster of the colony taken in September 1822 suggests that William Townsend was still employed as a government servant to Parramatta publican John Lacey, but the muster also indicates that he was living in the Windsor district and that Rebecca was leasing a ten-acre farm in the district. They were resident on the farm and had three and a half acres under wheat and five acres under maize. They also had two horned cattle, fifteen hogs and twelve bushels of maize in hand. On October 1 1822 twin sons, George Thompson and John, were born to William and Rebecca at Mulgoa. On February 5 1824 William received his Certificate of Freedom. This document declared that he was five foot five and three quarters in height, with a fair ruddy complexion, brown hair and blue eyes.

In July, shortly after receiving his Certificate, William wrote a memorial to the Governor requesting a grant of land. He set forth his case as follows: -

Memorialist is a free man by servitude, has married a free subject, by whom he has four children -resides at "Mulgoa" following agricultural pursuits and supporting an honest and industrious character.

That memorialist never having received any indulgence of land from the Crown and being at present on a clearing Lease, and having a wife and small infant family to support by his own exertions-humbly implores your Excellency to be pleased to take his case into your humane consideration, and extend to him such portion of land for the support of himself and rising family as your Excellency in your wisdom and goodness shall deem meet.

In his count of four children he may have been anticipating the birth on January 7 1825 of his first daughter, Mary
Ann. Two JP's attested to his sober industrious character and supported his memorial. He was promised fifty acres at the Kurrajong Brush and seems to have taken occupation of the grant sometime in 1826. The northern part of this grant is now the site of the Kurrajong North Public School.

William called his farm Mount Pleasant and the, house which he built on the grant stood until May 1912. The Kurrajong columnist for the Windsor and Richmond Gazette reported on May 11 1912 that: - The house has never been unoccupied since it was built. Some of the timber taken out of it was as sound as the day it was put in.
The rural idyll was disrupted in June 1826 when William fell foul of the law. He was charged, with assaulting a publican named James Wright. Wright testified in the Court House at Parramatta that: -
-The prisoner Townsend had struck him, and pulled off his jacket and challenged deponent to fight, and took a pair of reins and struck deponent across the face, and also (with) a turkey he had in his cart, and then got upon a horse and tried to back him upon deponent.

William, it seemed, carried a grudge against James Wright for having received some ill-usage from Wright while (Wright was) an overseer over him. William's father-in-law, John Sunderland, went bail for him and when the matter came before the Parramatta Quarter Sessions in October, James Wright was persuaded to withdraw the charge on account of his family and his wife being in the family way. The fifth child of William and Rebecca, Charles, was born at Kurrajong two weeks later, on October 17. From this time hence William's profile in the colonial records was largely restricted to his appearance in census records, electoral rolls and the baptismal records of the church. The
November 1828 Census of New South Wales records William and Rebecca and their six children at North Richmond, with fifteen acres of the farm cleared and cultivated, and possessors of one horse and seven cattle. In 1829 William was assigned the services of a convict.

On June 1 1828 another son, James, had been born. James was followed by Henry on January 12 1831, Thomas on March 6 1833, Elizabeth on April 11 1835, Sarah on April 28 1838, Rebecca on April 17 1840, Eliza on July 10 1842, Richard on November 12 1844, and Louisa on December 13 1847.

Further children might have followed, but for William's untimely death sometime in September 1848. He apparently went missing while on his way to attend a court hearing at Bathurst. The Bathurst Advocate reported on November 4 1848 that an inquest had been held a week earlier,

In the neighbourhood of the Fish River, on the body of a man who had been found dead in the bush? It was identified as a man named Townsend, living near the Kurrajong. He had been missing nearly a month when the body was found. When first missing, he had with him a horse and two saddles, and when found, the horse was feeding near him, but minus the saddles, and the man was found destitute of all clothing except his shirt. Verdict: found dead.

William was buried at O'Connell where his headstone still stands.

  Research Notes:

source: & Ruth Marshall who writes:
I have found a website but you cannot print it its on KURRAJONG HISTORY called "The Millstone " and its on Page two about William Townsend it looks like Loxley a wedding venue was also on the land of William Townsend I was trying to work out if it was the same house that he lived in built onto and made into a wedding venue if you read down further it shows a house and they say it has a mans ghost in the house.

  Noted events in his life were:

• connection. The connection between Ruth Marshall goes like this:

Ruth Marshall (nee Townsend) (c1940)
Her father was Edmond Percy Townsend (c1900)
His father was James Townsend (c1870)
His father was Thomas Townsend (1833)
His father was William Townsend (1798) & he also had Henry Townsend (1831) who married Margaret Gosper (1829)
Her father was John Gosper (1801) & he also had Archibald Gosper (1842)
He had Amy Gosper (1872) who married William Shrimpton (1869)
His father was Richard Shrimpton (1826) & he also had Richard 3^rd Shrimpton (1855) who married Susannah Jeffery (1857)
Her father was John Jeffery (1834)
His father was John Jeffery (1808)
His father was James Jeffery (1781) & he also had William Jeffery (1803)
He had James Jeffery (1837)
He had Mary Jeffery (1860) who married William South (1854)
They had Annie South (1891) who married Leslie Rice (1885)
They had Hazel Rice (1913) who married Emmett Whyte (1899)
They had Sandra Whyte (1943) who married Colin Parker (1936)
His father was Arthur Parker (1894)
His mother was Martha Parker (1872)
Her mother was Elizabeth Roser (1844)
Her father was John Roser & he also had John Roser (1838)
He had George Roser (1868)
He had Charles Roser (1897)
He had George Roser (1923) who married Olive Elliot (1924)
Her mother was Doris Emery (1903)
Her mother was Phoebe Davies (1876)
Her father was Joseph Davies (1852) & he also had G. A. Davies (1894)
He had Colin Davies (1925)
He had me Robyn Bray (nee Davies) (1950)

William married Rebecca Sunderland, daughter of John (the first) Sunderland and Mary Burton, on 5 Aug 1820 in St Johns, Parramatta, Sydney, NSW Australia. (Rebecca Sunderland was born circa 1802 in England UK, died on 8 Aug 1882 and was buried in St Peters, Richmond, NSW Australia.)