Ann Thornley (Convict ? F)

  General Notes:

ANNETTE LESLIE THORNLEY (Custom ID: 93)
Born: - 14 Mar 1790 at Deanne By Bolton, Lancashire, England
Married: - Thomas Lisson.
Died: - 16 Jun 1880

SOURCE: - "Gosper Connections" "Page 207" States: -
Ann Thornley arrived as a convict on the "Maria" on the 17/9/1818.

SOURCE : - "The Pragmatic Pioneers" "Page 265" States: -
Ann Thornley a single woman was convicted at the Lancaster Quarter Sessions on 21st October 1817, of stealing twenty yards of linen cloth to the value of twenty shillings from Thomas Pollitt, and received a seven year sentence. Pollitt had, laid the cloth out in a field to bleach and whiten it as was the procedure at that time, and Ann feloniously did steal take and carry away some of the cloth from the field. She arrived on the vessel "Maria" in 1818, and was sent to the Female Factory at Parramatta. She was noted in the indents as a Servant, aged twenty-six years. In 1826 she is described as being five foot five and three quarter inches in height with a fair ruddy complexion, pox marked, and with brown hair and blue eyes. Accompanying Ann on the "Maria" was her child Margaret, who is thought to have been born in September 1810 at Deanne by Bolton, Lancashire, and who was to marry in 1827, William Jasper a convict who had been at one time assigned to Thomas Lisson. Ann could be the Ann Thornley who was born on 14th March 1790 at Deanne By Bolton, Lancashire, the daughter of Giles Thornley and Susan Lomax, and also the Ann Thornley who married John Ormrod on 13th April 1808 at Bolton Le Moors, Lancashire.

Page 264
"The Pragmatic Pioneers"
with a warrant to search the prisoners house on the 17th ult. and found therein part of the articles sworn to; the sheet and shawl were found concealed between a bed and the sacking of a bedstead.
Patrick Davey deposed, that he had once lived as a labouring servant with the prisoner; during which time his house had been searched for stolen property on the information which his (the prisoner's) mother had lodged against him; and he had very recently heard it confidently asserted that the prisoner was in the actual possession of the watch stolen from Blore at Prospect. Which information he received from John Russler, a neighbour of the prisoner. John Norman deposed that the watch was obtained from the prisoner; and that he, being a district constable, had kept a watchful eye over the prisoner, who was a neighbour, and of such infamous repute that his house had been repeatedly searched for stolen goods; that he gave countenance to the most abandoned characters, many of whom had come to an untimely end; and, that in fact the prisoner at the bar was a perfect nuisance to the surrounding settlers.
Thomas was found guilty and sentenced to fourteen years transportation, but what transpired after that is not clear. He appears to be still farming on the Hawkesbury in 1810, when the Provost Marshal advertised that he intended to auction goods belonging to Thomas Lisson, unless a debt owing to the Crown was liquidated.
Thomas and Ann produced seven children; no record has been found of the birth of first three. It would seem that they had twin girls Elizabeth and Mary Jane in 1805 and a son John in 1808. Then came Izette; Susannah; Isaac; and finally Sarah in 1813.
Sometime about 1815, Ann apparently had enough of Thomas and moved out, taking the children with her, and went to live with Isaac Gorrick. Gorrick was a substantial settler; he arrived on the Atlantic in 1791, the same, boat as Richard and Edward Reynolds, and was at one time a neighbour of Thomas Gosper. His wife Rebecca deserted him in about 1807. Ann had more children to Gorrick and died in 1860 at Wilberforce. After Ann Bradwell left him, Thomas took up with Ann Thornley.

Abel Simpson, a widower, who had arrived as a convict on the "Duke of Portland" in 1807, and had been married to Ann Baxter, married Ann Thornley on 13th December 1819 at St. Johns Parramatta. He probably chose her from a line up at the Female Factory, as was normal custom in those days, and of course the settlers usually chose the young and comely first, which would explain why Ann waited so long. At the age of twenty-six or seven, and with a young child, she was at a distinct disadvantage in the matrimonial stakes. She would probably have been assigned as the convict servant of her new husband. The Simpson's had at least one child and possibly two. Elizabeth, born in 1822 at Parramatta, and possibly Ann, born about 1821, who if she existed, probably died soon after birth? In the 1822 Muster, Ann was apparently no longer living with Abel Simpson; she was a convict servant to Hannah Lisson at Windsor, her infant child Elizabeth was with her. Daughter Margaret was in the Orphan School, and Abel was not to be readily found. Abel was subsequently found guilty of horse stealing at Parramatta in 1824, and was sent to the penal Settlement at Port Macquarie. Due to his then advanced age, he probably died at Port Macquarie, but to date no record has been found of his death.

On 19th June 1824, a daughter was born to Thomas Lisson


Page 266
"The Pragmatic Pioneers"

and Ann Thornley. She was baptised Hannah Lisson at St. Johns Wilberforce on 30th July 1826, and was to marry Gabriel Bradley in 1839 under the alias of Hannah Simpson. Another child Maria was born on 2nd June 1826; she was baptised on the same day as her sister. Maria married colonial born William Hutchinson at Wilberforce in 1845.

Thomas Lisson died on 24th June 1827, and was buried at St. Johns Wilberforce on the same day. It is obvious that Thomas was not what could be termed highly respected, in fact some of his children, (Hannah and Isaac in particular) seem to have deliberately avoided using the name Lisson.

Ann Thornley then moved in with another emancipated Hawkesbury settler, Robert Gee. He had arrived on the "Grenada" in 1819. Ann had two sons to Robert, and died on 16th June 1860. She would have been about seventy years of age at the time of her death, and was obviously, one of the great survivors of her era. She is buried in the St. Thomas's Sackville Reach burial ground.


SOURCES.
The research of, Carol Bull. Sue Spliet.
Megan Martin and Vernie Gosper.
"Those Were the Days" J.C.L. Fitzpatrick. 1923.

End research, Annette Leslie (nee Thornley) Lisson.

  Noted events in her life were:

• Convict: stealing twenty yards of linen cloth to the value of twenty shillings from Thomas Pollitt, 21 Oct 1817, Lancaster Quarter Sessions, England.

• Killed in Action, "Maria" on the 17/9/1818, Sydney Cove, NSW Australia.

• Physical Description: Five foot five and three quarter in's in height wi.

• connection. ⁹⁴⁰

• connection.

Ann married Thomas Lisson (Convict ? F), son of John Lisson and Hannah Andrews (Convict 3rd Fleet). (Thomas Lisson (Convict ? F) was born on 16 Dec 1772 in Finsbury, London, Middlesex England, christened on 10 Jan 1773 in St Lukes, Finsbury, Middlesex England, died on 24 Jun 1827 in Wilberforce, County of Cumberland, NSW Australia and was buried on 25 Jun 1827 in St Johns, Wilberforce, NSW Australia.)

Ann next married John Ormrod on 13 Apr 1808 in Bolton Le Moors, Lancashire England. (John Ormrod was born circa 1790.)

Ann next married Abel Simpson (Convict) on 13 Dec 1819 in St Johns C of E, Parramatta, Sydney, NSW Australia. (Abel Simpson (Convict) was born circa 1790.)

Ann next married Robert Gee not married. (Robert Gee was born circa 1790.)