Matthew Matthews

  General Notes:

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JOHN WOOD AND ANN MATTHEWS.
John Wood and his partner in crime John Jennings, were indited for feloniously assaulting William Beckworth, on the King’s highway, on the 2nd of March 1789, and feloniously taking from his person, and against his will, six shillings and six pence, in monies, his property. They were apparently rather inept highwaymen; their victim William Beckworth testified at the Old Bailey on 27th April that:

-On the 2nd of March I was in a postchaise coming to town, with a Mr. and Mrs. Hirst; I was asleep when the chaise stopt
What was the first you perceived?
I felt a man’s hand on my thigh; he said he wanted my money; I said he should have it presently, I had three guineas in my pocket, and some silver, and I was not disposed to part with my gold; I was some time separating my silver from my gold; one man the opposite side called out, damn me why don’t you rob that gentleman? The man immediately said, make haste, or I will fire; I had not given him anything then, I told him he might fire and be damned, and gave him six shillings and six pence; afterwards they went off.

John Wood called on his previous employer to testify as to his good character, and that gentleman, a Mr. Harman, made the following deposition: -

The prisoner Wood was my coachman, he lived with me Three-years, he was very honest, an exceedingly good servant, and exceedingly attentive to duty, the three years he was with me. I trusted my property to his care, and have sent him with cash to the bankers to the amount of six hundred pounds at times, I entrusted two hundred pounds in his care a very short time before he was discharged from my services; he left me in February last, I did not discharge him for any

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fault, I had no further occasion for him, but on parting with him, I told him, whenever I wanted a coachman again, I would take him into my service.

Despite this excellent recommendation, he was sentenced to Death, which was commuted to seven years Transportation. He arrived at Sydney Cove on the “Albermarle”, a vessel of the third fleet on 13th October 1791. It was here that he met Ann Matthews who was described in the indents of the vessel “Kitty” as being five foot four inches tall, with light brown hair, and a fair complexion - much pockmarked. It was stated that she was twenty-seven years of age, had no trade and was born at Enfield. She had been convicted at the Old Bailey on 26th October 1791 for Burglary in the house of Mr. Andrews and sentenced to seven years transportation. She arrived on the “Kitty” in 1792, and is thought to be the Ann Matthews who was baptised at St. Andrews, Enfield, North London on 11th April 1762, the, daughter of Matthew and Ann Matthews. No record has been found of a Wood/Matthews marriage.

Information is sparse for this family in the early Musters. Neither appear in the 1800 Muster, however there was a John Wood whose sentence was remitted on condition of enlisting in the N.S.W. Corps, and a John Wood was granted land on Norfolk Island, but these are unlikely to be our John Wood. The 1806 Muster does not list either of them and the 1811 lists John Wood but not Ann Matthews. John was not mentioned in the 1814 Muster however Ann was listed as living in Sydney with four children off stores, the wife of John Wood. Ann Matthews died on 21st December 1819 the entry appeared in the St. Phillips Sydney Register. In the 1822 Muster John was a labourer at Windsor, and son George aged fifteen was also at Windsor. By this time daughter Ann is thought to have married Daniel Pegg and to have gone to Hobart, daughter Mary was married to Peter Hough, and John junior was not to be found.

By the time of the 1828 Census, John age sixty, was a labourer to his son-in-law Peter Hough at Richmond, and with him was his son George. John junior is almost certainly the John Wood who was a servant to Uriah Moses at Windsor, (he was later to become his brother-in-law) although his age given as twenty two is some years less than it is believed to be. Although there is a certain lack of supporting evidence, John and Ann would seem to have produced four children, Mary born on 26th December 1793 at

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Parramatta; Ann born on 3rd October 1796 at Parramatta; John junior whose birth is not recorded, about 1798; and George whose birth was also not recorded, about 1810. John Wood was found dead on the banks of the Hawkesbury on 10th September 1845 at Richmond, and was interred in the St. Peters Burial Ground. His headstone can still be found at St. Peters.

John Wood junior married Mary Ann Daley, the daughter of Charles Daley and Hannah Alderson, on 28th December 1829. Details of the life and times of John Wood Junior were printed in The Hawkesbury Chronicle and Farmers Advocate dated 26th May 1883. The following is an extract from that article: -

The passing away, on the 21st instant, of another of our native octogenarians, a veritable patriarch of the district, in the person of Mr. John Wood, Sen., is a circumstance demanding a more than ordinary notice. According to a statement he made to the writer he was born in the year 1798 in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and was consequently 85 years of age at the time of his death. His father was coachman to Mr. Commissionaire Palmer, and he was a brother to the late Mrs. Hough of Richmond, who was in the service of Governor Bligh and was a witness of his arrest by Major Johnson at the head of the insurgent New South Wales Corps. He was remarkable for having been the first white Australian who ever visited England 65 years ago, when a youth of 20. It was not an easy thing in those days to make a passage to the Mother Country, but the Captain of a vessel who was a friend of the family kindly offered to take him home. He had to find out an aunt there and the Captain told him that if he missed his way he was to call a cabman,
give the name and address which he carried in his pocket and the jehu would safely land him. It so happened that he lost himself on London Bridge but remembering the Captain’s directions he acted upon them and reached his destination all right, and after a short stay he returned to the colony.

He came to reside at Windsor upwards of 55 years ago, and soon afterwards married the lady who happily survives him. When the writer, then a boy, arrived in Windsor, Mr. Wood lived in a large weather-boarded house with an old horse mill at the rear in George

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Street, the site of the present property of Mr. W. Nicholls, now occupied by Messrs. Dickson and Barnett. He was then and had been for some years, principal carrier in Windsor. The storekeepers and farmers of the district trusted him implicitly with the conveyance of the goods to and from Sydney and many were the important commissions he executed on behalf of patrons. It was a serious matter in those days carrying on the Windsor and Parramatta road. Over dreadfully bad roads in danger of bushrangers and marauders it was at least two days journey each way. Mr. Wood never entirely gave up the carrying business but continued to traffic to and from the railway stations and other places till old age put a period to his work.

When the Peninsular Estate was Sub-divided for sale by Mr. Charles Campbell the owner, Mr. Wood bought a portion near the mouth of the creek where he carried on farming for many years, and the residence in Windsor having changed proprietors, he removed to his own comfortable house in premises in Macquarie Street. Here he resided a considerable time, but the heavy floods which a few years back devastated the district, and through which he was a heavy sufferer, induced him to give up farming and dispose of his land, whilst the terrible fire of 1874 made a ruin of his dwelling, and he had to remove to the rented residence where he ended his days in George Street. He sold the site of his house to the Wesleyans, who thereon built the hansom building which is now the parsonage of that body in Windsor.

Mr. Wood, being of a retiring disposition, did not usually take part in any public matter, but in 1858 he was appointed a Commissioner of the Windsor Road Trust, the duties of which he continued to fulfil until a very recent period in a most satisfactory manner. He was a quiet but useful member rarely missing attendance at meetings, and he was courteous and obliging to all that came in contact with him upon business. He was personally one of the most inoffensive of men, good-natured to a degree and his decease is universally regretted.

John Wood died on 21st May 1883, and his wife Mary Ann on 28th May 1894, both were buried in the St. Matthews Windsor.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Convict.

• Arrived on the Ship.

Matthew married Ann (Nee?) Matthews. (Ann (Nee?) Matthews was born circa 1745.)