William Bell: Certificate of Freedom

Today’s post concerns my 4th Great Grandfather William Bell. Other posts concerning him can be found here, here and here.

Convicts Index 1791 to 1873

BELL	William		America	1829	43/0216	7 Feb 1843	Certificate of Freedom	[4/4380; Reel 1013]	TL 39/38

Source: Convict Index 1791-1873. NSW State Archives & Records. Retrieved from https://www.records.nsw.gov.au

Certificate of Freedom for William Bell

No. 43/216

Date, 7 February 1843

Prisoner’s No. 29/1474

Name: William Bell

Ship: America

Master: Donal

Year: 1829

Native Place: Bury, Lancashire

Trade or Calling: Laborer

Offence: Burglary

Place of Trial: Chester

Date of Trial: 28 August 1828

Sentence: 14 years

Year of Birth: 1815

Height: 5 feet 6 1/4 inches

Complexion: Sallow

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Darkhazel

General Remarks: Scar under the right eyebrow

Another on chin

Scar inside right thumb

Source: Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Freedom, 1810-1814, 1827-1867 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Retrieved from https://www.ancestry.com.au/

Comments

The Kendall Children.

I started this post a while ago and was going to finally finish and post it yesterday however our four grandchildren came over and I got sidetracked. Our grandchildren range in age now from six down to one; they are so full of life (each of them lights up a room when they enter it) and we feel extremely blessed to have them in our lives. After spending the afternoon researching this post, their arrival made this tragedy even more poignant for me and so I appreciated their company even more than usual and hugged them a bit tighter too! This morning I woke up to a cold, wet and windy Wagga day and the thought of three little girls out in August weather like this, in light weight dresses with no shoes or jumpers impacted on me even more. Those poor babies! One of the girls was found still clasping her doll that she had carried with her over the whole tragic journey. When my husband and I were looking around the Wagga Wagga Monumental Cemetery some time ago we came a...

My First Fleet Connection - Mary Turner (aka Mary Wilkes/Wilks)

My 5th Great Grandmother Mary Turner (also known as Mary Wilks/Wilkes) is my earliest known and documented Australian relative. She was tried at Worcester on 5th March 1785 and sentenced to seven years. Mary arrived on the ship Lady Penrhyn in 1788. It seems the 5th of March was not an auspicious trial date for Mary in 1785 or later in 1789! On the 5th March 1789 she was tried for stealing six cabbages from the garden of William Parr, she was found guilty and sentenced to 50 lashes. Later in March 1789 she also was in trouble for her testimony in the trial of Royal Marines accused of stealing from the government stores (six of them were found guilty and executed) in which it was believed by some that she had perjured herself. Mary was sent to Norfolk Island in 1790 on board the ship Sirius . Apparently she stayed on Norfolk Island until 1793 when she returned to Port Jackson on board the ship Kitty . Her de fact...

Time for a happy dance! Well kind of .....poor Catherine!

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