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Our first Ancestors in Australia were not convicts in irons, though Maria Haynes was probably a convict and later married William Nash who was on board as a marine.
First Fleeters and NSW Settlers by Carol Baxter
The First Fleet sailed from England in May 1787 carrying marine William Nash and his young common-law wife Maria Haynes (c1771-1844) who were to become the progenitors of the Nash family in Australia. William and Maria were married in Sydney on 13 February 1789, some nine months after their eldest son was born. A further five children were born over the following decade.
When the marines returned to England in the early 1790’s William chose to remain behind, enlisting in the NSW Corps in April 1792. He spent five years with the Corps and was discharged in April 1797 to become a free settler. William had received a grant of 25 acres at Mulgrave Place [Windsor NSW] in December 1796 and was to receive another neighbouring grant of 180 acres in November 1799. He incurred large debts in the late 1790’s and early 1800’s, and sold both properties to officer Thomas Hobby early in 1802.
Around the year 1802 Maria left her husband to live with Second Fleet convict, Robert Guy (c1772-1820), who had been transported per Scarborough 1790. With the failure in June 1803 of William Nash's second appeal to the Bench of Magistrates for Maria's return, he apparently decided to leave the colony. A claims notice was inserted in the Sydney Gazette in April 1804 - to inform creditors of his intended departure from the colony - and he presumably left the colony soon afterwards. No later references to William Nash have been located to date.
[N.B. William did not leave NSW on board the Brig Alert as many family members believe - this vessel first visited the colony in 1817. He was not raised to the rank of Captain nor was he recalled to England to fight and die in the Battle of Waterloo as family stories have reported.]
Maria Nash remained with Robert Guy until his death in 1820. In December 1803 Robert had received a gift of 30 acres of land at the Nepean River [Castlereagh NSW] from fellow Second Fleet convict John Harris. Robert and Maria settled there with her youngest children, and successfully cleared and farmed the land. Maria remained at the farm until her death in 1844.
In 1819 Robert Guy signed a will bequeathing the Castlereagh farm to Maria and, after her death, to her grandson Robert Williams [see Robert Williams and Susannah Tindall]. The property remained in the latter’s possession until 1863 although he had left the farm by the mid-1840's.
This is an excerpt from Carol Baxter's book and web-page. The information has been gleaned from public records in the public domain. Also it is information concerning my own family, (William Nash being my grandfather's great grandfather) and all this information was common knowledge within my family for generations. Carol Baxter is my distant cousin and is a very fine genealogist, and to this extent I am indebted to her.
Pfirst of our family to die in Australia, a little boy, maybe from snakebite. Parramatta | NASHMo: Maria Haynes Prince of Wales 1788, m. 13 Feb 1789 Sydney | William | 31 May 1804 | b. 17 Mar 1795 Bap: 4 May 1795 Sydney. Fa William Nash Marine Prince of Wales 1788, |
Cedric (Ric) Williams.(gr gr gr nephew)
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