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SOME MORE GENEOLOGICAL NOTES
On my convict anncestors. Notes below by Daphne Russell and John Masters, Ray relatives. Put online by John Joseph Ray (b. 1943)
The name Ray was originally spelt Rea, then Reay then Ray. The Ray family were shepherds in Sutton Goldfield,
North Birmingham, England. Samuel and Elizabeth Ray's son Edward was christened on 4 June 1772. Edward married
Sarah Hackett on 15t September 1793 at St Martins Church Of England, Birmingham.
Their son Joseph was born in 1806 at Birmingham. Joseph Ray at the age of 21 was deported to Australia for life for
house breaking. He was tried at Staffordshire on the 2 August 1827 and arrived in Australia on the 26 July 1828 an
the convict ship Bussorah Merchant.
The Bussorah Merchant was built as a passenger ship but only contracted as a convict transport 1828-1831. In
London on 27 March 1828 the Bussorah Merchant took on 170 male convicts and sailed for Sydney. One hundred
and twenty one days later on 26 July 166 disembarked. The Captain was James Baigrie and the Surgeon, a Robert
Dunn. Robert Dunn also made a life in the new colonies and one of his descendants was a James Dagg who married
into this family.
Prior to the ship leaving England a negro seaman was removed to a hospital ship with small pox. Presumably the
crew and convicts were, or already had been, vaccinated and the ship was permitted to sail.Four cases occured
during the voyage but all recovered, the four deaths reported were all from orther sources. The outbreak was not
reported when the ship arrived at Port Jackson but the authorities found out by other means. The ship was placed in
quarantine but Surgeon Dunn regarded the precautions as unnecessary. Despite a favourable report on August 21,
the ship was not allowed to leave until a month later.
The Bussorah Merchant was built entirely from teak at Calcutta in 1818. She was 117 feet long 32 feet wide and
almost six feet between decks, 659 tons displacement and owned by Duncan Dunbar, London. We can find records
of this ship in the passenger trade around Asia long before she came to Australia. An older vessel than most on the
emigrant run, she had carried the first group of government-assisted emigrants to Sydney in 1833. The ship had
undergone repairs several times over the years. She was felted and doubled in 1833, had repairs to topsides and
decks in 1846, and was sheathed with yellow metal in 1849. Many Australians can lay a claim to this vessel as
bringing their forebears here and not only to Sydney.
We know what Joseph and Jane were like. Their indent papers gives a good description of both. Joseph’s described
him as being 21 years of age, Protestant, single of Staffordshire, farm labourer, convicted of house robbery, tried
Stafford 2 August 1827, life, 5 foot 6 1/2 inches, ruddy complexion, brown hair, hazel eyes, sent to J Blaxland Junior,
scar on right side of neck, blue (undecipherable) on left arm, small finger of left hand contracted also small finger of
right hand.
He received his Ticket of Leave on 7 October 1839 allowing him to stay and work in the district of Cran after serving
time in the stone quarry at Penrith. He received his conditional pardon on 31 December 1847.
Thomas Burnside, tailor of Liverpool, Lancashire England married Jane Morrow in 1810 and their daughter Ann Jane
wasborn on June 18 baptised on 10 July 1814 at Liverpool, Lancashire. Jane Burnside was deported to Australia for
seven years for stealing clothes. She was tried at County Down, Ireland on 26 March 1840 and sentenced to
transportation for seven years. Jane also had a previous conviction, offence unknown, for 6 months. The Margaret
left Dublin on 30 April with 133 female prisoners and after 109 days at sea, arrived in Sydney on 17 August 1840.
One hundred and thirty survived the journey. The captain was an Ed Canney and the surgeon Col. A Browning.
Prior to the journey, Surgeon Browning had to examine all the convicts to be sure that they were physically capable
of making the journey. He wrote in his reports that he was compelled to examine the prisoners without the
assistance of the goal surgeon and had to rely on the governor and matron for their advice. He alluded that the goal
surgeon had not been doing his job in caring for the inmates. (1)
Jane’s papers describe her as 17, reads, Presbyterian, single of Liverpool, 4 feet 9 3/4 inches, ruddy/freckled and
slightly pock pitted complexion, light brown hair, brown eyes, lost canine tooth right side of upper jaw, scar on top
right side of forehead, scar on left cheek, LBLW on upper left arm, anchor, flag, JW inside lower left arm. For all those
young women who think tattoos are trendy, Jane beat them to it by quite a number of years.
Jane Burnside’s baptismal certificate states she was born on 18 June 1814 and baptised on 10 July 1814. On her
deportation papers of 1840 it states she was only seventeen years old. There could have been an incorrect age given
at the time of the trial, a matter of nine years. We know that the date of her arrival is correct as it is recorded in
several places. Another inconsistency is on her death certificate which says she was almost 97 years old (doesn’t tie
in with the birth date we have) but had been in the country for 87 years making her 10 years old when deported.
Was this changed so that nobody guessed her true origins or just that nobody knew for sure any of the dates or her
actual origins?
Jane's Ticket of Leave was issued on 28 October 1847. As she was only sentenced for seven years she didn't require a
Conditional Pardon, which was only issued to those convicts who had been sentenced for life. The Conditional
Pardon simply meant they could not return to England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
Joseph and Jane were still serving their sentence when they were married with the consent of His Excellency,
Governor at Camden on 29 November, 1843. It is unknown if there were other children in either family. Joseph
became a sawyer, worked at Camden, Fairlight and Mulgoa in New South Wales and Brisbane, Ipswich and
Rockhampton in Queensland.
They had eleven children - Edward born 5 September 1844 in Narellan, New South Wales, married Ellen McHenry in
Queensland in 1864. Sarah born 1846 at Camden, New South Wales married John Cross on 17 April 1863 at Ipswich
Queensland. Thomas born on 11 March 1848 in Fairlight, New south Wales was baptised on 21 April 1848 in Mulgoa
New South Wales, Joseph born on 28 July 1849 in Sydney married Jane Zahnleiter on 11 February 1875 in Gympie.
Charles born 1851 in Sydney, died in 1858 in North Ipswich. John born in October, 1852 in North Brisbane married
Catherine Elizabeth Zahnleiter.
Annie Jane born on the 3 September 1854 in Kangaroo Point, Brisbane married John Yan. Elizabeth born 1856 in
North Ipswich. William Francis born on 22 September, 1858 in North Ipswich never married. Samson and Mary Ann's
births are unknown. Both died before 1866. Joseph died on 17 April 1866 in Rockhampton. Jane lived in Kilkivan for
many years after the death of Joseph and became a very highly respected dear old lady, loved not only by her family,
but many Kilkivan friends.
Jane died in Toowoomba on 2 September 1910. She underwent an operation for a lump on her head and died on
the operating table. Mum always said if she hadn't had the operation she may have lived to be 100 as she was a very
healthy old lady. Jane’s death certificate was witnessed by her grand daughter Sarah Elizabeth Kreuger (nee O Brien)
of Gauntlet Street, Toowoomba. Jane is buried under the name of Janet in an unmarked grave. This is to be
corrected. Even stranger is the fact that she is buried with her grand daughter, Sarah, under her maiden name of O
Brien.. None of the current Kreuger families in the Toowoomba area are related to her and Sarah’s residence at
Gauntlet Street is gone but the search continues. Some of the documents that refer to her do so as Jane while others
are Annie Jane, Ann Jane, Anna Jane or just Jane.
Mum often spoke of Granny Jane but I don't think she ever knew she and Grandfather Joseph had been convicts, if
she did she never told anyone. Mum always spoke very highly and with great affection and respect of both Granny
ZahnleiterWarren and Granny Jane. I am glad Joseph and Jane Ray were deported. Even though their life would have
been hard to endure, it would have been much better than those awful English prisons of that time.
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