James William KEATING

was born on February 9th 1753
to James KEATING and his wife Ann, at St. Mary's, Dublin, Ireland
He was convicted for stealing and sentenced to LIFE,
and was transported from Ireland
on board the ship ATLAS 2 which arrived in NSW
on October 30, 1802
then subsequently transferred to Port Dalrymple
(Northern Tasmania),
arriving there om November 11, 1804.

Ann MIDDLEBROOKE

born c.1757 in England,
was convicted for stealing
and sentenced to 7 years transportation.
She arrived as a convict in NSW
on the convict ship GLATTON (date ?)
then subsequently transferred
to Port Dalrymple (Northern Tasmania),
arriving there om November 11, 1804.
She died in 1841 at Longford,Tasmania

We understood that James Keating and Ann Middlebrook married in Sydney NSW
before proceeding down to Port Dalrymple.
We did not know when he married Ann Middlebrooke
until just recently - then we were sent
the following information:

The entry for them reads as: Reg No: V1804602 3A/1804 Sydney NSW
Groom's Surname: CATON Groom's Given Name: James
Brides Surname: MILLBREW Brides Given Name: Ann
Where Married: St John's, Parramatta.

Apparently we need to say the names in the marriage register as if you might have a hairlip,
to understand the transition from Keating to Caton and Middlebrook to Millbrew.
There was definitely no man by the name of James Caton,
nor a woman by the name of Ann Millbrew in the colony of NSW in this early timeframe.

James and Ann left NSW on HMS "Buffalo" and arrived at Port Dalrymple Tas. on November 11, 1804,
where she immediately [that same day] gave birth to a son - William Dalrymple Keating
(supposedly the first white child born in Northern Tasmania).

The 1817 Victualling List for Port Dalrymple backs up the claim that William Dalrymple Keating
was the first European child born in Port Dalrymple,
because he was supplied rations by the orders of Colonel Patterson
simply because he was the first child born in the settlement.

James Keating was assigned work as a cooper at the first Convict Settlement
in the Northern part of Van Dieman's Land, Port Dalrymple.
On January 18th 1806 he was accused, along with three others, of the theft of Government stores, and sent to Sydney.
On February 1, 1806 they were capitally convicted by the Court of Criminal Judicature held at Sydney
of robbing H.M. Stores at Port Dalrymple. James was returned to Hobart to be hanged.

On April 13th 1806 Rev. Knopwood visited James Keating and again on April 14, 1806,
when he (Rev. Knopwood) administered the Sacrament.
At 10 am James KEATING was numbered with the dead.
Ref. a. Rev. Knopwood's Diary. paper 105. b. Historical records of Australia (Series 111, Vol. 1.) Pages 356, 357 and 540.

Following the death of James Wm KEATING in 1806,
Ann Keating (widow) then married Joseph Edmonds (single man) on March 10, 1811.
(according to Marriage records at St. John's Church in Launceston) (T.84).

Ann EDMONDS [formerly KEATING, nee Middlebrook] died in 1841 at Longford,Tas
Ann's headstone in the grounds of the Christ Church, Longford in Tasmania, reads:
"Sacred to the memory of Annie Edmonds who departed this life Oct 25, 1841 aged 86 years
who was the mother of the first child of British descent born on the Northern Side Of Van Dieman's Land".

Their son William Dalrymple KEATING, was born on November 11, 1804 at Launceston (T.203)
(supposedly the first white child born in Northern Tasmania)
Baptisms Records in the parish of St. Johns' Launceston show that (ref.No.296203) William Dalrymple Keating
was baptised on March 10, 1811 and his parents names were James Keating & Ann Keating (formerly Middlebrook).
The Sydney Town Gazette in December 1804 reported the birth of William Dalrymple Keating in born November 1804.
(As his mother Ann was 86 when she died in 1841, she would have been born c.1755
and would have been 49 when William Dalrymple was born in 1804).
William Dalrymple KEATING died in 1889 aged 85 at Rockbank, Victoria

William Dalrymple KEATING married Elizabeth Aldgate/Holgate in 1824 at Launceston (T.764)

Elizabeth Susannah Holgate was born in Parramatta on 9 June 1809
to Thomas Holgate and Mary Fitzgerald.
She was baptized on the 16 September 1810 at St John's Parramatta.
Her father was Thomas Holgate (also known as John),
who had been convicted of stealing a silver watch at Winchester in 1798
and was transported to Australia on the CANADA.
Her mother was Mary Fitzgerald who was born on Norfolk Island
with her twin sister Susannah in February 1791.
Their mother was the First Fleet convict Elizabeth Fitzgerald
and their father William Mitchell, probable a First Fleet marine.
Elizabeth Fitzgerald and her daughter Susannah came to Tasmania in 1808.
Mary, Thomas and their children Richard and Sarah Jane came to Tasmania in 1819.
Elizabeth did not come with them but she may have come to Tasmania
with her Aunt Sarah Jane Wright in 1816.
Sarah Jane Wright married Richard Jordan who was a witness
to Elizabeth's marriage to William Keating.

William and Elizabeth KEATING had two sons:
James KEATING born 27/3/1825 at Launceston (T.1949)
and William KEATING born 1/11/1826 at Launceston (T.2500)

According to the Colonial Times (Tasmania), Elizabeth Holgate Keating died on April 4th 1827.
It said she was 18, had died after only 4 days illness, leaving 2 infant children (one was only 5 months).

William Dalrymple KEATING then married Hannah HODGETTS (1812-1891)
in 1829 at Longford Tasmania (T.1310)
Daughter of Thomas Hodgetts (convict) and his wife Harriett,
Hannah was born in 1812 Sydney and died at Woodend in 1891.
Their children: Thomas (1828), John (1831), Maryann (1833), Susannah (1835), Sarah (1836),
Elizabeth (1838), Maria (1839), Eliza (1841), Henrietta (1843), Jane (1845), George (1847),
Emma (1848), Ellen 1850), Tasmania Dalrymple (1852) and Edward (1855)
For more information about WILLIAM DALRYMPLE KEATING and his family CLICK HERE

William Dalrymple Keating and his family left for Victoria c.1854-55,
leaving his eldest son Thomas Keating (25) and family behind in Westbury, Tasmania.