The Clarke family.
John Williams was a convict transported to Australia for fourteen years for stealing from his master. He was tried at Coventry Assizes on the 3rd August 1831 and sentenced to transportation. He arrived in Australia on the "Portland" on the 26th March 1832.It is interesting to note that ancestors on both my mother and father's sides were convicts using the name John Williams and each settled in West Maitland, and both had connections with the same church.
John was born in Liverpool in 1812, his mother was Ann Edwards and his father William Williams was a carpenter. John was five feet two and a half inches tall with a fair, ruddy and freckled complexion. He had red hair and grey eyes. He was a Protestant. On boarding ship he was supplied with: - one cloth jacket, one cap, one handkerchief, one waistcoat, one pair of trousers, one shirt, one towel, one pair of shoes, thread and needle and one bag to hold spare belongings.
On arrival in Sydney John was assigned to James Bowman and sent to a property outside Singleton, NSW as a shepherd. James Bowman was the son-in-law of John and Elizabeth Macarthur. It is difficult to imagine how strange this must have been to someone who had been an indoor servant and raised in a city such a Liverpool. John obviously was law-abiding on the property at Goorangoola, Singleton as he was granted a ticket of leave after seven years. (Ticket of Leave No. 40/994). John married Mary McAniney in 1841.Mary McAniney was also a convict. Mary was transported for seven years for stealing a silver snuffbox and a bedspread. Mary was Catholic and born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1821. Mary had two previous convictions at the time of her arrest for stealing the snuffbox. She gave her name as Carmichael, which may or may not have been her mother's name and she gave her occupation as mill worker. Mary could neither read nor write but on reading the transcript of her trial and the stories of her two accomplices Mary had spirit. Mary was tried with two others for the offence, Martha Christie and Betsy McClusky and although she was not the eldest of the three she was given the dubious honour of being named "ringleader."
Betsy McClusky who was only 15 gave Mary away and the story is as follows: -
"They were all walking down Miller St., Glasgow when Mary spied an open door which she entered and then came out to tell that she had seen a most beautiful snuff box On taking the snuff box and a bedspread the girls moved off into Argyle St. Then from Argyle St. they went to the "Back Wynd" where Mary sold the snuff box for 8 shillings although she wanted one pound. They then went to the "New Wynd" and had breakfast and a dram (whisky) from the proceeds." For her crime and her previous two convictions Mary was sentenced at the Glasgow court of judiciary on the 9th January, 1839 for transportation to Australia and arrived in Sydney on the "Mary Ann 3" on the 10th November, 1839. Mary, who was described in the indents as 4ft, 9 inches tall with ruddy and freckled complexion, brown hair and grey to blue eyes and a small red scar outside her left eye was also assigned (as far as I can find out) to James Bowman at Goorangoola, Singleton, NSW.John and Mary Williams went on to have twelve children, eleven of whom survived Mary. John died in 1903 aged 91, although on the certificate it gives his age as 100.
Margaret, John and Mary's daughter was born in 1852. married Daniel Sharpe at Goorangoola on the 3rd August 1875. On her wedding certificate she could not sign her name and has made her mark only!
Daniel Sharpe had arrived in Sydney aged two on the ship "John and Lucy" in 1857.
He arrived with his parents, Deborah and William and brother Charles. Daniel's parents; Deborah and William had eleven children with eight children surviving both parents. Deborah died age 50 on the 19th May 1886 and William died the same year aged 56. Both lived in West Maitland.
The Sharpe family came from a small village in Bedfordshire called Maulden and their ancestry may be traced in this village and surrounds through to the seventeenth century. That is to say that existing records show their connection with this particular area of England for over two hundred years. Maulden is to this day a lovely village with some very attractive thatched cottages The area is still reasonably rural with quite a number of small market gardens.Daniel's parents; Deborah and William had eleven children with eight children surviving both parents. Deborah died age 50 on the 19th May 1886 and William died the same year aged 56. Both lived in West Maitland.
Daniel and Margaret Sharpe (nee Williams) went on to have ten children; nine of these children survived both their parents.
Margaret died age 77 and Daniel on the 7th October 1945 aged 91. Daniel worked at many things during his lifetime and according to one source had a "bullock team."
Both Daniel and Margaret are buried at the Church of England cemetery, West Maitland. Matilda Maude Sharpe was the fourth child of Margaret and Daniel and was born on the 2nd August 1883. At this time the family resided at Durham St., West Maitland. Maude went into service for a family called Bruckner and at age 19-20 came with this family down to Sydney. It is thought that they lived at Manly, shortly before she met Charles Clarke.Charles Clarke was twenty-one years older than Maude and had been previously married to Mary Ann Sommers at age 19 in England.
Charles Clarke arrived in Australia sometime in the late 1880's. He was a printer by trade and practised his trade until blackballed by the unions at the time of the printing strikes in (1919), when he was involved in a Billiard Saloon in Taylor Square. He and Maude had twelve children with seven surviving their parents. Charles died age 68 on the 29th March 1930 and at that time the family were living at 579 Bourke St., Sydney. Maude died age 88 in 1971 and at that time was living at 3 Gallop St., Warwick Farm.
The children of Charles and Matilda Maude were - Thomas, Joseph, Matilda Maude, Dorothy Margaret, William Henry, Mary Jane, Gladys Irene, Violet May, and Ronald.William Henry Clarke married Thelma Violet Hulbert in Nth. Sydney on the 28th October 1933. (See Hulbert family).
Norman William Clarke born 4th September 1934 was the only child of this marriage.
Thelma's first child was known as Don Ernest Clarke born 19th April 1932. Don died at Cronulla in 1986, his ashes were scattered in the sea, from his own boat off Cronulla.Claude Hedrick was Thelma's second husband.
On the 9th December 1949 Claude adopted Norman. Only a few weeks later Claude and Thelma abandoned Norman in Sydney and moved their new family to Dorrigo, NSW. In 1954 Norman changed his name back to Norman William Clarke.Claude and Thelma's children are - Claude Hedrick born 1941, Robert Hedrick born 1946 died 1946 and Betty Hedrick 1948.
The unfortunate death of Robert was the result of accidental suffocation while in hospital. Thelma had been recalled to hospital with suspected TB. She returned to the adult section with her two weeks old son. He had been placed in a cot with a full size pillow, under which he wriggled his head. Thelma's chest X-ray proved to be clear and allowed home. She had been told that this was the second accident of this type at the hospital.
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I request any details available on another Clarke believed to be linked.
RONALD LESLIE CLARKE. born 2/11/1917, RAAF service number 8542. Fathers name believed to be HENRY WALTER CLARKE of Lane Cove, Sydney.--------------
Norman W Clarke married Barbara Anne Lane. see the Lane family history.
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