Walter Butler's first wife Margaret Dunn

Walter married Margaret Dunn May 16, 1825.[i] He was about 17 or 18 years of age and she was not yet 16. Margaret was born October 5, 1809 [ii] to Thomas Dunn, a former convict (arrived on the ‘Hillsborough’ 1799 on a 7 year sentence for theft) who progressed from District Constable to Chief Constable of Sydney, and Rose Bean, the daughter of a free settler, James Bean, who arrived in 1799 on the ‘Buffalo’ with his large family.

The Beans came from the island of South Hayling near Portsmouth Harbour. Bean had signed a government contract to come to the colony as a carpenter in exchange for a 100 acre land grant in Toongabbie. In 1811 he was contracted to supervise the building of the Rum Hospital in Macquarie Street, two buildings of which still stand today- one being the front facade of the NSW Houses of Parliament, the other being the old Mint Museum, now used as offices.

During the Irish convict escape from the Government farm at Castle Hill in February 1803, the Bean house was broken into by two of the Irish escapees, both of whom raped their 17 year old daughter Rose in front of her horrified mother.[iii] They also shot a neighbour’s servant in the face permanently disfiguring him. Both Irishmen were caught, found guilty and subsequently hanged for their crimes from a tree just outside the Bean property. Rose married Thomas Dunn, a convict possibly assigned to the Bean farm or living nearby, on October 10, 1804. Earlier that year, Rose had a daughter, Elizabeth, whose birth date is recorded as July 29, 1804, however her actual birth-date and true sire has been debated. In the 1828 Census, Elizabeth is aged ‘25’. Thomas treated Elizabeth as his own daughter, and favoured her husband William Pawley in his will. Thomas and Rose had eight children, and their third daughter Margaret was born in October 1809.

Battle of Vinegar Hill

Courtesty of the NLA

James Bean and Thomas Dunn were part of the Active Defence, viz. a group of civil officers, constables and free citizens who had volunteered to assist the military in times of unrest, and were involved in the recapture of the Irish rebels involved in the second Irish breakout in March 1804, near the Bean farm, at Castle Hill, later to be known as the Battle of Vinegar Hill, as a tribute to the original Irish Rebellion in 1798. A number of the original transported Irish rebels were involved in the outbreak. Severe punishments were metered out to the convicts involved.

Thomas Dunn, a very young Irishman living in London, had been convicted of stealing a small amount of money from his employer, a brewer on the Thames next to the Houses of Parliament, in 1796. [iv] (See below for trial record transcript) He spent nearly two years on a prison hulk in Portsmouth Harbour before being transported on the notorious ‘fever’ ship the ‘Hillsborough’ in 1799, on which one third of the convicts died on route, and the rest were hospitalised on arrival in Sydney Cove. They were described by Governor Hunter as “the most wretched and miserable convicts I ever beheld, in the most sickly and wretched state”. They had been cruelly treated and inadequately fed during the voyage.

In 1796, Dunn was described as: 20 years of age 5ft 8in, dark complexion, dark hair, dark eyes. Although it is unknown if he was born in London or Ireland, he was most certainly of Irish background, and Catholic.

After serving his term, he initially tried his hand at farming with little success. He then became a constable in 1810, victualled from stores, and worked his way up to his appointment as Chief Constable of Sydney. At the time of his retirement in 1827, Thomas was held in very high regard by the community.[v]

A flattering testimonial appeared in the ‘Sydney Gazette’ 22 August 1827, p2:

We have already noticed the contemplated retirement of Mr Chief Constable Dunn. We have seen the memorial of the present Chief Constable to the Governor, and we really believe His Excellency will admit that he never before witnessed such powerful recommendations on behalf of any public servant as those which Mr Dunn has had the good fortune to secure. Judges, Clergymen, Magistrates, and other Gentlemen have crowded every vacant spot on the memorial with their most flattering testimonials; and as Mr Dunn is now on the verge of three-score [sic-51 yrs], and has nearly killed himself in the service, and is entirely incapacitated from the maintaining a wife and 8 children in any of the ordinary occupations of life, it would be criminal for any one not to believe that His Excellency will most gladly attend to the interests of a man who has rendered himself notorious for zeal, probity, and public usefulness of every kind.

A strange coincidence connected Thomas Dunn with his son-in-law Walter Butler, which was reported in the newspaper, The Australian, No 57, Thurs November 10, 1825:

Walter and Margaret’s marriage and issue

Although Walter and Margret initially lived at the Butler’s Pitt Street address as indicated in Walter’s memorial, by the 1828 Census they were living in Cumberland Street in the house of emancipist William French and his wife with several other lodgers, all Protestants. Walter was described as aged 21, a carpenter, and Catholic. Margaret was aged 20, also Catholic. Walter’s sister Mary Ann was boarding with English emancipist schoolmaster David Greville, and brother Lawrence Jnr was living in Hunter Street, aged 16, a printer (apprenticed).

Walter and Margaret’s first son, named Francis George, was born January 27, 1829 and baptised by Fr. J.J. Therry at the new St Mary’s R.C. Cathedral on 9 March 1829, sponsors named as James and Elizabeth Palmer. Palmer also resided in Cumberland Street and was living there in 1823 when assigned a convict mechanic.[vi] It is therefore possible that Walter was working for Palmer.

Their second son, named Thomas Laurence, was born in January 1831 and baptised at St Mary’s on November 21, 1831, sponsors Laurence Butler (brother of Walter) and Rosanna Bowen.[vii] At the time, they were living in Castlereagh Street which was the same street in which Margaret’s father was living, whether at the same house is unknown.

However, shortly after the baby’s baptism, Margaret’s world was turned upside down when Walter ran off to Tasmania with a married woman, Eliza Bodecin, the wife of cabinet maker Peter Bodecin leaving her two infant children behind. She was the youngest daughter of famous Irish rebel leader Michael Dwyer known as the ‘Wicklow Chief’ who held out in the mountains of Wicklow with his gang for five years before surrendering under terms of self-exile to NSW.
Walter placed the following advertisement in The Sydney Monitor, Sat 11 February 1832 p3:

Shortly after, Walter and Eliza caught a ship to Van Diemen's Land. (refer to Ch 5 for details)

The fate of Walter Butler’s first family

Margaret died in Castlereagh Street, Sydney, 14 April 1840, at the young age of 31years.[viii]

This was the same street in which they were living in the 1832 Sydney Directory, just before Walter left for Launceston with Eliza. Their sons, Francis George and Thomas Lawrence were 11 and 9 years old, and as Walter was no longer living in Sydney, it appears that the boys were looked after by Margaret’s siblings. However, neither Margaret nor her sons were mentioned in her father, Thomas Dunn’s will of 1832.

Margaret’s father, Thomas Dunn, who died in April 1832, gave an interesting instruction in his will to his executors, his son-in-law William Pawley and his son Thomas:

Immediately after my Decease... enter my Dwelling house and search my Closets and Drawers and take into Custody and profession all my monies and papers and that no other person be allowed to look at any of my papers, or intermeddle therewith until my said Executors have examined the same.

As his death occurred shortly before Walter and Eliza ran away to Hobart, one would assume their affair had begun some time earlier and was probably common knowledge in the small colony. These instructions may have been aimed at preventing Walter from benefiting from the Dunn estate. Margaret’s sister, married to the son of two convicts, was also left out of the will.

Francis, their eldest son, worked in Sydney as a tanner and married Sarah Ann Chin in Sydney in 1853, and Thomas married in Bathurst in 1856. They appear to have been left in the care of Margaret’s relatives with whom Francis had a close relationship. They may have been raised by Ann Butler nee Dunn, the sister of Margaret. Ann Dunn had married Samuel Butler (no relation), an English missionary who died in New Zealand in 1836, after which, Ann returned to Sydney. Ann and Samuel were witnesses at Walter and Margaret’s marriage in 1825; and Ann and Samuel’s daughter Lucy married Sarah Ann Chin’s brother Benjamin Chin, which indicates a close association with the Chin family (viz. children of John Butt Chin and Ann Haddock, from London). However, the boys may have been looked after by another uncle and aunt, William Pawley and his wife Elizabeth Dunn, as Pawley established a tannery in Sydney and Francis also became a tanner. A third possibility was the Stennetts, Frederick and his wife, Rose Dunn. Rose was the youngest of the Dunn children.

Rose Dunn (married to Frederick Stennett)

sister of Margaret Dunn

The Stennetts would witness Francis and Sarah Ann’s wedding in 1853.

It is also possible the two boys were split up and raised in separate families. Later documents indicate that Francis was educated, and in later life was secretary of the Mechanics Institute of Islington (Newcastle), whereas Thomas signed his marriage certificate with a cross and had a menial job employed as a groom at Bathurst where Thomas lived out his long life. There is no evidence of them maintaining any contact.

There is no evidence that Francis had any contact with his father after 1832, and the family history of descent from Walter and Laurence was unknown until the current family research began. A family bible given by Francis to his son William, in which he has written the family records, begins the family history with himself. No mention is made of his parentage, and he certainly would not have acknowledged the stain of his ‘convict’ heritage if he had known about it, which is unlikely.

The Ancestry and Lives of Margaret Dunn's parents, Thomas Dunn and Rose Bean

Thomas Dunn

Thomas Dunn was born in 1776, probably in Ireland, as he was described in his trial record as "Ireland labourer" (although there are several baptismal records for a Thomas Dunn in London in 1776- (1) 9 Oct 1776 at St Martin in the Fields Church Westminster, which is close to King Street, to parents Thomas and Alice Dunn; (2) 22 Sept 1776 at St Dunstan & All Saints Stepney Parish of Tower Hamlets to parents Thomas and Elizabeth Dunn, shipwright living at Ratcliff; (3) 10 July 1776 at St Giles Cripplegate to parents John and Sarah Dunn, cordswainer).
In 1796, Thomas was described as: 20 years of age, 5ft 8in, dark complexion, dark hair, dark eyes.

At the age of 19 he was a servant for a brewer in King St, Westminster (London), although the brewer was also recorded as having a brewery in Millbank Street on the Thames.

In September 1796, Thomas was caught stealing money to the value of £3. 5 s. 1 p. from his employer and was convicted and sentenced at the Old Bailey on 28 October 1796 to 7 years transportation. He was 20 years of age.

Thomas Dunn's trial at the Old Bailey, London
- October Sessions 1796

London 1795- Cary's New & Accurate Plan of London Westminster

Thomas Dunn worked for Richard Pearce at his brewery. The map shows Richard Pearce's Brewery in Millbank Street (on the Thames), and King Street where Richard Pearce had his office (named in Dunn's trial), and St John the Evangelist Westminster where Thomas Dunn was living at the time of his trial.

Richard Pearce, Brewer, Millbank Street- Kents Directory 1794

After sentencing, Thomas Dunn spent a few months in Newgate Gaol before being sent to the ‘Lafortuna’ and ‘Ceres’ Hulks in Langstone Harbour, Portsmouth on 27 March 1797, where he spent the next 21 months. Conditions on these two hulks were described as appalling, with overcrowding, and diseases such as typhus and typhoid rampant.
A book written by John Howard in 1789, "An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, and Further Observations on Some Foreign Prisons and Hospitals, and Additional Remarkson the Present State of Those in Great Britain and Ireland", pages 217-220, describes the conditions on the LaFortunee and the Ceres hulks in Langstone Harbour in July 1788, nine years before Dunn's arrival:
La Fortunee (formerly a French 36 gun frigate) had 338 convicts, and the Ceres, a receiving ship at Woolwich brought around in July 1788 had 219 convicts. 230 on La Fortunee and 104 on the Ceres were at work at Cumberland Fort, most unloading the ships and carrying stones to different parts of the new works. They dine on shore at 12 o'clock. Their bread and beer are good but they complained sadly of the meat which was very lean, full of bones and not half the allowance, viz. one pound to each man before it is dressed. Most of them had a ring on one leg and the other ring fastened to their waistband. Both the ships were clean. The La Fortunee had a few sick, and the Ceres more sick than the hospital part could contain. Several had gaol fever and some died. The convicts lie two on a straw bed with one blanket. There is not that attention to cleanliness in the clothes, linen and persons of the prisoners in the hulks, which is necessary to preserve their health: for though some were decently clothed in their own clothes, others were in rags, many without shirts. As many officers have observed, "that the most cleanly men are always the most decent and honest, and the most slovenly and dirty are the most vicious and irregular."

Dunn sailed from Portland Roads on 23 December 1798 on the ship "Hillsborough" (764 tons) with 300 male convicts aboard. The Master of the ship was William Hingston who treated the convicts harshly. They were kept in irons, chained in pairs, some with iron collars around their necks. When some convicts revolted and managed to remove their irons they were lashed and threatened with hanging. Mutiny continued to be a threat and they were harshly punished when plots were discovered. The ship arrived in Sydney after 212 days on 26 July 1799 with typhoid raging on board. Ninety-nine of the 300 convicts had died during the voyage and a further six died after they landed, Governor Hunter describing the survivors as "the most wretched and miserable convicts I have ever beheld, in the most sickly and wretched state". Almost every prisoner required hospital treatment, due to the sickness, the treatment on board where they were kept double ironed and chained together on deck and in their quarters, their bedding which was constantly wet due to the stormy weather, the very hot weather and lack of air circulation, plus being inadequately fed and suffering from thirst due to grossly inadequate water allowances per convict. Many had arrived on board with typhoid from the disease ridden hulks, which quickly spread amongst other prisoners.

Living conditions on convict transports ships were very harsh. Each deck was 1.5 to 1.8 metres high. On each side of the deck were 2 tiers of wooden bunks, which were the size of two single beds pushed together shared by 4 convicts. They were chained to the deck wall during the night. When the hatches were closed, the prison was dark and very stuffy. Air circulation was poor. Water often seeped and dripped and sometimes ran in streams onto the contents and people of the ship. Wet bedding and clothing could often not be dried due to the weather conditions. The constant smell of unwashed bodies, sickness, urine and excrement was unbearable. Thomas Dunn somehow managed to survive these conditions and the cruel treatment by the master of his ship. The dreadful treatment and the terrible state of the convicts was reported back to the powers in England who then introduced stricter controls on the treatment of convicts in transport ships on future voyages.

Sydney, at that time was a little town of about 200 buildings housing the town's 2500 inhabitants. There were three streets, two either side of High Street, what is now George Street, and three streets running east-west. High Street ran into the road to Parramatta.
The Hillsborough convicts were sent to Parramatta either immediately or when they had recovered their health. Parramatta had 1500 inhabitants, and the central part of Government House was built there by 1799. A large number of settlers including those whose sentences had expired were given land grants of 30, 50, 80 and 100 acres, and one or two convict servants to help them, plus provisions. The settlers thereby produced the food for the colony.
No records survive of where convicts were assigned.
On arrival in the colony, Thomas may have been assigned to a convict gang living in one of the huts in the main street and used to build a large number of public works including roads and bridges and the new gaol and other public buildings, or he may have been assigned to the farm of a free settler- possibly to the Rev. Rowland Hassall, as he later gave evidence that he had worked for several years as a servant to Hassall (Sydney Gazette 25 Sept 1819 p3) who had settled in Parramatta in 1798 and was known to treat his assigned servants kindly, or, at the 100 acre farm of James Bean who had arrived two months earlier in May 1799, which may have given him the opportunity to meet Rose the daughter of James Bean, whom he would marry in 1804 (see below for details of the Beans), with whom he would have 4 sons and 5 daughters including daughter Margaret.
The year before they were married, when Rose was 17, she was raped in front of her mother, by two men, Gannan and Simpson, from a group of Irish convicts that had escaped and attacked the Bean homestead. They also shot a servant in the face and severely disfigured him at the neighbour's farm. The convicts were caught and were subsequently hanged for the crime. (see below for details)
Rose was born in London on January 22, 1786, and married Thomas on 10 October, 1804.

On Christmas Eve 1802, Thomas was implicated by another prisoner in a plot to seize Parramatta, involving 300 English and 300 Irish convicts, for which 150 pikes had been prepared. According to the convict witness, Dunn and a Richard Norris took him unwillingly to a meeting chaired by a man called Clark in which the plans were discussed. His kidnappers were drunk so he managed to escape and tell authorities. When questioned, the allegations were denied and there is no more information on the outcome of the December plot, so it is unclear whether it was simply a drunken boast session or a serious conspiracy. (Ref: Anne Maree Whitacker, The Unfinished Revolution, 1994)

In October 1803, Thomas Dunn's seven year term expired and he was a free man. It was about this time that Rose became pregnant and gave birth to daughter Elizabeth on 29 July 1804, and they married three months later.

Thomas was named on the list of the 'Active Defence', a group of civil officers, constables and free citizens who had volunteered to assist the military in times of unrest, and fought at the Vinegar Hill uprising by the Irish convicts in 1804, along with James Bean, in support of the government troops. (This could also confirm that he was assigned to the Bean farm.)
(Ref: Lynette Ramsey Silver, The Battle of Vinegar Hill, Watermark Pres Sydney 1983)

In October 1808, a man named Joseph Holt, one of the more famous of the 1798 Irish Rebels from County Wicklow, was indicted for an assault on the person of Ann Tuckey. In his defence, he called two witnesses, one of whom was Thomas Dunn, ”whose misfortune it had been to fall under a similar accusation from the self same prosecutrix; who after exhibiting a charge against him that must have endangered his life had it been proceeded in, very considerately proposed a compromise; and upon the most atrocious injury that could be offered her, set no higher price than a bottle of spirits and four silver dollars, to which the deponent chose rather to submit than to suffer exposure. The Court acquitted Holt without a moment’s hesitation.” (“Joseph Holt- A Rum Story” by Peter O’Shaughnesay 1988)

In December 1803, Dunn opened a store in partnership with another Irishman, Christopher Flood, Hassall providing them with 14 pounds worth of haberdashery on credit, however, it can't have been profitable.

In the 1806 Muster of NSW, Thomas was self employed and renting 30 acres. He had 20 acres under pasture: 6 bushels in hand of maize and 4 bushels in hand of barley.
In 1808 he was one of the 833 "Principal inhabitants of NSW" who signed a petition to Gov. Bligh seeking the introduction of free trade and trial by jury.
In 1808-10, Dunn went on a number of sealing voyages to Bass Strait, on the Pegasus in August 1808 and on the Northumberland in 1809, on the Antipode in July 1810 and the Northumberland in September 1810.
1809 Dunn was granted 80 acres at Bankstown, on the western bank of Prospect Creek, on 4 Nov 1809, which they called Hyde Park.

In 1810 he was describing himself as a landholder in Baulkam Hills.

On 5 January 1811, he was appointed a constable in Sydney, victualled by the Government.

In 1814, he received a grant of land, exchanging his Prospect Creek land for 80 acres at Liberty Plains (now Auburn, his land now bordering the sight of the Olympic Games site.)

In 1817, he was a District Constable at Brickfield Hill, paid a salary of £18 15s a quarter year from the Police Fund.

On 19 October 1820, he was appointed Chief Constable for Sydney, on a salary of £60 annually.

In 1823 he was granted land at 57 and 62 Castlereagh Street, both leased for twenty-one years.

In 1824/25 he was granted 600 acres, which he sold in 1830 for £125 sterling.

In 1827, Thomas retired. The following testimonial appeared in the “Sydney Gazette” 22 August:

We have already noticed the contemplated retirement of Mr Chief Constable Dunn. The applicants for this arduous and responsible office are numerous, and we trust that the successor of Mr Dunn will receive the title of High Constable. We have seen the memorial of the present Chief Constable to the Governor, and we really believe His Excellency will admit that he never before witnessed such powerful recommendations on behalf of any public servant as those which Mr Dunn has had the good fortune to secure. Judges, Clergymen, Magistrates, and other Gentlemen have crowded every vacant spot on the Memorial with their most flattering testimonies; and as Mr Dunn is now on the verge of three-score, and has nearly killed himself in the service, and is entirely incapacitated from the maintaining a wife and 8 children in any ordinary occupations of life, it would be criminal for any one not to believe that His Excellency will most gladly attend to the interests of a man who has rendered himself notorious for zeal, probity, and public usefulness of every kind.

Another article on 17 August 1827 stated:

Mr Dunn, our present Chief Constable we have been informed, is on the eve of retirement. He has been employed in the Police Establishment since the year 1811, and has conducted himself with the most exemplary and fidelity in the discharge of his important duties. Impaired health, we understand is the cause of Mr Dunn’s retiring; but we have no doubt that His Excellency the Governor will take his case into favourable consideration.

In the “Sydney Gazette” 26 October 1827, the following incident was reported:

Mr Dunn, our late Chief Constable, hearing a noise and fighting in a house not far distant from his place of abode, forgetting that he was no longer a member of the constabulary, or from a desire to maintain peace among the lieges of Our Sovereign Lord the King, instantly proceeded to the scene of action, where he found a man and his wife engaged in a most dangerous affray, the latter armed with a knife, making several thrusts at the former. Mr Dunn thereupon laid hold of the knife, we regret to learn, he was severely wounded. He, however, succeeded in quelling the disturbance.

By the 1828 Census, he was a pensioner living in Cumberland Street.

The Historical Records of Australia, Series 1, Vol. XIV, has the following letter from Governor Darling to Rt. Hon. W. Huskisson.

(Despatch No. 90, per ship Boddington; acknowledged by Sir George Murray, 11 April 1829)

Government House, 30^th July 1828

Sir,

I have the honor to report to you that I have authorized with the advice of the Executive Council, the issue of a Pension of £50 a year to Mr Thomas Dunn, the late Chief Constable of Sydney, until I receive your orders on the subject.

Mr Dunn’s salary was £150 a Year. He had served diligently and faithfully for a period of Seventeen years, but has now been obliged to retire, his Age and infirmities rendering him Unequal to the Active Duties of the Situation of Chief Constable in Sydney.

I have not thought it necessary to trouble you with Mr Dunn’s Memorial or a Copy of the Minute of Council, the above being a summary of his case. I should not however omit to state that Mr Dunn’s Memorial is recommended and his Services are attested by the Signatures of the Principal Officers of the Government and the Magistrates of Sydney.

I have, &c,

Ra. Darling

Thomas died on 6 April 1832, aged 56 and was living at 51 Castlereigh Street Sydney at the time of his death. Rose had died the year before, on 5 November 1831 (according to NSW Registry of BDM, however, their gravestone states that she died 5 April 1835 aged 46 years.)

Sydney Monitor, Sat 7 April 1832 p3

Sydney Monitor, Wed 11 April 1832 p2

Thomas left a Will which was written in August 1831, before the death of his wife Rose, in which he left a number of properties (in Castlereigh St, Cumberland St and Clarence St) the rents from which were designated for the support and maintenance of his wife, four youngest children and their heirs.

In his Will, Thomas left his wife Rose, ten shillings sterling per week for her maintenance and also allowed her the sole use and occupation of the residence at 51 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, and its furniture, china etc, although the property itself was given to his eldest daughter, Elizabeth’s husband William Pawley, in a Deed of Gift, dated 19 August 1831. It was given in ‘consideration of the natural love and affection which the said Thomas Dunn beareth towards the said William Pawley...’

Rose would occupy the house until her death on the condition that she remained single and unmarried. If she remarried or cohabited unlawfully, her weekly allowance was to be stopped and her house and furniture to be taken from her and converted to the use of his four children named in the will.
Daughter Margaret (Butler), nor her children were mentioned in the will as beneficiaries. The only other children of Thomas and Rose who were not mentioned in the Will, were daughter Ann who was living in New Zealand with her missionary husband, Samuel Butler until 1836; and daughter Sarah who married James Evans, the son of two convicts, about whom little is known.

signature of Thomas Dunn

Thomas and Rose were buried at Sandhills Cemetery in Devonshire Street. However when Sandhills was demolished to make way for the railway, the graves were moved to Bunnerong Cemetery. They were reburied in the Church of England section. According to the book "Gravestone Inscriptions, NSW" they had a slab monument, which was in poor condition. It read:

" Sacred to the memory of

Mr Thomas Dunn

Many years a Chief Constable at Sydney, which situation he fulfilled with credit,

Died 6th April 1832 aged 56 years,

Also Mrs Rose Dunn, wife of the above

Died 5th April 1835 aged 46 years,

Also Elizabeth Ann, dau of Thomas and Matilda Dunn and Granddaughter of the above,

Died 7th November 1837 aged 2 years and 4 months."

( NB there seems to be some discrepancy in the date of Rose's death between the gravestone inscription and the NSW Registry records ie. 5/11/1831 aged 45. She was born in 1786 and therefore the date of 1831 is appropriate)

Australian Cemeteries Index

NB. NSW Registry record has Rose Dunn's death 5/11/1831 (not 1835).

9833/1831 V18319833 2C

AGE 45

She was born 21 January 1786

Thomas Dunn, convicted of a foolish crime at a very young age, died as a well respected member of the community and left the legacy of many Australian descendants.

Thomas DUNN m. Rose Ellen Maria BEAN on 10 October 1808 at Parramatta

Issue:

1.Elizabeth Rose Dunn b.1804 Sydney, d.1885 Sydney; m. William Pawley- 12 issue

2.Ann Dunn b.1806 Sydney d.1867 Prospect Creek

m.1.Samuel Butler 1823- 6 issue

m.2.William Wright 1838- 3 issue

m.3.John Alexander 1844- 3 issue

3.John Dunn b.1808 Sydney, d. unknown

4.Margaret Dunn b.1809 Sydney d.1840 Sydney; m. Walter Butler 1825- 2 issue

5.Sarah Matilda Dunn b.1811, d.1885; m. James Thomas Evans 1826- 9 issue (or 13?)

6.Thomas Dunn b.1813, d.1867; m. Matilda Cobcroft 1834- 4 issue

7.Edward John Dunn b.1815, d.1877; m. Ann Harper 1836- 6 issue

8.Richard Dunn b.1818 d.1859; m. Sarah Howe 1842- no known issue

9.Rose Ellen Maria Dunn b.1822, d.1899; m. Frederick Stennett 1843- 11 issue

The Bean family:

Thomas Dunn married Rose Bean, the daughter of free settler James Bean who arrived with his family in 1799 on the 'Buffalo'.

The Bean family can be traced back to the late 1600's on Hayling Island in Langstone Harbour next to Portsmouth in south England. Hayling Island and the Manor of Hayling were part of the Duke of Norfolk's estates since 1580 and remained part of the Duke's estates until 1825. Coincidentally, James' future son-in-law Thomas Dunn was incarcerated in one of the hulks moored in Langstone Harbour near the Bean home.

Map of Hayling Island, Portsmouth, Portsea, and Langstone Harbour,

Hampshire England

James Thomas John Bean was the 11th of 13 children born on Hayling and was baptised on 15 April 1753, to parents Thomas Bean, b.18 August 1711 in Portsea (son of Thomas Beane), married 20 May 1734 in Sth Hayling to Elizabeth Pitt (daughter of Thomas Pitt and Frances Medstone of Hayling Island). Portsea was the adjacent island on the other side of Langstone Harbour, on which Portsmouth is located.
James' mother, Elizabeth Pitt, died 31 August 1760, when James was 7 years, and his father, Thomas Bean, a blacksmith, died in 1762 when James was 9 years of age. Several of his older siblings were married at this time and it is unknown who brought up the younger members of the family. His father left a will.

Transcript of Will of Thomas Bean dated 8 October 1761

Signature of Thomas Bean on Will

James Bean married Elizabeth Taylor nee Kirshaw at St James Church of England, Piccadilly, Westminster London on 6 February 1780 and had 6 children, all born in London.

St. James Piccadilly, Westminster

(NB. witnesses Charles & Elizabeth Kirshaw, probably Betty's parents

Possibly Charles Kershaw who married Elizabeth Sooby at St George's Mayfair Westminster on 8 October 1752; a second record has their residence as St Clement Danes, Westminster)

James was working as a carpenter in London when he signed the "Terms of Settlement" agreement in which he agreed to go to the colony of New South Wales to help build the buildings required in the fledgling settlement. In return, they were offered free passage, 100 acres of land, clothing and food for 12 months, "the labour of 2 convicts for 12 months (maintained by government), plus stock, seed, grain and agricultural tools as have been furnished to other settlers, together with such other assistance as the Governor may judge proper to afford us.". They arrived on the ship "Buffalo" on 3 May 1799. A letter from J. King on behalf of the Duke of Portland, written from Whitehall dated 12 January 1798 listed "the persons being proposed to be sent to the settlement of New South Wales, whose names are on the enclosed list:" included: James Thomas John Bean, his wife Elizabeth (Betty) Bean, and children Elizabeth 15, Rose 12, James 10, Ann 8 and William 5- Carpenter. Three other carpenters and one millwright were also listed. Their neighbours at Castle Hill, the Bradleys also arrived on the Buffalo with the Beans.
(Historical Records of Australia Series I, Vol II, p128)

Their arrival was not at a good time. Shortly after, Sydney experienced a series of severe storms that caused severe damage to the buildings. In November, James was granted 100 acres at Castle Hill in the district of Toongabbie. In late 1802 and during 1803, a drought badly affected crops and vegetable gardens causing severe food shortages. The Bean family found it hard work to live. Mrs Bean became very ill and had a miscarriage. James had to work for Reverend Hassall for meagre rations to survive.

He also joined the Loyal Parramatta Association, a volunteer armed militia, where in exchange for military duty he obtained provisions to supplement the meagre farm harvest.

In 1803, a number of farm houses, including the Bean's, were invaded by escaped Irish convicts. A servant was shot in the face, causing dreadful disfigurement and James' daughter, Rose, was raped by two men who were later captured and hanged outside the Bean farm.
In a detailed account of the assault, author (and Bean descendant) Lynette Ramsay Silver wrote in the Notes for her book "Australias' Irish Rebellion: The Battle of Vinegar Hill 1804" (pub Sydney 1983 and 2002) that the identity of daughter Rose was established from the Bean Family Papers held by the Society of Australian Genealogy Sydney/SAG. Also at the time, elder daughter Elizabeth was married and living elsewhere, and youngest daughter Ann was only 13.

This event was reported in the Sydney Gazette.

Sydney Gazette Sat 5 March 1803 p3

In the 1804 Irish convict uprising at Castle Hill, James was a civilian volunteer.

He took part in the capture and arrest of the Irish convicts during the uprising in the Castle Hill area, known as the Battle of Vinegar Hill (named after the original battle at Vinegar Hill in Wexford during the 1798 Irish Rebellion). This uprising began near the Bean farm.

In 1806, a convict working for 3 years for the Beans, was charged with having committed a violent assault on Mrs Bean. On a trip to their home, he threw her down and attempted to commit a rape on her but did not succeed. He received 800 lashes and put on the iron gang.

In 1811, James commenced as a supervisor in the building of the "Rum" Hospital, hired by the contractors Riley, Blaxcell and Wentworth. He was hired at the rate of 250 pound per year. It was completed in 1816, two years behind schedule at a cost of 32,000 pound which was greatly above the estimated cost of 18.000 pound. In 1820, he appeared before Commissioner Bigge who was investigating the methods of payment to the contractors (ie. a monopoly over the liquor trade) and the building's construction which showed design and construction faults. However two of the original three buildings are still standing, one of which is the home of the NSW Parliament and the other is the old Mint Museum in Macquarie Street.

The old Mint Museum

NSW House of Parliament

In 1814 James Bean was granted 80 acres in Campbelltown.

On 24 July 1820, Bean was one of the signatories at Government House, to the Proclamation of the next King, George IV.

In 1829, he was granted 220 acres in the County of Argyle, which he discovered was unfit for cultivation as it lacked water and was mostly barren rock. He then petitioned the Government for a portion of land (220 acres) in the Parish of Gordon.

By 1830 Bean and his son had a number of hotels in George Street and at Appin and at Gunning. In 1834 he had a hotel at Brickfield Hill. Also in 1834, he was granted land in Sydney bounded by York, Market and Clarence Streets.

Elizabeth had died 2 October 1818 at Parramatta. Originally buried in the Old Burial Ground and then moved to Botany Cemetary in 1901, her monument was an upright stone in good condition which said:

" Sacred to the Memory of

Mrs Betty Bean, wife of Mr James Bean Senior, carpenter of Sydney.

She died 2nd October 1818 aged 64 years."

The adjacent stone was that of her son "William Bean, died 24 October 1834 aged 42 years, leaving a widow and 8 children." Neither of these headstones have survived.

James died at the age of 87 in April 1839 at Parramatta and was buried in St John's Cemetery at Parramatta (Section 1 Row D No 13).

His grave, a sandstone alter (1'4"x3'4"x6'4") on a sandstone plinth (41/2 "x5'8"x 8'8") reads:

"To the Memory of

James Thomas John Bean

Who departed this life April 19th 1839

Aged 87 years"

The burial register reads: Thos John Bean, 68, Parramatta, 22/4/1839, Gentleman, Rev J Troughton

Genealogy of the Bean Family

Gen 1.

Thomas BEAN b.18.8.1711, Portsea, St Mary, England; d.21.6.1762, Hayling, Hampshire, England

m.20.5.1734 South Hayling, England to Elizabeth PITT

issue= 13 children including 11^th child named James Thomas John BEAN

Gen 2.

James Thomas John BEAN b.15.4.1753 North Hayling, Hampshire, England; d.19.4.1839 Parramatta NSW.

m. 6.2.1799, London, England to Elizabeth (Betsy) TAYLOR nee KIRSHAW

issue:

1.Elizabeth BEAN b.31.12.1782 London; d. 20.9.1878 Parramatta NSW; m.7.10.1801 Parramatta to William James SHELLEY- 7 issue

2.James BEAN b.5.5.1784 London; d.c.1799 London

3.Rose Ellen Maria BEAN b.22.1.1786 London; d 5.11.1831 Sydney NSW; m.10.10.1804 Parramatta to Thomas DUNN- 8 issue

4.James Thomas John BEAN b.20.4.1788 London; d. 20.5.1859 Yass NSW

5.Ann BEAN b.21.11.1790 London; d.11.3.1854 Baulkham Hills NSW; m.28.8.1808 Paramatta to Samuel JAMES-12 issue

6.William BEAN b. 8.9.1792 London; d. 24.10.1834 Sydney NSW; m.13.6.1814 Parramatta to Elizabeth BRADLEY- 11 issue

contact butler1802 @ hotmail. com (no spaces)

Sources of information on:

Thomas Dunn-
"Thomas Dunn: Convict and Chief Constable and his Descendants" by Perry McIntyre and Adele Cathro

(pub. PR Ireland, Sydney, 2000; available at National Library of Australia)

and Convict, Chief Constable, Citizen: Thomas Dunn 1776-1832, by Neville Potter, (Bricolage Press, Canberra 2014)

NB. Both of these books are highly recommended reading for descendants of Thomas Dunn.

Bean Family History:
Bob Mote's Family History

http://www.ozigen.com/index.htm?ssmain=ui97.htm;

Bean and Dunn: "Australia's Irish rebellion: The Battle of Vinegar Hill", by Lynette Ramsay Silver (pub. Watermark Press Sydney 1983 & 2002)

Link back to Introduction chapter:

http://butlerfamilyhistoryaus.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/walter-butler-introduction.html

[i] NSW Registry of Births, Deaths, Marriages- V1825120 127/1825

[ii] Ibid, V18091A 2151

[iii] Lynette Ramsey Silver, Australia’s Irish Rebellion: The Battle of Vinegar Hill 1804, The Watermark Press, Sydney 2002, p94

[iv] Old Bailey Proceedings Online www.oldbaileyonline.org (Date accessed 29/3/09), Thomas Dunn, grand larceny, 26 October 1796 (t17961026-51)

[v] Perry McIntyre & Adele Cathro, Thomas Dunn: Convict and Chief Constable and his Descendants, PR Ireland, 2000. Public Records Office UK, Criminal registers- Trial Sessions & Prisoner Details- October Sessions 1796.

[vi] NSW Registry of BDM, V1829/125/1308

[vii] NSW Registry of BDM V 1831/127/1978

[viii] NSW Registry of BDM V1840/398 24A

Walter Butler (c.1807-1870)- the life of a 'currency' lad born in the colony of NSW

Sunday 19 August 2012

Walter Butler- Ch. 2: Walter's first family

Walter Butler's first wife Margaret Dunn

The fate of Walter Butler’s first family