Taking a closer look

NOTE: this post is about Thomas Hannigan senior.  Wouldn't want you to get confused :-)

A family historian is like a detective, examining the available clues, following up leads, making deductions – and sometimes, educated guesses. The more you know about the general history and events of your ancestor’s era, the more likely it is that his or her activities will make sense to you (and your audience).

Genealogical research is getting easier all the time, due to the increasing amount of material available online – Googling key places and names will often provide more information.

Sometimes you have very little basic, authentic information about an ancestor. In the case of Thomas Hannigan, I have the transcript of his trial in London in 1800, a brief record of his conviction in Tasmania in 1837, and a newspaper paragraph of the same date.

The London trial records, though entertaining, don’t tell us what happened to Thomas in Australia. For that I must rely on a photocopy of an entry in the Tasmanian convict records:

Port Arthur ruins

Name – Hanneghan, Thomas.

Height 5’2”. Age 59. 

Occupation - ??nailor Not a sailor as I originally thought, but perhaps a nail-maker?

Tried at Launceston, Oct. 5^th, 1837. 

Sentence 14 years. 

Birthplace - London. 

Religion RC. 

Read and write – neither. 

Relatives – 1 son, 1 daughter, & wife, in Launceston. 

Ships – Earl Cornwallis and Francis. 

Offence – Receiving.

A further note in the records says: “Transported for receiving part of 2 promissory notes value 3 pounds… monies the property of Wm. King….. 3 years Port Arthur, conducted to be reported.”

Directly above this entry is the record for Thomas’s daughter, Mary Ann, tried on the same day for Larceny, and sentenced to 7 years. From this we learn that Mary Ann was aged 16, and 4’11” tall. Also illiterate, she was employed as a Laundress & House Servant. She was Native-born. Mary Ann’s family consisted of a mother, sister and brother in Launceston.

Inside Port Arthur

 The newspaper article adds little: “Mary Haneghan, convicted of stealing one pair of trousers, value 5 shillings, and various monies, the property of Wm. King. Sentence, 7 years. Thos Hanagan, Hugh McGlocken, and Rebecca Barton, severally convicted of receiving part of this said property. Sentence, 14 years, and the prisoners Thos Hanagan and Hugh McGlocken, be sent to Port Arthur.”

Little enough to go on…but the records do tell us quite a lot about Thomas and his family, and of course, raise questions.

His birthplace is given as London. Was he really born there, or was it just his place of residence when he stole those sheep?

He was a little short bloke, his daughter even tinier. Seems this may have been genetic, not merely the result of a poor diet – my own mother was not much taller than Thomas.

Both father and daughter claimed to be Roman Catholic, despite a lack of Catholic clergy in Van Diemen’s Land at that date. Both were illiterate, (which argues that Thomas Junior was, also).

The family details are interesting, with a discrepancy between the two accounts. Were there 2 Hannigan daughters, or only the one, Mary Ann? The son is presumably Thomas junior.

There is a published passenger list for Earl Cornwallis which list Thomas as one of the convicts on board, along with his co-accused from London, Richard Coleman. I haven’t found any further information for Coleman.

The Francis  is the most interesting, and leads us to a new view of Thomas’s colonial history.

A schooner of 41 tons, the Francis was assembled in Sydney from frames sent out in the Pitt which arrived on 14 February 1792. Launched on 24 July 1793, she departed  Sydney on her first voyage, 8 September, to Dusky Bay, New Zealand.
A little later, in 1801, the Francis accompanied the Lady Nelson on a voyage to Newcastle, collecting 75 tons of coal which were exchanged for nails and iron in Sydney with the master of the ship Earl Cornwallis, Capt. James Tennant. (note the connection with Thomas’s convict transport.)

We next hear of the Francis in 1804, when she formed part of an expedition to Van Diemen’s Land.

Initially the British authorities were uncertain if Van Diemen’s Land was connected to the mainland, or a separate island. The matter was settled by an expedition conducted by Bass and Flinders in 1798, when they explored Bass Strait, and sailed right around the island in the Norfolk. The Tamar River was entered and mapped, and the mouth was named Port Dalrymple. They were followed in 1802 by Freycinet and Faure from the Naturaliste and 1804 by William Collins in the Lady Nelson.

Fear of French settlement led to the Governor of NSW sending an expedition under Lieut. Colonel William Paterson to establish a settlement at Port Dalrymple (in addition to the southern outpost at Risdon, the fore-runner of Hobart).

On November 4th 1804, Lieutenant Colonel William Paterson, and a fleet of ships HMS Buffalo, the HMS Lady Nelson, the Francis and the Integrity, entered the Tamar heads on the north coast of Van Diemen's Land, with a party of 181 including 74 convicts, soldiers, one free settler, and a doctor.  Thomas Hannigan was thus one of the very earliest white settlers in Tasmania!

An outer cove on the eastern side of the Tamar (George Town), was chosen temporarily and the settlers made camp there. George Town is now considered the oldest town in Australia (1804). Only the cities of Sydney and Hobart are older. In fact John Batman sailed from George Town to settle Melbourne.

View of South Esk river

Paterson continued to explore the Tamar for a better area, on findng two good streams of fresh water he named the area York Town (Beaconsfield) and would transfer all the settlers here before Christmas. The following day November 12th 1804, a large group of Aboriginals approached Paterson's camp, appearing to be quite friendly. They attacked a Marine guard and were fired on with muskets by the Marines. One native was killed and another was wounded.

Despite the hostility of the natives, Paterson continued to explore the area without further incident. Good pasture land and thick forests were found at the head of the Tamar (Launceston). Paterson also discovered and named the North Esk and the South Esk Rivers, and he was most impressed with the Cataract he discovered in a gorge of the South Esk river. Choosing to stay at the York Town settlement, Lieutenant Paterson moved the small settlement to a more fertile area he named Patersonia, (Launceston) in March 1806.