Catherine Mitchell

Catherine Mitchell was the mother of Manasseh Ward. There are well-established and verified linkages proving this, including the details of Catherine's marriage to William Ward at St Phillip's Church in Sydney in 1837 and the accompanying documents. Most interesting in the 1837 documents is the register of 'Convicts permission to marry' available from NSW State Archives. This shows that on 25 January 1837 permission was granted for William Ward, 37 year-old free man who arrived on the Almorah on a 7-year sentence to marry Catherine Mitchell, 20 year-old bond woman who arrived on the George Hibbert also on a 7-year sentence. The 'bond' indicates that Catherine was still serving her sentence.

The George Hibbert was a convict ship that had arrived in Sydney in December 1834. The convict records give us a quite detailed description of Catherine, who was 17 when she arrived in the Colony of New South Wales. Catherine had been convicted at Stirling Court of Judiciary on 12 September 1833. I have found some convict records incorrectly give Perth as the place of trial, but the Scottish Archives confirm that the trial was at Stirling.

Joan Taylor's landmark family history reveals that Catherine was convicted of 'household robbery' and that she was a housemaid. This week I found a few more details from the Scotland, Court and Criminal Database:

Tried with Robina Lochie and Christian Cock. Tried in conjunction with Mary Martin or McDonald. Also Ann Stean. Pannel cannot write.

Crime: Theft by housebreaking, habit and repute

Verdict and comments: Guilty in terms of own confession - theft, Transportation 7 years. 

Robina Lochie and Christian Cock (a female I think) were aboard the George Hibberd with Catherine, each with a 7-year term. Ann Stean was 'not called' whatever that means. Mary Martin may be the villain of the piece.  Her trial record says that she is the wife of William McDonald, hatter and her verdict was 'outlawed'. The sentence reads 'Outlawed and put to the horn'! This was old Scots law where the culprit was proclaimed at the Great Cross in Edinburgh, together with three blasts of a horn and other formalities.

I have signed up to get a full report on the trial. If this delivers as advertised, it will give is the minutes of the trial as well as any other documents that survive. This will take a few weeks I think. While waiting for this, I will continue to look into Catherine's origins in Scotland.