Catherine Mitchell in New South Wales

 Catherine Mitchell arrived in NSW as a convict aboard the George Hibbert. The ship carried 144 female convicts, 11 free women and 64 children. The voyage took longer than usual and some supplies ran low, including the lime juice used to stay off scurvy. Some of the convicts showed signs of scurvy towards the end of the voyage, but John Tarn, the Ship's Surgeon reported that the women recovered quickly once fresh food was available on arrival in Sydney.

The Ship arrived in Sydney on 1 December 1834 the last of 14 transports to arrive in Sydney that year.  Another 6 ships went directly to Hobart. There were only female prisoners on the George Hibbert. It was normal at this time for male and female prisoners to be transported on separate ships. In 1834, 4 all-female ships made the voyage, three going to Sydney and one to Tasmania.

I have not found out where Catherine was sent on arrival in Sydney. She may have been assigned as a servant somewhere, or she may have been held in custody, but around May 1836 she is assigned to William Spears of Brisbane Water as a servant. 

William Spears was born in Sydney in 1806, son of William Spears, soldier and a Mary Howe, convict. He had married Sarah Dowling in 1829. Sarah was also born in Sydney, daughter of George Dowling, convict and Mary Ann Reynolds, free settler. 

William Spears purchased 50 acres of land at Brisbane Water in 1835. History tells us that William Spears was a sawyer and mariner, so he had a lot in common with William Ward. He also established a tavern named 'The Crooked Billet', at that time the only such establishment between The Hawkesbury River and Newcastle. William Spear's land and the tavern were in the next bay to the area settled by William Ward and would have been only a few minute's walk away.

When a census of convicts was carried out in early 1837, there are two convicts assigned to William Spears including Charlotte Mitchell, aged 21 who arrived on George Hibbert in 1833.  This is our Catherine, although she was 19 rather than 21. It is not uncommon for names to be written down incorrectly in these documents, but Catherine was the only Mitchell on the George Hibbert, and we have other records placing her in the service of Sarah Spears.

This places us back to January 1837 when Catherine asked the Governor for permission to marry William Ward. Joan Taylor included the text of a letter that Sarah Spears wrote to support her servant's application. Sarah stated in the letter that Catherine had been in her service for 8 months and had conducted herself with the greatest propriety. I have not tracked down the original record of this letter, but Joan's research is good enough for me (she was so thorough). 

I wonder if Sarah Spears was a match maker by nature. But clearly Catherine and William met at Brisbane Waters, quite possibly at the Spears home or their tavern, the Crooked Billet. Both William and Sarah Spears had a convict parent, so were probably not prejudiced against convicts as some in the colony were by this time.