Sarah Lewis was my third great-grandmother on my father's side. The first record we have of Sarah is a baptism in Sydney on Christmas Day in 1802 and the baptism record gives her parents as James Lewis and Catherine Conway. There are some family stories that Sarah was born at sea off the coast of Tasmania, but I have not found any records that confirm this. (Tasmania was not settled for some years later, but the early sailing ships did not know Bass Straight existed, so sailed up the east coast of Tasmania on their way from England.
The mystery begins when we try to find out the details of Sarah's parents. There are several men named James Lewis in the Colony of New South Wales at the time that Sarah was born so sorting out which one was Sarah's father is problematic. Catherine Conway is even harder, because there is no record of a Catherine Conway at all.
Several talented historians have applied their skills to this puzzle, but none have come up with a definite answer. I have a copy of a book on the Watkins family, written by Fay Fry in 1988 and I think she has the most thorough analysis of the options. (The Watkins Chronicle – See details on Google books – there are copies in some libraries.)
Our best lead on Sarah's parents is probably a marriage of James Lewis and Susan Shadwick in Hobart Town in April 1807. There is evidence that James and Susan had been together in Sydney and they owned at least one house together there in 1805. There is also circumstantial evidence that places our Sarah in Hobart at the same time as the marriage. This has led many researchers to conclude that Catherine Conway and Susan Shadwick were the same person and that Susan was Sarah's mother. My guess is that is a 50:50 chance of being right, but it is unlikely that it will be proven one way or the other.
Susan Shadwick was a convict from Devon who arrived on the Earl Corwallis in 1801.
The most likely candidate for Sarah's father is a convict James Lewis who arrived on the Hillsborough in 1799. I think this James is probably the right one, but the evidence falls just short of proof. Lets say 75% chance that he is the right one – good circumstantial evidence, but lacking the clinching detail.
James was lucky to make it to Sydney. The Hillsborough holds the record as the worst of all convict voyages - almost one prisoner in three died during the voyage, mostly from typhoid brought on board with the prisoners from the hulks in London.
Assuming James Lewis, Susan Shadwick and young Sarah were a family, they did not stay together for long. By 1813 James was working as a crewman on sailing ships, Susan was in Newcastle, possibly serving a second sentence as a convict and 10-year-old Sarah was heading for Hobart to be a servant to a family there.
James died in 1814 while working with a cedar-cutting party at Port Stephans. Other members of the party claimed James was killed by the natives, but it is more likely he was murdered by smugglers among the party. This was a particularly poignant discovery for me because I grew up just a few kilometres from James' unmarked grave, which was on a small Island in Port Stephans.
We don't know what became of Susan. Some family histories say she died in Newcastle aged 103, but I suspect this is not correct (I think it is based on the death of a Catherine Lewis and someone has extrapolated from the name of Catherine Conway, but that theory can be easily debunked).
Young Sarah Lewis proved to be a strong character. After working in Hobart, she returned to Sydney, married convict Thomas Watkins and had a large family. More on Thomas and Sarah's story later.
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