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JANE POOLE 1770 to 1826
Author:
Dennis James Thomas McManus PSM BA, Dip T and C P,
M.B.Env. [dennis.mcmanus3@bigpond.com]
Jane Poole's story - 1770 to 1826
Born:
Prior to 24 March 1771, the date of her baptism in
Saints Peter and Paul Church in Combe Florey, near
Taunton, Somerset, England. Her headstone records her as
dying at the age of 56 (and if so born 1770) but the
Cemetery Register records show 58 years of age (and, if
so, born in 1768).
Where:
Combe Florey near Taunton, Somerset, England
Occupations: Convict, Wife, Home
Duties, Settler
Married to James McManus:
By Rev Richard Johnson on Norfolk Island November 1791.
Second Partner Name:
Richard Ridge
Died: 28 November 1826
Aged: 58 Years
Where: Parramatta. N.S.W.
Buried: St. John's Cemetery,
Parramatta.
Children born to Jane Poole:
Prior to marrying James McManus in
1791Jane had a daughter Margaret (1790.-1866). With
James she had 3 children Sarah (1793-1793) James
(1794-1839) and John (1797-1873). With Ridge she had a
daughter Martha (1803-1821)
Jane Poole's birth and family
Jane Poole was the daughter of John Poole
and Elizabeth Chedzoy of Combe Florey near Taunton,
Somerset, England. John Poole and Elizabeth Chedzoy
were married in the Combe Florey church sixteen years
earlier in 1755. They had eight children baptised in the
same church: Jenny 1755, Thomas 1757, Elizabeth 1759,
Betty 1763, John 1766, Hannah 1768, Jane 1771 and Martha
1774.
Jane Poole's sentence in 1786
At the age of 16 Jane Poole was sentenced
to be hanged for ‘feloniously breaking and entering the
dwelling house of John Cunnit about 11 in the forenoon,
no person being therein, and stealing thereout one
silver watch and other goods valued at 2 pounds 15
shillings his property at the parish of Bishop's Hull on
22 May, 1786’. (Source: The Crimes of the First Fleet
Convicts by John Cobley, Sydney 1970 p.223) The
trial was held in the City of Wells on 19 August, 1786.
Her sentence was reprieved to 7 years transportation.
The website
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
records that Jane was one of three persons convicted of
house breaking in August 1786 in the Somerset Assizes in
Wells who were reprieved to 7 years transportation each.
On 11 March 1787 Jane was discharged to the
Charlotte which left Portsmouth on 13 May 1787 for
Botany Bay. Of the 21 prisoners recommended for
transportation in the Summer Western Circuit, Jane is
the only female. Of the 21 only four from this Circuit
were sent to Australia. Of these, two were on the same
ship as Jane, but both died at sea -John Clarke in June
1787 and Edward Chaning on 9 January 1788.
Jane Poole is sent to Norfolk Island in
1789 and returns in 1792 with James McManus
On 11 Nov 1789 Jane was sent on the
Supply to Norfolk Island. The Supply carried
supplies plus six male and eight female convicts
including Jane. In 1790 Jane gives birth to Margaret
Poole, father unknown. James McManus arrived on Norfolk
Island on the Atlantic in late 1791.
In November 1791 James and Jane are among
some 100 couples married by the Rev Richard Johnson. I
have been unable to find any record of their life on
Norfolk Island. What we do know is that they both left
together on the Atlantic in September 1792 and
Jane's daughter Margaret Poole was with them.
Jane Poole on the Hawkesbury
Jane's seven-year sentence expired on
19August 1793. James McManus died in 1798 and was buried
on 15 April.
Two years later, on 12 March 1800, 160
acres at Mulgrave Place was granted to Jane by Governor
Hunter as explained in the history on James McManus.
By mid-1802 Jane ‘owned
8 goats and had 8 acres ready for planting maize. Her
household was herself, one male convict servant and 3
children – all supported on Government rations. In 1802
Jane was recorded as living with Richard Ridge, 2nd
Fleet convict on 250 acres on the Hawkesbury. Jane and
Richard went from strength to strength and in the 1806
muster they owned and leased 305 acres of which 51 acres
were sown in grain, one acre in potatoes and 205 acres
utilised as pasture. They also owned a horse, 2 oxen,
20 hogs and 19 bushels of grain in hand. In addition to
Jane’s children they supported 5 convicts and 1
freeman’.
(Source:
Australian History Research)
Jane's daughter Martha born in 1803 was
fathered by Ridge. Ridge received his first land grant
of 50 acres on 11 August 1804 (R J Ryan's Land Grants
1788-1809).In 1806 Ridge is listed as ‘sole owner’
of 305 acres, 51 sown in grain, 1 in potatoes, 205 as
pasture, with 1 horse, 2 oxen, 20 hogs and 19 bushels of
grain on hand. The land was made up of grants to himself
and a ‘wife’ (Jane McManus) and by lease, 2 persons and
3 children all off government stores. They employed and
supported 5 convicts and 1 freeman. Around 1806 Poole
and Ridge parted. In 1806 Jane was renting part of her
land. Ten acres each was worked in this way by Benjamin
Mills and Hugh Dooling. On 7 November 1809 Ridge
married Margaret Forrester, a young colonial born girl
of First Fleeter Robert Forrester.
Jane Poole's later years in Parramatta
Excellent research of Jane's life for the
St Johns Cemetery Parramatta Project in 2016 by Michaela
Ann Cameron provides good largely new material on Jane's
days in Parramatta.
‘From 1809, Jane lived in ‘a good
substantial…well-fenced…dwelling house’ on ‘an extensive
allotment’ granted to her on the south side of George
Street, Parramatta on the block between present-day
Barrack Lane and Charles Street.
Despite being a Parramattan, Jane must
have continued to maintain a farm in the Hawkesbury
region, too, because in September 1815, ‘Mrs. Jane
Poole’ was one of only two women to appear on ‘A LIST of
Persons…AT PARRAMATTA…who have tendered SUPPLIES of
FRESH MEAT for the Use of His Majesty’s Stores.’
Also on the list were affluent landowners
like John Blaxland, Sir John Jamison, Thomas Barber, and
future owner of the Woolpack Inn, Andrew Nash, to name
just a few, which gives a good indication of how
much Jane’s life had changed.
As part of Governor Macquarie’s major
improvements to public buildings and roads, construction
began in 1820 on a new ‘Prisoners Barracks’ and
lumberyard on Macquarie Street, directly
behind Jane’s George Street residence of fifteen years.
Eventually the government saw fit to
reclaim Jane’s allotment, with her consent, ‘for the
purpose of Converting the same into a Garden for the
area of the Prisoners Barracks.’ In what appeared to be
a fair agreement drawn up by Deputy Surveyor General
James Meehan and witnessed by Richard Rouse
Superintendent, ‘Government engaged on their part to
give an adequate alotment [sic] of Land – and to put up
such Buildings and make such Improvements as had been
done on the alotment of Land so given up to Government.’
(Michaela Ann Cameron, “Jane McManus: The
Maid Freed From The Gallows,” St.
John’s Cemetery Project (2016)
https://stjohnscemeteryproject.org/bio/jane-poole-mcmanus/ accessed
9/6/2019)
Jane was given an allotment on the south
side of Macquarie Street, just two properties from
Church Street, but she did not receive any compensation
for the loss of her house until 1824. The Sydney
Gazette of 19.9.1818 mentions land still owned by
Jane Poole and the location referred to is Yarrow
Mundie's lagoon.
During her final years Jane was a
housekeeper to a shoemaker in Parramatta, William
Parrot. When he died in 1824 he bequeathed to her and
her children his property and possessions. R J Ryan's
Land Grants 1788-1809 p. 280 records that William
Parrot leased 76 rods of land in Main Street,
Parramatta.
Jane died in 1826, listed as a ‘Settler’
and was buried at St John's Parramatta Cemetery,
Sydney.
Her headstone reads: ‘Sacred
to the memory of Jane McManis (sic), who departed this
life, November 26th
1826, aged 56 years
(Note 58 years of age was recorded on the
Register) The Lord gave and
the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the name of the
Lord.’
There is a 1984 First Fleeter's bronze
plaque in the corner of her headstone. The adjoining
headstone is of her daughter Martha, 18yrs dated 17th
June 1821.
Jane bequeathed her estate ‘Share and
share alike’ to her remaining 3 children- James, John &
Margaret. (James McManus and Jane Poole had three
children of their own - Sarah (1793-1793), James
(1794-1839) and John (1797-1873). Margaret (1790-1866)
was born to Jane Poole on Norfolk Island father
unknown. Martha (1803-1821) was the child she had to
Richard Ridge. Sarah and Martha died before Jane in 1793
and 1821. Several horses were left to John and Margaret
and also to Margaret's daughter ‘Harriet’.
Reflection on the lives of James and Jane
James McManus and Jane Poole are among a
handful of First Fleeters to settle in Australia. Of
the 1373 persons landed 306 were crew leaving 1067 as
settlers. There were few free women on the First Fleet
and 189 convict women but not all married first fleeters
so the number of first fleeters married to each other is
very small.
Although we know the broad outline of the
lives of James and Jane – and in the case of Jane,
where she came from and her conviction - their journey
to Australia, their move to Norfolk Island and return to
Sydney, their children, their land grant on the
Hawkesbury River and Jane's life in Parramatta - we
have few other details to bring them to life.
We have several contemporary accounts of
the voyage and the first settlements which give a good
indication of the life they would have led. Even so
these accounts are by people who were of a higher status
and these writers would no doubt have had an easier life
than both James and Jane.
There is no doubt that Jane would have
suffered greatly as did all convicts of that era,
including her life as a settler on the Hawkesbury. But
James's life would have been pretty tough also. The
first-hand accounts indicate that marine privates were
dealt with very poorly including food.
The reference to James' misdemeanours in
August 1790 makes one wonder what sort of person he was.
Perhaps the hardship of his life made misdemeanours,
crime and even mental illness relatively common for him
and his fellow marines. James did take up a grant on the
Hawkesbury but he was dead the next year so we do not
know what kind of settler he would have made. Also
unanswered are the place of his birth and cause of his
death in April 1798 at the young age of about 28.
What I do know is that my line of the
descendants of James and Jane moved across the Blue
Mountains in very early times and that until 1951 when
my family came to live in Prospect near Parramatta this
line lived in the Meadow Flat/Portland area. My parents
Horace Oliver James McManus (1911-1992), born in
Portland NSW and Kathleen Dorothy Joan McManus (nee
Norris) (1916-1993), born in Orange NSW died at the St
John of God Hospital, North Richmond, just across the
river from the 1790s land grant.
My family knew nothing of that grant nor
of the connection with the Hawkesbury. My older brother
Brian has for many years lived at Grose Wold a few
kilometres to the west. Both my father and myself have
James in our names but the connection to our ancestor
was never made. Like so many other
things the reason was lost in time.DJTM
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