LIST 1 - BIRTHS - FATHERS NAME ORDER

 
 
This first reference list, titled "Births of the First Generation - 
Fathers' Name Order" lists births for children born in the colony 
from 1788 until 1800 as well as childhood arrivals for the same period 
of time.
 
The information presented on each child includes: 
 
 date of birth 
 date of baptism (if applicable)
 Christian name 
 surname of father 
  Christian name of father 
 surname of mother 
 Christian name of mother
 parents marital status
 parents civil status 
 year of arrival (if applicable) 
 ship of arrival (if applicable)
 year of departure (if applicable)
 ship of departure (if applicable)
 date of death
 reference identifier
 
The list is ordered firstly alphabetically on the name of the father, 
meaning both family name and Christian name, as distinct from just 
the surname, then secondly chronologically on the date of birth of 
the child. This has the effect of collecting the entries  into family 
groups in birth order, mini family trees as it were.
 
The exact date of birth is known for two thirds of the First 
Generation. About one quartre only have a year of birth and in about 
a third of these the year is estimated from the date of baptism 
as will be explained below. Interestingly in 36 cases a month of 
birth is known but not the day and nearly all of these were Norfolk 
Island births. Unfortunately the date of birth is totally unknown 
in around a tenth of cases.
 
 Table 1.1. - Date of Birth
 
 Birth Number Percentage
 ------------------------------------
 Year, Month, Day 1319 67%
  Year & Month 36 2%
 Year only 464 23%
 Unknown 159 8%
 
A total of 962 (49%) of the children on the list were not baptized, 
or at least not known to be baptized, particularly amongst the 
overseas born children, so consequently these entries have no 
baptismal date. 
 
The date of birth for 154 entries is an estimate derived from the date 
of baptism. In the period under study, many baptismal records 
did not record the date of birth but an assumption was made, which 
is not entirely unreasonable, that most if not all were baptized 
in the same year they were born. 
 
For those children who were not baptized, their birth dates are often 
derived from other sources, such as ages in musters or at marriage 
or at time of death. Most of the children born on Norfolk Island 
were not baptized but their birth dates were fortunately recorded 
in the commissariat records for purposes  of ration entitlement. 
 
Surprisingly many entries sourced from the Pioneer Register 
project have an exact date of birth without an accompanying 
baptismal record. Just how their descendants obtained this 
information is unclear, perhaps family documents recorded the 
details which were never recorded in more official sources.
 
It is known that Ann Carver was baptized at St Peters Richmond but 
the date has not been found at this time. Daniel Cubitt and John 
Weavers were baptized at St Johns Parramatta and St Phillips Sydney 
respectively but only the year of baptism is known. 
 
William Everingham, Duncan McKellar, James & William Macarthur and 
Eliza Suttor all have exact dates of birth but not exact dates 
of baptism !
 
There are 68 more girls than boys in the list and as will be seen 
repeatedly throughout the discussions which follow in subsequent 
lists, setting a pattern of girls outnumbering boys.
 
 Table 1.2. - Sex
 
 Sex  Number Percentage
 -----------------------------
 Male 955 48.3%
 Female 1023 51.7%
 
Being both an English and a Christian colony the names given to the 
children are of no real surprise, at least not to those of a similar 
English/Christian background. In List 3 the Christian names of the 
First Generation are discussed fully.
 
Regrettably the Christian name of fifteen of the children is 
unknown at this time.
 
The Christian names of the fathers of all but 190 of the First 
Generation are known. The family names of the fathers are known in 
all but 52 cases. In 50 cases neither the Christian nor the family 
name of the father are known.
 
Throughout the book, children are listed under the surname of their 
father, where known. In some cases it is known that the child did 
not use their father's surname, for example many used their mother's 
surname, certainly if the father was unknown and some used their 
stepfather's surname. Where known these instances are pointed out in 
the relevant lists.
 
This being an English colony, there are no surnames beginning with 
the letters 'X' nor 'Z'.
 
The Christian names of the mothers of all but 160 of the First 
Generation are known. The maiden names of 644 (33%) of the mothers 
are unknown, this relatively large figure includes the 465 married 
women who arrived in the colony using their husbands' surnames. In 
List 2 the children of the First Generation can be found ordered under 
their mother's surnames.
 
The parents' marital status indicates whether, at the time of the 
child's birth, they were either married 'm' or defacto 'd'. It turns 
out that about half the First Generation were illegitimate. The status 
is unknown in 128 cases.
 
These figures give some historical legitimacy to that 
traditional Australian greeting "G'day ya old bastard"!
 
 Table 1.3. - Marital Status of Parents
 
 Status Number Percentage
 -----------------------------
 Married 900 45.5%
 Defacto 1,078 48.0%
 unknown 128 6.5%
 
The parents' civil status at the time of the child's birth 
indicates whether they were either:
 
 CF - came free 
 GS - government servant (convict) 
 FS - free by servitude
 AP - free by absolute pardon
 EX - exile
 NE - never emigrated
 -- - unknown
 
As can bee seen from the table below, about two thirds of the fathers 
and three quartres of the mothers had arrived in the colony as 
convicts. The arrival status of 248 of the fathers and 224 of the 
mothers is unknown.
 
These figures if anything over represent the free arrivals for even 
though the male convicts were numerically predominant, the free men, 
soldiers and officials, obviously had greater access to the much 
smaller pool of women.
 
 Table 1.4. - Civil Status of Parents
 
 Father Mother
 Status Number Percentage Number Percentage
 -------------------------------------------------------
 CF 678 34.3% 404 20.4%
 GS 659 33.3% 1050 53.1%
 FS 357 18.0% 290 14.7%
 AP 1 0.1%  1 0.1%
 EX 4 0.2% 0 0.0%
 NE 31 1.5% 9 0.5%
 -- 248 12.6% 224 13.2%
 
The year and ship of arrival of course only applies to those children 
born overseas. There are 195 such arrivals. Arrivals will be 
discussed in List 11.
 
The year and ship of departure only applies to those children who 
departed the colony for whatever reason. It should be noted that this 
information applies only to the first departure from the colony 
for those children who may have made more than one voyage to and from 
the colony. There are 219 such departures. Departures will be 
discussed in List 14.
 
As any genealogist would testify, obtaining a date of death is often 
a most difficult task and so it has proved in this work. The date 
of death is known in 1,045 cases. Not as many of the First Generation 
have a death date as might have been be desired but this is one area 
of continuing research which will hopefully bear fruit. Deaths will 
be discussed in List 13.
 
The reference identifier gives the source of the information for each 
child's birth. The identifier can be one of seven codes:
 
 SPS - refers to a St Phillips Sydney baptism
 SJP - refers to a St Johns Parramatta baptism
 NI - refers to a Norfolk Island birth
 PR-n - refers to a birth derived from the Pioneer Register
 - the number indicates which second edition volume
 Ship - refers to an overseas birth
 B-D - refers to a birth derived from a death
 M-C - refers to a birth derived from a muster or census
 
 
 Table 1.5. - Source Lists
 
 List Numbers Percentage
 ----------------------------
 SPS 695 35%
 SJP 327 17%
 NI 381 19%
 PR-n 274 14%
 Ship  195 10%
 B-D 39 2%
 M-C 65 3%
 
It is possible for a child to be in two source lists, for example; 
a child born overseas but who was baptized upon arrival in the colony 
would be found in both a baptismal list and a shipping list or 
a child born on Norfolk Island but then subsequently baptized 
at Port Jackson would be on both lists.
 
These seven subsidiary birth lists, apart from acting as a source 
document, are also designed to enable the reader to learn more about 
the parents of each particular child, to wit, their year & ship of 
arrival and the capacity in which they arrived in the colony. 
 
The information contained on this 'reference' list is used to point 
to the 'information' lists. For instance where a date of death is 
recorded, that death date connects to the list on deaths and further 
details of the death, such as the place of death and age at death. 
Similarly where a year & ship of arrival/departure are recorded, that 
connects to the lists of arrivals/departures. 
 
This list contains 1,926 names. It does NOT contain the births of 52 
children whose fathers' surnames are unknown (These can be found in the Mother List). 

Proceed to Father List

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