FF EDWARD Moyle/MILES Convict ‘Scarborough’ (c 1760-1838)

this story is under review by Membership Team

This is a tribute to our ancestor Edward Miles, who survived the trip with the First Fleet and carved out a farming and family life in the new colony. Although Edward was unable to write his own name, his surname is now associated with Australia’s most famous literary award through its donor, his descendant Miles Franklin.

Edward’s surname: Edward’s surname is Moyle in all but one of his British transportation records (in which he is noted as Mile). Once in the colony, his Cornish surname ‘Moyle’ disappears and Miles is the spelling most used (with brief appearances of Myles and Myers).  

Edward’s possible birth year and parentage: Edward’s most likely birth year can be calculated from his age as given in imprisonment records (which note his age at his March 1785 trial to have been 24) and a census (his age in 1828 given as 67) – both pointing to a birth year of late 1760 or early 1761¹. Modern researchers therefore believe our most likely Edward to be one baptised on 23 November 1760 in Wendron, Cornwall, with parents Richard and Charity Moyle (née Prisk), seemingly putting out of contention the Edward Moyle, buried in 1785, aged 24, son of an Edward Moyle.²

Edward’s crime and sentence: On 19 March 1785, at the Spring Assizes, Launceston, Cornwall, Edward Moyle and his accomplice John Rowe were charged with feloniously breaking and entering the Dw:Ho: [dwelling house] of Benjamin Barrett about 11 in the forenoon no person being therein and stealing thereout two cloth coats val. 50s, and other goods val. 17s. 8d. his property… Guilty of stealing the goods not guilty of breaking and entering the house in the day. Their sentence was seven years transportation. Awaiting this fate, incarceration in the grim gaol then standing in the grounds of old Launceston Castle would have been a terrifying time for the young men.

Edward’s transportation: From Launceston Castle, Edward Moyle and John Rowe, as well as John’s brother William (charged with a separate crime at the same sitting), were all taken for imprisonment in another notorious place, a prison hulk. The hulk Dunkirk, a ship moored in Plymouth Harbour, was used as a temporary prison, where Edward and his friends were loaded sometime after 13 February 1786. On 11 March 1787 they were transferred to the Charlotte, which along with the Friendship, made its way to Portsmouth to join other ships waiting for the voyage now planned for Botany Bay. (Edward’s surname was recorded as ‘Mile’ on the Charlotte.) At some stage over the next few weeks, while waiting at Portsmouth with the assembling First Fleet ships, they were transferred to the Scarborough. Subsequently the Scarborough left Portsmouth with the Fleet on 13 May 1787 to sail to their new life.

Edward in the early colony: After his arrival in Sydney Cove in January 1788, Edward’s Cornish surname, Moyle, disappears from written documents. It is assumed this initially arose through mis-hearings of his accent by the clerks who recorded his name for the various colonial records.

On 25 November 1788, Edward Miles, labourer, was called to give evidence in the trial of James Davis, seaman, who was accused of speaking insolently to his superior, the carpenter of the Supply. Edward claimed he didn’t know the accused, other than having done a ‘little job’ for him.

Then in February 1790, Edward Miles himself was on trial, being accused of stealing vegetables from ‘Captain Johnson’s garden’ (possibly George Johnston). Edward claimed that he was gathering cockles at the time and was not in the garden. The case was discharged for want of proof.

First land grant at Prospect Hill: Soon, gathering cockles at the water’s edge would be replaced by farming at Prospect, one of the early places in the colony where freed convicts could have their own land. Edward was possibly there by 1792, the year his seven-year sentence expired, although he wasn’t officially granted the block till 1 May 1797. Edward, being single, received a block of 30 acres, in the district of Prospect Hill. His friend John Rowe, now with a wife and child, received 60 acres next door, on the south side of Edward’s block.

On a modern map, Edward’s first land grant runs along the middle section of the western side of Clunies Ross Street, Prospect. This site has a long history of factories dealing with brick-making and masonry (harking back to the historical importance of the area for quarrying). Just north of the site is the current flyover of the M4 Motorway³, and just east of Clunies Ross Street, an old milestone (‘Sydney XIX’) still stands on the old Great Western Highway. Built in 1846, it is a reminder that Edward, who lived nearby for five decades before that date, had begun his dream of farming at a very early time in NSW colonial history.⁴

However, despite by 1802 producing five acres of wheat and four acres of maize, and being ‘off government stores’, the dream of owning land was proving difficult for Edward. That same year he needed to mortgage his crop, and then sell off his land. Interestingly, in 1826, a later owner’s deed was still referring to this land as ‘Miles’ farm’, using the name of the original grantee.

Marriage to Susannah Smith: On 31 October 1803 at St John’s Church Parramatta, Edward Miles was married to Susannah Smith, convict. Their wedding was by banns and performed by the Reverend Samuel Marsden, Edward recording his mark and Susannah signing her name.⁵

Susannah had arrived seven months before on 11 March 1803, having been convicted in London. The place name Rotherhithe (on the southern bank of the Thames River, London) may be a hint as to her home neighbourhood because it is mentioned as part of her ‘description’ in a document with some of her London prison details.  However, it was in ‘Rose and Crown-court, Shoe lane’ at the abode of Thomas and Sarah Brereton that her life had changed forever, where she was arrested for theft on 22 January 1802.  She was committed for one night to Giltspur Street Compter (prison), and the next day became a Newgate prisoner. On 17 February 1802, Susannah stood before justices of the Old Bailey London, indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 22^d January, a sheet, value 7s, and a blanket, value 4s, the property of Thomas Brereton. She was found guilty, sentenced to seven years transportation, and eventually ‘delivered on board’ the Glatton on 6 September 1802, her sea voyage beginning 17 days later.⁶

Moving around with a young family: Edward and Susannah’s life together had begun. However soon after, Edward was dealt a further financial blow in June 1804, when he was ordered to work off, by labouring, some debts that were the subject of writs brought against him by two other settlers. One was a Prospect Hill neighbour, suggesting Edward was still working nearby for others, hoping to get ahead again.

This period coincided with the early years of Edward and Susannah’s family life. Their first daughter, Susannah, named after her mother, was born on 21 July 1804 (and baptised 12 August 1804 at the same Parramatta church by the same minister as for their marriage). Later they were to welcome Martha on 4 February 1807 and Elizabeth on 3 March 1810. (Although some histories have mentioned a fourth Miles daughter, there were in fact only three.⁷) Family information handed down for the first two daughters suggests Prospect Hill (not Campbelltown as in one document) as the birthplace for Susannah, and ‘Prospect, near Windsor’ for Martha.⁸

Edward and Susannah Miles may sometimes have still been in the Prospect area, but also at other times undertaking ventures elsewhere. They were in Parramatta in 1806 (Susannah is recorded there in Marsden’s Female Muster,  and Edward is cross-referenced in the General Muster 1806 in the entry for a Catherine Sully, Catherine being listed as employed by him at Parramatta). The Miles family were on the Hawkesbury by the end of 1806. And in 1809 (in order to earn extra money), Edward was living away from the family, working for Robert Campbell at the Cowpastures.

Second land grant on Prospect Creek: At the time he was working for Campbell, Edward experienced a short false hope of a second land grant. During the period between Governors Bligh and Macquarie, when the colony was under the control of military lieutenant governors, 297 grants of land were made. Edward Miles received 70 acres on Prospect Creek, officially signed by Lieutenant Governor Paterson on 24 October 1809.

On a modern map, the bottom right hand corner of Edward’s second land grant is at the point where the A28 (Cumberland Highway) meets the northern bank of the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve (formerly Prospect Creek). It is a long narrow block extending north almost up to the Sydney Water Supply pipeline.⁹

A notice appeared in the Sydney Gazette of 17 December 1809 that Edward’s grant, among some others, was ready to be collected. However Governor Macquarie arrived very soon afterwards, and on 4 January 1810, cancelled all the orders that had been made by the military leaders.

Edward petitioned Macquarie for a re-grant of this land, on the grounds that he was at work for Rob^t. Campbell Esq. at the Cowpastures, and did not hear of your Excellency’s order for the Deeds to be returned until he came home a few days ago… that he has a wife and two Children, and his Wife now pregnant, which was the reason for his going to work for Mr. Campbell, in order to have a little beforehand to begin Clearing his Farm… A clerk had written the petition, and it appears to have Edward’s mark right near the handwriting of Macquarie refusing his request, on the grounds that the petitioner had received lands in another part of the country.

While many of the cancelled grants were re-granted later, Edward’s was not among them. His grant was surrendered on 12 February 1810. It seems that the whole family then moved to the Cowpastures, because the third daughter Elizabeth was born three weeks later, and consistent with her family’s information that was her birthplace. 

Third land grant at Airds: Although Macquarie had been the one to take away the second land grant, it was a later proclamation by this progressive governor that led to the family’s luck changing. They were to be given a grant in a new district. The interim governors had already created the district of Minto (originally the whole district between modern Appin and Denham Court, the modern name Minto now actually referring to a nearby suburb¹⁰). And in 1810 Macquarie created a new district of ‘Airds’, essentially taking a middle section of Minto district between Bunbury Curran Creek and the Georges River, just north of modern Campbelltown¹¹. The surveying of Airds by James Meehan began on 7 March 1811, and on 9 March one block of 60 acres was surveyed for Edward Miles. Edward and his family were probably on this land from that time, even though it was not officially granted until 20 June 1816. The actual land grant, and some early maps of this block, spell the name of the original grantee as ‘Myles’.

On a modern map, the block comprising Edward’s third land grant begins a little west of modern Minto Railway Station where once the Bow Bowing Creek (his eastern boundary) used to flow. The modern Bow Bowing Canal is a little further west, still on Edward’s land. His block then continues even further west across the present-day Campbelltown Road, into the suburb of St Andrews.¹² Edward’s official 1816 land grant stated that the Government reserved the right to make a public road through the block, and this was indeed begun about that time¹³. Historian T D Mutch has recorded, that once the road was built, a ‘30 mile peg’ (indicating 30 miles south of Sydney) was situated on Edward’s land.¹⁴ This peg was replaced in 1854 by a now historic milestone (‘Sydney XXX’), which can still be seen on Edward’s old block, on the eastern verge of Campbelltown Road, and just south of the corner with Ben Lomond Road.¹⁵

Family and community: In Airds, Edward and Susannah and family became part of a community. Also the towns of Liverpool, to the north (founded 1810), and Campbell Town, to the south (founded 1820), became centres of importance for the Miles family.

Susannah’s Certificate of Freedom became official in February 1811, and the following year saw the baptisms of Martha and Elizabeth on 1 November 1812, by Reverend Samuel Marsden. Their baptism entries were recorded in the registers of St Luke’s Church Liverpool, although the actual church wasn’t built for several years afterwards.

Edward must have felt proud when included in a document (1 July 1813) listing 80 settlers from the districts of Minto, Airds and Appin who had subscribed varying amounts to a fund to build a court house in Sydney. Two examples from the subscribers’ list are Edward Miles of Airds who gave £2, and his neighbour Dr William Redfern of Campbellfield (now in modern Minto) who gave £21.

Financially, the family was now independent. At least from 1813, they had an assigned servant Alexander McDonald, and by 1814 were providing enough produce from their farm to be once again off government stores, and with Edward listed as a landholder.

In 1817 Edward must have again felt proud, when at this time, he was named as someone of character. William Roberts, a road-builder responsible for roads and bridges in Sydney, Liverpool, Airds, Minto, Bringelly, Parramatta and Windsor, had a case of extortion brought against him. As Roberts’principal bridge-makers were away on government contracts, he needed someone to give evidence on his behalf. He suggested that Edward Miles, being in Sydney at the time, would be able to prove the extortion intended on the part of the other person, a man called Manning. This recommendation of Edward Miles by Roberts, a visionary builder, shows how much respect Edward had gained, and how much opportunity he may also have had to get contract work in various places, perhaps even on the road leading through his land.

By 1818 Edward was recorded as having 60 acres – 30 cleared, 13 under wheat, four under maize, one under barley, one under ‘pease or beans’ and half an acre of orchard. He also had seven hogs.

On 19 June 1820, his eldest daughter ‘Susanna Miles of Airds’ was married at St Luke’s Church, Liverpool, to Simon Freebody of the district of Bringelly, the ceremony performed by Reverend Robert Cartwright. Over the next few years the Freebody family was living at Windsor and Richmond.

On 1 December 1820, Governor Macquarie took a section of Airds itself and named the new town of ‘Campbell Town’, three miles south of Edward’s land.¹⁶ In 1821 both Edward and Susannah are recorded as fulfilling civic duties in that new town, Edward as a juror and Susannah as a witness, in an inquest into the death of Thomas Pulfr(e)y at Gilead, a property just south of Campbell Town on the road to Appin. Edward Miles was one of twelve jurors, from both large and small local holdings, five of whom signed their names, and seven such as Edward, who recorded their marks. Susannah Miles was the first of three witnesses. She explained that she’d been to the creek for a bucketful of water and had found the man on his back with a wound behind his ears. After two more witness statements, and a deliberation by the jury under the coroner Thomas Carne, it was concluded that the deceased had died by falling from his horse.

The next Miles family event was the marriage of second daughter Martha on 30 June 1823 at St Peter’s Church, Campbell Town, to William Bridle, convict. The marriage was no. 14 in that church register, and held on the day after that church is said to have opened for worship. Bridle (who arrived 1817 with the Larkins) had been assigned to James Meehan, the owner of the Macquarie Field estate. Meehan was the very person who, back in 1811, who had carried out the Airds surveys.

The landholder moves from Airds: The 1822 muster had again noted Edward Miles as a landholder. That muster, and the one taken in 1823, were both collected at Liverpool, a district muster point for some Airds residents. By 1825, Edward was again recorded as landholder living at both Campbelltown and Evan (modern Penrith), seemingly in some transition between the two. ‘Susanna’ Smith was listed as wife of Edward Miles, of Evan, and a William Granger was entered as being employed by Edward Miles at Evan.

The same muster recorded Edward and Susannah’s son in law Simon Freebody as a landholder at Windsor, also listing his wife Susannah and children there. Another son in law William Bridle, was recorded as a landholder, of Minto (district) with his wife Martha, and their first child listed (all as ‘Briddle’). Edward and Susannah’s third daughter Elizabeth Miles was recorded as being employed by John Oxley, Bringelly, probably at his property Kirkham. On 18 April 1826 another Miles family event saw Elizabeth married to William Alderson at St Matthew’s Church of England, Windsor.

1828 Census: At the 1828 Census, Edward (‘Myles’ in the NSW ledger, ‘Myers’ in the ledger lodged in the UK) is recorded at the Illawarra, employed by a Matthew Ryan. Susannah (‘Susan Miles’) is still listed at Evan, as a servant to a Robert Aull, whose own 1828 Householder’s Return reveals he had a wife, children and other servants there. Ryan may have employed Edward for contract work, and Aull, Susannah’s employer, may have been a neighbour with whom she was able to find convenient work.¹⁷

 Richmond and Kurrajong: In 1830, Susannah Miles gave a reference for her son-in-law, Simon Freebody, who was applying for a land grant. The document gives Susannah’s address as Richmond, and also reveals that Simon was renting, residing on and cultivating a farm of fifteen acres in the district of Richmond with his young family. Two years later, in 1832, Edward Miles of the ‘Currajong’ put his mark on a legal document regarding his original block at Prospect Hill.

Windsor: 1838 saw the death of both Edward on 19 August, and Susannah on 4 December. Edward was buried on 21 August, and Susannah on 6 December, both at St Matthew’s Church of England, Windsor. Two years later, an infant grandson Edward Alderson was buried in the same grave. A headstone was erected on the site, recording details of ‘Edward Miles’, ‘Susanah, wife of the above’ and ‘Edward Alderson, grandson of the above’. The baby’s death is recorded on the headstone as September 28^th 1840, aged 10 days. The site is within metres of the front door of the church. Edward’s burial certificate names the Alexander as the ship on which he arrived, conflicting with the many other references to the Scarborough.

There is no age recorded on Susannah’s burial certificate. Also, her age on the headstone and Edward’s age on both burial certificate and headstone all seem to differ from comparisons with previous information given by both.¹⁸   William Alderson, father of the baby and son-in-law of Edward and Susannah, went on to be a businessman in Windsor, so he would have had, at some stage, the resources to erect their headstone.

It is likely that Edward and Susannah Miles would have had close contact with the Bridle family while still in Airds, then close contact with the Freebody family at Richmond. It is possible that they later lived with the Alderson family in Windsor. There is therefore a sense that in their final years they had a feeling of family togetherness and some security.

This family contact was to continue for some time amongst the three sisters’ families, even after the Bridle and Freebody families moved to the Monaro, and the Bridles later to Talbingo/Tumut. Contact had continued between these daughters of a First Fleeter.

Researching/celebrating Edward Miles: On 14 October 1879, a great-great granddaughter of Edward Miles was born at Talbingo, NSW, and given the name Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin. The baby’s mother, Susannah, may have been told about the family name ‘Miles’ by her grandmother Martha Bridle, middle daughter of Edward. Two decades later Stella used that family name, one of her own given names, for her professional name ‘Miles Franklin’, on publishing her first novel My Brilliant Career. The author’s continued identity with the name ‘Miles’ has perpetuated her ancestor’s surname.

Some descendants knew only a little about Edward Miles. However, later historians and family researchers discovered more details, as archival information gradually became available from the mid twentieth century onwards. A small group of descendants of two Tumut pioneers, William Bridle and William Wilkinson, knew that through their Bridle line they were descended from Edward Miles. Aided by research from T D Mutch, they found Edward and Susannah’s grave in the Windsor churchyard in the mid 1950s and traced over the faint lettering on the headstone with charcoal. (In so doing they probably preserved the knowledge of the wording.) They then presented an amazing family tree to a family gathering in 1969, subsequently undertaking a restoration of the gravesite in 1970, and establishing a family history group. Within that group, now known as the ‘Buddong Society’, most people are descended from Edward Miles, while others are happy to be associated. The Society has promoted and celebrated Edward Miles in many ways. These include reunions, shared research projects, get-togethers between descendants of Freebody, Bridle and Alderson branches, and with a descendant of John Rowe; also participation at official First Fleet events.

Recent research on Edward Miles: Biographers of some First Fleeters have access to the original ‘Household Returns’ of the 1828 Census. Unfortunately, Edward Miles’ information was collected in a district where the original returns have now been lost. Thus the earliest versions for him come in the two hand-written copies made in colonial times – two sets of large ledgers, with inevitable variations between the two. One set has been stored since in NSW, and one in the UK. A further hand-written copy was made of the English set during the 1930s and made its way to Australian repositories. Both sets of ledgers were later microfilmed, then all versions consulted in a major Australian book/CD publishing project.¹⁹ Later again, both microfilmed versions went on-line. In 2019 a re-digitised and very clear copy of the NSW version went on-line.²⁰ The information for Edward Miles, now clearly legible on that website, led to a comparison of his entry in the two different sets of ledgers. There are differences with his surname and occupation (NSW version ‘Myles’, no occupation given, contrasting with UK version ‘Myers’, ‘carpenter’). Their ships of arrival are consistently Scarborough for Edward and Glatton for Susannah, as are their religions (Protestant for both) and their sentences (seven years for both). The ages recorded are 67 for Edward and 52 for Susannah, consistent in both versions. The NSW version shows Edward ‘with Matt^w Ryan, Settler’, and a close examination of the UK digital version shows that it also actually reads ‘lives with M^w Ryan’, not the long-aired version ‘lives with Mrs Ryan’. Therefore, both sets agree that Edward’s employer was Matthew Ryan, of the Illawarra.²¹

There is scope here for future research into Edward’s situation in 1828, as Matthew Ryan was a pioneering settler at Figtree in the Illawarra. Ryan’s first land grant there was not officially listed till 1833.²² He was however, already a landowner at the Illawarra by 1825, according to that muster.²³ Therefore he would have undoubtedly have been employing workers like Edward by 1828. Once again, Edward Miles was living in a new place of colonial settlement.

Descendants can be proud of the life that Edward and Susannah Miles had established for their family in the colony of New South Wales.

Markers to a First Fleeter’s life: Old Launceston Castle still stands in Cornwall as testimony to a dark part of Edward Miles’ life; and St John’s Church Parramatta holds a marriage entry recording his ‘mark’. Additionally two historic milestones stand sentinel (in Prospect near one of his land grant sites, and the other on Campbelltown Road situated on one of his land grant sites). A headstone erected by a loving family, sits in the churchyard of St Matthew’s Windsor. Further, each year, there is something not carved in stone, reminding us of his life and family, in a way Edward could never have imagined, the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

Researched over several years and written in 2020/21 by Margaret Francis (Vernon), Edward Miles descendant #2732, with assistance from other descendants; proof-reading and further research by Colin Wilkinson, Barbara Crighton (Mackinnon) and Maree Myhill (Bridle) and general assistance from Kevin Thomas #7456. This article draws significantly on earlier research by Stella Vernon OAM.

The Fellowship of First Fleeters installed a FFF Plaque on Edward Miles’s Grave on 20^th June 1982.

Refer FFF Web Site:http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/graves.html

Under FFF Plaque 24 – Installed 20^th June 1982 for

FF EDWARD Moyle/MILES Convict‘Scarborough’ (c 1760-1838)

NOTES

 ABBREVIATIONS:

AO          Archives Office NSW

NRS        NSW State Archives and Records

PRO        Public Record Office

TNA       The National Archives UK

HO          Home Office

CAHS     Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

ML          Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sydney

Mutch     T. D. Mutch card indexes (FF = First Fleet cards)  (CY series = microform reel ‘copies’)

LPI          Land and Property Information

BFO 1     The Buddong Flows On, Volume 1, ‘The Old Hands’, M Francis, S Vernon, C Wilkinson, (eds), 2003.

BFO 2     The Buddong Flows On, Volume 2, ‘Genuine People’, M Francis, S Vernon, C Wilkinson, (eds), 1993

BFO 3     The Buddong Flows On, Volume 3, ‘Those Precious Ones’, C Wilkinson, M Francis, (eds), 2017

                 Above three volumes accessible in many libraries or via marg_francis@hotmail.com

                 [Note: margUNDERSCOREfrancis]

 Due to their inclusion in the Buddong series of published/referenced family history books, some items from the article are not mentioned in the endnotes below. They can be found in the following relevant sections of the BFO:-

BFO 1: pp. 1-88 (Miles, Bridle, Freebody, Alderson) & pp. 96-101 (Bridle).

BFO 2: pp. 123-132, (Susannah Lampe/Franklin family); also pp 449-456 (Freebody/Bridle/Alderson contact).

BFO 3: pp. viii-ix (family tree) & pp. 270, 305-306, 392, 396, 408, 411, 423, 429, 434-5, 442-4, 470, p. 503, p.520, p.521, p.524, p.527, pp. 537-538 & p.539 (Edward Miles history, research, celebrations).

ENDNOTES:

On-line references are current as at May 2021.

1. 1828 Census collected Nov (endnote 17.d tells history). Edward, if 67 in 1828, could therefore have been born Nov/Dec 1760.

2. Edward Moyle: cornwall-opc-database.org; also BFO 3, pp.305-6. More likely Edward & parents: marr 2 Jan 1758, Richard Moyl [sic] & Charity Prisk, Helston, Cornwall; bap 23 Nov 1760, Edward Moyle, son of Richard & Charity Moyle, Wendron, Cornwall. Less likely Edward & parents: marr 26 December 1760, Edward Moyle & Elizabeth Uren, Wendron, Cornwall; bap 05 April 1761, Edward Moyle, son of Edwd & Elizabeth Moyle; bur 20 November 1785, Edward Moyle, age 24, son of Edward Moyle, Wendron.

3. Modern description Edward’s 1^st grant: from Ruby Bridle research (using ML Mutch); plus Stella Vernon research (using Parish of Prospect, County of Cumberland map stamped AO Map 3.5 & survey map LPI-PA 11851); that combined information used for 2003 overlay map drawn by Colin Wilkinson (BFO 1, p.44); plus site visits by Barbara Crighton (1990s and 2020).  

4. 1846 Prospect milestone: environment.nsw.gov.au; also blacktownmemories.recollect.net.au. 

5. ‘Staines’ appears as Susannah’s maiden name on daughter Martha Bridle’s death certificate (14052/1886). This conflicts with all Susannah’s other records stating ‘Smith’. 

6.a. Susannah in ‘Continuation of February Sessions 1802’: ancestry.com.au, ‘England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892’/ HO/TNA, ‘Susannah Smith’, trial year ‘1802’/view 1^st record, ‘Susannah Smith, 1802, Middlesex’/view ‘Birth Location, Rotherhithe’/go to p.92 of 146. Gives other details incl. delivery date to ship Glatton. Document now faint, difficult to read numerals. Age interpreted here as 22, has also been read as 18 or 28. Trial date interpreted here as 19^th Feb but clearly is 17^th in trial transcript.

b. Susannah’s trial: ‘Old Bailey Session Papers’, oldbaileyonline.org/‘Smith Susannah’, Feb1802, ref. no. t18020217-48, case number 221. Charges, witness statements, Susannah’s defence statement, her age (28), verdict, sentence. Does not give transcript of statements by two witnesses ‘who gave her a good character’. States 1802 age as 28 (1828 Census states 52).

c. Susannah in prison: ancestry.com, ‘London, England, Newgate Calendar of Prisoners, 1785-1853’, TNA Series HO 77, browse collection, select piece 09, 1801 (Dec)-1802 (Oct), go to p.108 of 438, no. 14, Susannah taken ‘from Giltspur-street Compter’ on 23 January, 1802 (day after her arrest), also search for ‘Susannah Smith’/view records 1802 or Feb 1802/goes to other pages of ‘London Prisoners upon Orders’ listing Susannah Smith, Feb session, 1802. 

7. It is known that a Mrs Jane Stedman was daughter of Robert Bridle (brother-in-law of second Miles daughter, Martha). This is assumed to be the person mistaken as the fourth Miles daughter in a mid 20^th century genealogy collection. Family sources: BFO 1, pp. 192-193 (Robert Bridle family); BFO 2, pp.457-462 (Robert Bridle descendants & family letters); BFO 3, p. 282 (Bridle siblings).   

8. Birthplaces: For first daughter Susannah, monaropioneers.com has ‘Prospect Hill’, information passed down by Freebody family. ‘Campbelltown’ put as her birthplace on her death certificate (Susannah Freebody, RG D125177, no.1483) – thought to be mistake by a family member remembering her talk of her childhood years from age of about seven at Airds (locality later called Campbelltown). Similarly, ‘Prospect, near Windsor’ stated as birthplace on death certificate of Martha Bridle, (14052/1886), her informant also a family member, perhaps having heard Martha also talk of Windsor. 

9. Modern description Edward’s 2^nd grant: from Stella Vernon’s research 1990s (using Parish of Prospect, County of Cumberland map stamped AO Map no. 3.5 and descriptions in ML Mutch/FF CY560 & Misc. CY569); plus site visit by Barbara Crighton (2003); that combined information used for 2003 overlay map drawn by Colin Wilkinson (BFO 1.p.44); plus comparison 2020 roads. 

10. Jeff McGill, Verlie Fowler, Keith Richardson, Campbelltown’s Streets & Suburbs, How and why they got their names, CAHS, 1995, p.68; also campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/‘History of Minto’.   

11. ‘Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive’ (LEMA)/Documents/1810/22 November; also Carol Liston, Campbelltown, The Bicentennial History, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1988, p.10; also McGill, Fowler, Richardson (endnote 10) pp. 26, 68, 84; also campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/‘History of Campbelltown’, ‘History of Minto’, ‘History of Airds’, ‘History of Macquarie Fields’. In later years the district names gradually disappeared. The old name Minto was given in the 1880s to a new village (now a suburb of modern ‘Campbelltown’). The Airds name was also re-used for a modern Campbelltown suburb. Another suburb, Macquarie Fields, takes its name from the historic estate ‘Macquarie Field, Lower Minto’, (‘Lower’ referred to the lower part of the creek running in the old Minto district.) By co-incidence, the modern location of Edward’s ‘Airds’ block is at the edge of the modern Minto suburb. Hence some histories have wrongly placed Edward’s land at Macquarie Fields.  

12. Modern description Edward’s 3^rd grant: from land grant description (LPI PA 36287); plus ‘Parish of Minto/County of Cumberland’ map 5^th edition, 28.09.1961, ‘Ed Myles’ on map (courtesy CAHS); plus comparison by Colin Wilkinson with 2020 roads.  

13. Road south from Liverpool opened Feb 1814 then to Appin, first ‘little more than a dirt track’, later important corridor, now modern Campbelltown Rd, (campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/‘Heritage Review’, April 2011, 3.8.1); also maps (endnote 12) show road position.  

14. ‘30 mile peg’: quote from ML Mutch/FF CY560.  

15. campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/‘Campbelltown City Council, Heritage Review’, April 2011, table 5.1, ‘Milestones group’; also milestone photographs, BFO 1, p. 53 & BFO 3, p.503. 

16. ‘Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive’ (LEMA)/Documents/1820/1 December. 

17. References consulted for comparison between the ‘Edward Myles/Myers’ and ‘Susan Miles’ 1828 Census entries:

a. 1828 Census NSW: Set of ledger books (hand-written copies) housed NSW, with AO, now State Archives and Records. New digitised copy made from the original AO ledgers is at records.nsw.gov.au, search for ‘1828 Census’/select ‘1828 Census inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register’, browse by surname, select LEN to POP/goes to Book 4 of 6 NRS1272 SZ 981-Flipbook-/go to pp. 376-377 of 547, no.3780 Myles, Edward. NB ‘with Matt^w is in column marked ‘Employment’ and ‘Ryan, Settler’ is in column marked ‘Residence’. ‘Miles Susan’ is pp. 262-263 of 547, no.2386.

b. 1828 Census NSW: Set of ledger books (hand-written copies) housed NSW, with AO, now State Archives and Records. Digitised copy made at earlier time from the microfilm of the AO ledgers is at ancestry.com.au, ‘1828 NSW, Aust Census (Aust Copy)’, type ‘Edward Miles’ or ‘Myles’, view 3^rd record ‘Edward Myles, Illawarra’/source SRANSW, view ‘Edward Myles’/goes to ‘(NRS 1272), 1828 census, Alphabetical Return, Surnames, L-T’ p. 197 of 563, no. 3780, Myles Edward, (Miles Susan p. 140 of 563, no. 2386).

c. 1828 Census NSW: Set of ledger books (hand-written copies) housed UK with PRO, now TNA. Digitised copy made at earlier time from the microfilm of the PRO ledgers is at ancestry.com.au, ‘1828 NSW, Aust Census (TNA Copy)’/type ‘Edward Myers’/select 1^st record, ‘Edward Myers, Scarboro’/TNA, HO 10/25/goes to ‘NSW Census, M-R, 1828’, p. 94 of 327, entry no. 3779, Myers Edward. NB ‘Carpenter’ in column marked ‘Employment’ and ‘lives with M^w Ryan’ in column marked ‘Residence’. On ancestry TNA site, select ‘Susan Miles’/goes to Census I-M, p 487 of 510, no. 2388.

d. Census of New South Wales November 1828, M Sainty and K Johnson, Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1980, Myers Edward *M 3779, Miles Susan M 2388; also CD; also www.bda-online.org.au gives background information.

e. MLMutch/Musters and Censuses CY 566.

f. 1828 Census Householder’s Return (original) for district of Evan, ancestry.com.au,‘1828 Census (Aust Copy)’, select ‘Susan Miles’, view 1^st record/view ‘Glatton, 1802, Evan/goes to NRS 1273, 1828 Census, Householders Returns, Evan, p.15 of 249, ‘Susan Miles’ listed among servants of Robert Aull.  

18. Ages on documents: Edward 24 at 1785 trial; Susannah indecipherable in sessions document (endnote 6a), 28 at trial (endnote 6b), Edward 67 & Susannah 52 in 1828 (endnote

17); Edward 81 on burial certificate, 88 on headstone, Susannah 60 on headstone. If the 1828 Census record of Susannah’s age is correct, there is an English baptism entry of possible interest for further investigation. A ‘Susanna’ Smith was born 5 December, 1776, daughter of William and Mary, and baptised on 30 December that year, at St John the Baptist, Croydon, Surrey. In our Susannah’s Sessions list for her trial (endnote 6a), in the ‘description’ column, is mention of Rotherhithe, locality on southern shore of Thames & historically part of Surrey. England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Family Search. 

19. Sainty and Johnson, (endnote 17.d) give background history of the 1828 Census, the sets of ledgers and copies up till their project. 

20. The microfilmed versions of both the NSW (endnote 17.b) & UK (endnote 17.c) ledgers were the first to go on-line, then in 2019, the NSW version was re-digitised from the original ledger books (endnote 17.a).  

21. Handwriting investigation was by descendant Barbara Crighton, her interest triggered by the 2019 visit by descendants Maree Myhill, Margaret Francis & Narelle Lawler to Goulburn Library for the 2019 regional tour of an 1828 Census (NSW) ledger book. Associated with the tour was the publicising of the re-digitised NSW version (endnote 17.a). (It has ‘Matt^w Ryan’ in Edward’s NSW version entry). Barbara then investigated the UK digital version (long held to be ‘Mrs Ryan’) comparing abbreviations & letter formations in names ending in ‘ew’ & the word ‘Mrs’ in other entries by the same colonial scribe. This showed UK ledger Edward entry actually reads ‘M^w Ryan’ so agrees with NSW ledger version ‘Matt^w Ryan’. It is now believed the abbreviation M^w was transcribed in error as M^rs in a hand-written copy made in the 1930s of the UK’s ledger version. This new copy came into Australian repositories and historical publications. T D Mutch, using the 1930s UK copy in the ML transcribed the ‘Mrs Ryan’ version on his Musters & Censuses cards (CY 566) noting ‘No Mrs Ryan Illawarra Censuses’. Family researcher Stella Vernon, using ML Mutch cards & the Sainty/Johnson book (endnote 17.d) theorised ‘Mrs Ryan’ was Mary Ann Ryan who had a husband Daniel & baby in Illawarra in 1828, & that Edward may simply have been there for work. The 2019 research shows Edward was away for employment, with Matthew Ryan, co-incidentally also of the Illawarra.   

22. https://wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library/explore-our-past/your-suburb/suburbs/figtree/‘Early residents and land grants’.