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
22d
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 Robt.
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 28th 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 Mattw Ryan,
Settler’, and a close examination of the UK digital
version shows that it also actually reads ‘lives with Mw
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 20th June
1982.
Refer FFF Web Site:http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/graves.html
Under FFF
Plaque 24 – Installed 20th 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 1st 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 1st 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 19th Feb but
clearly is 17th 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 20th
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 2nd 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 3rd grant:
from land grant description (LPI PA 36287); plus ‘Parish
of Minto/County of Cumberland’ map 5th
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 Mattw 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 3rd 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 1st 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 Mw 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 1st
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 ‘Mattw 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 ‘Mw Ryan’ so agrees with NSW
ledger version ‘Mattw Ryan’. It is now
believed the abbreviation Mw was transcribed
in error as Mrs 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’.
23. 1823, 1824,
1825 General Muster List of NSW, ed, Carol Baxter,
ABGR, SAG, Sydney, 1999, entry no. 39139.
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