The AUTONS |
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Our first Tasmanian convict Ancestor was John Auton. In the York (England) Court in March 1824 John was sentenced to life for burglary and in September 1825,he was transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the convict ship Medina. His Tasmanian convict record contains a number of misdemeanors. "Absent without leave"... 50 lashes and 3 months chain gang. "Chain gang/trafficking"... 18 days solitary confinement on bread and water" On the 26th of March 1831 John Auton applied for permission to marry Mary Ann Haldane. This was granted even though he had a wife and two children at "home" in England. Apparently the system realistically allowed a second colonial marriage and they were married on May 3, 1831. Mary Ann HaldaneJohn Auton's bride, Mary Ann Haldane,a Scottish lass was also a convict. In an Edinburgh Court in November 1827, she was sentenced to 14 years transportation for theft by housebreaking.The Industrial Revolution had caused widespread unemployment and there was little hope of employment for an uneducated girl, the daughter of an unmarried mother. In the Court Report there is a reference to her mother's unfortunate life : "Mother. Betty Haldane, Westport, spinner. I was last employed hawking eggs. Single" Mary Ann's Tasmanian convict record contains a number of offences, mainly misconduct, being out after hours and absent without leave. John and Mary Ann had three children, one a daughter, also Mary Anne who was sadly burnt to death in a hut fire while still young and two sons, John and James. John was baptised in the Weslyn Church Hobart in 1832 and James was born in September 1833. When they grew up the two boys were employed as lime burners, a dangerous and unhealthy occupation and the eldest son, John died, aged 21 in 1854. The death certificate gives the cause of death as inflammation. Four years later, Convict John Auton died on September 9, 1858. The following is copied from the Coroner's inquest on John's death: "The said John Auton on the sixth day of September in the year 1858 at Bridgewater in the island aforesaid being alone in the tap room of the Bridgewater Hotel there situate it so happened that accidentally, casually, and by misfortune the clothes which he, the said John Auton then and there had on his body then and there took fire by means whereof the said John Auton then and there received certain mortal burns of which said mortal burns the said John Auton there and also at Her Majesty's General Hospital at Hobart Town aforesaid in the island aforesaid from the said sixth day of September in the year aforesaid until the ninth day of the same month in the same year did languish and languishing did live on which said last mentioned day in the year aforesaid the said John Auton in the hospital aforesaid at Hobart Town aforesaid in the island aforesaid of the mortal burns aforesaid did die and so the jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid do say that the said John Auton in manner and by the means aforesaid accidentally, casually and by misfortune came by his death and not otherwise" About James & Louisa AutonOn the 3rd September 1860, 27 year old James Auton married 17 year old Louisa Marvell at St John's, Newtown Tasmania. Louisa's parentage is not clear. Her recorded father was James Marvell who was a Tasmanian convict but the identity of her mother has not been established. Apparently James Auton had little formal education as he signed his marriage certificate with a cross. He was still employed as a lime burner but later in life he became a farm labourer and a miner. James and Louisa had 13 children. Carol Louisa Jane Auton b. 22/12/1860 Adeline Blanche Auton b. 25/10/1875 Elizabeth Ann b. 4/9/1862 James Frederick Auton b.16/5/1880 Louisa Auton b. 5/11/1864 Myrtle Eliza Auton b. 12/4/1882 John Auton b. 29/9/1866 Florence Malvina Auton b. 4/3/1884 Margaret Auton b. 7/11/68 George Leonard Auton b. 9/11/1886 Mary Ann Auton b. 29/1/1871 Emily Augusta Auton b.14/5/1873 Their many descendants still speak highly of James and Louisa Auton, they were true Tasmanian pioneers. Family folk lore has it, that they walked from their home in Bridgewater, which is located in Southern Tasmania, to Bells Plains in northwest Tasmania, a distance of 170 miles (275 kilometres). I do not know how nany of the family made the journey but in the conditions prevailing in the 1880's, it must have been a tough journey. James died of cancer at Branxholm on 26th February 1911. His wife, Louisa predeceased him as did four of their children. Old photographs show James and Louisa to be a caring couple. Their many descendants are proud of them. |
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