| Notes |
- MARY MACKENZIE was born at Sydney 23rd August 1813, the child of a convict woman from Liverpool, Ann Clarke, and a soldier, Alexander Mackenzie
Six months after Mary's father Alexander died on 9th December 1819, Mary's mother, Ann Clark married Thomas Brennan, an Irishman who had been a convict on Norfolk Island. He had been transported for 7 years on the "Marquis Cornwallis", after being tried in the Irish county of Kildare in 1795.
Mary spent the next ten years growing up in a mixed household which included eventually three Brennan children, Thomas, Elizabeth and Ann, as well as the four Ann brought with her from the Mackenzie household, John (who appears to be known later as Mackenzie), Mary herself, William (Wells, later known as Brennan) and Margaret (Wells/Brennan). Mary inherited her father's land and is listed in early records of the Launceston District (for the land county of Cornwall) as a non-resident landholder with 30 or so cattle and some crops on 80 acres at Patterson Plains, while living with her mother and the Brennan family.
The Brennans were living at Paterson's Plains in 1821 and by 1825 they had moved a few miles to "The Springs" at Breadalbane. It was at "The Springs" that they were living in 1825 when a daughter Elizabeth (born 1823) was baptized, and they were still there in 1829, although by 1835 they were again at White Hills where their youngest daughter Ann who had been born in 1829 was baptized, but it is possible that at that time White Hills was thought of as including what we now know as Breadalbane.
Mary retained her entitlement to her father's land during this period and some arrangement must have been made for it to be worked because she is reported to have had 40 acres of wheat and 35 cattle on it in 1822. She would have gone to school then too, at least some of the time. It was probably much interrupted schooling, due partly to lack of teachers in the early 1820s. We know that, unlike her mother, she could write her name, because there are documents in existence which she signed, and she could write sentences at a level of a child with a few years of schooling.
Mary McKenzie lived at "The Springs" at the time of her first marriage, at the age of sixteen, to Jeremiah Peck, on 2 November 1829. Their marriage took place at the St Johns Anglican Church in Launceston, the ceremony being performed by Reverend W.H. Browne.
St Johns Church, one of the finest in Launceston, was built between 1824 and 1830 by many of the convicts stationed in Launceston (or as it was then known Port Dalrymple) during the early years of settlement. Today the only remaining construction from the original church is the heritage listed convict clock tower.
The daughter of Mary and Jeremiah, Mary Ann, was born on 3rd June 1833. Although it was four years after their marriage, she was their only child.
Just a few months after Mary Ann was born, Jeremiah died on 27th November 1833, aged 28 years. His cause of death is unknown. Mary was not a widow for very long, however. She married Thomas Beswick the following May when she was still only 20 years old.
THOMAS BESWICK was 15 years old when he was tried at the Old Bailey on 16 January 1823 charged with "burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Thomas Walker, about the hour of six, in the night of the 24th of December, at St. Mary-le-bone, with intent to steal, and stealing therein one watch-case, value 5s., and one watch hook, value 2d., his property".
He was sentenced to death, but was later reprieved, and, after a period of some months imprisonment on a hulk in the river, he was transported for life to Van Diemen's Land. He arrived on the "Sir Godfrey Webster" on 27th December 1823.
During the twenty years after their marriage until the mid 1850s, Mary and Thomas appear to have lived a normal and secure family life, and between them had seven children, Margaret, Thomas, Jane, Luisa, Sarah, Charlotte and Samuel, and, of course, Marys daughter from her marriage to Jeremiah Peck, Mary Ann.
After his pardon Thomas himself sometimes employed convicts. They appear to have farmed successfully, but not to have accumulated much surplus cash. Some of their property on the South Esk and in Launceston was mortgaged on more than one occasion for relatively small amounts. There would have been times of anxiety and sadness though, as two of their children died, the first Margaret at the age of four, the same year Mary's mother died. Thomas could also have received news of the death of his father around this time. Louisa died of scarlet fever when she seven (death register: 9th September 1853, Farmers daughter, Paterson's Plains). The registration of Louisa's death notes that there was an epidemic at that time.
A major change can be dated from the end of 1854. It was about the time when their youngest child was born, but that appears to be co-incidental. A land trust deed that was registered 1st September 1854 transferred ownership of the farm at Paterson's Plains to Samuel Beswick of "Bernard Street, Russell Square, in the county of Middlesex in England, tailor", and "William Hill of the District of Morven, farmer", as trustees, for the benefit of Thomas and Mary and their children. The trustees or others appointed by Thomas Beswick had right of succession to the use of the property after the death of Thomas and Mary in such a way that their children and the heirs of Thomas would have full rights to benefit from it, but Mary's daughter from her first marriage, Mary Ann Peck, could only benefit during her life time and as Thomas allowed in any deed or in his will. Thomas could direct how the benefits would be shared but not in any way that allowed Mary Ann Peck to gain a share that might be inherited. This meant that Thomas now had effective control of the land that his wife had inherited from her father, Alexander Mackenzie. The point of it all becomes clearer when it is realized that Mary Ann Peck was about to be married. She married Martin Hardy on 28th October 1854. Apparently it was feared that her husband and children would obtain rights in the land if alternative arrangements were not made. It might, given what happened several years later at Scottsdale, indicate a particular concern with Martin Hardy, but it also marked the beginning in a phase of change away from their settled life in the area where Mary had grown up and Thomas had made the transition from convict to a free and successful citizen.
Thomas Beswick died in the Port Sorrell district around 16th January 1877.
On 29th July 1878, Mary McKenzie (later Peck, then Beswick) 65, house keeper, married Richard Fuller, 66, dealer, at St. Paul's Launceston. In later years she is remembered as living at Scottsdale with her eldest daughter Mary Ann Hardy, and she was with her youngest daughter, Charlotte, when she died on 4th June 1886. She is buried at the Ellesmere cemetery at Scottsdale.
The daughter of Mary and Jeremiah, Mary Ann, was born on 3rd June 1833. Although it was four years after their marriage, she was their only child.
Just a few months after Mary Ann was born, Jeremiah died on 27th November 1833, aged 28 years. His cause of death is unknown. Mary was not a widow for very long, however. She married Thomas Beswick the following May when she was still only 20 years old.
THOMAS BESWICK was 15 years old when he was tried at the Old Bailey on 16 January 1823 charged with "burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Thomas Walker, about the hour of six, in the night of the 24th of December, at St. Mary-le-bone, with intent to steal, and stealing therein one watch-case, value 5s., and one watch hook, value 2d., his property".
He was sentenced to death, but was later reprieved, and, after a period of some months imprisonment on a hulk in the river, he was transported for life to Van Diemen's Land. He arrived on the "Sir Godfrey Webster" on 27th December 1823.
During the twenty years after their marriage until the mid 1850s, Mary and Thomas appear to have lived a normal and secure family life, and between them had seven children, Margaret, Thomas, Jane, Luisa, Sarah, Charlotte and Samuel, and, of course, Marys daughter from her marriage to Jeremiah Peck, Mary Ann.
After his pardon Thomas himself sometimes employed convicts. They appear to have farmed successfully, but not to have accumulated much surplus cash. Some of their property on the South Esk and in Launceston was mortgaged on more than one occasion for relatively small amounts. There would have been times of anxiety and sadness though, as two of their children died, the first Margaret at the age of four, the same year Mary's mother died. Thomas could also have received news of the death of his father around this time. Louisa died of scarlet fever when she seven (death register: 9th September 1853, Farmers daughter, Paterson's Plains). The registration of Louisa's death notes that there was an epidemic at that time.
A major change can be dated from the end of 1854. It was about the time when their youngest child was born, but that appears to be co-incidental. A land trust deed that was registered 1st September 1854 transferred ownership of the farm at Paterson's Plains to Samuel Beswick of "Bernard Street, Russell Square, in the county of Middlesex in England, tailor", and "William Hill of the District of Morven, farmer", as trustees, for the benefit of Thomas and Mary and their children. The trustees or others appointed by Thomas Beswick had right of succession to the use of the property after the death of Thomas and Mary in such a way that their children and the heirs of Thomas would have full rights to benefit from it, but Mary's daughter from her first marriage, Mary Ann Peck, could only benefit during her life time and as Thomas allowed in any deed or in his will. Thomas could direct how the benefits would be shared but not in any way that allowed Mary Ann Peck to gain a share that might be inherited. This meant that Thomas now had effective control of the land that his wife had inherited from her father, Alexander Mackenzie. The point of it all becomes clearer when it is realized that Mary Ann Peck was about to be married. She married Martin Hardy on 28th October 1854. Apparently it was feared that her husband and children would obtain rights in the land if alternative arrangements were not made. It might, given what happened several years later at Scottsdale, indicate a particular concern with Martin Hardy, but it also marked the beginning in a phase of change away from their settled life in the area where Mary had grown up and Thomas had made the transition from convict to a free and successful citizen.
Thomas Beswick died in the Port Sorrell district around 16th January 1877.
On 29th July 1878, Mary McKenzie (later Peck, then Beswick) 65, house keeper, married Richard Fuller, 66, dealer, at St. Paul's Launceston. In later years she is remembered as living at Scottsdale with her eldest daughter Mary Ann Hardy, and she was with her youngest daughter, Charlotte, when she died on 4th June 1886. She is buried at the Ellesmere cemetery at Scottsdale.
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1813 - 1886 (72 years)
