convictjohn

The 'All England and Wales Criminal Registers, 1791-1892' maintained by Ancestry.com, show that a John Cheeseman, born in around 1813, was tried for sheep stealing in the Hythe Borough Sessions on 24 June 1837 and found not guilty. A year later, on 7 April 1838, a John Cheesman, aged 25, was convicted of larceny by the Hythe Town Sessions of the Kent Assizes and sentenced to seven years transportation. We are reasonably confident that these two Johns are the same person and, as argued below, he is related to our Benjamin.

The Archives Office of NSW AO Fiche 738 (Principal SuperIntendent of Convicts, Printed Indents 1839) shows that John was transported to Australia on the JOHN BARRY. This sailed from Sheerness harbour (pictured on the left) on 12 November 1838 with 320 male convicts on board and arrived at Sydney on 22 March 1839. It was the fifth time the ship had conveyed convicts to Australia. On this occasion the JOHN BARRY's master was John Robson and its surgeon-superintendant was Francis Campbell. The ship's indent states that our John was a Protestant aged 25 years, could read and write, and was married with two male children. He came from Kent, worked as a shepherd and had been tried in the Kent (Hythe) Assizes on 7 April 1838 for stealing potatoes. The indent further states that John was 5 foot 5 and 1/2 inches tall, had a sallow complexion, dark flaxon hair and grey eyes. He had a scar on the bridge of his nose and warts on the back of his right and left hands. The surgeon-superintendant's log of the journey indicates that initially at least, John had 'rather a debilitated constitution' and had to be treated for pneumonia between 17 and 23 November.

We think that John was assigned to work as a shepherd somewhere between Yass and the Riverina district around Narrandera. The NSW Archives Authority AO Reel No. 948 (Ticket of Leave Butts) records that he received his ticket-of-leave (no. 43/1239) on 9 May 1843 and was 'allowed to remain in the district of Yass'. We think it likely that he also worked for a time on the 'Cooba' or 'Cuba' sheep station which was established near Darlington Point on the Murrumbidgee River in 1844 by John Peters who named it after the Aboriginal word 'coob' for a common local tree.

On 10 October 1853 John married a widow, Christina Stewart nee McDonald, at Wagga Wagga. The wedding certificate states that John was a bachelor and that they were both living at 'Wroley' (probably the Euroley sheep run located near Yanco) at the time of their marriage although it is not clear whether they were living in the same household. The wedding was witnessed by an Alexander Murphy and a Marie Anne Davis both of Wagga Wagga.

According to one of her descendants, Terry Keyes, Christina was born at Perth in Scotland in 1816, the daughter of Daniel McDonald and Margaret Brown. She married John Stewart sometime before 1838 and had two boys, Neil and George Stewart, in Scotland before the family emigrated to Australia on the 'Anne Milne' on 16 September 1841 (Neil died during the voyage out and was buried at sea). The couple's immigration papers state that Christina could neither read nor write and that they were sponsored by Mesrs Robert Howe & Co (who printed the Sydney Gazette). John took up the position of stockman or station master at Cuba station. While there the couple had three more children: John (born 19 August 1843), William (18 March 1846), Mary Catherine (18 July 1849) and Alonzo Hector MacDonald (10 July 1852). John Stewart snr died sometime between 1849 and October 1853 and was probably buried on the Cuba station.

The NSW Achives register of land grants, leases and purchases (AO reel No. 2562) shows that Christina purchased, over the period 1854-56, a nineteen acre block of land adjacent to the Parkanpregan Lagoon at North Wagga Wagga. Her son George Stewart purchased land opposite her. They were among the earliest settlers in the area, living initially in slab huts. John and Christina had one daughter, Amy Margaret Cheeseman, who was born at North Wagga Wagga on 21 April 1860. Amy's birth certificate states that John was a farmer, aged 47 years and that he had been born at West Hythe in Kent in England (in 1813).

Information collected by Terry Keyes and others enables us to follow John and Christina's subsequent lives and trials. Both were present at the marriage of Christina's eldest daughter, Mary Catherine Stewart, to the Irish American Andrew Keyes in Wagga Wagga on 1 January 1870 (John was a wtness to the wedding). On 24 February 1875, Christina was called as a witness to an inquest into the death of her son George who died of a heart attack in the back of his dray while carting timber for the Keerawareena Sawmills. The NSW Electoral Roll for Murrumbidgee for 1878-79 showed John and Christina still residing at North Wagga Wagga. By this time not all was well with Christina. A newspaper report dated 6 March 1880 stated that 'Mrs Cheeseman had been charged with being of unsound mind'. What happened to her after that however remains unclear. As Terry Keyes describes on her website: 'searches of State Records of NSW have not found her in any of the institutions that would have been available at the time. A lucky day came when we researched some land records for her two daughters, there very clearly was Christina's death date of 5th Feb 1886. [Unfortunately] A search of the registers for this date showed a big gap in entries and we can only surmise that the clerk for whatever reason was not at work and the vital records for the period have just been missed being noted. A search of newspapers for this time confirmed her death details'. Although they now know when Christina died, the family remain unsure about where she is buried.

John continued to live at North Wagga Wagga until his death there on 1 August 1888. His death certificate, which was informed by his son-in-law William Atkinson, states that he was born in 'West Tythe, Kent' and had been 'about 50 years in NSW'. His only child at the time was said to be Amy Margaret Atkinson (nee Cheeseman) aged 25 years. John's obituary, printed in the 4 August 1888 edition of the Wagga Wagga Advertizer, stated that 'another old resident has joined the great majority in the person of the late Mr John Cheeseman who died at his residence, North Wagga, on Wednesday last. The deceased who had reached the ripe old age of 75 years had been a resident of Wagga for the past 35 years'.

A few years after John's death William and Amy Atkinson nee Cheeseman and their family moved from Wagga to Adelong and thence to the New England area of New South Wales. According to Terry Keyes, Amy died at Torrington in New South Wales in 1942. Her husband William pre-deceased her by 18 years, dying at Tungsten in NSW in 1924. They had altogether nine children: 1) Jessie Margaret Adelaide Atkinson who was born at Wagga Wagga in 1881 and married William Henry Moon (1880-1928) at Shepardson in NSW in 1900. They had three sons: Lawrence, Donald and Eric Moon. 2) Rose Annie Atkinson (1883-1968) who married Cameron McEachern (1872-1935) at Shepardson in 1904 and had two children: Ronald and Margaret. 3) William Charles Atkinson (1885-88). 4) Reginald Atkinson who was born at Wagga Wagga in 1888 and married Blanche Cellestine Martyn at Glen Innes in NSW in 1920. 5) Valerie Agnes Atkinson born at Wagga Wagga in 1890, married Joseph James Emanuel Cupitt at Grahamstown in NSW in 1908 and had five children: Reginald, James Joseph, Amy, Agnes May and Eric Cupitt. 6) Mabel May Atkinson (1892-1918) who married Walter Reginald Spanswick at Marrackville in Sydney in 1916 and had one child, Thelma Marcelle Spanswick. 7) Wilfred Thomas Atkinson, born at Wagga Wagga in 1894, married Jessie Moss at Glen Innes in 1925 and had two children. 8) Violet Victoria Atkinson who was born at Shepardstown in 1897, married Herbert Clarence Heywood at Barraba in NSW in 1917 and had two children (one of whom, Neville, was killed in World War II). 9) Robert John Atkinson (1900-62) who married Henrietta May Hardy at Glen Innes in 1938.

John's connections to Benjamin and his English family

Given that both his death certificate and his youngest daughter's birth certificate state that he was born in West Hythe in Kent in 1813, I'm assuming at this stage that this John was Benjamin's older brother although I've not proved it. He could have been another relative. He might also have been Benjamin's father although the dates and timing seem to make this unlikely. Further evidence of a possible connection stems from the fact that Benjamin's son, Alfred John Cheeseman, and his wife Jane Eizabeth lived in the Wagga district for a number of years in the 1870s and named their children who were born there John Thomas and Christina Flora Mary (on the other hand Teen had no knowledge of other Cheesemans living at Wagga while her grandparents were there).

As described above, the indent records for the 'John Barry' state that when he was transported to New South Wales in 1839, John was married with two male children. The Hythe parish records show that two boys, Charles and John Cheeseman, whose parents were said to be John, a labourer, and Mary, were baptised in Hythe on 1 September 1833 and 20 April 1835 respectively. The 1841 census shows two boys, John and Charles Cheeseman aged seven and six years respectively and both born in Kent, living in the Romney Marsh Union Workhouse (there was no mention of a Mary Cheeseman).

The Catherine House records show that Charles Cheesman died in the Romney Marsh district in the December quarter of 1843 (CH5, 356). This is confirmed by the index of births and deaths at Romney Union Workhouse which show that a Charles Cheeseman, 8 of West Hythe, died there of Mesenteria and was buried in New Romney.

It seems that Charles' brother John and his mother may have gone to live in Yorkshire, and that Mary remarried. The 1851 census shows a John Cheeseman, aged 17 years and born at Hythe, living at Bowling in Yorkshire with his stepfather William Webb (born in Nailsea in Somerset in 1814) and his mother Mary Ann Webb (born in Waltham in Kent in 1815). I could find no record of John in the 1861 census although it does show a Mary Webb (46 and born at Waltham Out in Kent) living with her husband William Webb (47, ironstone miner born at Nailsea in Somerset) at Chapel Street in Wilton in York.

The 1871 census has a John Cheesman (36 year-old ironstone miner who was born at Hythe in Kent) living on High Street in Marske in Yorkshire with his wife Ann (39, born at Bradford in Yorkshire), their three children - Albert (16 year-old horsedriver who was born at Bradford in Yorkshire), John (11, Eston in Yorkshire) and Mary (4, Marske) - and a lodger John Davies (a 26 year-old ironstone miner who was born at Great Dunmoor in Essex). We think that John's wife was Ann Walton, daughter of Thomas and Mary Walton of Bradford. The Catherine House records show that John and Ann were married in the Bradford district of Yorkshire in the July quarter of 1853 (vol. 9b, page 71).

The 1881 census shows John (47), Ann (49), John (21) and Mary (14) living at Station Terrace at Marske in Yorkshire. In 1891 John and Ann were living at 14 Dale Street in Marske in Yorkshire. With them was their six year-old grandaughter Ann W. Angwin who was born at Marske-by-Sea in Yorkshire.

John Cheeseman was killed in an accident at the South Skelton ironstone mine in Yorkshire on 21 April 1897. He was 63 years old. His death certificate states that he died from 'injuries received by a set of waggons'. The 1901 census shows his widow, Ann, at 37 Carney Street with her married son John (42) and her granddaughter Selina A. Cheeseman (13). We think that Ann died in 1907.

The Catherine House records show an Albert Cheeseman (1855-92) getting married in the Guisborough district of Yorkshire in the March quarter of 1876 (vol 9d, page 754). His wife was probably Mary Sleightom or Slightham, daughter of James Sleightom and Margaret Martin of Redcar in Yorkshire. The 1881 census shows Albert (a 26 year-old ironstone miner) living on High Street Marske in Guisborough in Yorkshire with his wife Mary (26, born at Marske) and three children: Florence (4), Mary Ann (2) and Albert (11m) where all the children were born at Marske. The 1891 census has Albert and Mary still at High Street in Marske with their by now six children: Florence, Mary Ann, Charles, Amy, Margaret and Henry. The Catherine House records indicate that Albert Cheeseman, aged 38 years, died in the Guisborough district of Yorkshire in the December quarter of 1896 (vol 9d, page 338). The 1901 census shows his wife Mary (47 year-old widow and charwoman) living at High Street Marske with her sons Charles and Henry and daughter Margaret.

John Cheeseman lived with his parents in Marske until at least 1881. Sue Bishop tells us that John married Mary J. Picknett, the daughter of Charles Maude Picknett, at Marske in Yorkshire on 5 June 1887. She adds that 'the Picknetts were a fishing family, but Charles and his brother William (my gt gt grandfather) became builders. The 1860s were a boom-time for Redcar (pictured on the left) and the town expanded rapidly from a small fishing village to a large town. It was already quite a popular seaside resort, but the Stockton-Darlington railway was extended to Redcar and the steelworks in Middlesborough became a major industry. Many former rural workers flocked to the area to work as ironstone miners, and the township of New Marske was built to accommodate them. Builders such as Charles and William Picknett became quite wealthy as there was a huge demand for housing. I know that Charles Picknett moved away from Redcar to a more salubrious area'. Click here to see Sue's website on the 'Picknett Family History'.

The 1891 census shows John living at 101 St Spence Street in Linthorpe in Middlesborough with his wife Mary J. (23, Redcar) and two children: Selina A. (3) and Walter (1). Selina was born at New Marske and Walter at Middleborough in Yorkshire. The 1901 census shows John and his daughter Selina at his mother's house in Marske. We think that Selina was married in 1908 to either George Arthur Firth or Robert Whitelock.

The Catherine House records shows that Mary Rebecca Cheeseman married John William Angwin in the Guisborough district of the north riding of Yorkshire in the June quarter of 1883 (vol 9d, page 711). The 1891 census shows Mary R. Angwin (24 year-old clothes presser) and her husband John W. Angwin (31, coal miner from St Just in Cornwall) and their son Justus W. Angwin (2 and born at Marske) lodging at the house of John and Esther Wetherill at Fox Terrace West Hunslet in Leeds. Their daughter Ann W. Angwin was with Mary's parents John and Ann Cheeseman. I've not been able to find John or Mary in the 1901 census. Their children Ann (16 year-old general servant) and Justus (12) were with their uncle Samuel Bird (41 year-old widower and ironstone miner) at 22 Chapel Street in Marske in Yorkshire.

Image sources:
'Hulks at Sheerness' painting from the National Maritime Musem, London (PW6128)
'Redcar beach front', from Redcar.org past & present

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John Cheeseman Convict

John's convict record and life in Australia

John's connections to Benjamin and his English family