I am a new subscriber to this list. I have an ancestor about whom I know very little, who may have been a convict. I do not have a concrete reason to suspect he was a convict except the fact that so little information was passed on about him that a big secret seems likely. Can anyone please help with more information about my ancestor or a guide to how to find it? This is what I do know: James Hogan was my gg grandfather. He married Bridget Collins at the old St Michael's Catholic Church in Bathurst on 11/8/1846. He was listed as from Frederick's Valley on the marriage registration. Their first child Ellen Hogan was born on 12/9/1847 and baptised in the parish of Carcoar on 20/2/1848 by M. McGrath. James Hogan was listed as a Labourer and his abode as Wellington. This is conjecture: I found at least 3 James Hogan's arriving on convict transports. The one I favour is the one who arrived on the ill-fated Hive (2) in 1835. (The ship ran ashore south of Jervis Bay on 10/12/1835 and 248 prisoners and crew had to be taken to Sydney on 3 other boats.) >From the General Return of Convicts 1837 page 302 I found: #12654 James Hogan age 21 Ship Hive 1835. His master was Charles Booth of Bathurst district Page 148 in the Original. >From the Peter Mayberry website, I found that this man was tried at Limerick on 10/3/1835 and sentenced to life for the crime of Stealing Sheep. His native place was Tipperary. he was born in 1813 and married with 1 child (another reason for secrecy if his marriage to Bridget was bigamous?) I looked at his ticket of leave 44/816 granted 18/3/1844 and it said "Allowed to remain in district of Carcoar". There is a very faint note on the side of this  saying - Altered to Bathurst 21/12/1846. The reason I chose this James Hogan was that the place he was sent to work and subsequent place of Ticket of Leave agree with my known facts re him. I would be grateful for any assistance at all, Thank you Linda