Hello Listers, I was speaking with someone today who mentioned that they had 22 convict ancestors. I have since been wondering what IS the most possible convict (direct line, blood) ancestors that one person could have in Australia? ie: given timeframe span of convict arrivals across various states and across generations of arrival and maximum number of generations within the transportation period - c60 years = 4? generations? = how many potential convicts could one have ? Does anyone have more than 22 convict ancestors? I have 12 convicts = on one side only of my family - plus 6 unknown ancestors who were born during or prior to the early period of transportation in that same family. Thanks for any #figures/conversation re: this. Julie

I did some maths and (I'm not so good at this) assuming -That every single ancestor was a convict .If a convict child of first fleeters(Currency Lad or Lass) was a lass who married and had her first child at 16 and she married a currency lad. That means in 1804 a child would have had 4 convict grandparents, the next generation would have 8 convict great grandparents the next 16 2XGGrandparents the next 32 3XGGrandparents etc for the number of generations possible in Australia. If we assume that we could have 20 year generations we could fit 11 generations for a child born this year and that means that theoretically an Australian could have 2048 convicts all on the first fleet. BUT this assumes we have not doubled up and that there where 2048 people on the first fleet half of whom where female. It could happen that if other more realistic assumptions were made a realistic number could be well over 500 convict ancestors. A good question! Regards Gillian -----Original Message----- From: aus-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Julie Gough Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 11:24 PM To: aus-convicts@rootsweb.com Subject: [AUS-CON] Query: What is max # of direct convict ancestors one could have? Hello Listers, I was speaking with someone today who mentioned that they had 22 convict ancestors. I have since been wondering what IS the most possible convict (direct line, blood) ancestors that one person could have in Australia? ie: given timeframe span of convict arrivals across various states and across generations of arrival and maximum number of generations within the transportation period - c60 years = 4? generations? = how many potential convicts could one have ? Does anyone have more than 22 convict ancestors? I have 12 convicts = on one side only of my family - plus 6 unknown ancestors who were born during or prior to the early period of transportation in that same family. Thanks for any #figures/conversation re: this. Julie ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-CONVICTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Julie Gough <julie.gough@jcu.edu.au> writes: > Hello Listers, > > I was speaking with someone today who mentioned that they had 22 convict > ancestors. > > I have since been wondering what IS the most possible convict (direct line, > blood) ancestors that one person could have in Australia? > > ie: given timeframe span of convict arrivals across various states > and across generations of arrival and maximum number of generations within > the transportation period - c60 years = 4? generations? = how many potential > convicts could one have ? > > Does anyone have more than 22 convict ancestors? > > I have 12 convicts = on one side only of my family - plus 6 unknown ancestors > who were born during or prior to the early period of transportation in that same > family. > > Thanks for any #figures/conversation re: this. > Rather than generations of arrivals, I think the question is better considered in terms of how many early places in your tree could be filled by a convict. On my maternal grandmother's side I have 4 gggg-grandparents who I know were convicts. That leaves 12 gggg-gparents on that side who might have been convicts. So, four gparents x 16 would be 64 possible convicts at the sixth generation from me. My children, of course, could have twice as many convict ancestors as I. That said, I think it's unlikely that anyone would have so many. The early Australian communities were small and, at least in my family, people married into families close by. 5 out of 6 known convicts on my maternal gmother's side turn up twice in the tree. -- Martin

The other interesting metric is how many generations ago (ie. How recent) were your convict ancestors. I have: 1. Elinor SHAW (Mother) (1914-) m.1939 Terence Joseph HIGGINS (1912-1994) 2. Cristine SAMIN (GrandMother) (1876-1974) m. Thomas Frederick SHAW (1874-1963) 3. Agnes Lavinia ROBERTS (G GrandMother) (1850-1941) m.1867 Henri SAMIN (1834-1886) 4. Agnes McMILLAN (GG GrandMother - Convict to Hobart in 1836) (1820-1877) 4. William ROBERTS (GG GrandFather - Convict to Hobart in 1828) (1803-1870) Now not only am I still alive (as of this morning), my mother is also alive and well. Cheers Darrell Higgins in Sydney -----Original Message----- From: aus-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Martin Steer Sent: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 3:23 PM To: aus-convicts@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [AUS-CON] Query: What is max # of direct convict ancestors one could have? Julie Gough <julie.gough@jcu.edu.au> writes: > Hello Listers, > > I was speaking with someone today who mentioned that they had 22 convict > ancestors. > > I have since been wondering what IS the most possible convict (direct line, > blood) ancestors that one person could have in Australia? > > ie: given timeframe span of convict arrivals across various states > and across generations of arrival and maximum number of generations within > the transportation period - c60 years = 4? generations? = how many potential > convicts could one have ? > > Does anyone have more than 22 convict ancestors? > > I have 12 convicts = on one side only of my family - plus 6 unknown ancestors > who were born during or prior to the early period of transportation in that same > family. > > Thanks for any #figures/conversation re: this. > Rather than generations of arrivals, I think the question is better considered in terms of how many early places in your tree could be filled by a convict. On my maternal grandmother's side I have 4 gggg-grandparents who I know were convicts. That leaves 12 gggg-gparents on that side who might have been convicts. So, four gparents x 16 would be 64 possible convicts at the sixth generation from me. My children, of course, could have twice as many convict ancestors as I. That said, I think it's unlikely that anyone would have so many. The early Australian communities were small and, at least in my family, people married into families close by. 5 out of 6 known convicts on my maternal gmother's side turn up twice in the tree. -- Martin ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-CONVICTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message