Hi Lesley I was just following up on my recent advices. The fact that Michael Coughlan is not listed in the 1837 return seems strange. He received his ticket of leave that year for Maitland Police District. This was transferred to Patrick's Plains in 1839 just prior to his marriage to Ann Kershaw. I have always thought it strange he received his ToL in 1837. He was firstly sentenced to transportation for life. Given the 8 year rule that would make him eligible for his ToL in 1836. However I would have thought that given he had absconded in 1834 and that he was on the periphery of a theft case in Sydney when he was captured, that this would count as somewhat bad behaviour given the thinking of the time. Do you think it was because he was a mechanic and his labour was I demand in the private sector that he received his ticket? The opposite to this line of thinking would be the government or a landowner would see his trade of shoemaker as a valuable asset and delay his ticket, which I believe was not unknown. But again what seems strange is that he was not gobbled up by the system even earlier for just this same reason. It all appears a bit of a mystery to me. And again he is not on the convict muster? Could he have absented himself? And if so surely they would have caught up with him in 1839 when his ticket was transferred and he applied to marry. Any comments? Thanks, Rob Coughlan -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lesley Uebel Sent: Sunday, 19 June 2011 1:05 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PJ] musters Hi Rob When we refer to the Indent we mean often the muster taken on board on arrival. These are the microfiche available in many libraries. If you noted to whom Michael was assigned then you looked at the muster taken on board when he arrived. The 1828 NSW Census (taken end 1828) Michael was still employed by W. W. Bucknell at Elms Hall, Patersons Plains - he is listed as Caughlan. After a quick check of the 1837 General Return of Convicts, I cannot find Michael under either of those spellings - and by rights he should be listed as he did not receive his CP until 1840 Regards Lesley Uebel http://www.claimaconvict.net/index.html CLAIM A CONVICT email: [email protected] On 19/06/2011 2:49 PM, Rob Coughlan wrote: > How could I locate the on board muster for the Florentia (1) 1828 for > a convict Michael Coughlan. Also Iindent states assigned to William > Bucknell on the Alleyn River. I have details of this property and no > record of Michael being there so I am assuming he arrived. Next > mention of him is a court case in Sydney 1835 where it mentions him as > an absconder from Wollombi Bridge Party. Found not guilty in the > court case but held in custody as an absconder. Sent to Newcastle > Gaol then Maitland Gaol for disposal. As I live in WA it is a lttle > difficult to get to NSW State Archives to view and copy these > documents. No further mention of him until his ticket of leave in > 1837. Is it possible to find out details of the period he was with > Bucknell or are those records lost. Great northern Road Project can > not help me with Wollombi Bridge Party and I am having trouble finding > anything out about it. Can anybody assist with suggestions to chase > up these leads? Rob Coughlan > > ---------------------- To send a message to the Port Jackson Convicts List, send an email to [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message