I'm still hoping someone may help me solve the mystery of what became of 16 year old James BYRNE per Augusta Jessie 1840.    James BYRNE born 1825, Dublin who aged 15 in 1839 was sentenced to be transported for 7 years arriving in 1840 on the Augusta Jessie. There was another man by the same name on the ship. I suspect James was one of the 'junior convicts' who the ships surgeon mentions in his journal were offloaded at Sydney before the Augusta Jessie headed to Norfolk Island with the rest.   I have only been able to find a Ticket of Leave no. 1844/1001 issued to James BYRNE in 1844 for the Scone district.  From here the trail goes cold. I have been unable to find a certificate of freedom for him nor have I been able to find him on the index of convicts who died while serving their sentence. He is not the James Byrne who died in 1843 at the Sydney Hospital after an assault. This was James Byrne per King William. He does not appear in the Gov Gazettes for that period either.   The NSW BDM for the period 1844 to 1850 doesn't show a death for him either. There is a burial for a James BURNES in 1847 aged 31 but if this is him then he would [presumably] have served his sentence and should have a cert of freedom.   My reason for researching this fellow is that I am trying to ascertain if he may be 'my' James Byrne whose mother was Esther Byrne 1)GILLAN[and spelling variations aka DILLON] 2)HALL who arrived as a convict per Asia in 1830.   To date I have been unable to find James arrival and I suspect the child mentioned on Esther's convict indent is in fact another son Robert who would later give 'born at sea' as his birthplace. James gives Dublin as his birth place and his death certificate shows the approximate date of 1833 for his arrival.   I have been researching this very complicated family for quite some time and am still hoping to tie up the loose ends. If anyone would like to take a closer look at my research and what I have discovered so far you can do so at my website:   http://lintywhite.com/estherbyrne   There is a link to son James Byrne.   Any suggests regarding the fate of James Byrne per Augusta Jessie would be most appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this long email.   Jenny W [Brisbane]

Jenny, Any mention of the Byrne name always sends me looking. I am descended from two Byrne convicts on completely different branches of my tree. I had a look at the info on your website. I would think that since Esther had a colonial conviction in 1831 and her husband Patrick Gillan died shortly thereafter your next question should be what happened to the kids? Have you thought whether John Cosgrove may have been an adopted parent, after all he appears to have been a part of their later lives (witness at James' death)? If James Byrne was the convict mentioned then why would he take the name Gillan when he would never have met Patrick? Also as you point out your James Byrne is mentioned donating money in 1846 in the Monaro district, whilst James Byrne per the "Augusta Jessie" would only have just finished his 7 years in 1846 at the district of Scone. Just some thoughts! Lisa -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jenny W Sent: Thursday, 10 November 2011 12:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [PJ] Vanishing Convict - What happened to James BYRNE per Augusta Jessie 1840 I'm still hoping someone may help me solve the mystery of what became of 16 year old James BYRNE per Augusta Jessie 1840.    James BYRNE born 1825, Dublin who aged 15 in 1839 was sentenced to be transported for 7 years arriving in 1840 on the Augusta Jessie. There was another man by the same name on the ship. I suspect James was one of the 'junior convicts' who the ships surgeon mentions in his journal were offloaded at Sydney before the Augusta Jessie headed to Norfolk Island with the rest.   I have only been able to find a Ticket of Leave no. 1844/1001 issued to James BYRNE in 1844 for the Scone district.  From here the trail goes cold. I have been unable to find a certificate of freedom for him nor have I been able to find him on the index of convicts who died while serving their sentence. He is not the James Byrne who died in 1843 at the Sydney Hospital after an assault. This was James Byrne per King William. He does not appear in the Gov Gazettes for that period either.   The NSW BDM for the period 1844 to 1850 doesn't show a death for him either. There is a burial for a James BURNES in 1847 aged 31 but if this is him then he would [presumably] have served his sentence and should have a cert of freedom.   My reason for researching this fellow is that I am trying to ascertain if he may be 'my' James Byrne whose mother was Esther Byrne 1)GILLAN[and spelling variations aka DILLON] 2)HALL who arrived as a convict per Asia in 1830.   To date I have been unable to find James arrival and I suspect the child mentioned on Esther's convict indent is in fact another son Robert who would later give 'born at sea' as his birthplace. James gives Dublin as his birth place and his death certificate shows the approximate date of 1833 for his arrival.   I have been researching this very complicated family for quite some time and am still hoping to tie up the loose ends. If anyone would like to take a closer look at my research and what I have discovered so far you can do so at my website:   http://lintywhite.com/estherbyrne   There is a link to son James Byrne.   Any suggests regarding the fate of James Byrne per Augusta Jessie would be most appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this long email.   Jenny W [Brisbane] ---------------------- 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

Hi Lisa,   You raise some very good points, thank you.   Firstly I'll try to clarify James Byrne's use of the 'Gillan' name. The records I have [his death cert and birth cert of his last child born days before his death] where he is known by the Gillan surname, both show the informant as his brother Robert GILLAN. I can only assume that Robert thought his brother James surname was GILLAN too. His headstone shows James Gillan BYRNE. James marriage record and the births of his earlier children were all as Byrne or spelling variations.   I have checked any records I could access for the Female Factory which may have listed Esther BYRNES or her children. Nothing has come to light and short of taking a trip to Sydney myself and following them up further I have run out of options there. If Esther was assigned to James GILLAN whom she quickly married, it is possible she cared for her children herself, whilst in and out of the factory.   How likely is it that Cosgrove or his half brothers the Yorks would have 'adopted' three young convict boys at random and taken them to the Monaro region when it was still mostly unexplored? I could see it happening in the 1840s when they were teens, but not in the 1830s when they were children. By 1846, James would have been about 21 so would have been able to care for younger teenaged sibs himself and may have asked to take them along if he got work with Cosgrove. Robert would have been 16 and Thomas 15 so they would have been useful.   Your idea about James Byrnes per Augusta Jessie only just being free when 'my' James Byrne is donating money in Cooma is a very good point. Could it still be the same fellow? Probably not given what I have so far but I'd still like to eliminate James Byrne per Augusta Jessie once and for all and to do that I need to know what happened to him.   Perhaps there is a further TOL showing James Byrne per AJ was assigned to Cosgrove at Cooma...who knows.   Jenny     Jenny, Any mention of the Byrne name always sends me looking. I am descended from two Byrne convicts on completely different branches of my tree. I had a look at the info on your website. I would think that since Esther had a colonial conviction in 1831 and her husband Patrick Gillan died shortly thereafter your next question should be what happened to the kids? Have you thought whether John Cosgrove may have been an adopted parent, after all he appears to have been a part of their later lives (witness at James' death)? If James Byrne was the convict mentioned then why would he take the name Gillan when he would never have met Patrick? Also as you point out your James Byrne is mentioned donating money in 1846 in the Monaro district, whilst James Byrne per the "Augusta Jessie" would only have just finished his 7 years in 1846 at the district of Scone. Just some thoughts! Lisa -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jenny W Sent: Thursday, 10 November 2011 12:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [PJ] Vanishing Convict - What happened to James BYRNE per Augusta Jessie 1840 I'm still hoping someone may help me solve the mystery of what became of 16 year old James BYRNE per Augusta Jessie 1840.    James BYRNE born 1825, Dublin who aged 15 in 1839 was sentenced to be transported for 7 years arriving in 1840 on the Augusta Jessie. There was another man by the same name on the ship. I suspect James was one of the 'junior convicts' who the ships surgeon mentions in his journal were offloaded at Sydney before the Augusta Jessie headed to Norfolk Island with the rest.   I have only been able to find a Ticket of Leave no. 1844/1001 issued to James BYRNE in 1844 for the Scone district.  From here the trail goes cold. I have been unable to find a certificate of freedom for him nor have I been able to find him on the index of convicts who died while serving their sentence. He is not the James Byrne who died in 1843 at the Sydney Hospital after an assault. This was James Byrne per King William. He does not appear in the Gov Gazettes for that period either.   The NSW BDM for the period 1844 to 1850 doesn't show a death for him either. There is a burial for a James BURNES in 1847 aged 31 but if this is him then he would [presumably] have served his sentence and should have a cert of freedom.   My reason for researching this fellow is that I am trying to ascertain if he may be 'my' James Byrne whose mother was Esther Byrne 1)GILLAN[and spelling variations aka DILLON] 2)HALL who arrived as a convict per Asia in 1830.   To date I have been unable to find James arrival and I suspect the child mentioned on Esther's convict indent is in fact another son Robert who would later give 'born at sea' as his birthplace. James gives Dublin as his birth place and his death certificate shows the approximate date of 1833 for his arrival.   I have been researching this very complicated family for quite some time and am still hoping to tie up the loose ends. If anyone would like to take a closer look at my research and what I have discovered so far you can do so at my website:   http://lintywhite.com/estherbyrne   There is a link to son James Byrne.   Any suggests regarding the fate of James Byrne per Augusta Jessie would be most appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this long email.   Jenny W [Brisbane] ---------------------- 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 From: Lisa Apfel <[email protected]> To: 'Jenny W' <[email protected]>; [email protected] Sent: Thursday, 10 November 2011 1:29 PM Subject: RE: [PJ] Vanishing Convict - What happened to James BYRNE per Augusta Jessie 1840