Peter When you say you have a death certificate, what exactly do you mean? Official registrations started in VDL just after they did in the UK, ie around 1838. So there were no death certificates prior to that date. I guess you mean you have a copy of an entry in the burial register (or equivalent). If so, that is not a "death certificate" as such. The entries in many (but not all) of the early burial registers (marriages and baptisms too) were transcribed and deposited with the official BDM registry (of course making some people think its a "death certificate" etc) and are fairly easily accessible in most major libraries throughout Australia. In the version transcribed for the BDM Registry, there are several entries to a page (as indeed there are on the original registers for that matter). So I was wondering therefore why you picked this one out? Or do you just have a photocopy of part of a page for some other person and John Mellows just happens to be there too? Anyway, of more substance is the fact that one must not be mislead by what one sees on a document such as this. Curiously, this is a site for Tasmanian convicts and yet you said that Mellows was apparently a free man, making your posting somewhat inconsistent. Nevertheless, even though the entry in the burial register does have "free", this has to be read in context (as it does for the General Musters too). He might have been "free" when he died, but that doesn't mean to say he was always free. In just the same way that being "married" now, doesn't mean you have been married all your life. In this case John Mellow(e)s was in fact a convict, per Calcutta to Port Phillip in 1803. He appears in the 1803-1804 Victualling list and again in the 1811 muster. He was convicted in Northampton in 1802 (at age 32) for life and received an absolute pardon on 25 January 1813 (sources: musters/Uebel CDrom/Baxter CDRom/Convict CDRom). So when he died he was in fact "free". Regards Garry > Subject: [TAS-CONVICTS] John Mellows > Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 15:29:08 +0100 > From: "Peter Gainsborough" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > > Hi Listers, > > I have the death certificate of a John Mellows born c.1770 - Place Unknown, who died 11 August, 1815 and was buried 13 August, 1815 in the Parish of St. Davids, Hobart, Tasmania. Apparently John Mellows was a free man. > > Does anyone know anything more about him or would like to claim him? > > Peter Gainsborough > > (Croydon, Surrey, England) >

Dear List Once again Garry Wilson has handed out a very heavy handed "history" lesson to a subscriber who appears to want nothing more than to share some information he has. I believe that is what this list should be about - helping and sharing - not criticising a person who is simply wanting to help others and in doing so made an error. It has long been my policy to contact people off list and offer them my assistance so as not to run foul of Mr Wilson's self confessed knowledge and I am not the only person who prefers not to post to the list. But for now I have decided that I don't want to subscribe to a list that allows such criticism. This is not the only list that Mr Wilson subscribes to and it is not the only list that he has used to ridiculed the postings of other subscribers. Thanks to those who have helped me. Christine Woods ----- Original Message ----- From: Garry A Wilson <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2002 1:41 PM Subject: [TAS-CONVICTS] Re: JOHN MELLOWS > Peter > > When you say you have a death certificate, what exactly do you mean? Official registrations started in VDL just after they did in the UK, ie around 1838. So there were no death certificates prior to that date. I guess you mean you > have a copy of an entry in the burial register (or equivalent). If so, that is not a "death certificate" as such. The entries in many (but not all) of the early burial registers (marriages and baptisms too) were transcribed and > deposited with the official BDM registry (of course making some people think its a "death certificate" etc) and are fairly easily accessible in most major libraries throughout Australia. In the version transcribed for the BDM > Registry, there are several entries to a page (as indeed there are on the original registers for that matter). So I was wondering therefore why you picked this one out? Or do you just have a photocopy of part of a page for some > other person and John Mellows just happens to be there too? > > Anyway, of more substance is the fact that one must not be mislead by what one sees on a document such as this. Curiously, this is a site for Tasmanian convicts and yet you said that Mellows was apparently a free man, making your > posting somewhat inconsistent. Nevertheless, even though the entry in the burial register does have "free", this has to be read in context (as it does for the General Musters too). He might have been "free" when he died, but that > doesn't mean to say he was always free. In just the same way that being "married" now, doesn't mean you have been married all your life. > > In this case John Mellow(e)s was in fact a convict, per Calcutta to Port Phillip in 1803. He appears in the 1803-1804 Victualling list and again in the 1811 muster. He was convicted in Northampton in 1802 (at age 32) for life and > received an absolute pardon on 25 January 1813 (sources: musters/Uebel CDrom/Baxter CDRom/Convict CDRom). So when he died he was in fact "free". > > Regards > > Garry > > > Subject: [TAS-CONVICTS] John Mellows > > Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 15:29:08 +0100 > > From: "Peter Gainsborough" <[email protected]> > > To: [email protected] > > > > Hi Listers, > > > > I have the death certificate of a John Mellows born c.1770 - Place Unknown, who died 11 August, 1815 and was buried 13 August, 1815 in the Parish of St. Davids, Hobart, Tasmania. Apparently John Mellows was a free man. > > > > Does anyone know anything more about him or would like to claim him? > > > > Peter Gainsborough > > > > (Croydon, Surrey, England) > > > > > > ==== AUS-TAS-CONVICTS Mailing List ==== > Please link your webpages to the Australian Families Webring and Tasmanian Convicts - let's unite!!! The navigation bar is located at: > Http://hometown.aol.com/romniroser/myhomepage/newsletter.html > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >