A County Down List that I am on came up with the idea of “Who of your ancestors would you invite for Christmas dinner”. I thought that this was an idea that may be of interest on other lists so I have posed it here and included my suggested ancestor. The question was:- “If you were given the opportunity, which of your ancestors would you most like to invite to your Christmas dinner to talk about their life?” My suggestion was :- I have an Irish convict GGG grandmother Sarah Lynchey, sentenced on the Isle of Man to 14 years transportation, she arrived in Australia in 1835 with three of her 5 children one became my GG grandmother. >From several documents Sarah was born C 1785 in County Down and she is listed as a “County Down Convict” by the County Down Museum. >From a “Dissenter Baptism” on the Isle of Man her husband appears as “Michael Lynchy” and her maiden name as “Mullan”. A misspelt Michael Lynchey is recorded as dying in a cholera outbreak on the Isle of Man in 1832 and Sarah is recorded as a widow in her trial in 1835 and on the Convict Indent. Sarah’s death in New South Wales lists her maiden name as Mullins. With a son Thomas who was also transported Sarah was convicted of stealing £34-2-0, about a week later she was arrested with £27-10-0; it cost the British Government £8-5-3 for the trial of Sarah and Thomas and a further £31-0-9 to move Sarah and three children to the Thames for transportation-“OH” the cost of “justice” Lord Melbourne gave permission for Sarah to take with her male children to the age 8 years and female children to the age of 12 years. How children that young would support themselves is hard to imagine. Sarah was granted her freedom on 06/04/1848 and seems to have lived with her elder daughter until she died in 1860. Sarah was buried in the Devonshire Street or Sandhills Cemetery in Sydney. This cemetery became the site of Sydney’s Central Railway Station and many burials were reinterred at other Sydney cemeteries; Sarah is not listed as being one of the burials moved and like many others apparently now lies below this large rail terminal. When I think of the countless times I travelled to or through Central in my younger years, and walked through the pedestrian tunnel that is approximately where Devonshire St. was I wish I had known and could have thought of Sarah at the time. At Christmas dinner we could discuss so many things in her life that I wish I knew. I could tell her what I know of her descendents, citizen soldiers some of whom died on the Western Front or served in the Pacific. Farmers, business men, engineers, teachers and a host of other occupations in this new land. Mostly I would like to thank her for her fortitude in times more difficult than we today can imagine and for her contribution to what has become a fortunate and free society Peter Strauss Melbourne Australia --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus