In soc.genealogy.ireland Malvary in Ottawa <malvaryj@sympatico.ca> wrote: : snip..... Ann Connell and Judith Ahern, larceny - to be transported for : 7 years. ...snip.... William Ahern, receiving stolen goods, imprisoned : three months. : Were these 2 Aherns related? If yes, perhaps he was receiving the : things she had stolen, therefore there was complicity and he should have : gone with her - perhaps he did. http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~aherns/ahcrim.htm#transport shows that a Judith Ahern, of Bandon, County Cork, was born in 1793 and was transported on the Woodman. It says she "sews, knits, and milks". There is no identifiable record of the said William being transported. As there was a need for women in Australia, it may be that they were transported for lesser offences. I have seen newspaper reports of women transported for stealing a bit of ribbon or a chicken. -dja