Matters of Conviction - Philip Keefe and Margaret Daly, Part 2

So Philip Keefe and his cousin Francis were arrested for "killing cattle with intent to steal the carcase". They appeared in Berrima Court House on 16 September 1842, before Justice Sir William Westbrooke Burton. Burton was a man who applied the law equally, even in respect of race, but he took no excuses from anyone. Margaret meanwhile scraped up what funds she could to employ a lawyer to defend Philip. Not only did she risk losing her husband to goal, but, if he were found guilty, then under the law his lands and property would be confiscated, leaving his family homeless and penniless. There was much at stake.

But it was to no avail. Philip and Francis were found guilty, and were both sentenced to 15 years' transportation to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania), with 18 months' probation. They were transferred to Darlinghurst Goal in Sydney on 4 October 1842, and from there to Cockatoo Island.

Convicts on Cockatoo Island, pencil and watercolour, 1849 by Phillipe de Vigors. State Library of New South Wales . Note the parti-coloured uniforms and the comment "Canary Birds"

The accommodation at Cockatoo Island was said to be appalling, but the food was generous. Philip was now receiving each day one pound of fresh beef or mutton, twenty ounces of bread, and half a pound of vegetables, 'when procurable'.

Meanwhile, Margaret was fighting for the livelihood of herself and her children. On the way back from Philip's trial in Berrima, Margaret stayed with Timothy Lacy, who wrote to Governor Gipps for her. The letter states that there are eight children under ten and "earnestly implores that she may be permitted to retain the land as their only refuge that can save herself from the Workhouse and the children from the Orphan School". Margaret signed with a cross. Gipps wrote on the letter that he could not intervene, but a clerk gave some hope, advising that it would be best to wait for a report on how the matter stood under law.

Neighbours and relatives helped Margaret and the children manage the land, and no eviction order was forthcoming, so they battled on. I cannot yet find the report referred to by the Clerk, but whatever it was, it eventually brought good news. Margaret was granted, by order of the Governor, the right to retain the land, and the Deeds were eventually made in her name. The family was safe.

On 17 February 1844 Philip and Francis were put aboard the transport Louisa and sailed out of Sydney, bound for Van Dieman's Land. They arrived in Hobart on 1 March 1844 and were assigned to a chained Road Gang, constructing a road from Hobart to Launceston. Philip made it as far as Ross, about 117 km north of Hobart. I don't know when he was admitted to the hospital at Ross, but the prison records state that he "Died at the Hospital Ross, 13th Novr 1845". He was buried on 14 November 1845 in the Church of England section of Ross Cemetery, despite being clearly listed as a Roman Catholic in the prison record book.

Map of Tasmania, showing location of Ross. From Man O' Ross Hotel website. www.manoross.com

Now things with Margaret get a little confused. Having secured her land, Margaret kept the family going, but also continued to have children. Owen casts doubt on the parentage of Cornelius as his information said that Cornelius was born in 1843. However, NSW State records clearly show Cornelius as being born in 1842 (we are so lucky with the records that are now available to us), so he could very easily be a child of Margaret and Philip. However, then there is Michael, born 1845 and Margaret, born 1851. Owen concludes that "the two or three youngest were born out of wedlock to female members of the family and were accepted as the tail-enders of their grandparent's family" (Rabbit Hot, p.316). But there is another explanation. Under NSW law at the time, children born out of wedlock were required to take their mother's name, even if the father was around. Also, children were required to take the name of their mother's husband, even if he wasn't the biological father.

Margaret Keefe, ni Daly, married William "Bill" Large on 2 June 1848 in Campbelltown. He could easily have been the father of Michael. Margaret was 45 when little Margaret was born, but I don't see whose else she could be. The only other girls in the family were Catherine and Ellen. In 1851 Catherine already had her own family and indeed gave birth to a boy that year, and Ellen, at 10 years of age, would have been too young. To further complicate this, I am struggling to find records for little Margaret beyond "Rabbit Hot, Rabbit Cold", so I would love to know where Owen found her. It is one of the few areas where he doesn't explain his source (it could be Picton Court House, as those who were registered were registered there). But, if little Margaret was the daughter of William and Margaret, why was she known as Margaret Keefe and not Margaret Large?

I am unclear what happened to William Large. There is a William Large in NSW BDM who died in Tunut in 1881, well after Margaret died, but there are also reports that Bill predeceased Margaret. Clearly, more work needs to be done, and death certificates ordered. So I will go with what I know. Margaret Large, labourer's wife (implying Bill was still alive), died at Cox's River, Burragorange, 13 June 1877, age 74 years. Parents Patrick Daly and (unknown) Higgins. Cause of death was a) Erysipelas (an infectious skin disease), b) old age. There was no physician present. Buried RC Cemetery Burragorang, William Packenham undertaker, no Minister present. Witnesses R. O'Reilly and James Maxwell, born in Ireland, lived in colony 46 years. Informant, Francis Keefe, her son, of Cox's River.

The family farm was sold, reportedly for far less than its real value, and the bulk of the Keefe children left Burragorang. Catherine remained, living with ex-convict George Pearce.

Matters of Conviction - Philip Keefe and Margaret Daly

Can I just say, here and now, I HATE flu season? I HATE flu season. Done.

It was hard to decide where to start, I have quite a few convicts in my family tree, 26 at last count (don't panic, I am not going to write about them all). In the end, my great great great great grandparents, Philip Keefe and Margaret Daly, were the obvious choices as they naturally lead to a number of others. Convict family groups were not uncommon.

Some of Philip and Margaret's stories (and their relatives) will be drawn from Owen Pearce's "Rabbit Hot, Rabbit Cold", an excellent history of Owen's ancestors and relatives from the Burragorang Valley. Owen was an engaging writer, but more importantly he was a careful one. Events are documented and credit is meticulously given, making this a relatively reliable family history book. If you have family from the Burragorang, even if you are not related to the Pearces, Shoobridges, Kerswells, Kings, Maxwells, Hunts or Keefes, try to find a copy of "Rabbit Hot, Rabbit Cold" for a view of Valley life. Owen also mentioned a lot of Valley people who weren't from these families, so you never know...

If anyone can put me in touch with Owen's family, I'd be really pleased.

Enough of the book review.

Philip Keefe/Keeffe and Margaret Daly/Daley
Philip was born in County Kerry, Ireland, in 1797. There is an alternate birth year of 1799, but that comes from only one source. The other sources back 1797. Owen Pearce says Philip came from a large farming family. In 1820 Philip, Darby and John Mulcahy and  one other were arrested for sheep stealing. Tried at Kerry, they were found guilty and sentenced to seven years' transportation to New South Wales. Although Philip's parents petitioned the Irish Government, asking for leniency, none was forthcoming and Philip left Ireland on 16 June 1821, bound for Sydney via Rio de Janiero. The transport was the John Barry 2, captained by Roger Dobson. Daniel McNamara was the ship's surgeon. For someone who could neither read nor write, letters were to play quite a part in Philip's life, although few of them ever did him any good.

The ship's muster listed Philip's age as 22, giving a calculated birth date of 1799. I can't find other documents that agree with this.

During the voyage, on the night of 18 August 1821 the convicts were unusually rowdy, and a drunk guard discharged his musket "point-blank into the prison" (Rabbit Hot, p309). The prisoners increased their noise (no surprise), the other guards panicked and they also fired their muskets into the prison. It is a miracle that only three prisoners were wounded, and none died, despite two of the three being seriously wounded. The guard who started it was arrested. The John Barry docked in Sydney on 7 November 1821.

On disembarkation, Philip was assigned to the Government, to work in the Rooty Hill area. Government convicts were generally the fittest, those deemed best able to build the colony (often literally). In 1823 he was assigned to a Frederick Murphy and then in February 1824 to John Lacy of Parramatta. In January 1825 Lacey requested permission for Philip to be put in charge of cattle being run on land in the Wollondilly at "a spot known by the native name of Brimmillo". This is in the Lower Burragorang Valley. John Lacy, his family and convict servants were the first European setttlers in the Lower Burragorang, and Philip was amongst them, tending to the dairy herd.

Lacy was happy with Philip's work and wrote to the Colonial Secretary in November 1825 requesting that Philip and three other convicts be granted land adjoining his own (or perhaps he was merely seeking to control more land through his convict servants - personally, I would rather think well of him). Request denied.

1827 Certificate of Freedom for Philip Keefe

1827 and a Certificate of Freedom, which was only granted after correspondence between John Lacy and the Colonial Secretary. Note the year of birth, 1797. After he was freed, Philip applied again for land adjoining Lacy's. Again he was unsuccessful. Lacy continued to employ him, and paid him wages in money and in stock. Money was a bit of a rare commodity at times, so payment in goods was not unusual. Mid 1831, having had his land application turned down, Philip went further up the Burragorang, finally securing three blocks of land (to a total of  170 acres) on the Cox's River. According to Owen Pearce, this land later became part of Strathmore, owned by the McMahon family.

Previously owned by Philip Keefe. Strathmore: Thomas McMahon in foreground with impressive whiskers. About 1903. Photo courtesy of Blue Mountains City Library

More letters. Poor Philip couldn't get the deeds to his land as there was a dispute over which Police Division the land fell into. John Lacy handled the correspondence, but nothing much was decided. Bureaucracy has always had a knack for dragging its feet.

Meanwhile, Philip Keefe got on as well as he could, clearing his land, building fences and a house, farming and running his cows and pigs. He also applied for permission to marry. It took 10 months for permission to be granted, and Margaret Daly, aged 25 years, of the transport Palambam, became Mrs Keefe on 22 December 1831. I don't know if she was assigned or requested, if they had met before they were married and if so how.

Margaret was Irish and Catholic, like Philip, but hailed from County Cork. She had worked as a dairy maid, but was found guilty in 14 August 1830 of stealing clothes. She was sentenced to seven years' transportation and arrived in Sydney on 31 July 1831. Two convicts had died on the voyage.

Initially Margaret was assigned to HC Antill, but I don't know what her duties were. Winter in Australia, while it can be cold, is not like winter in Ireland. Margaret may have thought the weather quite pleasant. But then came summer, and a new husband, and a new home, down in the Burragorang. I often wonder what she thought of it all.

Philip and Margaret had between six and nine children together over the next ten years. I can find records for five, but with the family illiterate and the Valley quite isolated, it is not surprising that some were unregistered. Letters written for Philip and Margaret over the years also state different numbers of children, first nine and then eight. Maybe some died or maybe, as Owen Pearce suggests, counting was a problem. Either way, time marched on and still the matter of the Deeds was not resolved. John Lacy continued to write letters for the family, trying to sort things out (see why I want to think well of him?), but to no avail. Letters were returned, each body claiming to not have responsibility or jurisdiction. Margaret's Certificate of Freedom was granted in 1838, but still the family's fortunes did not change. Instead, they were set to become worse.

Margaret Daly's Certificate of Freedom 1838

In 1841 Philip suffered a severe stroke which left him paralysed down one side and unable to work the farm. With no means of producing food or of gaining income, the family faced starvation. John or possibly Timothy Lacy penned a letter for Philip to Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales and Philip signed said letter with a cross. It laid out the predicament, put forward Philip's desire to sell his land in order to feed his children and begged for "merciful consideration" and the Governor's intervention. Again the Keefes were met with, as Owen Pearce puts it, "red tape and buck passing" (Rabbit Hot, p.312).

However, on 21 February of 1842, George Gipps came good and the land was duly recorded as Philip's. There are two records in the Register of Land Grants and Leases. The first is for 120 acres in Cook "at Black's Hollow near Burragoraang situated on the North side of Cox's River...promised to John Farrell on or before the 31st March 1821 and 10th may 1824... and advertiased at his request in favour of the said Philip Keefe as No.204 in the Government notice dated 7th November 1838 and the Deed now prepared in his name in pursuance thereof" and 50 acres "Being the land promised to William Danley or Danaly on or before the 18th November 1825...on or before 18th November 1825...advertised in favor of the said Philip Keefe at the request of the Promisee as No.203 in the Government notice dated 7th November 1838 and the Deed now prepared in his name in pursuance thereof".

So the land was securely his, yet Philip didn't sell any of it. I don't know if he offered it for sale and found no takers, or if he just held onto the land once he had the Deeds.

And now things get murky. The bald facts are as follows:
In the second half of 1842, Philip and his cousin Francis killed a bullock that had strayed from a neighbour, Joseph Story. They shared the meat and buried hide and head in Philip's paddock behind his house. A local, already under suspicion of cattle duffing, turned in the cousins to the police and personally led the police to where the hide and head were buried.

But it can't be that simple. Philip was paralysed down one side, he was unable to work. How on earth did he help kill a bullock? Francis was a trouble-maker and an inciter to crime (I'll get to him when I can work out just how many Tickets of Leave he was awarded and lost), and he liked to avoid trouble for himself wherever possible. He was also not above shopping others to save his own skin. I suspect it was his idea to bury the evidence on Philip's farm, possibly on the grounds that Philip's family had the more desparate need of the meat, even though he took his share. Did Philip even know where the remains were? And if so, did he object or just go along with it? And what could he have done to stop Francis burying the evidence on his land?

Then there is the question of how the informant knew so much. Had he helped with it all and then seen an opportunity to take some of the heat off himself for his other misdemeanours? Had he been initially instrumental in the bullock "straying" in the first place? Had Francis ticked him off so he took a course of petty revenge?

It probably isn't possible to uncover the truth in all this, but regardless of where the truth lay, it meant harder times for Margaret and the children, and death for Philip.

Part 2 coming up.

Matters of Conviction

Long, long time between posts. Sorry, guys.

Most of us of Anglo descent in Australia have convicts in our families. It used to be a point of shame. After all, these people had broken the law and been forcibly removed from society. Their arrival in Australia was a matter of punishment, not choice. And who wanted to admit to a criminal in the family?

My grandmother was always very proud of the fact that her grandmother was a free settler who arrived in South Australia, a colony that did not have convicts. She never told us that her grandfather was the son of a convict. That was kept very quiet.

Convicts going to work nr. Sidney N.S. Wales, Edward and James Backhouse, 1842. State Library of Tasmania

How things have changed. Now there is a certain cachet in claiming convict ancestors. A vicarious thrill, perhaps? Or a pride in being part of the beginnings of this country, albeit involuntarily, particularly if you can claim a First Fleeter. I get that, I feel that (the latter). But it all seems to come with a certain amount of romanticising. We are all familiar with the idea of the wrongful conviction, or the plea of "they were driven to it". When you talk to people, so many convicts seem to have been sent out for stealing a loaf of bread. But go and look at the records and a different picture emerges. Yes, there were clear cases of stealing to survive, grabbing some food to feed the starving family, but that was not all that was being taken, and the reason for the crime was not always so pitiable. Clothes were a popular target, along with household items and linen. These were largely taken to resell, and not all thefts were from the rich. There are few real Robin Hoods in real life. Then there was the theft of animals - sheep stealing and the like. Counterfeiting, or "coining" was also a common offence. And don't forget assault. Quite a number of our convict ancestors were violent thugs or career criminals. Whether crimes could be justified or not, there was little that was romantic about any of it.

Undeniably there was poverty, no social welfare, and if you think the workhouse was an option, go and actually read "Oliver Twist". Life for the lower classes was hard and tough and cruel. But not everyone resorted to crime to get by. There was a concept of right and wrong, and people strove to do the right thing. For those who took the lower path, transportation rather than hanging gave the convicted a second chance and many found that they could do the right thing when the opportunity arose. What they achieved here was remarkable.

Almost all my convict ancestors I have found did commit an offence. Whether or not the punishment was proportionate is another matter entirely, but the fact remains that they were guilty. I say almost all because there is one clearly wrongful conviction and one that is very suspicious, but all the others definitely deserved their day in court.

I have had to accept my family's convict past. Unlike my grandmother I have no trouble doing so. It is a fact of history and that is all there is to it. Quite frankly, it is a surprise to find a free settler when I go looking, the number of convicts far outweighs them. And convicts leave a wonderful paper trail to follow.

So, over the next little while I am intending to write about some of my convict ancestors. Some stories will be more sketchy than others, that's the way of family history. We will see what comes out.