Snippet 2 - You are a Convict so you marry the Children of other Convicts - Thomas Henry Alcock (1799-1856)

SNIPPET OF FAMILY HISTORY  -  No. 2

"We are born with a History, and we live to tell another Story." (Warren Maloney)

YOU'RE A CONVICT SO YOU MARRY THE CHILDREN OF OTHER CONVICTS

 (A family history snippet wriiten on 3 January 2019)

The life of Thomas Henry Alcock (1799-1856) encapsulates the “taking of chances” that brought our Australian family history together.

Tommy Alcock was born in Dublin, the 2nd of 7 children in a Catholic merchant-class family. But Tommy could not settle. He was a rambler, an “urger and a chancer”.  

In his teens, he tried his hand as a shoemaker, a farm labourer, and as a pawnbroker. It was the last that got him into police trouble. Just after his 21st birthday, he was convicted of stealing a decanter and sentenced to 7 years transportation.

The 21 years old lad with ruddy complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes arrived on the convict ship “Almorah” in Sydney Town in January 1821.

He served his 7 years largely in Newcastle, before trying his luck with the land grants being offered to “ticket of leave men” in Van Diemen’s Land.

Within 2 years in 1829, he had wooed the 17 years old Honora McGowan[1], the Irish-born daughter of the convict, James McGowan[2]. There was 13 years difference in their ages.

Over the next 2 years, they had a girl & a boy, but Honora died in childbirth in 1833, aged 21 years.

What is an ex-Convict farmer to do with 2 children under 3 years of age? There was only one thing to do – find another wife!

He turned to the 19 years old Anne McShane[3], an Irish-born youngest daughter of another convict, Michael McShane[4]. Anne had also arrived as a child seeking her father after her mother had died.

Despite the 16 years difference in ages, Tom Alcock offered the security of a house and farm, and an understanding of being an Irish Catholic[5] in an English Penal Colony. To the existing 2 children, Tom and Anne added 8 more over the next 22 years, the last being born 4 months after Tom’s death.

The “chancer” lad from Dublin turned his life around in Van Diemen’s Land, becoming a wealthy farmer, a Church Warden, and a father of 10. Indeed, he achieved a lifestyle and an economic prosperity that was probably not possible in Ireland.

By the time of his death, the Irish people, his siblings and cousins, were in the throes of the Great Irish Famine.

By the 1850s, the Alcocks and the McGowans and the McShanes were starting to become the foundations of the family’s Australian history.

P.S. One of Tom’s sons, George Finian Alcock, became a famous racehorse jockey and owner – but that is another story for another day.

 

[1] Honora McGowan (m. Alcock) (1812-1833)

[2] James McGowan (1788-1862) had paid for his wife and 4 children to migrate to Hobart in 1823

[3] Anne McShane (m. Alcock) (1816-1907)

[4] Michael McShane (1768-1850), the older brother of Hugh McShane

[5] Catholic marriages were not tolerated in Van Diemen’s Land until 1840


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