ANOTHER GOOD LUCK STORY. And
WAS HENRY ROWLEY THE LAST CHILD OF CPT THOMAS ROWLEY?
I always read with envy, the stories people relate in this wonderful magazine. They always seem to overcome immense odds to solve a baffling mystery. My piece of luck arrived at our Genealogy Society in the form a microfische. Thanks to the diligent efforts of our secretary, we have enlarged our mailing list to swap magazines with more FH groups. One of these is the Liverpool Dist. FHS in NSW. We then purchased one of their recent projects: Index of The Parish Register of All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Liverpool. 1830 to 1870 approximately, I forget.
What was significant was that it included baptisms and marriages not found on the NSW BDM Index. What a find. There I located the next link down the line for my research of the ROWLEY name. Family tradition had it that my maternal grandfather, Sydney Alexander ROWLEY b.1885, was descended from Cpt Thomas ROWLEY, 102 Regiment, NSW Corps., who died in 1806. Quite a few people have done thorough investigations on this noted historical figure. When I began with a few names of descendants of Thomas and tried to link them to my great grandfather, William Henry ROWLEY (b.1841 Broulee), the connection did not match.
I knew from the NSW Index that William Henry’s father was Henry, whose wife was Mary Ann. William Henry’s death certificate gave his mother’s name as Mary Ann MURPHY. But, nowhere did a Henry ROWLEY marry a Mary Ann MURPHY. The death certificate of Henry (1873, Gulgong) stated that his father was Henry also and his mother was Elizabeth SULLIVAN. Henry was said to be born in Sydney about 1806, and his father was a ‘colonal in the army’.
Then the wonderful find. Henry ROWLEY married Mary Ann MURPHY at Liverpool, All Saints R C Church in 1839. He was also baptised at the same time. He stated that his father was THOMAS, not Henry, and his mother Elizabeth SULLIVAN (could that be his version of SELWYN, the name of Cpt Thomas’s wife.??). He states that he was born in the colony in 1806. At the time of the marriage, Henry and Mary Ann both live at Holsworthy, which included the land grants and purchases of Cpt Thomas. But there is more.!
Cpt.Thomas Rowley died in May 1806, having made a will in February 1805 stating that his five children, ‘natural born’, ‘of her body’, should benefit from his estate, and Elizabeth SELWYN should receive a stipend as long as she did not remarry or cohabit. She was only about 16 years of age when she had her first child, and only about 30 years old when Thomas died. The executors were Major Johnstone and John Harris Esquire. Probate was finally granted to John Harris in 1828. The five offspring known at the time of his will were:
Isabella, born in the colony in November 1792, the year of arrival of Thomas and Elizabeth, on the HMS ‘Pitt’ (February).
Thomas, born 1794
John, born 1797, possibly on Norfolk Island,
Mary, born 1800-01, and
Eliza, born on 25 April 1804, while the family lived at Newtown.
In 1824, Henry ROWLEY wrote to the Governor, as a free settler, ‘born in the colony in 1806’, asking for the usual land grant. The request was granted later in the same year, with a parcel of land being allotted. The letter was co-signed by Rev Cartwright of Liverpool. Around the same time, John and Thomas made a similar request.
In the newly-released records of the 1823-1825 Muster, Elizabeth ROWLEY is said to the mother of Elisa and Henry, both born in the colony. It is noticed that Eliza (daughter of Cpt Thomas and Elizabeth (SELWYN) didn’t marry till 1826, in which case she would still have been in the care of her mother, being about 19 years old. Henry, by his own estimation, both in 1824 and at his marriage in 1839, would have been born in 1806, and therefore also still in the care of his mother, even though he would have been aged about 18 years. It is possible then that Elizabeth ROWLEY, widow, has in her care, her last two children, Eliza and Henry, the latter being born too late to include in his father’s will. In fact, Henry could have been born after his father died. In the 1828 census, Betsey ROWLEY, (Elizabeth SELWYN) is living with Henry BRIGGS and his wife, Eliza (ROWLEY) at Petersham.
In 1830, there is a deal of correspondence filed with the Colonial Secretary regarding the request of Henry ROWLEY (born in the Colony / age 23) to marry Margaret ELLEMS (ELLAMS, ELMS) per ‘Harmony’, age 27. Margaret was in the employ of Mr. Henry BRIGGS, (husband of Eliza ROWLEY since 1826) and sometime in 1830 (Oct 14) in service to James CURTIS. The latter says that she is ‘well conducted’ and gives her permission to marry. John LUCAS, another brother-in-law, recommends Henry ROWLEY, saying that he is ‘industrious’.
Henry BRIGGS (brother-in-law of Henry ROWLEY?) states that he opposes the marriage because of his high esteem for Margaret, and the fact that Henry ROWLEY is a waster of his father’s money, lives off the goodness of others and has no means of income.
"I beg further to state that the said Henry Rowley by his bad conduct towards his Father has brought him to distress and misery having wasted the whole of his father’s little property."
(When Briggs makes the above statement, it would appear that Rowley’s father is still living. I have yet to explain the above comment. )
It would seem that the young Henry ROWLEY has not endeared himself to the family. The marriage does not take place. At this time, Henry is said to live at the bottom of Brickfield Hill (going down to Camperdown?). He is, about this time, assigned the services of government servants John SMITH and Ellen RYAN. Maybe they are to work his property.
By the time Henry and Mary have their first child, Elizabeth Margaret, in December 1839, they live at Philip St, Sydney. He is said to be a carpenter. Mary Ann must have been at least two months pregnant when they married, if the dates on documents are correct.
For some unknown reason, they move to the south coast of NSW by 1841, where William Henry is born and christened at Broulee. The last child, John Thomas (1) is born in Sydney in 1850.
As yet, the life of Mary Anne MURPHY remains a mystery. No details of her parents, her birth or death have been found. It is possible she died in Sydney about 1851, maybe even in childbirth with John Thomas.
Do you think that Henry ROWLEY is the last child of Captain Thomas ROWLEY, or should I look elsewhere?
PS. Even when you find information in the BDM index, there is a reasonable chance of error. I had a Mary C ROWLEY, ‘Polly’, born 1878 to William Henry and Mary Ann. She had a dozen siblings, most of whom I could trace using the BDM index. I couldn’t find the marriage or death of Mary C. Then just recently, after six months of correspondence and procrastinating, I obtained a whole file of her brother, John Thomas ROWLEY, who died at Gladesville Mental Hospital in 1927. Among the information included was a list of visitors. One visitor was Mrs Mary McDONOUGH, sister. When I went back to the Federation Index I found LARY C ROWLEY married Kemple McDONOUGH in 1900 at Gulgong. I had seen the entry many times, assumed that Kemple was a female name, and had no connection to my family. Obviously there was some typo and Lary C should have read MARY C.
So, for you who hesitate to spend big dollars for information (mine cost nearly $50), sometimes it is really worth it. And watch out for typos !!!!