Mary Frost

75

iain Frazier on 18th May 2024

Family connections for Mary (Frost) possibly are: FROST Mary (Frost) was born on 17 8 1750/61. She was tried for breaking entering & stealing wearing apparel of John (Betts) & separately of William (Pollington) at Thetford/Norwich Norfolk Assizes on 19 3 1789, sentenced to be hanged reduced to 7years & arrived in NSW on 28 6 1790 after a voyage of 6months on NEPTUNE; a voyage noted for extreme brutality of prisoners with a high death rate. She was sent to Norfolk Island in December 1790 - [Ref:'Exiled...' shows she arrived on Norfolk Island on 7 8 1790 on SURPRISE] where she married Joshua (Peck) in November 1791 in group ceremony there & produced perhaps 9children. On 30 3 1793 she returned to Port Jackson on CHESTERFIELD/KITTY with her family to Prospect. She was Free by Servitude by 1798. In about 1803 she returned to Norfolk Island with her family. She is recorded in February 1805 as convict expired on stores on Norfolk Island. She left Norfolk Island with her family as part of the first evacuation on 25 12 1807 on HMS PORPOISE to Derwent Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), arriving on 17 1 1808, to New Norfolk. By 1819 she & her family were living in Northern Tasmania. After 1821, when her husband & sons were inprisoned, she moved to Pattersons Plains & lived with her daughter Elizabeths family. In 1845 she provided evidence in the dispute between her progeny over ownership of the Elizabeth St Hobart property; also claimed by a Mrs Elizabeth (Reynolds) by right of Joseph (Molloy)s Will & which resulted in her nephew James receiving the property. She died on 14 11 1847 at 'Curramore' White Hills age96 mother of 7children & was buried at St Peters Pattersons Plains; she was later moved to family vault at St Peters Cemetery Leonards. [Some details taken from this Website; where an entry for Frances (Frost) is also found] [Noted a Mary (Frost) is recorded in Ref:'People...' as marrying/having relationships with firstly an unknown, secondly Robert (Frost) & thirdly Joshua (Peck), indicating again the difficulty in clarifying direct relationships. Joshua (Peck/Peek) was born on 17 8 1755/6/66. He was tried for stealing clothing from Colonel John (Simcoe Governor of Upper Canada) in Exeter court in March 1786 & dismissed. He was again tried for stealing a cloth coat etc of John (Scudding) & Robert (Turpin) & breaking entering stealing silvercastors etc of Sarah (Mitchell) at Devon Lent Assizes Exeter on 20 3 1786, sentenced to 7years for stealing only, held on hulk DUNKIRK at Portsmouth Harbour & arrived in Botany Bay NSW as a convict on 26 1 1788 after a voyage of 8.5months on First Fleet ship SCARBOROUGH-although it seems he may have been on CHARLOTTE (in same grouping of ships as stated in Ref:'Exiled...') or FRIENDSHIP; he was described as tolerable decent & orderly. He was assigned to assist medical staff at laboratory tent Port Jackson, where he was charged & acquitted for stealing hospital wine & being drunk in July 1788. On 2 10 1788 he was sent to Norfolk Island on GOLDEN GROVE, arriving on 10 10 1788. He had a Sydney Town lot by 1791. In December 1791 he was appointed to night watch at Grenville Vale & received 12acres & 2sows 'as a deserving convict to enable him to work in his leisure time. On 30 3 1793 he returned to Port Jackson on KITTY/CHESTERFIELD with his family. He was granted 30acres at Prospect Hill on 20 2 1794, to which he added 20/50acres at Toongabbie in May 1797. He was Free by Servitude by 1796. In 1803 he sold his property to pay debts & returned to Norfolk Island with his family. He is recorded as a labourer on stores in February 1805 on Norfolk Island. In August 1807 he had 25acres & off stores & left Norfolk Island with his family as part of the first evacuation (for which volunteers apparantly had been called with appropriate compensation offerred & for which he may have tried to decline as some successful farmers were asked to stay) on 25 12 1807 on HMS PORPOISE to Derwent Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), arriving on 17 1 1808. He was granted 45acres at New Norfolk & in 1809 had 55acres there. By 1819 he & his family were living in Northern Tasmania. In June 1821 he & sons William, Joshua & Thomas were convicted of stealing Government sheep, from a stockyard on Camden Plains 9miles from Launceston & 3/4mile from where the (Peck)s were living, & sentenced to 14years to be served at Newcastle NSW. He arrived in Newcastle on 6 6 1821 on JUPITER. In 1824 he was to receive 60stolen sheep (he had earlier received 40sheep) from William (Davis) before the sheep were discovered by authorities. He died on 24 2 1825 age65/9 at Newcastle & was buried at Edwards Cutting/Christ Church Newcastle. [Some details taken from this Website] Details of Joshua (Peck)s family are given in entry for Joshua (Peck/Peek SCARBOROUGH/CHARLOTTE 1788) on this Website. REFERENCES Craig James Smee 'Births and Baptisms Marriages and Defacto Relationships Deaths and Burials New South Wales 1788-1830' ..a complete listing from church & other records in the early colony. Irene Schaffer & Thelma McKay 'Exiled Three Times Over! Profiles of Norfolk Islanders Exiled in Van Diemens Land 1807-1813' James Hugh Donohoe 'Norfolk Island 1788-1813-The People and Their Families' Reg Wright 'Forgotten Generation of Norfolk Island & Van Diemens Land'

2

Peter Anderson on 7th January 2023

The birth date is likely too early as she had her last child James Peck in 1808 making her 58 years old and this is unlikely. There was a Mory Frost baptized 5 August 1764 in Necton Norfolk near where she committed her crimes. That would make her 41 years old when she had he last child and around 21 years old when she was sentenced.

54

Phil Hands on 27th February 2018

Mary Frost was committed on the 19th March 1789 at the Norfolk Assizes, charged with breaking into a dwelling house of John Betts, of Hoe and felonously stole 1 linen gown, two linen caps, a small quantity of flour,two pieces of lace and two pieces of ribband. She also broke into a house owned by William Pollington of Great Ellingham and stole and took away wearing apparel (to wit) two cottongowns, two stuff petticoats, two silk hankerchiefs, one lawnhankerchiefs, one pair cotton stockings, two muslin hankerchiefs, one lawn hankerchief, one silk hood, one cloth cloak, one silk hat, onewoollen apron, two check aprons and two white aprons the property of MaryPollington. She was sentenced to death by hanging. She was later reprieved to seven years transportation and was sent to London and was embarked on the 'Neptune' Left Portsmouth on 19th January 1790. Ship:- the 'Neptune' sailed with 428 male and 78 female convicts on board of which 147 male convicts and 11 female convicts died during the voyage, by far the worst recorded death rate from one vessel during the whole of the transportation period. The Neptune was a ship of horrors. It was built as a slaver, and the conditions on board were barbaric. Of the 1,000 convicts who were to be transported, the Neptune carried the majority – 428 males and 78 females. Deaths during the voyage from scurvy, dysentery, floggings or infectious fever were recorded as 147 males and 11 females. The reek of decaying flesh and overturned slop buckets meant that death was, literally, a breath-taking experience. Prisoners often concealed dead bodies so as to make use of their rations – until the stench of a rotting corpse alerted their jailers. Mary must have wondered if death really was a fate worse than life. Arrived on 28th June 1790. Married convict Joshua Peck ('Scarborough' 1788) in 1791 at Norfolk Island, they had 9 children between 1792-1808. The Pecks returned to Sydney on the Kitty' in March 1793, and received land grants at Toongabbie in 1794 and 1797. They sold their land in NSW in 1803 and appear to have arrived back at Norfolk Island in that year. Spending the next 4 years there until they departed on the 'Porpoise', which left Norfolk Island 25th December 1807 and arrived at Hobart 17th January 1808. Some of the younger children were baptized in Hobart in 1808. They were still in the Hobart area 1811. By 1819 they were living in Northern Tasmania and were recorded in the muster of that year and the next. Then came a new encounter with the law. In 1821 - Joshua and three of his sons, William, Joshua Jr. and Thomas, were convicted of stealing Government sheep and sentenced to 14 years transportation to Newcastle in New South Wales Sydney Gazette 7 July 1821 Joshua Peck the elder, William Peck, Joshua Peck the younger and Thomas Peck were placed on trial charged with feloniously killing 10 sheep the property of our Lord the King. The prisoners were in this case father and three sons, the younger about 15 years of age. All were transported to Newcastle Settlement for 14 years. Eldest son Willam became involved with bad company in his early twenties, his name was associated with the bushranger Michael Howe in 1817. After many arrests and escapes he was eventually sent for trial in New South Wales in August 1817. On returning to Port Dalrymple he was again sentenced and sent to Newcastle in 1821, from where he again escaped and when recaptured sent to Macquarie Harbour. He died there from an accident on 25th February 1823. Third child, John, was tried at Hobart 3rd June 1824 for receiving sheep stolen by John Anderson from John Jones at Big Lagoon near Jericho and acquitted, but he was convicted of a similar charge a few months later and sentenced to 14 years at Macquarie Harbour where his brother would have been at the same time. He survived those extreme conditions and died in 1872 at the age of 80 and is buried in the family vault at St. Leonards. Joshua Peck Snr never returned from his incarseration, he died at the Newcastle Settlement on 24th February 1825 age 69. Mary remained in Tasmania dying there at White Hills on 14th November 1847 at the age of 97.

4

MRS JUDITH HIATT on 3rd December 2012

Married Joshua PECK on Norfolk Island in 1791:born in Hoe Norfolk UK: died Curramore White Hills Tasmania aged 97 years