Alexander O'neil

Alexander O'Neil, one of 200 convicts transported on the Runnymede, 11 November 1839

Name, Aliases & Gender

Name:	Alexander O'neil
Aliases:	none
Gender:	m

Birth, Occupation & Death

Date of Birth:	4th February, 1828
Occupation:	Sawyer
Date of Death:	9th August, 1907
Age:	79 years

Life Span

Male median life span was 56 years*

* Median life span based on contributions

Conviction & Transportation

Sentence Severity

Sentenced to 10 years

Crime:	Breaking and entering and stealing
Convicted at:	Perth Court of Justiciary
Sentence term:	10 years
Ship:	Runnymede
Departure date:	11th November, 1839
Arrival date:	28th March, 1840
Place of arrival	Van Diemen's Land
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 199 other convicts

References

Primary source:	Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 91, Class and Piece Number HO11/12, Page Number 121 (62)
Source description:	This record is one of the entries in the British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project.

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Community Contributions

Kay on 21st February, 2019 wrote:

Alexander, born in Paisley, Scotland and whose parents had both died prior to his conviction, may have been stealing just to survive.
The youngest of 5 children, he probably never saw his siblings again.
On leaving England, he was 11 years old, 130cms tall, had blue eyes, light brown hair, red eyebrows and a fair complexion.
During his ‘stay’ at Point Puer at Point Arthur he was often given a few lashes of the whip and occasionally, solitary confinement without bread or water.
At the age of 21 he was given his ‘Certificate of Freedom’ and appeared to have carried on his work as a Sawyer and Labourer.
He married Mary Ann McBride on November 29, 1852 but the marriage didn’t last, or maybe Mary Ann died. Alexander then met Elizabeth Wood, a nurse and a fellow convict, 8 years his junior. She was from Edinburgh and had also been convicted of stealing, at age 17 and sent to Tasmania for ‘Seven years’.
These are my maternal great,great grandparents.
They had 8 children, the first, Henry, was born to Elizabeth and a James Devine a year before she met Alexander, a relationship which hadn’t survived.
The spelling of the last 3 children’s surname was spelt as O’Neal, possibly by the registrar?
They eventually married at the Presbyterian Manse in Hobart on April 19, 1883, with neither stating they had been married before. (Elizabeth had married, at around 21 years of age, a Joseph Tillotson, a cabinetmaker from Leeds, England. He had been convicted of shoplifting and sentenced to ‘14 years imprisonment’.
They had a few further dealings with the law over time and Elizabeth was now a midwife. They lived near Molesworth on 25 acres at ‘Arms on Count’.
Alexander died in 1907 aged 79, from ‘senilis’ and Elizabeth in 1923 at age 86.
They are buried in the Cornelian Bay cemetery and a plaque has been placed on the grave by family.

Convict Changes History

Kay on 21st February, 2019 made the following changes:

surname: O'neil (prev. O'Neil), date of birth: 4th February, 1828 (prev. 0000), date of death: 9th August, 1907 (prev. 0000), gender: m, occupation, crime