Summary
Personal Information
Crime
Voyage
Transportation
Sarah Pierce was transported on the Nile, Canada And Minorca, departing 31st May 1801 and arriving 14th Dec 1801 with 305 passengers.
Nile, Canada And Minorca (generic)References
| Primary Source | Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 87, Class and Piece Number HO11/1, Page Number 298 |
| 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 Pro |
| Original Source | Great Britain. Home Office |
| Compiled By | State Library of Queensland |
| Database Source | British convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database |
Claims
No one has claimed Sarah Pierce yet.
Photos
No photos have been added for Sarah Pierce.
Convict Notes
Family connections for Sarah (Pierce) are: PIERCE Sarah (Pierce/Pearce) was born about 1781 in Hampshire. She had a first (1of4) relationship & produced 1child:>>> [Some details taken from this Website] 1.John (Pearce/Pierce?) was born in 1798 at Winchester gaol Hampshire & was brought to Botany Bay NSW by his mother on 14 12 1801 after a voyage of 6months on Fleet ship NILE. He assumed/was given the surname (Douglas). He received food rations from the government after the Hawkesbury floods in June 1809. He & halfbrothers Thomas & Phillip were charged with a variety of crimes in the 1820s. He married Sophie (Thomas) & moved to Sans Souci/Botany Bay and became a fisherman. ..Noted a John (Pearce) died on 29 1 1809 & was buried at St Phillips CofE Sydney. .. >>>Sarah (Pierce/Pearce?) was tried for breaking entering & stealing at Winchester Assizes Hampshire on 5 3 1799or1800, sentenced to hanging reprieved to Life, held at Winchester Gaol & after giving birth was sent to the docks & & arrived at Botany Bay NSW as a convict with her child on 14 12 1801 after a voyage of 6months on Fleet ship NILE; she was Protestant. She seems to have had a second (2of4) relationship on the ship & produced a child while living with her third (3of4) relationship Thomas (Reynolds his first relationship); with whom she conceived 2more children.>>> [Thomas (Reynolds) was born about 1768. He was tried at Dublin Ireland in 1799, sentenced to 7years & arrived in NSW on 30 10 1802 after a voyage of 5months on ATLAS (confusingly, I wasn't aware that 2ATLASs arrived in 1802); he was Catholic. He had a second relationship with Mary (Nuttle age about15 her second relationship) from 1805 whom he later married. He was Free by Servitude by 1809. He married Mary (Nuttle) on 9 7 1821 at St Marys RC Sydney. He seems to have had a successful life with grants & assistance being recorded on his page on this Website. He is recorded as a wheelwright living at Pitt St Sydney in 1828. He produced perhaps 9children in his lifetime. [Some details taken from this Website] .. >>>Sarah (Pierce/Pearce) had a fourth relationship with Thomas (Douglas) & produced 9children She settled at Windsor in 1805. She is recorded in 1806 with Ticket of Leave & living with Thomas (Douglas) & 3children. He settled in Richmond in 1815. She is recorded in 1828 with her family. She died on 27 8 1851 age71 mother of perhaps 12children. Thomas (Douglas) was born about 1768/71. He was tried w/1other for horse stealing at Hertford Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions on 13 7 1795, sentenced to 7years & arrived in NSW as a convict on 14 12 1801 after a voyage of 6months on CANADA; he became a sawyer. He settled at Windsor in 1805. He is recorded in 1806 living with Sarah (Pierce) & 3children. He was Free by Servitude by 1808 (Certificate of Freedom no.531). He settled in Richmond in 1815. He was recorded in 1822 as a landholder at Windsor, in 1825 as living at Richmond & in 1828 as a labourer at Richmond with his family. He died on 8 1 1856 age88. [Some details taken from this Website] Reference: 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.
EDIT to my entry above. Sarah's transportation to the Colony was delayed because she was pregnant. Once John was born, both were sent from Winchester Hants Gaol to the ship Nile. The father of John is unknown, as is the father of the second son, Thomas Pearce. Both boys took the surname of their step-father Thomas Douglas in later life.
Sarah Pearce was born in 1781 in Hampshire. She was convicted at Winchester Assizes for breaking, entering and stealing and sentenced to hanging on 5 Mar 1799. This was later commuted to life imprisonment with transportation. In June 1801 she was transported to Sydney aboard the ship ‘Nile’ . Sarah and her son John, arrived in Botany Bay on board the Nile on 14 Dec 1801. Sarah gives birth to another son on 15 December and as she is not married the child has to take her surname. She names him Thomas Rennalls Pearce and the baptism record states the father is Rennalls Pearce. This is confusing. At first I thought the boys father might have been Thomas Reynolds, another convict, but I can't find the documents that made me think that. So it is more logical to assume that Thomas Douglas is the boys father. Two years later Sarah has a daughter, Elizabeth 'Duglass' on 15 July 1804, and her baptism records state that the father is 'Reynolds Duglass'. Unfortunately baby Elizabeth is killed by a pig and dies on 17 September 1804. There was a Coroner's inquest, which cleared the acquitted the distracted parent. The animal was shot immediately and burnt by order of the Coroner. The tragedy was reported in The Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser on Sunday 23 September 1804. The 1806 Convict Muster, has Sarah with a Ticket of Leave and living with Thomas Douglas (who arrived on the Canada also in 1801). They settled first in Windsor in 1805 and then in Richmond in 1815 - where they remained until their deaths. Sarah's children - John b 1799, Thomas b 1801, Elizabeth b 1804, Philip b 1806, Maria 1808, Ann 1810, Joseph b 1812, Charlotte b 1814, Sarah b 1816, Henry b 1819, Isaac b 1821, William b 1824. Sarah had 12 children. Three babies died - Elizabeth, Ann and William. The 1828 Census shows Thomas Douglas (60, off the Canada in 1812 but that's a mistake, it was Dec 1801). It also notes Sarah (Pearce, aged 46 off the Nile in 1802, which is also incorrect and should be Dec 1801). It lists the children living at home as Joseph 15, Charlotte 13, and Isaac 7. There are records to show that Sarah's three sons - John, Thomas and Philip received food rations from the government after the Hawkesbury floods in June 1809. These three brothers appeared before the courts on a number of occasions in the 1820's charged with a variety of crimes. Philip died while in jail in 1827 when he was 21. Sarah died on 27 August 1851 at the age of 70. Sarah would be my 5th great grandmother. Her son John while wasn't a blood relation to Thomas Douglas, took his name and that's how my line of the Douglas' continued. John and his wife Sophie Thomas moved to Sans Souci/Botany Bay and because fisherman who were and are still well known in the area. Beverley Nihill
She had a daughter, Elizabeth born 1804, her baptism records that she was the daughter of "Reynold" and Sarah Douglas. Elizabeth appears to have been conceived whilst Sarah Pearce was living with Thomas Reynolds, and born while Sarah was living with Thomas Douglas. She died on 17th September 1804 aged just 2 months Sydney Gazette Sunday 23 Sep 1804: FATAL ACCIDENT. On Monday last an infant of Sarah Pearce, in the Brickfield's experienced a fate the most distressing that can possibly be imagined. The mother on returning home with the little creature in her arms, placed it on the bed, in order that she might her self go in search of two other children, but unhappily after which she closed the door, and secured a young pig also within the house. After a short interval she returned and supposing the child to be asleep, paid no immediate attention to it. Some moments after, to her utter astonishment and horror, she accidentally approached the bed, and there witnessed a spectacle, the horrors of which are not to be conceived. The pig had by some means mounted the bed, and was then in the very act of devouring the child. The mother's shrieks brought the neighbours to bear witness of the calamity, but alas ! too late to render assiistance to the babe ; whose face was torn to pieces and devoured ; the hands of the ill-fated inno- cent were also mangled and destroyed, owing, it is probable, to its incompetent resistance. The same day a Coroner's Inquest was held on the body of the Child, whose Ver- dict was dictated by the terrible circum- stances or its death, and acquitted the dis- tracted parent of any blame whatever. The voracious animal was shot immediately that the Accident was discovered ; and was afterwards burnt by order of the Coroner. It had been given to the poor child by a sponsor on the day of its baptism.
Census 1822: Thomas was free by servitude, had arrived aboard the ship 'Canada' after receiving a sentence of 7 years and was a land holder at Windsor. Pierce, Sarah, free by servitude, Nile, 7 years, gaol, Sydney. Census 1825: Counted were: Sarah Pearce free by servitude per ship 'Nile' in 1801 - with Thomas Douglas at Richmond. Children of Thomas Douglas: Maria 16 born in colony Joseph 11 born in colony Charlotte 9 born in colony Sarah 7 born in colony Isaac 4 born in colony. Census 1825; [Ref D1354] Douglass, Thomas, 60, free by servitude, Canada, 1812, 7 years, labourer, Richmond [Ref 1355] Douglass, Sarah, 46, free by servitude, Nile, 1802, 7 years, Protestant (Surname also Pearce) Douglass, Joseph, 15, born in the colony Douglass, Charlotte, 13, born in the colony Douglass, isaac, 7, born in the colony
Baxter, Carol; Muster of New South Wales, 1806: [Ref A3564] Pearce, Sarah, Nile, P TL, with James? Douglas. (Not sure about the James, unable to find further information) Thomas was a self employed sawyer at the time. [Ref C0961] Nile, Sarah, Pearce, 2 male children and 1 female child. Baxter, Carol; General Muster of New South Wales, 1811: [Ref 4693] Sarah, Pearce, Nile, tried Mar 1800, Winchester, Life. (PRO n3366) Baxter, Carol; General Muster of New South Wales, 1814: [Ref 1673] Pearce, Sarah, Nile, Off Stores, with Thomas Douglas.
Around 1804, Sarah was in a relationship with Thomas Douglas (Convict, Canada, 1801). This relationship was a little longer lasting, although not formalised. The couple would appear to have had 8 or 9 children.
Sarah was probably convicted at Winchester Assizes for breaking, entering and stealing and sentenced to hanging on 5 Mar 1799. This was later commuted to life imprisonment with transportation. She was transported aboard the ship 'Nile' which departed Spithead 21 Jun 1801 and arrived in the colony on 14 Dec 1801. Sarah probably brought her infant son John born about 1798 with her on the voyage. Sarah then appears to have had a very short term relationship with Thomas Reynolds (Convict, Atlas, 1802). A son, Thomas was born 15 December 1802 to Sarah Pearce and baptised at St Philip’s Sydney on 18 April 1803. The baptism entry recorded his father as Thomas Reynolds, however this man appears to have been a convict who arrived in 1802 aboard the Atlas only two months before the child was born. As Thomas Reynolds per Atlas could not have conceived the child it appears likely that an unknown man conceived the child and that Sarah Pearce was living with Thomas Reynolds at the time of his birth or baptism. Sarah appears to have had little if anything to do with Thomas Reynolds from 1804 onwards (Thomas per Atlas Reynolds lived with Mary Nuttle from around 1805 onwards and named a son born in 1811 Thomas).