William Hancy (1766-1830)

Immigration
William Hancy & his family immigrated to the Colony of New South Wales as passengers aboard the convict transport the Minorca arriving on 14 December 1801. Also immigrated at the same time was his elder brother Michael & his family. The Ship had sailed via Rio de Janeiro leaving Spithead (an area in the strait between the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth protected from all winds, except those from the southeast) on 21 June 1801 in convoy with the Canada and the Nile on a voyage that was to last nearly 7 months. The Minorca carried provisions for the Colony, 99 male convicts (5 of whom died during the voyage) and a number of free settlers like the Hancys. The freesettlers were travelling to the Colony of New South Wales on the promise of free land. Land ownership was something that they could not even think of aspiring to in England. The Minorca had sailed from Gravesend arriving at Portsmouth on 27 May 1801. The immigrants are most likely to have been allowed to board the ship at Gravesend rather than find another vessel to transport then to Portsmouth.

Having the immigrants on board tempered the treatment of the convicts and they arrived in New South Wales in better condition than had occured on previous transports.

After arrival of the ships in New South Wales, Governor King wrote back to England:

''Sir, I have the honor to acquaint you of the arrival of the Canada, Minorca and Nile, with the persons and provisions stated in the enclosed account. The passengers were all in good health, and the convicts the healthiest and best conditioned that ever arrived here, being all fit for immediate labour...'' (HRA., Series 1, Vol., 3, p. 379)

Treatment of the convicts may have been better, but it was still harsh. This harsh treatment was something that the passengers could not avoid observing.

A convict James Hardy Vaux later wrote in his memoirs about the voyage:

''In May 1801, after an almost fatal attack of the gaol fever, his father, mother, and sisters took a final leave of him, and he was removed to Gravesend, and put on board the Minorca transport, which lay there with the Canada and Nile bound to Port Jackson. We dare say it will be new to the majority of our readers to learn how persons in this situation are treated; and as the subject has just been raised in the House of Commons, it acquires greater importance...Having entered the ship, we were all indiscriminately stripped (according to indispensable custom), and were saluted with several buckets of salt-water, thrown over our heads by a boatswain's-mate. After undergoing this watery ordeal, we were compelled to put on a suit of slop-clothing. Our own apparel, though good in kind, being thrown overboard. We were then double-ironed, and put between decks, where we selected such births, for sleeping, &c. as each thought most eligible. The next day, we received on board forty-six more prisoners from the Hulks at Woolwich, and the Canada fifty. The Nile also took on board one hundred women, from the different gaols in Great Britain. The three ships then sailed for Spithead where, on our arrival, the Minorca and Canada had their numbers augmented, from the Hulks at Portsmouth, to one hundred men each. Every thing being now in readiness, we only waited for the convoy to assemble, with which we were to proceed to a certain latitude.''

Life before immigrating
Both William and his elder brother Michael both married at St Annes Anglican Church in Soho, London.
 * Michael at about the age of 32 married heavily pregnant Hannah Watts on 10 April 1793. It is not know how old Hannah was, but it guessed that she was about 30.
 * William at about the age of 28 married Sarah MacDonald on 9 November 1794. Sarah was about the age of 26. It is not known if she was pregnant.

William and Michael were both Catholic but they had no choice but to marry in the Anglican Church. The law was such in England at the time that legal marriages could only be performed in the the established church, and couples of all faiths had to have an Anglican marriage service. Many also had another ceremony performed in the church of their faith and it is not known if William and Michael also had a Catholic service.

The heritage of the brothers was Irish Catholic. It is not known, however if they were born in Ireland and immigrated to London as children with their parents or later together as adults, or if they had been born in London. The heritage of their wives was also possibly Irish Catholic. Many Irish Catholics immigrated to England to escape the conditions of poverty in Ireland, and many immigrated to London. MacDonald, although it appears to be a name of Scottish origin, was also a name common to Ireland, as was Watts. All that is known is that both wives were Catholic, or became Catholic.

It is possible to work out approximately when William, Michael, Sarah and Hannah were born, but not where. Many people were born in London, and many immigrated to London from elsewhere in the United Kingdom. There were many people of the same names, and many missing baptism records, even in the established church. As an illegal faith, baptism records for the Catholic church were almost non-existant. Fortunately for anyone studying this family the baptism records for St Patricks Catholic Church in London had been able to improve by the time that William's and Michael's children were born as baptism records exist for some of these children.



Changes of surname by daughters:


 * Catherine Hancy married James Williams in 1818


 * Ann Hancy (1798) married Thomas Woolley in 1816


 * Margaret Hancy married John McLeod in 1827


 * Elizabeth Jane Hancy married Thomas Pendergast in 1828


 * Sophia Hancy married James Pendergast in 1828


 * Charlotte Hancy married William Archibald Ashton about 1833

Establishing who William's children were, and their years of birth
When William immigrated to New South Wales with his family he is recorded as arriving with 3 children. In trying to establish who these 3 children were, and who were the additional children born in New South Wales, other documents need to be consulted. As William & his wife Sarah were Roman Catholic the process is a little more difficult. In the earlyy days of New South Wales the only birth records came from a child's baptism, and baptisms of children into the Catholic faith were not included in the official records. Slowly this began to change, but this began first with the main Catholic Church in Sydney before records in Parramatta, near where William settled, were included. There are therfore no birth records for any of William's children born in the colony.

William & Sarah had 9 children in total

Records of all except one of William's children are found in the Musters & Censuses of New South Wales. That one child is the only child born in England for whom a baptism record has been found, and also the only child born in England who was not able to immigrate as he was already deceased. Little Simeon, William's second child, was baptised in at St Patrick Catholic Church in London on 27 March 1797, but died before the Minorca sailed on 21 June 1801.

Problems in the records

In the death registration for Sarah in 1859 it states that Sarah had 8 children still living when she really only had 7 children living in 1859. The information for her death registration was provided by her son-in-law William Ashton who had married her daughter Charlotte and he had made a mistake. Without the memorials that are referred to below, however, it would have appeared that this information in Sarah's death certificate had instead been correct and that William & Sarah had had 10 children in total, the 10th being a second daughter by the name of Ann botn in 1807. This is because the 1822 & 1825 Musters both have recorded such a daughter. The above records are incorrect. No such second daughter by the name of Ann existed.
 * Ann was recorded in the 1822 Muster. Recorded age 14 = YOB 1807.
 * Ann was recorded in the 1825 Muster. Recorded age 17 = YOB 1807.

A memorial (a request for a land grant) that William wrote to the government on 18 August 1822 reveals the names of William's other 8 children

On 18 August 1822 William wrote a memoral where he stated that he and his wife had arrived free on the Minorca in 1801. They had brought there three children with them "namely Catherine, Ann and Thomas" and had since had another five more children "namely Margaret, Frederick, Elizabeth, Sophia and Charlotte". In two subsequent memorials dated August 1824 & 7 January 1825 he stated that he had a wife and 8 children withour naming them.

The Musters & Censuses of New South Wales reveal additional details about William's other 8 children

In the 1806 Muster of New South Wales William is recorded as having 5 children, suggesting 2 children had been born into the family in the period 1802-1805. Subsequent records, however, show that 3 children were born in this period, and that William had 6 living children at the time of this Muster. How can this be? It was common in the musters not to include infants, especially in the muster of 1805-1806. What was being counted in the Muster was children being sustained either on government stores or by the parent. An infant was being sustained at its mother's breast and was not counted. The youngest of William's 6 children was an infant.


 * (1) Catherine born 1795 in London.
 * Catherine was 1 of the 3 children aboard the Minorca in 1801.
 * Catherine was one of the 5 children counted in the 1806 Muster.
 * Catherine married on 21 March 1818 in an Anglican service in Parramatta. No age was recorded.
 * Catherine was recorded in the 1822 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * Catherine was recorded in the 1825 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * Catherine WAS NOT recorded in the November 1828 Census.
 * Catherine was one of the 7 children living in 1859.
 * Catherine was recorded as 84 years of age at her death on 24 Octobber 1879. This suggests a year of birth of 1795. This agrees with Catherine being William & Sarah's eldest child, born in the year after they married on 9 November 1794.


 * (2) Simeon born in 1797 in about March in London. Deceased before 1801. Refer to above.


 * (3) Ann born 1798 in London.
 * Ann was 1 of the 3 children aboard the Minorca in 1801.
 * Ann was one of the 5 children counted in the 1806 Muster.
 * Ann married on 29 September 1816 in an Anglican Service in Parramatta at the recorded age of 18 = YOB 1798.
 * Ann was recorded in the 1822 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * Ann was recorded in the 1825 Muster. No age was recorded. (Muster also records born in Colony - this was a very common error in the 1825 Muster.)
 * Ann was recorded in the November 1828 Census. PROTESTANT. Recorded age 30 = YOB 1798.
 * Ann was one of the 7 children living in 1859.
 * No record of Ann's death has been found.


 * (4) Thomas born 1800 in London.
 * Thomas was 1 of the 3 children aboard the Minorca in 1801.
 * Thomas was one of the 5 children counted in the 1806 Muster.
 * Thomas was recorded in the 1822 Muster. Recorded age 20. Census data is only a guide as it can be incorrect. In this case the age given cannot be relied upon. He would have been 21. (Muster records born in Colony - this was a very common error in the 1822 Muster.)
 * Thomas was recorded in the 1825 Muster Recorded age 22. PROTESTANT. Census data is only a guide as it can be incorrect. In this case the age given cannot be relied upon. He would have been 25. (Muster born in Colony - this was a very common error in the 1825 Muster.)
 * Thomas was recorded in the November 1828 Census. Recorded age 28 = YOB 1800. (Census also records born in Colony - this was a very common error in the 1828 Census.)
 * Thomas married on 13 February 1832 in a Catholic service at St Marys Sydney. (His wife was Catholic.) No age was recorded. Marriage banns state he was born in London. This was a time when marriages performed at the Catholic Church at Sydney were recorded in the official records.
 * Thomas was one of the 7 children living in 1859.
 * Thomas was recorded born in London and 75 years of age at his death on 17 April 1876. This suggests a year of birth of 1800. This agrees with the age given in the 1828 census.


 * (5) Margaret born 1802 in New South Wales.
 * Margaret was one of the 5 children counted in the 1806 Muster.
 * Margaret was recorded in the 1822 Muster. Recorded age 19 = YOB 1802.
 * Margaret was recorded in the 1825 Muster. Recorded age 23 = YOB 1802.
 * Margaret married on 25 December 1827 in a Presbyterian Service in Sydney at the recorded age of 25 = YOB 1802.
 * Margaret was recorded in the November 1828 Census. PROTESTANT. Recorded age 26 = YOB 1802.
 * Margaret was one of the 7 children living in 1859.
 * No record of Margaret's death has been found.


 * (6) Frederick born 1803 in New South Wales.
 * Frederick was one of the 5 children counted in the 1806 Muster.
 * Frederick was recorded in the 1822 Muster, but no name or age was recorded.
 * Frederick was "about 18" on 27 February 1823 when his father put an advertisement in the newspaper that he was a "Runaway". His father put the advertisemnt in not knowing his sons age. Frederick was "about 18" - he was 19.
 * Frederick was recorded in the 1825 Muster. Recorded age 13. Census data is only a guide as it can be incorrect. In this case the age given cannot be relied upon. He would have been 22.
 * Frederick was recorded in the November 1828 Census. CATHOLIC. Recorded age 25 = YOB 1803.
 * Frederick married on 11 June 1832 in an Anglican Service at Field of Mars. (His wife was Protestant.) No age was recorded.
 * Frederick was one of the 7 children living in 1859.
 * Frederick was recorded as 68 years of age at his death on 18 September 1872. This suggests a year of birth of 1803. This agrees with the age given in the 1828 census.


 * (7) Elizabeth born 1805 in New South Wales.
 * Elizabeth WAS NOT counted in the 1806 Muster. She was an infant.
 * Elizabeth was recorded in the 1822 Muster, but no name or age was recorded.
 * Elizabeth was recorded in the 1825 Muster. Recorded age 19 = YOB 1805.
 * Elizabeth married on 5 May 1828 in a Catholic Service at St Marys Sydney. No age was recorded. (This was a double marriage with her sister Sophia. They were marrying brothers.) This was a time when marriages performed at the Catholic Church at Sydney were recorded in the official records.
 * Elizabeth was recorded in the November 1828 Census. CATHOLIC. Recorded age 23 = YOB 1805.
 * Elizabeth was one of the 8 children living in 1859.
 * Elizabeth was recorded as 67 years of age at her death on 12 November 1874. Data given for death records is only a guide as it can be incorrect. In this case the age given cannot be relied upon. She would have been 69. A year of birth of 1805 agrees with the other data.


 * (8) Sophia born 1808 in New South Wales.
 * Sophia was recorded in the 1822 Muster. Recorded age 13 = YOB 1808.
 * Sophia was recorded in the 1825 Muster. Recorded age 16 = YOB 1808.
 * Sophia married on 5 May 1828 in a Catholic Service at St Marys Sydney. No age was recorded. (This was a double marriage with her sister Elizabeth. They were marrying brothers.) This was a time when marriages performed at the Catholic Church at Sydney were recorded in the official records.
 * Sophia was recorded in the November 1828 Census. CATHOLIC. Recorded age 20 = YOB 1808.
 * Sophia was recorded as 37 years of age at her death on 28 November 1845 = YOB 1808.


 * (9) Charlotte born 1811 in New South Wales.
 * Charlotte was recorded in the 1822 Muster. Recorded age 6. Census data is only a guide as it can be incorrect. In this case the age given cannot be relied upon. She would have been 10 or 11.
 * Charlotte was recorded in the 1825 Muster. Recorded age 13 = YOB 1811.
 * Charlotte WAS NOT recorded in the November 1828 Census.
 * Charlotte married about 1833. No marriage record has been located. Probably married at St Patricks Catholic Church in Parramatta. This was a time when marriages performed at the Catholic Church at Parramatta did not make it into the official records.
 * Charlotte was one of the 7 children living in 1859.
 * Charlotte was recorded as 57 years of age at her death on 20 June 1867. Data given for death records is only a guide as it can be incorrect. In this case the age given cannot be relied upon. She would have been 55 or 56. A year of birth of 1811 agrees with the other data.

Estimating the years of birth for William, his wife Sarah, his older brother Michael, & his sister-in-law Hannah.
Their is not enough data available to establish a year of birth for the adults who immigrated on the Minorca.


 * William - estimated year of birth 1766.
 * William was recorded in the 1822 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * William was recorded in the 1825 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * William was recorded in the November 1828 Census. CATHOLIC. Recorded age 62 = YOB 1766.
 * No official record William's death on 6 June 1830 has been found. He had a Catholic funeral and was buried at St Patricks, the Catholic Church at Parramatta at a time when death records from Catholic funerals at Parramatta were not included in the official records.
 * Although census data is only a guide as it can be incorrect, the only estimate available is from the 1828 census.


 * Sarah - estimated year of birth 1768.
 * Sarah was recorded in the 1822 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * Sarah was recorded in the 1825 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * Sarah was recorded in the November 1828 Census. CATHOLIC. Recorded age 60 = YOB 1768. (Census data is only a guide as it can be incorrect. It is very plausible, however, that Sarah was 2 years younger than William.)
 * Sarah died on 17 November 1859 at a recorded age of 94 = YOB 1765. (Data given for death records is only a guide as it can be incorrect, and other data provided in Sarah's death certificate by her son-in-law has already been shown above to be incorrect.) Her burial was arranged by her son-in-law William Ashton who had married her daughter Charlotte. She had a Wesleyan funeral and was buried in the Wesleyan cemetery in Parramatta.
 * There is a 3 year difference between the estimated years of birth that come from the 2 sources. The estimate from the 1828 census had chosen for consistancy.


 * Michael - estimated year of birth 1761.
 * Michael was recorded in the 1822 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * Michael was recorded in the 1825 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * Michael was recorded in the November 1828 Census. CATHOLIC. Recorded age 67 = YOB 1761. (Census data is only a guide as it can be incorrect. It is very plausible, however, that Michael was 5 years older than William.)
 * Michael died on 25 May 1833 at the recorded age of 76 = YOB 1756-1757. (Data given for death records is only a guide as it can be incorrect.) His family gave him an Anglican funeral at St Phillips Church in Sydney.
 * There is very little difference between the estimated years of birth that come from the 2 sources. The estimate from the 1828 census had chosen for consistancy.


 * Hannah - estimated year of birth 1763.
 * Hannah was recorded in the 1822 Muster. No age was recorded.
 * Hannah's inquest was held on 1 February 1824. She had died the same morning. No official record for Hannah's death exists. She had a Catholic funeral at St Marys Church in Sydney at a time when death records from Catholic funerals at Sydney were not included in the official records.
 * The only estimate that can be made for Hanna'h year of birth is to take 2 years of the estimate for her husband Michael.