David A Adams (abt. 1815)

Born about 1815 in Belfast, Ireland

Biography

David A Adams was a convict after the Third Fleet transported to New South Wales

Notes from the National Archives of Ireland, Irish Convicts to Australia Transportation Database:^[1]

David Adams was tried in Antrim on 18 October 1836 and found guilty of the crime of larceny from a house. He received a sentence of seven years transportation. The records in the Irish National Archives stated that David lived in Belfast and was a cooper. His father was apparently a grocer and lived in Hill Street, Belfast. David was a Presbyterian and not married at the time of conviction^[2].

Upon conviction David was sent to Kilmainham Prison in Dublin in 1837^[3]. These records stated that David was 20 years old.

David travelled to New South Wales on board the Heber arriving in March 1837^[4]. His age on arrival was reported to be 22.

David next appears on some 1837 convict musters which recorded that he had been sent to the district of Maitland^[5] working for Henry Incledon Pilcher^[6], a free settler^[7]

David achieved his certificate of freedom on 19 January 1844^[8]. According to this record, and the convict indent records for the Heber^[9], David was born in 1815 and was still a cooper. He was about five feet 4 and one half inches in height, with ruddy complexion, brown hair and dark grey eyes. He had a small scar on the right side of his lower lip, a small blue dot inside his lower right arm, a scar on the back of his right hand, a blue "ring" on the middle finger of each hand and a scar under his right eye. The certificate of freedom was granted in Maitland.

Sources

1. ↑ National Archives of Ireland, Irish Transportation Database, PDF compilation database of records contained in the National Archives of Ireland; entry for David A Adams, page 9. Record reference code: TR 1 p.2; Record reference code 2: CRF 1836 A 9
2. ↑ Irish Convicts to New South Wales, entry for David Adams
3. ↑ "Ireland Prison Registers, 1790-1924," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KM3D-96K : accessed 26 January 2016), David Adams, 1837; from "Irish Prison Registers 1790-1924," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland, Kilmainham Prison, item 3, book 1/10/30, images provided by FamilySearch International; FHL microfilm 2,356,739.
4. ↑ New South Wales Convict Indent Records, State Archives NSW; Series: NRS 1156; Item: [4/7076]
5. ↑ Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO10, Pieces 5, 19-20, 32-51); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.
6. ↑ Free Settler or Felon?, records for H J Pilcher of Maitland.
7. ↑ Through Australian Eyes: Colonial Perceptions of Imperial Britain by Andrew Hassam; commentary about Henry Pilcher and his wife Eliza Brockley.
8. ↑ New South Wales Government. Butts of Certificates of Freedom. NRS 1165, 1166, 1167, 12208, 12210, reels 601, 602, 604, 982-1027. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales.
9. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842, State Archives NSW; Series: NRS 12189; Item: [X640]; Microfiche: 727, entry for David Adams