Mary L (Groves) Douglass (abt. 1760 - abt. 1801)

Born about 1760 in Lincolnshire, England [uncertain]

Wife of William Douglass — married 1788 in St Phillips Sydney.

Descendants

Died about 1801 at about age 41 in New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Mary (Groves) Douglass was a convict on the First Fleet.

Mary Groves was born about 1760.

She was tried at Lincolnshire Assizes at Lincoln on 9 July 1785 and sentenced to seven years' transportation. Together with William Hales, she had been found guilty of "stealing one yellow canvas bag containing 13 guineas and some silver, the property of Edward Cooper."^[1][2][3] At the end of 1786 she was still held at Lincoln gaol, her age recorded as 26. On 16 March 1787, with Mary Harrison, Mary Pinder and Rebecca Boulton, she was ordered to Portsmouth for embarkation on Prince of Wales. On 25 March they were delivered by the turnkey of Lincoln gaol to the Prince of Wales, moored off the Isle of Wight.^[4]

Mary was transported on the ship Prince of Wales which departed in April 1787 and arrived as part of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove on 26th January 1788.

On 1 June 1788, Mary married William Douglass (abt.1755-1838) at Sydney Cove, New South Wales. They were married by Banns by Richard Johnson, Chaplain, and their marriage was entered in the register of St Philips Church of England, Sydney. Mary and William both marked the register with a cross. Witnesses were William Row and Samuel Barnes.^[5][6]

Mary and William had one surviving child, a daughter, Elizabeth, born in 1796 (see Research Notes).

Mary disappears from the records after 1796, and it is assumed she died sometime before the 1801 General Muster.^[7][8]

Research Notes

Who were Mary's parents? There is much confusion about the parentage of Mary. Some suggest that she is the daughter of John Groves and Frances Ayscough,^[9] whose daughter Mary Groves was baptised in Colsterworth on 26 November 1763, since 22 year old^[10] Mary Groves of Colsterworth married 20 year old John Brown on 27 December 1787^[11] Given that Mary was sentenced in 1785, that seems unlikely. Others note that there is also a Mary Groves baptised in Lincoln, St Michael on the Mount on 10 Feb 1754^[12], to John and Elizabeth.^[13] – which places her in the right locality, although by no means definitive, given both name and surname (Groves / Graves) are fairly common.

Mary and William only had one surviving child together. Many authors of published books suggest that Mary and William had a series of children who grew to adulthood in the colony. Numbers vary from two to six and these mis-allocations have since been proliferated on numerous personal family trees.^[14] See the Research Notes for William Douglass for details.

Sources

1. ↑ Cobley, John, comp., The Crimes of the First Fleet convicts. Sydney Angus & Robertson: 1970
2. ↑ Gillen, Mollie. The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet. North Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1989
3. ↑ Derby Mercury - Thursday 14 July 1785
4. ↑ Gillen, Mollie. The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet. North Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1989, pp.151, 289.
5. ↑ NSW Marriages No. V178857 4/1788
6. ↑ St Philip's Church of England, Sydney NSW: Church Register - Marriages; State Library of NSW ref: Reel SAG 90
7. ↑ Gillen, Mollie. The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet. North Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1989
8. ↑ Hardy, Bobbie. Early Hawkesbury settlers. Kenthurst: Kangaroo Press, 1985
9. ↑ See for example: http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/marygroves.htm
10. ↑ Reference MB 1787/232&233 Record set Lincolnshire Marriage Licence Bonds And Allegations https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FM%2F283022310%2F2
11. ↑ Lincolnshire : Colsterworth : St John the Baptist : : "Parish Register" database, FreeREG (https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/581803fbe93790eb7f0a88fe : viewed 17 May 2021) marriage John Brown to Mary Groves 27 Dec 1787
12. ↑ https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS/LINCS/BAP/01088199
13. ↑ https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=R_876449279
14. ↑ Douglass Controversy by Carol Baxter