John Randall (abt. 1764 - 1839)

Born about 1764 in New Haven, Connecticut

Husband of Esther Howard — married 12 Feb 1788 in St Philip's Church of England, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Mary (Butler) Randall — married 5 Sep 1790 in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 7 Dec 1839 at about age 75 in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Neil Smith [send private message]

• First Fleet Africans

Biography

John Randall is a part of US Black heritage.

John Randall has African ancestry.

John Randall was was born in New Haven Connecticut.

John Randall was a convict on the First Fleet.

John RANDALL.^[1]

John was born in New Haven in the British Colony of Connecticut circa 1765. ^[2]

He was almost certainly the child of African slaves owned in the colony. ^[3]

He is believed to have fled his enslavement via the War of Independence after fighting with the English (see Research Notes below).^[4]

It is possible that upon arriving in England, he found menial work as a labourer and apparently supplemented his livelihood with petty theft. However it is more likely he had been recruited in America as a drummer and his regiment was demobilised in Manchester (see Research Notes below).^[4]

On 14 April 1785, he faced trial at the Manchester Quarter Sessions for stealing a steel watch chain, value one penny. He was found guilty and sentenced to transportation for 7 years.^[5] He was subsequently held on the Ceres hulk early in 1786, his age recorded as 21. ^{[6] [7]}

On 19 April it was reported in the Manchester Mercury that John Randle and Charles Johnson had been sentenced at a trial for stealing goods belonging to Mr. Joseph Wardle and were to be transported to Africa for 7 years. ^[8]

He was delivered to the Alexander on 6 January 1787 where he is said to have been convicted in Lancaster. ^[9]

He was mustered on board the Alexander by Major Robert Ross in March as 'John Reynolds'.^[10] He departed England on the First Fleet which arrived at Port Jackson, New South Wales on 26 January 1788. The Alexander is in the image 'A View of Botany Bay' to the left of this page. It is the smaller ship to the left of this image. The image was recorded in a published edition of the journal of Governor Phillip. ^[11]

The convict indents for the First Fleet ships has the name John Randall.^[12][13] However the Victualling List for Sydney in 1788 has his name 'John Reynolds'.^[14]

John married Esther Howard on 21 February 1788, the marriage recorded in the register of St Philip's Church of England, Sydney. They were married by Richard Johnson, Chaplain, and witnesses were John Owles and Samuel Barnes.^[15][16]

On 18 October 1788, he was charged with disobedience, when working under Robinson Reid, carpenter of Supply. However, Robinson Read was unable to offer any evidence against him and John was not punished.^[10] His wife Esther died in 1789. It appears that they had separated because she was buried under her maiden name Howard on 11 October 1789, her burial recorded in the register of St Philip's Church of England, Sydney.^[17]

John re-married the following year to Mary Butler on 5 September 1790, by Rev. Richard Johnson, by Banns 'by Permission of His Excellency Arthur Phillip Esq Governor'. Witnesses were Edward Smith and John Dawson.^{[18] [19][20]}

He was made one of the three official game keepers in Sydney (see Research Notes below). The Judge advocate, David Collins observed in August 1790: It having been found that the arms and ammunition which were entrusted to the convicts residing at the distant farms for their protection against the natives, were made a very different use of, an order was given recalling them, and prohibiting any convicts from going out with arms, except McIntire, Burn, and Randall, who were licensed game-killers.^[21]

On 14 April 1792 John formally finished his 7 year sentence.

He was granted 60 acres of land at Northern Boundary farms on 29 November 1792. ^{[22] [23]} At this address, on 15 October 1793, his house was broken into by Irish Convicts but they were beaten off by the two men who lived there, before they could steal any of Randall's property. Randall was not there at the time.^[10]

In June 1799 Randall was accused of theft of plates and glasses from the Governor, He was charged by John Keys (Governor's servant) and William Nott (a constable) but was pardoned for this indiscretion by Governor Hunter.^[10][24]

In the 1800 Land and Stock Muster, John Randall was listed at his farm in the Northern Boundary district with 4 acres wheat sown, 6 acres maize to be sown, 4 pigs and 5 goats. One woman, three children and himself were On Stores.^[25]

In April 1800 he accused Catherine Murphy of the theft of a pound of tea. The case came to trial on 4 April; she alleged that he had assaulted her, and she was found not guilty.^[26]

On 10 November 1801, John sold his grant to Joseph Holt. The price was set at £40 if Holt could help Randall get entry into the NSW Corps and £50 if he could not. Holt wrote that Randall "played on the flute and tambour. He was about six feet high, well made and straight".^[27] John was successful in joining the NSW Corps on 17 Nov 1800. In NSW Corps records he was described as being 5 feet 9 inches tall, and born in New Haven.^[2]

His wife Mary Randall "of the parish of Parramatta" died in 1802. She was buried on 29 July 1802 in St John's Cemetery, Parramatta.

John entered into a relationship with another woman whose name was Fanny, who had children Eliza (born about 1814) and Ann (born about 1817), and she may have been the mother of two boys born about 1807 and 1808 who were later tragically drowned in 1816.

Randall was discharged from the NSW Corps on 24 April 1810.^[2]

He was appointed as a police constable later the same year. ^[28] He was discharged in 1811. ^[29]

John Randall was recorded in the 1811 General Muster.^[30]

By 1814 he was living on a farm at Kissing Point, and he was reported in the Sydney Gazette on 25 Feb 1814 as selling his possessions, perhaps in preparation for moving on somewhere, or to repay debts. ^[31]

Soon after, he accepted employment, probably as resident manager, at a remote 700 acre property at Broken Bay (near present-day Mona Vale) that belonged to Robert Campbell Jr.^[4] Tragically, two of John's sons were drowned at Manly. The Sydney Gazette reported on 13 July 1816:

Last Sunday se’nnight two fine boys, one eight and the other nine years old, sons of John Randall, in the employ of Mr. R. Campbell, jun. were drowned in attempting to cross Manly Beach in a boat, a tremendous surf being on at the time, which rendered their feeble exertions unavailing. —One of the bodies was found nine days after, close in shore, but the other has not yet been recovered.^[32]

John and Fanny's daughter Ann was born about 1816 or 1817 at Broken Bay.

It appears that John and Fanny separated by 1822, when Fanny applied for her daughters Eliza and Ann to be admitted into the Parramatta Orphan School.

John Randall died on 7 December 1839 at the General Hospital at Parramatta, and was buried two days later at St Johns Cemetery in Parramatta. The burial register of St Johns recorded his name as 'John Rundle', and his age 73.^[33][34]

Research Notes

Of his surviving children

• Mary married John Martin [Alexander 1788] in 1812.
• John Randall Jr worked as a seaman on coastal ships and may have died in 1830.
• Frances married John Aiken, who arrived on the Marquis Cornwallis in 1796, in 1811 and had six children.
• Eliza Randall has not been traced.
• Ann Randall died in Wilberforce, New South Wales in 1904

John Randall's recruitment into the British army, from Cassandra Pybus's book Black Founders:

Since Randall was not a recorded surname in New Haven at that time, he may actually have been from New London where the name was common. It is possible he was from the enslaved workforce of a prominent Patriot, Captain John Randall, of Stonington, near New London, and one of several enslaved people from Stonington who fled to the British. His age, plus the fact that he was noted for playing the flute and tambour, point to Randall being a drummer. … Randall might have been recruited in September 1781 during the attack on New London, which was led by Benedict Arnold, who was always on the lookout for young black musicians.^[35]

... Manchester was beset with unemployment as a result of the demobilisation around that city of four or five regiments, including the 4th, 47th and 63rd regiments from America. … [Randall] had recently come from America as part of a regiment that had been demobilised and now ‘lay about town’. Very likely, he had been a drummer with the 63rd regiment of foot. ... The 63rd ... still had black drummers on its establishment a decade after 1785.^[36]

John Randall's employment as a game shooter in the early days of colonial Sydney, from Cassandra Pybus's book Black Founders:

The cumbersome Brown Bess musket was virtually useless for hunting [kangaroos], unless handled by a first-rate marksman, so the best shots in the colony were chosen as game-shooters. Phillip employed the white convict John McIntyre as his shooter, while Major Ross employed Patrick Burn. John Randall was the third convict licensed to shoot game. In May, Major Ross's shooter caused some excitement when he brought in a massive kangaroo weighing 69 pounds. The three game shooters were permitted an enviable freedom to move as they wished through and beyond the settlement. Randall and his two colleagues operated with little or no supervision, ranging at will through the bush, tracking and shooting kangaroo. They were often out for days at a time, with bountiful occasion to procure fresh meat for themselves and their close associates. They were regularly included in the governor's exploratory sorties; their role to keep the explorers supplied with food. John Randall and John McIntyre were, almost certainly, the marksmen who, in April 1788 accompanied Governor Phillip, Lieutenant Johnston, and a bevy of officers on the second expedition to Broken Bay, north of Port Jackson. They were probably the armed convicts who escorted Phillip and Johnston to Botany Bay in May 1788, while Randall was surely the black tent-carrier mentioned on the third expedition to Broken Bay in August 1788. This party landed their boats at Manly Cove, then followed the Aboriginal track overland to the southern branch of Broken Bay, upon which Phillip had bestowed the name Pittwater in honour of the prime minister. During the expedition to Pittwater the party met with many indigenous people who proved both inquisitive and helpful. At an encounter with a large group at Manly Cove, soon after landing, Randall gave one stocking each to two Aboriginal men ‘with which they seemed much pleased’.^[37]

Did John Randall have a common-law wife, Fanny? According to the historian Cassandra Pybus. Randall briefly possessed a small holding at Kissing Point with his common-law wife, Fanny, by whom he had four children. In 1815 he moved this family to Pittwater, where his two young sons were killed in an accident in 1816. In 1822 Fanny Randall petitioned to have her two daughters Eliza aged 9 and Ann aged 6, taken into the Orphan's Institution in Sydney. Ann was accepted into the Institution, then transferred to Blacktown Native Institution. Ann was described as an African half-cast. (However, some researchers suggest that Fanny is the common-law wife of John Randall's son John Randall Jr.)

While John is mostly known by the surname Randall, he is also been recorded by variations such as Reynolds, Randal, Randals, Randle, Rundel and Rundle.

John was nominated by a SAG member to be part of the Wikitree and SAG '7 in 7' Challenge in January 2023.

Sources

1. ↑ 'Randall, John (c. 1764–1822)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/randall-john-30314/text37594, accessed 4 January 2023.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Jenkins, Sarah; Booker, Michael and Statham-Drew, Pamela (1992) A Colonial Regiment - New Sources relating to the New South Wales Corps 1789-1810. Edited by Pamela Statham, Pub. by ANU Tech., Canberra ACT, 1992.
3. ↑ Fairall, R. (2018) 'The Afro-Australians -The Randall / Martin Families and the First Fleet, Sydney 1788: A work in progress' Rootsweb.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Pybus, Cassandra. Black Founders. University of NSW Press, 1999.
5. ↑ Lancashire Records Office Indictment Rolls QJI/1/159 (1785) Doc.1 and QSP/2914/14 cited in Brown, John The Brown chronicles 1788-1988 : chronicle 4 - First Fleet origins, Tweed Heads : John Brown, 2005.
6. ↑ Convict Transportation Registers; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO11); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England. Class: HO 11; Piece: 1; cited in Ancestry.com. Australian Convict Transportation Registers – First Fleet, 1787-1788 [database on-line]. Name: John Reynolds Vessel: Alexander Fleet: First Convicted Date: 14 Apr 1785 Voyage Date: Feb 1787 Colony: New South Wales Place of Conviction: Manchester, Lancashire, England
7. ↑ New South Wales Government. Indents First Fleet, Second Fleet and Ships. NRS 1150, microfiche 620–624. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia; Series: NRS 1150; Item: [SZ115]; Microfiche: 620; cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 [database on-line]. Name: John Randall Date of conviction: 14 Apr 1785 Place of Conviction: Manchester Date of Arrival: 26 Jan 1788
8. ↑ Manchester Mercury 19 Apr 1785 Page 4 Saturday ended the Quarter sessions here, where the following persons were tried: [...] John Randle and Charles Johnson, both blacks, for stealing goods, the property of Mr Joseph Wardle were all transported to Africa for seven years each
9. ↑ Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO10, Pieces 1-4, 6-18, 28-30); The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England. Class: HO 10; Piece: 6; cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834 [database on-line]. Name: John Randall Vessel: Alexander Fleet: First Province: New South Wales Title: Convicts embarked Year(s): 1787 Place of Conviction: Lancaster Manchester
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3} Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 298.
11. ↑ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_view_of_Botany_Bay_A1475003h.jpg
12. ↑ 1788-1868 Convict Records. Records kept at the New South Wales State Records Office, P.O. Box R625, Royal Exchange, NSW 2000; cited in Ancestry.com Australia, Convict Index, 1788-1868 [database on-line]. Name: John Randall Age: 24 Birth Year: Abt 1764 Birth Place: America Arrival year: 1788 Arrival State: New South Wales Trial Place: Manchester Ship: Alexander
13. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 for John Randall, List of Convict Transports 1788-1790 (First Fleet and part of Second Fleet) Ancestry.com sharing link
14. ↑ List of persons Victualled from HM Stores 26 Feb 1788 to 17 Nov 1788. Ref: T 1/668 - List 52, cited in Biographical report for John RANDALL Person ID: B#10011057101, Biographical Database of Australia (BDA), https://www.bda-online.org.au/mybda/search/biographical-report/10011057101?f=john&l=randall&ol=&i=1&s=&p=accessed 18 July 2023
15. ↑ Ancestry.com. Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950 [database on-line] Name: John Randal Spouse Name: Esther Howard Marriage Date: 1788 Marriage Place: New South Wales Registration Place: Sydney, New South Wales Registration Year: 1788 Volume Number: V A
16. ↑ St Philip's Church of England, Sydney NSW: Church Register - Marriages; State Library of NSW ref: Reel SAG 90
17. ↑ St Philip's Church of England, Sydney NSW: Church Register - Burials; State Library of NSW ref: Reel SAG 90
18. ↑ Parish Marriage Registers. Textual records. St. John’s Anglican Church Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia. Reference Number: REG/COMP/1; Description: Vol 01, Marriages, 1789-1823; cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Marriages, 1790-1966 [database on-line]. Name: John Randels Gender: Male Marriage Date: 5 1790 Marriage Place: Parramatta, Cumberland, New South Wales, Australia Spouse: Mary Butler
19. ↑ Ancestry.com. Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950 [database on-line] Name: John Randel Spouse Name: Mary Butler Marriage Date: 1790 Marriage Place: New South Wales Registration Place: Parramatta, New South Wales Registration Year: 1790 Volume Number: V A
20. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Marriages, 1790-1966 for "John Randel", Vol 01, Baptisms, 1790-1825; Marriages, 1789-1823; Burials, 1790-1825 Ancestry.com sharing link
21. ↑ David Collins, An Account of the English Colony of NSW Vol 1 (1798) https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00010.html
22. ↑ State Records Authority of New South Wales; Registers of Land Grants and Leases; Series: NRS 13836; Item: 7/446; Reel: 2560; cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Land Grants and Leases, 1792-1867 [database on-line]. Name: John Randal Date of Grant: 29 Nov 1792 District: Northern Boundary
23. ↑ State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia Series: NRS 898; Reel or Fiche Numbers: Reels 6020-6040, 6070; Fiche 3260-3312; cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1856 [database on-line] Name: John Randall Event Date: 29 Nov 1792 Event Description: On list of all grants and leases of land registered in the Colonial Secretary's Office Page: 12
24. ↑ Bench of Magistrates Cases 1788-1820. Ref: SRNSW COD 17, 76, 77, 231-236; Page number: 83, Bundle: 34, List number: 2551; Source Reference:[SZ767], COD 77, cited in Biographical report for John RANDALL Person ID: B#10011057101, Biographical Database of Australia (BDA), https://www.bda-online.org.au/mybda/search/biographical-report/10011057101?f=john&l=randall&ol=&i=1&s=&p= accessed 18 July 2023
25. ↑ Settlers' Muster Book - List 1: Untitled [Land & Stock Muster 1800]; PLNSW ref: Vol. Safe 1/104-5, published in "Musters and Lists, New South Wales and Norfolk Island: 1800-1802", edited by Carol J. Baxter, ABGR, Sydney, 1988.; Book Entry# AA176
26. ↑ State Records, New South Wales, The Court of Criminal Jurisdiction and Miscellaneous Criminal Papers 1788-1828 R2651 X905 p.424. A transcript is in Brown, John. The Brown chronicles 1788-1988 : chronicle 4 - First Fleet origins, Tweed Heads : John Brown, 2005. (SAG A6/BRO/Pam.7e)
27. ↑ Holt, J., & O'Shaughnessy, P. (1988). A rum story : The adventures of Joseph Holt, thirteen years in New South Wales (1800-12) / Joseph Holt ; edited by Peter O'Shaughnessy. Kenthurst [N.S.W.]: Kangaroo Press, pp.66-67.
28. ↑ State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia Series: NRS 898; Reel or Fiche Numbers: Reels 6020-6040, 6070; Fiche 3260-3312; cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1856 [database on-line] Name: John Randall Event Date: 29 Dec 1810 Event Description: Appointed a constable in Sydney Page: 151-2
29. ↑ State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia Series: NRS 898; Reel or Fiche Numbers: Reels 6020-6040, 6070; Fiche 3260-3312; cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1856 [database on-line] Name: John Randall Event Date: 24 Aug 1811 Event Description: Discharged as constable in Sydney Page: 226
30. ↑ 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. Class: HO 10; Piece: 5, cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849 [database on-line]. Name: Jno Randall Vessel: Alexander Fleet: First Province: New South Wales Title: General muster Year(s): 1811 Place of Conviction: Launceston(sic) (should be Lancashire)
31. ↑ The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842) Sat 19 Feb 1814 Page 2 Classified Advertising
32. ↑ 1816 'Sydney.', The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), 13 July, p. 2. , viewed 24 Jul 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2176725
33. ↑ Parish Burial Registers. Textual records. St. John's Anglican Church Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia. Reference Number: REG/BUR/4; Description: Vol 04, 1839-1889; Parish: St. John's Anglican Church Parramatta; cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Burials, 1790-1986 link titleName: John Rundle Age: 73 Birth Year: abt 1766 Death Date: 7 May 1839 Burial Date: 9 May 1839 Burial Place: Parramatta, Cumberland, New South Wales, Australia
34. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Burials, 1790-1986 for John Rundle, Vol 04, 1839-1889 Ancestry.com sharing link
35. ↑ Cassandra Pybus, Black Founders. University of NSW Press, 1999. p.24, and note 23 on p.189
36. ↑ Cassandra Pybus, Black Founders. University of NSW Press, 1999, p.63, and note 14 on p.192
37. ↑ Cassandra Pybus, Black Founders. University of NSW Press, 1999, pp.94-95.

• State Archives and Records of New South Wales Digital Panopticon (n.d) John Randall: Record ID nec10879, in NSW Early Convicts Index (1788-1801) Name: John Randall Gender: Male. Has tattoo no; First recorded 12th April 1785: Accessed 15 Feb 2020. Also see original record
• Purnell, Marion (2020) John Randall (1764-?) in Australian Royalty: a family tree of colonial Australians, their forbears and descendants
• Brown Scott 'ozgenie' (2019) Randall, John in Convict Stockade: A Wiki site for Australian Convict Researchers
• Black Loyalist (2020) John Moseley: From Chesapeake Bay to Botany Bay University of Sydney
• A good read about John Randall - http://fffsouthernhighlands.org.au/?page_id=794
• https://www.ctmq.org/north-stonington-1/
• Link - https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MWWY-HPJ