William Woodward (abt. 1806 - 1881)

Born about 1806 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Elizabeth (Taylor) Woodward — married 15 Mar 1869 in Tasmania, Australia.

Descendants

Died 17 Feb 1881 at about age 75 in Emu Bay, (Burnie), Tasmania, Australia.

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Peter Patten [send private message] and Phil Gorman [send private message]

This Entry, was first generated by the import of a GEDCOM, reference to this William Woodward and his family. It was created & edited by Peter Patten in Dec, 2014...”

Biography

HIGHWAY ROBBER to PIONEER

The Committal Hearing

This is a transcript of a newspaper report under a heading:

HIGHWAY ROBBERY

Printed in: The Sheffield Independent Advertiser, on 25 October 1828.

WILLIAM WOODWARD, a stout dark complexioned young man, was charged with committing, [in concert with others not apprehended], a robbery on the person of an old man named Joseph Hervey.

The prosecutor, who described himself as a sheep-trotter dresser by profession, told his story with great clearness, from which it appeared that he was trotting down Trippet lane, in Sheffield on the 2nd of September, between ten and eleven at night, when he was tripped up by three men, very severely beaten, and robbed of a silver watch and a few shillings.

The witness produced his clothes, by which it appeared the fob of his trousers had been cut off, and his hat pierced by some sharp instrument which cut his head and left the appearance of a considerable flow of blood. The prisoner at the bar, he positively identified as one of the persons who attacked him.

Mrs H. Turnton, a person residing in Bailey-lane, near the spot where the robbery was committed, deposed, that she heard the cry of murder, and going to the place, found the prosecutor had been abused as he had described.

The prisoner in his defence, produced; Joseph Greenwood, who said, that he [Woodward] was in his company, at his lodgings in Pond-hill, at the time of the robbery, and many hours before and after. Hannah Waterhouse, the keeper of the lodging-house, likewise positively swore to the same fact.

H. Parker, Esq., (Chairman), in addressing the Jury, expressed his disbelief of the alibi which had been set up. The Jury remained in consultation for ten minutes, and returned a verdict of Guilty.

The Chairman, in passing sentence, said that the Court were determined to afford protection to persons passing along the streets of town, and every offence of the nature of the one charged upon the prisoner, would be visited with severity.

The Court then sentenced the prisoner to be ‘Transported for Seven Years’.

Source: Per “Sheffield and Rotherham Independent” ^[1]

Colonial - Convict

William, born around 1808, near Chesterfield in Derby[shire] England, ^[2] … had been employed as a ploughman in Yorkshire, he was convicted in 'York', 1828 and transported to Hobart, arriving in 1830 on the vessel "Prince Regent" William's, conviction was for stealing a watch. He was sentenced to transportation, seven years in Van Diemen's Land. ^[2]

On arrival in Hobart, William was appropriated to a land-holder 'farmer' Gabriel Cooke. That is, William did not spend any extended time as a convict in any of the defined Tasmanian penal establishments. ^[3]…

Research on 'Gabriel Cooke', tells us that he had been a free-settler, prominent land holder and farmer in the South-Launceston 'Norfolk Plains' area. [Location history see: "Bound for the Norfolk Plains" ^[4]

In 1828 Cooke claimed to have been granted 2560 acres of land in the area, that he had named Cookefield .

In April 1835, [after the death of his first child and a failed marriage] he is to sell-up and leave the locality.

The dates of Cooke's Norfolk Plains activity, comfortably coincide with the seven-year conviction/penalty served by our William Woodward.

It so happens that William was released from servitude, as recorded on the 22nd October 1835, this was followed by the issue of a “Free-Certificate” No. “403” dated 17th September 1836, from-then a free man.

Children, then Marriage

It's not clear when William began a relationship with Elizabeth Thomas (born Taylor) a widow (they were both then resident in Norfolk-Plains). Elizabeth had earlier married [Nov 1834] an Edward Thomas, Edward died in August 1837, leaving 18-year-old Elizabeth with two children: Charles Edward born in 1835, and Ellen born 7th April 1837.

In 1927 Richard Hilder [the North-West Historian] ^[5] wrote: That William and Elizabeth had twelve children of their own, eight girls and four boys, all born prior to William and Elizabeth actually marrying, this on 15th March 1869. ^[6]. Witnesses to this marriage were Ellen Sutton and John Edwards Rouse, and the registrar was George Rouse...

Unfortunately, ‘birth-registry-entries’ for many of their children were incomplete, some being recorded without given-names. Their first child (William Jnr.) born in 1838, lived only a couple of months, the last (Rachel) was born in 1861.

Employment, Profession and Family Life

Late 1841 early 1842, William & Elizabeth along with Edward’s children and two of their own, left Norfolk Plains and moved on-to Horton [Emu Bay - now Burnie] where William was employed by the Van Diemen's Land Co [V.D.L.Co]. It is confirmed by the V.D.L.Co annual records and census, taken of their agricultural properties in Tasmania’s northwest for December 1842.

William's residence was [then] identified as No. 3 Emu Bay, township of Ridgley. The family are living in a completed, wooden house, total: head of household, plus five people, all being free people. Elizabeth's children and her first two children with William. The adults are a one man and one woman. The children were born in the colony; both adults were (recorded as) free people, the woman having arrived free (actually born) in the colony. All residents were Church of England, and the workers were agricultural labourers.

In a second report: “RETURN of the VAN DIEMEN’S LAND COMPANY TENANTS at the Districts of Circular Head & Emu Bay”, dated December 1843, William Woodward is recorded as: • a farmer at Ridgeley Hill, • 1 wife and 5 children, • renting 100 acres, a right to purchase at £2 per acre, • 12 acres cultivated, • 10 acres under crop and • having 13 cattle.

Finally, the Pioneer

The following notes include anecdotal data transcribed from historic notes penned by others: A Richard Hilder [a local farmer, historian and lay preacher] and a Richard Pike from his publication, Pioneers of Burnie. ^[5] :

William Woodward, of Yorkshire, married a widow, Mrs Thomas with two children in the late 1830's and lived at Norfolk Plains [Longford] until attracted to Emu Bay about 1839 by the employment offers of the V.D.L.Co. After working on the company's farms fronting Bass Strait, from Emu River to Messenger Creek, growing wheat and potatoes in fair abundance, the Woodwards were transferred to the company's farm settlement at Ridgley where son George was born in September 1843. When the Ridgley homestead station was abandoned, William Woodward, his wife and young family [there were eventually eight girls and four boys] were placed in possession of two thirty-acre sections of partly-cleared land, good quality red soil on the Ridgley Road about two miles south of Emu Bay [now Burnie].

Son George became an unusually proficient bushman, skilled in the use of the axe, crosscut and pit saws, and the paling knife. [Export of [fence]palings to mainland Australia and New Zealand was the North-West-Coast's biggest single industry for years]. During his early married life he split palings at Lower Stowport and in 1872, after the discovery of tin moved to Mt. Bischoff to work in saw pits and at tree felling and splitting various kinds of timber needed at the tin mine for buildings, water dams and tramways.

Then in 1887, in middle-age, George and Annie Woodward settled on the Cam Road, Somerset, and survived for another forty years, rearing a family of four sons and six daughters, including Ada Maria, who married James Andrew Dodd, a bullock teamster and later Mooreville Road pioneer where members of his family still live on the original farm at the junction of Poimena Road. A double link between the Woodward - Carty and Dodd families occurred when Mary Dodd, James' sister, married Michael Carty junior, Annie Woodward's brother and eldest son of Michael [senior] and Annie Carty. One of their homes, before moving to Elliott, was the Ferry House on the east bank of the Cam River, now occupied by Dr. J. B. Mackie. They had two sons and six daughters, including eighty-two-year-old Charles Edwin Carty, of Austin Street, Wynyard. He was born in the Ferry House and is the only surviving member of the Carty family who were so prominent on the North-West Coast for almost one hundred and fifty years.

Richard Hilder’s, [additional] hand written notes concluded: [about Mr. and Mrs. William Woodward & family: This worthy couple lived in the inhospitable regions of Ridgley in the early days of the V.D.L.Co. Settlement and at this then outpost several of their large family of children were born. But in the early 1850's [after the V.D.L.Co. had withdrawn from there] they moved to the New Country, and in 1863 were well established on a fine farm of about 60 acres. Mr. Woodward was a noted potato grower of that period. Woodward's potatoes were always of the primest sample, due to his good cultivation.

Mr. and Mrs Woodward lived on the farm at New Country Road to an old age. He was killed by a fall from his nag, and she died peacefully, watched over by a daughter. There are numerous descendants of the Woodward family up to the 5th generation [now 7th 2009]. The farm at Mount Road passed out of the family many years ago. Few could pick the spot on the bank of the Emu, where in 1863, among the fruit trees and daffodils the old house stood.

Profile

Birth:

William, was born "Near Chesterfield, Derby[shire]" in England. He arrived in Tasmania on the Prince Regent 1830. ^[2] With a 'then' recorded age of 22, this would indicate, 1808 as the year that he was born...

Other 'Estimated' Birth dates:

[His marriage registry details, in 1869 an age of 69, indicating a birth year of about 1800]

[His death registry details, in 1881, at the age of 79, indicating a birth year of about 1802]

Marriage:

Spouse Name: Elizabeth (Thomas) Taylor, ^[6]

Date: 15 Mar 1869,...........Registration Place: Emu Bay Tasmania,

Year: 1869,..........Registration Number: 68,

Witnesses: John Albert Rouse of Mount Albert, Emu Bay and Ellen Sutton of New County, Emu Bay. ^[6]

Death:

Date: 5 February 1881,..........Cause: Accidental fall from horse

Age: 79,[Birth Year 1802 ?]..........Registration Place: Emu Bay, Tasmania ^[7]

William Woodward's Ancestral Family ? :

William's ancestry is yet [March-2021] to be confirmed. In the past, other research has directed us to multiple families that William could have descended from. Unfortunately, these have not proven to be credible. Currently FamilySearch.Org lists Several Williams Woodward’s being born between 1800-&-1810, in Derbyshire, with at least, three being 'near Chesterfield'. [that is, if we accept a 15-kilometre radius as being ‘Near Chesterfield’ . All three of these having possible latter events registered. Census readings & Death registrations, to muddy these records… We can only confirm that William’s 'native-place' was “Near Chesterfield” Derby [Today known as Derbyshire.]…

Sources

1. ↑ This Clipped From the “Sheffield and Rotherham Independent” Link -->> (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20407710/sheffield_and_rotherham_independent/)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} LIBRARIES TASMANIA: Names Index: [NAME_INDEXES:1448688 [CON31] ] (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-45$init=CON31-1-45P334)
3. ↑ LIBRARIES TASMANIA: Names Index: [Appropriation -ListCON27] (https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON27-1-4$init=CON27-1-4P69)
4. ↑ Bound for the Norfolk Plains [Originally published in Your World Inflight Offshore (Norfolk Air), Issue 3, July-September 2011, pages 21-25] Link -->>(https://historymatrix.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/bound-for-the-norfolk-plains/)
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} National Library of Australia -- Trove [Partners] Link -->> [Search: Woodward's Family History @ > (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article67766525.txt)
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} LIBRARIES TASMANIA: Names Index: [MARRAIGE; Registration - RGD37/1/28 no 68 / 1869] (https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-28$init=RGD37-1-28P27)
7. ↑ LIBRARIES TASMANIA: Names Index: [DEATH; Registration - RGD35/1/50 no 148 / 1881] (https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD35-1-50$init=RGD35-1-50P67)

We here acknowledge: the earlier assistance provided by Ms J. Dominy [in 2009] and Ms L. Gibson [2013] in sorting this Woodward family and the complicated connection between some of the later generations.