Jonathan Griffiths and
Eleanor McDonald.
Jonathan and Eleanor had nine children :-
Thomas 1797, Sarah 1799, John 1801, William 1803, Mary 1804, Elizabeth
1804, Ann 1806, James 1808 and Henry 1812.
Their daughter
Elizabeth Griffiths married Thomas the
elder of Thomas Parnell and Agnes Shales
two sons.
( The photo of
Jonathan Griffiths was donated by the Griffiths family,
but cannot be authenticated).
Jonathan Griffiths was born in Stone,
Gloucestershire, in the March of 1773 the youngest of four children to
Thomas and Sarah Griffiths. At the age of thirteen in 1788 he was
committed to Gloucester Castle Gaol and charged. He had stolen from Thomas
Morgan a box containing two coats-two waist coats-two pair of breeches and
several other articles including plated boot buckles; the goods were
valued at a total of five Pound. He was sentenced to seven years
transportation, and arrived on the second fleet ship the
"Scarborough". The
"Scarborough" entered the
Sydney heads on 28 June
1790, two days after
"Surprise".
The prompt
disembarkation of all the convicts was essential but still took more than
a week, as tents were being prepared for them. A witness described the
following scene. "The landing of these people was truly affecting and
shocking; great numbers were not able to walk, nor to move hand or foot
some were slung over the ships side in the same manner as they would a
cask a box, or anything of that nature. Upon their being brought up to the
open air some fainted, some died upon deck and others in the boat before
they reached the shore. When they came on shore many were not able to walk
or stand. Some creeped upon their hands and knees, and some were carried
upon the backs of others".
In
Dublin on Wednesday 27th
October 1790
Eleanor McDonald had stolen a metal watch, chain and locket, valued at six
guineas, the property of Thomas Dalton. She was sentenced to seven years,
and transportation. Eleanor was on board the first Irish convict ship
"Queen" when it departed
Cork. She was twenty-two years
old; with her were one hundred and thirty three men and twenty-two women.
A magisterial inquiry later found that the second mate Robert Stott had
ordered some of the lead shaved off the weights used to measure the
prisoners allocated food issue. When Stott received complaints, he ordered
more lead to be shaved; the result of all this meant that instead of one
hundred and thirty Pound of beef being served he only issued sixty-Pound,
sixty eight-Pound of fish and not one hundred and twenty. The magistrates
found that the rations stipulated in the shipping contract with Messrs.
Camden, Calvert & King had not been supplied. They were unable to
reach agreement on how to compensate the prisoners; the matter was then
given over to Governor Phillip. The Governor in his dispatch to the state,
Quoted "I doubt if I have the power of inflicting a punishment adequate to
the crime" Lieutenant Blow, the ships master was reprimanded by the Naval
Board. It was found remarkable that only seven lives were lost on the
ship. Both the "Active" and "Queen" sailed into Farm Cove
26th September 1791
.
Norfolk
Island.
Captain James Cook on
the eleventh of October 1774 wrote in the Log of the "Resolution". "We found the
Island uninhabited and near a kin to
New Zealand
, the Flax plant, many other
plants and trees common to that country was found here. The chief produce
of the
Island is Spruce Pines which grow here in
vast abundance and to a vast size, from two to three feet in diameter and
upwards. It is of a different sort to those in
New Caledonia
and also to those in
New Zealand
and for masts and yards superior
to both. My carpenter tells me that the wood is exactly of the same nature
as the Quebeck Pines. Here then is another Isle where masts for the
largest ships may be built".
Jonathan Griffiths had only been in Farm
Cove for five weeks before being transported to
Norfolk
; one hundred and
ninety three females accompanied the male convicts on his ship. They
reached the
Island in August 1790; Eleanor had been
sent to the
Island shortly after Jonathan. She was
returned to
Sydney
in February
1796, as was Jonathan five months earlier.
James Kirby a Private with the 5th Plymouth
Company, served some time in
Sydney
after arriving on the
"Alexander" with the first fleet, before being sent on active duty to
Norfolk Island . He is mentioned here as he later
has several connections with Jonathan. By the time Jonathan Griffiths
arrived on the sub-tropical
Norfolk Island , two
Cobles (fishing boats) had been constructed and another was under way.
Jonathan was put to work and learned about boat building. Although no
large vessels were built there, the pines were cut and shaped for masts,
spars, yards, and other components; he also learned about sailmaking from
flax. Whales were also common at
Norfolk Island , an
example being in later years two whaling stations were in operation on the
Island . In 1882 the Islanders caught eighteen
"black" whales using only small open boats. While Jonathan would possibly
not have seen whaling as an operation, certainly would have made lots of
observations about the creatures.
By 1799 Jonathan and
Eleanor were occupying land in what was then known as South Creek at
Mulgrave
Place
(Richmond), with their first
two children Thomas and Sarah. The couple never married; at that time it
was probably not acceptable for convicts of English and Irish heritage
with Catholic and Anglican religions to marry. He had seven acres sown in
maize and owned seven pigs and a goat. Supporting the family was
difficult; he received Government rations for his wife and children. He
joined a group of farmers from the district and petitioned the Governor
for assistance, as the floods and drought the previous three years had
been devastating to the crops and stock. The forced sale of their farms
and imprisonment for debt appeared eminent. The local magistrate Charles
Grimes doubted the severity of the problem, but admitted severe damage had
been done. He claimed "I do not believe cultivating their farms has
contracted their debts", adding that Jonathan and a few others were
worthless characters. Grimes's had a poor opinion of Jonathan and a
personal dislike.
Jonathan in 1799 had sued a Lieutenant Kemp for
committing acts of "Tyranny and Oppression", including damaging his house
and shooting his guard dog. This action made him most unpopular with
Kemp's fellow officers.
The family's wealth
and land holding had continued to grow even with these early setbacks, and
later in 1801 he moved to Richmond Bottoms on the Hawkesbury river and
renewed his interest in boat building. The river became the means of
transporting the grain and other produce to
Sydney, so the restrictions on
the size of vessels built in the colony was quickly overlooked by Governor
King.
This gave boat builders like Samuel Thorley whom had arrived on
the "Active" in 1791, Jonathan, and several others the opportunity
to commence shipbuilding at
Richmond a short distance from
Windsor . Samuel Thorley went
into business with Jonathan in his boat building operation; Samuel also
owned several properties in the district as well as in
Sydney .
The voyages from
Windsor to
Broken
Bay in boats loaded with
produce were extremely difficult requiring a change from the purpose built
boats that could manage the river. Then transferring produce to the ocean
going "Coasters" for the journey to Port Jackson
(Sydney
Harbour).
Jonathan designed
and built both class of boats.
The Hawkesbury is a little over one
hundred kilometres in distance from
Windsor
to the mouth of the
river, then there was the ocean passage to
Sydney
. The problems for
seamen on the river in laden sailing boats were many. The river was prone
to continual flooding, bringing shipping to a halt not only because of the
swift current but also by logs cut for clearing and building. Quote: "The
waters that come rolling down, gathered from an enormous watershed are
piled up between the steep rocky banks because there is no lateral
discharge for them". Flood marks on the trees show that the river has
risen sixty and even eighty feet above the ordinary height. Even when the
river was not in flood the seamen had to contend with a tidal river with
an average flow of about three knots, the whole length of river has
extremely sharp bends in flat open sandy country and between very high
cliffs of sandstone with narrow gorges. These conditions meant that
sailing was extremely difficult, on the flat open sections they had to
contend with shallow water and sand banks, while in the other sections of
the river there was often little or no winds. Rowing and towing was quite
common.
Two of the first
vessels built by the partners were the "Speedy" of seventeen ton,
and "Hazard". True to her name the "hazard" floundered in
huge seas and horrendous weather then ran aground. Aboriginals saved the
ships boy but the skipper perished. The
"Nancy" was also built
for the river trade. Christmas 1816 she was rented to a Richard Perkins
for nine Pound a month paid monthly, with certain restrictions on the
cargo she carried. The lease was for "one boat, one frying pan, one
muscat, provisions, and supplies", with the proviso that the same will
be handed over in the same good order and condition.
James Kirby had been
given a land Grant of Two Hundred Acres, in October 1799 at
Mulgrave Place
(
Richmond
). James was not a
dedicated farmer. The Muster of 1800/02 shows on his property, one female,
two children, wheat, barley, oats, and maize, with no stock. In 1806,
Jonathan purchased one hundred acres of this land from James Kirby, the
remaining section was purchased by three separate buyers. Jonathan
Griffiths continued to run the farm known as Kirby's farm and was active
in local civic affairs at
Richmond
and
Sydney
where he had acquired a
house. In 1808, he added his signature to an address to Governor Bligh,
enrolling his name for the defence of the country if needed.
In February 1812,
Jonathan assigned to his son Thomas (then 15 years old) the
Dalton
and Kirby farms, to act
as Trustee and to pay as rent to Eleanor the sum of twenty-five Pounds per
year. (Farm 12 on the Richmond Properties map). Jonathan also granted to
Elizabeth Kirby (His ward) the land shown as Anne Potts No.1 this land had
a reserve of ten acres to give access to the Plummer, Thorley, and Parnell
properties. In those days the road from
Enfield
(
North Richmond ) only went as far as Anne's land. The title was
disputed in 1837 when Robert Potts claimed his wife, a daughter of
Jonathan Griffiths, had purchased the land from Elizabeth Kirby. The
result was in favour of Anne.
Elizabeth Kirby had
married Thomas Walker in 1828 then in 1939 Phillip Summers (A grandson of
Charles Parnell) was engaged professionally in lawsuit, the object of
which was to determine the next of kin of Thomas Walker late of Yaralla.
The
Griffiths
family were
among the hundreds of claimants. Phillip had acted for a group of thirteen
including people from
South Africa
and
Norway
. It
had been claimed that the true name of
Elizabeth
was Griffiths and
not Kirby. Although the evidence was strong, the
Griffiths
claimants failed to
convince the court of this contention.
In earlier years
Jonathan had supplied 2000 lbs of fresh meat to the Commuriat Department.
He also obtained a free pardon for a David Linley by giving him an
excellent character reference. His increasing wealth encouraged a
conservative attitude; he commented in a letter in 1817, that the
mustering of convicts for Divine Service on Sundays would be the means of
their combining to raise wages. Jonathan and his good friend Samuel
Thorley were representatives on the
Richmond
branch of the
Committee of Emancipated Colonists. Both Thomas and Jonathan had become
very interested in church matters and were generous benefactors.
Fur seals had been
discovered on the Bass
Straight
Islands in the first few years
of the 1800's. Soon sailing ships were coming from
England,
America
and many other places for the prized skins. Governor King was quick to see
the benefits in this potentially new industry and encouraged boat
builders, seamen, and emancipated convicts to join in the hunt for Fur
seals, this then led to the whaling trade and bark stripping. James Kirby
having sold most of his land to Jonathan was quick to take up this new
trade. In 1810, the "Elizabeth and Mary" a 92-Ton Clipper named
after Jonathan's twin daughters, was launched. (Cumpston lists the owners
Jonathan Griffiths, boat builder and Samuel Thorley of Sydney Dealer,
Joint Owners)
Jonathan and Eleanor
had purchased the lease on a house and land in
High
Street
Sydney
, (corner of George and
King
Street
) from
Sergeant James Cox. The land size was ninety-eight Rods, with lease
payments of Five Shillings per year for fourteen years. Then on the
21st.of September 1811. Jonathan advertised it for sale in the Sydney
Gazette. The Sydney Gazette moved to the site next door at no 96 in May
1822.
A solicitor while
conducting a land search of Jonathan Griffiths states: - (I have had a
lengthy and careful search made through all the old records in various
departmental offices. I find the transactions of the late Jonathan
Griffiths somewhat extensive and I cannot say even now I have collected
all of them, but I have gone further than the funds placed at my
disposal.)
A
part excerpt of that report reads: -
Jonathan Griffiths gave
or granted the following lands to the following persons, to go to their
heirs and administrators for ever:
To Thomas
Griffiths 70 acres of land fronting the
Hawkesbury
River,
Richmond.
To
Anne Griffiths 4 acres with buildings
thereon Front Street,
Richmond.
To
George Plummer 35 acres of land at
Richmond, being portion of 230 acres which had been granted by Governor
Hunter to James Kirby and N Wilson in the year 1799. A purchase from them
by Jonathan G. (No indication of the remaining 120 acres).
To
Elizabeth Griffiths 35 acres at
Richmond.
To
Robert Cooper a dwelling house and premises
No. 49
George Street,
Sydney and the land on which the same
stood having a frontage of 99 feet to George
Street and 134 feet frontage to
Bathurst
Street.
Other land in the name of Jonathan
Griffiths is as follows:
100 acres of land at Hunter's Hill granted
5th. April 1821 at 2/- pa.
100 acres of land at Botany Bay granted 1st. January 1810 at 2/- pa.
75 acres of land
on the Hawkesbury
River granted to Jonathan
Griffiths and others on the 1st. May 1797 at 1/- pa.
The search
concludes: - (The above will give you some idea, and if you
want me to trace up these various matters further, and collect further
information for your benefit and guidance. You will be good enough to
forward to me a further sum of two pounds to enable me to continue the
same).
Robert Cooper a
convict arrived on the 9th.Oct.1813 in the "Earl Spencer". Five
years after arriving in the colony he was granted a conditional pardon and
started a shop on the property given to him by Jonathan.
An example
of the shop is indicated by the following advertisement.
To be
sold at Robert Coopers facing the burial ground (now the site of the
Sydney
Town Hall /
St. Andrews). Paint, paint oil,
turpentine, Swedish bar, square iron, nail-rod, sugar by the bag, tea by
the chest, good Brazil tobacco, super fine blue, grey, black, and green
cloth, good Welch flannel, Brimstone @ 1s per pound, English Bengal
Paints, bran @ 1s6d per bushel, lamp oil by the cask. A house to be let at
NO.1 George
Street.
By 1822 the range of goods sold at
the shop grew considerably. Robert Cooper's shop became so well known that
he advertised only as Robert Coopers with no address or location. He
became extremely wealthy travelled extensively and built the family home
which still stands today as the heritage listed "Juniper Hall" in
Paddington.
"Paddington House", the English style home of James
Underwood was also built in the district now know as Paddington, Sydney.
In April 1811
Jonathan sold his interest in the "Elizabeth and Mary" to Samuel
Thorley. Samuel took on a new partner, Thomas Abbott. Samuel with his new
vessel had taken no less than 4700 sealskins and 60 ton of salt from
Kangaroo
Island by June of 1811. Early
in 1814, she was sold to Joseph Underwood (qv.) for sealing at
Macquarie
Island . It is interesting to
note that Jonathan sailed in the "Elizabeth and Mary" to
Macquarie
Island on the 23rd July 1819 .
The "Elizabeth and
Mary" grounded on the Bar and broke up in heavy seas in February 1831
at Port Waikato, New Zealand. The crew reached shore and returned to
Sydney on the "Sydney
Packet" in March.
George Plummer was
born in
Scotland
the son of a ship builder, his mother was Rebecca Stuart a member of the
Stuart Clan. It has been claimed he had the command of a British ship
trading around the Cape of Good Hope to
India.
During the England/French war, his ship was captured and he was taken
prisoner. The story goes (believe it or not) that the jail-keepers
daughter let him free, believing that he would come back and marry her at
the end of the war.
After arriving in
Australia,
George sought employment with Jonathan, as George had a Masters ticket
with ship building knowledge, he was just the right man for Jonathan, he
worked in Jonathan's whaling and sealing interests.
George built
several ships with Jonathan and married his daughter Sarah at Castlereagh,
NSW in January 1816. George was then given command of a family owned ship.
Jonathan also gave George thirty-five acres of the land he had bought from
James Kirby in 1806; later George commenced ship building in his own yard
at Windsor.
In 1815
Jonathan built a whaler, the "Rosetta", in conjunction with George
Plummer, it was described as being close timbered, well tunnelled, and
bolted to endure the hardship of the coast.
In January 1816 under the
command of William Rook she sailed to
Kangaroo
Island and returned in July
with 2000 sealskins and fifty ton of salt. Between the following October
to April she had taken another 5000 skins and salt.
In October 1816
with a party of the 64th Regiment on board, the "Rosetta" was sent
in pursuit of the eighty ton square rigged brig "Trial" that had been "
piratically boarded by seven fugitives and taken away from her anchorage
at Port Dalrymple" (George town). The prisoners were returned and
sentenced in Newcastle.
Captain Rook was given a grant of land and the indulgences of a Settler
while Jonathan received Two Hundred Pound sterling and a cask of spirits
for the use of his brig. In addition, a written authority to apprehend at
sea, all runaway convicts suspicious persons and boats breaking Port
Regulations. The "Rosetta" returned to Sydney 12th June with a
further 3500 fur seal skins, 4700 kangaroo, half a ton of whale oil, 11
ton of salt, and 1090 bushels of wheat. Three years after she was built,
Jonathan sold her for twelve hundred Pound sterling to the Crown. Two
thousand-Pound was spent on a refit.
Quote: -Sydney Gazette 28th.Nov.1818: The
Governor renamed the Colonial brig "Rosetta" the "Prince
Leopold", in honour of Prince Leopold of - "Saxe Cobourg". In Nov.1831
she was owned by James Kelly, Thomas Griffiths and Thomas Lucas who had
again renamed her, this time the "Mary and Elizabeth", skippered by
Captain Lovitt, she called into Port Chalmers, Otago, New Zealand. Maoris
attacked the ship for reprisals for crimes against their women, by the
whalers. The Captain managed to sail to
Cloudy
Bay where his crew deserted.
Friendly natives assisted him in returning to
Hobart.
Captain Kelly sent
the ship back to New Zealand under the command of Captain
Young, where Maoris again attacked it. This time it was agreed that the
problem started with the Maoris. Captain Kelly and the Maoris had had
problems since the Otago affair of 1817.
Still with the same owners,
the "Mary and Elizabeth" was wrecked on the north coast of
Port Sorrell 1835.
It was practice to place a
notice at the time when one was leaving the colony, but the departure on
the 16th Sept.1820 of the brig "Glory" is noted as it contains the
names of several crew members.
Quote: - Leaving the colony in the brig
"Glory", all claims settled for Jonathan Griffiths, Robert Brown,
William Hunt, John Griffiths, William Griffiths, Robert Atkins, James
Golden, James Anderson, Robert Brown, James Hatch, Thomas Chaceland,
William Howe, George Allen, John McMahon, Andrew Pearson, William Coleman,
William Picket, Thomas Petre and George Roberts.
The following year The
"Glory" again made the news in Sydney Town.
Quote:-Information reaches us that the brig
"Glory" Mr. John Griffiths owner, had arrived at Port Dalrymple
with a second cargo from the wreck of the ship "Phatisalam". That
the vessel had or the remains of her been burnt it has been found totally
impracticable by Mr. Griffiths, who had been engaged by Captain Dillon for
the purpose of salvage to recover the vessel, most of the iron work of
course will be saved.
The busy "Glory" returned to
Sydney
after a fifteen month
sealing voyage that included three return trips to port Dalrymple in 1822.
1821-1822 must have
been a very bitter- sweet period in the Thorley-Griffiths households, in
this short period; Phillip Thorley a son ? (See story Thomas Parnell
and Agnes Shales) of Samuel married Mary Griffiths, Jonathan's
daughter. Jonathan's son William married Elizabeth Thorley. Also sadly,
Samuel Thorley senior passed away.
Six months after the death of his
friend Samuel in 1821; Jonathan moved his business interests to
Launceston, Van Diemens land with his sons John and William. They arrived
in Launceston in their own ship the "Maid of Richmond" under the
command of George Plummer. They purchased one hundred and fifty acres in
three town lots from a builder, James Lightfoot, then cleared and camped
on this land. Lightfoot had also promised another one thousand five
hundred acres at Green Point. Also Governor Macquarie granted him two
hundred acres at Norfolk Plains, after complaining it was insufficient to
run his eight hundred sheep, the grant was extended another one hundred
and fifty acres. Shortly after, George moved his wife Sarah and her
brother Henry down to Launceston from
Richmond .
A whaler named
"Echo" left
England
bound for New Zealand in 1819 she was wrecked on the
Cato Reef in the Coral sea in April the following
year. The crew got away in two small boats, the first reached
Sydney on July 8, followed by
the second in August 1820. One of this crew was a man named James Everitt,
he was also known as Everest. He left
Sydney three days later to
work at a southern sperm whale fishery. He made several whaling trips, but
was again ship wrecked in the Torres straight; this time on a
Griffiths owned ship while on
a voyage to Batavia. Everest/
Everitt is of interest because of the name, his connection with the
Griffiths family, and his
special interest in whaling. However he may or may not be connected to
Rosa Everest (see main Story), but the strong circumstantial evidence
indicates he probably was. Early in 1824, James Everest was found to be
living on Kangaroo
Island, as were other sealers
including James Kirby who was living with a black woman. Kirby was again
seen living at King
George
Sound three years later with
Dinah, a native of Van Diemen's
land. Kirby offered
to rejoin the Navy with the HMS "Success" while she was at
King
George
Sound in April 1827 but was
refused. Everest is reported to have abducted a native from Piper Point,
and murdered her on Woody
Island because she had not
cleaned his mutton-birds properly. At the time of his death in his early
sixties, he was married to twenty-five year old Elizabeth Mirey.
In
June 1824 Jonathan set sail in the "Glory" in search of a Mr. John
Lawrie in the "Fame", suspected of having on board a small stolen
boat. He found the "Fame" at
Twofold
Bay, took off Lawrie his
passengers and cargo, then towed the "Fame" to Launceston and
handed it over to the Government. Lawrie was sentenced to seven years and
transportation, but sued
Griffiths
in the Tasmanian
Supreme Court for trespass and false imprisonment and, won a verdict for
£460. After long and costly appeals, Governor Arthur Phillip recommended
him to the Colonial Office for relief, which Jonathan received.
The case.
"Lawrie V Griffiths".
About 1827, Jonathan received
the land he had been promised by Lightfoot at Green point on the
Tamar
River; also
he had accrued four thousand five hundred acres at Freshwater point. They
built a new wharf at Launceston using timber from this land, and fitted
out early whalers for the fishery at
Portland
Bay. The Freshwater
property is on the West
Bank of the
Tamar
River at
Legana, just across the river near Dilston, The old house has been
restored and is now operated as a lovely guesthouse named "Freshwater
Point" set in park-like surroundings. It has been regarded by some as "The
states most perfect example of Architecture of the post-Napoleonic
period".
Eleanor made a number
of visits to Launceston but spent most of her time on their
Richmond property where two of
their children remained. She died at
Richmond in 1831 and is buried
in the family vault at St. Peters Cemetery Richmond. In 1836, Jonathan let
his farm at Richmond to Robert
Eather, leaving in his care three grand children. They were the children
of his eldest son Thomas, who at the age of 29 had been thrown from a
horse and killed. Several of the family members then also moved to
Tasmania.
On 6 December 1831, the new
Griffith built schooner
"Elizabeth
", under the
command of John Hart, aged 22, and sailed for the NW Islands. Mr.
Griffiths was on board to ascertain the success of the sealing parties,
and to keep his whalers busy in the off season by stripping bark from
wattle trees. This became a very profitable industry; the bark was
exported to be used for tanning leather and in the wattle and daub
building industry.
Quote- The Launceston Advertiser- 11/4/1833
The "Friendship", the property of Mr. Griffiths, has returned to
port, after an absence of scarcely four months, filled with seal and
kangaroo skins, salt, seal oil, etc. to the value of nearly £1700. Surely
sufficient attention is not paid to the mercantile community to this
profitable branch of our export trade. We congratulate Mr. Griffiths on
his success. (End quote).
Thanks to John
Griffiths and
Norman Clarke, sealark05@yahoo.com.au
