In 1829 Elizabeth Perkins was brutally murdered by her companion of ten years, John Leach.

“A little girl, Leach's daughter, went to the room where they were, but speedily came out terrified, saying her mother's face was cold and she thought she was dead.”

Leach’s subsequent execution left Mary Ann Perkins an orphan. She was taken into care at the Orphan School for three years until “returned to Mary French who had formerly charge of the girl. The committee believing Mary French to be a decent woman and capable of taking care of the girl”

When Mary French marries in 1835, Mary Leach signs as one of the witnesses in a hand seemingly unused to writing this surname.

Mary Ann Leach signs the registry when she marries Thomas Steadman Potter in 1836. The two Leach signatures bear a strong resemblance.

Mary Ann Potter died in 1910, mother and grandmother to seven surviving children and their families.

 

Notes

There are two births on record for Elizabeth Perkins, Ann and Sarah. There is a death record for Sarah Ann Leach in 1825

Mary Ann Potter's birth date is noted by her daughter as February 1815. Ann Perkins was born in February 1819. It is possible that her age was altered to suit her marriage to Thomas.

Mary French was a witness to the trial of John Leach

References

TAHO, RGD50/1/1 Gordon Registry, http://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD50-1-1$init=RGD50-1-1p008jpg

TAHO, RGD42/1/1, INDEX TO MARRIAGES, img67 & img84

TAHO, RGD36/1/3 Hobart 1836/3213, https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD36-1-3p13j2k

TAHO, NS282/10/1/1-4, St David's Cathedral marriage register

TAHO – The Tasmanian Mail, 22 January 1910, Photographic Inserts, Page 4

TAHO, SC32/1/1, Minutes of criminal cases, http://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-1$init=SC32-1-1p348jpg

TAHO, SWD28/1/1, Orphan School register, http://stors.tas.gov.au/SWD28-1-1

TAHO, SWD24/1/1, 7/3/1829 & 9/2/1832 - Orphans School Minutes

TAHO, RGD32/1/1/, Register of Baptisms in Tasmania 1803-1832 no 695

TAHO, RGD32/1/1/, Register of Baptisms in Tasmania 1803-1832 no 972

TAHO, RGD34/1/1, Register of Deaths no 987

Trove - 1909 'THE OLDEST TASMANIAN NATIVE.', The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 11 March, p. 7, viewed 21 September, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9976163

Trove - 1910 'Family Notices.', The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 7 January, p. 1, viewed 2 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10049821

Trove - 1910 'PERSONAL.', The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 7 January, p. 5, viewed 4 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10049857

Trove - 1829 'Dreadful Murders.', Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), 20 February, p. 3, viewed 24 September, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8644120

Trove - 1829 'THE HOBART-TOWN COUR[?]ER.', The Hobart Town Courier (Tas. : 1827 - 1839), 21 February, p. 2, viewed 24 September, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4218010