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Orphan Number: 1819
Orphan: Esther FIGG
Mother:SMITH, Margaret
Father:FIGG, William
Mother's ship:
Father's ship:
Age when admitted:7yrs
Date admitted:30 Nov 1835
Date discharged:13 Jan 1838
Institution(s):Queens Orphan School
Discharged to: mother
Remarks: father a tailor in Launceston
References: SWD28, CSO5/86/1885

This orphan has been claimed by: Deidre Ikin

I have claimed Esther Figg who was 7 when admitted to Queens Orphanage in 1835, birth year about 1828. Her sister, Jane age 5 was admitted at the same date.

They were discharged into the care of their mother(?) Margaret Smith (born 1796 Scotland) in 1838. Their father is named William Figg and he is on my family line, the orphanage records say he was a tailor in Launceston.

My relative is Henry Robert Figg who was born at Clarence in 1935, who might be a brother to the 2 girls.
I have had a few doubts about my family line, and they centred on William Figg, I have wondered if Margaret was their birthmother or a step mother and I do not know where William Figg died. I think the records for William show a birth somewhere to a woman Ann or Mary Ann. Some family members say we have some Aboriginal ancestral lines in our family, and I wonder if it comes in here.
Any info please email me at icondei@iinet.net.au Deidre

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This orphan has been claimed by: Steven Figg

Esther Mary Figg was my great-great-great aunt; she was born on 20 Jan 1828 at Hobart Town in VDL, the first child of ex-convict and tailor William Figg and free woman Margaret Smith. Esther was only 15 years old when she married William Stanley Williams on 11 Apr 1843 at Hamilton in VDL; they had a large family of nine children between the years 1844 and 1866. Esther Williams died on 5 Apr 1912 at South Melbourne, Victoria at age 74, outliving her husband by nearly 25 years.

The reasons why Esther and her younger sister Jane Douglas Figg were placed into the care of the Queens Orphanage School in November 1835 are unclear, although it may have had something to do with unemployment, alcohol and domestic violence; what is intriguing, however, is that Esther and Jane had at least two aunts, two uncles and a set of grandparents living in Hobart at the time they were institutionalised.


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 Site last updated June 2021