Orphan Number: 2237
| Orphan: | Sophia GRIMES |
|---|---|
| Mother: | , |
| Father: | , |
| Mother's ship: | Boadecia |
| Father's ship: | |
| Age when admitted: | 9yrs |
| Date admitted: | 15 Apr 1836 |
| Date discharged: | 5 Feb 1842 |
| Institutions(s): | Queens Orphan School |
| Discharged to: | Mr Davis |
| Remarks: | mother dead, father left colony |
| References: | SWD7, 28, CSO5/93/2074, CSO5/86/1885 |
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Kerry Graves wrote:
Sophia Jane Grimes/Graham is my 3rd G Grandmother. This Sophia Grimes may be her but it needs further research.
Surname was Graham in Scotland. When families moved to Ireland they became Grime or Grimes and then, when they went back to Scotland they were Graham.
I have continued trying to find out about Sophia Jane Graham, Ambrose Hurst’s wife and the mother of Phillip Ambrose Hurst. In the Census information after she and Ambrose married in1847 it has her born outside of Tasmania in approx. 1826. The surname Graham is interchangeable with Grimes. I found this out from UK history and have seen most of the convicts come with the alias of either Grimes or Graham depending on if they came as Graham or Grimes.
However I have had no luck in finding Sophia arriving in Tasmania. By chance I found a Sophia Grimes of the correct age going into Queens Orphanage in Hobart in 15 Apr 1836 with the comments Ship Boadicea (arrived Feb 1836) Mother dead, Father left colony. It has taken me a couple of weeks to piece together a female passenger list for the Boadicea in 1836 and 1826 but she is not either of the 2 Sophia’s on board as I have tracked both of them. When Sophia Grimes left Queens Orphanage at age 16 she went to a Mrs Davies as a servant 5 Feb 1842. There was a Census in July 1842 with no names only the names of the heads of each Parish in Tasmania and their servants and workers listed by number, age etc. I found 3 parishes with Davies as head of the parishes but only one in the same street in Hobart as Sophia and Ambrose Hurst lived in in 1847. Harrington Street Hobart. So it could be that Sophia went to this particular Davies family as a servant, met Ambrose and continued to live in the same area after her marriage.
I have Ambrose travelling in Steerage from Hobart to Melbourne in 1855 and he remarried in Bendigo (Sandhurst) in 1857. Charlotte and Phillip (Ambrose and Sophia’s two children) lived in Bendigo so I can only assume she either went with Ambrose on his first visit reputed to be in 1850 or followed him and died before or soon after but there is no record of her travel or death in Victoria or Tasmania. When Ambrose remarried he has marked her death as 1850/1.
Ambrose Phillip's (son) birth and baptism record show her name as Sophia Grimes.
My next task is to see if I can find out how Ambrose became a carpenter in Hobart. Not sure if there will be any records but I will be looking to see if there is any connection to Davies or the Harrington Street area. I will also try to track the names Charlotte Agnes in case Sophia named her daughter after her mother. I have also been trying to track each of the Boadicea passengers one by to see if any of them bought a child with them but no luck so far.
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