Mary Ann is my great grandmother's sister. She was placed in the orphanage with
3 of her siblings. She was 8 years old, and her siblings ranged from 9
years old to 4 years old. Her father was convicted of a felony (stole
peas?). Her mother, despite no previous convictions, was sentenced to
12 months hard labour for shoplifting 2 shawls, and also mention of a
gentleman's coat. The farmer who employed Elizabeth's father made the
application for the children to be admitted to the Orphanage.
Eventually, Elizabeth's mother's sentence expired, but the children
were unable to be returned to her care, as she had given birth to
another baby while she was in the Cascades Factory, and could not take
them back. They could not be returned to their father either: after his
sentence finished 6 months later, his whereabouts became unknown. At 20
years old, she marries Alexander Foster, the 1876 marriage taking place in her parents residence at Providence Valley.
She and Alexander had at least one child, and may have resided with her parents. Mary Ann was a house servant, and
died of consumption in 1891.
