Orphan Number: 5749

Orphan:	Charlotte/Catherine WILSON
Mother:	Wilson, Catherine
Father:	Wilson, John
Mother's ship:	Boadecia
Father's ship:	Boadecia
Age when admitted:	5yrs
Date admitted:	19 Feb 1836
Date discharged:	20 Apr 1838
Institutions(s):	Queens Orphan School
Discharged to:	brother-in-law, John Gregory
Remarks:
References:	SWD28, CSO5/93/2074, CSO5/86/1885

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You can claim this Orphan here

Claimed by karen Forster. You can send a message to karen Forster by email here

Claimed by Kath Wilson. You can send a message to Kath Wilson by email here

karen Forster wrote:

Hello, 

Precious family stories passed down from my family had me traveling to Tasmania for answer about My 2nd great-grandmother.

Catherine (Charlotte) Wilson

1830–1916
BIRTH 1830 • Cork, Ireland
DEATH 9 DEC 1916 • Clarence Road, Bellerive, Tasmania, Australia

Catherine (Charlotte) Wilson was born in 1830 in Cork, Cork. She married Joseph SHAW on 29 April 1854 in Hobart, Tasmania.
They had 12 children in 25 years. She died on 9 December 1916 in Bellerive, Tasmania, having lived a long life of 86 years, and was buried in Tasmania.

The whole Wilson family came out on the Boadicea ship!
The Wilson's named as arriving on the Boadicea: Mr John Wilson, Catherine 22, Catherine 23, Ellen 13, Jane 17, Margaret (Miss) 22, Charlotte 7 (with her sister)
Charlotte was discharged from the New Town orphanage 2/4/1838 to her brother in law John Gregory.
This would imply Charlotte had an older sister in Tasmania & who had possibly arrived on the Boadecia.
Charlotte was admitted to the orphanage 19/2/1836, given age was 5yrs.

Re the orphanage records: there is Ellen aged 12, Richard (12) Emma (8) & another Ellen (2) - her mother listed as arriving on the Hydery.
Ellen (12) was discharged to her mother, it says in 1845, but that may be incorrect as orphans were normally sent out to work at age 15.
Richard was discharged to his aunt in 1838, Emma was discharged in 1839 to her uncle Andrew CULLEN.
Iinterestingly, Ellen aged 2 was also listed as being discharged to her mother in 1845 (ship named Hydery).

I haven't found any information for Andrew Cullen nor John Gregory.

The Orphanage record said her father was a bricklayer in Launceston & her mother was Eleanor Wilson per Boadecia & that she (Eleanor) married Samuel WARRINGTON IN 1844.

However, the permission to marry record in 1844, has that Eleanor arrived as a convict on the Hydery. 

Samuel Warrington was a convict who arrived per Lord Lyndoch (2) in 1836, he was a stone mason.
They were married at Campbell Town 1/41844 & had a son Henry William born at Campbell Town 15/11/1845.

I researched for two week at Hobart Tasmania, Australia (in 2019) in the Tasmanian Archive & State Library collections on Boadicea and admitted to the orphanage 19/2/1836 and i have copies of documents from the library in Hobart Tasmania, Australia.

I have a copies of the Records CSO 1 CORRESP Volume/s 848 File 17925-17942 YEAR/INCLUDED 1824-1836. 

I have just been reviewing the old documents and will update on the information, its been hard with deciphering old handwriting 

Generally, older records are harder to read. Where I have run into difficulties, it’s often because of bad handwriting or poor equipment—blobs of ink obscuring letters and writing that’s so faded it’s almost illegible.

Orphan Number: 5749

Orphan: Charlotte/Catherine WILSON
Mother: WILSON, Eleanor
Father: ,
Mother's ship: Boadecia
Father's ship: Boadecia
Age when admitted: 5yrs
Date admitted: 19 Feb 1836
Date discharged: 20 Apr 1838
Institution(s): Queens Orphan School
Discharged to: brother-in-law, John Gregory
Remarks: parents per Boadecia- father a bricklayer in Launceston - mother married Samuel Warrington 1 Apr 1844
References: SWD28, CSO5/93/2074, CSO5/86/1885

Departed London 14 Oct 1835, arriving Launceston 03 Feb 1836, Hobart 02/04 Feb 1836 with 6 passengers & 216/265 free female immigrants on board.

If you would like, I would be happy to send you the family information that I have already collected for this branch.

Kind Regards
Karen Forster

Yeppoon, QLD 4703 Australia
(formerly South Australia)
My email is forster_65@bigpond.com

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Kath Wilson wrote:

Charlotte Wilson arrived on the Boadicea from Edinburgh, Scotland with her four sisters Mary Ann, Margaret, Jane and Ellen, her brother, John and sister-in-law, Catherine.  The Wilson family on the Boadicea were from Scotland and this has been verified from other sources.

(This Wilson family were not from Ireland.  This orphan was not born in Cork, Ireland).   I ask that Charlotte's story be properly remembered.  I am writing a family history and will tell of her time at the Orphan School as part of Charlotte's story.

The John and Catherine Wilson noted on the record as Charlotte's parents, were in fact her brother and her sister-in-law.  Charlotte was 7 years old when she arrived in Hobart as noted in the Tasmanian Names Index.  John Wilson was 19 years old when he arrived in Hobart with his pregnant wife, Catherine. Historian Dr Liz Rushen AM has suggested that Charlotte's age was changed, and possibly her name, because of the stigma of seeking charitable assistance upon arrival in the new colony.   Charlotte's sister Mary Ann Wilson mariried a James George in Hobart in March 1838 and Charlotte was discharged into their care.  I wonder if the reference to a John Gregory is an error or whether James George gave a false name so he could not be traced for unpaid fees.  Charlotte's brother John had left for the Port Phillip District soon after arriving in Hobart in 1836, and her sister-in-law left with her baby son born in Hobart in April 1836, in September 1836 for the Port Phillip District.  Mary Ann and James George took Charlotte along with her sister Ellen to New Zealand in 1840, where Charlotte married and established a large famiily, and was a pioneer settler in Auckland.  I have family tree details for Charlotte, her husband and children.  I also have details of researchers who have checked the original records and can verify that Charlotte is part of my family.

John and Catherine Wilson of the Port Phillip District are my family's ancestors.  Charlotte is a 3rd great-grandaunt.  

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