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ShareJohn Reynolds & Martha Mitchell
John Reynolds was an early settler at Patersons Plains. In 1802 at the age of 15 he was sentenced to death in London for breaking, entering and stealing in a dwelling house with several others (see trial proceedings 
).[1] His sentence was commuted to transportation for life and he arrived in New South Wales on the Coromandel in 1804.[2]
Some time between 1818 and 1821 John Reynolds received permission to settle at Patersons Plains[3] but the circumstances that brought him to Newcastle before that are not yet known (he was there by 1808, see 'further research' below). He took up a block on the eastern bank of the Paterson River, opposite the government station at Old Banks and immediately south of Richard Binder's block (see map).[4]
John Reynolds received a conditional pardon in November 1821[5] and in 1822 he married Martha Mitchell. Martha had arrived in NSW on the Minstrel in 1812 as a convict with a life sentence[6] and was sent to the penal settlement at Newcastle in 1814,[7] presumably as punishment for a colonial offence.
By 1822 Reynolds had cleared 23 acres, planted 15 acres of wheat and was running 4 cattle and 17 pigs.[8] Dangar's survey in 1823 indicated Reynold's farm consisted of 33 acres of which 24 acres had been cleared and on which stood a wattle and plaster cottage, a log and thatched barn, a stable, men's huts and a pig yard, with a total value of £20.[9]
The 1828 census indicates John and Martha were living on their Paterson farm which now comprised 73 acres of which 30 acres had been cleared and 25 acres were under cultivation. Their ages in 1828 were recorded as 39 and 40 respectively.[10]
Like several other early settlers at Patersons Plains who occupied their land at the governor's pleasure, Reynolds became ensnared in the re-allocation of his land to the Church and School Corporation. Initially Reynolds, Binder and Whitmore accepted the offer to move to equivalent blocks on the Williams River but when the government failed to keep its promise to clear the blocks as compensation for their cleared blocks at Patersons Plains, they reclaimed the leases on their land at Paterson. About 1834 it appears Reynolds sold his Paterson River farm to Benjamin Lee.
Notes and references
1. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674 to 1913 (on-line ).
2. Convict shipping indents, 4/4004 [fiche 631] p184, SRNSW.
3. Hunter, Cynthia. The Settlers of Paterson's Plains. Paterson: Paterson Historical Society , 1997.
4. Doran, Luke. A Historical Investigation into the Colonial Surveys at Old Banks, Paterson River. Major Project, Bachelor of Surveying, University of Newcastle (unpublished), 2007.
5. Conditional Pardon 28 November 1821, 4/4430 [reel 774], p184, SRNSW.
6. Convict shipping indents, 4/4004 [fiche 633] p435, SRNSW.
7. CS, 4/3493 [reel 6004] p160, SRNSW.
8. Baxter, Carol (ed.). General Muster and Land and Stock Muster of New South Wales 1822. Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record, 1988.
9. as cited in The Settlers of Paterson's Plains, see 3 above, p18.
10. Sainty MR and KA Johnston (eds). Census of New South Wales 1828. Library of Australian History, 2008 (revised edition on CD).
External links
Index to the NSW Colonial Secretary's papers. There are several papers listed for John Reynolds (per Coromandel) and for Martha Mitchell .
See also
An overview of settlement at Patersons Plains up to the end of 1821.
Further research needed
Look up Bench of Magistrates 1788-1820: Reynolds, John, 17/12/1808, absenting himself from the Coal River, reel 657 [SZ770], COD 231, SRNSW.
John Reynolds' Col Sec papers (see index above) need to be consulted to fill in the gaps re when he came to Newcastle and when he took up his block at Patersons Plains.
Abbreviations sometimes used on this site: CS = NSW Colonial Secretary; HRA = Historical Records of Australia; LB = Letters to Benches of Magistrates, Justices of the Peace and Superintendents of Police; ML = Mitchell Library (State Library of NSW); NLA = National Library of Australia; NSWGG = NSW Government Gazette; PRO = Public Record Office, London; PSC = Principal Superintendent of Convicts; SG = Sydney Gazette; SH = Sydney Herald; SRNSW = State Records Authority of NSW;
