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ShareJohn Tucker jnr, Catherine Flynn & Frances Turner
John Tucker jnr was one of the first Europeans to take up land at Patersons Plains. He was born in Sydney about 1795, following his parents' arrival there as convicts in 1791 and 1792. John moved to Newcastle with his parents and sister in 1804 when his father, John Tucker snr was appointed Commissariat storekeeper at the Newcastle penal settlement.
In 1812 John Tucker jnr joined a team of timber cutters sent to procure a special order of Hunter Valley cedar logs. As reward for a job well done, Governor Macquarie permitted four of these men to establish small farms of their own in the lower Hunter Valley. They were John Tucker jnr (free), John Swan (convict), Benjamin Davis (convict) and George Pell (convict).
John Tucker jnr was 17 years old when he took up 30 acres of land on the east bank of the river at Patersons Plains in 1812 (see map). He delivered his farm's produce to the store in Newcastle and by 1814 sold surplus wheat in Sydney.[1]
In 1815 he married Catherine Flynn but she drowned shortly afterwards, along with George Pell and two others.[2] Catherine had arrived in New South Wales in February 1813 on the Archduke Charles with a seven year sentence[3] and in October that year she 'absented herself' from the female factory at Parramatta and managed to avoid arrest for four months.[4] She was probably sent to Newcastle when caught, and met Tucker there.
In 1818 John Tucker jnr wed Frances Turner who had arrived in January 1816 on the Mary Anne as a convict with a seven year sentence, aged 18.[5] Frances worked as a nurse at Sydney Hospital, but in July 1816 she 'absented herself' from employment[6] and was a fugitive from the constables until apprehended a month later and sent to the penal settlement at Newcastle.[7] Here she met Tucker and escaped servitude, legally this time, via marriage to settle with him on his small farm at Paterson River.
In 1818 Governor Macquarie visited Patersons Plains and reported as follows:
We proceeded up this branch [Paterson River] to the farms some time since permitted by me to be occupied by 6 well behaved convicts and two free men. Arrived at the first farm (young Tucker's)... where we landed and walked about for some little time examining the improvements and nature of the soil, which is most excellent.[8]
By the end of 1822 John had cleared 49 acres cleared and planted 30 acres of wheat. He had two horses, 29 pigs and 11 cattle. From the acreages indicated in the 1822 muster, he was running his 30 acre farm in combination with the adjoining 30 acre grant belonging to his father, John Tucker snr.[9]
By 1828 John Tucker jnr and Frances were living at Albion Farm with their six children, the eldest of which was eight.[10] John jnr died in 1838 and was buried at Albion Farm where his father and mother were also buried (died 1834 and 1839 respectively). Frances remarried, first to James Peattie and then to William Doidge.
Notes and references
1. Hunter, Cynthia. The Settlers of Paterson's Plains. Paterson: Paterson Historical Society 
, 1997.
2. SG 29 July 1815 p2 (on-line ).
3. Convict shipping indents, 4/4004 [fiche 633] p449, SRNSW.
4. SG 23 October 1813 p1 and repeated to 19 February 1814 p1 (on-line ).
5. Convict shipping indents, 4/4005 [fiche 636] p133, SRNSW.
6. SG 27 July 1816 p2 and repeated to 24 August 1816 p1 (on-line ).
7. CS, 4/3495 [reel 6005] p115, SRNSW.
8. from Governor Macquarie's journal of his tours as cited in The Settlers of Paterson's Plains, see reference 1 above.
9. Baxter, Carol (ed.). General Muster and Land and Stock Muster of New South Wales 1822. Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record, 1988. Note: the 1822 muster correctly indicates John Tucker jnr was born in the colony but indicates incorrectly, in view of other evidence, that he was serving a seven-year colonial sentence.
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 Tucker jnr . There is only one paper listed for Frances Turner, see reference 7 above.
- Online transcripts of the journals of Governor Macquarie: his 1812 trip to Newcastle and his 1818 trip to Patersons Plains .
See also
An overview of settlement at Patersons Plains up to the end of 1821.
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;
