George Turner - Father of Sarah Wagg and Jane Trickett

Today seemed like a appropriate time to focus on George Turner, the father of Sarah and Jane as it's highly likely that George died on 16 May 1847 - 170 years ago today!

Our cousin, Leonie, has led the "The Webb Wagg Family" research into George and his wife Mary Ann Hand with many hour spent pouring over microfiche at the NSW State Archives and the Society of Australian Genealogists.  What's written here is a mixture of fact and informed speculation!

We are confident that George Turner, our many times great-grandfather, was born in about 1805 in York, England to William and Sarah Turner.

We have fragments of George's indenture paper that have been handed down through "The Williams" and provided by George's 3X great-granddaughter, Linda.

Fragment of George Turner's Indenture Paper

Understandably, this document is fragile at it's almost 200 years old!  George's indenture commenced on 3 September 1818 when George was about 13 years old!  Here are some working copies provided by Linda which show George's signature along with that of his mother, Sarah, and the mark of William Turner, his father.

Linda's mother, Shirley, has transcribed as much as possible which reveals that-

• George's parents were William, a bricklayer, and Sarah and they came from York, England.
• George was apprenticed to John Tindale of York for two years from 3 September 1818.
• George was to "learn" the occupation of a shipwright.

It seems that George learned his trade and, in 1828, arrived in Port Jackson as a free man on board "The Promise". 

George Turner and Mary Hand - 1831 Permission to Marry

On 12 October 1831, George Turner and Mary Hand were given permission to marry (shown in the middle of the right hand side of the page above).  George Turner, aged 26, who "came free" was given permission to marry Mary Hand, aged 25, who was transported for life and arrived on "The Forth" and was "bonded".  So Mary was still a convict at the time of her marriage to George but that's a story for another day.....

George Turner and Mary Hand married on 23 November 1831 in a Catholic ceremony at Parramatta.  The marriage was registered at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.

At this time, we only know of two daughter from the marriage - Sarah Wagg (nee Turner) was born on 21 October 1832 and Jane Trickett (nee Turner) was born in about 1841.  We're still trying to locate Jane's birth registration - elusive in spite of much searching!  Jane's birth date has been based on her death registration.  There may be more children of George and Mary...again an area of ongoing research!  We're even using the current fad, DNA testing, to see where this leads us.....

On 9 December 1832, Sarah was baptised at St Mary's Cathedral.  Her baptism registration shows her father as George Turner, a ship carpenter on the Brig Irvoine, but, sadly, there is no mother recorded - possibly as Mary was still a "bonded" convict.  The sponsors for Sarah's baptism were John Rowell, "Quarry Man, to be a Catholic" and Miss Ellen Downey.

The work of our cousin, Leonie, has been very exhaustive from this point on as George, the shipwright, doesn't seem to have been part of his daughter's lives.  George's name and occupation are on Sarah and Jane's marriage and death registrations but these details could have come from their birth registrations.

There's a slight possibility that George could have left the colony.  Sadly, George's most likely fate is that he found himself in Darlinghurst Goal in early 1847.  In early March 1847, the goal papers record that George was a "pauper and had no means of contributing to his own support" and that the visiting doctor was of the belief that he was "insane and recommend that he be sent to Asylum for Lunatics".  Sarah was 15 and Jane about 6.  We have no evidence that their mother, Mary Hand, was with them.  The bond that we've seen between Sarah and Jane and their families now becomes very understandable......

On this day 170 years ago, George Turner died.  His burial transcription records his ages as 42, occupation as "lunatic" with his residence as "lunatic asylum".  George's burial on 17 May 1847 is recorded in the Church of England Burials in the Parish of Hunters Hill.  

The story of "our George Turner" has not ended for us!  We're still looking at both ends of George's life and would dearly love to find his burial site......