The Webb Wagg Family in Australia

Update — June 2026: George Turner, Scarborough, John Tindall, Mary Ann/Jane, and the beginning of a new investigation When I first wrote this post in May 2017, I described 16 May 1847 as the “highly likely” death date for George Turner. I wrote it deliberately on what appeared to be the 170th anniversary of his death, while also acknowledging that much of George’s story was still unfinished. Nearly a decade later, the research has moved on. I now know that 16 May 1847 was indeed George Turner’s death date. I have also established, from New South Wales records, that George came from Scarborough in Yorkshire. Those same records point to a birth date of about 1805, although I have still not found a definite birth or baptismal record for him. The most important new development is that George’s 1818 apprenticeship indenture can now be placed much more clearly in its Scarborough context. The original family-held indenture fragments showed that George was apprenticed from 3 September 1818 to ...

Today marks 100 years since our many times great-grandmother and great-aunt, Sarah, died at the home of her son, William - 247 West Street Cammeray. Sarah was born on 21 October 1832 in Sydney - the daughter of George Turner (a carpenter from York, England) and Mary Hand (a convict from Atholone, Ireland).  George and May had another daughter, Jane, but it's possible that there were more children - the search continues! You can read last year's post about Sarah here. Sarah married William Wagg (a seaman and convict from Norfolk, England) on 18 August 1853 at St James Church of England in Sydney.  They settled on the lower North Shore of Sydney and raised their large family. Here's the last photo that we have of Sarah with her extended family.  She's clearly visible as are some of her sons and their wives.  I doubt we'll ever identify everyone or know the reason for the gathering. Listening to my great-grandmother, Josephine Webb-Wagg (nee Clancy)...

Back in May, there were posts about the Sarah Wagg (nee Turner) and Jane Trickett (nee Turner) and their parents George Turner and Mary Hand. The Turners, The Tricketts and The Webb Waggs George Turner - Father of Sarah Wagg and Jane Trickett A bit of a recap of what we've found to date.... With traditional family history research, we know of two children from George and Mary's marriage - Sarah born on 21 October 1832 and Jane born about 1841.  We're still trying to locate Jane's birth  registration - elusive in spite of much searching and money spent on transcripts!  Jane's birth date is based on her death registration.   We're still searching for information on Mary Hand.  This will be covered in a later post... George Turner died in 1847 when Sarah was 15 and Jane was about 6.  There's no evidence that Mary was part of the girls life at this time.  Jane was a witness at Sara...

I've previously written about our search for the birth family of our patriarch, William Webb Wagg.  As we approach Mother's Day, it's timely to look at the birth family of our matriarch, Sarah Turner. The first clue is in the 1853 marriage registration of William Wagg and Sarah Turner at St James, Sydney.  We see the witnesses named as George Fairfield of Sussex Street and Jane Turner of George Street. Sarah's 1918 death registration records the names of her parents as George Turner (a shipwright) and Sarah.  The witnesses to the death registration are Sarah's sons, William Webb Wagg and Charles Webb Wagg.  They record Sarah's age as 86 - birth around 1832 in Sydney. As Sarah's birth was so early in the colonies history, there are no birth registrations.  However, we've found a baptism transcript for Sarah Turner at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.  It records that Sarah was born on 21 October 1932 and baptised on 09 December 1832.  Her father...