Send an e-mail to: Amanda TaylorSend an e-mail to: Amanda TaylorA Story of an Early Pioneer Family, Researched and written by present-day members of the Family, themselves.
The following article was written and researched by Grace Douglass & Laurel Legge and published in their book 'Along the Windsor Richmond Road' 1985 (ISBN 0 9589831 0 0 and ISBN 0 9589831 3 5) and is subject to copyright. Written permission is held from the late author Grace Douglass for the writer to publish contents via the Internet. However, although this book is in the public domain, it still remains copyrighted material and may not be copied for any reason without permission. I do not have the right to give permission to others to reprint the book. I was only given permission to put it on line. All copyrights stay with Grace Douglass & Laurel Legge and whoever they appointed, for control of the book. Under no circumstances may it be reprinted for profit.
Extractions of parts of the information for personal use with references to the book as the source is encouraged.
It should be noted that since the book was published over twenty years ago, that a lot of the material in the books have been superseeded by later research, some of which can ben seen at my complete Rootsweb database at Amanda Taylor's Genealogy.
Lucy or Louisa. One child or two. The age of her child -- even her Death Certificate has been altered and her tombstone in St.Matthew's, incorrectly inscribed. So far as the name is concerned, I do not think we shall ever know for certain, but the other matters can be cleared up from surviving records.
Lucy, as I prefer to call her because to me the older Louisa is still an integral part of our Family, was born at Mulgrave Place (Windsor) on 19th March, 1798 and baptised at St.John's Parramatta, three months later. That is to say, the record of her baptism is entered in St. John's Register. However, I hardly think it likely her parents made the journey to Parramatta Town with an infant of three months. There were quite a few baptisms recorded on that same day in the Register, including the eldest child of Henry Lamb, who was named Rebecca, and who was later to become an important member of of Family Tree when she married Lucy's older brother, John Ezzey. So it is highly probable that the two infants and others besides were baptised in Windsor by a visiting Clergyman. Perhaps this is where the first error in her name began. It is a recognised fact that many of these early records made on the spot and later entered in official Registers were made with abbreviations and this caused many of the early variations in the spelling of names -- did they spell it with an 'e' -- did they double this letter or that -- was it 'in' or 'an', etc. By the time Mr.T.D.Mutch compiled his well-known and very useful Index to our early Births, Deaths and Marriages from this period, he was content to record the Birth and Baptism of the child as 'Lucy'Louisa Ezzy'.
What Lucy did with herself for the next sixteen years no record remains. It is unlikely she ever received any schooling, she never learned to write, and even if her parents had had an education, they were far too busy to pass it on to their children. Admittedly, when she was a witness at the wedding of her younger brother, Charles Ezzy, in later years, she would appear to have 'signed', but if you examine the two signatures of the witnesses (Lucy and her first husband) you will see that the handwriting is identical, and it is almost certain that William executed both entries.
In February 1814, just before Lucy's sixteenth birthday, a request was made by Rev. Robert Cartwright to Governor Macquarie for permission for Lucy Ezzy to marry, one, Benjamin Wright, a convict who had come on the "Duke of Portland". Although permission was granted by the Governorn, the marriage did not take place, and Benjamin later married another.
Almost a year later, in January 1815, Lucy inserted a notice in the Sydney Gazette stating that it was her intention "to apply to the Court of Civil Jurisdiction during it's next session for Letters of Administration to the Estate and Effects of James Jones, late of Richmond Hill". As to why Lucy though she had a claim on the Estate and Effects ofthe late Mr. Jones, we have not been able to establish, however, she did not take the matter to Court.
On the second day of September, 1816, Lucy was married at St.Peter's Richmond, to William Thomas Baylis (also spelt Bayless/Bayliss). In the Register that records their marriage, Lucy and William's ceremony, is the first one recorded, however, there were earlier Registers, as the first marriage took place in St.Peter's on January 19th, 1815. The witnesses at Lucy and William's wedding were her brother John, and William's sister-in-law, Ann Baylis [nee Craft]. Ann had married Joseph, William's half-brother, two years previously and later a descendant of her Family (Croft/Craft) would become a Mrs. Ezzy, (Meredith Ezzy, great-great-grand-daughter-in-law of William James Ezzy). The beginnings of some of our early Hawkesbury Families are so entwined that it would be impossible to work out some of the relaionships.
Thomas, was not William's second name, it was his Mother's maiden name, the name to which he was born, to which he later added the surname of his stepfather, John Baylis.
William was the second son of Elizabeth Thomas, a convict who had come on the "Bellona" in 1793, her eldest son, Joseph, had been born during the voyage to the Colony. William Thomas was born at Sydney Cove 10/11/1794, supposedly the son of Richard Hannaphy. Elizabeth later married John Baylis a private in the N.S.W. Corp who had arrived on the "Active" in 1791, and she had at least wo more sons from this marriage. Thus William Thomas, became William Thomas Baylis.
In the early years of this marriage Lucy and William would appear to have remained in the general area of Windsor. Lucy was a witness at the wedding of her older brother John in 1817 (she is recorded as 'Luisa Baylis'), and again when her sister Elizabeth married in 1825, when she is recorded similarly.
Lucy's daughter, Jane Thomas Baylis was born 24/2/1827, and was later baptised at St.Matthew's Windsor. Although the Pioneer Register claims that Lucy and William had an older daughter, Louisa, born 1825, there is definitely no record of her birth, baptism, or death. Even if she were not baptised, she would have to be buried, and there would be a record of this, at least. Jane, however, was not to survive, either, and the child was laid to rest in St.Matthew's Churchyard at the tender age of 13 years and 5 months. She was eidently a sickly child, or else had suffered a long illness prior to her death, as her tombstone was inscribed with the verse:-
"Afflications sore, long time she bore,
Physicians were in vain.
Until God did please to give her ease,
And free her from her pain.
This verse appears on quite a few headstones and tombstones of this period in our history, and in fact was used on the Headstone of Lucy's sister, Elizabeth, in St.Peter's Richmond, Elizabeth apparently having it inscribed on the headstone when she had it erected on the grave of Charles Hughes, who fathered seven of her sons, and with whom she was later buried.
Lucy and William had no further family. In 1828 when the first General Census was taken in the Colony, the couple were farming at Cornwallis which was part of Windsor, and very close to where Lucy's Mother had been given her early grant of land. In some copies of this early Census, Jane is listed as being one-and-a-half months instead of one-and-a-half-years.
By 1834 the couple had moved to the other side of Windsor and were living on the road leading to Parramatta, acording to an early Street Directory, but they returned to the Richmond side of the town the same year and settled on the Windsor Richmond Road, quite likely on part of ther Father's original Grant of which Lucy would now have been part-owner, and William had a Publican's Licence here for the "Bird in Hand" Inn, which he he until 1840. William passed away 16/1/1849, aged 54, and was buried with his young daughter, in St.Matthew's Churchyard.
Fifteen months later, on the 16/4/1850, Lucy remarried, this time her husband was John Roberts, another 'native son' born at Sydney Cove about 1801, and she 'inherited' a ready-made Family. At the age of 52, when most woment of her generation were Grandmothers of long standing, Lucy again became a Mother of reasonably young children.
The Mother of these children had been Elizabeth Carlisle (nee Blackman), and as Lucy completed the raising of the younger members of her Family, at least, it is best that we should know a little of her background. Elizabeth had been born in Wooolwich Kent about 1799, the daughter of James and Elizabeth Blackman, and had come to the Colony with her parents and three older brothers on the "Canada" in 1801 as Free Settlers. At the age of 18, Elizabeth married William Carlisle, a missionary. William had arrived on the "Experiment" in 1804, and in 1811 ha married Mary Gordon, the daughter of a fellow-passenger and missionary, Thomas Gordon. Mary gave birth to a daughter, Emily, early in 1813 and died two weeks later. William married Elizabeth Blackman in 1816 and the couple had two sons, James William (1817) and John (1818). Either one, or both of these boys were born in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand where William had gone in company with Thomas Gordon and his family in connection with their missionary work, and it is recorded that Elizabeth Carlisle is thought to have been the first white woman to give birth to a child in that country.
The two young boys were not baptised until the couple returned to the Colony in 1820. The family settled at Richmond and the two lads were baptised at St.Peter's. The following year, a daughter, Henrietta, was born. It has not been established 'why' or 'when' the marriage of William and Elizabeth ran in difficulties, but by the end of 1824 William inserted an advertisement in the Sydney Gazette (there had been a couple of previous ones in a lesser tone), cautioning the Inhabitants of the Colony against giving credit to his wife, as 'she was in the habit of repeatedly absconding from her home and family at Richmond upon the most frivolous occasions'. Five months later he inserted another advertisement in even stronger terms, again cautioning the Public against giving credit as 'my wife is now away from her family and having degraded herself ever since by living in a state of adultery with a bullock driver at Richmond of the name of John Roberts, which said bullock driver is at this time fully committed to take his trial at the next Windsor Qurter Sessions for a robbery at Richmond and any person except her relations harbouring her after this Public notice will be prosecuted to the utmost severity of the law'. As to whether or not William was correct in his Claims about John Roberts, I cannot say, as the proceedings for the Windsor Court for this period have not survived, however from accounts in the local press of the day it would seem that the only John Roberts who came to trial during this period, was one who was a bushranger and highwayman and this somehow does not seem to fit the character of Lucy's second husband. Whether or not, by the time of the 1838 Census, three years later, William Carlisle would appear to have been living in Sydney with his two sons, working as a painter, and Elizabeth had registered herself at the Census as Elizabeth Roberts, householder, Richmond, with two daughters, Henrietta Roberts 8, and Anne 1, both born Colony, and John Roberts is listed next, no occupation is given, but no mention of a conviction, either. Elizabeth, however, is the only one with possessions, she had 25 head of cattle.
So the little Family had settled at Richmond, and John is listed as a sawyer when each of his later children were born. The infant Anne died in 1829, and it is possible that there had been an older child, Edward, born in 1826, as there appears in St.Peter's Burial Register an entry 'Edward Carlisle age 3 weeks, 1826'. The infant was not baptised, so there is no record of his birth, and these early registers only record the name of the deceased, so Elizabeth may, or may not have been his Mother, although it would seem most likely. Anne, however, was followed by Robert Joseph 1830, William 1833, Ann Jane 1835 (she died 1841), Mria Kezia 1830, George 1841 and Henry 1844 (he died 1847). Elizabeth Carlisle died 13/3/1849, aged 51 and was buried in St.Peter's Richmond. Her husband, William Carlisle, died at Rylestone three years later.
John Roberts buried his son William early in February, 1850, at the age of 17, and married Lucy Baylis two months later. So Lucy's 'ready-made' family consisted of Robert Joseph a young man of 20 years, Maria 11 and George 9, all of whom survived and out-lived their Father and Step-mother.
John Roberts was the son of two convicts. His Father, William Roberts, was a First Fleeter, who came on the transport "Scarborough". He had been sentenced at Bodmin in 1786 to 7 yeas for stealing 5 pounds and one half pound weight of yarn, valued at 9/-, the property of William Moffett. His Mother, Kezia Brown arrived on the "Neptune", two years later. John was their fifth child.
Lucy and John were married at St.Matthew's Windsor. She was married as Lucy, and John was able to sign the Register, though only just. His handwriting improved after this, however, as his signature on an Indenture for the sale of land which had belonged to Lucy's late sister, Elizabeth Dargin, some twelve years later in 1862, was firm and clear. The witnesses at the wedding were John's younger brother Edward and a Mary Dargin. The fact that John's brother was named Edward, makes me more sure that Edward Carlisle was Elizabeth's child.
The couple were married for twenty-five years and John farmed in the Richmond area. In 1859 Lucy's step-daughter, Maria Kezia, married Johnathan Everingham. Although it is stated in other places that Johnathan's wife was born in Wales, she was most definitely the daughter of John Roberts and Elizabeth Carlisle. John Roberts refers to his daughter in his Will as 'Maria Kezia Everingham', and Johnathan Everingham was the Informant on Lucy's Death Certificate.
Lucy died 25/7/1875 at the age of 77 and was buried in St.Matthew's Windsor, in the Family Vault with her daughter Jane and her first husband William Thomas Baylis. Her Death Certificate and the Parish Register give this date and age, but the tombstone has been carved to read '1865 aged 57'. Her death was registered as Louisa Roberts and the certificate later changed by a notation in the margin 'For Louisa, read Lucy'. At least 'this person of controversy' has her tombstone carved 'Lucy'. John Roberts died 10/8/1880 at Richmond and was buried in St.Matthew's Windsor with his parents. Although the Burial Register lists him as 'pauper' this is not so as his Will divided an estate of several hundred pounds between his three surviving children.
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