Joseph
Wright appeared before the court in the Old Bailey, 26th May 1784, charged
with stealing 218lb of lead which he was seen carrying in Sloane Square,
Chelsea.
The
lead had been cut from the roof, gutter and dormer windows of a house in Sloane
Street. He stated that he had seen a man throw down a basket containing
the lead and had picked it up to take home 'with an intent to advertise it'.
He was sentenced to seven years transportation
to Africa.
Joseph,
aged 19, was received on the "Censor" hulk
on 6th September
1784. Three years later, on 24th February 1787, he was dispatched to by wagon
to Portsmouth and embarked on the "Scarborough"
on 27th February 1787.
The
"Scarborough" was one of the eleven ships of the "First Fleet".
The ships carrying 250 marines, a handful of civil officers, some with wives
and children, and 759 convicts left Portsmouth on 17th May 1897 under the
command of Captain Arthur Philip. They called at Tenerife, Rio de Janiero,
and the Cape of Good Hope before reaching Botany Bay mid-January 1788.
On
13th December 1790 Joseph married Eleanor (Ellen) Gott. Ellen had arrived
in Sydney Cove aboard the "Neptune" on 28th June 1790. She
had been sentenced at Liverpool to three years transportation for stealing
various articles from Charles Norris. In March 1788 she had been sentenced
to three months imprisonment in the Preston House of Correction for the theft
of a gown and cloak.
Joseph
received a 30 acre grant in the Hawkesbury district in 1794, by 1800
they owned 9 pigs and had 26 acres sown in wheat and maize, however by 1802
he had sold his land, and was employed by Edward Shipley on a farm at Prospect.
In
1806 Joseph held 15 acres on the Hawkesbury district, eight acres sown in
grain, a half acre of pasture, six acres fallow, and an orchard and a garden
of three quarters of an acre. He owned seven hogs and held a bushel of maize.
Joseph
died on 30th August 1811 and Eleanor inherited the deeds to his property.
She
married Daniel Buckridge (arrived per "Pitt" in 1792) in 1812. Daniel
died in Pitt Town in 1834, Eleanor died there on 28th April 1834 leaving farm,
boat, horse cart and harness to her children.