Mary Geer's Story

The following is from Janet Hill

Most likely Mary was the second daughter of EDWARD GEER and MARY BOWLDEN of Henfield, Sussex. Edward and Mary are recorded as having three children: ANNE, MARY, THOMAS. All were baptized in the local church, St. Peters. Mary was baptized on 18/04/1790 at Henfield, a straggly village hosting a gorse common, a peaceful river and water meadows.
     If this is Mary's family there are no records of the intervening years until she was arrested for theft at Etchingham, a village several miles to the east of Henfield. It was quite common for girls of thirteen to be employed as skivvies, kitchen and house maids etc, which could take them several miles away from their homes. (Ed's note: My own mother, born in a small village and of farming stock, went into service -kitchen maid in a big house - at the age of fourteen.)
     Mary was fifteen when she was charged with house breaking. Reports are varied, one says she was on her own, and the other says she was part of a gang to help carry the goods away. Mary was caught and tried on 28/07/1804 at Horsham, Sussex, and pleaded not guilty. The court found her guilty of the charges and sentenced her to be hanged! This was changed to life imprisonment and then to transportation to Australia. It is a fair assumption that Mary's crime must have been more serious than just house breaking.
     Mary sailed to Port Jackson on the 'William Pitt,' the same ship as Samuel Bate, though it is unlikely they knew each other, although their descendants married one another in 1893.
     She was seventeen when she was assigned to BENJAMIN HAYWOOD, a soldier-settler, as a servant to his (defacto) wife who was having a baby, and Bejamin had a lease on the Hawkesbury, probably in the same area as WILLIAM DAVIS, who was working for a Roger Twyfield. Mary's daughter HEPZIBAH, was born on 17/03/1807 at Parramatta and JAMES, Mary's son, exactly two years later on 17/03/1809 at Parramatta. Another daughter, ELIZA, was born 16/08/1811. They were baptized by the Rev. Marsden at the original St. Johns at Parramatta on 16/04/1814 and in the October of that year the family were reported to be living "off stores," similar to today's social security. It is believed Haywood was the father of these three children.
     Mary married WILLIAM DAVIS 19/03/1815 and John, (Birth date to come. Presumably Davis was the father.) was baptized on that day and also the other three children's names were changed to DAVIS, making them legitimate. Mary had a third son SAMUEL, (my contact Jan's ancestor) born 01/06/1816 at Parramatta. He was baptized 29/07/1816 at St. Philips Church, Sydney. A fourth son, EBENEZER, was born 07/08/1818 at Parramatta and baptized 17/01/1819 at St. Johns.
     The family struggled to meet all their commitments despite Mary not being well. Perhaps she was pregnant again or just tired from having children, one after the other. William had a withered hand and their servant, John Lucas, had poor health. After a while they decided to move to Windsor, where by that time Mary was pregnant again with her seventh child ROBERT, who was born 17/12/1822. Soon afterwards the family moved back to Parramatta where Robert was baptized at St. Philips on 12/01/1823. Hepzibah, at age sixteen, married WILLIAM SYRETT on 01/07/1823 but she died soon after on 14/08/1823, possibly in child birth. There is evidence a male child had survived and that William Syrett had been in constant contact with William and Mary for several years after Hepzibah's death, which seemed to have a devastating affect
on William and Mary, especially Mary, as William often referred to Mary as being 'much afflicted,'  in a letter in December of that year.
     By 1825 the family had moved to Kent Street, Sydney. On the 25th October that year, 1825 Mary's eighth and last child, Charles,  was born. Sixteen year old Eliza married a widower, GEORGE ONSLOW, at St.Philips on 06/02/1826. One of the witnesses being her brother-in-law William Syrett. Eliza applied for a land grant on 13th February (presumably 1826) and received 52 acres at Holdsworthy. Mary's son Charles was baptized on 26/02/1826. A very busy month for the Davis family.
     Samuel and Ebenezer attended the Sydney Public School run by a Mr. Tim Cape, between 1828-29 and soon after, both started a five year apprenticeship as plasterers with a William Lycett.
     Mary, who was just 40 years of age, became a grandmother with the birth of Eliza's first child, JUNE ONSLOW, registered at Liverpool. But if all accounts are correct then Mary became a grandmother with Hepzibah's child.
     On 11/04/1840 Samuel married CECILY THOMPSON-HOOPER at St. Philips in Sydney. Cecilia (Cecily or Cecilia ?)
was believed to have come out on the 'Davis Scot' at the age of fifteen as nursemaid to Mrs Laydon of George Street, Sydney, for the low wage of 10/- (ten shillings) per week. Cecilia and Samuel raised ten children and in Orange, (Central West of NSW) Cecilia had a school and is believed to have spoken several languages. She died in 1905 at age eighty five, at her daughter's home in Sydney.
     On 24/04/1831 John McKaeg conducted a Baptist type service in the Long Room at the Rose &Crown Inn, in Castlereagh Street. Mary Davis was the only one who attended the services whose name is remembered and by the time a new Baptist Church was founded in Bathurst Street, Sydney, in December 1836, Mary was No.5 on the first Baptist roll. She attended the meetings as well as services but it was recognised that she was too deaf to take part in any discussion, and she had a reputation for falling asleep during a sermon. Perhaps that's where we got the idea from...what an ancestor!
     James married ELIZABETH FOWLES on 31/05/1831 at St. Philips, William and Elizabeth Syrett were witnesses. William Syrett had remarried in 1826.
     On 23/01/1838 Samuel and Ebenezer, who were working on a job in the Bathurst district, were caught selling spirits without a licence. Mary and William fought the case on their sons behalf, obtaining character references from the Baptist minister, their old school teacher, and their employer, William Lycett, but to no avail. They were convicted and served two months in Parramatta gaol.
     The family was rapidly expanding with more marriages and grandchildren being born, but on 30/11/1842 more tragedy occured when 17 year old Charles, also an apprentice plasterer, like his brothers, was working on the construction of the Sydney Synagogue, when he fell from the scaffolding and was badly injured. He died the next day from his injuries which of course devastated both William and Mary. Two years later there was more tragedy when George Onslow, Eliza's husband, died in 1844.

     Mary had come a long way from when she was sentenced for house breaking in 1804 and transported to Port Jackson. One can only wonder what her thoughts were, back then. No doubt she must have been terrified at leaving her home and family and all that she knew and was familiar with, knowing that she would never see them again in her life-time. What a terrifying thought for a 15 year old girl, but then, perhaps she thought of it as an adventure, little realising that she would start a dynasty out in New South Wales, the other side of the world!

     Mary died in Kent Street, Sydney, and was buried by the Baptist Pastor John Ham, at Devonshire Street cemetary. Her headstone now stands in the Pioneer Park at Botany, flanked by Hepzibah and Charles's headstones. It reads:
   
                         "To the memory of Mary Davis, beloved wife of William Davis. Departed this life March 27, 1851."
  Page last updated - 8 Aug 2006