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Permalink Reply by Bleggy on January 28, 2013 at 5:57am

Here is a bit more about John BLAGG he could not read nor write so would not have known how his name was spelt, so later he was BLEGG that was in Tasmania, he was tried on the 5th Jan 1841 at the Stafford Quarter sessions, he stole form a boat on the river at Aspley property belonging to Charles Duke of Wolverhampton and sentenced to 7 years, which really meant he could never return to England.

By the ring mark it seems that he was married possibly had a child but this is not known, I am looking for his birth or marriage, and his wife most likely living alone or with a child in the 1841 English census, he is recorded as being on a hulk at Portsmouth on the 1841 census.  And  he lived the remainder of his life in Australia, dying at the age of 70, he had 9 children to his 2nd Tasmanian wife and none with his 1st Tasmanian wife, when he died his youngest daughter was just a little over 6mths old, his wife was a lot younger than he was about 36 years his junior. 

We always thought that John must have been Irish as all 9 children had red hair and blue or green eyes and most of his grandchildren as well and the majority of his great grand children. 

Thank you for any help 

Permalink Reply by David11000 on January 28, 2013 at 7:13am

There's no Ashby in Staffs, but there is an Ashley, 5 miles from the Shropshire Union Canal

In 1841 he appears to have been on board the Warrior convict hulk in the Thames estuary, awaiting transportaion:

John Blagg 22 Convict labourer Not born in Kent

If nothing else it confirms his age!

He, or at least a John Blagg, was sentenced to 3 months at Stafford County Sessions on 30 Jun 1840, when he was said to be aged 22.

The Warrior record states that he was single, convicted of stealing apparel, been in prison 3 times, once convicted of felony, very bad habits. Char. (acter?) & connx. sullen disposition, orderly. 

There's this marriage on the IGI which to me seems too early, but I'll put it in anyway:

13 Aug 1833 Ashley John Blagg & Elizabeth Fox

They had sons William in Ashley in 1834, Henry 1837 and Joseph 1840, both in Burslem, but in 1851 Elizabeth was 50 so she looks too old and John the convict looks too young. Scrub that thought! Definitely scrub it. In June 1841 they were living in Stoke, John was a blacksmith.

My best suggestion is to look laterally at other Blagg events in Ashley and see if that leads anywhere.

David

Permalink Reply by Bleggy on January 28, 2013 at 10:29am

Thank you for this, every little bit gets me just a little closer and tells me more about him, so it is Ashley the one copy I have of anything was from the court record and it was almost impossible to read as it was hand written.

You are correct that marriage is not him.

I like the bit about sullen disposition, I think I might be exactly the same if I was on a rotting and stinking ships hull and everything was wet underfoot, even the rats had to swim around! 

But he doesn't sound like much of a person does he, and I am not sure what sort of a father he was to his children, but he was my great grandfather,  after he had finished his 7 years as a convict he was free to do as he pleased apart from returning to England, that was not permitted, he married and had 9 children, he was not a terribly good father I would suspect.

The youngest son, and 2nd youngest child was my grandfather, he could not remember his father John, so could not tell his children anything about his father.

 I remember my grandfather as if I saw him yesterday, he was you could say the perfect gentleman, and most amazing person by how he behaved and what he achieved. 

I will see what else I can find in Ashley and the area around it. 

Thank you

Permalink Reply by Weezie on March 10, 2013 at 4:29pm

Hi,

I found a marriage for a John Blagg and Martha Harris in Madeley, Staffordshire 28 Jan 1818. There is only one other marriage in that time frame in Madeley and it is for Jane Blagg who marries a William Williams in 1822. Likely a sister? Wondering if this is any connection to your John Blagg? Would be a good date for a 1818/1819 birth. Louise

Permalink Reply by Bleggy on March 10, 2013 at 6:53pm

Thank you I will follow this one up and see what children they had 

Thank you 

Permalink Reply by Bleggy on March 10, 2013 at 7:18pm

Thanks for the lead but it seems that this couple did not have a son in the right time frame they did have 2 daughters around the 1819 mark but a son didnt arrive until much too late

Thanks for helping as another couple can be ruled out

Permalink Reply by Weezie on March 11, 2013 at 2:34pm

Hi, Wondering what were the names of John's Children? Louise

Permalink Reply by Bleggy on March 11, 2013 at 6:34pm

The children we are sure about were all born in Tasmania Australia

John b 1874, Joseph 1875, George 1876, Thomas 1878, William 1880, David 1882, Laura 1884, Charles 1886, Ada 1889, they were registered with a variety of surnames Blagg, Blag, Bleg, Blegg and  Blay, they were hard to find but as we knew the first name of each and roughly the order they were born in that helped in our search. And yes John the father was either 69 or 70 when his last child arrived but his wife was 36 years younger than he was, she went on to have 3 more girls after John died when he was 70. 

Just for the interest John was a grave digger and all he used was a pick and shovel so I am told that the grave diggers always had a couple of extra graves dug out and then loose filled back ready to be quickly dug out when the need arose, so as John was buried in that particular small town grave yard he most likely dug his own grave! 

Permalink Reply by David11000 on March 11, 2013 at 2:44pm

Madeley is 25 miles from Ashley

david

Permalink Reply by Weezie on March 13, 2013 at 3:30pm

Have you heard of this project?    Saw the info on Dick Eastman's ONLINE Genealogy Letter. Subscribe to FREE Standard Edition March 12, 2013 Research Project about Convicts Transported to Tasmania, Australia Founders & Survivors is a partnership between historians, genealogists, demographers and population health researchers. It seeks to record and study the founding population of 73,000 men women and children who were transported to Tasmania. Many survived their convict experience and went on to help build a new society. By examining birth, death and marriage records and other historical sources, the project will produce the means of analyzing the health and welfare of Australians over the past 200 years. By linking information about transported convicts to birth, death and marriage records for 19th century Tasmania, the project can create one of the richest pre-20th century sources of information for a population that can be followed from cradle to grave. “We will use this to study the effect that punishment, nutrition and other environmental circumstances had on life expectancy and we can do this not just for the convicts but for their children as well,” said Professor Maxwell-Stewart. The project has captured 1,000,000 lines of data relating to people who lived in 19th century Tasmania. You can read more at http://goo.gl/kP7Su and at http://goo.gl/8EmXS. You can also search for a convict and read the transcriptions of his/her records at http://goo.gl/8EmXS. My thanks to newsletter reader Fran Inkster for telling me about this huge project Found 1  matches for "Exact 2=surname(blagg) 1=forename(john)"