Parish Name

The persons of interest are my great, great, great grandfather Joseph Frederick Curtis and my great, great, great grandmother Bridget Ellen Curtis (nee Naughton).

Joseph was born in 1810 (no day or month known) in Dublin. He was transported to Sydney, Australia as a convict at age 16 for allegedly picking pockets but my own research suggests he was a well known Catholic Irish rebel and troublemaker whom the authorities wanted rid of.

 He was single and lived with his mother whose name I believe was Jane but not 100% sure. I don’t know his father’s name of which I am seeking, plus any other information about the family tree you may find, in particular any written detail of Joseph’s trial.

Joseph’s occupation was currier’s boy and I believe he lived at No 14 Back Lane (which no longer exists or may be known as Rochelle Lane), in the old walled city area of Dublin now known as Christchurch. He presumably worked at one of the tanneries in the area.

He was tried in Dublin City on 2nd January 1826 and sent to Newgate gaol, Dublin before being transported on the ship Phoenix lll carrying 190 prisoners under Captain Alex Anderson which sailed from Dublin on 27th August 1826 and arrived in Sydney on 25th December of the same year at which time he was sent to Hyde Park Barracks to serve his sentence.

I believe Joseph may have attended St Michan’s Church in Dublin and been baptised there.

My research indicates the CURTIS name traces back to Irish stock of Norman origin, the name being derived from the French Anglo-Saxon surname De Curtius. You may be able to confirm this.

I have enclosed a copy of a petition from Jane Curtis to His Excellency Richard Colley asking that Joseph’s sentence be commuted. This petition was co-signed by officials of St Michan’s Church.

To my confusion Ancestry.com shows Joseph’s parents as Francis and Elizabeth but Griffith’s Valuations of Ireland 1848 – St Nicholas Without, County Dublin shows a JANE CVRTIS living in Back Lane and I presume the Cvrtis is a typing error of CURTIS although the keys are well apart on a typewriter.

As for Bridget Ellen Naughton she was born at Limerick in 1819 and was also of the Catholic faith. Her parents were Michael and Margaret.

At the age of 22 on 13th June 1841 she sailed alone from Plymouth to Sydney as an assisted migrant on the Lady Kennaway under Captain J.L. Spence and arrived in Sydney on 12th October 1841. She could read but not write and her occupation was shown as “housemaid”.

Joseph spent his first 10 years in Sydney as a prisonerat Hyde Park Barracks before being granted a ticket of leave. How he and Margaret met is unknown but they married in 1842 and had three children, Frederick (my line), Margaret and William.

Joseph died at 38 years of age and is buried at Singleton and Bridget at age 66 and buried at Waverley cemetry.

Any information you can provide on my family tree would be greatly appreciated.

You may contact me by email: rcurtis@kooee.com.au

Thank you in anticipation of good news.

Robin Curtis