William Johnson (1792)

Born Jan 1792 in Norfolk Island, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

William was born in 1792 in Norfolk Island.

He was the son of First Fleet convicts Catherine Johnson and Edward Smith who was later known as Edward Beckford. William left Norfolk Island on the Daedalus in November 1794 with his older sister Elizabeth (b.1791) and their mother Catherine, for Sydney. By that time, their mother had separated from their father Edward Smith/Beckford who worked as a mariner on vessels along the coast and in the sealing trade at Tasmania.

William does not appear in later records. In 1809 his sister Elizabeth and their mother Catherine had the lease to two properties at The Rocks in Sydney. There is no mention of William. Had he died by then?

Research Notes

Is the following accurate? Research required

According to Ancestry trees he married Mary Ann Pendergrass in 1827 at Liverpool, New South Wales. (However some trees have this man having Death 13 May 1874 • South Creek, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia, and he was a convict born in Denmark). Mary Ann had children Hannah Johnston 1832–1866 and Sarah Ann Johnston 1834–1904. Mary Ann Johnston/Johnson lived with Samuel Pennell and had 8 children from 1835 to 1852. She was a widow when she married Samuel Pennell in 1851 in Sydney, but there is no mention of her first marriage in her death cert of 1871 (see https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/person/tree/114629367/person/432166213133/facts ) Her marriage in 1851 implies that William Johnson had died by then. see https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I24828/Mary-Ann-Pendergast

Some Ancestry trees have possibility for his death: burial 15 Aug 1868 • Parramatta, Cumberland, New South Wales, Australia (JOHNSON WILLIAM 5873/1868 AGE 78 YEARS DIED PARRAMATTA PARRAMATTA)

Sources

• Fellowship of First Fleeters: EDWARD BECKFORD/ SMITH and ELIZABETH BECKFORD (father & sister)
• Fellowship of First Fleeters: CATHERINE (JOHNSON) MOORE (mother)
• Cathy Dunn, Culprits on Norfolk Island : Golden Grove October 1788, Milton, NSW, Cathy Dunn, 2015, p.55.