Ann Colpitts - Colethread - Smith - Hatton, Convict "Lady Penrhyn" 1788

Ann was born c1759 (might be Ann WISE or Ann WATSON - see discussions)

Ann married Thomas COLPITTS on 7/1/1778 at Auckland, Durham, England

Ann was convicted of stealing and was sentenced to 7 years transportation. She arrived in Sydney Cove on 26/1/1788 on "Lady Penrhyn"

Ann married / had a relationship with John COLETHREAD in June 1788 in Sydney and they had the following children

• John 1789 died 1790
• John 1790

Ann married Thomas SMITH on 25/9/1791 in Parramatta and they had the following children

• Mary 1792
• Jane 1795
• Elizabeth 1797

Ann married Joseph HATTON c1800 and they had the following children

• Joseph 1800

Ann died in 1832 and was buried on 5/8/1832 at Field of Mars

She was tried at Durham, County of Durham on 20 July 1785 for stealing 12 handkerchiefs with a value of 20 shillings.

Ann COLPITTS was tried at the Assizes and General Gaol Delivery held at Durham in and for the County Palantine of Durham beginning on Tuesday 19th July before Sir George Nares Knt. and John Heath Esq. She was tried on Wednesday morning 20 Jul 1785. Her indictment was 'Alexander Gould, Ann Colpitts, the wife of Thomas Colpitts and Ann Crosby the wife of John Crosby, for privately and feloniously stealing taking and carrying away out of the shop of Thomas Chipchase one piece of cotton handkerchief containing 12 handkerchiefs value 20s. the property of Thomas Chipchase at the parish of St Nicholas in the City of Durham the 19th February 1785'. Alexander Gould was found not guilty and so was Ann Crosby. Ann Colpitts was found guilty 'with the benefit of Clergy' and was sentenced to transportation for seven years.

She was sentenced to transportation for 7 years and left England on the Lady Penrhyn aged about 28 at that time (May 1787). Her occupation was listed as servant. She died in 1832.

Notes: Probably already married in England, she bore two sons to a marine, three daughters to a husband she married in 1791, and a son to Joseph Hatton.

http://www.australianroyalty.net.au/individual.php?pid=I73181&ged=p...
http://www.convictrecords.com.au/convicts/wise/ann/133089
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9593845?selectedversion=NBD44265531

Another account of Ann's life:

Ann Colpitts (previously Watson) was sentenced to seven years transportation for stealing twelve cotton handkerchiefs from a shop. This was not the first time she had had a brush with the law, having been committed to gaol in 1780. She was described in the indictment files as Ann Watson, a Scottish widow who passed as the wife of Thomas Colpitts (alias Stewart). More crimes followed as part of the Bishop-Auckland Gang of Thieves. Ann was known to have had at least two children in England, possibly four. She arrived in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Lady Penhryn, in the First Fleet and was recorded in the ship's indent as being aged 28. Her occupation was given as 'in service'. However, when she died in 1832 her age was given as 77 years.

During the voyage she formed a relationship with John Colethread, a marine, with whom she had two children. Both children died in infancy. She then married Thomas Smith at Parramatta in 1791. They had three daughters, Mary, Jane and Elizabeth. By 1800 she had left Thomas and was in a relationship with Joseph Hatton. Their child, Joseph Hatton Junior was born in that year. Ann and Joseph Hatton Senior developed a farm together at Kissing point (Ryde) and Ann appears to have also worked as a midwife. Under the terms of Joseph Hatton’s will, Ann was to stay on their farm when it was to be divided between her children Elizabeth Smith and Joseph Hatton Jnr.

Ann died in 1832 and was buried on 5 August. Her death was reported in the newspaper records as Mrs Hatton of Kissing Point, but her burial records lists her legal name of Ann Smith. She is probably buried in an unmarked grave within the grounds of St Ann’s Church in Ryde where her son Joseph Hatton was one of its earliest baptisms.