Jane Pendergast, Convict "Nile" 1801

Jane Williams/Pendergast at the age of 26 was tried and convicted on charges of theft. According to the evidence, she had stolen an item of clothing from a Mrs.Griffith and was sentenced to 7 years transportation, a common penalty for this type of offence at this time.

Jane was held in Newgate Gaol, Bristol while awaiting transportation on the "Nile". The "Nile" was a small ship of 322 tons, carrying only 96 female convicts, all of whom survived the voyage, a rare occurrence so early in the convice era. the "Nile" sailed in convoy with the "Canada" and "Minorca" via Rio de Janerio and arrived in Sydney in December 1801. to Port Jackson NSW. The ship had left Spithead in England on the 21st June 1801 and the voyage took 176 days.

Coincidentally, travelling on the "Minorca", but as free settlers, was the Hancy family, whose unborn daughters Sophia and Elizabeth were destined to marry sons yet to be born to Jane.

Jane was assigned as housekeeper to John Pendergast, "Minerva", another former convict settled in the Windsor area, as nurse to his infant son John. According to Jane's biographer Veronica C.E. O'Brien Sitton, young John's mother appears to have died in childbirth or soon thereafter. No trace has been found of a marriage ceremony for Jane and John, but since they were both Catholics, and Catholic priests were forbidden to operate in the Colony, they may well have gone without official recognition.

Jane and John had five children, James, Thomas, Sarah, William and Bridget Pendergast.

Jane outlived her husband by only five years, she died at the age of 56 and was buried in the Pendergast family vault in the old Catholic cemetery at Windsor NSW along with her husband John.

The Pendergast Family Vault contains the remains of 19 members of the family.

• Williams, Jane Jane Williams was a convict sentenced to 7 years who arrived in the colony on the 14th December 1801 aboard the ship "Nile". The ship had left Spithead in England on the 21st June 1801 and the voyage took 176 days.

  ---

• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 20 2021, 5:55:45 UTC

  ---

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Apr 6 2022, 16:12:53 UTC