William Watts

Immigration to New Zealand: Free Settler "Oriental" 1841 (William aged 45; Geni list)

Immigration to Australia: Free Settler "Comet" 1847 (Curator Leanne Minny added, needs to be checked if correct date, see below).

Note: NSW Archives Unassisted Arrivals. Cannot tell if the following are the Watts family in this profile:

• Mr W Watts and Son arrived on the "Comet" 15 Oct 1846. Newspaper had 'Mr W Weitts and son'.
• Edward Watts (only) arrived on the "Comet" 15 Oct 1847, travelling from Port Nicholson NZ.
• Newspapers Oct 1847: Arrivals included Mr Edward Watts only.
• Newspapers April 1847: April 12 the barque "Garland Grove" from Port Nicholson; one report had as Passengers: "Mrs Watt and five children". Another had "Mrs Watts, three daughters and one son". Unknown if they are related to this family Watts.

NSW BDM Death 1873/4664 Kiama; Watts, William son of William.

...

His wife, and story of their travels:

The Kiama Independent, and Shoalhaven Advertiser Tue 5 Jan 1864; DEATH.

On the 19th December, 1863, Mrs. Sophia Watts, wife of Mr. Wm. Watts of Jamberoo, at the age of 70 years.

Deceased left England in 1841, after having been together with her husband for twenty-five years in the employ of Jesse Piper, Esq., (of Conghurst, Kent,) and family.

After remaining about five years in New Zealand, deceased and her husband arrived in this colony, and took up their abode in Illawarra, where they remained till the period of the death as above.

GEDCOM Note === (unreferenced bits of information)

William Watts and family sailed from Plymouth - England aboard the vessel "Oriental" on 22 June 1941 with 10 of their children. They arrived in Port Nicholson (Wellington) New Zealand on 22 October 1841. William was not impressed with what he saw and relocated to Australia around 1846. They settled in Jamberoo on the NSW South Coast
Three of his children, Jane (1820), Ann (1822) and Matilda (1824), married seamen off the "Oriental" whilst in New Zealand. Ann, Matilda and their husbands together with Jane and her children (After the death of her husband in 1853) and brother Edward, followed William to Australia soon after, aboard the schooner "Comet", arriving in Port Jackson, Sydney on 15 October 1847. Edward remained only a short while before moving back to New Zealand, aboard a cargo ship, where he felt he could make a better life for himself.

William and Sophia Watts and their family sailed from Plymouth on the Oriental, a ship on its voyage to Australia. Before leaving England Sophia and William worked for Jesse Piper at Longhurst in Kent.

In the instructions for Bounty Immigrants, if a husband or wife are over 40, it makes them ineligible and also their children under adult age. This was considered in the application of the Watt family. In their application, the fact that they were all of good character and in honest industry and sobriety and a remarkably healthy family, was considered. The statement of a reputable medical man of the same Parish added in reply to the enquiry that Watts had not received any parochial relief within the last twelve months. The classes of labourers specified in the Bounty Regulations are only the following: shepherds, agricultural labourers, carpenters, smiths, wheelwrights, bricklayers, amasons, and also female unmarried domestics and house servants.

They travelled from Kent,England, and it would seem that John Badans met Ann, a daughter of William and Sophia Watts on board ship on the way to New Zealand. The shipping records show that among those who travelled to New Zealand on the Oriental, arriving in Port Nicholson on 22 October 1841, were William and Sophia Watts, both 45 and their children - Jane 21, Ann 19, Matilda17, Edward15, John 12, Elizabeth 10, Henry 8, Hannah 8, Daniel 5 and Jesse 2. They sailed from Plymouth on 22 June 1841 with William Wilson as Captain. For a time after their marriage, John and Ann continued to live in New Zealand and it was here that their first three sons were born. On 28 September 1847 they left Port Nicholson, New Zealand on board the Comet to come to Australia where they arrived at Port Jackson on 15 October 1847. The voyage was unusually long and stormy. According to a report, the Comet was a schooner of 92 tonnage andarrived in Port Jackson on the fifteenth day of October1847. The Master was R Cock and it sailed from Port Nicholson on 28 September 18947. The passenger list included John Badans, his wife and three sons, Edward Watts, brother to Ann, Robert Grace and his wife Matilda. Matilda was a sister to Ann and Edward.

The 1855/56 Electoral Roll lists William Watts as having freehold land at Jamberoo.