I'm indebted to Lee-Anne Taylor of Queensland who shared her incredible research into our common ancestry with me - without her invaluable and detailed input, I would never have found out anything about the following White family of Dublin.
My 4 x great-grandparents on the maternal side were Edward Pennefather and Eliza White, daughter of George and Ann White of Dublin.
George White had been born in King's County/Offaly in about 1745 to William and Ann White. (William and Ann White also had at least two other chldren - two daughters, who were still alive in 1817.)
George married Ann White (circa 1755 - before April 1824), the daughter of Edward and Anne White in St. Andrew's, Dublin on 8th March 1778. George worked as a dentist, and was noted at Woodbine Cottage in Harold's Cross, Co. Dublin, from 1807 till 1817.
Between 1780 and 1794 eight known children were born to George and Ann White, but only five were known to have survived:
Arrest and Transportation:
George White, dentist, was arrested in Dublin on 16th September 1816, charged with having in his possession, feloniously and with intent to defraud the King, a forged government die of the type used in the Stamp Office in Dublin. He was not authorized to use such a document.
George was imprisoned in Dublin's Newgate Prison for 10 months before the case went to trial on 28th June 1817 in Green Street, Dublin. There were three petitions for leniency on his behalf - from the jurors, dated 1st July 1817; a second, on 31st July 1817, from Aldermen, Sheriffs and Citizens of Dublin; and a third, on 18th August 1817, from George's wife, Anna White, asking for her husband's sentence to be mitigated 'so that her husband in the decline of years and their old age may be restored to Petitioner and their afflicted and suffering family...we the undersigned children, grandchildren and relatives of George White...Mary Anne White, Eleanor White, Anna Maria White, Eliza White, Eleven grandchildren and two aged helpless sisters.' (Ref: PPC 4097, National Archives of Dublin).
On 23rd August 1817, the petitions were refused, the judge feeling that George White was not deserving of mercy.
In 1817 there was also a petition by the creditors of George White: 'That said George White was before and after his committal to prison seized and possessed as well in his own right as in that of his wife of a considerable Estate and property consisting of Freehold and Chattel Interests in Lands and Houses situate in the City and Country of Dublin and elsewhere.
When George was committed to Newgate Gaol on the 16 th September 1816 and did after wards in contemplation of his approaching trial, convey the whole of such estate and property to Thomas Adams of the City of Dublin, a Pawn Broker.
Deed was purely voluntary, without valuable consideration for the purpose of making transaction colorable; ante dated to 2nd July previous to such committal, but registered 25th October following............... His Estate and property have been taken out of usual administration of the Law, so far as respects his creditors.
Thomas Adam's is the acting partner of George White in the business of Prawn Broking. George White put Two thousand pounds and upwards into the business and the conveyance of George White's property was made to Thomas Adams in Trust for George White, and calculated to defraud his creditors and the Crown of his Estate in case it should insist upon forfeiture. '(source OP/417/17 National Archives Ireland)
After George White's arrest he was granted land in Cullin, called Sleighower. Situated between Harold's Cross and Rathmines Road, containing 8a 29p and a field called Barbers Land at upper end of Hen & Chicken Lane to Thomas Adams on the 2nd July 1816 (pre dated before his arrest) Thomas Adams granted the land to son-in-law Anthony O'Reilly on 10th November 1817, after George was transported to New South Wales.
Following his transportation, his wife, Ann White, the daughter of William and Ann White, entered a Dublin convent, and died at some stage before 1824.
On 25 October 1817, 62-year-old George White left Dublin and was subsequently transported from Cork to Sydney aboard the Guildford, leaving Cork on the 14th November 1817. The journey took 138 days, arriving in Australia on 1st April 1818. The records describe him as having a ruddy complexion, silvery hair, hazel eyes.
Almost immediately, George White went into practice as a surgeon/dentist, first at Phillip Street, then at Castlereagh Street - in 1820 he was banned from practicing as a surgeon, not being qualified, but continued to practice as a dentist.
He also met and illegally 'married' , or perhaps co-habited with, a young Dublin convict, 24 -yr-old Judith Byrne (1795 - 1832) who had arrived aboard the 'Canada' on 5th August 1817. Judith Burn/Byrne was the Dublin-born daughter of Laurence and Margaret Byrne. In 1815 she was tried and convicted of forging notes. Aged 20, she was given 14 years' transportation, leaving Cork on 21st Match 1817 aboard the 'Canada', and arriving in New South Wales on 5th August 1817.
Two sons were born to the dentist George White and Judith Bryne - Joseph George White, born 4th June 1819, baptised 2nd August 1833, and George White, born 5 June 1821 and baptised later on 9 may 1832. Son Joseph George White died on 12th April 1902 in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, having married the Scottish-born Jean Jane Mather, daughter of John Mather and Dolina Dingwall on 1st Feb 1856. His younger brother, George White, died on 09 May 1832 of lockjaw.
By 1828, Judith Byrne had taken up with the Dublin-born apothecary George Murphy by whom she had two daughters, Margaret and Ellen. George White was, in 1828, working for his son, Japhet White, in Bathurst, and had his two sons, Joseph and George, living with him. George White, dentist, was noted at Princess Street, Sidney, from 1832 till 1836.
The Children of George White and Ann White of Dublin:
1) George White's eldest son, Japhet White, was born in 1780 in Dublin, and died on 8th January 1866 in Carcoar, New South Wales. Japhet White had practiced as an attorney at 60 Camden Street, but, caught up in his father's forgery scam, was also transported, arriving in Australia in 1816. He had married Mary Law in Dublin (born 1783).
'An account of The Arrest of Japhet White in Ireland for Forged Stamps.
Mr. Burrowes, solicitor to the Stamp office, since his appointment to that situation, has been indefatigable in his endeavor's to procure such information as would lead to the detection and apprehension of the persons who have so long inundated this city, and indeed all Ireland, with forged stamps, robbing the revenue of upwards of one hundred thousand pounds annually, and thereby obliging the legislature to make up the deficiency in the revenue by taxing many necessary articles of life. Mr. Burrowes having obtained satisfactory information concerning this nefarious traffic, communicated with the magistrates of the head office on the best mode of apprehending all the parties at the same moment, so that the apprehension of one should not give warning to the rest. The whole of this very important business was entrusted to Mr. Farrell, chief constable of the police, and we shall now relate how effectually he executed it. On Friday morning, at the hour of eleven o'clock, seven parties of peace officers were assembled at the head office, where each received their route from Mr. Farrell, and which was so secretly managed, that no one man knew what was to be done by any of the other parties. Everything being thus arranged, each party went to their destined point. Mr. Farrell proceeded to Portobello with a party of nine men, who were posted in the neighborhood of Camden-street, Charlemont- street, and Portobello; it being known that the person they were looking after, against whom there were informations that he a few days since rescued himself from an arrest of a civil nature, did not reside at his house, they watched for some time. After a lapse of two hours and a half, he was perceived advancing in the direction of Old Portobello, and was instantly arrested by Mr Farrell himself, who asked him, was not his name Japhet White, and produced the warrant for his apprehension ; he then brought him into Mr. McGowan’s public house, and having got a private room, proceeded to search him, when, in. one of his boots, was found n forged die for a twenty pound stamp, and in the other, a similar one for fifty pounds. Mr. Farrell having further business in this neighborhood, dispatched hint with a party in a coach to the head office, and sent another party, headed by peace officer Riley, to search Mr. White's house, No. 60, Camden street; here were found some stamps, paper, and parchment, in preparation for stamping, also the blue and silver letters with the G. K. which are affixed to many descriptions of law stamps, with a frame and fly, for the purpose of striking the impression; they were all conveyed to the head office, and he was fully committed to Newgate to abide his trial.'
Japhet White, the eldest son of George and Ann White, was arrested November 1815 for processing 20 pound & 50 pound stamp die and forged stamps & paper. He was arrested by Chief Constable Farrell and committed for trial to Newgate Dublin. White's residential address was 60 Camden Street Dublin. His occupation in Ireland was a solicitor/attorney.
The 11 that were arrested that day were Japhet White, Solicitor John Fogarty Jnr, Attorney, John Fogarty Snr, Patrick Garrigan, a clerk for a Solicitor, John Reed, Charles Reed, Samuel Clayton an engraver, Edward Emerson a licensed distributor of stamps. Catherine Whelan, Patrick Ne--, and Her-- Clark who was a letter carrier to the General Post Office.
Japhet White was subsequently transported for 7 years in December along with 27 others. He departed from London aboard the "Surrey" on 14th July 1816 and arrived in Sydney on 20th December 1816. Along with an assortment of passengers, the ship carried 150 male convicts; Japhet's wife, Marie White, and their two children, accompanied him to Australia - this was permitted on condition that he tell nobody how they had forged the coin of the realm.
Japhet White and his family would eventually settle in Bathurst and become a repected member of the farming community, having been granted permission to purchase 100 acres of land there on 8th July 1825. He died of old age in Bathurst in 1866.
Japhet and his wife, Mary Law, had four children together. George Japhet White, born 1806 in Ireland, married Cahterine Halloran in 1834 in Bathurst, NSW; George japhet White ran a lodging house in Castlereagh Street, Sydney. He died of injuries following a horse kick in 1845 in Carcoar. Japhet and Mary's second son, Edward White, was born in Ireland in 1808. Their daughter, Mary E. White, was born in 1816 in Australia and died in Kings Plains, NSW, in 1858. Daughter, Elizabeth Jane White, was born in Sydney on 23rd January 1818 and died in Tambaroora, NSW, on 28th April 1869, having married James Gain of Portsea, England, on 22nd February 1842 in Sydney.
2) Mary Ann Burnell had been born to George and Ann White in 1783 in Eustace Street, Dublin, Ireland, and died on 26th Mar 1835 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She married John Burnell on 30th December 1800 in St. Brigid's, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. He was born in 1775 in Dublin, and died there in about 1823.
On 1st May 1826, George White put in a petition on behalf of his widowed daughter, Mary Ann Burnell, to be taken from Dublin to Sydney to join her father there, her mother Ann White having recently died in Ireland: 'The petition of George White most Humbly sheweth that your Excell's Petitioner arrived in the colony, by ship Guilford in 1818, a prisoner for Life. That your Excellency's petitioner's wife, the companion of a 40 years pure and uninterrupted feloicity, had lately been consigned to the grave in the land of her nativity leaving unprovided for his daughter a widow with three grieving children whom your petitioner (being by the profits of his profession as a Dentist, enabled to support them without expence to Govenment) is most anxious should be permitted to join him here. May it therefore please your Excellency to give order whereby this most ardent, and he trusts he may add, praiseworthy wish of a fond parent in the evening of life may be gratified and he and they shall, as in duty bound, ever pray. George White Sydney Castlereagh Street.' (source 1824-1827 Petitions from Convicts AO 4/1112).
Letter from George White to his daughter Mary Ann Burnell in Dublin, Ireland 1824:
'Dear daughter Mary Anne, I was sad to here of the death of your husband John Burnell, coming so close on that of your Mother. It is a shame that you are left in such difficult circumstance, I wonder what your have done with your dowry. I would have thought that Mr. John Burnell would have provided for you and the children, or at least his family should, if not for your sake, for their grandchildren. I have many grandchildren, what with your brothers and sisters producing so many, I am at a loss to be able to provide any more substance for them or you.
As you know I was sent out to this penal colony for life, through no fault of my own doing. However, I am making the most of it, but in my enfeeble years I cannot afford to support you and your children as well as my new family here.
The only thing I can do for you is petition Governor Brisbane to endorse your entry into this Convict Country; it is lawless and too rough for your sensibilities. If endorsed the Government will pay for your passage. I have included a draft on the Bank of Ireland of 10 pounds to help you defray the cost of travelling. Use it wisely. When you get here marry off the girls as quickly as possible and put the boy into a trade. The best you can do for them here, although the society I now live in is not the most suitable for a sensitive female such as you.
You must be aware it is difficult for me to do any more for you than what I provided for in your marriage.
I will let you know if the Governor will agree to my request, he is not so kind a man as Macquarie.
It would be best if the girls marry and the boy has a trade.
As for yourself! Have you considered joining the convent as your Mother did?
Oh well if you must come then come.
Your ever loving father
George White
Surgeon
Sydney Town.'
Mary Ann Burnell subsequently arrived in Sydney in 1828 with her three children - the 1828 census showed them lodging in her father's house at Castlereagh Street. Her three children were noted as Catherine Burnell aged 23, Ann Burnell aged 20, and George Burnell aged 7. Daughter Catherine Burnell had been born at Eustace Street, Dublin, in 1803, and died a widow in Sydney on 11th November 1886. Catherine Burnell had married Daniel Harmer (1796 - 18680 on 11th March 1833, the Norfolk-born son of John Harmer.
Both Mary Ann Burnell and her daughter, Ann Daniels, would die within 6 years of their arrival in New South Wales. Daughter Mary Ann had been born on 24th September 1810 in Dublin; she married Charles Daniels, son of John Daniels and Isabella Parry, on 18th February 1829, in Sydney, but died of consumption in 1836. Her husband, Charles Daniels had been born in Surrey, UK, on 18th May 1879, but also died young in New South Wales, in December 1834. Mary Ann White and John Burnell also had George Burnell in 1821 in Dublin - he would die in 1858 in Sydney, having married Sarah Jane Addy, (born 1826 in New South Wales) the daughter of Luke Addy and Johanna Roach, on 12th December 1853 in Sydney.
Lee-Anne Taylor, who generously provided me with this genealogical goldmine, descends directly from Mary Ann Burnell.
3) Eleanor White was born to George and Ann White in 1785 in Dublin, Ireland and married Henry Dawson in 1804 in Ireland. They were known to have had a child.
4) Emily White was born to George and Ann White in 1786 in Ireland and died before 1798 in Dublin.
5) Joseph White was born to George and Ann White in 1788 in Dublin, Ireland and died before 1798 in Dublin.
6) Anna Maria/Maria White was born to George and Ann White in 1789 in Dublin, Ireland and died on 20th May 1880 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia after a short painful illness. She married Anthony O'Reilly on 24 Aug 1814 in Leixlip, Co. Kildare. He was born in 1788 in Dublin, Ireland and died on 8th Jan 1840 at Bridge Street, Sydney, New South Wales.
Anna Maria White's husband, Anthony O'Reilly, was also involved in the forgery scam which lead to the transportation of her older brother and father, and was likewise deported for life because of his role in it. He, however, was given special treatment when he went to trial on 8th September 1824, having turned Kings Evidence and pleading guilty to forging dies, telling all he knew of the scam.
He was transported to Australia, arriving in 1825 aboard the 'Mariner', accompanied by his wife, Maria, and two children. Having turned King's Evidence, Anthony was settled with a sum of fifty pounds upon his arrival in NSW, on condition he never reveal how he made the dies to make the forgeries. He later was paid a further 100 pounds by Gov. Darling and was never restricted by the laws governing a convict within Australia. He operated as a merchant in Sydney.
Anthony O'Reilly, merchant, and Anna Maria White had a son, Richard Oswald O'Reilly, on 9th February 1816, in Dublin - he would marry, on 27th February 1840 in NSW, Amelia Cummins; Richard Oswald O'Reilly died on 16th September 1895 in St. Peters, NSW. Anthony and Anna Maria also had Elizabeth O'Reilly in 1817 in Dublin, who married Charles Edwards on 9th March 1837 in Sydney, and who died in Calcutta, India, on 18th January 1874. (From "The Sydney Gazette" of 16th March 1837: 'On Thursday the 9th instant, at St. James' Church, by Special License, by the Rev. K. Cartwright, Captain Charles Edwards, of the Donna Carmilita. to Eliza, only daughter of Anthony O'Reilly, Esq.,of Bridge-street. Sydney.')
Both Anna Maria White and Anthony O'Reilly were buried at Sydney Burial Ground, but then moved to Botany Cemetery which was subsequently demolished in 1973. On 20th Nov. 1994, a new headstone was placed at the Pioneer Memorial Park in memory of Anthony and Anna Maria O'Reilly by their descendants. It reads the same as the original - 'Sacred to the memory of Anthony O'Reilly who departed this life on 8 January 1840. Aged 50 years. Also of Anna Maria O'Reilly relict of the above who died 20 May 1880. Aged 92 years.'
7) George White was born to George and Ann White in 1790 in Dublin, and died there before 1798.
8) Elizabeth White was born to George and Ann White in 1794 in Dublin, Ireland and died on 1st January 1864 at 15 Fairview Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin. She married Edward Pennefather, son of Rev. John Pennefather of Newport, Tipperary, on 5th June Jun 1821 in Dublin - we descend directly from Elizabeth White and Edward Pennefather.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/07/pennefather-family-of-tipperary-and.html
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/p/index-to-pennefather-posts.html
The only information given in the marriage register of St. Peter's about Eliza White's family was that she was living in 'this parish' ie: the parish of St. Peter's, whose church was in Aungier Street near Stephen's Green. Before his deportation, her father, George White, was noted in Woodbine Cottage, Harold's Cross, from 1807 till 1817, this being two or three miles south of St. Peter's Church. Ann's paternal grandfather, Edward White, would die in Mount Pleasant, Rathmines, Co. Dublin, in about 1823, this also being in the same area south of Stephen's Green.
George White, dentist, married Ann White, the daughter of Edward and Ann White, White in St. Andrew's, Dublin on 8th March 1778. Prior to his transportation to New South Wales, George White lived at Woodbine Cottage, Harold's Cross, Co. Dublin. After George White's arrest he was granted land in Cullin, (ie: Cullenswood, Rathmines?) called Sleighower. Situated between Harold's Cross and Rathmines Road, containing 8a 29p and a field called Barbers Land at upper end of Hen & Chicken Lane to Thomas Adams on the 2nd July 1816 (pre dated before his arrest) Thomas Adams granted the land to son-in-law Anthony O'Reilly on 10th November 1817, after George was transported to New South Wales.
The father of Eliza White who married Edward Pennefather in 1821, Edward White, had been born in about 1730 in Ireland and would die in about 1823 in Mount Pleasant, Co. Dublin. Mount Pleasant is in Rathmines, which is about 2.5 kilometers from Harold's Cross where Edward White's daughter and son-in-law (George and Ann White) were living in the 1820s, as was Anthony O'Reilly, married to Edward White's granddaughter, Anna Maria White.
The Mount Pleasant area of Rathmines/Ranelagh, is also next to Cullenswood Avenue, off which is Wellington Park. One of the children of Edward Pennefather and Eliza White (daughter of George White, dentist) was Joseph Lysaght Pennefather who was born in 1834 at Wellington, near Crumlin.
Before Edward White's death in about 1823 in Mount Pleasant, Cullenswood, Rathmines, he made the following deed of agreement:
'A Memorial of an indented Deed of Agreement bearing date the Seventh day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty four made Between Anthony O 'Reilly of Tivoli in the County of Dublin Esquire and Maria O 'Reilly other wise White his wife of the one part and Richard Ledwith of the City of Dublin Gentleman of the other part After reciting that Edward White of Mount Pleasant in the County of Dublin but formerly of Townes's Street in the City of Dublin Up holder by his last Will and Testament in writing bearing date the Eleventh day of October one thousand seven hundred and ninety eight bequeathed unto certainTrustees here in and in the said Deed mentioned upon Trust to permit his Daughter Anne White to receive for her own benefit the whole of the rents and profits of his houses and premises in Townes's Street and North Earl Street in the City of Dublin for the term of her natural life and after the decease of the said Anne White the said Testator bequeathed all his Estate and interest in the said houses grounds and premises in Townes's Street and North Earl Street unto his grandson Japhet White and his granddaughter Mary Anne White (now Mary Anne Bumell) Elinor White (now Elinor Dawson) Maria White (wife of the said Anthony O 'Reilly and party to the said Deed of which this a Memorial) and Elizabeth White (now Elizabeth Pennefather) to be equally divided between them...
And reciting that the said Edward White died and that the said Anne White his daughter survived him but was dead at the time of the Execution of the said Deed Witnessed that the said grandchildren of the said Edward White mentioned in his Will were still living the said Deed Witnessed that the said Anthony O 'Reilly and Maria O 'Reilly for the consideration there in mentioned did grant bargain sell assign transfer and make over unto the said Richard Ledwith All that and those one undivided fifth part share or proportion of the dwelling house messuage or tenement with the appurtanancets here unto belonging situate on the west side of Townes's Street in the City of Dublin formerly in the possession of the said Edward White and now in the occupation of George Browne and known by number three in the said street and also one undivided fifth part of the dwelling house messuage or tenement With the appurtanenances here unto belonging situate on the south side of North Earl Street in the said City of Dublin now in the occupation of James Menzies Esquire and known as number seven in the said street and also one undivided fifth part of a lot of ground or premises next adjoining the said last mentioned dwelling house situate in North Earl Street afore said on which the house number six in the said street is erected and now in the occupation of John Yelverton To Hold the Deed thereby granted and assigned premises unto the said Richard Ledwith his Executors Administrator and Assigns and during the respective terms for years yet to come and unexpired for which the same are respective... subject to the payment of a proportion apart of the rents reserved by the original Leases of the said premises which said Deed and this Memorial are witnessed by William Armstrong of Upper Dominick Street in the City of Dublin Gentleman and Thomas P Morron of Talbot Street in the said City Esquire.
The above named Thomas P Morron Maketh Oath and saith that he saw the Deed of which the above writing is a Memorial duely excuted by the said Anthony O 'Reilly and Maria O 'Reilly and Richard Ledwith and this Deponent saw the said Memorial duly executed by the said Anthony O'Reilly and Maria O 'Reilly Saith that the name Thomas P. Morron subscribed as a witness to the said Deed and Memoriails this Deponents proper name and handwriting And Saith he delivered the said Deed and Memorial to Oliver Moore Esquire Registers Deputy in the Registers Office on the Inns Quay in the City of Dublin at or near half past the hour of three in the afternoon of the seventh day of April Instant. Sworn before me this Seventh day of April 1824.'
"Return of All Arrears due by late Deputy Postmasters in Ireland" show that, on 20th May 1820, an M. White, deputy of Tipperary, was in arrears of £199 - Anthony O'Reilly of Harold's Cross and Richard Ledwith of 22 Stafford St., Dublin, had stood as surety (or guarantor) on his behalf.
My 4 x great-grandparents on the maternal side were Edward Pennefather and Eliza White, daughter of George and Ann White of Dublin.
George White had been born in King's County/Offaly in about 1745 to William and Ann White. (William and Ann White also had at least two other chldren - two daughters, who were still alive in 1817.)
George married Ann White (circa 1755 - before April 1824), the daughter of Edward and Anne White in St. Andrew's, Dublin on 8th March 1778. George worked as a dentist, and was noted at Woodbine Cottage in Harold's Cross, Co. Dublin, from 1807 till 1817.
Between 1780 and 1794 eight known children were born to George and Ann White, but only five were known to have survived:
- Japhet White, born 1780 - an attorney, Japhet White lived at 80 Camden Street.
- Mary Ann, born 1783; in 1800 she married John Burnell.
- Elinor, born 1785.
- Anna Maria/Maria, born 1789, who married Anthony O'Reilly.
- Elizabeth White, born 1794. Elizabeth/Eliza White would marry, in 1821, Edward Pennefather, the son of Rev. John Pennefather of Newport, Tipperary.
Arrest and Transportation:
George White, dentist, was arrested in Dublin on 16th September 1816, charged with having in his possession, feloniously and with intent to defraud the King, a forged government die of the type used in the Stamp Office in Dublin. He was not authorized to use such a document.
George was imprisoned in Dublin's Newgate Prison for 10 months before the case went to trial on 28th June 1817 in Green Street, Dublin. There were three petitions for leniency on his behalf - from the jurors, dated 1st July 1817; a second, on 31st July 1817, from Aldermen, Sheriffs and Citizens of Dublin; and a third, on 18th August 1817, from George's wife, Anna White, asking for her husband's sentence to be mitigated 'so that her husband in the decline of years and their old age may be restored to Petitioner and their afflicted and suffering family...we the undersigned children, grandchildren and relatives of George White...Mary Anne White, Eleanor White, Anna Maria White, Eliza White, Eleven grandchildren and two aged helpless sisters.' (Ref: PPC 4097, National Archives of Dublin).
On 23rd August 1817, the petitions were refused, the judge feeling that George White was not deserving of mercy.
In 1817 there was also a petition by the creditors of George White: 'That said George White was before and after his committal to prison seized and possessed as well in his own right as in that of his wife of a considerable Estate and property consisting of Freehold and Chattel Interests in Lands and Houses situate in the City and Country of Dublin and elsewhere.
When George was committed to Newgate Gaol on the 16 th September 1816 and did after wards in contemplation of his approaching trial, convey the whole of such estate and property to Thomas Adams of the City of Dublin, a Pawn Broker.
Deed was purely voluntary, without valuable consideration for the purpose of making transaction colorable; ante dated to 2nd July previous to such committal, but registered 25th October following............... His Estate and property have been taken out of usual administration of the Law, so far as respects his creditors.
Thomas Adam's is the acting partner of George White in the business of Prawn Broking. George White put Two thousand pounds and upwards into the business and the conveyance of George White's property was made to Thomas Adams in Trust for George White, and calculated to defraud his creditors and the Crown of his Estate in case it should insist upon forfeiture. '(source OP/417/17 National Archives Ireland)
After George White's arrest he was granted land in Cullin, called Sleighower. Situated between Harold's Cross and Rathmines Road, containing 8a 29p and a field called Barbers Land at upper end of Hen & Chicken Lane to Thomas Adams on the 2nd July 1816 (pre dated before his arrest) Thomas Adams granted the land to son-in-law Anthony O'Reilly on 10th November 1817, after George was transported to New South Wales.
Following his transportation, his wife, Ann White, the daughter of William and Ann White, entered a Dublin convent, and died at some stage before 1824.
On 25 October 1817, 62-year-old George White left Dublin and was subsequently transported from Cork to Sydney aboard the Guildford, leaving Cork on the 14th November 1817. The journey took 138 days, arriving in Australia on 1st April 1818. The records describe him as having a ruddy complexion, silvery hair, hazel eyes.
Almost immediately, George White went into practice as a surgeon/dentist, first at Phillip Street, then at Castlereagh Street - in 1820 he was banned from practicing as a surgeon, not being qualified, but continued to practice as a dentist.
He also met and illegally 'married' , or perhaps co-habited with, a young Dublin convict, 24 -yr-old Judith Byrne (1795 - 1832) who had arrived aboard the 'Canada' on 5th August 1817. Judith Burn/Byrne was the Dublin-born daughter of Laurence and Margaret Byrne. In 1815 she was tried and convicted of forging notes. Aged 20, she was given 14 years' transportation, leaving Cork on 21st Match 1817 aboard the 'Canada', and arriving in New South Wales on 5th August 1817.
Two sons were born to the dentist George White and Judith Bryne - Joseph George White, born 4th June 1819, baptised 2nd August 1833, and George White, born 5 June 1821 and baptised later on 9 may 1832. Son Joseph George White died on 12th April 1902 in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, having married the Scottish-born Jean Jane Mather, daughter of John Mather and Dolina Dingwall on 1st Feb 1856. His younger brother, George White, died on 09 May 1832 of lockjaw.
By 1828, Judith Byrne had taken up with the Dublin-born apothecary George Murphy by whom she had two daughters, Margaret and Ellen. George White was, in 1828, working for his son, Japhet White, in Bathurst, and had his two sons, Joseph and George, living with him. George White, dentist, was noted at Princess Street, Sidney, from 1832 till 1836.
The Children of George White and Ann White of Dublin:
1) George White's eldest son, Japhet White, was born in 1780 in Dublin, and died on 8th January 1866 in Carcoar, New South Wales. Japhet White had practiced as an attorney at 60 Camden Street, but, caught up in his father's forgery scam, was also transported, arriving in Australia in 1816. He had married Mary Law in Dublin (born 1783).
'An account of The Arrest of Japhet White in Ireland for Forged Stamps.
Mr. Burrowes, solicitor to the Stamp office, since his appointment to that situation, has been indefatigable in his endeavor's to procure such information as would lead to the detection and apprehension of the persons who have so long inundated this city, and indeed all Ireland, with forged stamps, robbing the revenue of upwards of one hundred thousand pounds annually, and thereby obliging the legislature to make up the deficiency in the revenue by taxing many necessary articles of life. Mr. Burrowes having obtained satisfactory information concerning this nefarious traffic, communicated with the magistrates of the head office on the best mode of apprehending all the parties at the same moment, so that the apprehension of one should not give warning to the rest. The whole of this very important business was entrusted to Mr. Farrell, chief constable of the police, and we shall now relate how effectually he executed it. On Friday morning, at the hour of eleven o'clock, seven parties of peace officers were assembled at the head office, where each received their route from Mr. Farrell, and which was so secretly managed, that no one man knew what was to be done by any of the other parties. Everything being thus arranged, each party went to their destined point. Mr. Farrell proceeded to Portobello with a party of nine men, who were posted in the neighborhood of Camden-street, Charlemont- street, and Portobello; it being known that the person they were looking after, against whom there were informations that he a few days since rescued himself from an arrest of a civil nature, did not reside at his house, they watched for some time. After a lapse of two hours and a half, he was perceived advancing in the direction of Old Portobello, and was instantly arrested by Mr Farrell himself, who asked him, was not his name Japhet White, and produced the warrant for his apprehension ; he then brought him into Mr. McGowan’s public house, and having got a private room, proceeded to search him, when, in. one of his boots, was found n forged die for a twenty pound stamp, and in the other, a similar one for fifty pounds. Mr. Farrell having further business in this neighborhood, dispatched hint with a party in a coach to the head office, and sent another party, headed by peace officer Riley, to search Mr. White's house, No. 60, Camden street; here were found some stamps, paper, and parchment, in preparation for stamping, also the blue and silver letters with the G. K. which are affixed to many descriptions of law stamps, with a frame and fly, for the purpose of striking the impression; they were all conveyed to the head office, and he was fully committed to Newgate to abide his trial.'
Japhet White, the eldest son of George and Ann White, was arrested November 1815 for processing 20 pound & 50 pound stamp die and forged stamps & paper. He was arrested by Chief Constable Farrell and committed for trial to Newgate Dublin. White's residential address was 60 Camden Street Dublin. His occupation in Ireland was a solicitor/attorney.
The 11 that were arrested that day were Japhet White, Solicitor John Fogarty Jnr, Attorney, John Fogarty Snr, Patrick Garrigan, a clerk for a Solicitor, John Reed, Charles Reed, Samuel Clayton an engraver, Edward Emerson a licensed distributor of stamps. Catherine Whelan, Patrick Ne--, and Her-- Clark who was a letter carrier to the General Post Office.
Japhet White was subsequently transported for 7 years in December along with 27 others. He departed from London aboard the "Surrey" on 14th July 1816 and arrived in Sydney on 20th December 1816. Along with an assortment of passengers, the ship carried 150 male convicts; Japhet's wife, Marie White, and their two children, accompanied him to Australia - this was permitted on condition that he tell nobody how they had forged the coin of the realm.
Japhet White and his family would eventually settle in Bathurst and become a repected member of the farming community, having been granted permission to purchase 100 acres of land there on 8th July 1825. He died of old age in Bathurst in 1866.
Japhet and his wife, Mary Law, had four children together. George Japhet White, born 1806 in Ireland, married Cahterine Halloran in 1834 in Bathurst, NSW; George japhet White ran a lodging house in Castlereagh Street, Sydney. He died of injuries following a horse kick in 1845 in Carcoar. Japhet and Mary's second son, Edward White, was born in Ireland in 1808. Their daughter, Mary E. White, was born in 1816 in Australia and died in Kings Plains, NSW, in 1858. Daughter, Elizabeth Jane White, was born in Sydney on 23rd January 1818 and died in Tambaroora, NSW, on 28th April 1869, having married James Gain of Portsea, England, on 22nd February 1842 in Sydney.
2) Mary Ann Burnell had been born to George and Ann White in 1783 in Eustace Street, Dublin, Ireland, and died on 26th Mar 1835 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She married John Burnell on 30th December 1800 in St. Brigid's, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. He was born in 1775 in Dublin, and died there in about 1823.
On 1st May 1826, George White put in a petition on behalf of his widowed daughter, Mary Ann Burnell, to be taken from Dublin to Sydney to join her father there, her mother Ann White having recently died in Ireland: 'The petition of George White most Humbly sheweth that your Excell's Petitioner arrived in the colony, by ship Guilford in 1818, a prisoner for Life. That your Excellency's petitioner's wife, the companion of a 40 years pure and uninterrupted feloicity, had lately been consigned to the grave in the land of her nativity leaving unprovided for his daughter a widow with three grieving children whom your petitioner (being by the profits of his profession as a Dentist, enabled to support them without expence to Govenment) is most anxious should be permitted to join him here. May it therefore please your Excellency to give order whereby this most ardent, and he trusts he may add, praiseworthy wish of a fond parent in the evening of life may be gratified and he and they shall, as in duty bound, ever pray. George White Sydney Castlereagh Street.' (source 1824-1827 Petitions from Convicts AO 4/1112).
Letter from George White to his daughter Mary Ann Burnell in Dublin, Ireland 1824:
'Dear daughter Mary Anne, I was sad to here of the death of your husband John Burnell, coming so close on that of your Mother. It is a shame that you are left in such difficult circumstance, I wonder what your have done with your dowry. I would have thought that Mr. John Burnell would have provided for you and the children, or at least his family should, if not for your sake, for their grandchildren. I have many grandchildren, what with your brothers and sisters producing so many, I am at a loss to be able to provide any more substance for them or you.
As you know I was sent out to this penal colony for life, through no fault of my own doing. However, I am making the most of it, but in my enfeeble years I cannot afford to support you and your children as well as my new family here.
The only thing I can do for you is petition Governor Brisbane to endorse your entry into this Convict Country; it is lawless and too rough for your sensibilities. If endorsed the Government will pay for your passage. I have included a draft on the Bank of Ireland of 10 pounds to help you defray the cost of travelling. Use it wisely. When you get here marry off the girls as quickly as possible and put the boy into a trade. The best you can do for them here, although the society I now live in is not the most suitable for a sensitive female such as you.
You must be aware it is difficult for me to do any more for you than what I provided for in your marriage.
I will let you know if the Governor will agree to my request, he is not so kind a man as Macquarie.
It would be best if the girls marry and the boy has a trade.
As for yourself! Have you considered joining the convent as your Mother did?
Oh well if you must come then come.
Your ever loving father
George White
Surgeon
Sydney Town.'
Mary Ann Burnell subsequently arrived in Sydney in 1828 with her three children - the 1828 census showed them lodging in her father's house at Castlereagh Street. Her three children were noted as Catherine Burnell aged 23, Ann Burnell aged 20, and George Burnell aged 7. Daughter Catherine Burnell had been born at Eustace Street, Dublin, in 1803, and died a widow in Sydney on 11th November 1886. Catherine Burnell had married Daniel Harmer (1796 - 18680 on 11th March 1833, the Norfolk-born son of John Harmer.
Both Mary Ann Burnell and her daughter, Ann Daniels, would die within 6 years of their arrival in New South Wales. Daughter Mary Ann had been born on 24th September 1810 in Dublin; she married Charles Daniels, son of John Daniels and Isabella Parry, on 18th February 1829, in Sydney, but died of consumption in 1836. Her husband, Charles Daniels had been born in Surrey, UK, on 18th May 1879, but also died young in New South Wales, in December 1834. Mary Ann White and John Burnell also had George Burnell in 1821 in Dublin - he would die in 1858 in Sydney, having married Sarah Jane Addy, (born 1826 in New South Wales) the daughter of Luke Addy and Johanna Roach, on 12th December 1853 in Sydney.
Lee-Anne Taylor, who generously provided me with this genealogical goldmine, descends directly from Mary Ann Burnell.
3) Eleanor White was born to George and Ann White in 1785 in Dublin, Ireland and married Henry Dawson in 1804 in Ireland. They were known to have had a child.
4) Emily White was born to George and Ann White in 1786 in Ireland and died before 1798 in Dublin.
5) Joseph White was born to George and Ann White in 1788 in Dublin, Ireland and died before 1798 in Dublin.
6) Anna Maria/Maria White was born to George and Ann White in 1789 in Dublin, Ireland and died on 20th May 1880 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia after a short painful illness. She married Anthony O'Reilly on 24 Aug 1814 in Leixlip, Co. Kildare. He was born in 1788 in Dublin, Ireland and died on 8th Jan 1840 at Bridge Street, Sydney, New South Wales.
Anna Maria White's husband, Anthony O'Reilly, was also involved in the forgery scam which lead to the transportation of her older brother and father, and was likewise deported for life because of his role in it. He, however, was given special treatment when he went to trial on 8th September 1824, having turned Kings Evidence and pleading guilty to forging dies, telling all he knew of the scam.
He was transported to Australia, arriving in 1825 aboard the 'Mariner', accompanied by his wife, Maria, and two children. Having turned King's Evidence, Anthony was settled with a sum of fifty pounds upon his arrival in NSW, on condition he never reveal how he made the dies to make the forgeries. He later was paid a further 100 pounds by Gov. Darling and was never restricted by the laws governing a convict within Australia. He operated as a merchant in Sydney.
Anthony O'Reilly, merchant, and Anna Maria White had a son, Richard Oswald O'Reilly, on 9th February 1816, in Dublin - he would marry, on 27th February 1840 in NSW, Amelia Cummins; Richard Oswald O'Reilly died on 16th September 1895 in St. Peters, NSW. Anthony and Anna Maria also had Elizabeth O'Reilly in 1817 in Dublin, who married Charles Edwards on 9th March 1837 in Sydney, and who died in Calcutta, India, on 18th January 1874. (From "The Sydney Gazette" of 16th March 1837: 'On Thursday the 9th instant, at St. James' Church, by Special License, by the Rev. K. Cartwright, Captain Charles Edwards, of the Donna Carmilita. to Eliza, only daughter of Anthony O'Reilly, Esq.,of Bridge-street. Sydney.')
Both Anna Maria White and Anthony O'Reilly were buried at Sydney Burial Ground, but then moved to Botany Cemetery which was subsequently demolished in 1973. On 20th Nov. 1994, a new headstone was placed at the Pioneer Memorial Park in memory of Anthony and Anna Maria O'Reilly by their descendants. It reads the same as the original - 'Sacred to the memory of Anthony O'Reilly who departed this life on 8 January 1840. Aged 50 years. Also of Anna Maria O'Reilly relict of the above who died 20 May 1880. Aged 92 years.'
7) George White was born to George and Ann White in 1790 in Dublin, and died there before 1798.
8) Elizabeth White was born to George and Ann White in 1794 in Dublin, Ireland and died on 1st January 1864 at 15 Fairview Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin. She married Edward Pennefather, son of Rev. John Pennefather of Newport, Tipperary, on 5th June Jun 1821 in Dublin - we descend directly from Elizabeth White and Edward Pennefather.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/07/pennefather-family-of-tipperary-and.html
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/p/index-to-pennefather-posts.html
The only information given in the marriage register of St. Peter's about Eliza White's family was that she was living in 'this parish' ie: the parish of St. Peter's, whose church was in Aungier Street near Stephen's Green. Before his deportation, her father, George White, was noted in Woodbine Cottage, Harold's Cross, from 1807 till 1817, this being two or three miles south of St. Peter's Church. Ann's paternal grandfather, Edward White, would die in Mount Pleasant, Rathmines, Co. Dublin, in about 1823, this also being in the same area south of Stephen's Green.
George White, dentist, married Ann White, the daughter of Edward and Ann White, White in St. Andrew's, Dublin on 8th March 1778. Prior to his transportation to New South Wales, George White lived at Woodbine Cottage, Harold's Cross, Co. Dublin. After George White's arrest he was granted land in Cullin, (ie: Cullenswood, Rathmines?) called Sleighower. Situated between Harold's Cross and Rathmines Road, containing 8a 29p and a field called Barbers Land at upper end of Hen & Chicken Lane to Thomas Adams on the 2nd July 1816 (pre dated before his arrest) Thomas Adams granted the land to son-in-law Anthony O'Reilly on 10th November 1817, after George was transported to New South Wales.
The father of Eliza White who married Edward Pennefather in 1821, Edward White, had been born in about 1730 in Ireland and would die in about 1823 in Mount Pleasant, Co. Dublin. Mount Pleasant is in Rathmines, which is about 2.5 kilometers from Harold's Cross where Edward White's daughter and son-in-law (George and Ann White) were living in the 1820s, as was Anthony O'Reilly, married to Edward White's granddaughter, Anna Maria White.
The Mount Pleasant area of Rathmines/Ranelagh, is also next to Cullenswood Avenue, off which is Wellington Park. One of the children of Edward Pennefather and Eliza White (daughter of George White, dentist) was Joseph Lysaght Pennefather who was born in 1834 at Wellington, near Crumlin.
Before Edward White's death in about 1823 in Mount Pleasant, Cullenswood, Rathmines, he made the following deed of agreement:
'A Memorial of an indented Deed of Agreement bearing date the Seventh day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty four made Between Anthony O 'Reilly of Tivoli in the County of Dublin Esquire and Maria O 'Reilly other wise White his wife of the one part and Richard Ledwith of the City of Dublin Gentleman of the other part After reciting that Edward White of Mount Pleasant in the County of Dublin but formerly of Townes's Street in the City of Dublin Up holder by his last Will and Testament in writing bearing date the Eleventh day of October one thousand seven hundred and ninety eight bequeathed unto certainTrustees here in and in the said Deed mentioned upon Trust to permit his Daughter Anne White to receive for her own benefit the whole of the rents and profits of his houses and premises in Townes's Street and North Earl Street in the City of Dublin for the term of her natural life and after the decease of the said Anne White the said Testator bequeathed all his Estate and interest in the said houses grounds and premises in Townes's Street and North Earl Street unto his grandson Japhet White and his granddaughter Mary Anne White (now Mary Anne Bumell) Elinor White (now Elinor Dawson) Maria White (wife of the said Anthony O 'Reilly and party to the said Deed of which this a Memorial) and Elizabeth White (now Elizabeth Pennefather) to be equally divided between them...
And reciting that the said Edward White died and that the said Anne White his daughter survived him but was dead at the time of the Execution of the said Deed Witnessed that the said grandchildren of the said Edward White mentioned in his Will were still living the said Deed Witnessed that the said Anthony O 'Reilly and Maria O 'Reilly for the consideration there in mentioned did grant bargain sell assign transfer and make over unto the said Richard Ledwith All that and those one undivided fifth part share or proportion of the dwelling house messuage or tenement with the appurtanancets here unto belonging situate on the west side of Townes's Street in the City of Dublin formerly in the possession of the said Edward White and now in the occupation of George Browne and known by number three in the said street and also one undivided fifth part of the dwelling house messuage or tenement With the appurtanenances here unto belonging situate on the south side of North Earl Street in the said City of Dublin now in the occupation of James Menzies Esquire and known as number seven in the said street and also one undivided fifth part of a lot of ground or premises next adjoining the said last mentioned dwelling house situate in North Earl Street afore said on which the house number six in the said street is erected and now in the occupation of John Yelverton To Hold the Deed thereby granted and assigned premises unto the said Richard Ledwith his Executors Administrator and Assigns and during the respective terms for years yet to come and unexpired for which the same are respective... subject to the payment of a proportion apart of the rents reserved by the original Leases of the said premises which said Deed and this Memorial are witnessed by William Armstrong of Upper Dominick Street in the City of Dublin Gentleman and Thomas P Morron of Talbot Street in the said City Esquire.
The above named Thomas P Morron Maketh Oath and saith that he saw the Deed of which the above writing is a Memorial duely excuted by the said Anthony O 'Reilly and Maria O 'Reilly and Richard Ledwith and this Deponent saw the said Memorial duly executed by the said Anthony O'Reilly and Maria O 'Reilly Saith that the name Thomas P. Morron subscribed as a witness to the said Deed and Memoriails this Deponents proper name and handwriting And Saith he delivered the said Deed and Memorial to Oliver Moore Esquire Registers Deputy in the Registers Office on the Inns Quay in the City of Dublin at or near half past the hour of three in the afternoon of the seventh day of April Instant. Sworn before me this Seventh day of April 1824.'
"Return of All Arrears due by late Deputy Postmasters in Ireland" show that, on 20th May 1820, an M. White, deputy of Tipperary, was in arrears of £199 - Anthony O'Reilly of Harold's Cross and Richard Ledwith of 22 Stafford St., Dublin, had stood as surety (or guarantor) on his behalf.