P is for Peter McCann, my 4th great-grandfather. Peter McCann is my first ancestor to come to Australia, and not of his own free will, I might stress.
Peter was born in County Monaghan, Ireland c1769, a rebel from the 1798 rebellion, tried Monaghan 1798 - sentenced to 7 years - transported on the Minerva departed Cork, Ireland on the 24th August 1799 - arrived Port Jackson on the 11th January 1800. Peter was a Catholic.
He married Mary Fitzgerald, an Irish Catholic convict lass, on the 9th January 1804 at St John's Church of England Parramatta by the Rev Samuel Marsden.
There were two children of the marriage:
Nicholas born on the 20th November 1803 in Parramatta (Nicholas was baptised on the day of their marriage) and Catherine born in July 1805 in Windsor.
Peter McCann had been assigned to the Government Farm at Castle Hill and was involved in the 1804 Castle Hill rebellion and sentenced to 100 lashes for his trouble.
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| Painting depicting the Battle of Vinegar Hill (Wikipedia) |
The Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804 was a rebellion by convicts against colonial authority in the Castle Hill area of the British colony of New South Wales. The rebellion culminated in a battle fought between convicts and the Colonial forces of Australia on 5 March 1804 at Rouse Hill, dubbed the Battle of Vinegar Hill after the Battle of Vinegar Hill of 1798 in Ireland. It was the first and only major convict uprising in Australian history (Wikipedia).
Peter McCann died on the 21st October 1806 in the district of Richmond/Windsor - this was recorded in the "Sydney Gazette" dated 26 Oct 1806, page 1: "Peter McCann, a labourer, was unfortunately drowned on Tuesday night at Hawkesbury, in attempting to swim across Rickerby's Creek".
Peter's body was not found, obviously swept away with the flood waters. So my 4th great grandfather only survived the Colony of New South Wales for six years but in that time laid the foundation for a large family from his son Nicholas McCann.
This post is part of the 2015 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme is Names: First Names from My Family File. Stay tuned for the rest of the alphabet, and if you'd like to check out the other A to Z participants, simply click here.
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