James Timmins was born in County Cavan, Ireland, about the year 1757. He was tried at Glen Aven, County Cavan in July 1798 and sentenced to life, for what crime we do not know, although most of the prisoners on board the ship �Friendship 2� were involved in the 1798 Irish Rebellion. We can only assume that being an Irish Catholic, and transported on the �Friendship 2�, that James was involved in this Rebellion.
The �Friendship 2� sailed from Cork on 24th August 1799. It would have been with considerable relief that James disembarked on 16th February 1800, at the Penal colony of Port Jackson, as during the voyage 19 prisoners died, a death rate of one in seven.
The first five years of James� life here is unknown but in 1805 he purchased 42 and a half acres of land at Yarramundi Lagoon, a part of James Matthews� farm. In the 1802 muster James is mentioned as a land holder, Matthews farm, Yarramundi.
In October 1810 James received his �ticket of leave� and in 1814 received a pardon on which it gives this description of him:
Height: 5feet 5inches Complexion: dark, sallow
Hair: black to grey Eyes: Hazel
In the 1814 muster it states that James was a land holder, and that he, his wife and their four children were living �off stores� meaning that they were keeping themselves and getting no assistance from the government. In the 1828 census, James is shown as owning 42 and a half acres at Richmond, grazing 10 horses and four head of cattle.
James died on 21st February 1837 and is buried at Windsor Roman Catholic Cemetery. |
