Molly Morgan

Molly Morgan (1762^{[lower-alpha 1]} – 27 June 1835) was an English landowner, farmer, and convict. She was born as Mary Jones in England, and stayed here throughout her childhood and early adulthood. In 1789, she was taken to Australia as a convict on the First Fleet, after being accused of stealing hempen yarn from a factory. She escaped back to England with a ship in 1794, but was sent back to Australia in 1803 after being accused for the burning of her husband's house. While in Australia, she eventually acquired land and cattle, and was free by 1822. Several features in New South Wales were named after her. In addition to owning land, Morgan donated 100 pounds to help build a school and helped organize a hospital. Morgan had a total of 3 husbands throughout her life: William Morgan, Thomas Mears, and Thomas Hunt. She died on June 27, 1835, at Anvil Creek, at which time her wealth had significantly decreased.

Early life

Mary Jones was born in Ludlow, Shropshire, England,^[2] in 1762,^{[lower-alpha 1]} to her father David Jones and her mother Margaret Jones. On January 31 of that year, she was baptized in the Diddlebury village. She received education for a brief amount of time, and became a dressmaker afterwards. Her first husband was William Morgan, whom she married on June 25, 1785. William was from the Hopesay village in Shropshire, and was working as a carpenter and wheelwright.^[1]

Sentencing and convict life

In 1789, Molly Morgan, which was what she was known as by this time, stole hempen yarn from a bleaching factory, resulting in her being committed for trial at Shrewsbury Assizes. Out of wretchedness, she attempted suicide. She and her husband were both sentenced to 7 years of penal transportation. While her husband was able to escape jail and run away, Molly was forced sailed to Australia with the Second Fleet on the Neptune;^[3] nearly 1/3 of the convicts died while on the ship. By this time, she had 2 children, who were still in England.^[4] Shortly after arriving at Botany Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, on June 28, 1790, she was sent to Parramatta. In 1791, William was caught again, and this time was deported to Australia, joining Molly. Both of them worked in Sydney, William on labor gangs and Molly in a factory.^[3]

In order to escape from the colony back to England, Morgan became Captain John Locke's mistress. She went on the Resolution ship with him, which was heading towards England, on November 9, 1794. Along the way, Locke proposed to her, but she declined. Morgan was able to recover her children after arriving at England. She became a dressmaker Plymouth, in Devon.^[1][3][4]

In Plymouth, Morgan married Thomas Mears, while she was still legally married to William. By this time, William had a new partner and family.^[2] In 1804, Morgan and Mears got into an argument, which resulted in Morgan burning his house down.^[3] Morgan was found guilty after a trial on October 10, 1803, at the Croydon Sessions, and was consequently sent back to Australia as her sentence. Morgan sailed with the Experiment in 1804, arriving on June 24 at Port Jackson. She was given a protector shortly after arriving.^[1] She acquired land and cattle a few years afterwards. In 1814, she was sentenced to jail for 7 years for milking a stolen cow. However, the cow was actually stolen by another man, who was sentenced to only 3 years in jail.^[4]

Years later, Lachlan Macquarie, the governor of New South Wales at the time, trusted her enough to give her a ticket of leave, along with a few other convicts who he thought were behaving well. Macquarie also granted these convicts several acres of land at Wallis Plains, in Maitland. By 1822, Morgan was set free.^[1][4]

Life in Australia

Morgan established a settlement in the land she was given at Wallis Plains, and was successful with farming the land in the area. Her third husband was Thomas Hunt, a solider, whom she married on March 5, 1822. By this time, Thomas Brisbane was the governor of New South Whales. Impressed by her farming skills, Brisbane rented out 159 acres of land to her in November 1823. In the center of this area, Morgan built the Angel Inn. The inn produced a large amount of money, causing her to become one of the wealthiest in the area.^[3] She later moved to Anvil Creek, where she bought 203 acres of land. An article in the Australian newspaper called her "one of the largest landholders on the Hunter River"^[1][4] on January 23, 1828. In May 1830, she was fully granted the 159 acres of land that she had previously rented from the governor.^[1]

Due to Morgan's involvement with the area, several features were named after her. Wallis Plains was often commonly called Molly Morgan's Plains, and the pathway from Anvil Creek to Singleton is now known as Molly Morgan’s line of road. Also, Molly Morgan Drive, a road in Maitland, and Molly Morgan Ridge, which is located in North Rothbury, New South Wales, were both named after her.^[4] In addition to owning and farming land, she also helped other settlers in a variety of ways. In particular, she donated 100 pounds to the Church Corporation to help build a school in East Maitland, in 1827, to help education.^[4] In addition, she rode to Sydney several times to negotiate with the governor regarding the execution of certain convicts, and she turned part of her home into a hospital.^[1][3]

In the last few years of her life, Morgan had difficulties sustaining the large amount of property she owned, due to sale irregularity issues, causing her wealth to decrease at high speeds. She was retired for the last few years of her life. She died on June 27, 1835, at Anvil Creek, New South Wales, Australia, when she was 73 years old.^{[1][lower-alpha 1]} After her death, she had a three-inch long obituary, which was the largest published obituary at the time,^[4] saying:^[2]

. . . she was in the constant habit of lending the most valuable assistance to all who asked it – the settlers of the years 1820 to 1826 have reason to remember her, as many without the aid rendered by her, would not have borne themselves through the trying seasons of that period while many from her ignorance of accounts fattened themselves on her good will.

The writer of these remarks, often favoured by her, only regrets that her latter days were not those of enjoyment of the comforts of life to which she was entitled from the numerous acts of kindness she had evinced to all around her.

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