William Moxon, convict on the Tortoise, 1842

William Moxon, born about 1801 in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire was convicted of sheep-stealing at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on 9th March 1841.  He was the son of John and Rebecca Muxeon.  He married twice in Stewkley, the first time in 1821 to Elizabeth Emerton who bore him 8 children, three of whom died in infancy. After her death in 1839 he married a widow, Hanna Chandler who already had four children.

William was sentenced to transportation for 10 years for stealing a sheep on 6th January 1841.  It was his second conviction. He stated that he had been convicted and sentenced to one month's imprisonment for stealing a turnip about 18 years earlier.

He arrived in Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) in February 1842. on the Tortoise.

In 1853 William married Mary Hurst, another convict who was born in Meltham, Yorkshire.  They had had a son William born 1852.

The family sailed from Launcestonto Port Phillip District (Melbourne) in 1855 under the name Moxom and settled in the Kingower area, where Henry, Alfred, George and Mary Ann Moxom were born. The descendants have all taken the name Moxom.  Earlier William was known variously as Moxham and Moxon.

William died in 1869 and is buried in the Kamarooka Cemetery (Victoria).  Mary remarried after his death to John Piggott and she died in 1879.

Further information about their descendants can be found at The Moxon Society's website (MX01 family tree available for members only).

In 1849, William's younger brother Robert Moxon (b1811) migrated to Bathurst, NSW with his wife Sarah.  There is no record of the brothers ever having met again.  Both brothers have many descendants, with the NSW branch retaining the name Moxon.

Much of this information can be found at foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/om24153 .  The Founders and Survivors website is a

"partnership between historians, genealogists, demographers and population health researchers. It seeks to record and study the founding population of 73,000 men women and children who were transported to Tasmania. Many survived their convict experience and went on to help build a new society."