Thursday, August 2, 2012

Thomas Moxon, third fleet convict, 1791

There were no Moxons on the first or second fleets which came to Port Jackson (also now better known as Sydney Harbour) in 1788 and 1789.  However, a Thomas Moxon, convicted at York Assizes in March 1788  was transported on the Matilda, part of the Third Fleet on 1st August 1791.  His term of seven years expired in 1795, but he settled in New South Wales.

In 1809, Lieutenant Governor granted Thomas Moxon, by now an emancipist, 50 acres of land along Salt Pan Creek, now Punchbowl, NSW (a Sydney suburb).  Thomas was described as a "hurdle-maker to the Government" - a fencing contractor in other words.  The land was mostly mangrove swamp, and although he may have cleared some of the land, he soon left.  However, his heritage is the name of a street - Moxon Road, Punchbowl.

More information can be found in The history of Punchbowl.

By the time of the 1824 muster, he was a land-holder at Wilberforce, near Windsor on the Hawkesbury River.

In the 1828 census, he is listed as a lodger at Jane Peacock's at Lower Portland.

There is an infant named Thomas Moxon buried in the old Sydney cemetery, located on the site of St Andrews Cathedral in 1798.  Was he the convict's son?  It certainly seems likely.

In the muster of 1828, there are two records for children of Thomas Moxon - their names are Edward born 1816 and Catherine born 1820.

There is no record of either Edward or Catherine Moxon marrying in NSW.  There is also no record of a death for either child.

In the 1828 census, there is also a John Moxon, aged 22 (born in NSW), a carpenter.  He is most likely a son of Thomas Moxon.  Again, there is no record of a marriage in NSW, or of a death.