50-Day Family History Blogging Challenge - Day 16
Fragments of Family History – Thomas Rose – Guardian of William Kearns – Part 1
Jennifer Jones from TRACKING DOWN THE FAMILY has initiated a 50-Day Family History Blogging Challenge. This is a big writing commitment, but I have decided to participate. I have decided my topic will be “Fragments of Family History”. I will write short posts of newspaper items or single stories connected to my family history. This may expand over the 50 days.
Thomas Rose – Guardian of William Kearns – Part 1
William Kerns [Kearns] is listed in the household of my 3x Great Grandfather, Thomas Rose, in 1822 just below Thomas and his wife Elizabeth (Bartlett).1 It says he is 20 years old and was born in the Colony.
On 10 May 1820, William Kearns petitioned the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, for a grant of land. He stated:
That your Excellency’s Petitioner was born in this colony and is now attained his seventeenth year. During Petitioners minor years he has been under guardianship, but now your Excellency, Petitioner is leaving School, having finished his scholastic associations[?], your Petitioner will in a very short period be authorised and fully adequate to take the management of his own affairs.2
He was granted 60 acres of land.3
COLONIAL SEDUCTION.
SUPREME COURT.—Dec. 24 [1823] —The Court was occupied the whole of this day in a case wherein Mr. Joseph Ward, a settler, was plaintiff, and Mr. William Kearns, also a settler as well as an Australian, was the defendant.
The plaintiff's case was conducted by Messrs GARLING and ROWE, and the Counsel for the defendant was W. C. WENTWORTH, Esq. We shall merely state the outline of the trial.
Mr. Ward, the plaintiff it appeared, was a respectable settler in the district of Minto. He left this Colony for England in February, 1823, his family remaining behind; which consisted of a wife addicted to intoxicating habits, one son about 12 years old, and two daughters, the eldest 14, and the youngest under 10. Mr. Ward consigned the principal charge of his household affairs, in his absence, to the care of his eldest daughter, Mary Ann, a fine active, modest looking, and rather well-instructed girl.
The plaintiff returned to the Colony in August last, on the Prince Recent, Captain Lamb, after an absence of 18 months; in which interim his daughter and confidential servant, Mary Ann Ward, had been seduced by the defendant, Mr. William Kearns, and borne him a daughter; for which act of seduction, together with the loss of his daughter's services, the plaintiff now sought remedy of the Court, claiming, by way of recompense, the sum of one thousand pounds. The principal evidence was the unfortunate object of seduction, who informed the Court that she was now 15. Shortly after her father's departure for England, the defendant (Mr. Kearns) came to live on his farm, adjoining that of her father. An intimacy soon commenced between herself and the defendant, who for 8 months plied her with the most honourable and endearing attention. Conceiving his professions of attachment, and promises of marriage, to be grounded in sincerity, the young creature unhappily yielded to the 'soft persuasions' of the defendant and became the victim of detested baseness. When her father returned, she was within two months of delivery ; at which very period the defendant, to the astonishment of poor Mary Ann, actually became allied [married] to another young woman! In addition, she further informed the Court, that her father paid 15s. a-week for her board and lodging, besides having discharged the inconsiderable expenses attending her lying-in…
…His HONOR the CHIEF JUSTICE, with his usual discrimination and ability, remarked on the various bearings of the case, reprobating most strongly the inhuman and unnatural behaviour of the plaintiff in the instance given to the Court by Mr. Carter (unparalleled in this Colony); and remarking also, on the propriety of conduct evinced by Mary Ann Ward up to the period of her unfortunate connexion with the defendant, which was every way praiseworthy,
Verdict for the plaintiff—£17 10s. and costs.4
Mr. Thomas Rose, of Sydney, is guardian to the defendant, was present at his marriage in September last, with Elizabeth Graham, went by desire of the defendant to Mr. Ward to make an offer of just reparation ; he offered to refer it to arbitration : this was refused by the plaintiff ; … does not think Mr. Karnes has the property stated ; has not, to his belief, above 200 head of cattle ; he owes to the amount of near £200.”5
This establishes that Thomas Rose was the guardian of William Kearns. Part 2 will describe when and why William needed a guardian.
Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Census and Population Books, 1811-1825 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: New South Wales Government. Secretary to the Governor. Population musters, New South Wales mainland [1811–1819]. NRS 1260 [4/1224–25, 4/1227]. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.
Records NSW, Index to the Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1825, [4/1824B], File No.412, p.533.
Ibid.
"COLONIAL, SEDUCTION." The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842) 30 December 1824: 3. Web. 27 Jun 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2183551>.
"SUPREME COURT. (FRIDAY.)" The Australian (Sydney, NSW : 1824 - 1848) 30 December 1824: 2. Web. 27 Jun 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37071650>.