Researching some family lines

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I have always found it interesting when I managed to trace an ancestor line back to a convict, and in my family there seems to be no shortage of them at all. When I began researching my family history I began by tracing the lines back as far as I could, and regularly kept my grandparents informed of my findings. They had been a great source of family stories and information, so I felt it a duty to relay other information to them as I discovered it.

Because I began researching my father's line, I discovered a number of convicts, much to the amusement of my grandmother. You see, her line was entirely composed of free settlers, and "none of those dirty convicts" as she regularly reminded us. This lack of convicts was also confirmed by all her brothers and sisters that I spoke to during my early research. Any convicts that I came across while researching that line were definitely not part of the family.

I always wondered why some of the older generation had such a problem with being descended from Convicts. Australia was born from these convict roots, and besides, many of the people transported here were convicted of very minor things. Today you would receive a good behaviour bond, a bit of community service, or simply a warning, but back in the late 1700's it was death or transportation to Australia - a hard decision to make!

After doing the basic line on my grandfather's side, I started on my grandmother's "convict-free" line. Apparently there were problems with my methods, as what had worked well before, seemed to turn up convict after convict. Surely this could not be right? I purchased certificate after certificate and soon confirmed that I was correct: There was a high percentage of convict ancestors in her family.

My only mistake turned out to be telling my grandmother, and I soon found myself unable to get even the most basic information from her. No amount of discussion helped, and I received no more information on her family from her at all.

After this, I decided that maybe in future it might be best to leave sleeping dogs (or is that sleeping convicts?) lie.