Elizabeth Carey 1837-1911

By Allison Carins

My great-grandmother, Elizabeth Carey would have to be my most interesting ancestor, as researching her life opened up a whole family background we had never known.

Her own great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Riley (convicted of stealing cloth) and accompanied by her small daughter, Catherine, came on the Lady Juliana of the Second Fleet. Catherine Riley married John Lee, a convict, who arrived on the Matildaof the Third Fleet. They were married in Sydney in 1803 and later came to George Town, Tasmania, with three children. Two more were born there. The eldest daughter, Elizabeth Lee, married James Jessop who had been convicted at St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, for 'burglariously' entering a rich man's house and sentenced to death; but instead was transported for life, arriving on the Indefatigableat George Town, 1812.

James and Elizabeth Jessop were married on 20 January 1819 by the Rev. John Youl. There had been previously no resident minister, and during that month, he baptised sixty-seven children and married forty-one couples. The Jessops had four daughters.

Maria married Arnold Moore (Mauer) and that family settled in the Northdown district, N. W. Tasmania.

Elizabeth married William Bryant, hotelier of Launceston (1836), Anne (known as Mary Ann) married several times and has descendants in Victoria (Jackson, Robinson, Millard).

Sophia married John Brain and their descendant, Bev Perkins, has written a book about that family. I have had contact with, and a great deal of information from, members of these other families which gives much colour and interest to the family history.

Elizabeth and William Bryant had two daughters, Charlotte and Elizabeth. Their mother, Elizabeth, died very young and William married again. William was reputed to have built the terraced houses in upper George Street, now restored. Charlotte married Jonathan Beswick and they had a large family. Many of their descendants live on the North-west Coast. Her grandson (Arthur) married back into the family, his wife, Florence, being the youngest daughter of Charlotte's sister Elizabeth Carey.

Elizabeth Bryant (later Carey) was first married at 19 to William Searle (in 1856) and they settled in the Toll House over the Meander River at the Retreat, near Deloraine. William was the Toll-gate keeper. The next year, their son William Bryant Searle was born. On the night of 5 June, two men burst into the house and demanded money. Shots were fired and Searle was badly injured. Elizabeth took the baby and went for help, but William died of the wounds. A large reward (100 pounds) was offered but although an arrest was made, the two suspects were acquitted through lack of evidence. There had been a couple of accounts of this tragedy handed down in family lore, but were conflicting and in some details incorrect. Only in recent years have we been able to find out the date and read the accounts in the papers.

Two years later in 1859, Elizabeth Searle married John Carey, who had migrated from Bristol, England, with his brothers. Later the brothers sponsored the rest of the family.

John was in the newly-established Police Force. (I've often wondered if he was involved in the murder investigation.) They lived in a cottage (still remaining) in Victoria Street (now Crown Street) off Balfour Street in Launceston and had eleven children; eight girls and three boys (one died in infancy). John was an astute business man as well as a policeman, and bought up cottages whenever he could. The rents would have provided for their old age as Police Pensions were only being thought of by the time he retired. Each of their children inherited a property when he and Elizabeth died (John in 1906 and Elizabeth 1911).

Elizabeth's son, William Searle, was brought up with the Carey children. He married Sophia Munting (1893) and they had at least one son (also William Bryant Searle, who died 1952) and a daughter (Mrs Lodge). William Snr died in 1932 and Sophia 1938. Not much was known of him as he was much older than the others, some of whom were born when Elizabeth was in her forties.

There are a great many descendants from this marriage of John and Elizabeth Carey, some prominent in their fields. One was awarded a knighthood for public service and another (my father), a successful business man and member of Parliament. Most of the family remained in Tasmania, but a brother and sister migrated to South Africa and we have contact with their descendants over there and in England. However there are now no males with the name Carey, but it is evident that some family members are proud of their heritage and have given the name Carey to their children either as a first or second name.

In this genealogy of Elizabeth Carey, we see the frailty of the thread of human ancestry - ­those women from whom she was descended, Elizabeth Riley and Catherine Lee, Elizabeth Jessop and Elizabeth Bryant, had so little chance in life, yet they and their children survived the often harsh conditions of those times. James Jessop could have suffered the death penalty, but was spared. Elizabeth and William Searle could have lived together to old age, but for his tragic death. The Carey family as we know it would not have come into being if any of these events had been different.

So fragile is the web of life-woven as of threads from all those individuals from past ages, that have come together in ways only known and determined by our Maker­ - resulting in any of us being here at all.

This story was originally published in 2001 by the Tasmanian Family History Society Inc in My Most Interesting Ancestor.

The original introduction to this publication may be found here.