Catherine (Edwards) Yardley (1763 - 1818)

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Biography

Catherine (Edwards) Yardley was born in Ireland.

Catherine (Edwards) Yardley was a convict on the Third Fleet.

Catherine EDWARDS.^[1][2][3]

Catherine Edwards was sentenced in Dublin in 1790 to be transported for 7 years. She was transported on the ship Queen which arrived in NSW on 26 September 1791.^[4] There is no record of her crime and it is believed she was probably arrested due to her involvement or association with people in the early days of the Irish rebellion, just prior to the formation of the United Irishmen.

She was unable to read and write. It is assumed she was from a poor working class Protestant family. There is some conjecture that Catherine Edwards is not her real name, but that of her mother and that her real name was Mary Hayden.

There is also some suggestion that her maiden name was Everett based on the marriage record to William Yardley..

Katherine Everett and William Yearley were married, by Banns, on 7 November 1796 at St John's Church of England, Parramatta, in the Colony of New South Wales. They were both living at Parramatta and signed with their mark.^[5][6]

• From Rootsweb;

CATHERINE EDWARDS, was born in Cork, Ireland, was tried in Dublin and transported on the "Queen" in 1791 for Australia. She had one son with her, John Edward, 2 years, when she arrived. Catherine is believed to be the "pregnant woman" who attempted to escape from the colony with a party of twenty "recently arrived" convict men, in November 1791. The party had taken a week's provisions, tools, and implements, and had "absconded with the chimerical idea of walking to China or finding a settlement in this country where they would be received and entertained without labour". They met with mishap, misfortune, accident, spearings by natives, and starvation, most returning to the settlement in a "wretched and pitiable condition". The pregnant woman from the "Queen" fared worst of all. This "wretched female" had been separated from the men for three days and wandered by herself, entirely ignorant of her situation, until she came to the water-side, where, fortunately, she soon met the boat. Boats were sent down the next day and the woman's husband (Dennis Driscoll) brought up from the settlement......Catherine was " very near her time". She had her baby, but he died 4 months later.

• From another Rootsweb post;

Catherine Edwards was tried 1790 in Dublin and received a sentence of transportation for 7 years. For what crime we do not know as the ship's manifest only states that she was 28 years old, convicted in 1790 and that she had a child John aged 2 years. Catherine and John arrived into Port Jackson 26th September 1791 onboard the ship 'Queen', another of those terrible journeys. Baby John died 24th October of that year at Rose Hill. In 1792 Catherine gave birth to a child Thomas Driscoll Edwards, 24th January 1792. It is believed that whilst pregnant with Thomas, Catherine was one of several convicts that escaped the Colony and tried to walk to China (which they believed was just North of Port Jackson). They were re-captured and returned to Rose Hill. Baby Thomas died 7th May 1792.

We don't know what happened to Catherine immediately after that however we do know that she married William Yardley at Parramatta 7th November 1796. At that time William had land at Toongabbie but not long after they moved to the Hawkesbury area. I have already given her story as the wife of William. After his death it is believed that Catherine remained on their farm with her three children Edward 1794, Ruth 1797 and Mary 1799.

Times were very hard. By 1814 Edward had left home. Ruth married Richard Hayman (Pitt) 21st June 1813 and Mary married Thomas Dent 14/8/1815. Later Catherine lived with her daughter Ruth who was estranged from Richard Hayman her husband.

Catherine was murdered on 14th October 1818 in the Sackville/Colo area near Laws Farm Road. She had suffered a violent blow to the head. Her son in law Richard Hayman was charge for her murder and stood trial in Sydney on 4th December He was found to be not guilty.

So, William Yardley was murdered and Catherine, his wife, stood trial and was found "not guilty". Catherine was murdered and her son in law stood trial and was found 'not guilty.

It is not hard to imagine the under currents of emotion, rumours and turmoil that must have existed amongst those trying to survive on those small farms isolated in the bush in a strange land surrounded by people from many countries with varied past lives living from day to day and never knowing where the next meal might come from.

Tom Croucher has written a book 'Years of Hardship' which relates the life and times of Catherine and her family.

Judith MacGregor

Third Fleet, Australia, 1791

Sources

1. ↑ Profile created by Paul Bech by uploading pb.ged on 21 November 2010, Kerry Laughlin also created Edwards-6456 through the import of Matt Coombs GEDCOM 12-31-13.ged on Dec 31, 2013.
2. ↑ Veronica Williams updated and sourced the profile on 05:11, 3 December 2013 (EST). As Catherine is of interest in my DNA research, please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish to collaborate on this profile (click on my name link and send me a private message).
3. ↑ Genes Reunited, Internet, Research of Ruby Davidson, 2008.
4. ↑ Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842 [database on-line]. Original data: State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia. https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/2024/images/32082_223749__0003-00171?pId=11560
5. ↑ NSW Government, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Online Index Death YEARLEY WILLIAM and EVERETT KATHERINE Date 07 Nov 1796, Parish CB - St. John's Church of England, Parramatta, Registration No: 145/1796 V1796145 147A
6. ↑ New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Marriages, 1790-1966 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Reference Number: REG/COMP/1; Description: Vol 01, Baptisms, 1790-1825; Marriages, 1789-1823; Burials, 1790-1825; Parish: St. John's Anglican Church Parramatta. Vol 01, Baptisms, 1790-1825; Marriages, 1789-1823; Burials, 1790-1825
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• NSW State Records, http://www.records.nsw.gov.au, Shipping records, "Queen".
• Tom Croucher, Years of Hardship (Hurstville, Parker Pattison Publishing, 2002), Tom Croucher, 4 Burnett Place, Sylvania, NSW, 2224, The Story of Catherine Edwards.
• Hawkesbury Pioneer Register, Rouse Hill Library, YARDLEY William, Page 330.
• Hawkesbury Pioneer Register, Rouse Hill Library, HAYMAN Richard, Page 131.
• Parramatta Pioneer Register, Settlement to 1920, Library - Baulkham Hills, Dural, HAYMAN Richard; p213.
• OneWorldTree (Provo, UT, USA, The Generations Network, Inc.), www.ancestry.com.au, Database online. Record for Ruth Yardley.
• Irish Convicts to NSW, Peter Mayberry - http://members.pcug.org.au/~ppmay/cgi-bin/irish/irish.cgi.
• Parramatta Pioneer Register, Settlement to 1920, Library - Baulkham Hills, Dural, p246.
• Family Tree - Roots Webb, T Hinchcliffe.
• Croucher, Tom. Years of Hardship : The Story of Catherine Edwards : A Pioneer of Parramatta and the Hawkesbury. Sylvania, N.S.W.: Tom Croucher, 2002.
• Purnell, Marion. "Catherine Edwards, 1763–1818", Australian Royalty database. https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I52622/Catherine-Edwards
• Community contributors, "Catherine Edwards", Convict Records database https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/edwards/catherine/131459