Early Migrations
Lt. William Lawson
In May 1813 William Lawson, an Australian explorer, crossed the Blue Mountains with Gregory Blaxland and William Charles Wentworth. Lawson was born in London. He travelled to Sydney as an ensign with the New South Wales Corps in 1800. In 1808 and 1809, he was in charge of the settlement at Newcastle. He was commander of the Bathurst settlement from 1819 to 1823 and explored as far north as Mudgee. From 1843 to 1848, he was a member of the Legislative Council.
John Henry Potts
I have covered 9 generations of POTTS' in Australia from Daniel Stephen Jason POTTS (born 26/03/1993) to George POTTS, born in 1780. George Potts' son, George Wilson POTTS, was born at Livingston, Columbia, N.Y., U.S.A. on the 9th August 1801 and died on 12th August 1845, Linlithgo, Columbia, N.Y.. George Wilson married Maria VAN HOUSTEN on the 11th February 1821 in Linlithgo, Columbia, N.Y., U.S.A. . George and Maria's son, John Henry POTTS, migrated to Australia in 1849. John Henry POTTS is my Great Great Grandfather. John Henry had 6 siblings who all stayed in the U.S. so my best chance of finding more family would be to find descendants of any of John Henry's brothers or sisters.
John Henry POTTS was born at Sober (now Johnstown) State of New York, U.S.A., on August 6, 1825. He died 6th July, 1891. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Wilson POTTS. His mother’s maiden name was Maria Van Housten and she was of Dutch descent. John Henry Potts had eight Dutch uncles (on his mother’s side). They gave young John a rough time, and that was one of the main reasons why he came to Australia at the age of 24 years in 1849 from California, U.S.A.
James Lynas
In 1871 Queen Victoria had been on the throne for 34 years and widowed for ten while Gladstone, whom she apparently detested, was Prime Minister during the first of the four occasions he was to hold that office. Ireland was still an integral part of the United Kingdom; the Irish potato famine in which a million people died of starvation was only twenty years in the past (although its consequences were still very much present); and the Irish Home Rule Movement was in its infancy. This also was the year in which my great grandfather, James Lynas, left his home in Ireland, together with his wife Ann Jane, their two children Sara Elizabeth and William James, as emigrants seeding a new life in Australia. They were never to see Ireland again.
I have a particular interest in James as no one in the family to whom I have so far spoken had any knowledge of him, or even knew that he had come to Australia.