COURTNEY
Our interest is in Maria COURTNEY. Maria is a bit of an enigma. In 1816 she was caught in Berwick on Tweed, near the Scottish border, coining and passing sixpences. Along with her accomplices Margaret and Barnard DUFFY and Mary and James MOEN (sometimes MOON), she was found guilty and sentenced to death. All five sentences were commuted to life transportation to New South Wales. The men were transported on the Shipley in 1817. The women were transported on the Friendship, arriving early in 1818. Later that year Maria married Denis HAMILL, a convict who had arrived from Ireland four years earlier. Their story is told in the story of Denis HAMILL of the Three Bees.
The report of the trial indicates Maria was family with Margaret and Barnard DUFFEY, who were Irish. So was James MOEN. The group did not reside in Berwick on Tweed, but were passing through. They had been there only a few weeks, and would have been moved on earlier, but for the bad weather.
Maria was using the name Mary not long after she married, and died as Mary HAMMELL at Wallis Plains (now East Maitland) in the Hunter Valley.
The confusing thing is that Maria (or Mary)'s children seem to have thought that Maria's maiden name was DUFFY. One explanation is that Margaret DUFFY was Maria's mother, and had first been married to a COURTNEY (or her maiden name was COURTNEY).
I haven't given up hope of resolving this mystery.
Links to:
Hammell Home page; About me; About our ancestors; My favourite web sites.
