Eliza MASTERS c1826-1895

Eliza MASTERS is my gg-grandmother.

She was baptised 26 February 1826 in Southampton, Hampshire, England.

Eliza is another ancestor with no mystery as to how and why she came to New South Wales – albeit unusual circumstances.

Eliza’s mother, Mary Ann MASTERS nee MARSHMANN, was a convict transported on the ship John Renwick in 1838.  Mary Ann and her husband Benjamin had seven children.  Eliza was the fourth child – how was she “chosen” as the one to travel with her mother to New South Wales?

Perhaps the three older children were considered old enough [15-18 years of age] to look after themselves and help their father with the youngest children.  The fifth child was the only son and it was probably thought best that he remain in England with his father.  The two youngest were 7 and 8 and possibly considered too young to make the voyage.  So 12 year old Eliza, my gg-grandmother was the one chosen by her mother to travel with her.

There is no question that her mother made sure that Eliza was aware of her father and siblings back in England as she knew the name of her father when she married in 1841 and after the death of her first husband, Charles ROBERTS, in 1852 to Thomas STAPLETON.

Eliza was 69 years old when she died in 1895 in West Maitland.