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Anthony Rope (maid. name (Convict on first fleet to Australia))[1]

Male 1763 - 1843  (80 years)Deceased


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • First & lastname Anthony Rope  [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
    Birth 1763  Rochford, Essex, , England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Death 20 Apr 1843  Castlereagh, New South Wales Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Age 80 years 
    Headstones Submit Headstone Photo Submit Headstone Photo 
    Person ID P16836  My Genealogy
    Last Modified 24 Jul 2020 

    Wife Elizabeth Pulley (maid. name (Convict first fleet to Australia)),   b. 27 Mar 1763, Hethersett, Norfolk, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 9 Aug 1837, Evan, Castlereagh, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 74 years) 
    Marriage 19 May1788  Port Jackson, Sydney, New Suoth Wales Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Robert Rope,   b. 30 Oct 1788, Soldiers Square, Wynyard Square, Sydney, New South Wales Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1835, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 46 years)
    Esther Mary Gamble  m. 9 Dec 1812
     [Father: natural]
    +2. Mary Rope,   b. 31 Jul 1791, Rouse Hill,Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Oct, 1872, Emu Plains, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years)
     [Father: natural]
     3. Elizabeth Rope,   b. 7 Feb, 1794, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1794, no supporting documents Find all individuals with events at this location  [Father: natural]
    +4. John Rope,   b. 22 Dec 1795, Ponds Parramatta New South Wales Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Jul 1845, Castlereagh, , New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 49 years)
    Maria Field  m. 17 Feb 1817
     [Father: natural]
    +5. Sarah Rope,   b. 1 Mar 1798, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 17 Aug 1882, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 84 years)
     [Father: natural]
    +6. Susannah Rope,   b. 1801, South Creek, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Dec 1883, South Creek, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years)
    John Bradley  m. 7 Sep 1818;   John Proctor  m. 1829
     [Father: natural]
     7. William Rope,   b. 1805, Windsor, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 12 Dec 1834, Castlereagh, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 29 years)  [Father: natural]
    +8. Elizabeth Ann Rope,   b. 24 Mar 1808, Windsor, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Aug 1889, Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years)
    Thomas Player  m. 10 Oct 1826
     [Father: natural]
     9. Eliza Ryan,   b. 1870, Penrith, , New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 9 Jun 1870, Penrith, , New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 0 years)  [Father: natural]
    Family ID F5157  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 24 Jul 2020 

  • Notes 
    • Anthony was baptised on 1st August 1755, at St Marys, Norton Subcourse, Norfolk, England.
      He was illiterate and a labourer. Anthony came from a family of Carpenters and Brickmakers, handy skills which he brought with him to Sydney Cove. He was tried at Chelmsford on 10th March 1785 he was found guilty of stealing clothing and coin to the value of 35 shillings from Robert Gosling and Robert Bradley; he was sentenced to transportation for 7 years.
      Left England on 13th May 1787.
      Ship:- the ‘Alexander’, before she left Portsmouth, a fever broke out on board that killed 16 convicts. She left carrying 195 male convicts, 15 more convicts died on the journey, the most for any ship in the first fleet.
      Arrived on 26th January 1788.
      Upon the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove, all the convicts were put to work in various jobs necessary to build shelter and feed all the people. Anthony Rope was sent to work in the brickfields, which were located near what is now Central Station in Sydney. In Anthony’s small amount of spare time he built a hut there for himself and this was finished by May 1788. Elizabeth, along with other women, would have been put to work sewing, cleaning, washing and cooking.
      Anthony and Elizabeth met on the first night that the women of the Fleet were set down at Sydney Cove on 6th February 1788. They were married on 19th May 1788 by the Reverend Richard Johnson, celebrating with meat from a goat that one naval officer reported as missing. They had 8 children between 1788-1808, their son Robert Rope was possibly one of the first children conceived and born in the settlement.
      Anthony was given a grant of land at The Ponds which is now part of the Sydney suburb of Dundas, but this later had to be sold to repay debt. Farming was very harsh and the settlers were constantly deluged by floods and ravaged by fires and droughts.
      The family moved to various farms out in the west of Sydney as they looked for land that would safely grow crops. It should be noted that although the farms were granted to the owners, Anthony was the first settler at all of the farms he moved to, so he first had to clear the land before he could put crops in. He also had to build the family home every time they moved.
      Anthony did extra jobs to make money along the way. At one stage he was employed to build a dwelling for the workers on Elizabeth King’s farm Dunheved in 1807.
      Recent research by Rope family historians has identified at least five sites where the family lived as they moved from leasehold to leasehold: Rope’s Farm at The Ponds, now Dundas; a farm at Toongabbie; Tumbledown Barn at Mulgrave Place, now Riverstone, near Windsor; Badgery’s Farm on the Nepean River near Richmond; and Jordan Hill in what is now Llandilo, on the west bank of South Creek. The stretch of land leading to this leasehold was known as Rope’s Paddock for many years. The new suburb, Ropes Crossing, has been named after him as it lies near where the family farmed at Jordan Hill.

  • Sources 
    1. [S-2109027946] Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Tree.
      http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=6361038&pid=16836

    2. [S-1042567549] Ancestry.com, New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Land Grants and Leases, 1792-1867, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), State Records Authority of New South Wales; Registers of Land Grants and Leases; Series: NRS 13836; Item: 7/446; Reel: 2560.

    3. [S-1794491499] Ancestry.com, New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.Original data - Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania; (The National Archives Microfilm Publication HO10, Pieces 5, 19-20, 32-51); The National Archives of th), Class: HO 10; Piece: 20.

    4. [S-1042567561] Ancestry.com, New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1856, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc), Series: NRS 897; Reel or Fiche Numbers: Reels 6041-6064, 6071-6072.

    5. [S-1042567558] Ancestry.com, New South Wales, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists, 1787-1834, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc), Class: HO 10; Piece: 3.

    6. [S617502739] Ancestry.com, New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents, 1788-1842, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), State Archives NSW; Series: NRS 1150; Item: [SZ115]; Microfiche: 620.

    7. [S635338792] Ancestry.com, Australian Convict Transportation Registers – First Fleet, 1787-1788, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc), Class: HO 11; Piece: 1.