Annie KNOX
Step-father Robert KNOX b.c. 18211 m. (1) 18502 d. 18533
Father Charles KNOX b.c. 1811 m. (2) 18544 d. 18655
Step-father John McGUIRE b. unknown m. (3) none d. 19316
Step-father James CRITCHLOW b. unknown m. (4) 18767 d. 18918
Mother Catherine CARROLL9 b. 183010 m. (1) 1850 (2) 1854 (3) none (4) 1876 d. 188411
Half-brother Charles KNOX b. 185012 m. d. 188013
Brother John James Robert KNOX b. 185514 m. d.
Inmate Annie KNOX b.c. 1857 m. 1873 (see below) d. 187415
Sister Mary Theresa KNOX16 b. 1860 m. 188417 Henry BRADFORD d. 194118
Half-brother Walter KNOX b. 186819 m. d. unknown
Half-brother Samuel Edward KNOX b. 187420 m. d. unknown
Husband Frederick William RUSSELL b. 185021 m. 187322 d. 189823
Daughter Annie May RUSSELL b. 187424 m. none - d. 187425
Description
Relationship Name Age Height Hair Eyes Complexion Build Distinguishing features
Mother Catherine26 5' 5" black hazel fresh prop[ortiona]l small nose, large mouth, round chin; tooth in front of mouth crooked
Mother Catherine27 40 5' 4¼" dark brown hazel medium blind in left eye; small finger of left hand contracted
Half-brother Charles28 18 5' 10" light brown hazel fresh slight [?] nose; medium mouth; [?] chin; wart on back of neck; mole on right shoulder; scar on left thumb; scar on wrist left hand; scar on right wrist; moles on neck

Annie was Goulburn’s first committal to Newcastle. On 16 September 1867, Annie, recorded as a ten-year-old, appeared in Goulburn Court29 charged with having no visible means of support. She was known to be residing with women of ill-repute and Annie's mother, Catherine, was undergoing a sentence of three months in Goulburn gaol for vagrancy and attempted suicide.30 Catherine had appeared before the court often31 on charges ranging from inebriation to larceny and the Police Magistrate considered that

removal from scenes where drunkenness, debauchery, and foul language, with their contagious influence, greeted the child's senses to the Industrial School for girls at Newcastle will doubtless be the means of saving it from a life of sin and shame.

When Annie was admitted to the school on 1 October 1867, the Entrance Book32 recorded that she was ten, her level of education was 'first book on slate' and that she was a Catholic. Her mother was described as a widow and a servant from Goulburn. Annie’s medical assessment by Dr HARRIS showed that she was not a virgin. This appears to have been viewed with concern as her age has been underlined and a large cross placed beside her name on the document.33 On 29 June 1870 CLARKE sought permission to apprentice Annie to Mr Louis ASSER of Scone and this permission was given by the Colonial Secretary. She was to be paid of four shillings a week for the first year. This was to increase by one shilling a week for each year of her three-year apprenticeship.34 On 25 July 1870,35 Annie was apprenticed for three years to so never transferred to Biloela with the school in May 1871. Her apprenticeship would have concluded in July 1870.

Annie married Frederick William RUSSELL, in St Luke’s, Scone, on 5 August 1873, at about the age of sixteen. Both Frederick’s parents, Thomas Freeth RUSSELL and Mary KIRKBY, were recorded but only Annie's father, Charles, was named in the record even though he had been dead for nine years.36 The provision of only the name of her dead father strongly suggested that Annie was very happy to have been removed from Goulburn and the company of her mother. Annie's life should be a wonderful story but on 24 May 1874, Annie gave birth to her daughter, Annie May RUSSELL.37 Annie May was baptized in St. Luke’s, Scone, on 1 June 1874, but sometime after that date she died. The numbering of her death registration suggested that her death occurred shortly after that of her mother. Frederick was recorded as a widower38 when he remarried Margaret MULHOLLAND the following year.

Family

Annie was the daughter of Charles and Catherine KNOX. Catherine’s name was confirmed in the Entrance Book but because Charles was dead his name wasn't recorded. Annie's birth or baptism wasn’t registered but she was about ten when she was arrested so had been born in about 1858. Charles KNOX and Catherine KNOX nee CARROLL were married on 26 September 1854, in the Presbyterian, Scots Church, Goulburn, by William ROSS. The witnesses were Anne ROSS and Sophia SIMPSON. Charles was a member of the Church of Scotland but Catherine was recorded as a Catholic and was identified as a widow in the register.39

Charles had almost certainly been living in the Goulburn area by 1841 when he is recorded on the census at Diamond Swamp near Goulburn.40 Charles had probably arrived as a 26-year-old immigrant aboard the ship Adam Lodge on 13 July 1837.41 He had been born in Tyrone, Ireland,42 but was not a Catholic.43 Charles was 'suffering from paralysis' but it is unknown when he was first affected.44 The marriage between Catherine and Charles was not happy and Catherine was unfaithful to him from at least 1864. It may be that Charles didn’t consider Annie to be his daughter even though she believed him to be her father. On 12 October 1864, after returning from a visit to a Sydney doctor, Charles found that Catherine had left him.45 She had abandoned Charles and their children46 and was living in a hut on his property at Graben Gullen with John McGUIRE, an expired tol man, who had formerly been employed by Charles. Enmity between the two men existed and continued until Charles died in March 1865.47 Charles died intestate.48 Charles's death registration recorded that his father was Robert and it is quite possible that Catherine had married two brothers. After Charles' death, Catherine,

unable to obtain the security required by law was debarred from getting letters of Administration. The property was consequently disposed of under the authority of the curator of intestate estates and whatever may be the proceeds after paying claims on the estate, the widow seems not to have received them.

Catherine can be relatively easily identified due to her frequent court appearances and subsequent gaol admissions from about 1866. While no age has been recorded in any gaol record yet found she stated in gaol records that her ship of arrival was the Strathfieldsaye.49 Gaol records and her marriage record to Charles50 confirmed that her place of birth was King's County, Ireland. She had arrived as an assisted arrival in NSW aboard the Strathfieldsaye in 1838 with her parents, Michael CARROLL and Catherine CARROLL nee MAHON, and her sisters, Margaret and Mary. Margaret was almost without doubt the woman who was witness at Catherine's first marriage in Sydney in 1850. It is unknown whether any of her extended family were living in the Goulburn area.

Robert KNOX and Catherine CARROLL had married in St Mary's, Sydney, on 9 January 1850. Only Catherine was a Catholic. Robert's abode was Goulburn but at this stage Catherine was resident of Sydney. The witnesses were John KELLEHER and Margaret CARROLL both of Liverpool.51 Margaret was probably Catherine's sister. Catherine and Robert KNOX were the parents of a son named Charles in 1850.52 The Charles KNOX who frequently appeared in the Goulburn courts from about 1868 was almost certainly this child as gaol records matched his age and stated that he had been born on the Lachlan.53 Catherine's husband, 32-year-old Robert KNOX, died at Crookwell on 15 January 1853. He was buried on 16 January 1853, and was described as a farmer of St. John's, Camden.54 Robert is not to be confused with the 43-year-old man of the same name who died in East Maitland55 on 6 August.56Catherine remarried Charles KNOX the following year as Catherine KNOX, a widow, and it is suspected but has been unable to be proven that Robert and Charles KNOX were brothers.

On 16 October 1855, the baptism of Catherine and Charles's son, John James Robert KNOX, occurred and Catherine's maiden name of CARROLL was confirmed on this record.57 Catherine is thought to have remained with John McGUIRE after leaving Charles and was living with him when Charles died. By September 1866, she had appeared in court charged with for abandoning her children on the courthouse steps. She was ordered by the bench to take them back even though she maintained that she couldn’t afford to keep them.58 The number of children was not stated in the newspaper report but there were at least two who passed on his mother’s message. To date five of Catherine's children who had been born by this stage have been identified: Charles, John, Annie, and Mary Theresa. The Police Gazette indicated that Catherine again appeared in court on charges of larceny and keeping a disorderly house. There is a deposition regarding Catherine’s charge of larceny on 9 November 1866.59 She was acquitted of a further disorderly house charge60 in April 1870.61 Between 1868 and 1874, Catherine became the mother to one and more likely two illegitimate sons who were registered in Goulburn and Braidwood respectively. There is no indication that John McGUIRE was their father but it is possible. It is also possible that the two children registered under the name KNOX may have acquired a new surname after their birth. A man of this name was recorded having many children in Braidwood from 1876 after probably marrying Mary Jane HOLLAND62 or HOLLANDS in 1875.63 Mary Ann was almost certainly the same woman appearing in court with Catherine from as early as 1866.64 Catherine almost certainly married James CRITCHLOW65 in Grenfell in 1876 but the marriage registration has not been viewed. James CRITCHLOW's death was registered in Goulburn in 1891 but Catherine predeceased him as her death was registered in Goulburn in 1884 as Catherine KNOX. This death is also accepted by the descendants of Annie's sister, Mary Theresa, but it is unknown whether they have viewed the original death registration.

Updated May 2019

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