John Nehemiah Webster
| First name | John Nehemiah |
|---|---|
| Last name | Webster |
| Country of Origin | England |
| Date of Birth | 9th April 1798 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 8/7/1820 |
| Submitted by | Joan Wickham |
Story
JOHN NEHEMIAH WEBSTER 1798-1842
John Nehemiah Webster was born in London on 9th April 1798 son of Joseph & Ann Webster. He and his older sister Caroline were baptised on 6th July 1800 at St. Clement Danes, the Strand. On maturity he was described as 5\’3 _’ tall, of fair/ruddy complexion with brown hair and hazel eyes and skilled as a carver and gilder.
On 29th October 1819 at the Old Bailey, John was convicted together with 14 others, ‘for having in his possession forged and counterfeit Bank notes, knowing them to be forged’. His sentence was transportation to NSW for 14 years. He sailed from Falmouth on board the convict ship ‘Mangles\’ in April 1820 and arrived in Sydney on 7th August 1820, aged 22 years.
John worked for Governor Macquarie as a ‘Carver at Government House’ until the end of 1821 when the Governor granted him a conditional pardon. Three large ornamental chairs in ‘Colonial Gothic’ style carved by him and constructed by carpenter William Temple are still in use in Sydney today. One, the property of the Power House Museum, has been fully restored and is on display from time to time. Its twin, at the Macquarie University, is used by the Chancellor at ceremonies when he confers degrees. The third chair, slightly different in design, is used by the Bishop when he conducts services at St. James Church, Sydney.
John was a free man in 1822 and presumably went about work for himself. By 1825 he employed a housekeeper/needlewoman, Jane (nee Jones) Stilwell, who had been abandoned with four children (John 1817; Lucy b/d 1818; Thomas 1919; Jane Margaret 1821; William 1822), by her first husband. In 1828 John Webster’s household in Castlereagh Street included Jane and children, two men as shoemakers and a lodger. Two of Jane\’s children were admitted to the Orphan School for a time as they could not afford to support them and her eldest son became employed at Kissing Point further up the Parramatta River.
John and his housekeeper Jane became partners quite quickly but could not marry until seven years had passed from Mr. Stilwell\’s departure from the colony (never to be heard of again). They had four sons in the Sydney area: Joseph Nehemiah 1826; John 1828; Leonard 1829; and Jeremiah Godfrey 1831. They were married on 30th March 1832 in the Scots Church by the Presbyterian Chaplain, Rev. J.D. Lang.
With most of their children the family moved to Goulburn in 1832, only four years after the town had been dedicated; probably to get out of Sydney town\’s squalid conditions. They lived in what is now called North Goulburn where the township was first established with the population at the time being only a few hundred. On the journey Jane must have been heavily pregnant as she gave birth to John Webster\’s first daughter Sarah in 1832 and his second daughter Rebecca in 1834, both in Goulburn. To support them all, John became a butcher and purchased land, part of which is covered by the Sydney road today.
John and Jane Webster never became wealthy, but together they did raise a lot of children, all honest, hard-working, currency lads and lasses, from whom there are many descendants. John died on 28th February 1842 aged 44 years and Jane died of ‘old age\’ in her house in Auburn Street, Goulburn on 24th April 1868 aged 74 years. It is believed they are both buried in the Presbyterian section of the original burial grounds, Mortis Road Cemetery, Goulburn.