Fraser, John (7 June 1789 - 10 December 1823)
Date 2006/11/6 18:13:02 | Topic: Australian
| JOHN FRASER was born on 7 June, 1789, the second white child to be born in the Colony. He died 10 December 1823 at Concord. His headstone still stands in Liverpool Pioneers Park (the original Liverpool cemetery)
His parents Ellen (Redchester) and William Fraser, (Frazer, Frazier) married on 8 November 1783 at Aldborough, Yorkshire, were sentenced at Manchester Quarter Sessions in January 1787 for stealing "6 pieces of fustian, (a thick cotton cloth used to pad bustles worn by the ladies of the time), 1 piece of yellow canvas and half a gross of white filleting (used either to bind the hair or as a headband)". They were transported on the First Fleet, Ellen firstly on the Prince of Wales and William on the Charlotte, but she is probably the unnamed female convict transferred from the Prince of Wales to the Charlotte at Rio, on 13th August, 1787 as they both arrived on the Charlotte after a journey of 36 weeks.
In his book "Sydney's First Four Years" Captain Watkin Tench of the Royal Marines wrote about William Frazer: "He was an iron manufacturer, bred at Sheffield, of whose abilities as a workman we had witnessed many proofs.
"The Government had written to England for a set of locks, to be sent out for the security of the public stores, which were to be constructed so as to be incapable of being picked. "On their arrival His Excellency sent for Frazer and made him examine them, telling him at the same time that they could not be picked. Frazer laughed, and asked for a crooked nail only to open them all, and in an instant had verified his assumption. "Had not his villainy been still more notorious than his skill he would have proved an invaluable possession to a new country."
William Frazer was employed as a blacksmith, and described by Collins as "an excellent workman, who seldom chose to accept any article but spirits in payment for work done in his extra hours."
A second child, Daniel was born in 1791 (drowned in 1806) to Ellen and William who died on 1st June, 1791, reputedly from excessive drinking.
Ellen (Eleanor) Frazer was granted 10 acres at Concord on 20th February, 1794 and another 20 acres on 22nd July, 1794. William Morgan had a grant adjoining Ellen, and by 1806 she and William had 5 children. Ellen had 15 acres under full cultivation of wheat and maize, and had 6 prisoners working for her. William Morgan died 27 October 1828. Ellen died on 18th November, 1840 and her obituary in The Australian reads: “At her residence at Concord, Mrs. Eleanor Frazer, aged 83 years, was a “First Fleeter” Her intellect was unimpaired to the last and she had a perfect recollection of the first deeds in NSW. Her remains were interred with those of her eldest son John in St. Lukes Churchyard Cemetery, Liverpool.”
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