This orphan has been claimed by: BRUCE LINDSAY
John Lindsay was the free-born son of convict Mary Lindsay. After leaving the orphan school at 14 years of age in 1847, he was apprenticed to Mrs Mary Cox in Launceston, but we don't know in what capacity. She operated the Cornwall Hotel and a coaching business. Presumably released from his indentures in 1851, he moved to Westbury to be with his mother and step-father, his father - convict Isaac Williamson - having died by misadventure in 1843 at Russell's Plain near Launceston.
His step-father, convict William Higgs, was a shoemaker, and John took up this trade, whether or not trained by Mrs Cox or at the orphanage. He married free-born Charlotte Wells at Westbury in 1857, produced their first child in 1858, and bought land in Westbury in 1859.
Higgs subsided into alcoholism and hanged himself in 1862 after losing all of his substantial portfolio of real property. John with family moved to Liffey Plains, then late in 1862 the family travelled to Portland in Victoria, and set up house and shoemaking business in Winslow near Warrnambool. From 1883 they managed the local Post Office in addition to the shoemaking business. He and Charlotte produced 14 children, only one dying in infancy. John sadly drowned when collecting water from a well, on 20th November, 1890. He was my great grandfather. We welcome any further details of his life in Tasmania, especially his conduct and any achievements at the orphan school, and his work as a shoemaker at Westbury.
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