Family:William Presnell and Ann Fowler (1)

No records have been found of a marriage of William and Ann.

1802 - Ann and William's first daughter, Elizabeth, was born on Norfolk Island. Her birth is registered with the surname "Breslaw" and her parents are given as William Breslaw and Anne Fowler. There is a registration for both 1802 and 1803.

1804 - Their first son, Thomas, was born. It appears, however, that he died the next year.

1805 - The death of a Thomas Presnell is recorded in the book "Norfolk Island 1788 - 1813, The People and their Families", by James Hugh Donohoe. There is also a christening for Thos. Fowler, son of William and Ann on Christmas Day. It appears that this was the second son of Ann and William and was given the same name as the first. It was not unusual for the name of the mother rather than the father to be given at the time of christening.

1808 - Ann and William travelled to Hobart on City of Edinburgh. In the book "The Forgotten Generation of Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land", Reg Wright states that three children accompanied them - Elizabeth, Thomas and Joseph. However, there are no other records of a Joseph except the baby to Ann Fowler and Joseph Abbott, who had died in 1800. It may be that there was another Joseph born to Ann and William who died as an infant and for whom no records have survived. Alternatively, some have speculated that the third was a youngster called William and have calculated his birth date from victualling records, although I have yet to find the evidence of this. Perhaps the third was the baby Sarah whose age at death indicates that she was born around 1808.

1811 - There is a James Fowler christened by his mother, Ann Fowler, in Hobart on 30 January 1811. So far there has been no other record found of another Ann Fowler, or indeed any other female Fowlers, in Hobart at this time. Although the father's name is not given, it seems quite likely that he was the child of Ann and William Presnell. It is even possible that, although christened in Hobart, he was born in Norfolk Island and was the third child which accompanied the family to VDL. It is not unusual for the names Joseph (Jos) and James (Jas) to be confused. That he is a child of William and Ann appears to be confirmed by his listing as James Prisnell, on stores, (along with Elizabeth, Thomas and Sarah) in the Hobart Muster of 1814 (Mitchell Library Film CY597).