Person:Sarah Presnell (2)

1808 - There is no mention of Sarah in 1808 on the ship which took her parents and siblings from Norfolk Island to Tasmania so she may have been born after her parents' arrival in Tasmania. That Sarah was born in approximately 1808 is deduced from the fact that her age at death in 1839 was given as 31 years.

1814 - Sarah Prisnell is listed "on stores" in the children's section of the Hobart muster, probably taken in early October. Her parents and siblings are also listed. (Mitchell Library Film CY957)

1826 - The following notices appeared in the Colonial Times, Friday 3 Feb 1926:

MARRIAGE. PRANGNALL, Mr Thomas - St Davids Church - Sarah Presnell - 26th ult.

MARRIAGE. Presnell, Miss Sarah - Thomas Prangnall.

1839 - Sarah died at the age of 31 just 3 months after her father and 10 months after her brother Thomas. An inquest was held into her death.

INQUEST - COLONIAL TIMES , TUESDAY 6th AUGUST 1839: SARAH PREGNALL. On Monday, July 29, an inquest was held before J. H. Moore, Esq, Coroner, at the Blue Bells of Scotland, Murray Street, upon the body of Sarah Pregnall, who died about one o'clock that morning. It came out in evidence that during Sunday, the deceased, her husband and a man named George Wilson, were together drinking Cape wine, they had about five pints; the deceased was very drunk, Wilson slightly so, but Pregnall was sober; shortly after the wine was drank, Wilson went away; the deceased was put to bed with her clothes on by her mother, who lived in the house with her eldest son; Pregnall went to bed about half an hour afterwards; his wife, who was subject to fits, first went to sleep, and himself shortly after; upon awaking about one o'clock, Pregnall found his wife's head upon his breast, as though it had fallen over, upon taking hold of it and finding it cold, and that although he repeatedly called his wife he could not awaken her, he became alarmed, and jumping out of bed, called his eldest son to bring a light, when he found his wife dead, and black in the face; he immediately gave information to the police. Dr Dermer, who held a post mortem examination upon the body, certified that he found the stomach distended with wind, but empty, although it bore marks of liquor, and the vessels in the brain were also distended, and that death had been caused by epilepsy, occasioned by excessive drinking. The Coroner remarked, that in five out of every six inquests he held, death had been caused from drunkenness, and if he could find out the houses where the liquor was obtained, he would attend the Bench of Magistrates and have them punished with the utmost extremity of the law. The Jury returned the following verdict: That the deceased, Sarah Pregnall, had come to her death by the visitation of God - to wit, by an epileptic fit, induced by intoxication.