Dr Michael Perry (b. 18/1/1845, d. 24/4/1904) was born in Harwell (near Oxford), England. He was the son of Michael Perry (b. 17/11/1811, d.1881) and Mary Ann Allen (b. 1819, d. 1890), who are both buried in Harwell, England in “the manse” (the old congregation hall). The building is now a residential home and the headstones of their graves are built into the old cemetery wall there.
Michael Perry senior was a cattle dealer. His father’s name was John Perry (b. 1762, d.?) and his grandfather was Samuel Perry (b.?, d?).
Dr Michael Perry was an apothecary who worked in St Luke’s Hospital, London. He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in the 1860’s. He moved to Australia sometime before 1870 and married Sarah Bull (b.5/10/1854, d.26/3/1938) in Goulburn, NSW. He became lord mayor of Yass from 1877 to 1878 and moved to Wyalong in 1893 where he became the Government Medical Officer.
Sarah Bull was born in Sydney in 1854, the daughter of a convict, Joseph Bull (b.4/11/1797, d.10/6/1871) and Elizabeth Dowie (b. 1816, d. 21/6/1877), who was born in Mid Lothian, Scotland and died in Goulburn.
Joseph Bull – prisoner number 485/1959 – was born in Leicestershire, England in 1797 and worked as a framework fitter. Son of Thomas Bull (b.1770) (woollen manufacturer) and Sarah Bull (Leicestershire, England) Joseph fought alongside his father in battle of Waterloo, losing the thumb of his left hand in battle.
The Blundens and the Rays (family tree)
Dr Michael’s son, Stanley Edward Perry (b. 5/1/1882, d. 4/9/1938) married Daisy Blunden (b. 20/5/1887, d. 15/10/1981) in 1905 in Leichhardt, Sydney. At the time of their marriage, Stanley was a machinist. Daisy was born in Woolloondool (near Hay) the daughter of Henry Blunden (b. 13/5/1859, d. 29/11/1942), who was a coach driver, born in Sandhurst, Victoria, and Emma Ray (b.1862, d.1907), born in NSW. They were married in Hillston in 1883. At some point between 1887 and 1905, Henry became a miner.
Henry’s parents were Thomas Raynor Blunden (b.1827, d.11/6/1906), the son of a doctor, and Louisa Crawford (b. 10/8/1826, d. 26/2/1879), both of whom were born in England.
Emma Ray, Daisy’s mother, was a direct descendant of 5 convicts. Her father, Edward Ray (b. 28/11/1826, d.24/2/1884) was the grandson of a Third Fleet convict, William Ray (b. 1772, d. 17/10/1835) and a woman 21 years his junior, named Sarah Mary Wade (b. 22/9/1793, d. 5/7/1887). They married in 1808 in Parramatta but by 1828 Sarah had left William for another man, Nathaniel Boon. Between 1816 and 1826, William owned a pub, the Plough Inn.
Edward was the illegitimate son of Mary Ray (b. 16/9/1809, d. 1837), who gave birth to him aged 17. She was born in Windsor, NSW the daughter of William and Sarah and died aged 28, in Campbelltown. Edward’s father was the Scot, John Howe (b. 1803, d. 26/6/1876), the son of the local magistrate for whom Mary worked as a servant. Edward lived as a squatter in Hay, NSW.
Sarah was, the daughter of the famous convict, Mary Wade (b. 17/12/1775, d. 17/12/1859). It is uncertain who Sarah’s father may have been: Mary was associated with two fellow convicts, Jonathan Brooker and Edward Harrigan, around the time of Sarah’s birth but it might have also been neither of them.
Mary is probably our most famous convict, being tried at the Old Bailey and transported to Australia on the Second Fleet in 1789 at the age of 12, the youngest woman to be transported. Sarah was born at the Mount Pitt settlement, Norfolk Island, and was Mary’s first child.
Edward Ray married Catherine Herrick (b. 14/2/1829, d. 9/1/1909) in Campbelltown, NSW in 1852. She was the daughter of John Herrick (b. 1802 , d. 3/9/1883), a convict who arrived from Ireland in 1819, and Mary Ann Mitten (b. 14/4/1804 , d. 5/8/1872), born in Australia. They were married in 1827 in Campbelltown, NSW where they both lived and in 1834, John was given a conditional pardon.
Mary’s parents, John Mitten (b. 10/8/1771, d. 13/11/1853) and Catherine Lahey (b. 17/5/1780, d. 29/5/1868) were also both convicts. They married in 1801 in Parramatta, NSW.