Martha Ford Goodman was baptised in Saltash Cornwall on 19 December 1824. I don't know her exact date of birth.
She was the youngest of five children of Henry Letherby Goodman and Elizabeth Ford (married St Stephens by Saltash, Cornwall on 8 Sept 1810).
Martha's siblings were:
Henry Leatherby Goodman (baptised 29 Dec 1811),
William Ford Goodman (baptised 21 Nov 1813),
George Goodman (baptised 8 Feb 1818),
Mary Ann Goodman (baptised 15 Sept 1822).
In the UK census for 1841 Martha's parents, Henry and Elizabeth, and sister Mary are shown as living in Fore St Saltash, with Henry a shipwright and Elizabeth a grocer. However Martha is not shown as living with them and the three boys also seem to have left home (they would have all been in their twenties by then). I can find a Martha Goodman, a grocer living in Tamar St, she is shown as 15 years old but for that census ages of adults were rounded to nearest 5 years, she would have actually been 16.
On 5 April 1842 Martha married Richard Gregory, a widower at Stoke Dameral, Devon. Richard is shown on marriage certificate as a mason and living at 27 Mount St Stoke Dameral. Martha is also shown as living at that address. Both are shown as "of full age", Martha would have only been 17 so I don't know what full age was in England at that time.
Martha Gregory was sentenced to seven years transportation on 21 Oct 1842 for larceny. Martha and Richard's son William Henry Ford Gregory was baptised in St Stephens by Saltash on 16 Apr 1843 but it is not clear when he was born. It might have been when she was in prison awaiting transportation.
The 1851 census shows Henry and Elizabeth (Betsy) Goodman still living in Fore St Saltash and they have a 9 year old grandson living with them. His name is given as William H Goodman. In 1861 he is shown as William Gregory and in 1871 as William H F G Gregory. This last entry also shows him as being "born at sea" while the others all said Saltash. I can't locate him in the next census in 1881. Both his grandparents had died by then so he could have moved anywhere.
Martha arrived in Hobart on board the ship "Margaret" on 19 July 1843. She applied to marry William Guest in 1848, 1849 and 1850. They were finally married on 23 Apr 1850.
Their first child, Mary Ann Guest was born in 1848 in Tasmania.
After William was pardoned they left Tasmania and settled on the south coast of New South Wales. Their second child William Eden Guest was born 29 Apr 1861 at Eden, NSW.
They later moved to Nerrigundah, a gold mining area on the south coast.
William Guest died in 1867 and Martha married Thomas Jones, a miner on 31 Oct 1873 in Nerrigundah. He was sixteen years younger than her but he died a few years later in 1880.
I have only this last few weeks found out that Martha was then married for the 4th time on 12 Apr 1883 in Bega (a south coast town) to Michael McNamara a widower and farmer. Martha McNamara as she was by then, died 1 Jan 1896 in hospital here In Sydney. Her daughter Mary Ann took her back to Bega to be buried. I only got the death certificate today, I will forward a copy by separate email in case it makes this email too arge. It shows all four marriages and her three children so she didn't make a secret of the first marriage or of the baby she left behind in Cornwall. He is listed as 53 years old and still living when Martha died so perhaps there was still contact between them.
From the two children Martha had here in Australia there were 15 grandchildren, 10 from Mary Ann and her husband Henry OClola Thorp Cowdroy and 5 from William Eden Guest and his wife Catherine Mary James. font>