Daughter Ann born 3 Sept 1851 alive 1861 Romsey
In 1861 Cencus at Romsey with his sister Keturah Holloway nee To
!JOHN TONGS- CONVICT- LATER A-FREE SETTLER
This information has been kindly supplied by Mr Graham Tongs of Parkville.
My Great Great Grandfather John Tongs was deported from England:-TONGS John age 34 TRANSPORT: ELIZA - VDLOFFENCE:
(311) ‘charged with having, on the 22nd day of November last, at the parish of Mitchelmersh, with divers other persons, riotously assembled together, and feloniously destroyed a threshing machine, the property of James Futcher.-Warrant dated December 19, 1830.’ SENTENCE: Transportation for 7 years. (PRO HO11/8;
H0130/1) HULK DETAILS: 10 January 1831, received on board the prison I hulk YORK at
Portsmouth, from Winchester; age 35. (more information)In Longford Tasmania Anglican Cemetery there is a head stone to Charles Tongs. In Longford Methodist Cemetery there is a head stone inscribed on three sides as follows; (facing) John Tongs died 10 June 1869, in the 74th year of his age. He was for upwards of 40 years a constant member and useful office bearer of the Methodist Church. Fanny wife of John Tongs died 5 December 1866 age 75 years; (on the right hand side) John Palmer, son of Fanny Tongs by a former husband, died 14 January 1857, aged 42 years and the first interred in this burial ground; (on the left hand side) John Joseph Tongs died 17 April 1869, age 45 years. It will be noted that not all the dates on the stone agree with those given in the Register of Deaths for the District of Longford.In Longford Methodist Church John Tongs name is inscribed on a plaque to the memory of those who served the church.
John Tongs
In Chapter 14 of "Captain Swing" by E J Hobsbawm and George RudE - Published by Lawrence and Wishart 1969, John Tongs is mentioned as being a convict who returned to England and collected his family and brought them out to VDL: (Van Dieman,s Land)
"The other was John Tongs, a blacksmith of Timsbury, in Hampshire, who returned to England from Tasmania shortly after his free pardon in 1836. But he did not remain there long, and in January 1843, he re-appeared in Hobart as a free migrant with his wife, a daughter and three sons.""A Century Of Methodism in Longford Tsmania, 1834 - 1934, A Souvenir History":
In the section "Laymen of Methodism".
In the Church at Longford there are two memorial Tablets erected to the memory of local preachers who have laboured in the circuit:
John Tongs, keen, gifted, courageous, lived near to God. His sermons were rich in spiritual thought. John Tongs used to relate some wonderful answers to prayer. Here is one. "Riding from Launceston to Carrick to take a service, he got off the pony near the turn-off to Longford, and the pony broke away from him and galloped up the road, and he could not catch her, and he said’ I told the Lord that I was going on His work to preach His word at Carrick, and I could not get there with out the pony, and the pony stopped and came walking straight back, and let me catch her."’ John Tongs passed to his reward on June 10th, 1869, at the age of 74.The tablet with John Tongs’ name is still to be seen on the wall of the Methodist Church at Longford.
"Cyclopedia of Tasmania", 1931 - page 392
A short history of the Westbury Methodist Church mentions that after representation in 1840 the Church was started by preachers coming from Longford and Launceston: "Notable among these were Messers. John Tongs, Henry Reed, John Crooks and Isaac Sherwin, who often did the journey, 40 miles, on foot."
1838 - The Return of the Population in the District of Morven (roughly equivalent to the former Municipality of Evandale) on the 31st December 1838 (AO TAS CSO 49/7 p. 213) lists:
Tongs, John as head of a house in which 4 males and 2 females, all free, were living. No other information is given except the negative info, that none of the persons living in the house were employed in Agriculture. The Return names only the head of the house and gives no names or ages for the other inhabitants.
1839 - John Glover Jnr. (son of the Colonial artist) wrote, from Patterdale, Deddington’ ---on June 1st I went with Henry to Launceston, the second time only I been there since we have lived on this side of the Island. Its increase since we first landed there in 1831 is prodigious: it was then
john tongs Page 3 of 3
about three parts small detached wooden cottages in 1/4 ac Eng. paled gardens; it is now a little London of grand and continuous shops, (or stores as they are here called) of brick; stone, or handsomely stuccoed, scarcely a quarter of the original cottages remaining. June 20th. commenced quite a new era, that of preaching on Sunday on the premises. The first was Mr. Tonks, (by trade a blacksmith) of the Wesleyan class, though his arguments, like his trade, might be rough and homely, yet they no doubt would have a suitable impression on the less educated portion of the prisoner population, and serve as a reminiscence that the main subject, even at the antipodes is not entirely forgot. Our next on July 12th. was the Rev. Mr. Russell of the Scotch Kirk, a much esteemed person in his vocation: his prayer was extempore; but his sermon a prepared written one, of elaborate and pointed diction: and it shewed most astonishingly, as far as language is concerned, the difference of expression between a regularly educated person, and one who preaches from present impulse without the benefits of educational facilities: the main sentiment of each may nevertheless be much the same. Our next visitor was a Mr. Williams, (by trade an iron founder etc.) also of the Wesleyan persuasion, on Dec. 6th. he was commissioned with an intimation that it would be succeeded every fortnight by some one or other public preacher. So that we shall get some introduction to a regular service. Moreover, there is a chapel building, nearly three miles from us, belonging to the Scots community, calculated to accommodate about 120 persons. Preachers to the various communities may be very desirable; but for my own part, I should feel more satisfaction in hearing our own Church of England service once more well established’.
1842 - The Number of Inhabitants residing within the Police District of Morven on the 1St. January 1842 (AO TAS CEN 14/2) lists:
John Tongs as head of a house in which he and 2 other persons were residing. No other information is given
1958 - The Story of Holy Trinity Church, Cressy, Tasmania.
Establishment, £50 from the Sustentation Fund (or sustaining fund, probably financed by
the S.P.C.K.--. The Venerable Archdeacon R. R. Davies gave £40, and others were, Archdeacon Tancred, Archdeacon Dunn in England, The Rev. P. V. M. Filleue, Mrs. Joseph Archer, W. Lawrence, J. Gatenby, W. Archer, T. Bartley, R. P. Stuart, T. Stephens, Mrs. Hortle, J. Hunter, W. Field, F. L. von Stieglitz. M.H.A., Mrs. Bowring, M. Webb,W. Wilson, W. Drew, Dr. Gaunt, W. Douglas, Mrs. Fletcher, Mr. Nicholls, F. Allison, James Scott, Mr. Stone, Dr. Whitfeld, W. Wright, J. Alien,S. B. Fookes, R. Brumby, Mansfield Brumby, Mr. Saggers, Jack R. Hodgetts, Messrs. Morley, Fortune and Bolton, T. Saltmarsh, A. Walker, J.Brumby, and John Tongs. Bishop Nixon £10, and Governor Fox Young £5
(http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/cressy/hist1958.html)1832; 1833. Muster had John Tongs assigned to Joseph Archer Esq;
In "The Archers of Van Diemen’s Land - A History of Pioneer Pastoral Families" Neil Chick 1991Joseph’s fortune, like that of most other free settlers was built on the labours of his convict assigned servants. He is reputed to have been a hard master. He disliked the convict system intensly, and was one of the first men to arrange for free and indentured labourers and their families to be brought out from England. Even so, the 1842 census lists forty two persons at ‘Panshanger’ of whom only sventeen were not convicted persons.
http://ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.auHgrahamljohn%2Otongs.html 5/10/99Extracts from "Hampshire Machine Breakers - The Story of the 1830 Riots"
by Jill Chambers
4 Quills
Letchworth
Herts SG6 2RL
ISBN 0 95159 0 322nd November, 1830
Farmers in the parish of Mitchelmersh attended a vestry meeting this morning, it had been called in order to discuss the labourers wages. Hearing of the meeting around 100 labourers gathered around the vestry and the farmers inside heard the cry of, ‘now for Hall Farm,’ rise up from the men. James Futcher, hearing the name of his farm, rushed outside in time to see a number of the labourers running towards his property. He caught up with them and was told that they were going to break his machine. On seeing Mr Futcher one of the mob, Arthur Fielder said, ‘D-n your eyes, pay me the halfcrown you owe me.’ He went on to tell him that if he did not give him the money he owed ‘he should not sleep again.’ Fielder and another of the men, John Tongs, were armed with hammers, John Collins, George Palmer and Henry Rogers carried sticks. They went to the barn and destroyed the machine. Tongs, Rogers and Fielder were seen to be taking an active part in the destruction while Palmer and Collins stood by and called out. The same mob went on to destroy a threshing machine belonging to Mr Gale.
28th December, 1830
Arthur Fielder, John Tongs, John Collins, George Palmer and Henry Rogers were put to the bar charged with having feloniously destroyed a threshing machine at Mitchelmersh, the property of James Futcher.
James Futcher told the Court how he had been at a meeting of farmers at the vestry on the morning of the 22nd November when he had heard a cry of’On to Hall Farm!’, coming from outside. He had gone out and seen a mob going towards his farm. The mob had destroyed his threshing machine. He was able to identify Fielder, Tongs and Palmer as having been among the mob. The prisoners made no defence but several witnesses spoke of their excellent characters. The Jury returned a verdict of ‘guilty against Fielder, Tongs, Palmer and Collins but begged to recommend them to mercy. Several of them knew the prisoner Tongs, who has a wife and five children and up until this time he has always borne an excellent character. Mr Futcher, the prosecutor, also begged to recommend them to mercy. Rogers was acquitted.
Arthur Fielder, John Tongs, John Collins and George Palmer were put to the bar again, along with George Collins, charged with destroying another threshing machine. It appears that after the mob had destroyed the threshing machine at Hall Farm they had gone on the Mr Gale’s and broken his machine to pieces. In his defence Tongs said, ‘I went with the mob, at their desire. I had no intention of injuring any person.’ The other prisoners all stated that they had been induced to go with the mob and that they now repented it. At the time they had thought it better to go with the men from their own parish than to be forced to join the Timsbury mob which they had heard was on the way. In his defence George Collins said that he had been watching his masters ricks for three nights and he had been there when the mob came. Mr Futcher, his master, confirmed that this was indeed the case. The Jury found all the men ‘guilty’ but begged to recommend them to mercy on account of their previous good character and the excitement of the times.30th December, 1830
The remaining prisoners who had been capitally convicted were placed in the dock in groups of round 20 and received the following sentences: William Smith, Joseph Mason, Isaac Hill senior, Thomas Berriman, Joseph Carter, John Sims, William Sims, Daniel Sims, Matthew Triggs, Henry James, James Painter, Thomas Harding, John Heath, Aaron Harding and Jacob Turner, had a sentence of death recorded against them and it is understood that this will be commuted to varying degrees of punishment, depending on the circumstances in each case. John Kimber, George Steele, James Pearce, Thomas Gregory, George Hopgood, Jacob Wiltshire, Charles Payne, James Cook, James Baker, Charles Bulpit, John Batten, George Clarke, John Keens, John Bulpit, George Coleman, William Boulter, William Burgess, Thomas Goodall and James Martin, were told that their lives would be spared but that the majority of them would not be permitted to remain in this country. The same was said to John Allen, Isaac Isles, William Conduit, Nicholas Freemantle, Abraham Childs, Benjamin Harding, William Primer, James Glasspole, Isaac Hill junior, William Winkworth, John Kear, John Nash, William Stroud, John Pointer, Thomas Neale, George Carter, Robert Cook and John Kingshott. Thomas Marshall, James Pumphrey, Robert Mason, William Adams, George Rose, John Baker, James Trew, Thomas Bishop and William Summerbee were told that the mitigating circumstances in their cases would be duly considered. The final group to receive sentence were John Silcock, George Pace, John Lush, Arthur Fielder, John Tongs, John Collins, Thomas Hotson, Edward Sydenham, John Duke, William Jenman, James Ford, Samuel Morey, George Jenman, Peter Houghton, William Brackstone, William Hill, James Cooper and William Watts who are each to be transported for a term of seven years. James Varndell, Benjamin Bown and James Camis are to be imprisoned in the Bridewell for the term of 18 months, and to be kept at hard labour. John Chalk, Richard Etherington, Thomas Hooper, William Kelsey, William Kinchin, John Reeves, Henry Rogers. John Stoneage, George Tadd are to be imprisoned in the Bridewell for a term of 12 months, and to be kept at hard labour.
TONGS John age 34 TRANSPORT: ELIZA - VDL
OFFENCE: (311) ‘charged with having, on the 22nd day of November last, at the parish of Mitchelmersh, with divers other persons, riotously assembled together, and feloniously destroyed a threshing machine, the property of James Futcher.-Warrant dated December 19, 1830.’ SENTENCE: Transportation for 7 years. (PRO HOll/8; HO 130/1) HULK DETAILS: 10 January 1831, received on board the prison I hulk YORK at Portsmouth, from Winchester; age 35. (PRO HO9/9
PETITIONS OR LETTERS: Tongs has a wife and 5 children, he and Arthur Fielder gave full confessions to all the farmers in the parish who all expressed a readiness to forgive. The two men volunteered their confession and did not know any prosecution was pending when on Saturday night immediately before the Assizes - which began on Monday, they were conveyed to Winchester and condemned to be transported. (PRO HO 17/50, Hp13)
CONDUCT RECORD: (568) Stated this offence ‘Machine breaking; married with four children; wife Fanny Tongs on the parish at NP Romsey.’ Captain Moorey, Captain of the Guard, has in his possession a letter from Mr Oak Esq. of Southampton, giving an extremely good character of this man to the Archdeacon. (A0 TAS CON31/43, p . 40)
DESCRIPTION: 5 ‘6"; sallow complexion; brown hair; brown eyes. AGE: 34 years. TRADE OR CALLING: Blacksmith. NATIVE PLACE: Timsbury. (AO TAS CON18/6) MUSTERS: 1832; 1833 - Joseph Archer Esq; 1835 TofL. (PRO HO1O/48-50) TICKET OF LEAVE: (568) Granted 1 June 1835. (PRO C0283/6, p. 432)
PARDON: (568) Free Pardon No 250, 3 February 1836. (PRO CO/283/7, p. 173) BAPTISM: 20 May 1798, Timsbury, Hants.
PARENTS: Charles Tongs and Keturah Rogers. (in. 1792 Timsbury) MARRIED : 27 June 1818, Timsbury, Hants.
WIFE: Frances Palmer; died 6 December 1866, Longford, Tasmania. CHILDREN:
1. Susanna, baptised 23 January 1820, Mitchelinersh, Hants; married Joseph Walker.
2. Charles, baptised 24 March 1822, Mitchelinersh, Hants; died 1 May 1853; buried Longford Anglican Church, Tasmania, age 30 years.
3. John Joseph, baptised 3 January 1826, Roinsey Wesleyan Church, Hants; married Ann Cole; died 29 March 1869; buried Longford Methodist Cemetery, Tasmania, age 45 years.
4. 4 . Fanny, baptised 27 January 1828 , Romsey Wesleyan Church , Hants.
5. Samuel, baptised 13 December 1829, Mitchelmersh, Hants; married Hepzibah Wood; died 24 August 1875, Ulverstone, Tasmania.
DEATH: 10 June 1869, Longford, Tasmania, age 74 years. BURIED: Longford Methodist Cemetery, Tasmania.
CENSUS: 1841 Timsbury, Hants . Fanny Tongs age 49 ; Charles Tongs age 19; Joseph Tongs age 17; Samuel Tongs age 11. (PRO HO1O7/4O1/13 f. 6)
FURTHER DETAILS: John Tongs returned to England after he was pardoned, presumably sometime after 1841 as he does not appear in the 1841 Census with the rest of his family. On 28 January 1843 he arrived back in Tasmania on board the KING WILLIAM, this time as a free migrant and accompanied by his family; John Tongs age 47, Frances Tongs age 51, Susarina Tongs age 23, Charles Tongs age 20, John Joseph Tongs age 18, Samuel Tongs age 13 and John Palmer age 28. (John Palmer was the son of Frances Tongs by a former marriage.)
In Longford Anglican Cemetery there is a head stone to Charles Tongs. In Longford Methodist Cemetery there is a head stone inscribed on three sides as follows; (facing) John Tongs died 10 June 1869, in the 74th year of his age. He was for upwards of 40 years a constant member and useful office bearer of the Methodist Church. Fanny wife of John Tongs died 5 December 1866 age 75 years; (on the right hand side) John Palmer, son of Fanny Tongs by a former husband, died 14 January 1857, aged 42 years and the first interred in this burial ground; (on the left hand side) John Joseph Tongs died 17 April 1869, age 45 years. It will be noted that not all the dates on the stone agree with those given in the Register of Deaths for the District of Longford. Descendants of John Tongs are known to be living in Australia today.
http://ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.auk-graham!Jill%27s%2OJohn%2OTongs.html 5/10/99
Alive 1851 Cencus