The Tapley Background

THE TAPLEYS

Information on the Tapleys comes from Tapley Five Brothers and their Families Who Emigrated to the Free Province of South Australia Between 1838 and 1869 by Peter Adamson, published 2001; Thomas Tapley: The Founder of Tapley's Hill by Stuart Tapley, an article in 'The South Australian Genealogist' of February, 1997; Douglas Porter's CD, The Tapley Family Story, compiled 2003; articles obtained via TROVE; from Dean Tapley's resources and from various family history websites.

AUGUST 2018. I found a CD sent to me by Tapley family member, Bryan Tichbourne, of New Zealand in 2013. The CD had been compiled by Douglas Porter in 2003. I obviously imported Douglas Porter's GEDCOM file to my family history software, Reunion, but had not looked at the huge amount of information in files called narratives on the disk. I am in the process of uploading some of these files but there are anomalies, possibly because there were so many Tapleys with the same first names, and as many as 5 different Captain Tapleys! In the process of checking, I've found at least 4 websites quoting my page and including some of the questionable facts. It pays to check your sources.
Please scroll to the bottom of the page or click on the menu box beneath to find Douglas Porter's research.

Tapleys by
Douglas Porter
Thomas Tapley & Mary Morford Captain Richard Tapley Captain Daniel Tapley Captain John Tapley Captain William Tapley John Tapley & Hannah Sharpe Hannah Sharpe Family Annie Edith Page

EARLY TAPLEYS IN FOLKESTONE, KENT, ENGLAND

About the earliest Tapley family information we have is of John Tapley, born 1728 who married Sarah Baker and had a son, Richard, who was a tailor. Richard Tapley was born in 1764 in Folkestone, Kent and died in 1824. He married Elizabeth Stevenson of Folkestone, born abt. 1765. She is identified as a householder in the census of 1851 living at 83 Dover Street, Folkestone aged 80 with a daughter Margaret Tapley, schoolmistress aged 58. Another daughter, Hannah, married Jacob Squire and they lived at Elham so it is likely that Elizabeth and Margaret moved and lived with Hannah as in the 1861 census, Margaret is living with Hannah and Jacob Squire while an Elizabeth Tapley died at Elham, Kent in 1854. Elizabeth and Richard had 14 children, 8 sons and 6 daughters, of whom at least 4 died in infancy. The children were all born in Folkestone, Kent. They were:

  • Thomas Tapley 1789 to 1856 GGG Grandfather
  • Margaret Ann Tapley 1791 to 1871
  • Sarah Tapley 1793 to 1794
  • Sarah Tapley (twin) 1795 to 1798
  • Elizabeth Tapley (twin) 1795 to 1795
  • Richard Tapley 1797 to 1800
  • Hannah Tapley 1799 to 1866
  • Richard Tapley 1801 to 1874
  • James Tapley 1804 to 1807
  • Jane Tapley 1806 to 1853
  • Edward Tapley 1807 to 1835
  • John Tapley 1809 to 1869
  • William Stephenson Tapley 1813 to 1867
  • Daniel Tapley 1815 to 1881
They lived in Dover Street near the harbour in Folkestone.

THOMAS TAPLEY AND MARY MORFORD
(MY GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDPARENTS)

Thomas Tapley, the first child of Richard Tapley and Elizabeth nee Stevenson of Folkestone, Kent, was born 22-6-1789 in Folkestone, Kent, and married Mary Morford born 10-8-1790, also born Folkestone on 26 February, 1811 in the Folkestone Parish Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe. (At right: Church and below, baptismal font in which children christened) Thomas was a baker and the young couple began living in Dover where their first child, Richard Edward, was born in 1811. Moving back to Folkestone they had Katherine 23-07-1813, Elizabeth Stevenson 1815 died 1816, Thomas 16-05-1816 and James Morford 17-03-1819.

Then, in 1820, the family moved to Vlissingen (also know as Flushing) in the Netherlands, possibly because they ran into trouble over smuggling. They lived at Walstraat 14 where Thomas was a baker. Several neighbours also came from Folkestone. In an article written in 1918, their son, John Tapley, explains that his father had "large interests in Holland" but eventually feared conscription for his sons and chose to sell up. Certainly the most fascinating issue is why the whole family lived in Holland for 17 years after generations in and around Folkestone. On the other hand, 4 of Thomas's brothers were sailors, it was a very mobile family, and Holland was quite close, by sea. Three children were born in Vlissingen, Elizabeth 25-10-1821, Susanna 21-01-1824 and Margaret Ann 7-11-1825. In 1829 Thomas and Mary and their 6 children moved to Rotterdam where 3 more children were born, John 1829, Mary Jane 1833 and Hannah 1836. Thomas was recorded as a baker and they lived at 115 Wynstraat. Sometime in 1837 they moved back to England as 1837 records show Thomas Tapley of London still owned property in Folkestone but didn't vote. In 1838 he and his sons purchased land in South Australia.

In summary, the 11 children of Thomas Tapley and Mary Morford were:

  • Richard Edward Tapley 27-11-1811 Dover, England d.7-6-1891 Adelaide SA
  • Katherine (Kitty) Tapley 23-7-1813 Folkestone, England d.10-5-1903 Adelaide SA
  • Elizabeth Stevenson Tapley 17-12-1815 d.13-07-1816 Folkestone
  • Thomas Richard Tapley 14-5-1816 Folkestone, England d. 3-7-1862 Adelaide, SA
  • James Morford Tapley 6-3-1819 Folkestone, England d. 31-7-1881 Adelaide SA
  • Elizabeth Tapley 25-10-1821 Vlissingen, Netherlands d.23-10-1910 Christchurch NZ
  • Susanna Tapley 12-1-1824 Vlissingen, Netherlands d.3-9-1893 Adelaide SA
  • Margaret Ann Tapley 7-11-1825 Vlissingen, Netherlands d.23-7-1901 Adelaide SA
  • John Tapley 18-11-1829 Rotterdam, Netherlands d.7-11-1919 Myponga SA
  • Mary Jane Tapley 22-6-1833 Rotterdam, Netherlands d.5-11-1913 Adelaide SA
  • Hannah Tapley 27-8-1836 Rotterdam, Netherlands d.28-1-1912 Adelaide SA

On November 16th, 1838, Mary and Thomas Tapley and 9 of their children, Kitty, Thomas, James Morford, Elizabeth, Susannah, Mary Ann, John, Mary Jane and Hannah arrived in Port Adelaide aboard the Rajasthan. Thomas Tapley applied for land on 'the hill' and moved to what is now called Tapley's Hill in January 1839. They established Rosenberg Farm and grew crops like wheat, barley and potatoes diversifying into hospitality by building an inn called the Victoria Hotel, which is still standing. Drivers of wool carts would stop at the Victoria overnight and then drive down all the way to ships at Port Adelaide creating a track known as Tapley's Hill Road. The first half of the road has gone but it still exists from Anzac Highway, Glenelg, to where it runs into the Old Port Road.

Mary (At left, in later life, photo courtest Dean Tapley) and Thomas were joined by their eldest son, Richard Edward Tapley who also emigrated to SA with his wife, Arabella nee McDonald and one son, John Edward. Richard was a seaman and had lived in Mauritius and, interestingly, was later divorced from Arabella and married Emma Elizabeth Whitehorn in 1875. In 1846 he founded the "first Mutual Insurance Company to start in the colonies, if not the first in the world on these principles" (from the Aldine History of South Australia which has a biography on Richard together with other well known South Australians of 1890.) The article says that Richard arrived in SA in 1844 and yet "TAPLEY Richard Edward, wife Arabella, John Ed arrived 1838-11-16 on Rajasthan from London" according to the Family History SA databases.

The following reference to Richard and Arabella comes from page 17 of A Narrative of a Visit to the Mauritius and South Africa by James Backhouse, 1844 from Google books. It is full of religious exhortations to black and white alike but very detailed in its descriptions:

The school-house at Mapou is situated on the top of a mass of cracked, vesicular basalt, at a place called Roc en Roc. Here we received a kind welcome from the master and mistress, Richard and Arabella Tapley. The former was at one time a seafaring man ; the mother of the latter was picked up when an infant, by a soldier in India, who found her near the drowned remains of her parents, and who ultimately married her.

The school at Mapou was attended at this time, by about forty boys, and as many girls, twelve of whom were apprentices. About twenty of this class, several of whom were very young, attended only on First-days, at noon, from some adjacent sugar-plantations. The prejudices created by slavery among the free people of colour against persons of their own class in bondage, were so strong, that it had been found best to have the First-day-school for the former, in the evening. About one hundred persons of various ages chiefly free Creoles, from the adjacent villages, assembled about nine o'clock, to whom George Clark read the Scriptures, and expounded certain parts ; he subsequently addressed them in earnest exhortation ; he also acted as interpreter to W. Walker and myself.

Thomas Tapley died on June 14, 1856 at his home in South Terrace, Adelaide:
On Saturday morning, at 3 o'clock, at his residence South-terrace, Thomas Tapley, sen., Esq., (formerly of Tapley's Hill), in his 66th year, of apoplexy, deeply regretted by his friends and relatives. SA Register, Mon 16 June 1856, p 2
He is buried in West Terrace Cemetery Section: Road 1 South, Path Number: 23 Site Number: 27 together with 8 other family members who are mentioned on the gravestone. They are Mary (Morford) Tapley, Thomas's wife who died 11 years later in Jan, 1867:
TAPLEY.On the 20th January, at her residence, South-terrace, Mary, relict of the late Thos. Tapley, Esq., of Tapley's Hill, aged 76 years. SA Register, Mon, 21 Jan 1867, p2;
Richard Edward Tapley, their eldest son; Kitty Tapley, their eldest daughter; son Thomas Tapley junior, Jane Tapley his wife and Mary Ann, their eldest daughter; Hannah (Tapley) Sauerbrier their daughter and her husband John Sauerbier who, rather inappropriately, has the largest inscription.

It is interesting to note that there seems to have been no newspaper obituary for Thomas Tapley, despite him being a colonist of long standing. He is remembered by Tapley's Hill Road, but a photograph I found in the National Archives dated 1965 states The 121 year old Hotel Victoria at Tapleys Hill, SA, is now run by Welsh migrants Cyril and Vera Rich. It is the oldest hotel in the state, and by repute was a favourite place for smugglers from nearby Halletts Cove to dispose of whiskey. It sounds as though Thomas Tapley continued his smuggling ways, even in SA, hence no obituary.

THE OTHER BROTHERS

CAPTAIN RICHARD TAPLEY

Richard Tapley, 1801-1874, 6th child of Richard Tapley and Elizabeth Stevenson of Folkestone, Kent, married his first cousin, Margaret Tapley born 1807, Marske, Yorkshire-died 1852, Adelaide, in Folkestone on February 17, 1827. Richard Mordaunt Tapley born 1829 was their only child. From 1832 to 1839 Richard was commander of the Alfred, a single decked barque built in India in 1818, which travelled mainly between London and Madras. When Captain Flint, the ship's owner took over for a year, he changed the route to London-Sydney. Richard Tapley was in command on this route in 1839 but then retired from long distance trips. The family emigrated to Australia in 1840 and lived at Port Adelaide. There he was a merchant and shipping agent and also owned land on various islands. He was on the Marine Board, a JP and with Trinity House which regulated marine affairs in SA, including inspecting lighthouses. Margaret Tapley died December, 1852 and was buried at Alberton Cemetery. Their son, Richard Mordaunt, was also a gentleman shipping agent who married Mary Ann Mills on 24 Feb, 1859. They did not have children and Richard Mordaunt died in 1865. He was buried in Alberton Cemetery like his mother. Richard died in 1874, leaving his house and land to his brother, Daniel.

Following is a wonderful letter entitled OLD PORT ADELAIDE by A.T. Saunders about Port Adelaide and the Tapleys from The Register 12-11-1919:

'Old Colonist' mixes up two Capts. Tapley. Capt Daniel Tapley, the one he mentions, was not the owner of the land opposite to the Port Admiral Hotel which, by the way, was originally the Railway Hotel when built bv Robert Sanders in 1849 or l850 Capt. Richard Tapley was the land owner. Originally there was a little warehouse on the land, in which Capt. Richard Tapley's office was. His head- clerk was Mr. Joshua Evans, father of Mr. A. C. Evans, of Woodville. Mr and Mrs. Evans with their only son, Mr. A. C. Evans, arrived here in the Blackball liner Condor, Capt. Leighton in 1850 or 1851. The Rev. John Gardner, of Chalmers Church, came in the same ship.

Capt. Richard Tapley as I remember him, was a stout gentleman, with long white hair, who lived in a house facing the Port road, Alberton. He was agent for Harris, Scarfe & Co, until they established their own Port Adelaide branch with Mr. W. H. Frewin, father of Canon Frewin, as their manager. Prior to that Mr W. L. Dickson, long since dead, handled Harris, Scarfe's Port business as Capt. Tapley's clerk. There was a weighbridge owned by Capt. Tapley in Commercial road, close to his land, and my old friend John Evans, no relative of Mr. A. C. Evans, was the boy in charge. When the corporation ordered the removal of the weighbridge, it was said that two widows were living on its proceeds, and it was asked that it should not be moved; but the corporation wisely insisted on its removal. Capt. Simpson also had a weighbridge in Commercial road, near the Queen's Wharf.

Capt. Daniel Tapley, I think, had been in the 'East Indies; he was a member of the Marine Board for years. There were several Tapleys among the old colonists who were, I think, related to the two captains I have mentioned; then R. E. Tapley, secretary of the S.A. Insurance Company, now wound up, of which, by the way, Capt. Richard Tapley, and, afterwards Mr. Joshua Evans, were Port Adelaide agents. Then there was Mr. Tapley, of Tapley's Hill, one of the early, innkeepers. Another Tapley was in the lighthouse service, and was drowned, I think, and I used to hear of "Billy Looley" Tapley, whom I did not know.

Of the younger men Mr. E. C. Tapley. of Joseph Stilling & Co., Port Adelaide, owned the ketches Elsie and Lotus, with Capt. Fred Debney (who, when a boy, saw his mother drowned in a Glenelg boat accident, he being saved). Another Mr. Tapley settled on Thistle Island in Spencer's Gulf. (I think the rest of the news article is confused because it has been wrongly laid out with several lines misplaced.)

Sea Captains-Maritime Heritage Project, San Francisco. Not sure if any of these references are to our Captains Tapley, but interesting.

CAPTAIN DANIEL TAPLEY

Daniel Tapley 1815-1881, born in Folkestone in Kent, baptised 6 september, 1815, was the youngest and 14th child of Richard Tapley and Elizabeth Stevenson. Daniel Tapley and his wife, Mary Jane Kinsman born 1825 were married in Moulmein Burma at the Church of Saint Matthew on 12 June, 1841 and lived in Burma where their 5 children, 3 surviving, were born. Captain Tapley was a master mariner in charge of the barque Tenasserim, trading between India and China. Two of the children were born aboard the Tenasserim. Daniel Tapley worked for the East India Company, participated in the Anglo Burmese wars but retired about 1862 to England due to ill health with his family, after about 30 years in Burma. Mary Jane died in May, 1866 and 2 sons emigrated to SA. In 1869, Daniel emigrated to Adelaide and his daughter Mary, married Stephen Hall, and followed. Daniel and Mary and Stephen Hall lived with Richard Tapley at Caversham near Pt Adelaide. When Richard Tapley died he left his home and business to Daniel Tapley. Daniel Tapley was a member of the Marine Board and Rear Commodore of the Yacht Club at the time of his death on 27-2-1881 and was interred at the Alberton Cemetery.

South Australian Register, 4 March, 1881.
OBITUARY. Death of Captain Tapley. Our obituary notices contain the record of the death of Captain Daniel Tapley, who for some years has taken an active interest in all matters connected with the maritime affairs of the colony. In early life the deceased gentleman traded between India and China in command of the barque ''Tenasserim." For many years he was master attendant at Moulmein in Burmah, filled various other appointments in the service of the Honourable East India Company, and continued in the service when it was transferred to the British Government Captain Tapley took an active part in the second Burmese war, being in charge of a flotilla transporting troops to Martaban and Rangoon, and having also been engaged in storming parties, for which services he was honourably mentioned to the Government. After over thirty years' residence In Moulmein and Calcutta and becoming invalided he retired to England on a well-earned pension. Finding, however, the winters at home too severe for his constitution, he decided to come out to South Australia, and he reached the colony about ten years ago. Shortly afterwards he was appointed a Warden of the Marine Board, and notwithstanding his impaired health was a regular attendant at the meetings, and most assiduous in all the duties appertaining to the office. He was on board the Musgrave during the last annual inspection, a few weeks ago, and in spite of weakness took part in all the examinations and work of the Board. Captain Tapley died at his residence, Caversham, Woodville, on Saturday, at the age of sixty-six. He leaves two sons and a daughter, all resident in South Australia.

The 3 children were Daniel Thomas Tapley born Moulmein 15-4-1844, Edward Charles Tapley born Moulmein 29-9-1845 and Mary Elizabeth Tapley born Moulmein 26-2-1847. One of Edward Charles' sons, Harold Livingstone Tapley, emigrated to NZ and became mayor of Dunedin, while his daughter, Maud Ethel, went to NZ on a visit and also married over there. Maud's grandson is Bryan Tichborne, who, with his wife, well known water colour artist, Nancy Tichborne, published beautiful calendars.

CAPTAIN JOHN TAPLEY

John Tapley 1809-1869 was the 12th child of Richard Tapley and Elizabeth Stevenson Tapley of Folkestone, Kent, and arrived in Australia with his wife, Elizabeth nee Moffett (Moffatt) Tapley and his brother Captain Daniel Tapley aboard the Orissa on 10 March, 1840. John had obtained free passage as an immigrant for himself.

Captain John Tapley was in command of small coastal vessels around SA including the Albatross,which he owned until 1848 when it was wrecked. He was also master of the Challenger, Victoria and Elizabeth during the 1840s.

John Tapley became a light house keeper but was reprimanded for leaving his post several times. It must have been unimaginably boring to one who was so used to travel. John and Elizabeth had one son, John Cowell Tapley born 1857, died 2-2-1858 in his second year and is buried at Alberton Cemetery. John Tapley died suddenly at Cape Willoughby Lighthouse, Kangaroo Island on January 23, 1869 and is buried at Alberton Cemetery.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM STEVENSON TAPLEY

William was the thirteenth child of Richard Tapley and Elizabeth Stevenson of Folkestone, Kent. He probably emigrated to South Australia via Sydney as a seaman and also worked as a warehouseman, possibly employed by his brother Richard Tapley of Port Adelaide. He was in command of various coastal ships in South Australia before becoming a lighthouse keeper. In 1858 he became head keeper at Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island and in 1862 he married Henrietta Cranston of Norwood, born 1843. Blanche Tapley, their only child was born in 1864. Sadly, William died aged 53 in a boating accident near Troubridge Lighthouse where he was second keeper. There was some confusion about who else died in the accident, but it seems to have been the first lighthouse keeper, Mr Ormond and his wife, as Richard Tapley in 1869 left an annuity to his niece Blanche and her mother while Blanche was young.

JOHN TAPLEY AND HANNAH SHARPE (MY GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS)

John Tapley was the 9th child of Thomas Tapley and Mary Morford, born on 18-11-1829 in Rotterdam, arriving in South Australia on board the
Rajasthan on 16-11-1838, 2 days before his 9th birthday, with his parents and 8 other siblings. Their oldest brother, Richard Edward Tapley was by that time 27 years of age and probably living in Mauritius although a Richard Edward Tapley and his wife Arabella and son John Edward are also listed separately as arriving aboard the Rajasthan too-perhaps for a visit at this stage.

The family lived at Tapley's Hill. According to his newspaper story, John was educated at the Reverend Gill's School at Coromandel Valley and later took charge of Myponga station under the supervision of his father.

On the 28th September, 1854 by licence, at Christchurch, O'Halloran Hill, the Rev. R. Strong married John, fourth son of Mr. Thomas Tapley, Tapley's Hill, and Hannah, third daughter of the late Mr. James Sharpe, Sandy Bay, Hobart Town. Also, at the same time and place, the Rev. R. Strong, married James Morford, third son of Mr. Thomas Tapley, Tapley's Hill, and Mary, second daughter of the late Mr. James Sharpe, Sandy Bay, Hobart Town. The 'South Australian Register' of Sat, October 7, 1854, reveals that John Tapley married Hannah Sharpe in a double wedding ceremony- 2 Sharpe sisters marrying 2 Tapley brothers. The 2 sisters from Tasmania were probably visiting their brother George Sharpe, 25, a farmer of Tapleys Hill, who lived near the Tapleys and had married Elizabeth Tapley, aged 27 years, on 24 August 1848. Witnesses were Thos. Tapley, J. Tapley & M. A. Tapley. George and Elizabeth continued to live at Tapley's Hill for the next few years on their farm, where their first children were born.

In 1863 John (and presumably his wife and family) moved to Wartaka station which is near Port Augusta. The property, when it was sold for £20,000 in 1920, after John Tapley's death, was described as: 197 square miles and includes a homestead of five rooms, kitchen, store, and schoolroom, two cellars, two cemented tanks, a woolshed of 15 stands, two cart sheds, men's hut and kitchens; and the country is subdivided into nine paddocks, and is watered by two wells and 13 dams.

Apparently a conscientious farmer with frequent newspaper references to the sales of sheep and horses in the markets, John Tapley also must have kept a low profile with less participation in newsworthy events than his uncles. One article mentions in 1910 By the way, old John Tapley still keeps going, and, although getting on for 90, can read without glasses. Another article describes an accidental shooting when John Tapley drove the victim to hospital.

Hannah Sharpe Tapley and John Tapley had 9 children, 6 daughters and 3 sons. They were:

  • Jane Elizabeth Tapley 1855-1894
  • Lucy Jane Tapley 1857-1932
  • Florence Arabella Tapley 1858-1930
  • Hannah Ellen Tapley 29-3-1863 - 4-2-1941 (My Great Grandmother)
  • Thomas Tapley 1864-1939
  • Margaret Lavinia Tapley 1867-1958
  • Mary Frances Tapley 1869-1946
  • John James Tapley 22-1-1875 to 1-4-1961
  • George Wartaka Tapley 2-6-1880 died at 3-9-1880, 3 months.

2-8-2019: In a fascinating new twist to the Tapley story, Ray Wright of Perth has contacted me concerning his great grandmother, Mabel Kate Tapley, born 1883 in Adelaide. Her birth certificate shows her name as Kate Mabel Tapley, born to parents Kate (Katherine Knill - nee Hancorne) and John Tapley. Kate was fostered out from very young...SA State Records on destitute/fostered children confirmed the parent and foster parent details and regular foster home inspections. It appears that Kate was fostered and well cared for by Ernest and Harriet Greeneklee about whom there is a good family write up on the internet titled "The 3 Brothers" The mother of Kate was Katherine (Kate) Hancorne, incorrectly recorded as Hancarne on the birth certificate. She married George Knill about a year after Kate's birth. At the time, John Tapley was still married to Hannah when he fathered his 10th child with Katherine.

Kate Mabel Tapley was born 29-4-1883 in North Adelaide, SA. Her mother was Katherine or Kay Hancorne, born Sept 1862 in Middlesex, aged 21, and her father was John Tapley of Port Augusta, aged 53 years. The baby appears to have had no contact with her mother or the Tapleys.

Hannah Tapley died at Myponga on 27-7-1907 pre-deceasing John who died on 7-11-1919. A short newspaper obituary states that she had been an invalid for 30 years. They are both buried at the Myponga Uniting Church, 47 Main South Rd, Myponga, South Australia, south of Adelaide. With them in the grave are Thomas Tapley, their eldest son and fifth child who died 14-6-1939, and Margaret Lavinia Tapley, their 5th daughter and sixth child.


Hannah (Sharpe) Tapley; Hannah centre in 1858; John Tapley at a younger age in Myponga. Photos courtesy Dean Tapley.

HANNAH SHARPE FAMILY

Many thanks to
Susan Denford for finding a wonderful piece of research on the Sharpe Family of Tasmania. It is a paper by Leone Scrivener presented at a meeting of the Tasmanian Historical Research Association held on 10 December 2002. Leone has generously said that she doesn't mind if I quote directly from the paper. I have tried to verify some facts where possible.

Leone looked into the history of the house in which she lived at 1 Canice Avenue, Sandy Bay, Hobart, and in so doing solved our problems re the father of Hannah and Mary Sharpe who was deceased when his daughters married John Tapley and his brother James Morford Tapley in a double wedding ceremony on 28th September, 1854 at Christ Church, O'Halloran Hill. I apologise for bits lifted straight from the text-it seems pointless to change what is already succinct and well expressed.

James Sharpe was quite a common name and in the early 19th Century, several were living in Australia, some of them convicts. Our James Sharpe seemed to appear out of nowhere and bought the farm at Sandy Bay in 1824, which made me suspicious, but in newspaper ads he mentioned his respectability, so it seemed unlikely he was a convict, especially in view of the following case reported in 'The Colonial Times' of Feb 11, 1834 John Acton stood charged with stealing a handkerchief, the property of Mr. James Sharp, of Sandy Bay. Verdict-Guilty. Sentence-Imprisonment and hard labor for six months. .

It turns out James Sharp was a farmer of 57 (as respectable as you can be with a wife 32 years younger) when he arrived in Tasmania with his wife Hannah, 25, and their 2 children, Jane Sharpe 2 years and George Henry Sharpe, a baby, aboard the Thalia on April 27, 1823. He had a reference from Mr Chester of London in support of his application for 500 acres of land, which was granted. "In his official application in Hobart Town, James stated that he had £1,300 in cash and about £200 in property. He was given a grant of 1,000 acres in the county of Forbes." James soon asked to take up land at Sandy Bay instead, and permission was given. A three roomed cottage was built on the property and the third child, Thomas, was born in Feb, 1825. Sharp was an experienced farmer and purchased more land as it became available.

From the Hobart Town Courier, front page, 22 November 1833, under the column heading, SURVEY OFFICE, November 15, 1833:
NOTICE is hereby given, that the undermentioned claims for grants will be forwarded for approval or investigation to the Commissioners appointed to examine into applications for titles to land, on the 5th day of December next before which day any caveat, which must be in writing, will be received in this office........
James Sharp
Originally granted to Bernard Walford, Area 90 acres - Queenboro' parish. Bounded on the north by the river Derwent and by a grant to John Cropper, west by a rivulet; south by a grant to Edward Fisher, and east by a line to the southeast angle of John Cropper's grant, and by that grant to the river Derwent
James Sharp.
Originally granted to John Cropper. Area 22 acres - Queenboro' parish. Bounded on the north by the river Derwent east by a grant to Edward Fisher, and on the south and west sides by a grant to Bernard Walford.

In 1833 the Sharps had 5 school age children: Jane 12, George 10, Thomas 8, David 6, and Joel 5, and four younger children: Mary 3, Martha 18 months and 3 month old twins, Hannah and James Sharp. A school house was set up in one of the houses on Sharp property, suitable for 30 children. Other families to attend were Fishers, Garths and Flexmores. David and Robert Sharp later married Maria and Isabella Flexmore.

James Sharp and his wife, Hannah, had apparently been married in Scotland but fearing this would not be recognised by local authorities should James die, they were remarried on 31 August, 1836 at St David's Anglican Church, Hobart.

James Sharp died in 1840. He was buried in St David's cemetery where his son Joel was also buried aged 7 years in 1835. In his book Inscriptions in Stone Richard Lord recorded: "James Sharp who departed this life on 4 May 1840, after a protracted illness borne with Christian fortitude, leaving a widow and eight children to lament their irreparable loss and highly respected by a large circle of friends (73 years)." This sounds more like a funeral notice than a grave stone, but the cemetery fell into terrible disrepair and many inscriptions were lost. In a listing made in the 1920s, no inscription is recorded for James.

On his death James Sharp left 'goods, Chattels and effects to the value of Twelve hundred pounds.' In his will he left his two farms in trust for his eight surviving children, instructing his executors, Thomas Yardley Lowes and Thomas Fisher, to sell such portions of the ninety-one acre farm when and as they should see fit. The will lists 'farming stock, Horses, Cows, Sheep and Implements of agriculture.' The small twenty-two acre farm, Cropper's farm, was to be held in trust for his youngest son, Robert, until he turned twenty-one. His wife Hannah was to receive 'the rents and profits thereof for and during her natural life.' To Hannah he also left £200, and 'all his household furniture, plate, linen and china.' (How generous, considering it was also her household furniture and linen, I suppose!)

The Sharp children named in the will were Jane 20, George Henry 17, Thomas 15, David 13, Mary 10, Hannah and James 7, and Robert aged 4 years. Hannah, forty-one years old at the time of her husband's death, was three months pregnant.

"Eighteen months after James's death, on 13 December 1841, she married James Baldwin, a seaman, and it seems likely that Hannah and James lived at the farm for the next decade. Baldwin died in 1858. In May 1862, The Hobart Town Gazette gives Hannah Baldwin as the occupier of a house in Russell Crescent, Sandy Bay, owned by her youngest son, Robert. She died the following year aged sixty-five, though her age was incorrectly recorded by the undertaker's daughter as fifty-seven."

TAPLEY FAMILY HISTORY BY DOUGLAS PORTER

In notes on his disk, Douglas Porter (at right) said that he wanted the Tapley family information he had collected over 30 years to be available to the family, so I hope that he would approve of me making some of his wonderful work accessible here, with many thanks for his dedication and generosity. Douglas Everard Porter died 13-8-2016 aged 83 years.
Please click on the red dots below for the pdf files.

Douglas Porter Introduction Early Tapley Family Tapley Descendants
Richard Tapley 1770 to 1824 Thomas Tapley 1789 to 1856 Capt Richard Tapley 1801 to 1874
Capt John Tapley 1809 to 1869 Capt William Tapley 1813 to 1867 Capt Daniel Tapley 1815 to 1881
RichardEdward Tapley 1811 to 1891 Katherine (Kitty) Tapley 1813 to 1903 Thomas Richard Tapley 1817 to 1862
James Morford Tapley 1819 to 1881 Elizabeth Tapley 1821 to 1910 Susanna Tapley 1824 to 1893-new info
Margaret Ann Tapley 1825 to 1901 John Tapley 1829 to 1919 Mary Jane Tapley 1833 to 1913
Hannah Tapley 1837 to 1912 Harold Livingstone Tapley 1875 to 1932 J E Tapley Clarton 1837 to 1903
Colin Tapley, Filmstar 1909 to 1995

Page first uploaded as Annie Edith's Amazing Family, May, 2012. Pictures redone 28-12-2017. Tapleys and Sharpes removed to this separate page 1-8-2018. Doug Porter files added, 4-8-18. I have labelled great grandparents as "my" but of course I share them with many, many others-it is just to make the relationships clearer for readers of this page.

McEvoy family history pages here.
Annie Edith's Amazing Family here.
Please email me re changes.