Ellen Ward (nee Meade) was convicted of stealing flannel in 1831 in Limerick, Ireland, and transported for 7 years to NSW.  She arrived on Hooghley in September 1831 and was granted permission to marry Thomas Brown in December 1838. 

Thomas had arrived as a convict on Minerva in 1821 and they were married in St Patrick’s Church in January 1839 by Father Sumner, the first priest to be ordained in Australia.  After producing five children in quick succession, her husband Thomas died suddenly in 1847. 

Now a widow, Ellen quickly married Thomas Ward, a convict per William Jardine on 8 May 1848.  This marriage was performed in Maitland and two daughters were born in that town.  Thomas died in 1854, and Ellen came to live with her son in Sorrell Street, Parramatta where she eventually died in November 1878. 

Widowed women often remarried quickly as they needed both a roof over their heads and financial support.  With five small children life would have been very difficult as at that time there was no widow’s pension or child support.  Although her second marriage may have been a marriage of convenience, it lasted until she died.

Her memorial reads:          

In affectionate remembrance of

 ELLEN WARD

The beloved wife of

THOMAS WARD

Died Nov 14 1878

Aged 67 years