SAMUEL ODKENBAKER'S PUNISHMENT
PHOTOS OF FORT CUMBERLAND
AND DOCUMENTS REGARDING HIS LIFE IN TASMANIA
For Rhonda Cole's excellent story about Samuel, click here: http://tasmaniacs.net/INSIDELINKS/SamuelBakerIntro.html
Samuel Odkenbaker (or Oakenbaker, and finally Baker), was a thief, caught in the act of carrying the goodies away. He was summoned to trial: Saml Odkinbaker, apprehended at Harpendon, Herts Augst 9 1788, 'on strong Suspicion of a Burglary &c at Hockcliffe – Beds.'
He first appears in the Bedfordshire archives listed as one of the 'Convicts remaining on those former orders' in the list of the Easter Sessions 1789 [Ref. QSR16/159], and on the same list for Midsummer 1789 and Michaelmas 1789. All the prisoners for transportation had been moved from the gaol by the time of the Epiphany Quarter Sessions of 1790. The Northampton Mercury contained a report of the Assizes on 21 March 1789 where his accomplice, William Beaumont, was mentioned and that the offence was a burglary in the shop of Francis Millard of Hockcliffe.
Odkenbaker's Bill of Indictment shows an "unnumbered" document amongst the papers of piece ASSI 94/1317. It starts: "Bedfordshire. The Jurors for our Lord the King upon their Oath present that George Davis late of the Parish of Chalgrave in the County of Bedford Labourer and Samuel Odkenbaker late of the same Labourer ..."
For more detail see Rhonda's page, as above. In short, he was first banged up on a hulk off the coast of Hampshire in England, worked for his skills with a saw (or for his strength as a labourer) in helping build For Cumberland (see below), then shipped off in the Third Fleet in 1791.
Bleak.
Windswept.
The
area where the hulks were held.
Aerial
view.
Original
plan.
There
are open days.
Gun
emplacement.
Outer
curtain. Shingle banks by the sea made it hard to access or escape.
Inside. Workaday buildings. They reckon Baker probably was used for labour, but if he was particularly ace with a saw, he'd have sawn the stone or the supports for the arches, made out of seasoned pine.
Guns
were here. Nothing between the Fort and France.
Ramp
to outer curtain.
Workaday
buildings.
Soldier's
quarters.
Note the fireplace.
Prisoner's scrawlings in a punishment cell, including an image of a hulk.
Someone
counting off the days.
Window
to cell.
With volunteer prisoner.
Offending soldiers were held here too.
Store
room.
Soldier's
quarters, from the outside.
The
hospital and stores.
Staff
quarters. Gracious Georgian houses.
The
army activities of the early 20th Century.
More
working buildings. Note the roof insulation!
Excellent
library and resources here, by appointment.
Samuel did his time on Norfolk Island then worked as gardener to the Governor on the Island. When Norfolk Island was cleared, he was shipped to Port Dalrymple (Launceston in Tasmania) in 1813. Before this, though, he was on the list of convicts who have received absolute pardons [Jan 1813] (Fiche 3292; 4/6974.1 p.79) having gained his Certificate of Freedom on 9 June 1810 (Reel 6038; SZ758 p.52).
This is a very important point. He was FREE before he arrived in Tasmania. Why on earth is there a 'brick' in the convict trail? Someone should remove it.
As for whether Samuel was the de facto father of the three girls (Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah) born to assigned convict Mary (Anne) Brennan , that's by no means certain. Any takers for DNA tests to check whether they had the same fathers?
Samuel ran a sly grog shop. As is well known, the men came down from the fields in the evening and a right riotous time was had by all in the grog shops. The women were shared. There's no intention of impugning the reputation of poor Mary Brennan, but that's the way it was. She was hardly, as an assigned servant, in a position to argue.
My personal theory is that we should work on the assumption that Baker might not have been father of the girls and that the one certainty is Mary. She came from Dublin, that we know, but beyond that nothing can be discovered.
But, this woman was fertile. She was either 26 or 36. If anyone tries to tell me she didn't leave a family of children behind, I'd have to say, 'You're kidding.' We should be searching in Ireland for an orphaned family by the name of Brennan. If she was 26, she probably left behind four or five kiddies. If she was 36, more.
Here's
the interloper brick.
As
for Samuel's land grant, this has been carefully researched by
surveyors from the Lands Department in Hobart. Here's where it was.
Marked on this map below, you will see a rectangle going north west to south east, protruding into the river. Grateful thanks to Brian Rollins.
This was the 50 acres. At that time, there was less water in the gorge, as the dam hadn't been built.
Baker is immortalised in the name of the 'Court'. I've been up there. Felt like leaving banners around. Give it back! Give it back!
There's no evidence from surveys that he ever worked the land, nor that there was ever a 'hut' or any other building there. He might, though, have worked for his neighbour, Patrick Dalrymple.
As
for his blocks in town, here's a map showing where he was on the
corner of Brisbane and Wellington. It's marked with an ellipse. This
map is in the library in Launceston.
As
is this: the entry showing he indeed was made a policeman.
This
document, along with another that's rather faint, a list of children
who needed education, can be seen in the archives at Hobart. This is
a fiche version of the document that granted him the land on the
South Esk.
It says this: 50 Acres
Port Dalrymple
Van Diemen's Land
Unto Samuel Baker His Heirs and Assignees to Have and to Hold for Ever Thirty Acres of land lying and situate in the District of [blank space] at Port Dalrymple Van Diemen's Land, bounded on the North East side by a line bearing East thirty five Degrees South forty Chains Commencing at a bend on the South Esk; On the South East side by a line bearing South thirty five Degrees West ten Chains; on the South West side by Charles Edwards's Farm to the South Esk; and on the North West side by that River: Conditioned and to Sell or alienate the same for the space of Five Years from the sale hereof, and to Cultivate Ten Acres within the said Period, and reserving to Government the right of making a Public Road through the same, and also reserving for the Use of the Crown, such Timber as may be deemed fit for Naval Purposes. Quit Rent One Shilling.
In Testimony for? this 31 Day of December 1820
(Signed) L. Macquarie
(L.S.)
Witnessed by
H. C. Autile
L. Macquarie
In the left margin: Registration Secretary's Office 31 March 1821) T Goulburn Coll Secrtry & Registrar