John Levett came as a convict from Suffolk, on bond - nature of his crime not yet known. He was tried in the Suffolk Assize on 27 March 1824 - receiving a life sentence. He was described as being 5'7.5" tall (quite tall in those days), brown hair, hazel/grey eyes, pale complexion (ill on arrival), 20 years old.

      He arrived in Australia on 27 October 1824 (Port not yet confirmed, but believed to be Hobart, Tasmania), on the ship "Mangles". Came to Sydney on the "Defiance", a coastal ship from Hobart, Tasmania, as a free person. On arrival in Sydney he was assigned to John Coghill for 9 years.

      He married his first wife, Abigail Brown in 1833 (Abigail was aged 18 years at the time they applied for marriage.

Their family

John and Abigail had one son

John Henry Levett was born December 24, 1833 in the County of Argyle. He married Mary Anne Clarke* in about 1850 (no marriage record has yet been found to confirm this) and they had two children, Arthur Wellesley Levett and Aidelong V E Levett.

It is presumed that Abigail died in childbirth, or shortly therafter (no death certificate has yet been located to confirm this) as he married Mary A Clark in 1836.

Their family

John and Mary had three children Emeline Levett was born in 1840. Josiah Levett was born in 1843. William C Levett was born in 1850       John Levett was a gardener at an early historic home called "Oldbury" (shown right, established in Sutton Forest, half an hour south of Sydney in the Southern Highlands circa 1826 - this estate recently sold for $6.2 million dollars).

He also worked as a gardener at Inverary Park (shown left), a property established in 1823 by a naval surgeon, Dr David Reid, who had made several voyages to the colony on convict ships before deciding to become a settler. Inverary is situated in the county of Argyle, near the town of Bungonia, 121 miles from Sydney, NSW, and 41 miles from Bong Bong.       In 1839 John applied for a Conditional Pardon.       John Levett is believed at this stage to have died in 1872 in Tumut (Documents have been ordered to confirm this).

      I have spent considerable time endeavouring to confirm that John Levett and his son John Thomas Levett did indeed both marry women called Mary A Clark/e.

The case for

• John Levett's marriage to Mary A Clark is confirmed by a marriage record listing at the NSW Registry BDM dated 1836. The birth records of Emeline, Josiah and William Levett all state "John" and Mary A" as the parents.
• John Thomas Levett's marriage to Mary Anne Clarke is confirmed on his son Arthur Wellesley's marriage certificate. The birth records of Arthur W and Aidelong V E Levett both state "John H" and "Mary A" as the parents.

The case against

• No listing has ever been found at the NSW Registry BDM of John Thomas Levett's marriage to Mary Anne Clarke.
• There is no death record for Abigail Brown (or any spelling variation) in the expected 10 year period.