| Name | Thomas O'BRIEN [693], M |
| 1 | Susannah MORTIMORE or MORTIMER  [693], F |
| Birth | ca 1760-1764 [922] |
| Death | 31 Dec 1846, Glenorchy Anglican Church, Glenorchy, Tasmania, Australia [922] Age: 86 |
| Burial | aft 31 Dec 1846, Glenorchy Anglican Church, Glenorchy, Tasmania, Australia [922] |
| Burial Memo | MI reads "Sacred To The Memory of M - SUSANNAH O'BRIAN who departed this life Decemebr 31, 1846 Aged 86 Years --*-- Also JAMES O'BRIEN Died December 21 1863 - 63" |
"Susannah Mortimore late wife of William Mortimore Decd for traitoriously murdering William Mortimore her husband. Guilty."
The book goes on to mention that her sentence was to be hanged, from which she was granted a reprieve. Instead she was to be transported for seven years. (English PRO ref - Western Circuit Gaol Delivery A.S.S.I. 23.8 for trial; also PRO C.O. 201/4 for transportation)
However, this doesn't agree with the newspaper account of the trial. In an extract from the EXETER FLYING POST (MARCH 27, 1788), our cousin William PATERSON wrote of the details surrounding Susannah MORTIMORE's conviction and subsequent reprieve: [923]
First the conviction...
"James Dawe for ftealing a lamb, Thomas Lane for ftealing a cow, John Kefwell for house-breaking, Peter Loofmore for ftealing a bullock, William Delbridge for sheep ftealing, John Cox for house breaking, Dennis Conner,and James Sticke for highway robbery, Nick. Hine for ftealing a watch, Eliz. Stratton Leatherby for house breaking, and J. Rice and Sufannah Mortimore, for sheep ftealing, also received sentence of death."
and then the reprieve...
"Before the judges left the City, George Salter, Dawe, Lane, Kefwell, Delbridge, Cox, Connen, Sticke, Hine, Elizabeth Stratton Leartherby, Rice and Sufanna Mortimore, were reprieved; the other fix left for execution, Friday fortnight."
This is corroborated by a publication detailing biographies of the second fleeters: [924]
"Susannah MORTIMORE (c 1763-1846): Susannah Mortimore was sentenced to death at the 17 March 1788 Exetre Castle (Devon) Assizes for the theft on 20 August 1787 of two sheep belonging to Elias Langdon at Moreton Hampstead. She was reprieved several weeks later to seven years transportation and remained in the county gaol until 11 April 1788, when she was sent with several other somen for embarkation ont he Lady Juliana transport on the Thames, age given as 24. She was apparatnly the woman of this name whose conveyance from Southampton to Exeter (a 118 mile journey) for trial under a writ of habeas corpus cost the county �5.18.
In early August 1790, eight weeks after landing at Sydney Cove, Mortimore was among 194 male and female convicts transferred to Norfolk Island. She brought with her a young child, Susannah (qv), who had almost certainly been born on the voyage from England. Soon after arrival she formed a relationship with the First Fleet marine settler Thomas O'Brien on his 60 acre farm (lot no.86) on the west side of the island. They were probably among a large number of couples married by the Rev. Richard Johnson on his November 1791 visit to the island, with no record of the ceremonies surviving. A list of June 1794 records show them as married with three children."
| Children | Catherine, F (1792-) |
| Mary Ann, F (1794-) | |
| Agnes, F (1795-) | |
| Elizabeth, F (~1799-1842) | |
| James, M (ca1800-1863) | |
| William, M (1802-) | |
| Margaret, F | |
| Thomas, M |