200 years of the Rofe family in Australia
John Rofe was born in Cranbrook, Kent, in 1806 to John Rofe and Susanna Bridgland. At the age of 21, John was convicted of stealing a gold watch and subsequently sentenced... to death.
John's sentence was commuted to transportation to Van Diemen's Land for life. Petitions to further commute his sentence were refused, and he arrived as a convict in Hobart Town in 1828. John later married Margaret Connell, a convict from Sheerness, Kent, and the couple had two children. Eleven grandchildren, more than three-dozen great-grandchildren, and who-knows how many descendants later, their branch of the Rofe family has now been in Australia for almost 200 years. For two centuries, the lives of John, Margaret and their descendants have been marked with triumph and tragedy, joy and despair, hard work, mysteries, occasional shady doings... and the odd bit of good luck. It's a work in progress, but this site is a simple attempt to celebrate that story. (BTW, that handsome fella up there in the banner image? That's not John. It's his son... John. Confused yet?) |
Are you one of "our lot"?
If you're a descendant of John and Margaret Rofe, welcome! I trust you enjoy this site and find it useful. Please drop me a line to say hi (and of course, please feel free to offer any feedback).
If you're not one of "our lot", welcome anyway! Hopefully you'll find something of interest here. If you're not sure whether you're one of "our lot" or not, please feel free to check out the family tree page. |