posted by Sandy on Ancestors of Sandra Gale, Stories Within Stories

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The story of Abel Sant remains a sad tale.  He was born in England to Isaac Sant and Martha Malan.  He was the fifth of ten children born to his parents.  In order to develop its new colonies in New South Wales in Australia,  England depended on convict labor.   Those transported to the new colony were often not convicts, but ordinary people who were skilled at some labor and accused falsely in order to meet the transport quotas.  Our ancestor Abel Sant was born in England.  In 1799 he married Margaret Bayley.  They became the parents of twelve children, including our direct ancestor John Sant.  Able was accused of hiding a file in his lunch bucket, convicted and sent to Australia.  The customary sentence made him a prisoner for three months, and a laborer for three years.  After three years he was released but was not allowed to return to England until he had been in Australia for seven years.  He was unable to afford the passage and so remained in Australia.  He never saw his wife or his children again in life.   His oldest son Thomas made the trip to Australia to find his father but could not.

In 1851, Abel married a woman named Ellen Smith who had been transported to Australia in the same way.   The record in this summary sheds some light on the records of the convict transports.

The migration of Abel Sant

England to Australia

Tags: australia, england, Malan, Sant