Jilks, as an alternative tellingly, and protested-perhaps an excessive amount of-below cross-examination

The initial numerous years of Elizabeth’s lives due to the fact an allocated convict is actually uncertain, however, we understand the ones from 1825 she supported part of their 14-season sentence because the a servant to Matthew �Matt’ Miller, a beneficial widowed constable and pardoned convict way of living during the Windsor that has a few college students. Elizabeth’s assignment to Miller at this time might possibly be tall to have multiple explanations, not the least being Miller’s intense bashing off his the wife during the 1828, where he had been doomed to hang.

It will be possible Jilks fabricated such circumstances so you can hide reality off E and you can Rebecca’s former lifetime to quit sullying their profile just like the great upstanding owners away from Parramatta

Throughout the Elizabeth’s time because the Miller’s servant on Windsor, it seems she had a child with his friend and you may colleague, George Jilks. Birth facts show that a child entitled �William Bennett Jilks’ was created within Windsor to your 9 October 1826 to George Jilks, Chief Constable out of Questionnaire, and a female submitted simply as the �Elizabeth’ � the name regarding Jilks’s lover are �elizabeth out-of Elizabeth’s spouse is �William Bennett.’ What is actually such as for instance notable, not, is that William Bennett Jilks may not have started the new couple’s best thing and you can, so much more contrary to popular belief, may not have become the first.

Many years later on during a legal proceeding, Jilks would state significantly less than oath which he had understood Elizabeth in England, a long time before sometimes of them was convicted and transported, as well as stated having recognized their girl Rebecca �from her birth.’ Their states were plausible, as the Jilks are tried and you may convicted due to the fact �George Gilkes’ when you look at the Middlesex in which E appears to have got a beneficial previous belief getting larceny in 1812 and close to where she is apprehended when you look at the 1818 on her lightweight crime.

I have been known as dad regarding [Rebecca], but I am not saying; We swear I am not; she never went by some other label than simply Bennett contained in this colony; she never ever passed my personal name….Robert Miller was her dad, who, I do believe, is alive within the The united kingdomt; he married my cousin, however, she actually is perhaps not the caretaker of [Rebecca]; Mrs. Bennett is actually her mother…

Suspicions regarding Jilks’s links in order to Age and you will Rebecca was in fact elevated then whenever Jilks’s partner, ined and you can she paused somewhat just before addressing practical question off if she had actually known Rebecca since Miss Jilks: �I would, maybe, has entitled her thus, within my own home, when talking-to the youngsters, but don’t because the this lady has grown up.’ Which have Rebecca’s birth 12 months projected given that 1813 and you can Jilks’s belief from inside the September 1814 and you can transportation in may out of 1816 to your Mariner, Jilks could have been this lady biological dad as the anyone else had definitely insinuated. New court case showed that individuals which realized the fresh family members really not simply amused the theory you to definitely Jilks is Rebecca’s father and also voiced so it concept, apparently indicating it absolutely was currently well known that Jilks and you may Age had a masculine man with her from inside the Windsor. Regardless, the connection involving the Jilks and Bennett family is actually usually solid since a half dozen-year-dated girl called �Margaret,’ a daughter out of George Jilks, is a resident at Bennett’s bakery at the time the latest 1828 census are removed.

So far, no records from Jilks’s English sibling or the woman husband Robert Miller have been discovered to help you validate Jilks’s statements throughout the Rebecca’s genuine parentage within the Old England. In fact, you to papers reported that Rebecca �and her family members strolled throughout the middling category of society, & enjoyed a reasonable magnificence amongst their multiple relatives.’

Volatile Swains and you will Volatile Future

Despite having already been partnered while the 1820, the fresh Bennetts did not have its earliest guy with her up to 1829; a girl christened Age Ann followed closely by a son, William H. Bennett Jnr., created circa 1831 at the Bennett’s Parramatta domestic and you may bakery.