After transportation ceased in 1853, the St Andrew’s Emigration Society was one of several societies formed to recruit labourers not only as an alternative to convict labour but with the expectation that superior type of migrants “accustomed to moral restraints and of industrious habits” could improve the moral status of the lower class (The Companion to Tasmanian History—Immigration Societies).
The Passages are given Free, under condition that the Emigrants agree to pay to the Society, Six Months after arriving in the Colony, £8 for the Family, and £5 for a Single Individual, and to reside in the Colony four years, or pay his proportion of Passage-Money should he remain less than that time.
The following description of Emigrants can be taken: Experienced Ploughmen and Shepherds, Housemaids, Cooks, and Tablemaids, and Families accustomed to Agricultural Employment. Those without encumbrance will be preferred. Full information will be obtained on a personal application being made to: Messrs McNAUGHTON & COCHRANE 163, Ingram Street, Glasgow; or to Mr ALEXANDER BLAIR The Selecting Agent. It is most likely Mungo Bisset, read the advertisement and saw it as an opportunity for his family to secure a better life. He could read and write and was a coal miner by trade, working in one of the richest seams of coal beneath Lanarkshire, a county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. [1] At the age of 44, Mungo Bisset and his family arrived in Launceston from Glasgow on 18 July 1857 onboard the emigrant ship, Forest Monarch. They were among the 262 passengers sponsored by the St Andrew’s Emigration Society. Very little information could be found on Mungo Bisset and his wife, Elizabeth Paterson, in the intervening years until their death in 1892. However, there is one entry in the Launceston Examiner dated 23 July 1864, listing insolvencies that included farmer Mungo Bisset of Duck River, Circular Head, as having no assets and liabilities of £127 13s. Two years later, an action was brought against Mungo Bisset by publican John Hughes, to recover a sum of £3 10s on an overdue bill of exchange. The Commissioner presiding the Court of Requests in Stanley discovered that the bill was not sufficiently stamped, and the plantiff was not disposed to pay £5 to recover the amount. This outcome was very similar to what had transpired at the insolvency hearing of 1864 when Mungo’s debt was discharged. And if circumstances weren’t already bad enough, Thomas Toplis posted a notice on 10 November 1865 stating: "This is to caution the public against trusting my wife, Mary Toplis, she having left her house without any provocation. I will not be responsible for any debts contracted in my name, without my written authority from this date—particularly Mungo Bisset." Although such notices were not uncommon in matrimonial disputes or separation between spouses, the mere mention of Mungo Bisset leaves a question mark. The following is the last mention of Elizabeth Paterson (Mrs Bisset) relating to her passing on 1 August 1892. “Mrs Bisset, of No. 2 Road, was interred on Friday last, in the presence of a small concourse of neighbours and friends, in the local cemetery. Mr Reeves, of Boat Harbour, officiated at the grave. The deceased lady had attained the grand old age of over 80 years, and was a highly respected resident of Circular Head and Table Cape.” To date, no notices have been found relating to Mungo Bisset’s passing on 21 October 1892. As a footnote, there were several articles published in a New Zealand newspaper in 1875, relating to Mungo Bisset’s mining rights at Ohinemuri. No further information has been found. [1] Mungo Bisset, son of David Bisset and Margaret Gillespie, baptized on 19 April 1812 at Old Monkland, Lanark, Scotland, married Elizabeth Paterson on 17 July 1835 at Cambuslang, Lanark, Scotland. Mungo’s paternal grandparents were Thomas Bisset and Margaret Brown born 1760 and 1765, respectively, and maternal grandparents were James Gillespie and Elizabeth Simpson, born 1743 and 1740, respectively. Mungo Bisset’s wife, Elizabeth Paterson, was born on 25 May 1813 at Cambuslang, Lanark, Scotland. Mungo Bisset died from heart failure aged 79 on 21 October 1892 at Wynyard. His wife, Elizabeth, died three months earlier from senility and heart failure on 1 August 1892. She was also 79.
3 Comments
Heather
11/4/2018 21:32:49
He was my GG Grandfather ... very interesting .. thanks so much !
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A. Bissett
5/9/2021 18:24:27
He was my great great great great grandfather, Heather!
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Heather McGinty
6/9/2021 07:27:52
Hello A Bissett, its a small world and if you have any info on this side of the family I'm wondering if you would be kind enough to email me at hmcg77@gmail.com Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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