Trove Tuesday – Do not compare yourself to others, for you may become vain or bitter

Contributing to the #TroveTuesday theme  of Amy Houston from Branches, Leaves & Pollen:

I loved reading my fellow genie MyGenealogyAdventure’s Trove Tuesday post – which seems to confirm the family tale that her ancestor Henry Goodhew was held up in the Goulburn Mail in 1869. I was already quite envious at the wealth of material she has been able to gather on another ancestor GT Smede , as he was obviously a valuable community member as well as being a respected police officer.

So whilst my friend’s  ancestors are appearing in the paper as good citizens, mine on the other hand, seem to appear more often on the other side of the law!

Makes you wonder if the drivers of the Goulburn Mail received danger money – two weeks earlier it had been held up by three men, including John Thomas Keevil. John, the grandson of a convict, was the brother of my ancestor Mary. He and two mates held up the Goulburn Mail at Towrang on May 10^th 1869.

It appears in the Sydney Morning Herald as an abridged version from the Goulburn Herald (must have been huge in the original reporting). John & his cousin James Vennel were convicted and sent to prison (John 6 years & James 8 years). Their friend Berriman was later acquitted.

Here’s a picture of John on his discharge from Goulburn Gaol. After leaving prison John changed his name to Thomas Sutherland.
I guess having a photo is one benefit of having a criminal in the family (photo taken 3 March 1874):
(photo from State Archives microfilm, taken using my iPhone when I visited their Rocks reading room in March 2012):

3/03/1874

P63

63a

NRS2138

[5/1696]