MyHeritage and OldNews.com Unmasked My Ancestor’s Criminal Record… and Remarkable Resilience

I discovered that my great-great-grandfather was a convict by cross-referencing records on MyHeritage with old news articles I found through the OldNews.com site. 

Australian MyHeritage user Harry Hummerston

I always knew my great-great-grandfather, Michael Hummerston, had lived in Victoria during the mid-1800s, but so had another man with the same name who appeared in convict records from that same period. Their timelines didn’t quite match. The convict Michael was born in 1828, but according to my ancestor’s gravestone, he was born circa 1821.

The grave of Michael Hummerston, which indicates that he was born circa 1821

For years, I couldn’t reconcile the two. If they were the same man, it meant my ancestor had altered his birth year, likely to distance himself from a troubled past.

The breakthrough came after hours of research using MyHeritage and the OldNews.com archive. In an 1865 edition of The Herald, I found a court transcript that finally laid all doubts to rest. My great-great-grandfather, Michael Hummerston, admitted under oath — during a gambling-related court case — that he had previously been convicted of highway robbery and had served time.

The clip from The Herald on OldNews.com where Michael Hummerston admitted he had served time

That was the moment I connected the dots. My great-great-grandfather and the convict Michael Hummerston were one and the same.

A shoemaker’s fall from grace

Michael was born on January 1, 1828, in Epping, Essex, on a winter’s day. His father, George, was a shoemaker, and Michael followed in his footsteps. Despite a family myth that he left England to escape 24 siblings, there’s no evidence he had any at all. By 1845, the family had moved to White Hart Street in Kennington, London, where Michael got into serious trouble.

At just 17, he was convicted at the Middlesex Sessions for stealing a bundle of clothes — two gowns — from a beer shop in Hackney. He was sentenced to 7 years of transportation to Australia. A petition for leniency, signed by the victim and 23 others, was dismissed due to Michael’s previous charge for larceny. He spent 15 months in Millbank Prison before boarding the convict ship Maitland in June 1846.

He arrived at Port Phillip on October 27, 1846, alongside 289 other prisoners. Though officially referred to as “exiles” due to shifting laws, they were still bound by strict conditions and barred from returning to Britain. With few provisions on arrival, many worked for rural landowners. Michael chose to make his own way in Melbourne with little money, clothing, or shelter.

Crime, punishment, and persistence

In 1849, he was arrested again — this time for highway robbery, committed with fellow exile William Jones. He grabbed a court bailiff by the throat and threatened him with a stick, and he and his accomplice stole money and documents and were sentenced to 5 years of hard labor. They were sent to Cockatoo Island Prison in Sydney.

A MyHeritage record extracted from The Melbourne Daily News confirming the mention of Michael Hummerston in relation to crime and imprisonment, 1849.

Michael was caught gambling there in December and punished with solitary confinement and the loss of privileges. But by 1850, he was made an overseer of prisoners. Later that year, he was transferred to Pentridge Prison in Melbourne, released in 1851 with a Ticket of Leave, and then re-arrested in 1853 after being found in a house known for gamblers and thieves. He was released again after 4 months, his occupation listed once more as shoemaker.

At the time, he was described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, with brown hair, hazel eyes, and a large nose. Scars on his cheek and shin and a missing tooth in his upper right jaw bore witness to a life lived hard.

Marriage, gold, and public houses

Michael married Charlotte Honey in 1854 at St. James Church, Melbourne. He briefly turned to gold prospecting, and their first child, Clara Ann Maria, was born in 1855 in Steiglitz. Another daughter, Rosaline Helena, died in infancy, and their third child, Rhoda Louisa, arrived in 1859 — the same year Michael received his first publican’s license for the Thistle Inn in Geelong.

That venture soon ended in bankruptcy. Michael applied for insolvency in 1861, again in 1863, and once more in 1866. Though clearly not a strong businessman, he remained persistent. Between 1859 and 1875, he held licenses for at least 11 hotels across Victoria. The sheer number suggests a restless spirit, always on the move and chasing fresh starts.

A newspaper notice from The Age, 1864, showing the transfer of the Alma Hotel publican’s licence to Michael Hummerston. Source: OldNews.com

During this time, he and Charlotte had 10 children, including my great-grandfather, Henry Augustus, known to most as Harry. Charlotte died in 1876 at just 42, and is buried in Malmsbury Cemetery, Victoria.

Harry’s great-grandfather, Henry (Harry) Augustus Hummerston

Reinvention, remarriage, and heartbreak

Later that same year, Michael moved his family to South Australia and became licensee of the Dalrymple Hotel in Stansbury. He stayed for 3 years before moving to Hamley Bridge, and then on to Quorn, where he took over the Pinkerton Hotel in 1882 and married a widow named Mary Jane McCracken.

Mary had already lost 5 of her 7 children during her first marriage. Tragically, one of the two surviving children — Alexander, just 2 years and 8 months old — died after falling into a tub of boiling water at the Pinkerton Hotel. Despite this heartbreak, Mary and Michael had 3 sons together: Michael George, William Victor, and Robert Kingsley, though Robert died in infancy.

In 1886, Michael declared insolvency again and was found guilty of concealing assets. That charge earned him a three-month prison sentence. Upon his release, he resumed running hotels under either his or Mary’s name, moving from Wilmington to Hamilton, Auburn, and finally to Wirrabara.

Michael Hummerston fined £20 for bottling spirits with improper labels, Quorn Magistrates’ Court, 1883, as reported in The South Australian Advertiser. Source: OldNews.com

The last move west

In 1894, Michael followed his sons Harry and Richard to Western Australia. Harry transferred the license for the Criterion Hotel in Perth to his father, but Michael held it for only a year before moving to Southern Cross to manage the Club Hotel. He later returned to the Perth Hills, still working in the liquor trade.

Mary Jane died in 1898, and by 1905, Michael was living with Harry and his second wife Annie in Midland.

Michael spent his final days with his daughter Rhoda and her husband, and died in 1907 at the age of 79. He is buried in St Mary’s Anglican Church graveyard in Middle Swan, Perth.

A legacy of survival

Michael Hummerston was many things: shoemaker, convict, gambler, publican, husband, father, and wanderer. He was transported at 18, served 3 prison sentences, survived 4 insolvencies, fathered 13 children, and held more than 22 hotel licenses across 3 Australian states.

The version of his life that came down through my family was missing pieces, whether lost to time or deliberately left out. MyHeritage gave me the tools to reconnect those missing chapters and uncover the truth. What I found was not just a convict story, but one of survival, reinvention, and sheer persistence in the face of repeated setbacks.

Many thanks to Harry for sharing his incredible story with us. If you have also made an amazing discovery with MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it! Please send it to us via this form or email it to us at stories@myheritage.com.