Though not the same era, nor the same country, I read a factual account - or so it claimed - of how an English family was forced to go to Australia to find two male relatives who had served their sentance and set themselves up with land to farm.

The family was unable to get work at harvest time as the fact of the transportations was known and other families were hired in preference to them. This gradually eroded their wealth, the various pieces of land they rented were given to others as the leases expired, the older men died or were incapacitated, older women went to other relatives if they had them, younger women were unable to find husbands.

When they sold up all they had left the prices were kept low by agreement between the buyers, so even though they followed the transported men some considerable time later, the crime and punishment (and the village's reaction to it) was entirely responsible for the family leaving.

Just because dates don't match, the consequences of the transportation could have resulted in a family having to follow some time later, as the work and/or wages of a young man were often vital to the stability of a family.


Baroness Anne the mirthful of Fritterton on the Heath