Researching Samuel Terry

The year and circumstances of his birth are unknown. While working as a labourer in Manchester, England, on 22 January 1800 he was sentenced to transportation to the colony of Australia for the crime of stealing 400 pairs of stockings. He was taken to Sydney, Australia, where he served as a stone cutter. After working several jobs, he earned a farm in 1808.

On 27 March 1810 Terry married Rosetta (Rosata) Marsh or Madden, née Pracey, who had come free to the colony in 1799 on the ship, The Hillsborough. She was a widow (possibly of convict Edward Madden, and later of Henry Marsh), and she had three children when she married. She was an innkeeper, and on marriage Terry took over her Pitt Street property. He continued to prosper, becoming a trader and became a supplier of food to the government.

By 1820 he possessed significant amounts of property and was a large shareholder in the Bank of New South Wales. There is some controversy about the means he used to acquire his wealth, and he became accused of extortion by his enemies. It was alleged that he brought land owners to his inn, who would become intoxicated and sign away their property in payment of debts. By 1821 he also brought 28 actions to the Supreme Court.

In the 1820s he was wealthy and a public figure. He was also a philanthropist, contributing to local societies and schools. He also worked for the emancipists and, in 1826, became president of the Masonic Lodge. He died on 22 February 1838 following three years incapacitated as a result of a seizure.

The Samuel Terry Public School, Cranebrook is named in his honor.

In 1967 Terry's biography, written by his great-granddaughter Gwyneth Dow, was included in The Australian Dictionary of Biography.

He was born at Box Hill to landowner John Terry and Eleanor Rouse. He entered a counting house at a young age to learn business, but in 1842 inherited his father's property at Box Hill, in addition to 5,000 acres on the Yass Plains. He bought up extensive suburban real estate in Sydney and also owned property in Queensland and New Zealand. On 13 May 1856 he married Clementina Parker Want, with whom he had two children; a second marriage on 12 September 1863 to Jane Weaver produced a further three children. In 1859 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Mudgee. He served until he was defeated in 1869, but he was returned for New England in 1871. He served until he resigned in 1881 (having transferred back to Mudgee in 1880), and in 1882 he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council, where he served until his death at Ashfield in 1887.