Mash, Ann

Convict sentenced to seven years transportation for theft of a bushel of wheat. On the journey she partnered with Richard Alley and had a daughter with him once she reached Sydney, but the child died a few days later. Ann formed a relationship with John Irving, whose land in Parramatta went to her when he died. She married Robert Flannagan, sold her land in 1798 and then married William Chapman. She managed her large family of nine children and from the late 1790s, she operated a small goods business and a passenger boat service between Parramatta and Sydney. She also assisted Chapman in various other businesses including a bakery, butchery and general store, and after his death she held a liquor licence for the King's Head Tavern until about 1813.