Thomas PRANGNALL - The Elusive Thomas Prangnall

I am currently researching the family tree of my Granddaughter-in-law which is largely Tasmanian based. One branch leads back to Thomas PRANGNALL (abt 1806 - 1844) who I notice is in your ancestral line as well. Thomas is a bit of an enigma because very little seems to be known about his background. I thought that I might share with you what I know, hoping that it will help you, and perhaps you have something that can help me.

Thomas first raises his head with me in 1826 when he marries Sarah PRESNELL, one of the daughters of William and Ann PRESNELL (nee FOWLER), both emancipated convicts. William owns a pub in Glenorchy called the Black Snake Inn, and in 1828 Thomas takes over the license from William's son Thomas, and runs it (not very well by accounts) for a couple of years. As an aside, in 1833 William sells the pub to another son-in-law, the more industrious George ROBINSON, who builds on it a grand new Black Snake Inn that still stands today. 1833 also finds that Thomas and Sarah have moved to Hobart, but I have not discovered what he does for a living, although before marriage he apparently was a butcher. In July 1839 he was either staying or visiting Sarah's older brother Joseph's house in Murray Street, Hobart where the recently widowed Mother-in-law Ann was also living, when they got "on the piss" and wife Sarah, who was of poor health, died of "an epileptic fit, induced by intoxication" (coroner). Five years later, in 1844, Thomas himself dies from "madness", whatever that means.

That brings me to the subject of Thomas's early life which is my main focus now. He was not a transported convict, nor can I find any record of immigration or other family members in Australia. Given his age and circumstances when he first comes on the scene in 1826 (20, perhaps 26 years old) marrying the sister of a sealer’s (George Robinson) wife, and the fact that he had run a butchery some time before that, tells me that he possibly came off a sealing vessel in his teens, by which time, the sealing industry had virtually wiped itself out from over-harvesting. Although there were a lot of American sealers in the area at the time, the surname “PRANGNALL” is unusual in America. It is more associated with England, particularly Hampshire and Wiltshire, and even there it is not particularly common. Currently I am trying to find a UK connection.

Can anyone add (or subtract) from my summary? I just hate brick walls!

Ian Jones