Born in England in 1762, the daughter of David Jones, a professional rat catcher, Molly became a dressmaker and then married William Morgan, the village blacksmith. 

When she was 27 she was transported to NSW for theft and arrived with the second fleet, surviving one of the worst voyages ever made to that colony. Her husband came out as a free man to join her but that meant little to Molly, who escaped with the aid of Captain Locke of the Resolution and returned to England.

Although her first husband was still alive, Molly married a brass founder named Mears and lived with him in London for some years. Apparently in business on her own account, in 1803 she was sentenced to transportation for seven years for failing to honour her promissory note for £60. 

Her second voyage as a prisoner brought Molly to Sydney in June 1804 and there she lived and prospered as a farmer until 1816.

Found in possession of government cattle, she was transported once again, this time to the Newcastle convict settlement. 

Here she was rewarded for good conduct with a small leasehold farm at Wallis Plains, as the site of West Maitland was then known. This was the beginning of a new phase in Molly’s life for her leasehold was confirmed by Governor Brisbane in 1823 and she eventually owned 64.5 hectares (159 acres) of some of the most valuable real estate in the colony.

In the last decade of her life, she died in 1835, Molly became one of the town’s most reputable citizens and during the 1820s the land around High Street was often known as Molly Morgan’s.

During this period she owned one of the town’s first hotels, the Angel Inn.

Source: The Rise of High Street, Maitland – a Pictorial History by John Turner