We were not specifically searching for John Ingersole. 

I was looking for my grandmother.  I was sure that she was from Bathurst originally, and that her surname was Ingersol.

At first we hunted through the New South Wales Births, Deaths and Marriages website looking for that spelling of the name. 

There were a few hits with that spelling but they raised more than a few questions ... so looking at variations on the spelling we searched on Ingersole.  I quickly found my grandmother's birth record.  So, armed with a list of names of births, marriages and deaths the search widened somewhat.

Some of the information we garnered just didn't make sense to us.  Following my grandmother's line back we quickly found her father's birth - William T Ingersol, but then it got confusing.  His father was a John Ingersole, his mother Catherine. 

John Ingersole became our challenge. We found a John Ingersole marrying a Catherine Bryant - but not until almost 30 years after the birth of my great grandfather.

The Latter Day Saints website gave us a few clues - but again no breakthroughs.  And the mystery of Catherine Bryant - or was she Catherine Stone - started to grow.  

One of many exciting moments came when we decided to search the lists of convicts who were transported to New South Wales for someone called Ingersol or Ingersole.

We found that there appears to have only been one convict called Ingersole.  John Ingersole.  His native place, Essex.