Jean (John) Maroc

<p>Jean was born abt 1805 in Bordeaux, France. He&nbsp;migrated to Sydney abt 1840&nbsp;and married Eliza Nugent on 1 May 1843 at St Mary&#39;s Cathedral, so must have been a Catholic. After his marriage, he changed his first name to John.&nbsp;</p><p>He was a blacksmith by trade, and also used to weigh gold for the miners. He lived at Millers Point in 1844 (Mary A&#39;s bpt), George St in 1868 (Sands Directory), Harrington St, Sydney in 1876.</p><p>He arranged marriages for his daughters with Frenchmen eg. Mgt married a sailor from Antibe and Elizabeth married a sailor from Nantes. He arranged a marriage for Mary Ann with&nbsp; a captain but she refused as she disliked his beard.</p><p>John was remembered by his granddaughter, Emily, as being a very hard and cranky man. Apparently he lived in the Rocks area and had a grapevine growing over trellises outside the door. None of the children were allowed to touch them as they were for his lady friends. Even if the dew on them was smudged they would get a hiding. He also got drunk regularly. When the children heard him coming home, they would hide under their beds, as he would come into their room and hit their beds with his walking stick.</p><p>He lived with granddaughter Louisa until his death in 1890 from senile decay.</p>