People Australia

Isaac Archer was a marine in the 20th (Portsmouth) Company when he arrived in Sydney in January 1788 aboard the Alexander. He served at Port Jackson in the company of Captain James Campbell. In 1792, at the end of his service, he was established on a 80 acre farm at the Field of Mars. He married Sarah Burdo in June 1794.

By mid 1800 Archer had purchased additional land at Field of Mars; he had 15 acres sown in wheat, and owned 50 goats and 29 hogs. He and his wife were 'off stores'; no children were recorded. By 1802 he held 240 acres and the household, which included a child, one convict and three free men, was self supporting. By 1822 he kept 2 horses, 38 cattle, 10 pigs and 348 sheep.

In 1828 Archer was listed as a householder in Clarence St, Sydney. He died, two years after his wife, on 4 June 1836. He left his premises and £100 to Edward Aiken (Edward Hacking), a sawyer of Sydney. He also left £300 to Aiken's three children and £100 to Mrs Lucy Nobbs for her kindness to him and his wife. In 1839 Aiken was later buried in Archer's grave.

* information from Mollie Gillen, The Founders of Australia: A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet (1989), p 10