[2] Almost exactly twelve months later, on 25 June 1805, she gave birth to a daughter, Caroline Maria Risley, whose father was recorded as John Thompson.
Contemporary accounts suggest that some time in the second half of 1805 she was chosen from a line-up of women at the Parramatta Female Factory to become the convict servant of the well-to-do marine officer Edward Lord, who had travelled from Hobart to Sydney to 'find a wife'.
[5] After Edward Lord resigned his commission in 1812, he engaged in trading, land acquisition and hotels and became one of the richest people in the colony, while Maria expanded the retail business.
During these years she played a "crucial" role in building up the import and export side of the family business and in re-investing their growing capital.
In 1824 Edward successfully sued Charles Rowcroft for "criminal conversation" and was awarded 100 pounds in damages, in a trial widely covered by the colonial press.
Maria returned to Hobart and opened a shop and a butchery; she also managed a boarding house in the 1830s, and eventually a small store in Bothwell.