Where They Rest: The Burial Places Of My Farrell Family

One of the most rewarding parts of researching my family history has been discovering where my ancestors are buried. Each cemetery visit, burial record and photograph of a headstone adds another piece to the story of those who came before me.

Having previously explored the burial places of my maternal O'Donnell and McCane (Muckian) ancestors, and my paternal Connors and Brown ancestors, I am now turning my attention to my Farrell family, another branch of my maternal family tree.

My Farrell story begins in Ireland with my 2x great-grandfather, Michael Farrell (1834–1917). At some point he made his way to Scotland, perhaps with his parents and siblings or in search of employment as a young adult. There he met Irish-born Susan Muldowney (1842-1919), whose maiden name also appears in records as Downey. They married in Scotand, before moving to north-east England, where their children were born.

Michael and Susan's two eldest daughters emigrated to Australia at the end of 1885. Michael, his wife and six of their surviving children followed in 1887. Their second eldest son, Michael, had died in England in 1873, aged three. He was the one child left behind when the family sailed for Australia.

Over the following decades, Michael and Susan's children established their own lives in Queensland and New South Wales. Some remained close to their parents in Charters Towers, while others moved away for work, marriage or family reasons.

Their burial places now stretch from north Queensland to Sydney, with one son commemorated thousands of kilometres away in Belgium. Together, these graves and memorials tell the story of a family that travelled a very long way from its Irish beginnings.

Charters Towers Monumental and Lawn Cemetery, Queensland

Charters Towers holds a particularly important place in my Farrell family history. It was here that Michael and Susan settled in Australia, where several of their children spent much of their adult lives and where a few were laid to rest.

Michael Farrell (1834-1917) and Susan Farrell, nee Muldowney or Downey, my 2x great-grandparents are buried together at Charters Towers.  Michael died on the 18th of December in 1917, and Susan survived him for just over a year, dying in January 1919.

I find their shared headstone particularly meaningful. These were the two people whose decisions to leave their second home in Scotland, establish a family in Britain and eventually emigrate to Australia, shaped the lives of so many descendants, including my own.

By the time of Michael's death, the couple had experienced enormous changes. They had seen their children grow up, marry and establish families of their own. They had also endured the deaths of two sons — little Michael in England, and Patrick Joseph, killed in action during the First World War. Their grave marks the end of a journey that had begun in Ireland many, many decades earlier.

Michael Farrell Jnr.  (1876-1918)

Another Farrell grave at Charters Towers belongs to Michael and Susan's son, Michael Farrell (1876–1918). Michael emigrated with his parents and siblings at the age of 12. He spent the remainder of his life in Charters Towers, where he worked as an auctioneer and became a prominent member of the local community. He married Hannah Margaret Hynes, and together had seven children.

Sadly, Michael died relatively young in 1918, only a short time after the death of his father. He is buried with his wife Hannah Margaret in the Charters Towers Cemetery. Michael's grave is another reminder of how closely this generation of the Farrell family was connected to the town.

Two other sons of my 2x great-grandparents Michael and Susan are buried beside one another at Charters Towers.

Thomas Farrell (1868-1927), who was 19 years old when his family emigrated to Australia, spent almost all his adult life living and working in Charters Towers. He remained in the family home with his parents until their deaths, and subsequently lived with his younger brother Matthew. Shortly before his death, Thomas went to stay with his sister Margaret McCane and her family near Gumlu. He died there on 7 February 1927, aged 58 years, but was buried at Charters Towers.

Beside him rests his much younger brother, Matthew Felix Farrell (1887-1922). Matthew was just a six-month old baby when his parents brought him to Australia. His life would eventually take him back across the world when he served with the Australian Imperial Force in France and Belgium during the First World War.

Matthew never married. After being discharged from the army as medically unfit, he returned to Australia but lived for only another four years. He died on 23 July 1922, aged 34 years. His headstone bears the words Late A.I.F., a simple but important reminder of his wartime service.

Finding these two brothers buried beside one another is particularly touching. Despite their nineteen-year age difference, they shared a home after their parents died and remained connected until Matthew's early death.  

Home Hill Cemetery, Queensland

Margaret McCane nee Farrell (1865-1955)

My great-grandmother Margaret Farrell, the eldest of Michael and Susan's children, is buried at Home Hill Cemetery in north Queensland. Margaret, aged 19, and her younger sister Helen Ann, aged just 14, left their home and family in England and emigrated to Australia.  

Margaret married Owen McCane (Muckian) when she was 26. Following their marriage, Margaret and Owen lived in Charters Towers for more than twenty years. They later moved with their family to farmland near Gumlu, where they established a new home.

This move represents another chapter in my family's history, as the McCane family became closely associated with farming in the Gumlu district. Margaret spent the remainder of her life on the family farm. Owen died in 1930, and Margaret survived him by twenty-five years. She died on 23 October 1955, aged 89 years, and was buried alongside him at Home Hill Cemetery, the nearest cemetery to their home.

Their shared headstone brings together two important branches of my maternal ancestry — the Farrells and the McCanes. Having previously researched the burial places of my McCane ancestors, it is especially satisfying to return to this grave from the Farrell side of the family. Margaret's life also illustrates how the descendants of Michael and Susan gradually moved away from Charters Towers, establishing homes and raising families in other parts of north Queensland.

Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland

James (Jim) Farrell (1880-1946)

Another son of Michael and Susan, James Farrell, known as Jim, is buried at Lutwyche Cemetery in the Brisbane suburb of Kedron.

Jim grew up in Charters Towers after arriving in Australia with his parents and siblings at the age of 7. At fourteen years of age, he began an apprenticeship as a barber, a trade that would provide him with a means of earning a living. He later married Minnie Martin, and the couple moved from Charters Towers to Brisbane.

Like his brothers Patrick and Matthew, Jim served during the First World War. He saw service in France and was fortunate enough to return home. Jim died on 29 July 1946, aged 66 years. He is buried in the ANZAC section of Lutwyche Cemetery, among other returned servicemen. 

His military grave plaque records him as Private J. Farrell of the 42nd Battalion and bears the words:

God's Greatest Gift — Remembrance.

Rookwood Catholic Cemetery, Sydney, New South Wales

Helen Ann (Annie) Davies, nee Farrell (1871-1937)

My great-grandaunt Helen Ann Farrell, known as Annie, is buried in Rookwood Catholic Cemetery in Sydney. Born in England, she emigrated to Australia with her older sister Margaret at the age of 14. She and her sister Margaret lived and worked in Charters Towers on their own for around a year and a half before the remainder of the family emigrated to Australia.

Helen Ann (Annie) married David Davies in Charters Towers when she was aged 19. The couple spent around the first twenty years of their married life in Charters Towers, but then moved further north along the coast. By 1910 Annie was living in Cairns, where she established a career as a midwife. I find this detail particularly interesting, particularly in light of the fact that her husband died not long after the move to Cairns. At a time when women's employment opportunities were often limited, Annie had developed a profession through which she could support herself and contribute to her community. 

After approximately twenty years in Cairns, she moved to northern New South Wales, where she lived with five of her adult children. Annie died on the 10th of September 1937. She is buried in a family plot at Rookwood with three of her children: Susan Catherine Gertrude Davies, who died in 1952; David Davies, who died in 1965; and Elizabeth Ivy Davies, who died in 1970.

Their shared memorial records four members of the family together. Although Annie's headstone gives her age at death as 63 years, her birth certificate establishes that she was born in 1871. The age recorded on the memorial is therefore incorrect. This is a useful reminder that, while headstones are valuable family history sources, their information should always be checked against other records.

Waverley Cemetery, Bronte, New South Wales

Elizabeth Shaw nee Farrell (1873-1934)

Another daughter of Michael and Susan, Elizabeth Farrell, is buried at the beautiful Waverley Cemetery at Bronte in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Elizabeth was born in England in 1873 and came to Australia with her family aged 14. She married Frank Shaw in Charters Towers when she was 23. 

The couple subsequently moved to Innisfail in north Queensland, where they established their home and raised five children.

Elizabeth lived in Innisfail for more than thirty years. Following Frank's death, she remained there for approximately another six years until her health deteriorated. It was then that she moved to Sydney to receive medical treatment.

Elizabeth died in October 1934, aged approximately 61 years, and was buried at Waverley Cemetery. Her grave is marked by a substantial stone cross bearing the Christian symbol IHS. There is something poignant about Elizabeth's final resting place being so far from Innisfail, where she had spent so much of her married life.

Like several other members of the Farrell family, the circumstances of her later years took her away from the community where she had lived for decades.

Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Patrick Joseph Farrell (1877-1917)

Not all of my Farrell ancestors have a marked grave. One of the saddest stories belongs to Patrick Joseph Farrell, another son of Michael and Susan. Patrick was born in England in 1877 and emigrated to Australia with his family when he was 10 years old. After beginning work as a miner in Charters Towers, he apprenticed as an iron moulder and this career took him to Maryborough, on the central coast of Queensland.  

He answered the call to serve with the AIF in late 1916, aged 39, and was killed in action at Polygon Wood in West Flanders, Belgium, in 1917, five months after his 40th birthday.

He has no known grave. Instead, Patrick is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, where the names of thousands of servicemen who died during the war and have no known graves are inscribed. 

He is also commemorated on Panel 104 at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

The photographs of Patrick's name on the wall at Menin Gate and the Australian War Memorial are particularly moving to me. Here was a young man whose parents had left Ireland to work in England, and eventually emigrated to Australia in the hope of building a new life for their family, only for one of their sons to lose his life on a battlefield back in Europe.

Patrick's death also came in the same year that his father Michael died in Charters Towers. I can only imagine the grief experienced by Susan and the rest of the Farrell family. Although there is no individual grave marking Patrick's resting place, his name remains permanently recorded in Belgium and Australia.

Durham, England - A Little Boy Left Behind

Michael Farrell (1870-1873)

One Farrell burial place I have yet to find is that of Michael Farrell, the young son of Michael and Susan who died in England in 1873.

Michael was born in 1870 and died at three years of age. His death was registered in Durham, where the Farrell family was living during their years in north-east England. I have not yet established which cemetery or burial ground contains his grave.

When the rest of the family emigrated to Australia in August 1887, they left behind the country where their children had been born and where little Michael had died. It is difficult to imagine what Susan, his mother, must have felt leaving England, knowing that her young son's grave would remain so far away.

Finding his burial place is one of the outstanding pieces of research I hope to complete. Even if no headstone survives, locating a burial register entry would be a meaningful discovery.

Ireland or Scotland - The Earlier Farrell Generation

Thomas Farrell (birth & death dates unknown)

My research into the Farrell family also extends back another generation to my 3x great-grandfather, Thomas Farrell, the father of Michael, the ancestor who emigrated to Australia.

Thomas is named as Michael's father in both Michael's baptismal record and his marriage certificate. The marriage certificate also records that Thomas was deceased by the time Michael married Susan in Scotland. Although I have tentatively estimated Thomas's lifespan as approximately 1810–1865, neither of these dates has yet been established from a birth or death record.

Thomas's burial place remains unknown. Did he leave Ireland to go and work in England, taking his son Michael and the rest of his family with him?  That question remains unanswered. As I continue researching the Farrell family in Ireland, Scotland and England, I hope to discover more about Thomas, his life and where he was buried. For now, he remains the earliest named Farrell ancestor in this branch of my family tree.

Remembering The Farrell Family

When I began tracing the Farrell graves, I was primarily interested in finding where each member of the family had been laid to rest. But the more I discovered, the more I realised that the burial places themselves revealed something important about the lives of my ancestors. They showed where families settled, where children grew up, where work and marriage took people, and where illness, war and changing circumstances eventually brought their journeys to an end.

For me, these are much more than names on gravestones. They are the people whose lives, decisions and journeys shaped my own family history. And each time I find another burial place, I feel that I have recovered another small part of their story.

Their resting places may be scattered across the world, but through family history research, their stories are brought together once more.

Farrell Family Burial Places

Burial Places of Direct Farrell Ancestors and Their Siblings

Name of Relative	Relationship to Me	Burial Location	Notes
My Great-Grandmother and Her Siblings
Margaret McCane née Farrell 1865–1955	Maternal Great-Grandmother	Home Hill Cemetery, Home Hill, Queensland	Buried with husband Owen McCane / Muckian in the cemetery closest to the family farm.
Thomas Farrell 1868–1927	Maternal Great-Granduncle	Charters Towers Monumental & Lawn Cemetery, Charters Towers, Queensland	Buried beside his younger brother Matthew.
Michael Farrell 1870–1873	Maternal Great-Granduncle	Unknown	Died as an infant in the County of Durham, England.
Helen Ann (Annie) Davies née Farrell 1871–1937	Maternal Great-Grandaunt	Rookwood Catholic Cemetery & Crematoria, Rookwood, New South Wales	Buried in a family plot with her daughters Elizabeth and Susan, and her son David.
Elizabeth Shaw née Farrell 1873–1934	Maternal Great-Grandaunt	Waverley Cemetery, Bronte, New South Wales
Michael Farrell 1876–1918	Maternal Great-Granduncle	Charters Towers Monumental & Lawn Cemetery, Charters Towers, Queensland	Buried with wife Hannah Margaret Farrell, née Hynes.
Patrick Joseph Farrell 1877–1917	Maternal Great-Granduncle	No known grave. Killed in action in West Flanders, Belgium.	Place of death recorded as Polygon Wood, Belgium. Commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium. Also commemorated at the Australian War Memorial – Panel 104.
James (Jim) Farrell 1880–1946	Maternal Great-Granduncle	Lutwyche Cemetery, Kedron, Brisbane, Queensland	Buried in the ANZAC plot for returned veterans.
Matthew Felix Farrell 1887–1922	Maternal Great-Granduncle	Charters Towers Monumental & Lawn Cemetery, Charters Towers, Queensland	Buried beside his older brother Thomas.
My 2x Great-Grandfather (Siblings Unknown)
Michael Farrell 1834–1917	Maternal 2x Great-Grandfather	Charters Towers Monumental & Lawn Cemetery, Charters Towers, Queensland	Buried with his wife Susan Farrell, née Muldowney (also recorded as Downey / Downie).
My 3x Great-Grandfather (Siblings Unknown)
Thomas Farrell c.1810–c.1865	Maternal 3x Great-Grandfather	Unknown	His son Michael was born in Ireland, so perhaps Thomas's final resting place is also in Ireland. Birth and death years are estimates.

Where They Rest - The Burial Places Of My Brown Family

As I continue researching my family history, I have been looking more closely at the final resting places of my ancestors. Cemeteries and burial records provide another way of tracing a family's journey, revealing not only where our ancestors lived and died but also the connections between generations.

My Brown family forms part of my paternal ancestry, stretching back through my grandmother, Grace Olive Brown (1885–1974), to earlier generations of the family in New South Wales and, before that, England.

The Brown family has a particularly strong connection with the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales, especially Lismore. Several generations of the family lived in the district, and many are buried in its cemeteries. Over time, however, some family members did move further afield, settling in Sydney, Queensland and even Western Australia.

Looking at these Brown family burial places together provides an interesting picture of how some from this branch of my family gradually spread across Australia, while so many remained close to the district where earlier generations had established their homes.

In this post, I have only brought together the burial locations of my direct Brown ancestors and their siblings.  I begin with the cemeteries where many family members are buried and then move further afield.  Some graves have surviving headstones, others are unmarked, and for a few ancestors the burial location remains a mystery.

East Lismore General Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales

East Lismore General Cemetery holds the graves of several members of the Brown family, including my paternal great-grandfather, Richard Joseph Brown, and a number of his siblings.

Richard Joseph Brown (1861–1947), my paternal great-grandfather, is buried in the Anglican section of the East Lismore General Cemetery, although his grave is unmarked and has no headstone. Richard was born in Lismore and lived his entire life in that town.

Several of Richard's brothers and sisters are also buried there.

His older brother, Alexander Johnson (Sandy) Brown (1849–1931), is buried in the Anglican section of the East Lismore General Cemetery. He is buried with his wife, Margaret Jane Brown (née Bustard). Their grave has a surviving memorial.

Another sibling, Anne Caroline Penelope Edwards (née Brown) (1853–1910), is buried with her husband, Edward Hocking Edwards and grandson Robert. 

Their substantial memorial, in the Non Sectarian section, provides a lasting reminder of this branch of the family and the connections between generations.

Henry Johnson Brown Jnr. (1855–1938) is also buried at East Lismore in the Presbyterian section. His grave, like his brother Richard's, is unmarked with no headstone. 

Henry was one of several members of the family to bear the name Henry Johnson Brown, a name passed down through successive generations.

Another brother, William Norman Brown (1858–1937), is buried in the Anglican section at the East Lismore cemetery with his wife, Eliza Brown (née Cusack).

With so many members of this generation buried at East Lismore, the cemetery is particularly significant in my Brown family research. This burial place reflects the very strong connection Richard Joseph Brown and some of his siblings maintained with Lismore throughout their lives.

North Lismore Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales

North Lismore Cemetery is another important burial place in my Brown family history, containing the graves of two generations of the family.

My paternal 2x great-grandfather, Henry Johnson Brown (1820–1868), is buried here. 

Henry was the immigrant who began my branch of the Brown family here in Australia. Born in Cumbria, England, he arrived in Australia with his sister Sarah at the age of 20 and began building a new life in New South Wales.

Sadly, his grave is unmarked, with no surviving headstone recorded in my research. 

Henry was the father of my great-grandfather, Richard Joseph Brown, and is an important link in tracing the Brown family further back through the generations.

Also buried at North Lismore Cemetery is another of Henry's sons, James Irving Clark Stephenson Brown (1859–1947), my paternal great-granduncle. His grave is also unmarked.

Although neither grave has a headstone, knowing their burial locations is valuable. It establishes another connection between two generations of the family and the district in which they made their homes. It is particularly interesting that Henry, who had travelled from England to begin a new life in Australia, is buried in the same town where so many of his descendants would spend their lives.

Lismore Roman Catholic Cemetery, New South Wales

Another Brown family burial in Lismore is that of Lillian Ruth O'Donnell (née Brown) (1887–1911), my paternal grandaunt and a sister of my grandmother, Grace Olive Brown.

Lillian is buried at the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Lismore. She died in 1911, aged approximately 24 years. Her comparatively early death stands in marked contrast to the long lives of some of her siblings, particularly her sister Elsie, who lived into her nineties.

I have not yet obtained a photograph of Lillian's grave.

Wardell Cemetery, Wardell, New South Wales

Marcella May (Marcy) Tyler (née Brown) (1892–1973), another sister of my grandmother, is buried at Wardell Cemetery.

Marcy is buried beside her husband, Alfred Loring Tyler, and their shared memorial survives.

Wardell is situated within the Northern Rivers district, adding to the concentration of Brown family burial places in this part of New South Wales. While some of Marcy's siblings eventually made their home further afield, her burial at Wardell reflects the continuing association of this generation of the family with the district.

Tintenbar Cemetery, Tintenbar, New South Wales

Sarah King (née Brown) (1822–1897) was a sister of my paternal 2x great-grandfather, Henry Johnson Brown.

She had accompanied her brother Henry when he emigrated from England to Australia, and both went on to establish their lives in New South Wales.

She is buried at Tintenbar Cemetery with her husband, Richard King.

Their substantial headstone is a particularly interesting surviving memorial from this earlier generation of the family.

Unlike the unmarked grave of her brother Henry at North Lismore, Sarah's burial place has a surviving monument.

Her grave provides yet another connection to the earliest generations of my Brown family in Australia and to the Northern Rivers district where both she and her brother settled.

Palmdale Lawn Cemetery and Memorial Park, New South Wales

Elsie Myrtle Harris (née Brown) (1890–1982) was another of my grandmother Grace Olive Brown's sisters.

Elsie was cremated and a memorial plaque commemorates her at the Palmdale Lawn Cemetery and Memorial Park on the central coast of New South Wales. She had been living with her daughter at Booker Bay, also on the Central Coast, and her memorial is located relatively close to where she spent her last years.

The surviving memorial records her name and the years 1890–1982, together with the inscription "Peace, Perfect Peace." Elsie lived to approximately 92 years of age, in marked contrast to her sister Lillian, who died at such a young age.

The differences in their lifespans are a reminder of how varied the experiences of children born into the same family could be. Elsie's memorial also represents a different form of commemoration from the traditional cemetery graves and headstones of earlier generations.

Moorefields Methodist Cemetery, Kingsgrove, New South Wales

Eliza Duncan Gall (née Brown) (1863–1938) was a sister of my great-grandfather, Richard Joseph Brown.

She is buried at Moorefields Methodist Cemetery in Kingsgrove, Sydney, close to the family home in Lakemba. Eliza shares her burial place with her husband, Robert Gall, their daughter Janet, and Janet's husband, James Luther McClelland.

This family grave is particularly interesting because it brings together members of two generations and several different family surnames. It is a good example of how burial records can reveal connections beyond the original Brown surname, helping to piece together the wider family tree.

Eliza's burial in Sydney also reflects the movement of some members of the family away from the Lismore district during their adult lives.

Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney, New South Wales

Francis Summers Hayes (Frank) Brown (1865–1928), another brother of my great-grandfather, is buried in the Church of England section of Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.  

Francis had been living in the suburbs of Sydney for most of his adult life, and his burial at Rookwood reflects his long association with the city.  Like his sister Eliza, who is buried at Moorefields, Francis was among those members of the family whose lives eventually took them away from Lismore.

I do not currently have a photograph of Frank's grave.

Gympie Cemetery, Gympie, Queensland

Gympie Cemetery is especially important to me because it is the burial place of my paternal grandmother, Grace Olive Connors (née Brown) (1885–1974) and provides one of the closest connections between these earlier generations and my own family history.

Grace is buried beside her husband, George Connors. Her memorial records her death on 30 September 1974, and its inscription remembers her as a dear wife and mother.

Grace and George had led a rather nomadic life, working as milkers in the dairy industry in both New South Wales and southern Queensland. They eventually settled in Gympie when they were in the fifties.

Their movements reflect an aspect of family life that is not always apparent from birth, marriage and death records alone. Work and employment opportunities could take families from one district to another, sometimes resulting in quite considerable distances between relatives.

Grace's burial in Queensland, rather than in the Lismore district where so many of her Brown relatives are buried, is therefore part of the story of movement within the family.

Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland

Robert Frederick Bayley Brown (1866–1941), a younger brother of my great-grandfather Richard Joseph Brown, is buried in the War Section of Toowong Cemetery in Brisbane. Robert had served in the First World War, making him eligible for burial in this special section of the cemetery.

He had moved to Queensland around the age of 40, not long after the death of his wife, and subsequently made his home in that state.

His grave is unmarked, although its location has been identified.

Robert's burial in Brisbane is yet another example of the Brown family's connections extending beyond northern New South Wales into Queensland. It is also interesting that, although both Robert and my grandmother Grace are buried in Queensland, their final resting places are in different parts of the state, reflecting their individual movements and circumstances.

Karrakatta Cemetery, Western Australia

One of the more distant burial locations in the family belongs to John Thomas Brown (1850–1918), another brother of my great-grandfather.

John Thomas is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery in Western Australia. He had moved to Western Australia from New South Wales in his late forties, taking him a considerable distance from the Northern Rivers district where earlier generations of the family had settled. 

His grave is unmarked, but its location has been identified.

Of the Australian burial places currently known to me, his is among the furthest from the family's concentration of graves around Lismore. It raises interesting questions about the circumstances that took John Thomas to Western Australia and the course his life followed there.

Burial Locations Still Unknown

Not every family history search leads to a known cemetery or surviving headstone. Several Brown family members remain without an identified burial location.

Two brothers of my great-grandfather, Richard Joseph Brown, died in early childhood:

• Henry Johnson Brown (1847–1848), who died as an infant.

• Elias Brown (1856–1858), who died at approximately two years of age.

Their exact burial locations have not yet been established.

The deaths of these two young children are a reminder of the difficulties faced by families during the nineteenth century. Although their lives were short, they remain part of the family's history and deserve to be remembered alongside their siblings who survived to adulthood.

There are also gaps in the earlier generation of the family. 

The burial places of William Brown (born 1814), Alexander Brown (born 1816) and Ann Brown (born 1829), siblings of my 2x great-grandfather Henry Johnson Brown, remain unknown.

My research suggests that they may have remained in England, but their places and dates of death have not yet been established.

Further back still is my paternal third great-grandfather, Henry Johnson Brown (1782–1853). 

His burial location has not been confirmed, although my research suggests that he may have been buried in or around Whitehaven, Cumberland, England, which was the birthplace of my 2x great grandfather and his siblings.

What These Burial Places Tell Me

When I look at the Brown family burial locations together, several interesting patterns emerge.

• The most obvious is the family's strong association with the Lismore and the surrounding Northern Rivers district of New South Wales following Henry Johnson Brown's arrival in Australia from England. Over time, however, the graves became more widely scattered. Some members of the family were buried in Sydney, others in Queensland, and one in Western Australia, reflecting the movement of individual family members away from their original home district.

• Another interesting pattern is the variety of cemetery sections in which members of the family are buried.  This really surprised me! Among the burial records are Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Roman Catholic and Non Sectarian sections. This suggests different religious or denominational connections withing the extended family, although burial records alone do not necessarily tell the full story of an individual's beliefs.

• I was struck by the number of unmarked graves. At least six relatives in this collection have identified burial locations but no recorded headstone, including my great-grandfather Richard and my 2x great-grandfather Henry.

• Finally, there are those relatives whose burial places remain unknown. For some of the earlier Brown family members who may have remained in England, I have yet to establish their dates and places of death.

Remembering the Brown Family

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The accompanying Brown Family Burial Places table records each relative's name, relationship to me, dates, cemetery location and additional notes, where applicable. It also identifies unmarked graves and burial locations that remain unknown.

As with all my family history research, this is a work in progress, and I hope to add further information as new records and photographs become available.

Name of Relative	Relationship to Me	Burial Location	Notes
My paternal grandmother and her siblings
Grace Olive Connors nee Brown 1885-1974	Paternal Grandmother	Gympie Cemetery, Gympie, Queensland, Australia	Buried beside her husband George Connors
Lillian Ruth O'Donnell nee Brown 1887-1911	Paternal Grandaunt	Roman Catholic Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia	No photo available
Elsie Myrtle Harris nee Brown 1890-1982	Paternal Grandaunt	Palmdale Lawn Cemetery & Memorial Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	Buried at a cemetery close to Booker Bay where Elsie had been living with her daughter
Marcella May (Marcy) Tyler nee Brown 1892-1973	Paternal Grandaunt	Wardell Cemetery, Wardell, New South Wales, Australia	Buried beside her husband Alfred Loring Tyler
My paternal great-grandfather and his siblings
Richard Joseph Brown 1861-1947	Paternal Great-Grandfather	East Lismore General Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia	Unmarked burial plot – no headstone
Henry Johnson Brown 1847-1848	Paternal Great-Granduncle	Burial location unknown	No photo available
Alexander Johnson (Sandy) Brown 1849-1931	Paternal Great-Granduncle	East Lismore General Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia	Buried with wife Margaret Jane Brown nee Bustard.
John Thomas Brown 1850-1918	Paternal Great-Granduncle	Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Karrakatta, Western Australia, Australia	Unmarked burial plot – no headstone. Had moved to Western Australia in his late 40s.
Anne Caroline Penelope Edwards nee Brown 1853-1910	Paternal Great-Grandaunt	East Lismore General Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia	Buried with husband Edward Hocking Edwards in a plot with quite a substantial monument.
Henry Johnson Brown 1855-1938	Paternal Great-Granduncle	East Lismore General Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia	Unmarked burial plot – no headstone.
Elias Brown 1856-1858	Paternal Great-Granduncle	Burial location unknown	No photo available.
William Norman Brown 1858-1937	Paternal Great-Granduncle	East Lismore General Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia	Buried with wife Eliza Brown nee Cusack.
James Irving Clark Stephenson Brown 1859-1947	Paternal Great-Granduncle	North Lismore Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia	Unmarked burial plot - no headstone.
Eliza Duncan Gall nee Brown 1863-1938	Paternal Great-Grandaunt	Moorefields Methodist Cemetery, Kingsgrove, New South Wales, Australia	Buried with husband Robert Gall, daughter Janet and her husband James Luther McClelland.
Francis Summers Hayes (Frank) Brown 1865-1928	Paternal Great-Granduncle	Church of England Cemetery, Rookwood, New South Wales, Australia	No photo available.
Robert Frederick Bayley Brown 1866-1941	Paternal Great-Granduncle	War Section, Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia	Unmarked burial plot – no headstone. Robert had moved to Queensland around the age of 40, not long after the death of his wife. He served in WW1.
My paternal 2x great-grandfather
Henry Johnson Brown 1820-1868	Paternal Great Great-grandfather	North Lismore Cemetery, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia	Unmarked burial plot – no headstone
William Brown 1814-	Paternal 2nd Great-Granduncle	Burial Location Unknown.	No photo available
Alexander Brown 1816-	Paternal 2nd Great-Granduncle	Burial Location Unknown.	No photo available
Sarah King nee Brown 1822-1897	Paternal 2nd Great-Grandaunt	Tintenbar Cemetery, Tintenbar, New South Wales, Australia	Buried with her husband Richard King in a burial plot with quite a substantial monument
Ann Brown 1829-	Paternal 2nd Great-Grandaunt	Burial Location Unknown	No photo available
My paternal 3x great-grandfather
Henry Johnson Brown 1782-1853	Paternal Great Great Great-Grandfather	Burial Location Unknown – Likely in Whitehaven, Cumberland, England	No photo available

Where They Rest: Burial Places Of My McCane (Muckian) Family

When tracing my family tree, I often find myself following my ancestors and extended family through the familiar records of birth, marriage and death. But burial places add another layer to their stories. They show where a person’s life ended, where a family had settled, where relatives gathered, and sometimes where evidence has been lost and the record simply falls silent.

In my maternal McCane (Muckian) line, these burial places trace a journey that began in County Armagh, Ireland, and stretched across oceans to Queensland, Australia, and New York in the United States.

Some of these burial places have headstones that have stood for more than a century. Others are marked by more recent memorials, lovingly maintained by the generations that followed.  Then there are those resting places I have yet to find.

Altogether, these graves, both known and unknown, tell another part of my family's story.

A Family Name That Crossed Oceans

One of the interesting things I have discovered while researching my McCane family is how the surname changed as different members of the family made their lives in different countries.

The original Irish surname was Muckian, sometimes recorded as Muckean, Mackian or McKane. In Australia, the family became known as McCane, while in the United States, the surname took the form Kane.

These variations have sometimes made it difficult to follow the family through the records, particularly when searching for burial places.  An ancestor who was born a Muckian in Ireland might have died as a McCane in Queensland or a Kane in New York.  Without knowing the family connections, there would be little to suggest that the names on these distant gravestones belong to members of the same Irish family.

Yet that is exactly what makes tracing their burial places so interesting.  Each one adds another piece to the story of a family that gradually spread across three countries.

Home Hill: A Family Resting Place in North Queensland

One of the strongest connections I have found among the McCane burial records in Australia is at the Home Hill General Cemetery, in Queensland's Burdekin district.

My maternal great-grandfather, Owen McCane / Muckian (1859–1930), is buried there.

Owen was born into the Muckian family in Ireland and later made his home in Queensland, where his surname became McCane.

His grave is marked by a memorial shared with his wife, Margaret McCane née Farrell, who died in 1955. Their names appear together on the inscription, a lasting reminder of the life and family they established in Australia.

Owen and Margaret had seven children, all born in Charters Towers, Queensland. As the children grew older, their lives took them to different parts of the state, although several eventually made their homes in the Burdekin district.

Three of their children, together with their spouses, are buried at Home Hill.

Their daughter, Susan Mary Bidgood née McCane (1892–1974), my maternal grandaunt, is buried there. 

Her memorial also remembers her husband, Frank Bidgood, who died in 1932.

Two of Susan's brothers, my maternal granduncles, also have their final resting places at Home Hill.

John Michael McCane (1901–1985), known as Jack, rests beneath a substantial family memorial. 

The inscription includes his wife, Myreen Catherine, and words of affection from their family.

Nearby in the same cemetery is the grave of another brother, James Patrick McCane (1904–1982), known as Jim, who is buried with his wife, Marie Sybil, who died in 1990. 

Their memorial records them as beloved parents, a reminder of the next generation of McCane descendants who continued the family story.

I find it rather special that so many members of Owen and Margaret's family came to rest in the same cemetery. Although their lives took them along different paths, Home Hill became a final gathering place for several members of this branch of the family. 

Bowen: My Grandmother's Resting Place

Another important place in my McCane family history is Bowen General Cemetery, further south along the Queensland coast.

My maternal grandmother, Sarah Mary Josephine O'Donnell née McCane (1894–1970), the second daughter of Owen and Margaret, is buried there.

Her burial place holds particular meaning for me because it brings together two branches of my maternal family tree: the McCane line and the O'Donnell line.

Born a McCane, Sarah became an O'Donnell through marriage. Her burial in Bowen connects her to the community that became such an important part of the O'Donnell family story.

Her memorial is a relatively simple plaque bearing the name Sarah O'Donnell and the date of her death, 26 April 1970. Behind that name though is a much larger family story. Anyone visiting the cemetery without knowing Sarah's background would see little to suggest that she had been born into the McCane family, or that her paternal ancestors had once lived in County Armagh, Ireland, under the surname Muckian.

It reminds me how much of a person's story can be hidden behind the name recorded on a gravestone.  A married surname may preserve one part of a woman's life while leaving her earlier family connections almost invisible.

Bowen is also the burial place of Sarah's youngest brother, Edward Joseph McCane (1907–1983), known as Eddie.

His memorial describes him as a good man, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. 

I particularly like these words because they tell us something that dates and cemetery registers cannot.  They offer a glimpse of how Eddie was remembered by the people who knew and loved him. His memorial also reminds me that another part of the McCane family made its home in this coastal town.

Charters Towers: Remembering a Young Life

Not every burial place marks the end of a long life.  Some are reminders of children whose lives ended far too soon.

My maternal granduncle, Edward William McCane (1896–1905), is buried at the Charters Towers Monumental & Lawn Cemetery.

Edward was only nine years old when he died in February 1905.

His grave is marked by a memorial that also names his parents, my maternal great-grandparents, Owen and Margaret MCane. The inscription includes the affectionate words "our loved", a small but touching reminder of the grief his family must have felt at losing him.

Unlike the later family memorials at Home Hill and Bowen, Edward's grave tells the story of a family member who did not have the opportunity to grow up and make a life of his own. The grave preserves his place in the family though. Without such a memorial, Edward might easily have become little more than a name and two dates on the family tree. Instead, there is a particular place where he is remembered, a visible reminder that he was a dearly loved child whose loss mattered to his family.

His burial at Charters Towers also connects us to an earlier chapter in the McCane family's Queensland story.  Charters Towers was where Owen McCane and Margaret Farrell married, and where all seven of their children were born.  During those years, the town was an important centre of life for the young family.

Around ten years after Edward William's death however, the surviving members of the family had moved from Charters Towers to establish a family farm near Gumlu, in north Queensland.  Over time, several members of the family moved further north to Home Hill, where they eventually spent their retirement years.

Edward, however, remained at Charters Towers.  While his parents and siblings continued their lives elsewhere, his grave remained in the town where the family had begun its Australian story together.

Mackay: A Family Connection Further South

Another of Owen and Margaret's sons, my maternal granduncle Thomas Owen McCane (1899–1967), known as Tom, is buried at Mount Bassett Cemetery in Mackay.

His headstone records his death on 27 July 1967, aged 68 years.

While three of Tom's siblings are buried at Home Hill, and two others at Bowen, his final resting place is further south along the Queensland coast.

I find it interesting to see how the burial places of seven children from the same family came to be spread across different towns.  All seven were born in Charters Towers, but their lives followed different paths.  Some remained close to each other, while another established a home elsewhere.

Tom's grave at Mackay adds another place to the map of McCane family connections in Queensland.  It also reminds me that the family's migration story did not end when Owen left Ireland and settled in Australia.  The next generation continued to move, finding work, establishing homes and raising their own families in different communities.

Old Killevy: Searching for the Earlier Irish Generations

Following my McCane-Muckian family line back beyond Queensland takes me to County Armagh in Ireland, where the family lived long before Owen made his journey to Australia.

My 2x great-grandfather, Patrick Muckian / Muckean (1817–1887), lived at Ballintemple in the Civil Parish of Killevy (the Roman Catholic Parish of Killeavy Lower), not far from the old Killevy churchyard and graveyard.

Killevy Old Churches Graveyard
County Armagh, Northern Ireland

It is possible that Patrick and his eldest son, Edward Muckian (1854–1914), known as Ned, were both buried there, as Edward stayed on the nearby family farm until his death. I have yet to find any records confirming their resting places though.

I had the opportunity to visit Killevy Old Churches Graveyard myself, hoping that I might discover some trace of Patrick or Edward among the old headstones.  Unfortunately, I found nothing that could confirm either man's burial there.

Old churchyards can hold generations of family history, but their secrets are not always easily uncovered.  Headstones become weathered and difficult to read.  Some graves were never marked with permanent memorials, and older burial registers have not always survived.  Even when records do exist, variations in the spelling of family surnames can make identifying the right person difficult.

For now, Killevy remains a possible resting place rather than a confirmed one.  I would dearly love to find that final piece of evidence linking my family's Australia story to a particular grave in the Irish countryside, not far from where my ancestors once lived.  Perhaps my 2x great grandfather and my great-grand uncle are resting in the graveyard, among generations of neighbours and relatives.  Or perhaps their graves lie in another churchyard somewhere in County Armagh.  Until I find further evidence, that part of their story remains unfinished.

The Family Members Who Remained in Ireland

Not every member of the Muckian family left Ireland. 

While Owen travelled to Australia and his younger brother eventually made his home in America, some of their siblings remained in County Armagh and neighbouring County Down.  As well as Owen's and John's eldest brother who remained on the family farm in Ballintemple; two of their sisters also remained in Ireland. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to establish the exact burial places of any of these family members.

Mary Elizabeth McCabe née Muckian (1856-1919), my great-grandaunt, was one of the family members who remained in Ireland.  I have only recently discovered her death record, which confirms that her death was registered in 1919 in Newry No. 1, County Down.

Although I have yet to discover her exact burial place, this new information gives me another promising lead.  Perhaps Mary Elizabeth was laid to rest in a cemetery or churchyard near Newry, not far from the communities where other members of the family had lived.

Another sister, Anne Barry née Muckian (1864-1956), is thought to have been buried in Camlough, County Armagh, where she lived with her husband and family. I have not yet found confirmation of this.

Like my grandmother Sarah, both women are remembered in the available records under their married surnames which adds another challenge when searching for graves and burial registers.  It is quite possible that their final resting places are still somewhere close to the communities where the family lived for generations.  I hope that further research into the old burial grounds and parish records of County Armagh and County Down may eventually reveal where these two women were laid to rest a well.

John Muckian: The American Branch

The McCane–Muckian family story did not lead only from Ireland to Australia. Another branch crossed the Atlantic to the United States.

John Muckian / Kane (1863–1922), my great-granduncle and a younger brother of Owen McCane, made his home in America, where he became known by the surname Kane. John settled in Rensselaer County, New York, and established his new life there.  His exact burial place remains unknown, although Rensselaer County is a possible location given his connection to the area.

I often think about how differently the lives of these two brothers unfolded.  Both were born into the Muckian family in Ireland, yet one journeyed to Australia and became known as McCane, while the other crossed the Atlantic to America and adopted the surname Kane. Their lives took them to opposite sides of the world and their original family surname was left behind.

Where Their Stories Came To Rest

What began as one family in Ireland became several branches, separated by oceans, distances and even changes in surname.  Yet when I look at these burial places together, the connections between them are still there.  Perhaps that is one of the things I find most meaningful about tracing my family history.  Every grave I discover gives me another place to connect with an ancestor or a relative, another reminder of a life lived, and another small piece of the family's story.

Family history is not only about discovering where previous generations were born, married and died.  It is also about remembering where they came to rest, the people who mourned them, and the places where their stories still linger.

Burial Places of my McCane / Muckian Ancestors and their Siblings

Name of Relative	Relationship to Me	Burial Location	Notes
My Grandmother and Her Siblings
Sarah Mary Josephine O'Donnell née McCane 1894–1970	Maternal Grandmother	Bowen General Cemetery, Bowen, Queensland, Australia	Buried beside her two daughters Marcella Webber née O'Donnell and Margaret Brigid Connors née O'Donnell.
Susan Mary Bidgood née McCane 1892–1974	Maternal Grand Aunt	Home Hill General Cemetery, Home Hill, Queensland, Australia	Buried with her husband Frank Bidgood at the cemetery closest to the family farm.
Edward William McCane 1896–1905	Maternal Grand Uncle	Charters Towers Monumental & Lawn Cemetery, Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia	Monument lists his parents and the cause of his death at such a young age.
Thomas Owen (Tom) McCane 1899–1967	Maternal Grand Uncle	Mount Bassett Cemetery, Mackay, Queensland, Australia	Buried beside his wife Agnes Theresa McCane née Parnell.
John Michael (Jack) McCane 1901–1985	Maternal Grand Uncle	Home Hill General Cemetery, Home Hill, Queensland, Australia	Buried beside wife Myreen Catherine McCane née Farrell at the cemetery closest to the family farm.
James Patrick (Jim) McCane 1904–1982	Maternal Grand Uncle	Home Hill General Cemetery, Home Hill, Queensland, Australia	Buried beside wife Margaret (Marie) Sybil McCane née Crofton at the cemetery closest to the family farm.
Edward Joseph (Eddie) McCane 1907–1983	Maternal Grand Uncle	Bowen General Cemetery, Bowen, Queensland, Australia	Buried beside wife Alice Maud McCane née Wilson.
My Great-Grandfather and His Siblings
Owen McCane / Muckian 1859–1930	Maternal Great Grandfather	Home Hill General Cemetery, Home Hill, Queensland, Australia	Buried beside his wife Margaret McCane née Farrell at the cemetery closest to the family farm.
Anne (Nancy) Barry née Muckian 1864–1956	Maternal Great-Grandaunt	Burial Location Unknown	Likely buried in Camlough, County Armagh, where she lived on a family farm with her husband.
John Muckian / Kane 1863–1922	Maternal Great-Granduncle	Burial Location Unknown	Likely buried in Rensselaer County, New York, where he lived when he emigrated.
Mary Elizabeth McCabe née Muckian 1856–1919	Maternal Great-Grandaunt	Burial Location Unknown	Likely buried near Newry, County Down, where she lived with her husband.
Edward (Ned) Muckian 1854–1914	Maternal Great-Granduncle	Burial Location Unknown	Likely buried in the Old Killeavy Churchyard, County Armagh, close to the family farm.
My 2x Great-Grandfather (Siblings Unknown)
Patrick Muckian / Muckean 1817–1887	Maternal 2x Great-Grandfather	Burial Location Unknown	Likely buried in the Old Killeavy Churchyard, County Armagh, close to the family farm.