The Story of James Burke

This post tells the story of my maternal Great Great Grandfather, James Burke (1811 - 1878).  

James was born in 1811 in southern County Tipperary to father David Burke and mother Mary Whelan.

Catholic Parish Register 1811

The area shaded in red depicts the Parish of Powerstown

He was baptised on March 10th 1811 in the Parish of Powerstown (also known as Powerstown & Lisronagh) of the Waterford and Lismore Diocese.

This parish is very close to Clonmel and Kilsheelin, both of these places have been mentioned in oral family history as homes for members of the extended Burke family.

My great great grandfather's name was recorded as 'Jacobum' and his sponsers were Michael Power and Ann Rieley.

I have found scant details about his childhood unfortunately, other than the fact I have found evidence that a brother William was born two years previously.  I can find no other records of children born to David Burke and Mary Whelan.


In early 1833, at the age of 22, James married Catherine Crotty in the Newcastle Parish in County Waterford.

Catholic Parish Register 1833

Usually weddings occurred in the parish of the bride and her family, so I'm assuming the Crottys were living in the Newcastle Parish at that time.  Witnesses were Thomas Condon and John Nugent.

James and Catherine went on to have seven children over a period of nineteen years.  I have found records for:

David born in 1835.  James was aged 24 at this time.
William born in 1841.
Tobias born in 1843.
Maurice born in 1846.
John born in 1848.
Bridget, my Great Grandmother, born in 1851.  James was now aged 40.
James born in 1854.

All children, except their last born, were registered as having been born in the area known as Three Bridges, close to Carrick-on-Suir in County Waterford; so it appears that James and Catherine moved there not long after they were married.

Then sometime between the birth of my great grandmother Bridget in 1851 and the birth of their last born son in 1854, it appears that my 2x great grandfather James, then aged 43, his wife Catherine and their six children had moved to farmland in Killonerry, County Kilkenny.  The birth record for their last born son had Killonerry recorded as his place of birth.

My research led me to the 1850 Griffith's Valuation records for Killonerry, County Kilkenny, where I found there was a Thomas Whelan, along with tow other gentlemen, listed as persons holding land in Killonerry in the exact position where the Burke family farm was (and still is) located.

This is where my great great grandfather James Burke and his family moved to just before the birth of their last son.  It appears likely that Thomas Whelan was a relative of James's mother Mary whose maiden name was Whelan.  This may explain the move from Three Bridges to Killonerry, if indeed Thomas Whelan took over the entire holding and then passed it on to a descendant of one of the Whelan clan.

My great great grandfather James Burke and his wife Catherine were to spend the rest of their lives, working and living on that farm in Killonerry.

Their eldest son David, moved away around 1863 to begin his own life.  Second born son William migrated to Australia sometime in the early 1860s.  I can't find any information about what happened to Tobias.

Maurice, the fourth born, appears to have moved away briefly in 1875 when he became a father, but then moved back onto the farm in 1876 when he married.  He went on to have a family and raised them all on the family farm.  Fourth born John married in 1873 and moved away.

In 1873, James's wife Catherine passed away.  They had been married for 40 years.  James was 62 years of age by then.

James himself died just five years later, in 1878, aged 67.

At the time of James's death, it appears that son Maurice, Maurice's wife Anne Prendergast and their two children, as well as my Great Grandmother were still living on the family farm.

My Great Grandmother Bridget Burke remained on the farm with her brother and his family for a period of five more years, and then she migrated to Australia.  Maurice then became the owner of the family farm, worked the farm, raised his family for another 14 years until his death.

The Story of Mary Ann Farley - Part Two

So, this week I'm continuing on with the story of my paternal Great Great Grandmother, Mary Ann Farley  (?1829/1830 - 1910).

Given all the sketchy, yet to be proven, details of her childhood years (discussed in my last post), I'm only really certain about the life story of Mary Ann from the day of her marriage to my Great Great Grandfather.  So I'm beginning her story in her late teens.

In the year 1847, in the town of Wollongong, New South Wales, Mary Ann married Adolphus Hukins, an Englishman born in Kent, who had emigrated with his mother, father and siblings some eight years before this.

Given Mary Ann's age as recorded on her death certificate, it appears that she married Adolphus when she was possibly 17 years old.  He was 24.

A map of the Peterborough Estate in 1847

They married in Wollongong, but both stated that were living in Peterborough which was a little township surrounded by an estate known as  Peterborough Estate.  Peterborough later became known as Shellharbour.

Records show a son, Adolphus Crittenden, was born in 1849, when Mary Ann was 19.  As she had married when she was 17, and after the birth of Adolphus she went on to have another 12 children over the following 20 years, it seems likely she might have lost a child in the year or so after her marriage.

After Adolphus Crittenden (known as Chris),
James was born in 1850.
Susannah (my great grandmother) was born in 1851.
John came along in 1853.
Mary was born in 1854.
Thomas was born in 1856.
Adelaide was born in 1860.  By this time Mary Ann was aged 30.
George was born in 1861.
Alfred came along in 1863.
Twins, Eleanor and Cassandra were born in 1865.
Amy was born in 1867.
Arthur came along in 1869, when Mary Ann was aged 40.

It seems that Mary Ann and her husband Adolphus moved from Peterborough to Jamberoo, outside Kiama, soon after their marriage.




The birthplace of their first four children was listed as Jamberoo.  This is where Mary Ann's parents were living at that time, as were Adolphus's father, mother and older brothers.  Historical electoral rolls for the district of Kiama in New South Wales show that for the years 1855 - 1856, Adolphus, his father James and his two older brothers James Jnr. and John, were all the owners of freehold land on Curramore Estate in Jamberoo.

Sometime around 1854 however, Mary Ann and her husband appear to have moved into the town of Kiama.  By 1855, Mary Ann's husband had acquired a publican's licence, and was following in the footsteps of his father and mother, who had both been innkeepers back in the village of Woodchurch in Kent, England.  He still had the land in Jamberoo, but it does not appear as though the family ever lived there.

Photo of the Steam Packet Inn (on the left), which had originally been the Four In Hand Inn

It's likely Mary Ann would have worked alongside her husband at the 'Four In Hand' Inn in Kiama from 1855 to 1859, whilst raising six children and falling pregnant with a seventh.

The next 30 or so years were to be some of the hardest ever years of Mary Ann's life, and I am in no doubt that the insecurities and experiences she must have endured bought her to the absolute depths of despair.

Sadly, Mary Ann's mother Nancy passed away in 1858 back in the small town of Jamberoo.  It was at this time that Mary Ann's husband Adolphus was having creditor issues and was appearing before the insolvency court.  He lost the main source of the family's income - the 'Four In Hand' inn - but he was allowed to keep the household furniture and wearing apparel.

Imagine the uncertainty and anxiety that must have beset Mary Ann during all of this.  The family had to move out of the inn and Adolphus had to find another form of employment.  I'm not entirely sure what the family did.  Perhaps they moved on to the farmland that Adolphus owned on the Curramore Estate at Jamberoo, outside Kiama.  What appears to have happened though is that they set up home somewhere else in Kiama.

Things didn't improve much when it came to the behaviour and conduct of Adolphus unfortunately.  He was up on charges of stealing in 1862, just a mere four year after losing the inn.  In 1873 he was charged with drunkenness and a damages claim had been lodged against him.

When this damages claim was settled, Adolphus had lost everything.  The land at Jamberoo and all its assets were sold.

It appears that not long after this (or perhaps a little before) Mary Ann, her husband Adolphus and most of their children were living in a place around 180 kms to the south of Kiama.

In mid 1874 Mary Ann's second-born daughter Mary Barnes passed away.  The newspaper item in the Sydney Morning Herald stated that she was aged 19 and living with her mother and father in Broulee.  The registration district listed on her death certificate was Moruya, which is not far from Broulee on the south coast of New South Wales.

Mary Ann was aged 44 at this time.  It would have been heartbreaking losing a child well before her time.  The cause of death was listed as dysentery, which Mary Barnes had apparently been suffering for a period of three weeks.  No doubt it would have been Mary Ann taking care of Mary during her illness.

Her other children would have been aged between 25 and 5.  The oldest boys Adolphus Crittenden (known as Chris), James, John and Thomas were out in the world making a living of their own and appear to have been living elsewhere.  There were all in their early to mid 20s.  Susannah, the eldest girl (my great grandmother) aged 23, was married by this time and living in a home of her own.

The seven youngest children, aged between 14 and 5, were still at home under the care of Mary Ann at the time of Mary Barnes's death.  Mary Ann was no doubt the one who was holding everything together and ensuring the children were housed, clothed and fed, whilst caring for her ailing daughter Mary.  I have no doubt that the loss of Mary Barnes would have hurt Mary Ann deeply.

By 1886 it appears that Mary Ann's husband Adolphus was living in what was then known as Ryde Village, in Sydney.  Sands Directories of Sydney & New South Wales records Adolphus as a store-keeper in Glebe Street, Ryde.  I'm not entirely convinced that Mary Ann was living with him at this stage.

Uncertainty and upheaval still reigned in Mary Ann's life though, as her husband Adolphus was again facing insolvency proceedings just a mere 2 years later in 1888.  At the beginning of 1889, Adolphus was listed as a bankrupt grocer in the Government Gazette of New South Wales.

It definitely appears that by early 1889 Mary Ann and her husband Adolphus were not living under the same roof.  It looks as if Mary Ann was living on her own in Edwin Street, Croydon.  All her children were leading lives of their own and many had families of their own.  Some were living in or around Sydney, and it seems that Mary Ann was still very much a part of their lives.

Not long after the start of 1889 Mary Ann was spending most of her time helping to care for her daughter Adelaide Ann.  Adelaide, aged 29, was married, had two young daughters aged 5 and 3, and was suffering phthisis pulmonalis (pulmonary tuberculosis) for several months.

It seems that the illness and suffering of her third eldest daughter took a toll on Mary Ann, as she attempted to take her own life just days before Adelaide died.  Mary Ann's name appears in the 1889 New South Wales Police Gazette,

NSW Police Gazette 1889

and in a record dated 1889 in the Register of Criminal Cases tried at Sydney Quarter Sessions 1888-1891.

NSW Criminal Court Records - Register of criminal cases tried at Sydney Quarter Sessions 1888-1891

The details written in small newspaper items give a much clearer picture of exactly what happened though.

Evening News, Wed 26 June 1889

According to Doctor Hodgson, who gave evidence at her trial, on the evening of the 20th of June he found Mary Ann on the floor with two deep cuts on her left arm.  It appears Mary Ann had used scissors to inflict the cuts and then collapsed.

The article mentions that Mary Ann had been nursing a patient and had not slept for three nights.  The patient would have been her daughter Adelaide.

The doctor went on to state that it took five or six hours after he had stopped the flow of blood before Mary Ann appeared to show signs of life.


He did not allow her to be removed by the police, and instead arranged for a "watch being kept over the patient."



In another newspaper article it was reported that Dr. Hodgson declared that Mary Ann must have been "suffering from melancholia at the time of committing this act".

Charges were laid a week later, but Mary Ann was allowed out on bail.  She paid the sum of £25, which she apparently paid herself.  Sadly her daughter Adelaide Ann, died on the 30th of June, which was the same month that Mary Ann's eldest daughter, Mary Barnes, had died fifteen years earlier.

Mary Ann appeared before the court on the 23rd of August 1889.  She was 60 years old.

The records show that Mary Ann pleaded guilty.


There were no witnesses appearing before the judge on her behalf, but a man named Charles Septimus Smith paid a sum of £50 as surety and Mary Ann received a sentence of six months good behaviour.

Quarter Sessions - Sydney Morning Herald Sat 24 Aug 1889 p8

I was quite disheartened and upset when I first found out that my great great grandmother reached such depths of despair and pain that she thought suicide was an option.

It was terrific to see that the judge expressed an opinion that "from inquiries which had been made it did not appear a serious case or one demanding punishment and he therefore discharged her on recognizances being entered into by two of her friends that she would be of good behaviour for six months."

How heartening it was to see that she had two good friends who would ensure her good health and recovery for at least a period of six months.


Thankfully, Mary Ann lived for quite a number of years after this, and I hope with all my heart, they were relatively happy years for her, although there were to be a number of sad events that happened before Mary Ann left this world.

Adolphus, her husband (my great great grandfather) died in 1892, when Mary Ann was 62.  They had been married for 45 years.

Five years later, in 1897, Mary Ann's son Adolphus Crittenden (known as Chris) died at the age of 48.  Mary Ann herself was 67 at this time.

Her eldest daughter, Susannah (known as Susan), my great grandmother, died in 1910 at the age of 58.  Mary Ann was aged 80 and only survived Susan by a month.

It appears Mary Ann was living with her youngest son Arthur and his family at the time of her death.  The cause of death was listed as broncho-pneumonia.  It does seem strange that she died during the month of June ... the month that had seen the death of two of her daughters and the month when she had attempted suicide.

Thanks to the dedication of my cousin Carmel, we now know exactly where Mary Ann's final resting place is in the picturesque cemetery at Waverley in Sydney.

The rather plain and unadorned grave site of Mary Ann Hukins, nee Farley
(Photo courtesy of Carmel Ryan)

Her rather plain grave site looks out over the magnificent sight of Bronte Beach at Waverley, and as cousin Carmel has noted, she is buried amongst some of Australia's "greatest cultural shapers including poets Henry Lawson, Henry Kendall and Dorothea Mackellar."   An amazing resting place for such a battler!