The Story Of William and Johanna Burke (Bourke)

My post this week will be telling the story of my maternal great granduncle William Burke (Bourke)  (1841 - 1891), and his wife Johanna McNamara (c1830 - 1906).  Theirs is a story of perseverance in the face of seemingly never-ending sorrow and adversity, and my research attempts to uncover the details of their lives has also been an exercise in perseverance.  

My Common Ancestors with William are:  James Burke and Catherine Crotty.

Memorial at the Drayton & Toowoomba Cemetery, Toowoomba, Queensland

I've been attempting to uncover their stories for about seven years now, ever since a distant relative, my maternal 3rd cousin, sent me a photo of this monument erected to their memory.  

My distant cousin and I knew we were related to the William Burke etched on the monument, but didn't know many of the details of his life, and we certainly knew nothing of his wife Johanna.  The only thing we knew for certain was that they had been born in Ireland and had lived all their married life in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.

So began my research efforts, and over time, a picture of these lives has started to emerge.

I started with the etching on the monument, which stated:

In Loving Memory of

our Dear Father

and Mother

WILLIAM BURKE

died 21st March 1891

aged 51 years

JOHANNA BURKE

died 10th July 1906

aged 76 years

R.I.P.

With that inscription I had some information to work with, dependent of course on the accuracy of the dates and years that had been provided by a family member  (later on I was to find out that it was their only surviving son who had paid to have the monument erected).

So, possibly William had been born in either 1840 or 1841; and Johanna had probably been born in 1830 or 1831.   Hmmm, a ten-year difference between their ages?  Certainly not unheard of, especially if it was the man who was older.  In this case however, it was Johanna who appeared to be older.  Food for thought!

I then went to our Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and searched for a marriage record for William and Johanna, hoping that they had been married in Australia after immigration from Ireland.  The family history research collection has records of marriages between 1829 and 1947, and I instantly found and purchased a record that matched both names.

I now knew for certain that their stories had begun in Ireland, as their place of birth was listed as County Tipperary.  

The marriage record also listed the names of both sets of parents, and this confirmed my connection with William, as his parents were indeed my great great grandparents - James Burke and Catherine Crotty. 

William was an older brother of my great grandmother Bridget Burke, who had also emigrated from Ireland and with her husband Edmond O'Donnell had started my particular Aussie branch of the O'Donnell / Burke family.

Transcript of the original Catholic Parish Register of Births.

I went on to find the baptism record for William, on the Roots Ireland website, using the parents' names listed on his marriage certificate, and the date of birth I had surmised from the marriage certificate.  I was able to then say with certainty that William was in fact born in 1841 in the area known as Three Bridges in County Waterford.  He was the second-born son of his father, James Burke and his mother Catherine Crotty (my great grandparents).  

The entry in the original Catholic Parish Register from the Waterford & Lismore Parish.

The name on his baptism record was Gulielmus Burke and he was baptised in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary on the 22nd of March, 1841.

My next step was to scour a number of genealogy websites to find a record of baptism for Johanna, using her parents' names as listed on her marriage certificate - John McNamara and Catherine Sheehey.  

There was a problem straight away however, as I was uncertain about a possible date of birth.  The age listed on her marriage certificate led to a completely different possible date of birth than the calculation made after seeing the inscription of the cemetery monument.

If she was indeed 22 when she married in 1866, then her date of birth would have been 1843 / 1844, but the inscription on the cemetery monument stated that Johanna was aged 76 in 1906, which meant a date of birth in either 1830 or 1831.  Quite confusing, and quite a difference!

I went and purchased death certificates for both William and Johanna (again from our Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, which holds death records for the period 1829 and 1992), to confirm the names of both sets of parents, and possible confirmation of dates of birth. 

Both Johanna's marriage and death certificates confirmed that her parents' names were John McNamara and Catherine Sheehey / Shehey, but the death certificate had her age recorded as 74 at her time of death.  That meant a possible birth date of 1832!  I was starting to think that Johanna was a whole lot older that the age recorded on her marriage certificate, and was becoming more confident in relying on the information gleaned from the monument inscription and her death certificate.  

So far though, I have not been successful in uncovering any birth or baptism record for Johanna with those parents' names, or indeed any variants of the parents' and her name, and no success searching within that broad set of possible dates of birth - 1830 to 1844!  

Where to next?  I went in search of records that would indicate when both William and Johanna had arrived in Australia.  Given that they had married in Australia in 1866, then it was absolutely clear that they had emigrated before that.  Our Queensland State Govt. Archives holds immigration records kept by the Immigration Department for the years 1848 to 1912, and this was the place to start.

I begin searching for William's emigration record first, because there were likely to be less variants for his name - the surname could have been recorded as either Burke or Bourke - and I had a definitive date of birth.  I thought this search would be of short duration, and I could not have been more wrong!

Finding a record of William's emigration to Australia proved to be quite laborious and time-consuming.  It has literally taken years!  There have been many, many dead ends, as there were an inordinately large number of men named William Burke or Bourke, who were born around the same time and had emigrated during the period I was interested in - those years between my great grand uncle's birth and the year he married in Australia, 1841 to 1866. 

Each of the records that seemed more promising - ie. they had what I considered to be a more accurate age or place of origin - was not really helpful at all in the end, as they did not contain anything other than a name, nationality, port of departure and port or arrival.  None of that actually provided definitive proof it was my great grand uncle.

Finding a record of Johanna's emigration was even more difficult. There are quite a number of name variants that could have been recorded for her - Johanna, Johannah, Joanna, as well as McNamara, Macnamara, etc.  I once again used many genealogy sites to search for a Johanna McNamara, and all the variants of that name, who may have emigrated during the same time period I had been researching for my great grand uncle - 1841 to 1866.   

There was literally only one Johanna McNamara listed on the emigration records during all that time.  She was born in 1832, had emigrated to Australia in 1849 on her own, at the age of 17.  The problem with this possibility was that this Johanna would have led a single life in Australia for at least 17 years before getting married to my great grand uncle with her maiden name of McNamara.  That seemed extremely unlikely for those times.  The Johanna that had emigrated in 1849 had also came from County Limerick, not County Tipperary, so in the end, I dismissed this particular person as a match for my great grand aunt.

I essentially then gave up using their names to search these immigration records and took a break for a couple of years.  Recently however, a rather serendipitous event occurred.

I often randomly choose lists from the Queensland Registers of Immigrant Ships' Arrivals when I'm researching, without entering any particular names, and read through them just on the off chance I might recognise a name or two. 

Interestingly, I found a William Bourke and a J. McNamara travelling on the same ship and arriving in Australia in 1865.  The page was only part of the original record and there wasn't a great deal of detail on it, but my hopes rose!

You can see that the original book was intended to record the re-location of Pacific Islander labourers, but this title has been crossed out and the word "Melmerby" added.  These couple of pages then became the record of passengers who were aboard the ship Melmerby which left the port of Liverpool, in May of 1865, and arrived in Brisbane in September of 1865.

There were 14 first cabin (saloon) passengers, 8 second cabin passengers and 501 passengers in steerage.  The William Bourke and J. McNamara I found were both in steerage.  That was a good place to start a possible match.  Both William's and Johanna's parents were poor tenant farmers in Ireland, so they would definitely not be travelling in first or second cabin class on any ship.

The name, age and year of emigration appeared to match with William extremely well.  Although the surname was spelt 'Bourke', this was how it was sometimes spelt in Ireland.  The age certainly matches as William would have been 23 years old when the ship set sail in May.

Regarding Johanna, the 'J' in J. McNamara doesn't prove that it was actually Johanna, but I do think that if we accept that she was more likely born in either 1830/1831 or 1832 (as indicated on the cemetery monument / death certificate), then Johanna would have been close to 30 years of age, making it a possibility that this was indeed Johanna travelling with William the year before they got married in Australia.

If I accept that this was indeed my great grand uncle and his wife-to-be, that means they left Ireland and travelled aboard the ship Melmerby, bound for Australia the year before they were to be married, arriving in Brisbane, on September the 9th, 1865.  Of course, I can not say this is definitive evidence, but it has the right vibe!!!  Genealogy research can be a lot of guesswork at times.

If I am correct, then William and Johanna had a rather eventful journey aboard the Melmerby.  Newspaper reports published in September of 1865 give a detailed account of the trip:

Apparently, the first half of the four-month voyage was relatively uneventful, consisting of light winds and beautiful weather.  The ship crossed the equator in June, passed the Cape of Good Hope in July and all appeared to be well.

Then on the morning of July 27 

"suddenly and without any warning the mainmasthead broke, bringing with it the mainyard, main-topmast, topgallant and royal masts, also the mizen top-mast, topgallant mast, and all the gear attached; also the foretopgallant mast, foretopsail yard, and all the gear belonging thereto, leaving the ship for the time being quite a wreck.

The captain, officers and crew displayed the utmost coolness at the time of the disaster, and proceeded with

great despatch to cut away the wreck of masts, sails, yards, etc. hanging over the side of the ship, which happily was effected before dark, without any accidents, and so saving the mainmast, which was tottering with the weight of wreck attached to it at every roll of the ship, and the vessel made as snug as the circumstances would allow of.

It seems difficult to account for the accident, as the wind was steady and not a gale, but the prevailing opinion is, that a whirlwind must have passed over the ship."

Imagine how the passengers would have reacted to all this happening, and the relief they would have felt once the crew had worked their magic!

That was not the end of their troubles however.

Just a few days later, on the morning of August 1st:

"about 8 a.m., during a violent gale, a heavy sea struck the vessel, and having fallen on the main hatch house completely smashed it in.  It was temporarily covered up and secured."

This was followed by another worrying event the very next day:

"Again, on the morning of Wednesday the 2nd, about 2 o'clock, a violent hurricane struck the vessel, lifting one of the quarter boats clean out of the davits, carrying it overboard.  The other one, with the heavy rolling of the ship, broke the poop rail, and split the covering board of the poop about eight feet, and to prevent further damage, the captain ordered it to be cut away."

According to the report, 

"the conduct of the passengers was very exemplary, they remaining calm, and not giving way to excitement, and providentially there was no accident to life or limb."

Interestingly, the report goes on to state that:

"The Melmerby brings a hardy race of emigrants, consisting chiefly of navvies to work on the railways now being constructed in Queensland."

This statement added weight to my supposition that my William and Johanna were indeed on this ship.  Even though William's occupation was listed as "saddler" on his marriage certificate, his death certificate listed his occupation as "railway employee".   I took this as an indication that I might be on the right track with my thoughts that there was a match between the two listed as passengers on the Melmerby and my great grand uncle and aunt.  

Now we get to the point where I can make an absolutely factual statement - William Burke married Johanna McNamara in Toowoomba, Queensland on the 26th of September, 1866.  Their life together had begun, but it was not going to be an easy one.

Making use once more of the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, which holds birth records for the period 1829 to 1922, I found evidence of nine children born to William and Johanna, between 1866 and 1878.

In January of 1867 Johanna gave birth to a boy named James.  

Traditionally, the Irish named their first born son after the father's father, and this seemed to be the case with William and Johanna.

Their first born was named James, the name of William's father.

Sadly, the little baby was stillborn.

Johanna was pregnant again within four months and a second son, named John, was born on the 29th of February, 1868.  

Once again, the second born son was named according to the traditional Irish naming pattern - named after the mother's father.  Johanna's father was named John.

Both Johanna and William would have been overjoyed to see their little one survive the birth and start to thrive.  Tragically however, their second born son died on the 20th of January the following year, 1869, aged only 1 year.  

The cause of death listed on his death certificate was "dentition".  This means the little boy died as a result of teething!   Teething!  I know the infant mortality rates were quite high in the late 1860s, but I was completely unaware that an infant could die as a result of a seemingly ordinary part of their growth.  How does something so innocuous result in death?

I remember my two sons' experiences with teething.  There were periodic episodes of crying and irritability, drooling, high temperatures and sleepless nights, for both boys and parents!!  Bonjela and teething rings were essential, (the occasional sip of good quality whisky, for the parents!) as well as long car rides in the middle of the night.  At no time however, did teething present as life-threatening in those days.  

A third son was born on the 12th of January, 1869.  His name was David. 

Whilst traditionally, the third born son was usually named after the father, in this case William and Johanna appeared to have named this son after William's older brother. 

Sadly, baby David passed away on January 30th, aged 18 days. The cause of death on his death certificate was "Marasmus".  This was a form of severe malnutrition.  

Let's just stop for a moment and think about what's happened to Johanna and William within a period of just two years: 

- their first son James was stillborn

- Johanna fell pregnant four months later

- Johanna gave birth to their second son

- She became pregnant the following month

- Johanna gave birth to their third son 

- Johanna and William then lost their second born son, eight days after the birth of their third

- Then tragically, their third son David died just ten days later, aged 18 days

So by the end of January 1869, they had lost three sons.   What misery they endured at the start of their marriage, and sadly their grief would continue. 

Johanna gave birth to their fourth son Robert on the 4th of November 1870.  

Heartbreakingly, he died on December 23rd, before he reached the age of 2 months.  

The cause of his death was listed as "debility from birth".  This generally means he was born as a physically weak baby.

Can you imagine the depths of despair both Johanna and William must have reached with the passing of each child!  Miraculously Johanna was pregnant again within a month.

A daughter was born in October of 1871.  She was named Catherine.  

According to traditional Irish naming patterns, the first born daughter was usually named after the mother's mother.  This was the case with William and Johanna's first born girl, as Catherine was Johanna's mother's name.  Coincidentally, it was also the name of William's mother.

Perhaps this was an omen as daughter Catherine was the first of Johanna's and William's children to survive, thrive and outlive both her parents.

Five months after Catherine's birth, Johanna was pregnant once more.  

Another daughter, named Ellen, was born on December 15th in 1872.  Tragedy struck again, as Ellen died in the 29th of January 1873, aged only 14 days.  

The cause of death was listed as "Aptha / Diarrhoea". 

A son named William Patrick was born on the 21st of March 1874. He seems to have been given his father's name

William was the second child to survive infancy and went on to survive both his parents.

Johanna was pregnant once again a year later, and gave birth to a daughter named Mary Ann on the 1st of December 1875.  

Tragically, Mary Ann died at the age of 5 weeks.  The cause of death was listed as "Debility from birth".

I found one more record of a child born to William and Johanna in September of 1877, but once again the poor little one was stillborn. 

So, after giving birth to nine children within a period of ten years, Johanna would only see two of them make it through their childhood years.  This tells me that William and Johanna were likely living in poverty and deprivation, and nutrition was severely lacking.  I'm making assumptions, but it sounds as if poor Johanna was herself not strong and healthy, and was poorly nourished.

The impression I get is that William and Johanna lived a harsh life for a lengthy period at the start of their marriage, but perhaps things turned around for them by the time their two surviving children reached their teenage years.

Information gleaned from William's death certificate and Johanna's death notice indicates that William spent his working life as a Queensland Railways employee and worked in the railway goods shed at the Toowoomba Railyard.  He, Johanna and their children lived in a house near the railway yard gates.  It would have been a modest home as working for the railways would have only provided a modest living.

William and Johanna were married for 24 years, but then William passed away in 1891 at the age of 50 (according to the information on his death certificate).

The cause of death listed on William's death certificate was heart disease and dropsy.  The length of time in the Australian colonies was listed as 25 years.  Given that William had died in early 1891, this makes 1865 as William's arrival date in Australia, giving more credence to my supposition that he was aboard the ship Melmerby!

With William's death, Johanna was widowed at the age of 59, with two children.  Catherine was 19 years old and William Patrick was 17.  I have not been able to find out much about their lives at this point.  

I found Johanna in both the 1903 and 1905 census records for Toowoomba, in her 70s, living at North Street.  There's also a Catherine and William Patrick living at North Street, her daughter and son.  Neither had married and they were living with their mother in the family home. 

 

In 1903, Johanna would have been aged 72.

In 1905, Johanna was aged 74 and living with her children, who no doubt looked after her with care in her elderly years.

In 1906, Johanna passed away.  Her death certificate states she was 74 years old and the cause of death was mitral valvulas disease of the heart and chronic nephritis.  Secondary causes listed included bronchitis and exhaustion.  It does sound as though poor Johanna was very ill towards the end of her life.

Using the National Library of Australia's online resource Trove Newspapers, I was able to find a death notice for Johanna.  

Her married name was recorded as Bourke, not Burke as recorded on her death certificate; but as I've previously mentioned the spelling was interchangeable on different records. 

The newspaper item does mention that she had been born in County Tipperary and had arrived in Toowoomba in 1865.

This once again lends credence to the possibility that she did come to Australia aboard the ship Melmerby.

Both of William's and Johanna's surviving children lived well into old age.  William Patrick died in 1953, aged 78.  Catherine died in 1959 at the age of 87.  I have not been able to find any record of William Patrick marrying and his death notice (which I found by using the National Library of Australia Trove Newspaper collection) did not mention any spouse or children.  

Information in William Patrick's death notice did indicate that he was living in Southport, Queensland, but died in Brisbane, and it mentions he died at Brisbane Hospital.  I wonder if he had been suffering an illness at this time?  I noticed that he was buried at the Toowong Cemetery in Brisbane, and not with his parents. 

I also noticed that further down the column in this newspaper, there was a 'Return Thanks' item, which appears to have been written by Catherine.  Her address is listed as High Street, Southport, so I'm assuming she was living in the her brother's house by the 1950s.

Using the Trove Newspapers online resource again, I then also found a notice for creditors who may have had a claim to make against the estate of William Patrick:

Catherine, as stated in her mother's death notice, had been unmarried at that time and it appears this was the case for the remainder of her life.  I found a notice of a Transmission of Title dated November 1953 (using the Trove Newspapers collection once again), which stated that Catherine Burke had claimed the title of the Southport property owned by her brother.  

This newspaper item stated that Catherine was a spinster in 1953 at the age of 81, so that provided additional confirmation that she had not married.

What seems so very tragic to me is that whilst the two surviving children of William and Johanna both lived long lives, it appears this particular family branch ended with them.  There were no grandchildren to continue the family name, and that seems such a desolate ending for a couple who appeared to be trying hard to have a large family.  

Catherine, the only daughter of William and Johanna, was buried at the Southport Cemetery, so as it happens, the two surviving children of William and Johanna were buried in separate places to their parents, and to each other.

The final tragic note to this story is that poor Catherine, the last of this family to pass away, was buried in an unmarked grave, as it appears there was no family member to arrange a headstone for her burial plot.  

Spotlight On ... A Family Heirloom Wedding Veil

This is the story of a beautiful bridal veil, covered in hand embroidered Australian wildflowers, that has been handed down through generations of the Shaw family.  

According to oral family history, it was possibly first worn by my great grandmother's sister, Elizabeth Farrell, on her wedding day.  

She married Frank Edwin Shaw in January of 1897, at Saint Columbas Church in Charters Towers, Queensland.

Sadly, there are no wedding photos to show what Elizabeth wore on her wedding day. 

children of Elizabeth Shaw nee Farrell

Elizabeth and Frank went on to have five children, including three daughters.  It seems though that the heirloom veil was only worn by two of those daughters.  

Mary, the eldest daughter, married in Brisbane on April the 14th 1934, and according to a newspaper article in the Johnstone River Advocate and Innisfail News' dated Friday the 27th of April 1934:

she "wore her travelling ensemble of Copenhagen blue matelasse trimmed with silver braid.  She added a blue hat and carried a sheaf of golden gladioli."

The heirloom veil did not appear at family weddings until the following year.

The first photo actually showing a Shaw family member wearing the stunning, quite unique, wedding veil is dated March 1935.  

An extract from the Townsville Daily Bulletin, dated Wednesday March 20 1935, does give an indication of the origins of the veil.

“……….the beauty of the exquisite hand-embroidered net veil which was held in place with a wreath of orange blossom. The veil which belonged to the bride's mother, was hand-worked by the Sisters at the Convent of the Good Shepherd in Hobart. ……”

If the reporting is accurate, then it was indeed Elizabeth who first wore the veil and the veil itself was made by nuns at the Convent of the Good Shepherd in Hobart, Tasmania.  

Workroom at the Sisters of Good Shepherd Convent in Hobart, Tasmania.
You can see the work being done on Priests' vestments and veils.

I never knew that there was such a tradition - wearing wedding veils that had been made by nuns.  It makes sense though, as female religious novices wore veils during the ceremony held when they joined a convent community - referred to as the 'taking of the veil'.  Members of particular female religious orders were apparently highly skilled in the making of these embroidered lace creations, and loaning veils to students of their convent schools would be a powerful way of connecting Catholic religious orders and the growing Australian Catholic population.

The Sisters of Good Shepherd back in Ireland, had a history of lace-making and it seems that this practice continued when they arrived in Australia.  According to Sophie Cooper, author of 'Something Borrowed: women, Limerick lace and community heirlooms in the Australian Irish diaspora',    

"Lace-making was introduced into the Good Shepherd convent (Ireland) by Mother Mary of St Louis de Baligand and Amelie van Verevenhaven (who became Sister Marie de Ste. Philomene), who arrived in Limerick in 1850, bringing knowledge of Belgian lace-making. ... Moreover, the lace-making skills was soon extended into Limerick's Presentation Convent, Sisters of Mercy Convent, and their affiliated school."

'Something Borrowed: women, Limerick lace and community heirlooms in the Australian Irish diaspora'  p 12, published in Social History, 45(3), 2020, Queen's University Belfast. 

Lace-making in Ireland's convents had become a way of providing an opportunity for women and girls affected by poverty  to learn new skills, and a way of "rescuing fallen women".  When the Sisters of the Good Shepherd arrived in Australia in 1863, they continued using needlework and lace-making as tools for their work reforming the women who had fallen on hard times.

So the story of the family heirloom veil appears to start with the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and then the veil became the property of the matriarch of the Shaw family.  I'm not entirely sure how the veil came into the hands of Elizabeth from nuns in Hobart.  Elizabeth had spent her teenage years in Charters Towers after emigrating with her parents and siblings from England.  She married in Charters Towers and lived her married life there.  I have not found any evidence that the Sisters of the Good Shepherd had established a convent or school in Charters Towers at any point in that town's history, so how did that connection come about?  Research will continue on that point.

The heirloom veil then started its journey down through three generations of Shaw family brides from 1935 onwards.

Elizabeth's daughters / daughter-in-law / niece

1935 was a particularly busy year in the life of the veil.  To date, I've discovered that it was worn that year by four brides at least - Elizabeth's two daughters, a daughter-in-law and a niece.

The collage below shows my great grandaunt, Elizabeth Shaw nee Farrell, at the top along with her two daughters, Dorothy Alma Shaw, Margaret Hilda Shaw and a daughter-in-law Esme Aitkin, who all wore the veil.

Dorothy and her sister Margaret (Hilda) both married in Innisfail, Queensland.  Esme married Edwin in Bundaberg, Queensland. 

It seems that Margaret Hilda (Hilda) also loaned the veil to her cousin, Rita Irene Davies, for her wedding to Harold Bugg on December the 26th 1935, in Auburn, New South Wales.  Unfortunately I have been unable so far to find a photo of Rita on her wedding day.

Elizabeth's granddaughters and grand daughter-in-law

The heirloom veil was then passed on to some of Elizabeth's grandchildren or their partners.

Elizabeth's son Edwin Shaw (who had married Esme Aitkin) had a son named Michael and the veil was passed on to his partner for their wedding day. 

Michael married Natalie Frances Dempsey in Brisbane.  So, the daughter-in-law of Elizabeth's daughter-in-law Esme, also wore the veil.

Elizabeth's daughter, Dorothy Alma Gordon nee Shaw, who wore the veil first in early 1935, passed on the veil to two of her daughters, Jenepher Anne Gordon and Elizabeth Marion Gordon, as well as a daughter-in-law, Joanne Mary Burton.

Jenepher Anne and Elizabeth Marion married in Mosman, New South Wales.  David married Joanne in Hunters Hill, New South Wales.

Elizabeth's great grandchildren

Elizabeth's heirloom veil was also passed down to some of daughter Dorothy Gordon nee Shaw's grandchildren or their partners.  These were Elizabeth's great grandchildren or partners of great grandchildren.

Great grandson Ian Gough (son of Jenepher Gough nee Gordon, grandson of Margaret Johnston nee Shaw) married Sabyene Parry in Townsville.

Great granddaughter Lisa Gregg (daughter of Elizabeth Gregg nee Gordon, granddaughter of Dorothy Gordon nee Shaw) married in Roseville, Sydney.

Great granddaughter Ruth Gordon (daughter of Bruce Gordon, granddaughter of Dorothy Gordon nee Shaw) married in Cremorne, New South Wales.

Great granddaughter Frances Gordon (daughter of Richard Gordon, granddaughter of Dorothy Gordon nee Shaw) married in Melbourne, Victoria.

Great grandson Michael Gordon (son of David Shaw Gordon, grandson of Dorothy Gordon nee Shaw) married Vanessa Audigand in Villeperdue, France.

Great Grandson Nicholas Gordon (son of David Gordon, grandson of Dorothy Gordon nee Shaw) married Victoria Alarcon Argumdeo in Wyoming, U.S.A.

The history of this stunning wedding veil has been passed on to me by second cousin 1x removed David, one of Elizabeth's grandchildren, and I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity to hear about this family heirloom and see so many beautiful photos.  

Suggestions have been made by Conservators at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney that the story of this unique wedding veil be included on the Australian Dress Register - a collaborative online project curated by the Powerhouse Museum about dress in Australia.  I can think of no better place for the story to be preserved, along with all the photographs of each of the brides who wore this veil on their wedding day.

The Story Of Richard O'Donnell (Daniel)

This is my attempt to tell the story of my maternal Great Grand Uncle, Richard O'Donnell / Daniel (1855 - 1916?).  It will be a story that's rather scant on details though, as Richard has proven to be one of brick walls in my research efforts.

Our Common Ancestors are:  John O'Donnell and Catherine Joy.

Family tree research is full of highs and lows, which makes the work both fascinating and extremely frustrating!  I started researching twelve years ago with a rather brief list of the names of my maternal and paternal aunts and uncles, my four sets of grandparents, and my own parents.  Now I have a family tree with many, many branches and leaves containing around 3,000 names.  

The O'Donnell side of my family tree stretches back to my Irish-born 4th great grandfather, but as the tree gets that far back there are very few branches, less and less leaves and quite sketchy information.  That's the negative aspect of researching Irish ancestors.

Very few records exist before the period between 1845 - 1852. Sometimes information can be found in the few surviving Catholic Parish registers from 1800 onwards, but there are many missing records as the priests did not routinely write down information about baptisms, marriage or deaths in their parishes.

Thankfully, I've certainly experienced some highs during my research on the O'Donnell side.  The oral history passed on from distant relatives, the existence of well-kept church records, the information and photos that have been shared by cousins, particularly in relation to the children of my 2x great grandparents, John O'Donnell and Catherine Joy, these have all been absolute highlights of my research.  I've also been fortunate enough to meet or make contact with children and grandchildren of that sibling group, my second and third cousins in Ireland and the U.S., whom I never knew existed twelve years ago. 

My maternal great great grandparents, John O'Donnell and Catherine Joy, had thirteen children, all circled in yellow in the diagram above (along with their spouses).    

Two of John and Catherine's children lived their lives in Ireland, but eleven of them emigrated.  Oral family history tells that of the eleven who emigrated, all but two, moved to the U.S. to build their new lives.  One of those eleven eventually returned to the family farm in Killonerry and remained there for the rest of his life.

The two children who emigrated elsewhere and not to the U.S., were my great grandfather, Edmond O'Donnell, and his older brother Richard (known as Dick).

possible photo of my great grandfather
Edmond O'Donnell

Edmond O'Donnell was the Irish immigrant, along with my great grandmother (of course), who established my particular branch of the O'Donnell family here in Australia.  Sadly his life was cut short and he died only ten years after emigrating.  

The story passed down in family oral history was that Edmond had married in Australia.  The family story didn't include any details about who his wife was, other than she became a Mrs. O'Brien after Edmond's death in a mine accident.

The few details told in this story were not all correct (Edmond didn't die in a mine accident and he married a girl he had known from home who had travelled out to Australia with him) so it was clear there had been very little contact between Edmond and his family after he had left Ireland.

  

Richard, Edmond's older brother, emigrated to Australia as well, according to oral family history, but that was the extent of the information passed on by the family.  I had almost no facts to start with, and have found few confirmed facts since starting my research, so the bulk of the following brief story is supposition and guesswork.  Maybe the simple act of putting his story out there, into the online world, may lead to some breakthroughs.  Fingers crossed!

Richard O'Donnell was born in County Kilkenny, in April of 1855.  That is one part of his story I can tell with accuracy.  At that time, under British rule, his family's surname had been anglicized to Daniel and that is what appears in the baptism record that follows.

Richard's baptism record shows he was baptised on the 15th of April.  His parents were recorded as John Daniel and Catherine Joy, and the sponsors were John Joy and Margaret Daniel.

Richard's father John O'Donnell (Daniel), was aged 41 at the time; and his mother, Catherine Joy, was aged 27.  Richard's baptism record shows that the family were living at Killonerry in County Kilkenny at the time, in the Templeorum Parish.

At the time of Richard's birth, there was only one other sibling, his older brother Patrick (known as Patsy), who had been born the previous year.  Eleven other siblings were born over the next seventeen years, so all-in-all Richard had twelve brothers and sisters:

Patrick (Patsy) born in 1854

Margaret, born in 1856

Michael, born in 1857

William, born in 1859

John, born in 1861

Edmond (my great grandfather), born in 1862

Peter, born in 1864

Ellen, born in 1865

James, born in 1867

Thomas, born in 1870 and sadly died the same year

Catherine (known as Kate), born in 1871

Mary (known as Minnie), born in 1872.

Richard grew up on the family farm in Killonerry, County Kilkenny.  I'm assuming he stayed on the farm until he had at least turned 18 or so, which would have been around 1873.  What happened next in Richard's life is shrouded in mystery.  I have been looking high and low, but despite all my research efforts, I still don't feel as if I can tell the true story with any degree of certainty. 

As I've already mentioned, the story passed down through generations of the O'Donnell family is that Richard emigrated to Australia, but the family lost all contact with him after that.

To start to put pieces together, I checked the facts around emigration for Richard's siblings, to see if I could perhaps narrow down the time period for Richard's move to Australia.  His sisters and brothers who emigrated to the U.S. appear to have done so from 1880 to 1900.

• Patrick O'Donnell's U.S. Death Certificate indicates he arrived in the United States in 1880.  He was the eldest of all the siblings, and was 26 when he left Ireland.  It appears he was the first of the siblings to emigrate.  

• Michael O'Donnell - the third-born son - is likely to have emigrated around the same time as his older brother Patrick, and would have been around the age of 23 or 24.  I have not yet been able to find any solid evidence that confirms this.

• Peter Paul O'Donnell emigrated to the U.S. in 1890 (according to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census record), when he was 26.  He was the sixth-born son. 

• William O'Donnell emigrated to the U.S. sometimes around 1890, but I have not yet been able to find out the actual year.  William was aged 31 at the time, but he only lived in the U.S. for a few years and returned to Ireland sometime before 1894.   

• Catherine O'Donnell emigrated to the U.S. in 1892 (according to the 1910 U.S. Federal Census record).  She landed in New York.  Catherine was the elder of the two youngest daughters and was 21 when she left Ireland.

• Mary (Minnie) O'Donnell - the youngest daughter - emigrated to the U.S. in 1900, (according to the 1930 U.S. Federal Census record), when she was 23 and also landed in New York.

• James O'Donnell's arrival date in the U.S. is still not known, although it's likely he emigrated around the same time as his younger sisters, between 1892 and 1900.  He was living with his sister Catherine in New York by the time of the 1905 New York, U.S. State Census record)

So ... it was over a period of 20 years that these siblings left their home in Ireland, which is a much longer period of time than I was expecting and not particularly helpful for research purposes.  I  had been pining my hopes on the siblings all leaving home around the same time, which would have given me a much briefer period of time to check for immigration records to Australia.  Not to be!

So the question still remained ... when did Richard leave Ireland and head to Australia?  

Did he leave before all the other siblings, around 1875?  He would have reached his adult years by then.  He would have been 20 years old, old enough to head off on his own, or did he head off around the same time as his brothers Patrick and Michael, which would have been 1880?

Was it more likely that Richard left Ireland around the same time as Edmond, as they were both headed to Australia, unlike their other siblings?  My great grandfather Edmond emigrated in 1883.  Richard would have been around 27 years of age then.  Perhaps Richard went to Australia first, before Edmond, when he would have been 25 years old ... which would have been 1880? 

My thinking had narrowed down the window of possible emigration to the time period 1880 to 1883, so I began scouring Australian immigration records from those years.  I checked records under both surnames - O'Donnell and Daniel - and this took quite some time, as there were loads of records.

Eventually, I ruled out so many records because ages didn't match, and/or details of parents' names didn't match, and/or details about birthplace didn't match.   This narrowed the search considerably. 

The only real possibilities that came up during this period of time were:

1.  On an 1872 Unassisted Immigrant Passenger List, an Irish seaman named Richard O'Donnell was listed amongst the crew that arrived in Sydney from the Port of Broadsound aboard the ship 'Amy Robsart'.  If this was my great grand uncle Richard, then he would have been 17 years old, but the record didn't list an age, so it's hard to prove a match.

That record made me wonder whether Richard had left the family farm in Ireland when he was a teenager and become a seaman?  How did that happen?  It seemed a little implausible, but I didn't rule it out.

Ten years later, in 1882, an Irish seaman also named Richard O'Donnell arrived in Sydney from the Port of London.  I wondered if this was the same man from the 1872 record.  This time his age was recorded.  He was aged 22, which doesn't match either the young man from the previous record, or my great grand uncle who would have been 26 years old in 1882.  I definitely ruled out this individual.

2. In 1884 (the year after my great grandfather had emigrated) a Richard Daniel, aged 26, and his brother Peter, aged 22, sailed from Plymouth, England aboard the ship Chyebassa.  The brothers were listed on a Queensland Passenger List.  I was hopeful that I might be on to something with this record, as my great grandfather Edmond had emigrated to Queensland as well.  It seemed sensible that Richard would head to the same place.  

The Richard and Peter Daniel mentioned in the 1884 passenger list stepped off the ship in Brisbane to begin their life in Australia.  My great grandfather Edmond has disembarked in Brisbane and had then travelled on to Toowoomba to start his new life, so it seemed plausible his brothers would also disembark in Brisbane.  Could this be my Richard and his older brother Peter?  

Knowing that Peter Paul O'Donnell emigrated to the U.S. in 1890, I wondered if perhaps he had travelled with his brother Richard to Australia first, and then headed off to U.S. six years later?  Unfortunately, the ages don't match - my great grand uncle Richard would have been 28 in 1884 not 26, and my great grand uncle Peter would have been 19 not 22.  Given the ages for both men were out by a couple of years, it seemed too much of a discrepancy for me to confirm that these two were my great grand uncles.  I also found no evidence that a Peter O'Donnell had then emigrated to the U.S. from Australia around 1890.  So, I ruled out the possibility this was the correct record of my great grand uncle Richard.

My search for a date of emigration continues, as I feel I've been unsuccessful so far.  

I didn't give up on Richard altogether though.  I then starting searching through Australian Electoral Roll records, which started around 1900, to see if I could find a Richard O'Donnell registered somewhere in Australia as a voter.  Given that his brother Edmond (my great grandfather) lived his life in Toowoomba, Queensland, after emigration, I thought it highly likely that Richard would have also lived around the same area - in southern Queensland, or possibly northern New South Wales.   It didn't seem logical that Richard would move far away from the only other family relative he knew in Australia.. 

An extensive search led to a possible lead: 

Queensland Electoral records for the years 1908, 1912, 1913, 1915, and 1916 list a Richard O'Donnell living in the Maranoa Region, which is a local government area in south west Queensland.  Ah ha!  This seemed like I was on to something.  The Maranoa Region is very close to Toowoomba in Queensland.  The Richard O'Donnell, in these electoral records, was living and working as a labourer on various sheep / cattle stations, so it was likely the same Richard O'Donnell in each of these records.  This sounded promising!

In 1908 a Richard O'Donnell was recorded as living at Noondoo, which was a station near Dirranbandi in the Maranoa Region, about 280 miles from Toowoomba which was where Edmond had been living before his death in 1893, and where his family were still living at the time of this electoral record.  

Location of Noondoo Station, and distance from Dirranbandi to Toowoomba.

Perhaps this could by my great grand uncle Richard and he had been working on remote sheep / cattle stations in south western Queensland for around twenty-five to thirty years.   If that were true, then he would have been aged 53 by this time and had probably remained unmarried.  It's likely he had kept in contact with his brother in Australia, and knew that Edmond had died, but Richard was likely to have been unaware his brothers Patrick and James had died in the U.S.

Then I looked more closely at the records, and the 'perhaps' turned into a 'mmm, I'm not sure any more'. There was another O'Donnell in the area as well, a John Francis O'Donnell, but I haven't clue about who that might have been.  This made me wary of confirming the Richard as my Great Grand Uncle.  

It could have been a coincidence that there was another O'Donnell in the same remote area of south-west Queensland, but it was also possible they were related somehow.  As there were no other siblings of Richard's or Edmond's that had emigrated to Australia, this relationship did not match any on my O'Donnell family tree.  I did continue looking at the records though.

In 1912 a Richard O'Donnell was living at a station named Noorindoo. near Surat in the Maranoa Region.  Could I make the assumption that this was the same Richard as the one in the previous 1908 record?  Again, there were other O'Donnells living in the same area around Surat, so I continued being hesitant in confirming this Richard as my great grand uncle.  I had no idea who John Joseph and Alice Louise O'Donnell were, nor the John O'Donnell also listed.

Then there were the 1915 & 1916 electoral records, which showed only a Richard O'Donnell still living and working in the Maranoa Region.  The other O'Donnells seem to have moved on from the area.  Could I look at that as an indication they were not related after all, and simply had the same surname ... or they were related, and the others were younger, ready to leave the relatively isolated life on a station and move into a township, whilst Richard was older and settled in his ways?  Lots to ponder!

If the Richard listed in these electoral records was indeed my great grand uncle (ignoring the possibility he was related to a completely different O'Donnell family to mine), then he would have been 60 to 61 years old at the time of these records.  Would a man of that age still be working as a labourer on a remote cattle station?  It's quite possible and couldn't be ruled out, but he would likely have had lighter duties around the station.

Living and working on a sheep or cattle station in the outback of south-western Queensland, would have been quite a tough, lonely life in the early 1900s and would go some way to explaining why contact was lost with my O'Donnell clan in Ireland.  

Typically, a station hand would rarely visit a township that had a postal service.  Most of their lives were lived out on the station itself with the community of fellow workers.  The pay was meagre and the hours were long, with a punishing workload for most of the year.  They would not have got much time off, and certainly wouldn't have travelled far for a lovely holiday.

Location of  Noorindoo Station, and distance of Surat from Toowoomba and Brisbane.

Noorindoo was a station just outside the town of Surat, which was around 200 kilometres from Toowoomba, and 300 from Brisbane.  

Surat, in the publication "History of Queensland: Its People and Industries" written by M.J. Fox in 1923, was described as:

"situated on the Balonne (River), 47 miles very slightly south-westward from Yeulba, on the line to Roma, 50 miles from Roma and 328 miles north-west of Brisbane, with a present population (at the end of 1920) of over 300.  

Surat is the centre of a district essentially pastoral, having about 600,000 head of sheep, 24,000 head of cattle, and over 4,000 head of horses.

Among the neighbouring stations are "Noorindoo", "Combango", "Warkon", "Canmaroo", "Yalebow", "Coogoon", and "Wallabella".

Could Noorindoo and the neighbouring small town of Surat have been home for my great grand uncle Richard for around 15 years, and could the Maranoa Region have been his home for over 30 years?  There's no way of knowing this for certain unfortunately.

I could find no further electoral records for a Richard O'Donnell in the Maranoa Region after 1916.  There were certainly other electoral records in that name after 1916 in other areas of Australia, but it seemed highly unlikely to me that he would have moved from Queensland after turning 60.  

Death records for a Richard O'Donnell who lived in Queensland and possibly died in the period from 1916 to 1955 (when Richard would have turned 100!) were few and far between ... six to be exact.  After discounting a few of these because of parent names and/or birthplaces that didn't match, I was left with just two possibilities.

There was a Richard O'Donnell who died in 1930.  His death certificate didn't have parents names listed, but his birthplace was recorded as Ireland. 

There were two problems with this record however.  The place of death was listed as Goodna Mental Asylum, which seemed an unlikely place for Richard to have ended up at.  The other problem was the age of this Richard O'Donnell.  In 1930, his age was given as 93 years.  That means he would have been born in 1837 which didn't match up with my Richard at all.

There was however another death record for a Richard O'Donnell who died in Surat, Queensland, in 1916.  Could it be that the electoral records I had been following for the Richard O'Donnell living in the Maranoa Region had stopped because he had actually died in 1916?  Was this the same Richard?  Was he my Richard?

The death certificate for Richard O'Donnell who died in 1916 seemed to match on two important details - the location and the age at death.  It didn't produce much other information unfortunately.  There were no details about parents' names and no details about marriages or children.  Those sections were left blank.  It seems that there was no relative to provide any information whatsoever upon his death.  That all sort of fits with my elusive Richard.

His brother Edmond, who had emigrated to Australia as well, had died  23 years previously and if Richard had not kept in contact with any of the family, then there would have been no-one to be with him when he died and no-one to provide important details about his family.

The cause of death was recorded as 'alcoholism' which unfortunately also matched one of the causes of death of his brother Edmond, my great grandfather.  I don't want to say it's a family trait or any such thing, but I would acknowledge that life in Australia in the late 1800s and early 1900s for the lower classes would have been hard.  Many men drank a lot to break the monotonous drudgery of their tough working lives, without realising the consequences of this on their health.  It does however seem like another possible link between the two O'Donnell men.

So that's the state of Richard's story to date ... lots of possibilities, but not much hard evidence.  I'll keep coming back to this research and update when and where I can, and hope that something eventuates.