The Story Of Mable (Mary) Morrison and Francis McQuilty

Unlike most of my previous posts titled "The Story Of ...", this one will be about not one, but two people.  Their names are Mable Morrison  (1805 - 1879), known as Mary throughout her lifetime, and Francis McQuilty  (1801 - 1875).  I am only related to them both through marriage, but I would love to share their rather interesting stories.

Here's the connection I have to Mable (Mary) and Francis:

My paternal 2nd great-grandaunt, Elizabeth (known as Betsy) Exton, married a man named Francis Thomas McQuilty.  They married in 1866 when Elizabeth was only 16.

Elizabeth's older sister (also my 2nd great-grandaunt), Sarah Emily Exton, married a man named Edward Banner McDonough back in 1853.  He was the step-brother of  Francis Thomas McQuilty.

Elizabeth's younger sister (my 2nd great-grandaunt), Lucy Exton, married a man named James McDonough in 1868, who was also a step-brother of Francis Thomas McQuilty.

 

These three Exton sisters (my 2x great-grandaunts marked in yellow and blue in the diagram above) married men who were all the sons of a woman named Mable (Mary) Morrison.

Elizabeth (circled in yellow) married a son from Mable's (Mary's) second marriage.

Sarah Emily and Lucy (circled in blue) married sons from Mable's (Mary's) first marriage.

Now that my connection to both Mable (Mary) and Francis, through my relationship to the Exton sisters, has been established, I'll move onto their individual stories.

Firstly, here's Mable's story:

Lisnaskea High Cross
By Wanfried-Dublin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66216443

Mable (Mary) Morrison was born in the small town of Lisnaskea, in County Fermanagh, Ireland.  She was born in 1805 to parents Edward and Mary Morrison.

By the time she had turned 25, Mable (Mary) had married Bernard McDonough.  They had three children together, all born in County Fermanagh in Ireland.

Edward was born in 1834.  Owen came along in 1837.  James was born in 1840.

Soon after the birth of their third son, Mable (Mary) and her husband made the life-changing decision to emigrate to Australia as bounty settlers.  That meant their passage had been paid for and they were expected to work for that person / company once they arrived in Australia.  Mable and husband Bernard, along with their sons, were bought out to work in Australia by Robert Howe & Company.

Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists - 1842 Jan - ship 'Ann Milne'
Name recorded as "Mable McDonagh"

The immigration record shown above has the surname for Mable and her husband recorded as "McDonagh", but upon arrival in Australia this surname was recorded as "McDonough" from then on.

Mable, aged 36, her husband Bernard, aged 37, their sons Edward, aged 8, Owen, aged 5, and James, aged 2, boarded the ship 'Ann Milne' in September of 1841.  Records show that Mable's occupation was that of "a farm servant".  She was a Roman Catholic and could not read or write.

Assisted Immigrant Passenger List - ship 'Ann Milne' Jan 1842

The family boarded the ship in Dundee on the 16th of September 1841 for a four-month journey to Port Jackson, in Sydney, Australia.  There were 248 other bounty emigrants aboard the barque named 'Ann Milne', and they would have suffered cramped, stifling hot and unhygienic conditions for the entire trip.

Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists 1842 - ship 'Ann Milne'
Nominal List of Deaths on Board the Ann Milne

Tragically Mable's husband Bernard died on board the ship just four days after arriving in Australia.  Assisted Immigrant Passenger List records for January 1842 show that Bernard died on the 21st from "inflammation of the bowels".  Mable's life had literally been turned upside down in the blink of an eye.

Passengers on the bounty ships would not have disembarked immediately once the ship arrived in port.  They stayed aboard for a few days after arrival because regulations required that all immigrants had to be passed by the Colonial Immigration Board.  This meant that the colonists / settlers did not have to pay the cost of bounty passages until all passengers passed inspection and deemed healthy and a valuable source of labour.  This process took some time, and during this Mable would have been looking after a very sick husband.

It seems Mable's husband was ill upon arrival in port and then passed away four days later, whilst still on board.  Imagine the loss that Mable would have felt.  She had lost her husband of eleven years just days after arriving in a new country where she knew no-one and would have felt completely out of place.  She was left alone with three children under the age of nine, and she now had to take on the role of provider all by herself in a new country.  

How I wish I knew what Mable immediately did once she had disembarked in Sydney!  There are no records to provide that information and I can only make suppositions, but I assume she would have had to carry on to begin work with the employer who had paid for the family's passage to Australia.

One thing I am sure about though, is that she entered into a relationship with convict Francis Thomas McQuilty fairly soon afterwards, because they welcomed their first child into the world the following year, in 1843.  

I can not cast aspersions or make suppositions about the hastiness of forming a new relationship so soon after the death of her husband.  The choices available to Mable during those times would have been very, very limited indeed, and it would have been extremely difficult to thrive in this new country without the support of a man.

I have not yet found a marriage record for Mable and Francis.  Interestingly, Francis had previously been married as well.  His first wife was still living, but they had apparently separated and she had become the defacto of another man.  I have not yet been able to find any record of a divorce between Francis and his first wife, which may explain why I haven't yet been able to find a marriage record for Mable and Francis.

At this point, I'll digress a little and start Francis's story:

Francis McQuilty was born in County Waterford, in Ireland, in 1800.  In March of 1817, at the age of 17, things suddenly took a turn for the worse!  He was convicted of "stealing money" in the court at Kilkenny under the name of Francis Quilty, and was sentenced to 7 years gaol.

There was a period of almost eighteen months between the passing of his sentence and Francis's departure from his childhood home.  For most of that eighteen months he was likely to have been kept in Kilkenny, working on labour gangs in the area, until he had to walk the 150 kms or more to Cork where he would have been held on Spike Island in Cork Harbour.  

Francis was transported to Australia aboard the ship 'Earl St. Vincent' in late 1818, arriving in Sydney in December 1818 after a voyage of 131 days.  Convicts were kept on board for at least five days before they actually set foot on land. 

Settler and Convict List for males in New South Wales 1788-1819

Francis arrived in Australia under the surname of 'Quilty' and records pertaining to his life as a convict in the colony all have his name listed this way.

Colonial Secretary's Papers, New South Wales, 1814-1827

In a letter, sent from the Colonial Secretary's office on December 21st, 1818 to the local magistrates in the New South Wales colony, Francis Quilty was listed.

The letter stated that all men listed were to be distributed amongst the settlers of the colony.  Francis and the other convicts mentioned were to be distributed to settlers in the Windsor area, which was north-east of Sydney.

Certificates of Freedom, 1829, December

By 1828, according to the New South Wales Census record, he had moved on to the Illawarra area in New South Wales, which was to the south of Sydney.  He was then granted his certificate of freedom at the end of 1829, when he was aged 28.  At that point, he was employed by William Prior of Dapto.

Ten years later, in early 1839, Francis, aged 38, took a wife. This would turn out to be his first marriage. He married Sarah Foley, who was 17 years old.  Francis's surname was still recorded as 'Quilty' at this time, and the marriage took place in Dapto, in the Parish of Wollongong.  This area was a little further north of the Illawarra Region where Francis had been living back in 1828.

Francis and Sarah lived in the Dapto and Jamberoo areas for around a year.  Unfortunately, the marriage did not last, and it's possible they lost a baby daughter during that time.  While I have found no record of a birth or death, Francis's death certificate stated he had two daughters deceased.  One of those daughters was likely to have been born during his first marriage.

Sarah and Francis separated early in 1840, with Sarah becoming the defacto of another convict, a man named George Walker, in April of 1840.  Interestingly, George Walker had also been convicted in the court at Kilkenny and transported to Australia aboard the same ship as Francis!!  

There's no doubt in my mind that Francis knew George Walker and they had both ended up being transported to Australia and working in the Illawarra area.  Sarah Foley had grown up in this area and would likely have known both men.  I wonder why she married one and then ran off with the other not long after??  The mind boggles!

Francis, after his short-lived marriage to Sarah, appears to have remained around the Sydney area continuing to work as a labourer. 

Now for the story of Francis and Mable as a couple:

Francis was 41 years old when he and Mable began their life together in 1842.  Mable was 37. Francis immediately became the step-father to three boys -  Edward who was 8 years old, Owen who was 5, and James who was 2 - and then Francis and Mable had two children together.  

Around the time Francis and Mable welcomed their first child together, Francis was using the surname McQuilty, although it was at times recorded as McWilty.

Mable gave birth to son Francis Thomas McQuilty (McWilty) in October 1843 in Sydney.  It appears that the whole family moved to the Richmond River region not long afterwards, with the new surname McQuilty.  This was quite a big move as the Richmond River is located in the most northern area of New South Wales, around 900 km to the north of Sydney. 

It's likely the move was prompted by the possibly of better employment opportunities and Francis felt he would be able to better support the growing family.  He began working as a cedar cutter after the move to the Richmond River region, which was a growing industry at the time.

Another son, William Augustus McQuilty, was born to Mable and Francis in 1848.   By this time Mable and husband Francis were living in the Blakebrook area, outside Lismore in New South Wales.  It seems that Francis had acquired some land and had established a home for them all.  This is where they lived out the remainder of their lives together.  They were together for another 27 years until Francis passed away.  It seems that these two people finally found their place in the world.   

Francis McQuilty died in 1875, aged 74.  Mable McQuilty nee Morrison died in 1879, also at the age of 74.

Whilst I have only found birth records for two sons born to Francis and Mable, the death certificate for Francis lists 4 daughters and 1 son.  That doesn't match, and has raised a few questions, so there's more research to be done. 

Mable gave birth to five children in her lifetime, but her family line grew enormously.  As the mother-in-law of the three Exton sisters who married into the McDonough / McQuilty family, she became grandmother to their 21 sons and daughters (my 1st cousins 3x removed).   

For a woman who would have felt out of place upon arrival here, she went on to forge a special place in the branches of a large family tree.

Special Note to any family members:  If you have memories to add, photos or information to share, can I graciously ask that you do so.  Please use the comments box below or email me.  It may prove to be invaluable to the story and provide future generations with something to truly treasure.