Some family stories arrive like whispers from the past, pieced together not through memories or passed-down tales, but through many quiet hours spent perusing and reflecting on records, certificates, and newspaper items. Such is the story about my paternal grandmother's sister, Lillian Ruth Brown (1887-1911) and her two daughters Lorna Mary Grace Connors (1907-1975) and Lillian Madge O'Donnell (1911-1997).
Though I never met them nor heard their names woven into family conversations, research has revealed a narrative of love, loss, and resilience across generations. While I have no photographs of my grand aunt Lillian or her eldest daughter Lorna, and only one photo of Lillian Madge, I'm hoping my words will paint a vivid and touching portrait of these women.
I have to acknowledge that there are wheels within wheels in this family story and I still don't really know all that went on and have not yet unravelled all the details. There were obviously a number of influences, reasons and actions which made my great grand aunt's situation quite complicated, and it's something that I still don't fully understand.
Love and Loss in Quick Succession
Lillian Ruth Connors / O'Donnell nee Brown
Born the second of four daughters to my paternal great grandparents Richard Brown and Ellen Cusack, Lillian Ruth Brown grew up alongside her older sister Grace - my grandmother - and two younger sisters - Elsie and Marcella - in Lismore, New South Wales.
Childhood bonds strengthened into adulthood when Grace and Lillian married Connors brothers just months apart in 1906. Lillian wed James Alfred Connors in September, already expecting their daughter.
Tragedy struck swiftly. Barely six months after the birth of a little girl named Lorna Mary Grace Connors in 1907, Lillian was widowed when James died in a horrific workplace accident. At only 20, Lillian face the unimaginable task of raising a baby alone, likely leaning heavily on the Brown family circle for support. She worked as a dressmaker, possibly while living with her parents and younger sisters.
Possibly in an effort to seek stability, Lillian remarried at 21 to Jeremiah (a.k.a. Gerald) O'Donnell, an Irish immigrant from County Cork. While this Irish man had been baptised in Ireland as Jeremiah O'Donnell, he married under the name Gerald O'Donnell, and as it turned out, Jeremiah / Gerald was an interesting character!
This new chapter held both joy and sorrow for Lillian. Her son Roger died a mere seven hours after his birth in 1909, and then in 1911, Lillian gave birth to her second daughter, Lillian Madge. In a tragic turn of events, my grand aunt Lillian passed away just two weeks after giving birth.
Her confinement was described as "normal" on the private hospital record until August the 27th. The hospital record goes on to say "Then pneumonia set in and patient became weaker until death on the 31st". The infant, at the time of delivery, was described as "delicate".
Lillian's second daughter had been born at a maternity hospital known as Nurse Atkins' Private Hospital run by Nurse Eleanor Atkin. That is a fact that will become quite significant as this story unfolds further.
When my grandaunt died at the age of 24, she was survived by her second husband, her daughter Lorna aged 4, and her newborn daughter Lillian.
It is heartbreaking to know that my grand aunt, who had experienced quite a lot of grief and trauma in her short life, never got to see her two daughters grow up.
The question I've always pondered is - what happened to these two girls after the death of their mother?
The Path Of Two Sisters
Eldest Daughter - Lorna Mary Grace Everson nee Connors
Lillian's eldest daughter, Lorna Mary Grace Connors had turned four years old just a few months before the death of her mother. The question of who cared for Lorna after her mother's death has long puzzled me. She did not go into the care of her stepfather, Jeremiah, and while many relatives were nearby, it is unclear which family member took her in. Who raised Lorna has remained a mystery for me.
Both Lorna's paternal grandparents (Thomas and Susan Connors) had passed away in 1910. Her maternal grandparents (Richard and Ellen Brown) were both still living and were aged 50 and 49 respectively, in 1911. Did Richard and Ellen took Lorna into their care?
Perhaps she passed into the care of one of her aunts. Marcella May (known as Marcy) Brown was still living in Lismore, but was only 19 years old at the time of her sister's death. It's unlikely that she would have taken on the responsibility of her four-year old niece.
Lorna's other aunt, my grandmother Grace, was living with her husband and three children at Mullumbimby, nearly 50 miles away. Grace and her husband George were moving around quite a lot around this time in their marriage, following opportunities for work as George was a dairyman and continually looking for work on dairy farms.
Lorna's aunt Elsie, aged 21, had married by the time her sister Lillian died, and had a one-year old daughter. She was still living in Lismore, so perhaps she was the one who stepped in.
Alternatively, perhaps Lorna became part of the Connors family, her father's family. As previously mentioned, Lorna's paternal grandparents were no longer alive at this point, so they are ruled out.
Lorna's paternal aunt, her father's oldest sister, Mary Ellen Bates (nee Connors) was 36 at the time, married with three children and pregnant with her fourth. They were all still living in Lismore, so could they have taken on the responsibility of raising Lorna?
I've not found any evidence during my research that can help me answer the question of what happened to Lorna during her childhood years.
I do however know something of Lorna's adult years.
By 1926, Lorna had married Frederick James Everson in Annandale, New South Wales. Motherhood, however, brought grief mirroring her mother's story. Lorna gave birth to twin daughters, Florence and Sheila, in 1928. Tragically, Florence died the day after she was born, and Sheila passed away two years later.
Lorna's later years were spent near Broadwater, where her aunt Marcella May Tyler nee Brown lived, suggesting family ties may have quietly persisted.
Lorna passed away in 1975, aged 68.
She was buried at the Evans Head Cemetery, near Broadwater, in New South Wales.
Youngest daughter - Lillian Madge Rapmund / Robertson nee O'Donnell
Of the two sisters, Lillian Madge's story is perhaps the most astonishing.
Records have led me to discover who cared for Lillian Madge after the passing of her mother. Many, many years later, in 1934, Lillian Madge, appeared in Sydney's Probate Court to 'apply for leave to swear to the death of her father, Jeremiah O'Donnell.' She pleaded her case and the leave to swear to her father's death was granted.
During this probate court hearing Lillian Madge Rapmund nee O'Donnell shared some heartbreaking information about her life and her relationship with her father. Details of the probate application were published in several newspapers at the time, and here is an example:
"The applicant (Lilian Madge Rapmund) had no memory of having seen her father, but identified herself as his daughter from particulars shown upon the marriage certificate of her mother and the certificate given at her mother's death.
It appeared that O'Donnell (Jeremiah, her father) was born at Murwillumbah in 1883 (This detail was not correct as proven by the details Jeremiah supplied when he enlisted). In 1908 he married at Lismore, his wife's maiden name being Brown.
In 1911, a child (the applicant) was born at a maternity hospital in Lismore. The mother died 14 days later and from then onward (until marriage in 1931) the child remained with the matron of the hospital (Mrs. Atkin).
O'Donnell made no attempt to support his child and eventually left Lismore and enlisted in the A.I.F. While on sick leave from France he went from England to Ireland. He never rejoined his regiment, and was recorded as a deserter."
So it was that Lillian Madge grew up in the care of Eleanor Atkin nee Jones - Nurse Atkin - the matron of the maternity hospital where she was born. Obviously, the father of the baby never turned up at the hospital to take his daughter home, and what is also rather strikingly obvious is that this little baby girl did not go home with any of the Brown family (my grandaunt's sisters or parents). This was such a shock to me!
My great grandparents, my grandmother and my other grandaunts, apparently left this infant to the care of the woman who ran the maternity hospital. My incredulity about this situation led me to dig deeper. Who was this Nurse Atkin?
She was in fact a relative of my grand aunt Lillian Ruth and her daughter Lillian Madge. Nurse Atkin was Eleanor Atkin nee Jones, and was my grand aunt Lillian Ruth's 1st cousin once removed.
They were both descendants of Susannah Exton nee Lancaster.
Eleanor Jane Atkin nee Jones (Nurse Atkin) was the daughter of Susannah's eldest daughter Harriett.
Lillian Ruth Brown was the granddaughter of Susannah's daughter Eliza (my 3x great grandmother).
Eleanor Atkin nee Jones had taken over her parent's home, and had established a maternity hospital in the building known as 'Lochiel', following in the footsteps of her mother Harriet, who had acted as midwife to all the families in the district for many years in the late 1800s.
So it came about that Lillian Madge, "remained" with Mrs. Eleanor Atkin until the day of her marriage. Did any of her close Brown or Connors relatives have contact with her during these twenty years? I'm unsure about that, but Lillian Madge lived in Lismore for her entire lifetime, and there would have been extended Brown and Connors family living in the same town that entire time!
The knowledge that Lillian Madge's father appears to have abandoned her from birth, having no contact with her at all from then on, caused me some consternation. I felt compelled to do some further research into the life of this man, Jeremiah / Gerald O'Donnell.
He was the son of Rodger O'Donnell and Margaret Molan, born in 1880 in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland. He had been baptised in the Parish of Brigown and Marshalstown in the Cloyne Diocese. At some point (I'm still researching this) it appears he emigrated to Australia, where Jeremiah sometimes used the name Gerald.
At the age of 28, he married Lillian Ruth Connors nee Brown, under the name of Gerald O'Donnell. Six years after the death of his wife and the birth of his daughter, he enlisted with the AIF under the name of Jeremiah O'Donnell.
The attestation paper he completed in January of 1917 indicated that he was born in Mitchellstown, County Cork, Ireland.
He stated he was a widower and that his next of kin was his daughter Lillian Madge O'Donnell.
Jeremiah recorded the address for his daughter as: c/- Nurse Atkin, North Lismore, Richmond River, N.S.W.
After enlisting with the 9 / 54th Battalion, Jeremiah served in France from September 1917 to February 1918. He went on leave at the end of February and went to England. Jeremiah's war service record however indicates he did not stay in England for his leave, but travelled home to stay with his brother William O'Donnell in Carragnane, Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland.
He failed to return from his leave, could not be tracked down in Ireland, and was declared an illegal absentee in March of 1918. In July of 1920, Jeremiah was discharged from the A.I.F. in consequence of being an illegal absentee.
In Jeremiah's war service record, I found a copy of a letter written by Eleanor Atkin (Nurse Atkin) in 1923, concerning Lillian Madge, although Eleanor refers to her as Madge Lilian:
She was writing in answer to a letter that had been sent to Lillian, but obviously the Australian Army was unaware of Lillian's age. Eleanor stated she had not heard from Lillian's father since 1918 and mentioned that she had "adopted" Lillian. It was made clear that Eleanor (and therefore Lillian) had not heard anything about the fate of Jeremiah during and after the war.
While he had listed Lillian as the beneficiary on the will he made before shipping out from Australia, he did not send any of his army pay back home to provide support for her. He had to all intents and purposes, abandoned her and was never heard from again.
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I have found evidence that Lillian Madge had indeed been adopted by Eleanor and Joseph Atkin.
When Joseph passed away in 1941, Lillian is mentioned in his obituary as his "adopted daughter", but mentioned as Mrs. H. Rapmund.
Lillian Madge had married Henry David Rapmund in 1931 when she was 20 years old. They went on to have three children, but their married life was to be cut short after eleven years. Lillian's husband enlisted for service in January of 1942 and never returned home. He served in New Guinea, where he was killed in action in December of 1942.
Lillian was 31 years old when she became a widow with three young children to support. She re-married five years later, in 1947, to a Scottish immigrant named James Brown Robertson. She was 36 years old.
I stumbled upon a newspaper item with a photo showing Lillian on the day of her second wedding.
She is the lady standing on the right wearing "a blue crepe street-length frock trimmed with sequins at the neckline and featuring a full skirt". The description continues, she "carried a white handbag and a posy of cream roses".
Interestingly, the newspaper item states that Lillian was "attended by Mrs. Adrian Rix" and she was "given away by Mr. Rix."
Adrian Rix was the son of Irene Eliza Atkin - yes, Atkin - the niece of Eleanor Atkin (Nurse Atkin).
Eleanor had married Joseph Atkin, while her sister Hannah had married Thomas Atkin (Joseph's brother).
So, it seems Lillian did end up with family, but a totally different branch of the family. While I feel somewhat comforted to know Lillian was amongst her own, I am still left wondering whether or not she ever had interactions with closer relatives of her mother.
Lillian passed away in 1997 at the age of 85.
I'm joining Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. The prompt for this week's challenge is: Wheels.
For anyone wishing to join the challenge, please click on this link: Generations Cafe (Facebook Group)
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