The Story of The Farrell Family and Bridge Street

An Address With A Story

For the Farrell family, Bridge Street in Charters Towers, Queensland, was not simply an address recorded on certificates and electoral rolls. It was home — the family place that gathered Michael Farrell, his wife Susan Farrell née Muldowney, and their children together across the years, and then, little by little, watched that family circle grow smaller.

Bridge Street in Context

In the late 1890s, Bridge Street was more than just a line on a town map. Running beside Lissner Park, one of Charters Towers’ earliest and most important public reserves, it placed the Farrell family close to concerts, public meetings, commemorations, and the everyday rhythm of town life.

By the early twentieth century, this part of Charters Towers had already been shaped by substantial municipal works — kerbing, drains, and footbridges — while the park itself gave the street a distinctive civic character. 

“Bandstand in Lissner Park, Charters Towers, ca. 1905.”
Source: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland,
via Wikimedia Commons (public domain in Australia).

With its band rotunda, fountain, memorials, and public gatherings, Lissner Park made the Bridge Street neighbourhood feel like far more than a merely residential pocket of town. It was part of the social heart of Charters Towers.

For a family living there, home stood beside a place of music, ceremony, community, and the ordinary bustle of a settled mining town.

The Farrell Family Home 

Michael Farrell and Susan Farrell nee Muldowney,
Photo taken c.1900

My maternal 2x great-grandparents, Irish-born Michael Farrell and Susan Muldowney, made the establishment of a permanent family home a priority after emigrating from England with their English-born children in 1887. Back in England, family life had been marked by constant movement around County Durham, in and out of overcrowded, unhygienic, bleak colliery housing.  To create a settled home of their own in Queensland must have meant something profound.

Sometime in the late 1890s, within ten years of immigrating, Michael and Susan Farrell had established a family home right in the heart of Charters Towers rather than in some out-of-the-way corner of the town. That in itself feels remarkable. They were not people of wealth, but working people whose lives in England had been shaped by colliery districts, and it was one of their daughters who paid for the rest of the family to come out from England. All the more reason, then, that the making of a settled home in such a central part of town speaks of determination, family support, and the importance they placed on creating a place of their own.

After settling into their own house on Bridge Street, and from that point on it became the centre of Farrell family life in Charters Towers. Sadly, I believe there are no surviving records that show exactly where on Bridge Street the house stood, and it is highly unlikely that the home still exists. Even so, the address remains deeply woven into the family story.

It was where the younger siblings grew up and came of age, where working lives began, where departures were marked, and where family ties continued to hold, even as the household itself changed.

The two older daughters, who had emigrated to Australia before their parents, had already begun lives of their own by the time Michael and Susan established the Bridge Street family home. The second-eldest daughter, Helen Ann, had married in mid-1890. Margaret, the eldest daughter — my great-grandmother — married in 1892. Yet marriage did not entirely sever their connection to the family home.

One of the details I find especially touching is that when Margaret was heavily pregnant with her second child, my grandmother Sarah, she chose to travel to her parents’ house on Bridge Street. There she gave birth with her mother Susan acting as midwife. It is such a small detail in one sense, but it says so much. The family home became a place of care and refuge — somewhere to return to when life called for closeness.

A House That Slowly Grew Quieter

Once Michael and Susan had settled into the Bridge Street home, changes came early. Elizabeth, the third-eldest daughter, moved out upon her marriage in 1897. Son Patrick left home around that same time, when he began working as a miner. James seems to have gone not long after, around 1900, as his own working life took him to various places across Queensland. Michael left upon his marriage in 1901.

In the way of so many large families, the house that had once held parents and children together under one roof slowly began to empty as adulthood carried each one outward.

By the early years of the twentieth century, the electoral rolls offer a small but revealing glimpse of how the household had changed.

The records for 1903, 1905, 1908, 1909 and 1913 list only father Michael, mother Susan, along with their eldest son Thomas, as living at the Bridge Street family home.  The once-busy household of parents and children had grown considerably quieter.  

Then, in the rolls for 1915 and 1916, another familiar name appears again - the youngest son Matthew, who had returned after time away looking for work to live once more in the old family home.  In mid-1916 Matthew then headed off to war, leaving Australia until he was repatriated and medically discharged in 1918.  After his return, he moved back into the family home.

The Place They Returned To

Throughout the 1900s, however, Bridge Street remained the entire family’s anchor point. It was still the place the family returned to for weddings, celebrations, funerals, and those important moments that gathered scattered relatives back together again. 

The small social notices in the local paper make that visible in such a human way. 

In 1912, married daughter Elizabeth — Mrs Frank Shaw — was noted as having spent a few days as the guest of her mother at Bridge Street before leaving for Sydney. 

In 1913, Matthew Farrell, then of Torrens Creek, was mentioned as staying with his mother there. These are only brief newspaper items, but they say something very real: even after sons and daughters had moved into lives of their own, Bridge Street was still the place that meant home.

A House of Grief as Well as Gathering

The funeral notices connected with the house on Bridge Street are especially moving.

In February 1905, the funeral of little Edward McCane — the eight-year-old grandson of Michael and Susan Farrell, and son of Owen McCane and Margaret Farrell — was announced as leaving from “Mr. M. Farrell, senr., residence, Bridge-street” to proceed to the Charters Towers Cemetery. That one notice alone makes clear that the family home was not only a private domestic space, but also the place from which grief was gathered and shared among the wider family circle.

Over the years, other funerals also left from the Bridge Street home to proceed to the local cemetery. 

When the patriarch of the family, Michael Farrell, died in 1917 aged 83, the newspaper noted that the funeral cortege left his wife’s residence in Bridge Street. His obituary adds still more texture to the family story, describing him as an old resident of the field, born in Ireland, aged eighty-one, and a man who had spent many years employed at the Waterworks (also known as the Charters Towers Pumping Station). It also captures the sadness of wartime in the Farrell family, recording that one son, Patrick Joseph Farrell, had been killed in action, while another, Matthew James Farrell, was then serving at the front.  (James, the other son who had also seen active service in France, was actually still overseas at the time - recovering in a hospital in England).

The matriarch, Susan Farrell, née Muldowney, was farewelled from her late residence in Bridge Street in 1919.  She had passed away at the age of 77.

Son Matthew Farrell’s funeral left from his late residence there in 1922 after his death at the youthful age of 35. 

Then, in 1923, the funeral of Hannah Margaret Farrell, née Hynes — wife of son Michael Farrell junior — departed from the residence of her brother-in-law Thomas Farrell in Bridge Street.  Hannah (sometimes known as Margaret) passed away at the age of just 42.

Taken together, these notices give the address a deep emotional weight. This was not only the house where children were raised, where married daughters returned, and where sons came and went between work and war. It was also the house from which the family carried their dead out into the town for the last time.

War, Loss, and the End of the Household

That wartime thread runs quietly but powerfully through the story of the Farrell children. Patrick left for war in 1916 and never came home again. James also served overseas during the First World War, as did Matthew, the youngest son, who otherwise remained most closely tied to the family home until his death in 1922.

Thomas, the eldest son, stayed at Bridge Street longer than any of the others, remaining there until about 1925, when serious illness led him to move to the home of his sister Margaret. By then, the old household that Michael and Susan had once presided over must have felt vastly different from the busy family home of earlier years.

That is the part of this story that lingers with me most. Bridge Street was not only a place where the Farrell family lived. It was the place that held them across a generation — through migration, marriages, childbirth, working life, war, grief, homecomings, and gradual parting. Over time, as family members died, married, moved away, the number living there dwindled until only one remained.

That slow thinning of a once-full household feels like such a familiar pattern in family history. A house that once knew the noise and movement of many lives becomes quieter, room by room, until it stands as a witness to all that has passed through it.

For me, that is what makes Bridge Street so meaningful in the Farrell story. It was more than a location in Charters Towers. It was one of those rare family places that held people together for a time, and then quietly let them go.

An imagined view of the kind of timber Queensland house the Farrell family may have known on Bridge Street, Charters Towers, in the 1890s to early 1900s.  Sadly no photo of the original family home survives, and no surviving records show exactly where on Bridge Street it once stood.

Memories ... January 14

In Remembrance

(For my 'Family Anniversaries' page)

Today is the anniversary of the passing of my maternal great great grandmother, Susan Muldowney / Downey or Downie.  

I'm still not sure which surname is the one that would have been on her baptism record or indeed would have the been the actual family name of her father.

I've told Susan's story before, with as many of the known facts I was able to uncover.  If interested, you can read that by following this link - The Story of Susan Muldowney / Downey or Downie  

That previous post covers some of the story from her wedding day in 1865, in Scotland, to the day she passed away in 1919, in Queensland, Australia.

There are however still a few pieces of the puzzle missing:

• I'm still unsure of Susan's exact date of birth.  

Her 1919 death certificate listed her age as 69, which means she wold have been born around 1850.   Of course this information would have been provided by the informant, her son Thomas, and he may not have been in possession of correct information.

Her 1865 marriage certificate stated she was 22, which means she would have been born around 1843.  

The 1871 England Census lists her age as 27 and her birth year as 1844.

The 1881 England Census lists her age as 39 and her birth year as 1842.

The 1887 passenger list from the assisted immigration records listed her age as 37, which puts her birth date back to 1850.

In the end, I plumped for 1842, just because .... well, just because!

• It's also interesting to note that the age she would have been on her wedding day is different on various records.

On her death certificate it was stated she was 18 years old when she married, but on the marriage registration it was noted she was 22 years old.  According to the date of birth surmised from her death certificate, she would have actually been 15!  Who knows!!

• I have also not yet been able to find a record of Susan's baptism in Ireland despite the fact that the names of her mother and father were listed on her marriage certificate.  

Her place of birth was recorded as Leitrim on the 1887 passenger list, but was then recorded as Roscommon on her death certificate.  I've researched as far as I can in both counties at this point in time, but without success.

• Finally, there's the issue of her maiden name.  
  

On the marriage registration document her name was recorded as Susan Downie.  Her parents were listed as Patrick Downie (labourer) and Elizabeth Downie, formerly Reynolds.

On her death certificate the names of her parents are missing.

On both her sons' Michael's and Matthew's death certificates, and her daughter Margaret's death certificate, her surname was recorded as Muldowney.  Margaret's marriage certificate however, had her mother's maiden name recorded as Muldowney. Her daughter Elizabeth's death certificate had her mother's maiden name recorded as Downey, but Elizabeth's marriage certificate had her mother's maiden name recorded as Muldowney just like Margaret!

The assumption I have gone with is - her maiden name was anglicised a little when she was living in Scotland and England, but then once she was settled into her life in Australia, her family started using what may have been the original spelling of her maiden name in Ireland when she was a child.

The Story of Catherine Crotty.

It's time for the story of my maternal Great Great Grandmother, Catherine Crotty (1814 - 1873).  

It will be a rather brief story, with only a few details, as is the case for many Irish ancestor stories from the 1800s.

Unless you are privileged enough to have a first-hand account from family diaries or letters for example, or perhaps information passed down through the generations in that particular branch of the family, then you have to rely on the information you glean primarily from records such as Church Parish registers for baptisms and marriages, Griffith's Valuation records or Tithe Applotment records.

It's even more difficult to uncover details about my female ancestors of that time.  They lived out lives that left very little documentary evidence behind.  In this case, the details I've amassed are pretty much only from Church Parish records.

The Parish of Tramore in County Waterford

Catherine was baptised in the Parish of Tramore in County Waterford on the 11th of December in 1814.



Her parents were recorded as Thomas Crotty and Brigida Wyse.  Catherine's name was actually recorded as 'Catherina'.



At that time, there were three siblings ...
John had been born in 1806.
Richard came along in 1809.
Margaret was born in 1811.

When Catherine was aged 3, her brother Maurice was born in 1817.

When Catherine was almost 6 years old, a sister named Joanna was born in 1820.

Then, when Catherine was almost 10 years old, another sister name Brigid was born in 1824.

The surname 'Crotty' was recorded in a couple of different ways on the baptism register entries for two of the children of Thomas and Brigida (Bridget)

- Margaret, baptised in 1811, was identified as Margaret Crottey

- Maurice, baptised in 1817, was identified as Maurice Crothy.

County Waterford, Ireland

Crotty was a familiar surname in County Waterford and there were a number of Crotty families scattered across the county in the 1800s.

I have been unable to find out much more information about Catherine's parents so far, other than their marriage date in 1805; and very little information about the lives of her siblings.

At the age of 19, in 1833, Catherine married James Burke in the Parish of Newcastle, County Waterford.

A map of the Waterford and Lismore Diocese in County Waterford, around the 1830s
Parish of Tramore in blue, Parish of Newcastle in red.

As it was the usual custom then to marry in the parish where the bride's family was living, it seems that the Crotty family had moved sometime between Catherine's birth and her wedding.  They had moved from the Tramore Parish near the coast, to the Newcastle Parish which was further inland.

After her wedding though, Catherine went to live with her husband over near Carrick-on-Suir.  The birth record of her first born listed Three Bridges as the address Catherine was living at by then.


Over the next 19 years they went on to have seven children, and all but the last had Three Bridges listed on their birth record as their address.


I do suspect that Catherine and James might have lost one or more of their children along the way.  

In 1835, David was born.  Catherine was 21 years old.
William was born in 1841.
Tobias was born in 1843.
Maurice in 1846.
John came along in 1848.
Bridget, my great grandmother, was born in 1851.  Catherine was aged 37.
James was born in 1854.

Looking over the list of children born to Catherine and James, their first-born, David, came along, in 1835.  That does seem like a rather long period of time before Catherine became pregnant with her first child.  After David was born, there was a six-year break before it appears that Catherine was giving birth regularly every 2 to 3 years.  That leads me to believe that it's likely she had trouble in the early years of her marriage either carrying a baby long term or giving birth to a child that survived a lengthy period of time.

By the time Catherine was aged 41 though, she had a family of seven children - 6 boys and 1 girl (my great grandmother).  I wonder what it was like for Catherine having such a big brood of boys?  I can imagine too that her only daughter would have been the chief source of help with all the domestic duties in the house.

As previously mentioned, up until the birth of their last son James, my 2x great grandmother Catherine and her husband James, my 2x great grandfather, appear to have been living in the area around Three Bridges, close to Carrick-on-Suir in County Waterford - likely from when they were married, in 1833 to just before James was born in 1854.

By 1854 however, when Catherine had turned 40, the family had moved to Killonerry in County Kilkenny.  That's not all that far from Three Bridges really, but it appears they had moved to a substantially larger farm - close to 70 acres in size.

Catherine was to spend the rest of her life living, working and raising her children on that farm.

Catherine died in early 1873 at the age of 59.  She died at home on the farm, and was survived by her husband James and, to the best of my knowledge, all seven of her children.

Now for some extra interesting detail:

There is a well-known corrie lough in the Comeragh Mountains, County Waterford.  It's known as Crotty's Lough, but it's actual name is Lough Coum Gabhartha.  There you will also find Crotty's Rock.  Both are familiar landmarks to locals and tourists alike.

Apparently, Crotty's Rock and Lough (Lake) were the lair of an infamous 18th century highwayman named William Crotty.

The chances that my 2x great grandmother Catherine Crotty was directly related to William is not entirely unlikely!   If William was in Catherine's family tree, then she might have grown up feeling a little proud that she was related to Ireland's version of Robin Hood.  No doubt her family would have passed down stories of the legendary Irish highwayman, and Catherine would have been very familiar with the tale despite being born over half a century after William's demise.

The folklore around William is tinged with sadness and despair.  Unfortunately, William did not escape the long arm of the law and ended up appearing at the 'assizes' in the city of Waterford.  The courts of assize, or assizes as they were commonly called, were periodic courts where the more serious criminal cases were heard.

"William Crotty and his gang of highwaymen operated in the County Waterford area in the 1700s.  The stories about Ireland’s very own Robin Hood have been the source of many a Seanachie tale that have been handed down for over 250 years.

William Crotty’s life as a highway robber was not a solitary one. He was married and was the leader of a gang of highwaymen who operated in the County Waterford area and whose exploits took him into the heart of Waterford City, 20 miles away.  

William Crotty’s life as a highway robber was not a solitary one. He was married and was the leader of a gang of highwaymen who operated in the County Waterford area and whose exploits took him into the heart of Waterford City, 20 miles away.  

Crotty's Lough and Crotty's Rock

His hideout was said to be near the foot of a cliff overlooking a corrie lake; and access to it was gained only by a rope which was thrown over the cliff face.  The legend of William Crotty is so enduring that the corrie lake and the craggy pinnacle nearby, reputed to have been his lookout, were named after him. From the top of the pinnacle he was able to see far over the county and to Lemybrien and Waterford city. 

He often frequented a local tavern at Dá Rue's Cross, and descended from his mountain home to steal from rich passers-by. After he had kept some for himself, he would distribute the money to the impoverished people of the area. 

Crotty's demise is a famous one. After evading capture for many years with a sizeable bounty on his head, through shoeing his horse backwards and throwing the Redcoats off his routes, he was betrayed by one of his friends. His home, the cave in the cliff above the lake, was hidden away from the view of the soldiers who searched for him and so frustrated were the patrols charged with his capture that they gave up chasing him and employed the services of Crotty's long time companion, a man by the name of David Norris.  

After having a meeting with Crotty at the cave, Norris waited till Crotty was asleep and after wetting the highway man's gunpowder, betrayed Crotty to the Army who made their arrest on February 16th, 1742. When the Waterford Assizes opened on the 17th of March the most important case before them was that of William Crotty. The sentence of Crotty swiftly followed … he was hanged and quartered … his head was cut off and fixed to the County Goal as a warning to other highway robbers.
Crotty's wife is said to have composed a 'Caoine', a mournful song, and sang it at his wake. After Crotty's death, the authorities hunted his wife and she is reputed to have thrown herself off the top of this cliff that bore his name, to her death 

The legend goes that Crotty hid the loot he kept for himself under a rock on the mountain with a special mark but was unable to collect it because of his capture. The actual destiny of this bounty is still a mystery.  Reputedly, William Crotty's ghost is often seen in the Comeragh Mountains, on a white horse, guarding his hidden treasure ... or perhaps looking for his wife!"

One day I would love to find out whether or not there was a direct connection between William and my Great Great Grandmother!

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.

The Story of Patrick Muckian (McCane)

It's time to tell the story of my maternal Great Great Grandfather, Patrick Muckian  (1817 - 1887).

Patrick's surname was written in a variety of ways on documents recorded during his lifetime, including McKean, Muckean, MacKian and Muckian, which made research efforts just a tad more difficult.  Within a generation, the surname of his Australian descendants (including my great grandfather) was mostly recorded as McCane. To this point in time, I have only a few concrete details about the life of Patrick.

I'm not entirely sure when he was born, but I have made a best guess.  Given that it appears (from distant relatives' information) he was slightly older than his bride when he married, then his birth date might have been around 1817.

I have found a record of his death which does indicate that Patrick was born around 1817.  Of course, to say that provides definitive proof is difficult as the information on that record was provided by his son and whether or not the information is accurate is difficult to say. 

Patrick was married in the townland of Ballintemple, in the Killeavy Parish and Barony of Orior Upper in County Armagh.  This may have also been his birthplace.

I have no idea who his parents were, or the names of his siblings.  I do know from Griffith's Valuation records however that between 1858 and 1864, there were at least 2 Muckian families living in Ballintemple, and it's highly likely they were closely related.

Whilst it's commonly known that the Irish appeared to follow a given pattern when naming their children, this was not always set in stone.  I could surmise however that, as Patrick's first born son was named Edward, then perhaps Patrick's father was an Edward; as first born sons were usually named after their paternal grandfathers.

Getting back to what I know for sure, my 2x great grandfather Patrick married Sarah McCann in December of 1853.  Patrick was supposedly slightly older than Sarah, so is likely to have been around the age of 36.  Given the social norms at that point in Irish history, it seems that Patrick married quite late in life.  I wonder why?

Perhaps the experiences both Patrick and Sarah had during the period known as The Great Hunger, the mid to late 1840s, meant they were simply trying to survive those times with their parents and siblings, and just were not in a position to entertain the thought of establishing a family and life of their own.  There may have been no choice in the matter at that time, as Patrick may have been waiting for a time when it would have been possible for him to rent a plot capable of supporting a family. This is all conjecture on my part!

Anyway, witnesses to the marriage in 1853 included an Edward Muckian.  Perhaps that was one of Patrick's brothers or an uncle!  In the following ten years or so, Patrick and Sarah went on to have five children.

Edward (known as Ned) was born almost a year later, in late 1854.
Mary was born in 1856.
Owen (my great grandfather) came along in 1859.
John was born in 1862,
Ann (known as Nancy) was born in 1864.  Patrick was 47 years old by this time.

My 2x great grandfather Patrick and his wife Sarah began their wedded life on a small farm in Ballintemple.

Patrick was a tenant farmer, renting from the Reverend Robert Henry.  He would have been obliged to pay rent to his landlord at least twice a year in order to keep living on his plot of land.

Griffith's Valuation records list Patrick's plot, just over 3 acres, in the 1864 record.  Interestingly there's an Owen Muckian on the plot right beside him.  Perhaps a brother or an uncle?  I'm not exactly sure.  Owen's farm is quite large compared to Patrick's farm however.

The 1864 ordnance map shows the exact locations of the Muckian farms, side by side, on the outskirts of the tiny village of Ballintemple.  Patrick's is shown with the number 9 and Owen's with number 10.

Patrick's is the smaller of the two Muckian farms.  Both were located in a small area of holdings just outside the township.

1864 Ordnance Map - plot no. 9 is my 2x grandparents, Sarah and Patrick's, plot
Green circle includes the plots of other McCann families (plots 7 & 8)
and another Muckian family (plot 10)

Interestingly, according to the Griffith's Valuation of 1864, on the other side of Patrick's plot - numbers 7 & 8 - lived two McCann families.  Were these relatives of Patrick's wife Sarah, whose maiden name was McCann?  Was there perhaps a little community of Muckians and McCanns living in this spot, eking out a life together?  Perhaps they had banded together, after the experience of The Great Hunger in an effort to move on with their lives by helping each other out?  More conjecture!

I imagine it would have been a hard life on the farm for Patrick.  It was no doubt subsistence living, growing crops and keeping animals in order to keep his family fed and pay the rent.  That would not have been easy on such a small plot.

The footprint of the family home can still be seen there today.

You can get an idea of the size of what was likely a simple, single-storey home that the family of seven lived in.

Example of a 3rd class house

Details garnered from the 1901 Census Record creates a clearer picture of the ancestral family home that stood on this plot.  It was listed as a 3rd class house.



The walls were made of mud, wood or other perishable material, the roof was wooden or thatched.  There were two rooms and two windows in the front.  It's likely there would have been a cow shed or piggery attached.



It may have looked something like the one in this picture.


Patrick passed away in 1887, when he was 70 years old.  He had worked his small farm for 34 years.

By the time he died, Edward (Ned) the eldest son was 33 years old, and was still living on the family farm.  Mary, the eldest daughter had married, moved away and was raising a family of her own.  Owen (my great grandfather) was 28 years old and appears to have moved to England in search of work.  John was 25 and had married, but was still living on the family farm.  He and his wife emigrated to the U.S. the following year.  Ann (known as Nancy) was 23 years old and appears to have been still living at home on the farm.

Patrick was survived by his wife Sarah (then aged 66) and all of his five children.  By that time he also had 3 grandchildren by his daughter Mary.

 In Remembrance

At the time of my initial post (2019), I had not yet uncovered the record of is death.  Since then however, I have come across a record that does match my great great grandfather.

Patrick died on the 27th of March, 1887 at Ballintemple.  It's highly likely he had died at his home.  His son John was listed as the informant.  It seems Patrick had been suffering bronchitis for around five days and did not recover from that.  Understandably, dealing with bronchitis at the age of 70 in the late 1880s would likely result in death.  It would be my guess that Patrick would have been buried at the site of the old Killeavy Church, which was nearby.

I'm adding this updated post to my 'Family Anniversaries' page as an  In Remembrance  post, as today is the anniversary of my great great grandfather's passing.

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.

The Story of Sarah McCann

This is the story of my maternal Great Great Grandmother, Sarah McCann (1821? - 1907)

Sarah, aged 71,1892

I have not been fortunate in finding lots of detail about Sarah and her life, so the story I can create about her is going to be fairly brief.  I am extremely fortunate however to have come into possession of a photo of Sarah, albeit in her latter years.

It was an absolute surprise when a distant relative contacted me and was able to share this treasured item.  Whilst I have precious photos of my parents and grandparents on both my maternal and paternal sides, I have very, very few photos of any of my great grandparents, and very fewer of my great great grandparents!  So this photo came as a rather poignant surprise.

Map showing the Parish of Lower Killeavy, County Armagh

My 2x great grandmother Sarah was born in 1821 (working on the age listed on a census record from 1901).

I have not yet been successful in finding a birth / baptism record for Sarah, and I'm unlikely to find one, given the time period she would have been born in and the country.  It's extremely difficult to find Irish records of births, deaths and marriages in the early 1800s.



From information shared by distant relatives, it seems she was born in County Armagh, and baptised in the Lower Killeavy Parish (sometimes spelt Killevy).

Sarah was apparently known to close family as 'Sally' throughout her life.

It's likely she would have been baptised at one of the old Churches that can still be found (although in ruins) in the townland of Ballintemple, outside Newry.  The west church is the only surviving pre-Norman church in County Armagh, and the east church is medieval, probably dating from the 15th century.

Sarah married Patrick Muckian in December of 1853.  She was aged 32.  That does seem unusual for that time, as so many woman married around the age of 20.  I wonder why Sarah didn't marry until she was in her early 30s.  She would possibly have been considered an old maid in the townland of Ballintemple, and I would dearly love to know the circumstances around this!

Sarah's husband Patrick was also in his 30s, but slightly older.  He was aged 36 when he married.  They went on to have five children over the following ten years.

Edward was born in 1854.
Mary came along in 1856.
Owen (my great grandfather) was born in 1859.  Sarah was 38 years old.
John came along in 1862.
Ann (known as Nancy) was born in 1864.  By this time, Sarah was aged 43.

It seems that Sarah lived out the remainder of her life on the family farm.  The ancestral family home is no longer standing, but I know its location in Ballintemple, very close to the old churches, thanks to information passed on from my distant cousins.

Map of Ballintemple showing the ancestral family farm (red)
near the Killeavy Old Churches (yellow)

Photo courtesy of distant cousin Brian Rafferty

This photo shows the ancestral family farm, as it stands today, sadly no longer in the family.  Not much to see apart from the footprint of the family home.  It looks like it might have been quite an isolated spot for Sarah and her family back in the mid-to-late 1800s when they lived there.

Photo courtesy of distant cousin Brian Rafferty

This is the view from the ancestral family farm today.  I can only imagine how tough life would have been here during the long cold winter months, especially back then!  The life of a farmer's wife would have been tough and challenging.

It does appear though that Sarah might have had family, perhaps even close family members living close by.  According to the Griffith's Valuation of 1864 there were McCanns living on the land next to Sarah and Patrick's plot.

1864 Ordnance Map - plot no. 9 is my 2x grandparents, Sarah and Patrick's, plot
Green circle includes the plots of other McCann families (plots 7 & 8)
and another Muckian family (plot 10)

The Ordnance Map shows that m 2x great grandmother Sarah and my 2x great grandfather Patrick were living on the plot that's marked with a 9, whilst two McCann families were living on plots 7 & 8.  On plot 10 there was another Muckian family, possibly a close relative of Patrick's!  It seems feasible that the families were all eking out an existence side-by-side.

I have found out only a few other details about events in Sarah's life between her marriage and her death.

It seems her daughter Mary Elizabeth married Patrick McCabe in 1880 and left her childhood home to begin her married life.

Sarah's son John married Catherine Benett in 1887, and long afterwards it appears they both emigrated to the U.S.  According to family stories the family name Muckian became McKane for this branch of the family.

Sarah's husband passed away in mid 1887 at the age of 70.  They had been married for 33 years.

In the following year, 1888, her son Owen (my great grandfather) emigrated to Australia.  The family surname became McCane in Australia.  Owen married my great grandmother Margaret Farrell in 1892.

Sarah's daughter Ann (known as Nancy) had married in 1891.  She and her husband Patrick Barry began their married life close by in Ballynalack.

Sarah's eldest son Edward married Mary Anne Mallon in 1892.  The wedding photo passed down through the generations has been a godsend, as it shows Edward and his mother Sarah, who would have been aged about 71 at the time.  This photo is a rare gem.

Sarah Muckian (nee McCann) and her son Edward on his wedding day 1892

Apparently, according to my distant relatives, it was customary for the groom to be photographed with his mother on his wedding day, and of course his wife, although a photo of Edward and wife Mary Anne has not yet surfaced!

By 1901, Sarah was still living on the family farm, but with her son Edward, his wife Mary and their family of five children.  Sarah was listed as the 'head' of the family on the 1901 census, and owner of the farm.

At that time Sarah was 80 years old.  The record states that she was not able to read, and obviously not able to write her name either as evidenced by the note at the bottom of the page "her mark".

Sarah didn't make it to her 90s as she was not listed on the 1911 census alongside her son Edward on the family farm.  

This death record states that Sarah Muckian died on the 26th of March at Ballintemple, presumably at her home on the family farm. The cause of death was listed as influenza, which she had apparently been suffering for 21 days.  What a battle she put up!  The death was reported by her son Edward.  All these details certainly sound like a match for my great great grandmother, apart from the fact that her age was listed as 66!!!  

That would be twenty years out by my reckoning, if I use the 1901 Census Record as a guide.  It would also mean that she would have been only 12 on her wedding day and would have given birth to her eldest son Edward when she was 13!   All of this leads me to believe that Sarah's age on this record was most definitely incorrect!

Apart from that fact, I think there are enough matching details for me to say that the record is correct in stating that my great great grandmother died in 1907.  She was however 86 years old.  The cause of death was listed as 'influenza', which she had suffered for 21 days.  Sadly, this probably means the end was not lovely and peaceful for my 2x great grandmother.  It sounds as though she was probably very ill at the end and her passing might have been a godsend.

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.