The Story of James Hickey

This is the story of my paternal Great Great Great Grandfather, James Hickey (1798 - 1879).

The details of my 3x great grandfather's birth and early life are rather scant, but it's been a fascinating research journey trying to find clues.  From the few records I have ended up with, which really only includes the immigrant passenger list, the baptism records for two of his children, and his death certificate, there appears to be a difference in his supposed place of origin.  It appeared that James hailed from both County Limerick and County Clare.  So, which was correct?

From what I've been able to glean so far, it seems that both are most likely correct.  Why?  Well, that needs an explanation.

James was probably born and definitely lived in the Coonagh area (not to be confused with the Coonagh Barony!).

Coonagh was comprised of two townlands, Coonagh East and Coongah West.


The area was part of the Civil Parish of Killeely.

The Civil Parish of Killeely was part of the Roman Catholic Parish of Parteen-Meelick-Coonagh in the Diocese of Limerick.


Both the Civil Parish of Killeely and the Diocese of Limerick straddled two counties, County Limerick and County Clare. Indeed, the majority of the Limerick Diocese was in fact within the borders of County Clare, as was most of the Parish of Parteen-Meelick-Coonagh. 

The area of Coonagh (which included Coonagh East and Coonagh West) sat on the banks of the Shannon River, and was at different points in time considered to be part of both counties, although when James was growing up it was most definitely considered part of County Limerick.

Sunset on the Shannon, taken from Coonagh
By ThadysLamp - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44392588

I have not yet uncovered a definitive date of birth, but the year 1798 is an educated guess, based on the age recorded on James's immigration passenger list.  His death certificate contradicts this date though, and indicates that he was born a lot earlier, in 1793.  I do think that 1793 was in fact the date of birth for one of James's brothers.

James was the son of Patrick Hickey and Mary Price.  He had at least two older brothers.  I think that it was Patrick who was born in 1793, and then Denis came along in 1795.  James was the youngest of the boys.  It's likely other siblings were born to his parents, but it seems they did not survive into adulthood.

My 3x great grandfather James married Margaret McNamara sometime around 1820, when he would have been aged 22.  On James's death certificate it is recorded that he married in County Clare, and that would be correct if they married in the Catholic Church in the Parish of Parteen, which was part of the Diocese of Limerick!

After their marriage, James and Margaret went on to have at least 8 children whilst living in Ireland.
Their eldest son Dennis was born in 1822.
Patrick came along in 1824.
Twins, John and Thomas were born in 1827.
Bridget was born in 1829.
Ellen (my Great Great Grandmother) came along in 1832.  At that time James was 34 years old.
James (Jnr.) was born in 1835.
William was born in 1837, but it seems he died as a very young infant.

Sadly, back in 1833, James's father Patrick had died.

Tithe Applotment Book 1833 Townland of Coonagh

At that time, in a valuation undertaken on May 30th 1833, recorded in the Tithe Applotment Books, the inhabitants of Coonagh were listed under three main family groupings - Coonagh Hickey, Coonagh Sexton and Coonagh Calcutt.  The townland of Coonagh itself was owned by the Earl of Thomand and leased to these families, who would have in turn probably subleased portions to others.

Tithe Applotment Book 1833 - Coonagh Hickey

The 1833 record showed that the Hickey brothers Patrick, Denis and James, along with a Widow Hickey (likely to be their mother Mary) were all working farmland in Coonagh, totaling 18 acres.

Patrick, being the eldest brother would have been left the lease of the large 15 acre farm after the death of his father that year.  That was in accordance with the inheritance traditions at the time.  The younger brothers, including my 3x great grandfather James, would have worked the land together as well as their own small 1 acre plots.  Apparently it was fairly common for each fully fit man to work 5 acres with a spade at this time.  Hard, back-breaking work!

Both James and Denis, the younger brothers, would have been deprived of property rights, and that would have been the reality for their own sons as well. My 3x great grandfather James already had 5 sons by this time (1833) and his brother Denis had 4.  Whilst James and Denis remained working the farmland as tenants for several more years after 1833, they were to make a life-changing decision in the hope of changing their futures.

Upon the death of their mother Mary, which happened sometime between 1833 and 1839, the two younger brothers decided to emigrate, in the belief they could build a better life for their families elsewhere and perhaps end up as landowners themselves.

In November of 1839, James Hickey and his family of 8, as well as his brother Denis and his family of 6, boarded the ship Adam Lodge, along with what is highly likely to be a number of other Hickey relatives.  In all, there were 28 people with the surname of Hickey from either County Limerick or County Clare who departed Cove Cork in Ireland on the 11th of November 1839.

The Adam Lodge was a 576-ton ship carrying 273 government immigrants.  According to the journal kept by the Surgeon Superintendent Alex Stewart:

"The immigrants included 54 Protestants and 219 Catholics.  A crew member and two children died on the voyage, one child was born.  A school was established and 37 regularly attended.  The schoolmaster was very attentive and many of the scholars improved considerably. The chief amusements were dancing and leap frog and were always encourage in the evenings until 9 o'clock.  Divine Service was performed five times during the voyage, the unfavourable state of the weather, the rolling of the ship and their indisposition prevented its being done oftener."

 The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Sat 15 Feb 1840 p2

The Adam Lodge arrived in Sydney on February 14th, 1840, after a voyage that lasted for 95 days.  The ship had taken a course from the Cape of Good Hope, across the Southern Ocean, and then up the Eastern seaboard of Australia.  The ship had 'spoken' with the Mary Ridgway whilst passing through Bass Strait, on the 10th of February 1840.

Upon arrival in Sydney all the immigrants would have resided in the government barracks on Bent Street, where an immigration muster was completed detailing information about James and his family.

It was noted that James had been 41 years old upon embarkation, but was 42 years old by the time he had arrived in the Colonies.

His previous occupation had been 'farmer'.

He was Roman Catholic and could both read and write.

James's wife Margaret was recorded as being 38 years of age and her occupation was listed as 'farm servant'.  She could neither read nor write.

Children Patrick, Thomas, John, James, Bridget and Ellen were all listed with Margaret.  Son Dennis was listed separately as a Single Male.

Dispersal List for assisted immigrants on Adam Lodge 1840 p.3 - James Hickey and family

James and his family had been bought out as part of the Assisted Immigration Scheme, which means their passage had been paid for by either the government of the colonies or a wealthy private individual.  In James's case, his passage was paid for by the government as the Dispersal List (shown above) lists his prospective employer as "unknown".

Dispersal List for assisted immigrants on Adam Lodge 1840 p.2 - Denis Hickey and family

His brother Denis and his son Dennis, on the other hand, had been sponsored by a Mr. Hunt of Sydney for 1 year at wages of 90 pounds plus rations.  It's likely that James stayed in Sydney for a while, close to his brother and son, anxiously awaiting employment prospects.

I'm not entirely sure just how long after landing in Sydney, James and his family moved north to the Hunter River District, and in particular the Maitland; but within two years of disembarkation, as another son was born in the Maitland area in 1842.

Son Michael was born in October of 1842, when James was 44 years old.

James was to reside in the Hunter River District, around Maitland, for the remainder of his life, as did his brother Denis and most of the extended Hickey family.  It seems that they were a close-knit clan.

Article in the Empire Newspaper Wed 5 Aug 1857 p2

There is mention of a "Hickey's Farm" in an article published in the Empire newspaper dated 5th of August 1857.


The article told of the effects of significant flooding in the Narrowgut / Morpeth / Phoenix Park area of the Hunter River District in New South Wales that year.


In the last paragraph there is mention that:

"Below Hinton the river broke over at several places, and poured a deluge of water into the adjacent hollows.  This was the case at Berry Park, Duckenfield, Hickey's Farm, Nelson's Plains, and Miller's Forest - all the low lands in these localities were covered with water."

Was this my 3x great grandfather's farm?

Map of Hunter River District around Maitland -
shows location of Wallalong, Phoenix Park and Narrowgut.

Oral family stories mention that James originally tenanted a farm at Wallalong sometime in the 1850s, moved across the river to Phoenix Park, and at some time tenanted farmland in Cooley Camp (later known as Bolwarra).

Given that James's brother Denis had died in 1852, then perhaps the "Hickey's Farm" mentioned in that 1857 newspaper was indeed the farm of James Hickey.  The death of his brother Denis would have been a terrible blow to James, considering they had made the journey out to Australia together and spent their lives in the colony living in the same places.

I have little knowledge of the life of James during his years spent farming in the Hunter River District.  Did he end up owning his own land, or did he spend his life as a tenant farmer?

Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser Sat 21 Jun 1879 p16

James Hickey died on the 14th of June, 1879 and the death notice published on Saturday the 21st of June states:

"Mr. James Hickey, senior, died on Saturday night, the 14th inst., at his late residence, Narrowgut."

The article also mentions that he was an "old and respected resident of the district" who had been a "native of Ireland, but has spent thirty-nine years in this colony, always located in the Hunter River  district."  It was wonderful to see that he was described as "of a remarkably active temperament, and possessed a warm-hearted, genial disposition, which served to endear him to a large circle of friends."  The death notice also mentions that James died "with his children all around him", which seems to indicate the closeness of the family unit.

James's death certificate stated that he died of "senile debility" and that he was survived by 7 of his children - Patrick was 46, the twins John and Thomas were 44, Bridget was 40, Ellen (my great great grandmother) was 38 and Michael was 35.  That means his eldest son Dennis was deceased by that time.

The death certificate also lists 1 other male as deceased, and 1 female.  I know that James and Margaret had lost a son named William before they left Ireland, but I have not yet found any record of a third daughter born to them, either in Ireland or Australia.  These details were given by son Michael, so I'm assuming he would have known the true facts and I now have some more researching to do!

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 Ellen Hickey

This is the story of my paternal Great Great Grandmother, Ellen Hickey (1832-1912).

 

Ellen Hickey
date of photo unknown

The year of Ellen's birth, 1832, was also the birth year of authors Louisa May Alcott and Lewis Carroll, and the engineer Gustave Eiffel.  The place of Ellen's birth is still open to conjecture, although I will make an educated guess based on the records and information I've been able to collate.

Quite a lengthy period of time passed before my research finally led me to the baptism register for the Parish of Parteen and Meelick.





Reading the baptism register for the Parish in 1832 was very, very difficult, as you can tell from the record shown here; but I persisted and after many, many attempts, I finally found the entry on the first page next to the number 11 under the February section.

If you look very carefully, you can see 'Ellen Hickey', along with the names of her parents.  Her father was James Hickey, aged 34 at the time, and her mother was Margaret McNamara, aged 30. So I finally had confirmation of a year of birth and a baptism date.

Ellen was baptised on the 11th of February in 1832, in the townland of Parteen, County Clare.



Now, Parteen was (still is) in the Catholic Parish of 'Parteen-Meelick' in the Diocese of Limerick, but the Diocese of Limerick covered parts of both County Limerick and County Clare back then.

If the family actually lived on that side of the River Shannon, then they were natives of County Clare.







That information however didn't marry up with the place the family had recorded as their 'native place' on their immigration record a few years later.  That was listed as Limerick, so I got a little confused.  Did that mean the family identified themselves as being from Limerick city, the County of Limerick or the Diocese of Limerick?

At that time most of the Parish of Parteen/Meelick was indeed situated in County Clare, but ... the Coonagh part of the Parish was in the County of Limerick.  Did that mean the Hickey family were actually living in Coonagh and that's where Ellen was born?  Was the church in Parteen just the closest church?  I will need to look into this further.

At the time of her birth, it appears that there were already four children in the family.

Patrick had been born in 1824.
Twins, Thomas and John, came along in 1827.
Bridget was born in 1830.
The year after Ellen was born, James came along in 1833.

A mere six years later it appears that Ellen's mother and father decided to leave Ireland and emigrate, as many Irish did in the 19th century. 

Assisted Immigrant Record - 'Adam Lodge' - 1840

The record above shows that in late 1839 Ellen's parents decided to move to Australia. It's not an easy record to read, but the details indicate that Ellen's father James, mother Margaret, and siblings boarded the ship 'Adam Lodge' in Cork; along with her uncle Denis, aunt Winifred, and cousins Denis, Matthew and Michael.

The extended family was taking advantage of the 'bounty' immigration scheme that operated between 1834-1841.  'Bounties' were paid to individuals or companies who recruited immigrants with particular skills and bought them to the colonies for employers.  There were a couple of other Hickey families aboard the ship, but I'm unsure about their relationship to Ellen's family.  One of those families is recorded directly above the entry for Ellen's family.

The other form of the immigrant record shows that Ellen's father James was aged 41, her mother was 38, her brother Patrick was 16, the twins Thomas and John were aged 13, Bridget was 10, James was 7 and Ellen herself was aged 8  (despite being listed as 9 years of age).

Trying to comprehend exactly what Ellen's experience would have been during this trip at such a young age is difficult.

I imagine it could have been scary ordeal and a thrilling adventure all in one!





The family left from Cork on October 9th 1839 on the 'Adam Lodge' on a course to the Cape of Good Hope, then across the Southern Ocean, along the southern coast of Australia, through Bass Strait and up the eastern seaboard of Australia to Sydney.


The voyage took four months, arriving in Sydney on February 10th, 1840.

Once the family had disembarked in Sydney, they would have moved into the government barracks on Bent Street, along with all of the other immigrants.

This list of immigrants shown here, was published on the day of their arrival so that prospective employers were notified of the various skilled workers that were available for hire.


Ellen's father James and uncle Denis would have been included in the number of married farmers on board the ship.


I haven't yet found evidence of exactly whom might have employed Ellen's father, James Hickey.

I do know however (from research done by Mark Connors, another descendant of James Hickey and Margaret McNamara) that the family moved north to the Hunter River district, not long after their arrival in Australia, where James tenanted a farm at Wallalong, outside Maitland.



The obituary for Ellen's father published many years later, mentioned that he had spent 39 years in the colony "always being located in the Hunter River district".

Australasian Chronicle (Sydney, NSW), 18 February 1840, p.3

I have been unable to find any evidence of what occurred in Ellen's life during her teenage years, between the age of 10 and 16, but I suppose she would have worked alongside her father and mother on whatever farm or farms her father had been employed at in the Hunter River district.  No doubt she would have acquired many skills either as a farm servant or a house servant perhaps.

Then in 1849, at the age of just 17, Ellen married William Connor (whose name was often recorded as Connors later on, and that became the surname of the family). He was aged 29 and had been in the colony for eight years.

It's a bit of a mystery as to why her Christian name was recorded as 'Eleanor'.  Her baptism record shows her name as simply 'Ellen', but as the name 'Eleanor' pops up in various grandchildren names later on, perhaps her actual name was exactly that.

It's also interesting to note that there were no Hickey family members as witnesses to the marriage.  Given that Ellen had many close family members living nearby, and her husband had only one, a sister who had emigrated with him, it seems odd that a Hickey did not act as a witness.

Ellen's family had settled in the East Maitland Parish, not West Maitland where Ellen and William were married.  This suggests there may have been some discord, as the marriage did not take place in the bride's family's parish.  Was her choice of husband not agreeable to her parents? 

At the time of their marriage, William was living in an area known at the time as 'Cooley Camp' (later known as Bolwarra Flat) where there were many small farms.  It was reputedly a very productive area, but as the whole area was no more than five square miles in size, there was not much chance for expansion for any farmer who had a small landholding in the area.

Ellen and William had their first child, my Great Grandfather Thomas, in 1850, when Ellen was 18 years of age.  He was born at Butterwick, which was within the Cooley Camp area, but the new family did not stay long in the area after that.

They moved south to the Kiama and Gerringong region on the New South Wales south coast, quite a distance away from the rest of the Hickey family.  It seems they travelled with a number of other Irish families, including the Mary McIntyre who had been one of the witnesses at their wedding.  The Gerringong region was opening up at the time for farmers, after the cedar cutting industry had come to a halt.

Ellen and William appear to have begun working their own dairy farm, and went on to have 12 more children over the next 25 years.  Their growing family included:

Margaret born in 1852.
Patrick came along the following year, 1853.
Mary Ann was born in 1855, and Ellen was now aged 23.
Bridget Ellen was born in 1857.
James in 1859.
Ellen Sabina was born in 1861.  Ellen was now 29 years old.
William was born in 1864.
Benjamin came along in 1866.
In 1868 son John was born.
Elizabeth (known as Lizzie) was born in 1870.
Michael John was born in 1873.

It was not long after the birth of Michael, that William and Ellen packed up their belongings, left the dairy farm and the Kiama district. It appeared that William was not happy with his lot, and had decided to relocate to Wagga Wagga in the west, in the hope that he would be able to acquire a larger plot of land.

At the time Ellen would have been 41 years old.  The eldest son, my Great Grandfather Thomas, would have been 23, had a wife and a small baby;  daughter Margaret was 21; son Patrick was almost 20; Mary Ann was 18; Bridget was 16; James was 14; Ellen Sabina was 12; William was 9; Benjamin was 7; John was 5; Elizabeth was 3; and Michael was just a new born baby.

The entire family all headed off to the west by ox and dray on a trip of around 300 miles.  

I imagine it would have been a slow, arduous trip!

Wagga Wagga, late 1870s

The family had definitely arrived by 1876 because sadly, that year Ellen lost three of her children in Wagga Wagga. 

Typhoid, known then as 'colonial fever', had broken out in several places in both New South Wales and Victoria in 1875 / 1876.

Unfortunately it was rampant in Wagga Wagga in 1876 and Patrick (aged 23), Ellen Sabina (aged 15) and John (aged 8), all died as a result of contracting that disease.

No doubt others in the family would have fallen ill as well, but no other family members were lost.

Ellen herself might have succumbed and the family would have been very concerned as she was quite heavily pregnant at the time.

Thankfully she went on to give birth to her last son, Edward George, in August of 1876 when she was aged 44.

I can not imagine the grief that she would have felt at the loss of three of her children in such a short period of time.  I doubt that she was able to recover from that very quickly (if indeed she ever did!), despite the joy that a tiny new baby would bring.




Not long after this heart-breaking period of time, William and Ellen moved once more.  This time, their eldest son Thomas (my great grandfather) did not join them, but headed back to Kiama with his own family.  Their eldest daughter Margaret remained in Wagga and married, and it seems that their third eldest daughter, Bridget, also remained in Wagga.

So it was that Ellen and her husband moved to the Snowy Mountains district sometime towards the end of 1879, and eventually settled in the town of Gilmore, just outside Tumut, with six out of nine of their surviving children.

1879 was also the year that Ellen's father, James Hickey passed away.  Ellen's parents had stayed in the Hunter District, and James died near Morpeth.

Ellen was to experience more grief just a couple of years later.  In 1882, her husband William died, when Ellen was 50 years old. He passed away at Gilmore rather unexpectedly it seems, after suffering from inflammation of the lungs for two weeks prior to his death.  Given that the wheat crop grown the previous year at their farm had failed, times would have been quite hard for Ellen at that time.

Ellen would have taken over the farm, and indeed her death record lists her occupation at the time of her death (some 30 years later) as 'farmer'.  There is no doubt in my mind that Ellen had worked alongside her husband since the beginning of her marriage, and had played just as an essential role in the day-to-day workings of the farm as her husband.

It seems that Ellen's mother Margaret moved to Gilmore after the death of Ellen's husband William.  She was likely living with Ellen at the farm, but given she was now in her mid-80s she may not have been able to help out all that much.  Ellen's mother died in 1890 and is buried at the Tumut cemetary, and not beside her husband's plot in Morpeth.  

In 1893 son James married and moved off the farm into Tumut.
In 1896 Ellen's brother Patrick died.
Then in 1898, Ellen lost another of her children, her youngest son Edward George.

At this point in Ellen's story, I'm going to mention the prompt for this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge:  'Storms'.  Whilst others may think immediately of thunderstorms, I'm going to diverge a little and mention 'firestorm'.

In many parts of Australia, people are very familiar with firestorms. Bushfires are one of our most frequent natural hazards, and there have been some extreme bushfires throughout our history. When a bushfire starts exhibiting deep, widespread flaming with a smoke plume that can extend up to 10-15 kilometres into the atmosphere, sometimes these plumes actually develop into thunderstorms.  That's when the bushfire becomes known as a 'firestorm'.

In the last days of 1904 and first days of 1905, several massive bushfires covered a vast section of New South Wales, from Wagga Wagga in the west, to Yass in the East and down to Tumut in the south.  Despite there being several fires to begin with, after the traumatic event was over, it was spoken about as if there had been just one massive force of destruction that left a huge area of the state in ruins.  Though 'firestorm' would not have been a familiar term at the time, that was indeed what had occurred.

Ellen and her family were caught up in this tragedy, although thankfully none of the family lost their lives.










Newspaper reports at the time tell the story far better than I ever could.

" THE BUSH FIRES. 

(Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW), Saturday 7 January 1905, page 2)

So melancholy a catastrophe as the great fires which have swept over the State is, in many respects, unparalleled in the records of the country.

The concise telegrams coming from eye-witnesses in the various districts but briefly recount the fearful havoc, and cannot convey an adequate idea of the utter and complete devastation of the country as it now appears.

The picture is a grim one, with stumps still burning and blackened trunks alone standing where a little while since there was green grass and verdant bush growth. Charred trees and bare ground now plainly indicate the course of the fires as they sped their way relentlessly forward, increasing in fury as homesteads and station buildings were engulfed and reduced to ashes.

The amount of damage wrought is assuming immense proportions. Thousands of acres in different parts of the State have been devastated, homesteads, farms, and everything about them have been destroyed, and even larger holdings and stations have not escaped, hundreds of sheep and cattle having been roasted alive. There appears to have been no lack of assistance to try to save stock, which is at all times valuable, but no human effort could apparently rescue the doomed animals, which, in mortal panic, rushing from the great glare, were entirely unmanageable and soon overcome.………….(the report continued for a page)."

From the Tenterfield Intercolonial Courier and Fairfield and Wallangarra Advocate (NSW), Tuesday 10 January 1905, page 4
 
The headline:  'FEARFUL BUSH FIRES.'

Part of the beginning paragraph states:
"The details given in the Sydney Press, however, show that the fires, which were directly or indirectly caused by the heat wave, were appalling in their extent and fierceness, and the damage to property was exceedingly serious."

The lengthy article goes on to give particulars of the damage and loss in areas including - Moss Vale, Mittagong, Maitland, Gundagai, Candelo, Yass, Wagga, the Riverina and quite a few other districts.

There is mention of Tumut and the area around it, where Ellen and her family lived.

"DEVASTATION AT TUMUT
The bush fires in the Tumut district were unprecedented. Homesteads were burned, the occupants being compelled to leave with only the clothes in which they stood. Haystacks and sheds were levelled to the ground, and thousands of bushels of corn, wool-packed bales, fields of wheat crops, and hundreds of crops ready for the harvest, to say nothing of the tracts of grass were destroyed. Thousands of sheep, horses, cattle and poultry were roasted alive. After fighting the flames for two days and nights, men were lying around exhausted."

Tenterfield Intercolonial Courier and Fairfield and Wallangarra Advocate (NSW), Tuesday 10 January 1905, p.4

Escaping the Tumut fire in 1905

The photo above shows Ellen and her family (son William, his wife Elizabeth and children; as well as daughter Elizabeth and her two children) after they had evacuated the farm at Gilmore in an effort to escape the fire.  They had made it to the river near Blowering.  The whole thing must have been quite a harrowing experience.

Photo taken 1905, Ellen was aged 73.

Ellen is standing third from the right in front of the wagon.  She would have been 73 years old.  I think she can be forgiven for that lack of a smile and the rather sombre look on her face!

Front row L-R:  daughter-in-law Elizabeth (nee Duffy), granddaughter Ruby holding another of Ellen's grandchildren, Frederick, daughter Mary Anne, Ellen (the mother/mother-in-law/grandmother) granddaughter Phyllis, daughter Elizabeth (known as Lizzie).

In the buggy:  grandchildren Ivy Eleanor, Cecil, Frank and Harry.
Ellen's son William is driving the buggy.  Ellen's son-in-law Fred (Lizzie's husband) took the photo.

It does look as though they all escaped the fire relatively unscathed, but I don't know about the family property.  I have yet to discover what the family found when they returned to the farm; but return they did.  I have little detail to share about the years that followed.

In 1910 Ellen's eldest son Thomas Edgar, my great grandfather, passed away at his dairy farm 'Far Meadow' near Berry.  Ellen was 78 years old by then.

This photo was actually taken around the same time ... 1910 ... when Ellen was aged 78.  She is sitting with her  grandchildren Harry and Frank, children of her son William Connor.  The two boys in this photo are the same boys who were standing in the buggy being driven asway from the 1905 bushfires by their father.

The thing that grabs my attention and pulls at my heartstrings are Ellen's hands.  It looks like she suffered from quite sever arthritis of the hands, which must have been very painful!

Just two years after the photo was taken, a little over a month after her 80th birthday, Ellen died in 1912.

From her obituary you get a sense of the person she was, obviously a kind self-sacrificing person whose priority in life was her family.  The writer had most definitely made an error giving her age as "three score and ten"!

Some of the details on her death record are also a little out ... she definitely spent longer than 60 years of her life in New South Wales, given that she arrived when she had only just turned 8; and she had married before she turned 18.

Ellen was survived by her sons William, Benjamin, Michael and James; as well as her daughters Margaret, Mary Ann, Bridget and Elizabeth (known as Lizzie).



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.