More Molloys in the Curragh

In July of this year the National Library of Ireland launched their website of Catholic parish registers showing baptism and marriage records for parishes across Ireland, previously only available on microfilm onsite in Dublin (http://registers.nli.ie).  This treasure came with some drawbacks – none of the names in the registers are indexed, so finding an entry means paging through the register for the relevant years looking for a familiar name. And some of the pages themselves are deeply unreadable, splodged or obliterated by ink marks, with entries written in close, crowded script.

Nevertheless I had a happy time looking for Molloys in the parish covering the locality of Brownstown or the Curragh, the locations given by the Molloys in Australia as their place of origin.  This parish turned out to be called Suncroft, in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

The Curragh, according to Wikipedia, is a flat open plain of 5,000 acres of common land, comprising well drained sandy soil ideal for horse breeding and training.  It hosts the premier race course in Ireland and the National Stud is located close by, on the outskirts of Kildare town.  The Curragh Camp has been a site of military training and barracks for centuries, historically for the British army and more recently for the Irish Defence Forces.

Brownstown lies to the south of The Curragh, and to the south east of the town of Kildare. In terms of the townland system of civil divisions, there were a number of variants of Brownstown –  Lower, Upper, Great and Little.

Ordnance Survey Kildare-Wicklow map, 1985

Registers for Suncroft parish in the National Library collection run from 1805 to 1880 for baptisms and from 1805 to 1881 for marriages. I located the baptismal record for Patrick Molloy, my great grandfather, recorded on 5 August 1840.  HIs parents’ names are given as John Molloy and Sarah Byrne, and baptismal sponsors were Pat Walsh and Eliza Doyle.  His parents’ abode was given as Brownstown.

His parents, John and Sarah (also known as Sally), were married in 1839, on 23rd April in Suncroft parish, with witnesses John Keegan and Mary Fitzgerald.

Registration of marriage of John Molloy and Sally or Sarah Byrne, 23rd April 1839

Patrick was obviously their eldest child.  He was followed by two Molloy children I had not previously known about:

• Mary, baptised 27 May 1842; sponsors were Garrett Byrne and Mary Coman. Parents Jno. & Sally Byrne. Abode Brownstown.
• James, baptised 27 April 1845; sponsors were James Keegan, Mary Byrne. Parents John & Sally Byrne. Abode Brownstown
• John, baptised 6 August 1848; sponsors were Patrick Molloy and Cath. Byrne. Parents John & Sally Byrne. Abode Brownstown
• Eliza, baptised 6 March 1851; sponsors were Martin Doyle and Mary Molloy. Parents John & Sally Byrne. Abode Curragh
• Peter, baptised 8 July 1855; sponsors were Edward and Jane Byrne. Parents John & Sarah Byrne. Abode Brownstown

All siblings except for Mary and James are known to have migrated to Australia (their migration story is in this post).  I have not yet been able to find further information about Mary or James.  In the parish records, there is a Mary Molloy marrying a Patrick Fitzgerald in Suncroft parish in 1876, when she would have been 34, but I don’t currently have any further information to verify that this Mary Molloy is from our Molloy family.

John Molloy’s occupation was given by his children on their marriage and death certificates in Queensland as either a labourer or farmer.  His name doesn’t appear on Griffiths Valuation as a tenant farmer in any of the Brownstown townlands at the time it was published for County Kildare in 1853.

My mother spent a happy time with friends visiting the Curragh area of County Kildare in March 1983, knowing that her Molloy ancestors were from Kildare, a time made even happier by news of the birth of her first grandchild, far away in New Zealand.

In Memory of Veronica Buchanan, nee Molloy (1923 – 2015)

Irish naming patterns and our mob

Apparently in the nineteenth century and perhaps earlier, there was a set tradition for the naming of children born to Irish families.  The usual patterns were:

• the first son was named after the father’s father
• the second son was named after the mother’s father
• the third son was named after the father
• the first daughter was named after the mother’s mother
• the second daughter was named after the father’s mother
• the third daughter was named after the mother.

Having exhausted these possibilities, for the 7th child and beyond (and in these times there usually were 7+ children)  parents may have applied the following patterns:

• the fourth son was named after the father’s eldest brother
• the fifth son was named after the mother’s eldest brother
• the fourth daughter was named after the mother’s eldest sister
• the fifth daughter was named after the father’s eldest sister.

Presumably after the 10th child, you could be creative. Often the name of a child who died in infancy or early childhood would be applied to the next child born of the same gender.

Families with a number of siblings all following these naming patterns would consequently end up having cousins within a single generation with a number of common first names, making the job of a family history researcher trying to distinguish between them, rather difficult!

How do the Irish families of our ancestors stack up against these ‘rules’?

Looking at the Molloys first …

Patrick Molloy and Ellen Fearon families

Patrick and Ellen Molloy’s  male children were named as:

1. John Augustus Molloy
2. Patrick Molloy
3. James Thomas Molloy
4. Daniel Peter Edward Molloy.

Girls were named as:

1. Mary Margaret Molloy
2. Ellen Teresa Molloy
3. Sarah Elizabeth Molloy.

So the Molloys have re-jigged these patterns slightly to push the parent’s names up the list, and in the case of James Thomas, the parents may have been remembering an as yet unknown Molloy, or either of Ellen Fearon’s grandfathers, who were both named James.

What about the Egans?

Patrick Egan and Mary Coyne families

I’m a bit stymied here as the names of Patrick’s  and Mary’s parents are not fully known.  Mary’s father may have been John Coyne (yet to be confirmed).  The naming of the children went as follows:

1. John Patrick Egan
2. Thomas Egan
3. James Vincent Egan
4. Joseph Francis Egan.

The girls were:

1. Mary Lucy Egan
2. Margaret Egan
3. Ellen Josephine Egan
4. Agnes Veronica Egan.

The origins for the first two male names may be for the grandfathers, although not in the order expected, and the patterns for the girl’s names are not clear, apart from Mary being named for her mother.  If only they had stuck rigidly to the rules, I would have been able to hypothesize backwards to predict the names of the unknown grandparents!

The Buchanans do appear to have played by the rules  … almost.

Charles Todd Buchanan and Arabella Hardinge Going families

Their children’s names were:

1. George Charles Buchanan
2. William Alexander Going Buchanan
3. Thomas Hardinge  Buchanan

and for the girls:

1. Matilda Emily Hannah Buchanan
2. Anna Buchanan
3. Arabella Caroline Going Buchanan.

Dr George Charles Buchanan’s name combines both the paternal grandfather’s and father’s name in one.  The name Thomas doesn’t occur in the Buchanan family, so Thomas Hardinge may be named for Arabella’s brother closest in age to her, Thomas Hardinge Going.

These naming patterns illustrate the continuation of the surnames from the mother’s family as part of the child’s name, which also happens in the Scottish branches of the family.

Arabella Caroline Going Buchanan: her name carries on her mother’s surname

 

 

 

 

Molloys across the seas: From the Curragh to Queensland

I grew up hearing about Patrick Molloy, my maternal great grandfather, one of the pioneers of the Atherton Tablelands in North Queensland, and accidental discoverer – while carrying with a bullock team over the ranges from Port Douglas, so one story goes – of a copper deposit in the area where the town of Mt Molloy was subsequently established.

Memorial to Patrick Molloy at Mt Molloy, North Queensland. Photo: Jack Buchanan

My aunt Mary had mentioned another Molloy brother, Peter, also being in Queensland but it is only in the last couple of weeks that I have located specific information about all the Molloys, two brothers and one sister besides Patrick, who migrated to Queensland.

Patrick Molloy came from Brownstown or the Curragh, in County Kildare, Ireland, an area renowned for horse racing and breeding.  His parents were John Molloy, a farmer, and Sarah Byrne (or Byrnes) and he was born about 1840 – 1842.  His published obituary in the Cairns Post in October 1923 indicated that he arrived in Queensland in 1863.  There is a Patrick Molloy arriving in Brisbane on the Saldanha ship in September 1863.  He paid his own way which meant that he was eligible to claim the government incentive of 18 acres of land initially and a further 12 acres after two years.   By 1874 he had married Ellen Fearon in Rockhampton (her arrival story is here).  The birth places of their seven children show a move away from the existing townships to the more isolated locations only then being opened up by early settlers and gold strike outbreaks:

• John Augustus born 1875 in Townsville
• Mary Margaret born 1877 in “German Gardens”, Townsville
• Patrick born 1879 at Rifle Creek on the Hodgkinson Rd
• Ellen Theresa born 1880 at Leadingham Creek on the Hodgkinson goldfield
• James Thomas born 1882 at Fernvale near Northcote, Hodgkinson goldfield
• Sarah Elizabeth born 1883 at Fernvale near Northcote, Hodgkinson goldfield
• Daniel Peter Edward born 1887 at Rocky Plains, Port Douglas Road.

Dan Molloy’s birth in 1887 was at a time when Patrick’s working of the copper mine at Mt Molloy was coming to an end and he established the grazing property at Rocky Plains near Tolga, on the Herberton – Mareeba road.

Just before the time of John’s birth in 1875, Patrick was joined by two other siblings – Peter and Elizabeth Maria (or Eliza Mary, ‘Lizzie’ on the ship’s passenger list) who arrived on the ship Isles of the South, which had departed London on 15th June and arrived on 9th October, 1875.  They were both single and remittance passengers, meaning that their passage was sponsored, most likely by Patrick.  Peter was 14 years younger than Patrick and aged 19 at the time he migrated.  Eliza was 20 (shown as 24 on the ship’s list).

Peter Molloy worked as a miner initially, resident in Charters Towers.  At the age of 25 he married Mary Jane Casey.

MARRIAGE.
On the 9th February, at St. Columba’s Church, Charters Towers, by the Rev. Father McDonough, Peter Molloy, of County Kildare, Ireland, to Mary Jane, second daughter of Patrick Casey, Warrill Creek, Ipswich.
The Queensland Times. IPSWICH, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1881.

They were to have five children, all born in Charters Towers, between 1882 and 1892:  John Patrick, Rose Josephine, Sarah, Norah and Gladys.  Peter seems to have done well enough at mining to enable an entry into the hospitality industry.

The Southern Cross Hotel, Charters Towers
Amongst some of the oldest residents on the goldfield is Peter Molloy, the well-known host of the Southern Cross Hotel. His first arrival on the field dates as far back as 1874—17 years ago. For 14 years he followed the occupation of a miner, at which calling he worked assiduously until two and a half years ago, when he made up his mind to start on a more easy mode of living, and became a boni face. The house which he then took, and still occupies, was the Southern Cross Hotel, Mosman-st., and which, during his occupation, has gone through an entire renovation. It includes 40 bedrooms, six parlors, and spacious bar, besides ample dining room, sample rooms, &c., and forms a complete quadrangle, the premises fronting Bow-street as well as Mosman-street.

The Northern Mining Register (Charters Towers, Qld. : 1891 – 1892) Thursday 24 December 1891

However all was not well and in August 1893 he was facing insolvency.  The family moved to Cloncurry sometime after 1913.   Mrs Molloy (Mary Jane Casey) died in 1938 at Cloncurry and at Peter Molloy’s death in Mt Isa in 1939, the Cloncurry Advocate remembered him thus:

Cloncurry Advocate Friday 28 July 1939
There passed away suddenly in Mount Isa on Monday afternoon another respected old pioneer in the person of Peter Molloy. Deceased, who was close on 80 years of age, was a very well known identity on Charters Towers in the heydey of that town and was mine host of several hotels. It was Mr. Molloy’s proud boast that he attended the first race meeting ever held in Charters Towers. Coming to Cloncurry district many years ago he followed mining, mostly seeking the elusive yellow metal and when Mt. Isa opened up he was employed by the company as caretaker at the dam, and afterwards at the mine. Mrs. W. Seymour and Mr. John Molloy, both resident of Cloncurry are children.

A CORRECTION.
In our last issue in reporting the death of Mr. Peter Molloy we said his children were Mrs. W. Seymour and Mr. J. Molloy of Cloncurry. In addition to these we should have mentioned three other daughters namely, Mrs. J. Warman (Brisbane), Mrs. J. Ford (Tennant Creek) and Mrs. J. Hamilton (Cloncurry).

He is buried in Mt Isa.  As the obituary indicates, the children of the family had in some cases spread beyond Cloncurry to Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory (Norah’s family) and Brisbane (Sarah’s family).  John Patrick did not marry. Rose married William Seymour, had a large family and lived all her life in Cloncurry, as did Gladys, married to James Hamilton.

Eliza Molloy married at Herberton in 1883 to James McCloskey, who died the following year and then in Cairns, in 1889, to Patrick McHugh, a police constable.    She had two children from this second marriage, John Patrick Joseph, born 1890 and Elizabeth Mary, born 1892.  Eliza and her family were living in Petrie Terrace, Brisbane when she died in 1917 aged 66.  She is buried in Toowong Cemetery.

Patrick Molloy. Photographer Richard Isherwood Jnr, 154 Fletcher St Bolton. Photo courtesy of second cousin Kathryn

The photograph shows Patrick Molloy at the age of about twenty.  He was photographed in Bolton, Lancashire prior to migrating to Queensland in 1863.  What exactly took him to Bolton I am yet to discover, but there was at least one other family member living there, if not in 1863, then later in that decade.

His brother John Molloy was resident in Bolton with his family, from at least 1869 to early 1887.  In 1884 he had placed the following advertisement:

Advertisement: PATRICK, PETER, and ELIZA MOLLOY, your brother JOHN would like to hear from you. Patrick, formerly carrier Charters Towers. Address JOHN MOLLOY Bolton Iron and Steel Works, Bolton, Lancashire England.

The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 – 1939) 20 December 1884 (repeated 27 Dec 1884, 3 Jan 1885)

All of the siblings’ marriage and death certificates indicate that their parents were John Molloy and Sarah Byrnes (with some spelling variations), from County Kildare, but this advertisement is further proof confirming their relationship.  It appears that John’s advertisement may have been successful in reaching the intended audience, as he and his family were sponsored as remittance passengers when they sailed from London to Queensland, on the ship Jumna in February 1887, arriving in Townsville on 1st April.

John Molloy was also younger than Patrick, but only by about six  years.  He had married Eve Hardy in Bolton in 1869 and they had five children born in Bolton between 1870 and 1878 : John (Jack), Robert, Sarah Veronica, James and Eva Monica.  John was working as an iron forgeman at the iron and steel works in Bolton.

The family settled in Charters Towers but John Molloy died in 1902 at the age of 55.  He is buried  in Charters Towers cemetery.  Subsequently the remaining family moved to Townsville.   The two elder boys, John and Robert, died relatively early in Townsville at the ages of 49 and 46.  The two girls, Sarah and Eva, married and their later years were spent with their families in Collinsville working in the mining industry.  James died in Townsville in 1942 at the age of  66.  Neither James nor Robert married.

Known descendants of John Molloy and Sarah Byrnes as at March 2015 (Click to open in new window)

 

At sea: Ellen Fearon, Mrs Ellen Molloy

Patrick Molloy, my great grandfather (maternal), arrived in Queensland in the 1860s.  According to his obituary he is reported to have arrived in 1863, but as he paid his own fare (rather than being an assisted immigrant) his actual arrival date is not so easy to track down.  On the other hand, the journey of his future wife Ellen Fearon is more easily documented.

Mrs Ellen Molloy, her children and Miss Duggan (governess?) at their Rocky Creek home, 1891 (Courtesy State Library of Queensland)

Ellen (sometimes called Eleanor) Fearon came from Cargans or Tandragee Townland, County Armagh in what is now Northern Ireland.  The birth registration for her third child, Patrick, pinpoints her place of birth as Terryhoogan Farm, Tandragee, Co. Armagh.  She was one of at least seven children of father Daniel Fearon, farmer, and mother Mary Farrell, of Tandragee. Three of her siblings also migrated to Queensland.  According to Wikipedia, earlier spellings of the town’s name include Tanderagee and Tonregee (Ellen’s birthplace on her marriage certificate is given as Condriggy – could this be a misspelling or misheard pronunciation of Tonregee?).

Ellen aged 24, travelled on the ship Southern Belle, departing London on 16th November 1873, and arriving in Rockhamption over three months later, on 6th March 1874.  There were 418 “souls” on board, with three births and five deaths during the voyage.

The account of the ship’s journey in the Rockhampton Bulletin (Monday 9 March 1874) starts well:

The ship Southern Belle, 1128 tons register, William Addison Carpenter, commander, left the East Indian Docks on the 14th and Gravesend on the 16th November ; passed Lizard Point (the southern most point of Cornwall) on the 18th, at 7 a.m. ; crossed the Line on the 17th December : passed Fernando Noronha [islands approx 350 km offshore from the coast of Brazil] on the 23rd ; was off the Cape of Good Hope on the 15th January, and made east in latitude 41°; passed South Cape (southern most point of Tasmania) on 17th February; sighted the east coast of Tasmania on the 19th ; and on the 25th sighted Moreton Island, about twenty-five miles distant. Up to this date, had generally fair and agreeable weather.

From this point on the ship encountered bad weather and it was obviously the experience of its mariners that kept it safe for the remainder of its journey up the Queensland coast.

On the 25th February, when off Moreton Island, had light northerly winds, and made no progress, although carrying all sail ; thc barometer was steady at fair ; about 4 p.m. black clouds began to rise from the southward, the wind varied to all parts of the compass, heavy squalls and calms alternating, sometimes with great suddenness and rapidity ; about 8 p.m. the wind began to blow hard from the southward, and a strong sea making, the ship laboured heavily ; at 11.30 p.m., carried away the main topgallant and royal masts, the sea still making and the ship labouring very heavily, and taking on board large quantities of water.

At midnight it blew a hurricane ; to ease the ship cut away foretopsail and the rigging of the mainmast, which immediately snapped off close to the deck, taking with it the mizmtopmast, and all the mizenmast yards ; at 4 a.m. on Friday, the foretop-gallant and royal masts carried away, the ship still labouring heavily ; set foresail to steady the vessel ; afterwards the sail was blown to pieces, but was soon replaced by another ; of seven boats on board, three were smashed by the falling spars, and one of the remaining four was only a dingy ; the pumps were also broken below the deck, and rendered temporarily useless ; by the evening of Friday the weather moderated ; cleared away a great deal of wreck, got temporary stays up, and set sundry stay sails ; on Saturday morning made for Curtis Channel, the wind being S.E., but afterwards finding that the ship was too far to the northward to work into Curtis Channel, and taking into consideration her crippled condition, the attempt was abandoned, and she ran for Capricorn Channel ; on Sunday, 1st March, sighted Barren Island, S.W. by W., distant about eighteen miles ; finding the wind not fair for Keppel Bay, shaped the ship’s course northward, until at 11.30 a.m. she reached a point about three miles southward of the Bluff,
beyond Waterpark Creek (north of Yeppoon – the ship’s original destination was Townsville), where she dropped anchor in ten fathoms of water, paying out sixty fathoms of chain ; the ship here rode at anchor until Wednesday the 4th March, when she was taken in tow by the steamer Mary. Her position was about twelve miles north-east of Bald Hills, and 37 miles from the Keppel Bay Pilot station.

At the time when the ship anchored, the wind was moderate from the S. E.; on the following morning (Monday), sent the lifeboat in charge of the second officer, four seamen, and two passengers (one of whom had formerly visited Rockhampton), to endeavour to obtain assistance ; after the boat left, the wind blew strong, from S.E. to E. throughout Monday and Tuesday ; the Mary hove in sight on Wednesday about 11 a.m. ; the passengers became greatly excited with the prospect of relief ; the guns were got out, and half-a-dozen cartridges fired off, and on the steamer coming alongside, it was welcomed with hearty cheers. Pilot Haynes, who was in charge of the tug, said  he would try to tow the ship. A hawser was quickly attached, the anchor came up cheerily, and the ship moved on in tow of the little steamer at a speed of about three knots an hour, reaching Sea Hill (on Curtis Island in Keppel Bay, at the mouth of the Fitzroy River) in safety at 1 a.m. on Thursday.

It would have been a worrying final week for Ellen and the other passengers onboard. Just as well the anchor came up cheerily!

The family story is that Patrick Molloy and Ellen Fearon met and married in a few weeks.  The dates bear that out – she disembarked in Rockhampton on 6th March and was married to Patrick in St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Rockhampton, on 19th March 1874.  They were married for 49 years until both died in 1923 within a few months of each other.

Three of Ellen’s siblings also migrated to Queensland (ages given are those on the passenger lists):

• Sister Margaret Ann Fearon had travelled out in 1869 aged 22 on the Royal Dane, sailing from Plymouth on 2 July and arriving in Brisbane, Queensland on 25 September 1869.
• Brother Bernard Fearon, aged 18, arrived on the ship Darling Downs in the same year as Ellen, departing from London on 25 July and arriving in Brisbane on 5 November 1874.
• Another brother, John Fearon who lived near the Molloys at Rocky Plains near Mareeba, arrived on the Kapunda, departing from Belfast on 25 July and arriving in Townsville on 17 November 1875.  He was 21.

More about the Molloy family in a later post.  As regards Margaret Ann Fearon, she married Martin Hind in 1877 in Townsville, had six children (Ellen, Margaret, Edward, James, Rose and Mary) and seems to have settled in Townsville where she was living when she died in 1927, aged 73 years.

John Fearon worked as a grazier in the Mareeba area but did not marry.  He died in 1912.  His headstone in the Pioneers Cemetery in Mareeba reads:  In loving memory of John Fearon who departed this life 23rd Oct 1912. Aged 56 years. R.I.P. Erected by Daniel P.E. Molloy, Rocky Plains.  My grandfather was the executor of his will (Townsville Daily Bulletin, Monday 9 December 1912):

Probate of the will of John Fearon, late of Rocky Creek, near Mareeba, grazier, deceased, was granted by the Registrar (Mr Chas. S. Norris), at the Supreme Court on Saturday, to Daniel Peter Edward Molloy, of Rocky Creek, stockman, the sole executor named in the will. (Messrs MacDonnell, Henchman and Hannam, as town agents for Mr E. L. Havard, solicitor for executor.) Realty under £101; personalty under £2120.

Bernard Fearon does not appear to have married.  He died in 1928 at about 72 years of age at the Eventide Home, Glenrosa Road, Red Hill, Brisbane and is buried in Toowong Cemetery.  Electoral roll records indicate that he was living in Brisbane since at least 1913.

The family that Ellen left in Tandradgee in Armagh consisted of at least seven children.  A search through the Irish Family History Foundation (RootsIreland) website shows the following records for Daniel Fearon and Mary Farrell, with varying name spellings:

• Church record – Marriage: 16 November 1835 at Ballymore Parish, Co. Armagh – Danl Feran and Mary Farrel; witnesses Thos Vallely, James Farrel
  • Edward Fearon born about 1838; baptism not located.  Church and civil marriage record: Married in 1879, address Terryhoogan; father’s name Daniel Fearon
  • James Feron: Church record – Baptism: 23 Feb 1838, at Ballymore Parish, Co. Armagh. Father Danl Feron; mother Mary Farrell; sponsors Elizabeth Lay
  • Mary Feron: Church record – Baptism:  21 June 1840, at Ballymore Parish, Co. Armagh. Father Daniel Feron; mother Mary Farrell; sponsors Roseanne Farrell, John Feron
  • Elenor Fearon: Church record – Baptism:  18 June 1842, at Ballymore Parish, Co. Armagh. Father Daniel Fearon; mother Mary Farrell; sponsors Patrick Farrell, Elenor Fearon
  • Margret Fearon: Church record – Baptism:  10 Sept 1846, at Ballymore Parish, Co. Armagh. Father Daniel Fearon; mother Mary Farrelly; sponsors Alice Fearon, John Fearon
  • John Fearon: Church record – Baptism: 4 June 1851, at Ballymore Parish, Co. Armagh. Father Daniel Fearon; mother Mary Farrelly; sponsors Thomas MacKan, Margaret McKan
  • Bernard Feron: Church record – Baptism:  13 July 1855, at Ballymore Parish, Co. Armagh. Father Daniel Feron; mother Mary Farrelly; sponsors Joseph Rice, Bridget Walsh.
• Civil record – Death: Daniel Fearon, age 62, date of death 5 July 1873, address Terryhoogan, Banbridge Parish, Co. Down, occupation farmer
• Civil record – Death: Mary Fearon, age 78, date of death 27 Sept 1886, address Terryhoogan, Banbridge Parish, Co. Down, occupation farmer’s widow

According to the FamilySearch website, the Catholic parish of Ballymore in Co. Armagh is the head of a district called Tanderagee that also includes the parishes of Acton and Mullaghbrack.   For civil registrations, the place name of Terryhoogan occurs within the poor law union of Banbridge, within the civil parish of Ballymore, in the registrar’s district of Tanderagee, and in the county of Armagh.  Banbridge civil parish may have extended across the border with Co. Down, which adjoins Co. Armagh to the east, which accounts for Daniel and Mary’s death records falling within Co. Down rather than Co. Armagh.  Ellen’s place of origin was also sometimes given as Cargans, Armagh – this was another townland within the Tanderagee rural area.

The Griffiths Valuation published its census of Co. Armagh in 1864.  At that time there was a Daniel Ferrin occupying land leased from the Duke of Manchester at Terryhoogan townland, consisting of house, offices and land, with a total annual valuation of rateable property of £28 10s.  Amongst neighbours there were Farrells as well as Thomas Vallely, witness at Daniel’s marriage.

Assuming that this is the correct family, there appear to have been seven children born to Daniel Fearon and Mary Farrell, of Ballymore parish.  But the dates of birth conflict with stated ages for those siblings who migrated to Australia.  For a birth in 1842, Ellen (Eleanor) would have been 32 rather than 24 when she migrated and married Patrick Molloy, aged 45 when she had her last child Daniel, and aged 81 years rather than 79 years when she died.

Of Ellen’s remaining siblings in Ireland:

• her older sister Mary Fearon married John Woods in 1877, also farming in Cargans in Tandragee.  They had one daughter, Isabella or Bella, who married James McKiernan in 1899 and subsequently had three sons (if not more children).
• her eldest brother Edward Fearon married Mary Donnelly in Tandradgee in 1879.  He was then 42. When he died in Tandragee in 1894, his executor was his brother-in-law, John Woods.
• I have yet to identify the details for James Fearon, Ellen’s second eldest brother, but so far have not located any marriage or death records.

Ellen’s experience on board the Southern Belle did not dissuade her from further voyages.  According to the Molloy obituary in the Cairns Post (30 October 1923), she returned to the old country by ship with her daughter, Ellen Teresa Molloy:

In 1907 Mrs. Molloy, who had been in indifferent health for some time, went for a trip to Ireland; taking her second youngest daughter, now Mrs. W. Hayes, with her. Mr. Molloy, who
could not be persuaded to overcome his dread of a long sea voyage, would not go. Mrs. and Miss Molloy stayed away 12 months and landed back in time to have Christmas at Rocky
Plains in 1908.

Possibly the family they were visiting were the remaining Fearons at Tandragee (as well as any Molloys in Co. Kildare).  Ellen’s father had died the year before she migrated to Australia and her mother had passed away in 1886.

Family of Daniel Fearon and Mary Farrell (click to open in new window)

Ellen’s sister Mary had died in 1894.  According to the 1901 Ireland census, her husband John Woods was a widower, living at Cargans, Tandradgee with their daughter Isabella and her husband James McKiernan, and an Ellen Fearon, age 17, born in Liverpool.  John Woods and the family were present in the same location at the 1911 census, now with three grandchildren added.  Edward had died in 1894, and I am unsure of when his wife Mary died.  She was still alive in 1886 as she was the informant for her mother-in-law Mary Fearon’s (nee Farrell) death certificate.