The 1898 will of Ellen Cross

In May 1898, three years before her death, my husband Greg’s great great grandmother Ellen Cross née Murray (1836–1901) made a will providing for her unmarried daughters and leaving two specific bequests, her piano and her husband’s medicine chest.

Ellen, born in Dublin, emigrated to Australia in 1854 She was 17 years old and her occupation on the passenger list was domestic servant. In 1856 at Buninyong near Ballarat she married James Cross, a gold miner from Liverpool, trained as a chemist (druggist). They had eleven children, ten of them born in the small mining town of Carngham, west of Ballarat, where she and James had settled with their first child in about 1858.

James died of dysentery in 1882, and Ellen, forty-five years old, became a widow with ten children (one child had died young). The youngest child was three. Ellen continued to live in Carngham. I do not know how she managed to support herself and her large family.

From her will it appears that Ellen was a straightforward and practical woman. I was interested that she had a piano. I am not sure when she would have learned to play. Also caring for so many young children as a widow, when she might have had a chance to play.

As they grew older the children remained close and in touch with each other. Most of them, however, moved away from Carngham.

Ellen Cross and family about 1890. Picture from a great grand daughter of Frederick James Cross and great great grand daughter of Ellen.

Public Record Office Victoria: Wills (VPRS7591) 78/447 Ellen Cross: Will; Grant of probate; Residence : Snake Valley ; Occupation : Widow ; Nature of grant : Probate Date of grant: 16 Apr 1901 ; Date of death: 4 Mar 1901

This is the last Will and 
Testament of me 
Ellen Cross 
of Snake Valley 
Widow of the late James Cross.

After payment of all my just debts and funeral & testamentary expenses I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my children Frederick James Cross, Ellen Hawkins, George Murray Cross, Ann Bailey Cross, Elizabeth Grapel Cross, Jane Bailey Snell, Mary Gore Cross, Isabella Murray Bowes, Harriet Mercer Cross, and Margaret Plowright Cross, all monies now in my possession, or that I may become possessed of, to be divided in equal parts among them.

I devise my house & furniture to my unmarried daughters, Ann Bailey, Elizabeth Grapel, Mary Gore, Harriet Mercer and Margaret Plowright. In the event of either of these marrying, the property shall remain for the benefit of those still unmarried, and in the event of all marrying, the house and furniture shall be sold and the proceeds divided among all my children then living, in equal parts.

I will and devise my “Piano” to my two daughters Harriet Mercer and Margaret Plowright, jointly.

I bequeath my late husbands medicine chest to my son George Murray Cross for his sole use and benefit.

And I hereby appoint Frederick James Cross and Ann Bailey Cross Executors of this my Will in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of May 1898

Witnesses to Ellen’s signature were Josephine Margaret Williams and Matthew Daniel Williams of The Vicarage, Smythesdale.

RELATED POSTS

• M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854
• Should I accept this Ancestry.com ‘hint’?
• D is for Dublin
• Carngham
• Trove Tuesday: a splinter
• Cross and Plowright family index

Wikitree: Ellen (Murray) Cross (1836 – 1901)

Y is for Youghal

James Patrick Murray (1782 – 1834), my first cousin eight times removed, was born at Leghorn (Livorno), Italy to James Murray, a Scottish army officer, then Governor of Menorca.

James Patrick Murray joined the British Army in 1797 as an ensign with the 44th Regiment of Foot and subsequently served as an aide-de-camp with his first cousin Sir James Pulteney. He took part in the 1799 Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland and in the 1800 Ferrol Expedition, an unsuccessful British attempt to capture the Spanish naval base and shipyard there. In 1802 Murray was placed on half-pay. After a period training at the Royal Military College, in 1804 he was appointed a major in the 66th Regiment of Foot.  From 1804 to 1809 the second battalion of the regiment was stationed in Ireland. 

DURING the early spring of 1804, the 2nd Battalion of the 66th Regiment, under command of Lieutenant- Colonel Peter, embarked for Ireland, and landing at Cork in the month of March, went into quarters at the Geneva Barracks. 

During the years 1805-6-7, the battalion was stationed in the South of Ireland. In June 1808, it was encamped on the Curragh of Kildare; and when the Camp at the Curragh broke up, it marched to Dublin, and there remained until the spring of the following year.  [Groves, John Percy. ”The 66th Berkshire Regiment”. Reading : J.J. Beecroft ; London, England : Hamilton, Adams and Co., 1887. page 28 retrieved from archive.org ]

In 1809 the 2nd Battalion with a strength of 720 bayonets under the command of Major Murray was deployed to Portugal. Major Murray was wounded at the Battle of the Douro; he lost the use of his right arm. He was subsequently employed in Ireland. 

MURRAY, Colonel James Patrick, C.B. — Obtained an Ensigncy in the  44th regiment, 1796, and a Lieutenancy in 1797. He was employed on regimental duty until May, 1798, when he was appointed Aide-de-camp to General Don, with whom he continued until June, 1799, when he joined Lieutenant-General Sir James Pulteney, and  served as Aide-de-camp to that officer during the campaign in  North Holland. He was present in the actions of the 27th August, 10th and 19th September, 2nd and 6th of October. On the 26th December, 1799, he obtained a company in the 9th Foot. He next served in the expedition to Ferrol. At the peace of 1802, he was placed on half-pay, and after studying for some time at the Royal Military College, was appointed to a company in the 66th Foot. The 9th February, 1804, he obtained a Majority in the latter corps : the 25th May, 1809, he received the Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was appointed Assistant-Quarter- Master-General in Ireland; and in November, 1809, Lieutenant-Colonel, 6th Garrison Battalion. He also served in Portugal, and received a severe wound at the passage of the Douro (see page 33) ; in 1813, 14 he was Assistant Adjutant-General in Ireland. The 12th August, 1812, he received the Brevet of Colonel. [Groves. pages 151-2 retrieved from archive.org ]

In 1803 James Patrick Murray married Elizabeth Rushworth (1783 – 1865), daughter of the Reverend Edward Rushworth of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. James and Elizabeth had 6 sons and 6 daughters all born in Ireland:

• Catherine Ann Murray 1804–1895
• James Edward Ferguson Murray 1806–1834
• Pulteney Murray 1807–1874
• Harriet Elizabeth Murray 1809–1872
• Mary Johanna Murray 1810–1875
• Jane Susan Murray 1810–1841
• Charles Murray 1814–1848
• Elizabeth Murray 1817–1904
• Henry Patrick Murray 1819–1855
• Cordelia Maria Murray 1822–1909
• Douglas Alexander Murray 1824–1866
• George Don Murray 1826–1857

On 6 April 1809 their fourth child, Harriet Elizabeth Murray, was born in Youghal, County Cork. Harriet’s father was away fighting in Portugal where he was wounded on 12 May and lost the use of his right arm. 

On 25 May 1809 James Patrick Murray was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and employed in the Quarter-Master-General’s Department in Ireland. On 2 November 1809 he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 5th Garrison Battalion. 

From 1811 to 1819 he was Assistant Adjutant-General in Ireland, stationed at Athlone, on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath. In 1819 he received brevet promotion to colonel.

In 1830 he was promoted to Major-General. He was then on half-pay serving with the 5th garrison battalion.

On 5 December 1834 Major-General James Patrick Murray, 52, died at his house Killeneure, near Athlone, after a few days illness. He had fallen victim to a cold caught on a morning when two Officers of the Royals were drowned in the River Shannon. They had been returning from his house to Athlone.

Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service 13 December 1834 page 889 retrieved through FindMyPast

Obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine June 1835 page 660
MAJOR-GEN.. J. P. MURRAY, C.B.
Dec. 5. At Killeneure, near Athlone,
In his 53d year, Major-General James
Patrick Murray, C.B.

This gallant officer was the only son of General time Hon. James Murray, (fifth Son of Alexander fourth Lord Elibank,) distinguished by his persevering defence of Minorca in the years 1781.82. It was at that period that the subject of this notice was born, on the 21st Jan. 1782, at Leghorn, to which city his mother had retired from the siege. She was Anne daughter of Abraham Whitham, esq. the British Consul-general at Majorca. He was educated at Westminster School; and, having determined to follow his father’s profession, obtained an Ensigncy in the 44th regiment in 1796, and in the following year was promoted to a Lieutenancy in the same corps. In May 1798 he was appointed Aid-de-camp to General Don, with whom he continued in the Isle of Wight until June 1799; when he joined his relation and guardian Lt.Gen. Sir James Pulteney, and served as Aid-de-camp to that officer during the campaign in North Holland. He was present in the actions of 27 August, 10 and 18th Sept. 2nd and 6th Oct. and was in one of them slightly wounded. On Dec. 26, 1799, he was gazetted to a company, by purchase, In the 9th foot. He next accompanied Sir James Pulteney to the Ferrol, and was intrusted, by both the General and the Admiral in that expedition, with some important and confidential transactions. At the general election of 1802 he was returned to Parliament as one of the Members for Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight; but vacated his seat in the following March. At the peace of Amiens he was placed on half pay; and after studying for some time at the Royal Military Academy, was re-appointed to half pay in the 66th foot. In 1803 he espoused the amiable object of a long attachment, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward Rushworth, esq. of Freshwater House, Isle of Wight, and granddaughter of the late Lord Holmes, by whom he has left twelve children. In Feb. 1804, he obtained by purchase, a Majority in the 66th, with which he was stationed in several parts of Ireland; and subsequently was appointed to the staff of that country as Assistant Quartermaster-genera1 at Limerick, which situation he relinquished in order to accompany his regiment on foreign service. With the same regiment he also served in Portugal; where, at the passage of the Douro, he received a severe musket wound, which not only completely shattered and deprived him of the use of his right arm, but ever after impaired his general health. His gallant conduct, on this occasion, is honourably recorded in the public despatch of Sir Arthur Wellesley, who, shortly after he had received the shot, came up to him on the field, and, taking him by the hand, said, -” Murray, you and your men have behaved like lions; I shall never forget you”. On the 25th May 1809, Major Murray was promoted to the rank of Lieut. – Colonel; and on his return home, he was employed in the Quartermaster-general’s department in Ireland. From 1811 to 1819 he was Assistant Adjutant-general, stationed at Athlone. In 1819 he received the brevet of Colonel, and in 1830 that of Major General.

His death was occasioned by a cold caught in his humane exertions to save the lives of two young officers, who were drowned in the lake in front of his residence (see p. 220). He possessed an accomplished and a benevolent heart; and was characterized by the highest honour, integrity, and worth.

Page 220 – Nov. 29. Drowned by the upsetting of a boat on the Upper Shannon, near Athlone, Ensigns James R. Byers and Wm. J. Kerr, (see p. 110), both of 1st regt.

Killinure House – photograph from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

Killinure House in Westmeath is now part of the Glasson Country House Hotel & Golf Club.

On 14 July 1834 Harriet Murray, who was born at Youghal, married Reverend Henry Hodges at Benown Church, Glasson, County Westmeath. Henry Hodges was her first cousin. They lived at Alphamstone, Essex, and had at least five children. She died in 1872.

Wikitree: James Patrick Murray (1782 – 1834)

D is for Dublin

Ellen Murray, one of Greg’s great great grandmothers, arrived in Victoria in 1854 as an assisted immigrant on the ‘Persian‘. Also on board was her sister Bridget. The passenger list records Bridget and Ellen Murray as both from Dublin. Their religion was Catholic; both could read and Ellen could also write; Bridget was twenty-four (which means that she was born about 1830) and Ellen was eighteen (born about 1836).

Ellen married James Cross, a gold digger, at Buninyong in 1856. The marriage certificate states her father was George Murray, a glassblower, and Ellen nee Dory.

On 1 May 1825 George Murray married Eleanor Doyle at St Mary’s (Pro-Cathedral), Dublin. Witnesses to their marriage were Joseph Carolan and Margaret Ryan. I believe these are Ellen Cross nee Murray’s parents and that Doyle was mistranscribed on the marriage certificate.

George and Ellen (Eleanor) Murray had the following children baptised mostly at St Mary’s

• Mary, baptised 18 March 1826
• Peter, baptised 17 May 1827 at  St Michael and John’s, Dublin
• Bridget, baptised 12 November 1828
• Peter, baptised 21 February 1831 (2 records for same name and date)
• Joseph, baptised 3 April 1834
• Ellen, baptised 21 May 1836

In 1826 at the time of Mary Murray’s baptism the family were living at McLinburg Street. This is probably Mecklenburg Street which later had an unsavoury reputation.

The back gate of the Gloucester Street laundry, where the delivery vans once came and went, is on Railway Street, formerly called Mecklenburg Street. In 1904, Mecklenburg Street was a terrace of grand but fading Georgian houses, and it was here that James Joyce set the “nighttown” section of his novel “Ulysses,” a phantasmagoric visit to a brothel run by “a massive whoremistress” called Bella Cohen.

She was a historical figure. And Mecklenburg Street was the heart of a square mile of brothels, speakeasies and slums that took its informal name — Monto — from Montgomery Street, the next street over. It was here, when southern Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom, and when Dublin was a major garrison town of the British Empire, that the authorities tolerated, even encouraged, what was often described as the biggest red-light district in Europe.

Monto was a last resort for runaways, widows and abandoned wives. Madams like Bella Cohen controlled them with violence and money, keeping them in debt to pay for clothes and lodgings. As they left their prime teen years, lost their health and their looks, the women passed from “flash houses” for the wealthy to the cheap “shilling houses” and then to the alleys. Those who became pregnant were dumped on the street. 

From the New York Times DUBLIN JOURNAL “A Blot on Ireland’s Past, Facing Demolition” January 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/world/europe/magdalene-laundries-ireland.html

Georgian houses in 1826 of course would have been relatively new and perhaps the neighbourhood was not so run down at the time.

Georgian housing in Summerhill, Dublin. Image from Flickr, taken by Sean Bonner 2013. CC by 2.0.

Glassmaking in Dublin probably began about 1675. There were many glass houses in Dublin in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many products were produced in Dublin including bottles, cut glass, decanters and goblets, looking glass, plate glass for coaches.

Dublin glass houses from Irish glass : an account of glass-making in Ireland from the XVIth century to the present day page 29 from archive.org
Irwin’s Glass-House, Potter’s Alley, Dublin; Whyte’s Glass Shop, Marlborough Street, Dublin, and Glass- 
House at Ringsend. From 1845 advertisements.

Interior of a glass-house, showing the furnace with openings to the pots, workmen at the chairs making glass objects, blowing glass, mavering glass on the maver in the foreground, the various tools used, and, to the left, the annealing oven. From Irish Glass page 38.

Sources

• Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915 retrieved through ancestry.com
• Westropp, Michael Seymour Dudley (1920). Irish glass : an account of glass-making in Ireland from the XVIth century to the present day. Herbert Jenkins, London. Retrieved through archive.org.

Related posts

• M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854
• Should I accept this Ancestry.com ‘hint’?

Wikitree:

• Ellen Cross nee Murray
• George Murray

Should I accept this Ancestry.com ‘hint’?

Today on my Ancestry.com family tree today I noticed a new hint for my husband’s 3rd great grandmother Ellen née Dony or Dory, wife of a glassblower named George Murray. (Their daughter Ellen Murray provided information about her parents when she married James Cross, a gold digger, at Buninyong in 1856.)

1856 marriage certificate for James Cross and Ellen Murray

The younger Ellen Murray arrived in Victoria in 1854 as an assisted immigrant on the ‘Persian‘. Also on board was her sister Bridget. The passenger list records Bridget and Ellen Murray as both from Dublin. Their religion was Catholic; both could read and Ellen could also write; Bridget was twenty-four (which means that she was born about 1830) and Ellen was eighteen (born about 1836).

To date I have had no luck in finding what happened to Bridget, nor have I been able to track down their family in Ireland.

Today’s hint for Ellen Dony or Dory was a baptism record for a daughter called Ellen with parents George and Ellen Murray. The baptism was in 1836 in Dublin. The father’s occupation is not given.

Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915 retrieved through ancestry.com. Detail: National Library of Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Microfilm Number: Microfilm 09151 / 02 Name Ellen Murray Baptism Age 0 Event Type Baptism Birth Date 1836 Baptism Date 21/05/1836 Baptism Place St Mary’s (Pro-Cathedral)Diocese Dublin Father George Murray Mother Ellen Murray

At first I didn’t feel completely confident that these were Greg’s forebears. Murray is a common surname in Dublin, and I thought that at the time there was probably more than one couple called George and Ellen with a child named Ellen.

So I decided to search the Ireland Catholic Parish Registers 1655-1915 for all children born with the surname Murray, father George and mother Ellen. I did not restrict the search by place or time. If there were many children belonging to many couples with the same names it would be a mistake to assume that the baptism belonged to Greg’s great great grandmother and her parents.

There were only five records, with two belonging to the same child. All baptisms were at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin.

• Bridget, baptised 12 November 1828
• Peter, baptised 21 February 1831 (2 records for same name and date)
• Josh, baptised 3 April 1834
• Ellen, baptised 21 May 1836

I have not found any other couples named George and Ellen Murray having children baptised in Dublin at this time. I was very pleased that Bridget’s baptism turned up in the results, for she appears to have been roughly the right age to be the Bridget recorded on the Persian‘s passenger list.

I have concluded that there is a strong chance the Bridget and Ellen of these baptisms are indeed Greg’s relatives and that they had two brothers, Peter and Josh, probably Joseph.

I have decided to accept the hint and use the information to try to make make further progress on this branch of the tree.

Related post

• M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854

M is for Arrival in Melbourne of the Persian in 1854

Western End of Queens Wharf Melbourne 1854 by S.T. Gill retrieved from MossGreen auctioneers

Ellen Murray (1837 – 1901) and Margaret Smyth (1834 – 1897), two of my husband’s great grandmothers, sailed from England to Melbourne, Victoria, on the Persian, arriving on 9 April 1854. Ellen’s sister Bridget and an infant surnamed Smyth traveled with them.

The Persian left Southampton on 2 January 1854 with 448 government immigrants, of whom 200 were single women. Eight people died on the 97 day voyage and five babies were born. The Croesus, which sailed from Southampton more than a week after the Persian, arrived the same day.

PORT PHILLIP HEADS. (1854, April 11). Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic. : 1851 – 1856), p. 4 Edition: DAILY. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91932661

The Persian collided with another ship, the Cheshire Witch, in Port Phillip.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. (1854, April 11). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4805696

From the passenger list of the Persian, Margaret Smyth and infant are at the bottom of the screenshot , record retrieved through ancestry.com (click to enlarge)

Margaret Smyth was recorded as having given birth on board. She was from Cavan; her religion was Church of England; she could read and write; and she was 20 years old. She did not find a job immediately on landing, but went to stay with her cousin. His name on the record appears to be ‘John Hunter’, though the surname is not clearly legible.

I know nothing more about this cousin, nor have I have discovered anything more about Margaret’s baby. There seems to be no death certificate, but the baby may have died without its death registered, for in 1854 civil registration of deaths was not yet in force in Victoria.

From the passenger list disposal summary Margaret Smyth and infant went to her cousin.

On 19 November 1855 Margaret Smyth, dressmaker from Cavan, aged 22, married John Plowright, also 22, a gold digger. Their wedding was held at the residence of John Plowright, Magpie, Ballarat. On the certificate Margaret’s parents are given as William Smyth, farmer, and Mary nee Cox.

1855 marriage certificate of John Plowright and Margaret Smyth (click to enlarge)

Passenger list from the Persian showing Bridget and Ellen Murray at the bottom of the image. Retrieved through ancestry.com (click to enlarge).

Bridget and Ellen Murray were both from Dublin. Their religion was Catholic; both could read and Ellen could also write; Bridget was 24 and Ellen 18. Both found jobs on 15 April, within a week of their arrival. Bridget was engaged by S. Marcus of Prahran for a term of 1 month with a wage of 28 shillings and rations. Ellen was similarly employed by Mrs Ireland of St Kilda, with a wage of 30 shillings.

I have not been able to find anything more about Bridget Murray.

On 28 March 1856, two years after her arrival in the colony, Ellen Murray married James Cross, a gold digger, at Buninyong . Their wedding was at the residence of John Plowright, Black Lead Buninyong, in the presence of John and Margaret Plowright. Ellen gave her residence as Buninyong and her occupation as dressmaker. She was born in Dublin, aged 21, and her parents were George Murray, glass blower, and Ellen nee Dory.

1856 marriage certificate for James Cross and Ellen Murray (click to enlarge)

It seems that Margaret Smyth and Ellen Murray, who had emigrated to Victoria on the same ship, remained friends. Later the son of Ellen Cross nee Murray, Frederick James Cross, married Ann Jane Plowright, the daughter of Margaret Plowright nee Smyth.

Hunter Smyth connection?

I think I have found a connection between the Hunter and Smyth families but I can’t link Margaret Smyth to it, at least not yet.

On other certificates Margaret Smyth states she was born in Bailieborough, County Cavan. I found a John Hunter associated with Bailieborough.

I have not been able to find a death of this John Hunter.

Family Notices (1866, December 27). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5782047

I ordered the marriage certificate and discovered Elizabeth Grace Hunter, age 27 had been born in Bailieborough. Her parents were John Hunter and Eliza Hunter nee Carmichael.

I ordered her 1897 death certificate and found Elizabeth had been in the colony 34 years. The informant on her death certificate was Charles Smyth, nephew, of Albury, New South Wales.

I found H. Hunter on the death indexes. He was Henry Hunter who died 1875. Henry was Elizabeth’s brother, also the son of John Hunter and Eliza Carmichael.

I hope further research will uncover the connection and I can learn more about Margaret Smyth’s family.

Beginning to look at my Irish family history

Until this week I had put my Irish research pretty much in the too-hard basket. Yesterday I started a four-week course at the Genealogical Society of Victoria on Irish family history. I have had a bit of a tinker in the past but I thought I would try to come to grips with the area with some guidance from experienced researchers.

Relatives I will be looking at:

• Margaret Smyth, my husband’s great great grandmother, born about 1834 in County Cavan. She arrived on the Persian in 1854. 

Her  parents were William Smyth, a farmer, and Mary Cox according to her marriage certificate but Joseph Smyth and Ann according to her death certificate.

Her death certificate states she was born in Bailieborough, a town in the townland of Tanderagee in County Cavan in the province of Ulster and part of the Border Region.

In 1855 Margaret married John Plowright in Victoria. She died in 1897. I have a copy of her marriage and death certificates.

I have done some searching on Roots Ireland for Margaret’s parents and family but without success.

When she arrived in Australia, Margaret went to stay with a cousin called John Hente. At least the surname looks like ‘Hente’ on the Assisted Migrant record; but the writing is hard to read and I have no other information about him.

•  Ellen Murray, my husband’s great great grandmother, born 1837 in Dublin Ireland. She also arrived on the Persian in 1854 with Margaret Smyth. It appears that the two became friends. Also on board was Bridget Murray age 24, also from Dublin, perhaps a sister.

Ellen’s parents were George Murray, a glass blower, and Ellen Dony (writing hard to transcribe, perhaps Dory).

In 1856 Ellen married James Cross in Victoria. She died in 1901. I have a copy of her marriage and death certificates.

I have done some searching on Roots Ireland for Ellen’s family without success. I have not been able to find out what happened to Bridget.

• James Gordon Cavenagh is my third great grandfather. He was born 1766 in Innishannon, County Cork. He died in 1844 in Castle House, Wexford. In fact he lived mostly in Hythe, Kent, England. I have inherited quite a lot of family history information but have never looked at it properly.

• Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811 – 1891) and his wife Mary Cudmore née Nihill (1811 – 1893) were my great great great grandparents.

Daniel and Mary married on 15 January 1835 in County Limerick, not long before embarking for Australia on the John Dennison which left Liverpool on 12 February. Daniel was a Quaker but they married in the Church of Ireland at Drehidtarsna Church, County Limerick, two miles south-west of Adare.

Members of the Nihill family, including Mary’s mother, Dymphna Nihill née Gardiner (1790 – 1866), were also aboard the John Dennison. 

Classified Advertising. (1835, June 12). The Hobart Town Courier (Tas. : 1827 – 1839), p. 3. Retrieved December 21, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4180594

Other members of the family emigrated about six months later including Mary’s father Daniel James Nihill (1761 – 1846) with three of his daughters. They came on the James Pattison arriving in Sydney 7 February 1836 after a 91 day voyage from Cork, Ireland.. They then sailed on the Integrity which sailed from Sydney on 22 March 1836 and took 15 days to reach Hobart.

I have previously written about the re-interment of Daniel Nihill from the Protestant to the Catholic section of West Terrace cemetery.

The Nihill family came from Rockville House, Adare Parish in County Limerick.

Ritchie, Elsie B. (Elsie Barbara) (2000). For the love of the land : the history of the Cudmore family. E. Ritchie, [Ermington, N.S.W.] Page 54

Other members of the family have researched the Cudmores and the Nihills and most of it is included in the book For the love of the land: the history of the Cudmore family compiled by Elsie Ritchie in 2000. I haven’t reviewed and understood the research as it concerns our Irish background.

I need to follow up the following obituaries that have been indexed by the Limerick City Library from the Limerick Chronicle:

• Nihill Daniel Australia 29/05/1847 late of Barnalickey, near Adare

• Nihill James Rockville, Adare. 29/07/1835

I also need to follow up the following information about Rockville House retrieved from a 2009 posting to an ancestry.com message board concerning the Vokes family:

Barnalick House … was built shortly after 1784 when a James Nihill leased all 272 acres of “Baurnalicka” from Mary St. Leger. Nihill was a wealthy man who had leases for over 900 acres in Co. Limerick and Co. Clare. He built the house in the shape of a letter “T”. He called the house “Rockville House”. His eldest son Patrick lived on some family land in Co. Clare with his wife Prudence Dickson and their two daughters, Anne and Jane. Patrick died before his father in 1822 and when James died in 1831 the two daughters became heirs to all the lands including Barnalick. Anne married in 1814 a William Dodd and Jane married in 1829 a Thomas Davenport. Patrick had a younger brother, Daniel, who married in 1810 a Dymphna Gardener. He lived with his father James and no doubt looked after him in his old age. However when James died, Daniel had to move out of Barnalick and he and his family departed to Australia in 1835.
A survey done in 1840 gives an Anthony St. Leger as the owner of Barnalick estate with a Thomas Davenport and a Mrs. Dodd as the leaseholders under a Col. John Dickson as middleman.
Samuel Dickson is the middleman in 1850 in Griffith’s Valuation and it must have been Samuel Dickson who employed Simon Vokes as Land Steward and placed Simon in residence in Barnalick House.

Related posts:

• Australia Day: Climbing our family’s gum tree
• Trove Tuesday : Nihill v. Fox