I was mightily chuffed to have my 1991 Barefoot…? included in the untapped.org.au project. Do have a look at the website to see all the works that were brought back into print.
Because of the sheer number of books involved, some corners were cut, especially with larger volumes such as Barefoot. Despite this, those involved did an excellent job. The index of the original edition is missing, as are some of the illustrations but the text is eminently readable.
What I’m planning to do today is supply some of the missing illustrations, and maybe expand the endnotes a little. (I do love a substantive endnote or footnote. Robin Haines is an expert at this . See her Doctors at Sea. Emigrant voyages to Colonia Australia, Or her endnotes for chapter 3 in Irish Women in Colonial Australia. )
Brilliant!
First up are the missing family reconstitution forms. They are for Margaret and Sarah Devlin and Catherine Fox per Earl Grey, Margaret Gerity/Geraghty per Panama,Mary Anne Byng per Diadem, and Ellen Brodie/Brady per Pemberton.
Please forgive my clumsy way with technology. If you want a better copy, do ask, and I’ll see what i can find. Maybe try the search box first. No promises mind.
Imagine what could be done for the history of a local area, over time, using this historical demography technique.
I’m tempted to publish this post straight away simply because NBNco maintenance work may affect my access to the internet over the next three days. In the meantime, I’ll look out the orphan photos that appeared in the 1991 volume.
‘There’s nothing like a fresh of breath air’ or ‘a loyal wifish woman cacchinic wheepingcaugh’. Apologeeds to James Joyce.
A while back when i asked people to think about how discovering a famine orphan in their family had affected them, I had no idea how rich and varied their response would be. The magnetism of Peter’s Ann Trainer, Brenda’s giving her Julia the dignity and protection she lacked in life, Kaye’s desire to know and understand her Bridget, are now joined by John’s mapping and IT creativity. I’m chuffed that he found something useful in my blog. Here’s John’s suggestions not just for his own orphan and the Earl Grey orphans generally but for all genealogists and family historians.
Part 2: A foray into Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
by John Moon
A GIS Approach (with a little bit of Genealogy)
In his #37 of 24 July 2016 our blog host, Trevor McClaughlin, asked the question “Can we create interactive digital maps?”
He continued, Let me demonstrate how this map business might work. Here is a map of the orphans in Queensland c. 1861. I’ve entered a few numbers. If we had an interactive map, what might appear if we clicked on numbers 1 and 2, at Ipswich?
Could we do something …, such as clicking on the dots in the map to bring up all the information we have about the orphan who resided there at that particular time? Maybe there are some probate records? [or maybe a photograph?]
The short answer is “yes”, as is demonstrated in the following screen shots taken from an application of the free GIS software package QGIS for the nine orphans in Trevor’s example.
In earlier blog posts #12 and #17 Trevor asked further questions related to maps, “scattering” and “family reconstruction”.
<#12.> “In the last post <#11> I mentioned a possible use for completed family reconstitutions viz. maps showing the location of the orphans at particular times in their lives. Here’s a couple I used in Barefoot 2–the location of the orphans in Victoria in c.1861. This one is based on the birth records of their children. The second one is the location of the orphans in Victoria at the end of their lives c.1890-1901; this one is based on their death certificates.” In # 17 similar maps for Queensland and NSW were shown. Towards the end of this blog is Trevor’s map of the three states for 1861.
<#17> Under the title Orphan “scattering”, Trevor mentions that I’ve already mapped the origin of the orphans based on the workhouses they were from (see blogpost 4). Could maps be drawn which show their more precise origins in Ireland, as well as their place of first employment in Australia”, and makes the plea “Is there not a computer programme that would allow us to map their movements over time? We could follow them between places of employment, and through marriage, birth and death records for much of their life.
Again, the short answer is “yes”, as is demonstrated in the following screen shots taken from another application of QGIS. (In fact some of the above maps would be relatively easy to develop if the relevant data, including latitude and longitude of the towns, were available in an Excel spreadsheet. Although there may be a – solvable – problem of displaying an orphan’s details when more than one orphan has the same latitude and longitude).
The following map shows Jane Hutchinson’s movements (as discussed in part I of this blog), numbered 1-7, from her arrival at Melbourne to her death in Wangaratta. As a base map an old geofererenced Map of Victoria, including the Pastoral Runs has been used.
As with all “short answers” there is a “BUT”, in fact many buts.
Some of the “buts” relate to the following questions:
(a) “do you want to develop the map for your own use”?
In Trevor’s post 17 of 25 May 2015 he notes that Barbara Barclay has made excellent use of maps in her study of Famine orphans from County Mayo. (see <http://www.historicalballinrobe.com/page/the_mayo_orphen_gilrs?path=0p3p> http://mayoorphangirls.weebly.com/ ). In a comment on the post Barbara noted that I did my two simple maps with my basic grasp of ArcGIS. Any proficient user of GIS mapping software could easily produce the types of maps you suggest – given the data.
Barbara suggests that to answer this question there is a prerequisite of being a proficient user of GIS mapping software. Whilst not wishing to discourage anybody from using say QGIS (free) or ArcGIS (paid) there is a “learning curve” for them that can be steep. However, there are a lot of good YouTube tutorials available to help going up the curve.
(b) “do you want the map as part of a website (e.g. Trevor’s WordPress Site)”?
This is possible but has resource implications. These include the costs (monetary and person-power) of setting up and maintaining the data bases and software as well as those of hosting of a website.
Concerning WordPress Trevor, in a reply to a comment in blog #37 noted that wordpress.com is different from wordpress.org. The latter is where the map plugins are. (In other words, Trevor’s blog is on wordpress.com so the map plugins can’t be used).
(c) “do you want something inbetween (i.e. a map that is not connected to a website but be can displayed in your web browser).
Many GIS software packages have the facility to publish GIS data to “the web”. In QGIS, the plugin is QGIS2Web. Whilst I haven’t used it, I understand that it generates a set of files and folders that can be zipped and shared with others. Once unzipped, it has an index.html file which, when clicked, displays the map in your browser. This map has all the features included by the developer for example the ability to click on the dots in the map to bring up the information on an orphan.
A major advantage such an approach is that one does not need to be a “proficient user of GIS mapping software” to click on the dots in a web browser. Presumably one could have a link to the zip file in Trevor’s blog.
Whilst this approach makes it easier for the user it still has the person-power costs of setting up and maintaining the data base. I also suspect that the size of the zipped file may become quite large as the number of images of orphan’s information increases (if there was only text data associated with each orphan, then the zipped file size would probably be acceptable – one would have the same facility to click on dots however, it would only be text that is displayed).)
A Genealogical Approach (with a little bit of GIS)
In another blog (#11), Trevor mentions that “One of the research tools I used for the Earl Grey Famine orphans was a modified form of what demographers know as ‘family reconstitution‘.
Family reconstitution is the technique of linking records of demographic events, usually of an ecclesiastical nature, within and between individual lives, in order to recreate individual life histories and the histories of families. While genealogists have always pursued such linking, the intent of demographers is not simply to record chains of descent and marriage but rather to compile information on the demographic rates pertaining to the population of which the individuals and families were a part. E.A. Hammel, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001. (Most social scientists invent new words for the old ways of doing things in an attempt to differentiate their “new” product.)
I pick-up Hammel’s phrase “genealogists have always pursued such linking” and ask myself whether a genealogical software package (with a – limited – GIS capability) may be a better alternative to a full-blown GIS package. Such an approach should in fact have a gentle learning curve as I presume that many readers of Trevor’s blog are familiar with genealogy websites such as Ancestry, My Heritage, Findmypast, Familysearch or WikiTree. I am however thinking of something like the free genealogy software package “Gramps”.
The following screenshots show the output of “Gramps” for Jane Hutchinson, her husband and their children (“family reconstitution” and “scattering”).
The first screenshot shows Jane’s movements from her arrival in Melbourne, employment in Merri Creek and Campaspe River, marriage in Melbourne and movements to Taminick and North Wangaratta. If one clicks on any of the pins a pop-up box appears with details of the events at that pin.
The second screenshot expands the movements to all of Jane’s family including the deaths of two of her children, one in Queensland and the other in New Zealand. Again, clicking on a pin gives details of the event at the location of the pin.
The third and fourth screenshot shows the pop-up box of events at Wangaratta and North Wangaratta.
Jane’s family WangarattaJane’s family North Wangaratta
Further, Gramps can produce various reports and charts and reports including family trees and fan charts as illustrated below.
So, returning to the question “Can we create interactive digital maps?”
As indicated above the answer is “yes”. However what we can display in the maps depends upon the data available. Further, the the development time of such maps depends upon the format in which the data is presented, the preferred format being electronic such as a spreadsheet or other readable database (hard copy printed data, in tabular form, can also be scanned and extracted then read into a database).
An example of a database is that at the Irish Famine Memorial which includes the fields: First Name, Surname, Native Place, Age on Arrival, Parents, Religion, Ship Name and Details (although there are some spelling issues for Surname and Native Place and it is not clear whether the Details field is a text field or a concatenation of other fields such as Employer, Marriage etc.).
Similarly, if the original data from which Trevor drew the maps frozen at specific points in time (1848-50, 1861 and c.1890-1900) for Barefoot vol.2 were available, then these data could be recombined with that at the Irish Famine Memorial to produce a set of general statistics such as age on arrival, age at first marriage, age at death, number of children etc.
They could also be used in a map to view questions such as:
Show me all the girls who arrived on <name of ship>
Show me who married a convict “exile”
Show me which girls were married in <church name>
Show me which girls came from <county or workhouse> in Ireland
Show me first employers and their location
“Family reconstitution”.
The “modified form of what demographers know as ‘family reconstitution‘” that Trevor used for his orphan data cards (see example below) can equally well be represented in a genealogical software package such as “Gramps”. The added advantage of such a package is that various charts and reports can be generated including family trees and fan charts as well as being able to follow the movements of orphans and their families.
Given that such packages are “user friendly”, perhaps their use could also encourage descendants of orphans to provide data on their “family reconstitution”.
John’s suggestions are inspirational. Have a look again at his paragraph just before the last map. A couple of nights ago, about 3am, I even found myself thinking about the possibilities. (It’s an age thing. No it’s not. I spent a lifetime, going through the next day’s teaching in my head during the night.)
One of the interactive digital maps that set me off in this direction some years ago was about the spread of North American railways. The Stanford university interactive map was captivating. I imagined the lives of the orphans could be displayed like that too. Look at the map above. Can you see how the discovery of gold in Victoria has affected where the orphans spread?
Maybe a simpler map to begin with is the way to go. Can we map the movement of the orphans during their lifetime? We have one of the workhouse origins of the orphans already. As John suggests, I’m sure we canalsodraw onerepresentingwhere exactly they were first employed.
Kiss (keep it simple stupid). By happy circumstance my 1991 Barefoot & Pregnant? became part of the Untapped research project out of the University of Melbourne. One result of which is that all the books in the project are being republished by Booktopia. That hard copy should be easier to work with and be the means of identifying the Port Phillip orphans’ first employer. We can then place them on a map of Melbourne and its surrounds, or further afield.
To repeat what John suggested above,thereafter, using my family reconstitutions and the work of family historians, it may be possible to identify where the orphans were, at two or three year(?) intervals, via the birth registration of their children. There are drawbacks of course. How do we find where the married orphans went after their child-bearing years? Maybe their descendants via the Port Phillip Orphans FaceBook page would provide the necessary information? The other most important go-to place, and most up-to-date, is the Irishfaminememorial database.
One of the advantages of growing older is that the urge to go minimalist grows stronger. The other day I was clearing out some cupboards and examining computer files located in different places, some of them with strange, unrecognisable names. And lo, i came across some orphan stories I think, i hope i forwarded to the new people looking after the irishfaminememorial website in about 2009. Most of the stories had come to me when i was responsible for the first version of the website. One disadvantage is that i don’t always have the names, or know how to get in touch with those who sent them to me. Forgive me then if these stories are not new to you, and if the people to whom they belong are not properly recognised. Maybe they will get in touch again.
My other good news is that Barefoot & Pregnant? volume 1 has been digitised as part of a research project at Melbourne Uni https://untapped.org.au You can find it under the Non Fiction category and the date of publication, 1991. It will be available in some libraries and on other platforms from 6 December, I’m told. How i got into such illustrious company, heaven knows.
The stories below, sent to me by orphan descendants in the noughties, are not in any order.
Here’s the first one. I’ll keep searching for more. If any of the authors wants me to remove any of this, please just ask. And please excuse my rubbishy attempt at formatting.
(1) Eliza Caroline orphan;Mary Ann Minahan from Skibbereenby Kathleen Newman
“Trevor I’m updating the latest information online about the Irish Famine Orphans because an Irish researcher has contacted me through Vol 2 of Barefoot & Pregnant about my great-grandmother, Mary Ann Minihan (Minnahan) p.392. I found your entries on this forum.
After you published Vol 2, I found that Mary Ann died at Yarra Bend Asylum on 10 May 1901 having been taken there from the Melbourne Hospital. After ruling out all other possibilities, I am 99 per cent sure she is the Mary Brown whose Inquest papers are at the Victorian PRO.
She also had 10 children, not just the 8 I had previously found. Through the records of her last child I found my grandfather’s record as a Ward of the State as well. The first of her many convictions appears to coincide with the date of her youngest child being made a State Ward in 1878.
Looking forward to Vol 3?
Kathleen Newman”
Anne Cooney from Antrim per Earl Greysent to me by ???
It is always fascinating to see how others record their research.
(2) <<BELFAST ORPHAN REFERENCE SHEET (BORS)
Name: Anne Cooney
DOB: 1828(?) POB: Antrim, County Antrim
Calling:
Education
Reads: Writes:
Religion: RC
Physical Description
Height: Hair: Eyes: Complexion:
Family
Father:
Mother:
Siblings:
Belfast Poor Law Union Workhouse
When Arrived: Reason for Entry: Age:
Duties:
When Left: May 1848 Reason for Leaving: Emigration Age: 20
Emigration
Ireland Departure Port: Belfast Ship: Athlone Date: May 1848
Arrive England: May 1848
UKDeparture Port: Plymouth Ship: Earl Grey Date: 5 June 1848
Arrive Sydney: 6 Oct 1848 Housed: Aboard Earl Grey
Depart Sydney: 17 Oct 1848 Ship: Ann Mary Arrival Brisbane: 20 Oct 1848
Housed: Brisbane hospital until indentured
Indented To: George S Le Breton, North Brisbane, £14, 3 months (he was a trustee of the Brisbane Hospital)
Close Associates/Friends
Name: Belfast Girl:
Name: Belfast Girl:
Name: Belfast Girl:
Name: Belfast Girl:
Name: Belfast Girl:
Marriage (in Australia)
Annie Cooney
DOM: 1849 (NSW V1849153 96/1849) (QLD 1854/BMA0345) QLD reference is for Annie Cooney and John Ibell
Where: Roman Catholic church, Brisbane
Banns/Licence: Celebrant:
Witnesses:
Sign/Made mark:
Spouse: John Ibell Religion:
Occupation:
Convict: Ex-convict: Believed to be (Portsea 1838) Free Settler:
ToL:45/811 CoF:
Location at Freedom: Moreton Bay
Note: The name Ibell is so unusual that the probability of there being two John Ibells in the Brisbane area in the 1848/49 period is fairly remote and therefore believe that the convict John Ibell is the man who married Anne Cooney.
Residences
Children
No QLD or NSW birth or death records have been found for any children born to Anne Cooney and John Ibell
DOD: Anne seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. No QLD or NSW death record has been found for Anne Cooney or Anne Ibell.
A John Ibell married a Mary McGill in Ipswich in 1857 (QLD 1859/C000098) (NSW 1849/1857) and had at least two children by her, both born in Drayton.
Sources
Barefoot and Pregnant? Vol 2
NSW and QLD BDM
Libby Connors’ address to the 2006 ABC Christmas broadcast>>
(3)
<<Eliza Icombe per Lady Peelby Roland Webb
My Great Grandmother, Eliza (Elizabeth) Annie Icombe aged 15 at the time, came to Australia on the ship the “Lady Peel” arriving in July 1849. I believe she could read and write although the marriage licence (No 504) (Index V1853738 39C/1853) indicates differently. She married a Thomas Francis Regin from Port Jackson in Sydney on the 22 December, 1853. Witnesses to the wedding were her sister Catherine Icombe of Little George Street who came to Australia on the ship “Kate” in 1851 and James Keem of Port Jackson.
Eliza and Thomas apparently set out for Ballarat, Victoria in 1854 by oxen and dray despite Thomas having a maritime history. They first settled in a tent at Burnt Bridge between Ballarat and Geelong and later at Yendon in a hotel near Buninyong. There first baby Charlotte Regin was born in 1856. Records after this indicate that Thomas Francis Regin became Thomas Francis Webb. I am not sure of the reason for this but when Eliza had her first child she was nursed by a Mrs Regan. The following 8 children were “Webb”s.
Thomas’s father was a sea captain and died at sea. His mother may have been Mrs Regin the person who nursed their first child. Perhaps she was initially Mrs Webb and as a result of her husbands death at sea remarried and became Mrs Regin. Maybe Thomas at first took his mothers remarried name but for legal or other reasons reverted to the name “Webb”. However, at this stage this is all speculation.
Eliza Icombe’s sister Catherine who came to Australia on the Ship “Kate” died at Bathurst in 1876.(NSWbdm Reg No 4956/1876). Eliza had another sister Ethinda Icombe who came to Australia by ship which landed at Geelong, Victoria in 1856/7.
The marriage of Eliza Icombe in Sydney in 1853 and the travelling from one state to another plus the changing of the family name from Regin to Webb would make it a difficult for any Genealogist (especially from overseas) searching the “Icombe” line.
My query in “The Female Irish (Potato Famine) Orphans list is under the heading “Other” where it states Eliza’s Employment by a J Hunt from Balmain, 9 Pounds, 3 yrs Appendix J No 139, 28 Jun 1850 Mr J Hunt Balmain, returned to service promising to behave better. Is this a court record and where could I locate it?
Roland Webb
10 Hillside Drive
Ballarat Vic 3350.
Dear Trevor,
The detective work started in 1972 and was initially commenced by my cousin Glenis Rusca (nee Webb) while I tagged along. Sadly, Glenis passed away after a long illness. Others have since contributed along the way and I believe may be further advanced than I.
I mentioned that one of Eliza’s sisters was Ethinda and this should be corrected to Ethelinda. Ethelinda came to Australia on the ship Persia which landed at Geelong. Documentary proof of this was obtained in 1972 from the original books in the State Library of Victoria. The thermal copy that was taken at the time has deteriorated such that it is difficult to read. “On line” I have had difficulty finding a copy of the original ships passenger list.
Eliza’s parents were Thomas Icombe and Mary Maria Murray and they lived in Ireland. Your book “Barefoot and Pregnant? Vol.1″ shows Eliza was from Bartinglass, Wicklow. Eliza claimed she was from Honiton, Devon and her father was a Major Icombe who had spent some time in Ireland. Eliza claimed, according to one of her grandchildren, “living in County Wicklow was the highest feather in her cap.”???
The National Archives (England) show that a Thomas Icombe born at Spittalfields, London and Middlesex served in the English 15th Foot Regiment from 1814 to 1835 and was discharged at 39 years of age. This Regiment I believe spent most of its time in Canada and Ireland during his period of service. This Thomas is believed to be Eliza’s father. Research by other members of the family concur with this but I have not yet been able to substantiate the links with documentary evidence.
According to the Church of Latter Day Saints, Brisbane records Eliza was christened Ellisa Hicomb on the 27th September, 1837. Eliza died on the 16th May,1911 and was buried on the 18th May, 1911 at the Ballarat New Cemetery 2A No. 01. During her life Eliza had 7 children, and shared a hotel, grocery and butcher business with her husband Thomas. At first they lived at Burnt Bridge (before the Ballarat to Geelong railway) and shortly after they moved to Yendon. The family purchased many blocks of land surrounding Yendon (mostly small) and Eliza lived in the Yendon area all her life.
Trevor, adding a few lines alongside Eliza’s name on your website I hope would be helpful to others. However, I feel you would be more adept than I in formulating the words as I guess you are restricted by how much and what should be written. If any information I have supplied proves to be incorrect I will inform you and hope that it is easily changed. In relation to an address I find the internet convenient and hope that most people have access to the internet and therefore please place my internet email address on your website.
Thank you for the information on Volume 2. I have been to the Ballarat Library to check it out and at some time in the future intend visiting the Mitchell Library in Sydney. I obtained Volume 1 in 1999 from the National Library in Canberra whilst I was working there. I copied the pages relevant to Eliza at the time. While there, I also found on microfiche a copy of Eliza’s Marriage Licence and reference to her sister Catherine in an alphabetical list of “Assisted Passengers” into Sydney or Australia.
Happy hunting
Roland Webb
Ballarat>>
(4)
JOHANNA SMYTH/SMITH per “Elgin” to Adelaide 10 September 1849 by ??? (possibly Heather Sushames?)
Johanna could have come from around Bandon, Cork but I have not found any Workhouse records relating to her. Her traveling box which had been passed down to one of her daughters was always called “The Bandon Box” which her family thought she brought out full of monogrammed linen etc. She told them grand stories of her wealthy background but as she signed her marriage certificate with a cross, she’d obviously had not been educated. No mention was ever made that she had come out as an orphan.
No records have been found as to where Johanna worked after arriving in Adelaide.
She first turned up in a passenger list in the South Australian newspaper as Mrs. Creasey arriving in Adelaide per “Emu” schooner from Port Lincoln on 7 November 1850. A Mr. Creasey was also with her. Perhaps she had been working at Port Lincoln and met George there.
George Creasey and Johanna Smith were married in Kooringa Church of England near Burra, on 15 March 1851. George was probably working in the Burra copper mines. George is thought to have arrived in the Colony as a ships carpenter, but no record can be found. His seaman’s papers at Kew are incomplete and do not show how he signed off from his last voyage, but he probably ‘jumped ship’ and this could be why he altered the spelling of his surname. I haven’t been able to verify any of the stories he told my mother about his English family and feel he, like Johanna, had a vivid imagination.
A George Creasey traveled to Melbourne from Adelaide on the “Fanny” on 12 November 1851 and sometime after that Johanna must have followed as a son George Thomas was baptised at St. James Church, Melbourne on 27 January 1852. Date of birth was shown as 7 January 1852, but doesn’t state where.
George apparently then went to Tasmania – probably working his way over as a crew member of the “City of Melbourne” under George Smith. He returned to Melbourne as George Creasey per “William” on 9 February 1852. The couple may have then gone to Ballarat but on 14 January 1853, the Adelaide Observer lists them as arriving in Adelaide from Melbourne on the “Dreadnought”. It was noted they had a letter from Captain Laurie.
They left for Tasmania sometime in 1854 as the birth of a daughter Maria Jane was registered in Launceston on 12 September 1854 giving a birth date of 7 July 1854, but not stating where. On Maria Jane’s marriage certificate she stated she was born at Ballarat.
The couple settled on a farm in Winkleigh, northern Tasmania and in all had 13 children, all except the eldest who was accidentally killed when he was 11, lived until adulthood.
Johanna died in Launceston Hospital of cancer on 16 May 1896 and was buried in the Catholic Cemetery, Launceston which later became a bowling green. I believe there was a headstone on her grave but they were all destroyed when Patons & Baldwins took over the land many years later. A sad end to a very courageous lady.>>
(5) The following one was originally a PDF file. I haven’t converted it to the standard of Fiona’s original. The footnotes are interleaved with the text, for example. Persist with it. It is a good story well put together.
Mary Jane Magnar (aka Mary McGuire)by Fiona Cole
(Born: c1832 – Died: 1 December 1882)
Mary Jane McGuire (Magnar) was born c.1837 to parents Thomas Magnar and Johanna
Frein, Tipperary, county Tipperary, Ireland. 1
Mary Jane came to Australia on the “Pemberton” as a Female Orphan at the age of 17.
On the register, she is initially listed as Mary McGuire, with the name Magner written
beside the first surname in smaller print. Mary Magnar was received into the Depot on
26 May, 1849 by “A. Cunningham” of “Kinlochewe,” a village just outside of Melbourne
on the old Sydney Road, near Donnybrook in the district of Merriang in the electorate of
Whittlesea. She was licensed out (hired) to the Cunningham’s for a period of six months
on the 31st of May, 1849, at the rate of 10 -0-0. Her usual profession is cited as being a
‘child’s maid.’2
Andrew Cunningham held a freehold in the district of Merriang at the time he enrolled on
the Australian Electoral Roll 1 May, 1849 and on the 1851 roll held a freehold in the
Plenty Ranges in the district of North Bourke. In the Victorian elections of 1856, he is
listed as a freeholder at Merriang, Whittlesea Division. This is believed to the same ‘A.
Cunningham’ who received Mary Jane Magnar from the Port of Melbourne. A
Cunningham is listed in the Banniere’s directory of 1856 as a farmer at Whittelsea3. It is
likely therefore, that Mary Jane was employed as a farm maid and worked on the
property north of Melbourne from 1849 until she left the Cunningham’s employment.
Andrew Cunningham, born around 1811 would have been approximately 38 years of age
when Mary Jane Magnar came to work for him and his wife, Martha (nee McDougall) at
Kinlochewe. Although Andrew and Martha Cunningham had a son (Charles Andrew)
born in 1851 at Merriang (who died in 1860 (aged 10)) it is possible that Mary Jane was
the child’s maid for a period of time, but more likely that she worked on the farm as a
domestic.
In 1861, the Cunningham’s had another child, Martha Eliza, but by this time, Mary Jane
Magnar had well and truly left their employ.
Sometime before 1856 Mary Jane Magnar left the Whittlesea district and moved to
Beechworth, possibly under the influence of friends she had made while on board the
Pemberton. The 1856 marriage register showing Mary Jane’s marriage to Richard Young
Trotter also shows that the next marriage to be performed was for that of her shipmate,
Mary Collins.4
1 Richard Youngtrotter and Mary Jane Magnar Marriage Certificate –
2 Shipping List – Pemberton, 14 May, 1849, pg 13 (PROV- Microfiche)
3 PROV XXXXX
4 Marriages solemnized in the District of Beechworth, 1856, nos 73 & 74
The marriages were performed by Rev John C Symons, an evangelical minister who
spent several years ministering on convict ships and throughout the gold fields, trying to
bring God to the lives of the poor.
Mary Jane and Richard Young Trotter lived at Beechworth and had at one child5, Mary
Jane Youngtrotter (who would go on to become Mary Jane Harrison and then Mary Jane
Gould).
Mary Jane’s husband, Richard worked as a carrier and a teamster during their short
marriage. He died by accidental drowning in the Mitta Mitta River at Morse’s Station on
5 November 1857.6 Surprisingly, there was no inquest into his death, Richard and Mary
Jane Youngtrotter appear to have been living at Yackandandah at this time, but after his
death, Mary Jane appears to have returned to live in Beechworth.
Mary Jane Youngtrotter registered the birth of three children (1858, 1862 and 1865) after
the death of her husband in 1857. None of these children survived more than a few days.
The first of these children, Thomas, was the subject of an inquest and Mary Jane was held
accountable for Manslaughter by Neglect. The charges were dropped and the coroner
found that she had no case to answer. Witnesses were brought before the court both for
and against Mary Jane, for the prosecution, a witness by the name of William Hughes
testifies that Mary Jane was frequently drunk and ‘could not even hold a glass of brandy
without spilling it.’ In her defence, Thomas Conway, apparently the father of the child
and her civil union partner claimed that while Mary Jane was known to drink, she was
not incapable of looking after the child, nor was she drunk the night the child died. He
testified that when he returned home on the night the child died, he found Mary Jane
sitting on a stool, crying. She said to him “Thomas, my child is dying.” at which point,
he left to find the doctor to help the child, but by the time they returned it was too late.7
Mary Jane Youngtrotter appears to have lived a somewhat depraved life after the death of
her third baby, as she was incarcerated from 1865 for larceny (stealing)8 and vagrancy9 (a
term often applied to women of no means, and who often resorted to prostitution). It
appears that Thomas Conway either died or did not stay with her after this point as he
does not feature as a near relative of next of kin on her admittance records to the
Beechworth Asylum.
Mary Jane Youngtrotter’s only surviving daughter (Mary Jane Youngtrotter (Harrison,
Gould) was admitted as of the state to the Industrial School in 1865 and then assigned to
the Browns of Curyo station in 1868.
5 Richard Trotter Death Certificate
6 Ibid
7 Thomas Young Trotter Inquest VPRS30/PO Unit 219 File NCR 2339
8 VPRS 516/P1 Central Register of Female Prisoners, Mary Jane Youngtrotter, Prison Reg. No 573, Vol 1,
pg 573
9 Mary Jane Young Trotter – Industrial School Records VPRS 4527, Vol OS2, pg 147 (No 633)
On 12 August, 1871 Mary Jane Youngtrotter was admitted to the Beechworth Lunatic
Asylum and released a month later on 26 September 1871.10
On Thursday 6 September 1873 Mary Jane Youngtrotter appeared before Judge Bowman
at the Beechworth General Sessions. She was charged with Attempted Suicide. The
prosecutor told the judge that her crime was a misdemeanour and recommended no heavy
penalty. The Judge ordered that she be released to enter into her own recognisance
provided she pay a 20 surety (or as the Wodonga Herald claims, a 90 surety11) and a
50 fine to keep the peace for six months, or in default, one month’s imprisonment.12
It appears that Mary Jane Youngtrotter could not afford the surety or the fine and was
remanded at Beechworth Prison as this is listed on her subsequent admission to the
Beechworth Asylum as her last known place of residence.13
Mary Jane Youngtrotter was admitted to the Beechworth Asylum 2 October, 1873 (a
month after her court appearance before Judge Bowen – the time prescribed by Bowen
that she should serve in default of payment of the surety and fine) and she remained there
until her death 1 December 1882.14
Mary Jane Youngtrotter’s death certificate states that she died aged 45,15 however, her
marriage certificate to Richard Youngtrotter, provides an alternative and more realistic
date of birth, stating her age as 23 in 1856, making her 59 when she died.
Fredrick Western (Medical Superintendant) at Beechworth Asylum noted that Mary Jane
Youngtrotter ‘suffered from delusinal [sic] insanity and delicate bodily health.’ and that
10 months before her death she was ‘somewhat feeble and unable to go about.’16 By the
20 November 1882, Mary Jane Youngtrotter was ‘rather ill and confined to bed on the
23rd she was transferred to the Hospital. She did not improve and got gradually worse and
worse [?] and died and her death was reported to have taken place at 5.30am.’17
There are no case notes for Mary Jane Youngtrotter time incarcerated at Beechworth
Assylum – PROV holds female case books 1878 – 1912.
10 VPRS 7446 P1 Alphabetical Lists of Patients in Asylums (VA 2863)
11 The Wodonga Herald, Saturday 6 September 1873
12 The Ovens and Murray Advertiser, Friday 5 September 1873
13 VPRS 7446 P1 Alphabetical Lists of Patients in Asylums (VA 2863)
14 Ibid
15 Mary Jane Youngtrotter death certificate – Appendix XX
16 Public Records Office Victoria (VPRS 24/P/0000 – Unit 446, 1882/1373).
17 Ibid.
(6) Finally, here is another interesting one, evidently written by a genealogical expert, that came to me originally as a PDF file. There are two lovely photographs at the end i’m still trying to capture. Fingers crossed. The covering letter that accompanied some of these great stories has disappeared into the aether, alas. I wonder who wrote this one.
<<PROFILE of Ellen EAGAN/EGAN per “Lady Kennaway” Arrived to Hobson’s Bay – 6th. December 1848 Ellen EAGAN/EGAN, aged 16 years, from Barney, Louth, Cornwall, departed 11th September 1848 from Plymouth, England on the “Lady Kennaway”, one of the Famine Orphan Girl Ships to Australia, arriving into Hobson’s Bay, Victoria on 6 December 1848. She was admitted to the depot in King Street, Melbourne on the 13th. December 1848. I firmly believe Sarah EAGAN/EGAN aged 19 years, from Ballinasloe, Galway who travelled on the same ship was Ellen’s older sister, because at a later date family relationships were confirmed. A brother, Patrick EGAN was also located at Whitehead’s Creek.. (Note: Extracts about Ellen EAGAN/EGAN & Sarah EAGAN/EGAN compiled initially from article by Trevor McClaughlin, ‘Barefoot and Pregnant’ Female Orphans who emigrated from Irish Workhouses to Australia, 1848- 1850′, in Familia: Ulster Genealogical Review, incorporating Ulster Genealogical & Historical Guild ‘Newsletter’, Vol.2, No.3, 1987, pp.31-36 and updated from shipping lists in New South Wales and South Australia. Shipping List :”Lady Kennaway”- Arrived 6 December 1848: Admitted to depot 13 December SRNSW 4/4816 Reel 2144 (with thanks to Ada Ackerley, Linda Paoloni and to Dr Pauline Rule) We know little or nothing about Ellen’s life in County Galway, other than the names of her parents: James EGAN (occupation:Farmer) & Ellen WHITE (Ellen’s Death Certificate), and what has been recorded about other young women from similar circumstances who survived during the ‘famine’ years. Ellen is recorded as being from Barney, Louth, Cornwall. During those devastating years she may have been employed in County Louth, and in Cornwall, England while awaiting her departure on “Lady Kennaway”. The “Lady Kennaway”, a barque of 585 tons, measuring 38 metres long, 9 metres wide and 5 metres deep, was built of teak timber in Calcutta in 1817. The ship’s Master was – James SANTRY for a voyage of 89 days, with a total of 256 passengers – 191 female orphans, 25 free settlers and 40 crew members. She carried a cargo of -306 casks of Beer; 12 hogsheads of Beer; 55 cases of Wine; 10 hogsheads of Brandy; 12 quarter casks of Brandy; 10 hogsheads of Rum; 9 trunks of Merchandise; 5 cases of Merchandise; 11 cases of Printing Material; 7 hogsheads of Tinware; 1 case of Tinware; 18 crates of Earthenware and 4 cases of Books, and enough water and food for 95 days. There was enough clothing for 256 people. ( Contributed by Laurie Thompson (PPPG Member No. 944) http://home.vicnet.net.au/~pioneers/pppg5bg.htm) The “Lady Kennaway” made three voyages as a convict transport to Hobart in 1835 and 1851 and to Sydney in 1836. She also made voyages with Government assisted emigrants – to Sydney in 1841, and to Port Phillip in 1848, 1850 and 1853. www.findboatpics.com/wpct.html
“Lady Kennaway” a barque of 585 tons. Artist: William Adolphus Knell Date: 1840 Source: http://www.nmm.ac.uk
A Report by The Immigration Board of Inspectors under the chairmanship of Dr John Patterson on the “Lady Kennaway’s” arrival to Hobson’s Bay (Williamstown) reveals that “on board this 1 vessel were 7 families, 191 girls, and one child died on the journey. The people arrived in excellent health and exhibited the appearance of having been on full allowance. Not a single complaint was made”. Ann KELLY, an orphan from Letterkenny wrote to her family: “I have arrived safely at my journey’s end after a very good voyage of 3 months. We were all very well treated on board the ship by every person, the doctor, Captain and Matron being all very kind to us” Apparently girls aged between 14 and 18 years had been selected from several poorhouse unions of Ireland. Generally they were ‘Roman Catholic, were low in stature, of stout make, had been in service previously before leaving their native land’, and were healthy enough to endure the rigors of the harsh sea voyage of three months. ‘Most of them were illiterate, although the authorities issued them with a Prayer Book and a Testament’.¹ An experienced naval surgeon Dr Henry G BROCK and 48 year old English matron, Christine ENSOR were appointed by the British Emigration Commission to supervise the voyage. The girls are described as ‘generally of a stout make, rather low in stature and endowed with strongly marked Irish features’, anxious to please their employers and would keep in the paths of virtue.² (Sources:(1)-Female orphans from Donegal Dispatched to Australia 1848 – 1850 – Part 2 By May McClintock) & (2)-‘Perilous Voyages to the New Land’ by Michael Cannon, page 139-140 On her arrival to Melbourne in December 1848, Ellen EAGAN/EGAN was employed by A. WREIDE, Altona for £14 for 6 months. Sometime, possibly mid 1849, Ellen was engaged by Thomas WADE, a widower, to care for his two sons – William aged 6 years & Henry aged 2 years. Family hearsay said that Ellen accompanied them on a ship to Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania). Although Thomas had been discharged in Sydney in 1847, as being medically unfit for duties (with the 99th. Regiment of Foot after 22 years of service), he may have been seconded to temporary duties in Tasmania. On return to Melbourne, Ellen married Thomas WADE, at St. Peter’s Church of England, Melbourne – 9 December 1850, and again – at St. Francis’s Catholic Church – 2 February 1853. (Marriage Certificates) There are two possible explanations for their two marriages to each other. Their first marriage was by Banns in St Peter’s Church of England in 1850. Thomas was an Anglican, and because he (aged 42 years), was literate and had more life experiences, one could assume Ellen adopted a subordinate role as an 18 year old inexperienced country girl living in a new land. Their second marriage at St Francis’s Catholic Church, was 15 days prior the death of their first child, 8 months old son- Thomas James WADE who was buried 17 Febuary 1853 (Document: New South Wales Roman Catholic Burials, Parish of St. Francis’s County of Bourke No.45333-1853). The church was opposite their Boot and Shoe Store in Lonsdale Street (part of the back section of Myer Stores). Also at this time Sarah EAGAN/EGAN (Ellen’s sister) married Patrick McCARTY/McCARTHY at St Francis’s Church. It could be said that strong coercive influences from her sister Sarah; and the Catholic Priest. The priest would have claimed that Ellen’s first marriage to Thomas was not in the Catholic church, and she was not really married in the eyes of God. One can only speculate as to their reasons. Between 1850-1854, they were living at 14 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, Thomas, a Master Bootmaker in the Army, manufactured Wellington boots and shoes. In 1847, Thomas operated a Boot and Shoe Shop in Pitt Street, Sydney to raise £18, the amount he was required to pay for the purchase of his discharge from the Army (Document: 5 years service:Enlisted 25 July 1842-Discharged 31 December 1847). Thomas was granted a Pension for Life as an Out-Pensioner. According to the Melbourne Rate Books -1853, the shop was a three room brick dwelling Lot 13 near to Elizabeth Street. It was during this time that their first son – Thomas James WADE (1851-1853) was born, and she also had the additional care of her two stepsons – William and Henry. 2 In 1853, a crude water colour drawing of their likenesses was done and signed by a T. HARDY. This drawing is now in possession of Michael WADE, the last WADE of Thomas & Ellen’s descendants. It is said to be of Thomas WADE handing Ellen (EGAN) an envelope said to contain the deeds of some property. It may have been a small allocation of land given to those who had given long military service (22 years) in the 99th. Regiment of Foot. They were both dressed in black. Ellen held a red rose, and Thomas wore a cravat and brown floral patterned waistcoat. Judging by her appearance, Ellen was of slight build and diminutive, probably around 5 feet in stature because Thomas’s records state he was 5 feet 11 inches tall. (Pension Document -1868). It could be suggested that during these years, Ellen developed self confidence and a higher level of social standing in the community. She had the security of her husband’s army pension, and accumulated a moderate level of comfort. Some kinfolk who were privy to early family information, said that Ellen was not only able take on the responsibility for the two sons of her husband’s first marriage, and that of her own seven children, but also the care of her elderly husband as his health declined following a severe stroke. All of her other six children – Ellen(1854), Mary(1857) , Sarah(1859), Thomas James (2)(1862), Patrick (1864), & Michael (1868) were born Kilmore to Broadford. On part of the 19 acres at Sugarloaf Creek, Ellen was the Licencee of the Sugarloaf Creek Hotel from 1882. (The hotel was near the three Chain Road – once the main route from Port Phillip to Sydney). She, with the assistance of her three youngest sons, was able to operate any endeavors they undertook on this and two other nearby blocks on the Sugarloaf Creek, raising cattle involving dairying which had developed in the Broadford district. Part of the 19 acres she leased out to Hunt & Ahern for a Cattle Auction Yards. Another part, was let for a good rental to a Saw Mill Proprietor. The whole WADE family became fully integrated into this and nearby communities. Cousins claimed that the WADEs “mixed with the upper class families such as– Turnbulls, Grimwades, Michaelis Hallensteins, in silks and satins at weekends” It was said that the Turnbulls were first cousins to the Wades. After the death of her husband, Ellen continued to operate her enterprises with the assistance of her children. One interesting Report in the Seymour Newspaper is indicative of the strong, fearless and assertive person Ellen had become. “In my thirty years in this colony, this is the first time I have been summoned to the Court by any man”, was the reply to the Magistrate in the Seymour Court where Ellen appeared over a legal battle with a neighbour over accusations of broken fences and straying cattle. The diminutive Ellen was quite indignant about the matter. At another appearance – 3 February 1885 in the Seymour Court; M. J. McCULLA v Ellen WADE in which £5 was claimed for damage of a bull trespassing …… was heard with this one. “Ellen WADE deposed: “Occupy a paddock joining Mr McCULLA. Never asked him to let his bull into paddock.”.. “On 9th. Inst. saw the beast in the yard with some cows. When Mr McCULLA called for cattle, I demanded £5 damage for the bull. Gave Mr Mc CULLA a receipt on account showing balance of £5 due. No cattle but his ever got into my paddock.” A written notice was served on McCULLA to put up a fence but he refused. McCULLA was laughed out of court because a WADE bull about he lodged a complaint had been dead for over five years. Incidentally, other neighbours had court battles with the same man over exactly the same situations. One of Ellen’s grandchildren, Ellen Veronica Wade recalled visiting other EGAN family members at Whitehead’s Creek. She said that an Uncle James EGAN was the one-armed mail coach driver referred to in a history of Seymour by Martindale, “A New Crossing Place”. A Patrick EGAN, a 3 farmer of Seymour was an Executor of the Will of Ellen WADE in 1892. Although Ellen had operated the Sugarloaf Creek Hotel since 1882, the hotel was auctioned on the 1st June, 1892, to pay creditors of her insolvent deceased estate. Ellen had to reestablish herself after the death of her husband in 1885, when the income from his military pension ceased. Because she had initially lived in and was familiar with central Melbourne, she returned there, and relocated to a tenement residence at- 19 Provost Street, North Melbourne, with her daughter Sarah & grand daughter Mary WADE, and her grandson John Michael David MORRISSEY (1880-1945). In 1908, after the death of Ellen’s son Michael aged 40 years, his widow Sarah Maria, with four young dependent daughters resided in a rental dwelling in Little Provost Street which backed onto Provost Street. Ellen died: 19 Provost St. North .Melbourne aged 57yrs-10.2.1892. Cause of Death: Apoplexy (serous) THOMAS James & ELLEN WADE are buried at Dabyminga Cemetery (Tallarook Cemetery) Victoria Photograph of Water Color of Thomas & Ellen (nee EGAN) WADE c1853 signed T. HARDY.
Watercolour c. 1853
4 Photograph -Ellen (nee EAGAN/EGAN) WADE c. 1890. Melbourne.
Ellen Eagan/Wade c. 1890
>> 5
I’m looking forward to seeing Matt Rubinstein’s great work in digitising Barefoot 1. Information about individual orphans has been updated more than once since the book was first published by the Genealogical society of Victoria in 1991. And here in this blog I’ve added some “footnotes” relating to the documents about the Earl Grey scandal. But having a digital version of the original available for everyone is a delight.
It is now available on Amazon.com, Apple Books and Kobo books. If there are any royalties, they should go to the charities i was involved setting up with GIFCC members, Tom Power, Marie Tunks and Perry McIntyre at the end of the noughties . See the Irishfaminememorial.org website
I hope this post will be of some interest; it is my first publication about the Famine orphan ‘girls’ that appeared in 1987 in Familia the Journal of what was then the Ulster Historical Foundation. I gather the Foundation still exists. See http://www.ancestryireland.com
There are another sixteen interesting articles in this particular issue including a review of Patrick O’Farrell’s Irish in Australia, Trevor Parkhill on Ulster emigration to Oz, Richard Reid on Irish chain migration, and Desmond Mullan on Father Willie Devine who among many other things was appointed as chaplain to the Australian forces in 1914 by Archbishop Mannix.
You will notice i had already decided on Barefoot and Pregnant? as a title for my work, a title that not everyone has understood. So let me explain once more. Anyone with a passing knowledge of the “Earl Grey Scheme” will know of Surgeon Douglass’s scathing dismissal of the young women in his charge. They were he said “professed public women and barefooted little country beggars”; some of them had had a child, and many were not orphans at all! See my earlier blogposts 43-47, beginning https://earlgreysfamineorphans.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/earl-greys-irish-famine-orphans-43/
So the first element to my title is a question (note the question mark, Barefoot and Pregnant? How many of you noticed it? How many did not?) I’m simply asking, was Surgeon Douglass right in condemning the Earl Grey workhouse orphans as he did?
Another element, though perhaps not so pertinent for everyone nowadays, stemmed from my being a fan of a number of singers, Bob Marley, Sam Cooke, Nina Simone, and Joan Armatrading, for example. Do you remember Joan Armatrading’s “Barefoot and Pregnant”? It had particular moment for all the women who were fed up being kept ‘barefoot and pregnant’, and ‘in the kitchen’.
The third interpretation of my title then, and i was hoping people would think about how the title was phrased, that they would ask for themselves, did these Famine orphans come from a society where their choices and opportunities were limited? Would there be greater choices and opportunities for them in Australia? Or would social structures, lack of economic opportunities, and the weight of cultural mores limit what they could do in Australia also? Could they become literate? What chances did they have of going to a university? Could they buy land on their own? Could they pursue a career of their own? Could they vote? Could they sit in parliament? Or were they sent into another confinement (pun intended) by the patriarchal nature of Australian society?
Alas i think i failed with that title.
What follows is the short piece i was urged to write by the then Deputy Keeper of the Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI), Dr Brian Trainor. I had just spent a short period of study-leave among the archives testing out my theories of how to find the Famine orphans among the workhouse records that have survived. It is thanks to Brian Trainor that so many of the Indoor workhouse registers have survived. Without his understanding and agitation many would have ended up in the tip. Sadly, present day politicians and bureaucrats in Australia are allowing our precious records to perish. 21/6/21 Fingers crossed. There may be some last minute funding on the way.
It is a tentative effort, and concerns only the first vessel, the Earl Grey, that arrived in Port Jackson 6 October 1848 . Nowadays thanks to heaps of people, writers, historians, genealogists, family historians, archivists, holders of the public records torch, much more is known about the Irish Famine orphans. One error that struck me in this piece was my inclusion of the Ramillies to Port Adelaide as part of the ‘Earl Grey scheme’. The error carried over to Volume one of my Barefoot. That shipmay indeed have carried a number of Irish born workhouse women but they were mostly from Marylebone workhouse in London, not from any Irish workhouse. I remain to be corrected on this.
trevo's Irish famine orphans 
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