Tipperary Ancestors - Week 4 NFHM blogging challenge.

I do love my "sunburnt country" and most of my ancestors, except my paternal grandfather, have been here since the mid to late 1800s.  They all settled in Victoria and pretty much stayed here.  I have enjoyed researching them all but my contribution for week 4 will be to record current research I have done on my Tipperary ancestors.

I have known the origins and parents names of my great great grandmother, Alice KELLY nee MORGAN for some years now and have researched later information on her and all but one of her five brothers who came to Australia.

Margaret Alice KELLY (known as Alice) was baptized in December 1834 at Dualla, Tipperary, Ireland to parents Cornelius KELLY and Mary MULLOUGHNY/MOLOUGHNEY.
Sponsors were Laurence MOCKLER and Judith DWYER viccs (which I am told means standing in for) Judith MULLOUGHNY.

image from ancestry.com.au 

                                Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915

                           

Cornelius (Con) and Mary were married on the 6th of February 1834 at Dualla by Reverend William Kirwan in the presence of Daniel D Corkoran (I think) and Daniel Mahony. The last word in the record also looks to be MOCKLER?

image from ancestry.com.au 

                                  Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915

Their son's baptisms and further known details I have recorded HERE

Today I found a couple of possible baptism records that could fit Cornelius KELLY and Mary MULLOUGHNY.  The only problem is that the parent's names for these baptisms haven't been used for any of Con and Mary's children.  No naming pattern seems to fit.  Is that usual?

image from ancestry.com.au
Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915

It is very hard to read but the transcription in ancestry.com.au is as follows:
Name: Cornelius Kelly
Baptism Age: 0
Event Type: Baptism
Birth Date: 1807
Baptism Date: 31 Jan 1807
Baptism Place: Gortnahoe, Tipperary, Ireland
Parish Variants: Glengoole, Gurtnahoe and Glengoole
Diocese: Cashel and Emly
Father: Philippi Kelly (Phillip Kelly)

Mother: Marie Dohony

Gortnahoe/Gortnahoo is about 30kms from Dualla.

and for Mary:

image from ancestry.com.au
 Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915

Transcription in ancestry.com.au is as follows:
Name: Mary Mulloughny
Baptism Age: 0
Event Type: Baptism
Birth Date: 1807
Baptism Date: Aug 1807
Baptism Place: Moycarkey, Tipperary, Ireland
Parish Variants: Borris, Moycarkey and Borris, Moycarky, Mucharkey, Muckarkey, Muckarky
Diocese: Cashel and Emly
Father: Laurence Mulloughny

Mother: Mary Dwyre

Moycarky is about 12kms from Dualla.

I may be way off but at least this post will record these possibilities.  
One day perhaps I will find more clues.

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NFHM blogging challenge theme for Week 4 - Sunday 28 August - Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar in her poem My Country talks of a "sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, of rugged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains".  What does "country" or place mean to your family?  What makes your place unique or special? What are the features or landmarks  that stand out in your family history?

NFHM Blogging Challenge - Week 3 - August commemorations

Alex of Family Tree Frog has put the theme for Week 3 of the National Family History Month blogging challenge as - 
"Significant military battles are commemorated during the month of August such as Mouquet Farm in WWI and Milne Bay in WW2.  The Australian Comforts Fund was also founded in August 1916.  Did your ancestors have connections to these places or battles?  Is there another anniversary or significant event that your family commemorates/remembers in August?" 

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In researching and recording the stories of soldiers in my family history I discovered that several had paid the ultimate sacrifice in the month of August during WW1.  

Click on their names to read their stories.

William John Pike MORGAN,  A Private and bugler in the 14th Battalion A.I.F  was killed at the Battle of Lone Pine on the 8th of August 1915.   He was a first cousin of my maternal grandmother, Daisy FLEMING nee MORGAN.

Edmund James AH-KING - A Private in the 22nd Battalion A.I.F  was killed at Pozieres on the 5th of  August 1916.  Edmund was a first cousin of my maternal great grandmother, Margaret FLEMING nee HART.

William John BEATON - A Private in the 14th Battalion A.I.F was initially reported missing and many months later reported killed at Gallipoli on the 27th of August 1915.  William was a first cousin of my great great grandmother, Mary Ann MORGAN nee PIKE.

George FORSYTH - A Private in the 47th Battalion A.I.F was killed at Pozieres on the 9th of  August 1916.  George was a first cousin of my paternal great grandmother, Margaret Ann Hay MUSSON nee FORSYTH.

HERBERT JOHN MORGAN/WAKENSHAW - A Lance Corporal in the 22nd Battalion, 3rd reinforcements enlisted on the 19th of  July 1915.  He Died of wounds in France on the 5th of August 1916.  Herbert was a first cousin of my maternal grandmother, Daisy FLEMING nee MORGAN.

Joseph Stanley SAXON - A Private in the 22nd Battalion was killed in action on August 5th, 1916 at Pozieres.  Joseph was a first cousin of my maternal great-grandfather, William Thomas MORGAN.

Significant family anniversaries for August are:-

The birth of my paternal grandfather, James Richard MUSSON on the 23rd of August 1906 at Belfast, Canterbury, New Zealand and his death, as James Musson FORSYTH on the 16th of August 1976 at Mooroopna, Victoria, Australia.

The birthday of my maternal grandmother, Daisy FLEMING nee MORGAN  who was born on August 10, 1908, at Myrrhee, Victoria.

The death of my father in law, Allan Taylor on the 7th of August 1992 at Numurkah, Victoria, Australia.  He was 84 years of age.

NFHM Blogging Challenge - Week 2 - Farming ancestors.

August is National Family History month in Australia and Alex, at Family Tree Frog has instigated a blogging challenge.

Week 2 - Sunday 14 August - Your working ancestors and the challenges they faced in their occupations.

Most of my ancestors were involved in farming of one sort or another including both my grandfathers and their father's before them.
I have re-hashed a post from last year about my farming paternal grandfather, Jim FORSYTH (born James MUSSON 1906 - 1976).

His MUSSON ancestors were also farmers in New Zealand and England. 

His FORSYTH ancestors were farmers in New Zealand and Meal Millers in Aberdeenshire, Scotland 

After he came to Australia and married my grandmother, Brenda DANIELS nee ADAMS, in 1937, my grandfather would buy a rundown farm, improve it, sell it and move on.  
They moved on nearly every twelve to eighteen months, mainly around Victoria, but he once had a pineapple farm at Woombye in Queensland.  

He worked long hard hours to improve each farm which would have been a real challenge.
The Australian electoral rolls show many of their movements although some of the years were a bit out.  Dad's memory fills in some gaps.
They moved to Tatura from Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria around 1942.
At Tatura he bought a truck and did cartage for the internment camp at Dhurringile during WW2. 
In 1944 he bought a farm at Girgarre East, Victoria
In 1946 they farmed at Stanhope South, Victoria
1949 at Mooroopna, Victoria
1950 at Shepparton East, Victoria
1951 at Glenrowan, Victoria
1952 at Marungi, Victoria
1953 at Trafalgar, Victoria
1956 at Woombye, Queensland
From 1957 until his death in 1976 he was in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria.

Mooroopna, Victoria 1949

Woombye, Queensland 1954 - 1956

In the latter years, piggeries seemed to be my grandfather's preferred choice of farming.  He must have had an affinity with the husbandry and knowledge of growing pigs as his advice was often sought and he was referred to as "The Professor" by other local farmers in the industry.

  

L-R my brother, my grandfather and my dad at the farm at 535 Archer Road, Kialla, Victoria, ca 1968.
A plant nursery is now situated at this address.

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NFHM Blogging Challenge - Week 1 - My census story

August is National Family History month in Australia and Alex, at Family Tree Frog has instigated a blogging challenge.

Week 1 – Sunday 7 August – My Census Story – Census Night in Australia is 9 August this year. What extraordinary things have you discovered about your family history in census records?

Australia doesn't have many census records available and those that are are too early for most of my ancestors to be on.

I have however had fun over the years going through English and Scottish census searching for my ancestors and their families.

Some have common names so searching was very hit and miss.  Many were helpful having specific occupations but quite a few just cannot be confirmed as mine, especially when they were boarders or servants in other households.

I haven't found anything that I'd call extraordinary but one that did shock me in the early days of my research was finding my great-great-great grand Uncle, Alexander Thomson FORSYTH, listed as "idiot" in the 1841 census.

Piece: SCT1841/192 Place: Ellon -Aberdeenshire Enumeration District: 10
Civil Parish: Ellon Ecclesiastical Parish, Village or Island: -
Folio: 10 Page: 9
Address: Mill Of Broomfield
Surname     First name(s)  Sex     Age   Occupation  Where Born
FORSYTH  Alexander          M        50     Miller           Aberdeenshire
FORSYTH  Jane                   F        50      Wife            Aberdeenshire
FORSYTH  Alexander          M        25     Idiot            Aberdeenshire
FORSYTH  James                M        20     Miller          Aberdeenshire
FORSYTH  Robert                M        15     Miller          Aberdeenshire
FORSYTH  Isabella              F         14                        Aberdeenshire
FORSYTH  Ann                     F         11                        Aberdeenshire
FORSYTH  Helen                  F           8                        Aberdeenshire
FORSYTH  James                M           2                        Aberdeenshire

It looks like the word has been crossed out and no doubt then the meaning was different to what it is today.

Alexander may have been mentally handicapped in some way, even very mildly.

In the 1861 census, he was living with his brother and sister in law Robert and Helen FORSYTH (my 3rd great grandparents) at the Mill of Aberdour.  He was unmarried and 49 years of age.

I cannot find him in a census after 1861.

There is no burial information for his parents, Alexander and Jean who died at the Mill of Broomfield in 1864 and 1869 respectively, so I don't know if he was buried with them or not.

He is not listed as buried with his brother Robert.

An Alexander FORSYTH died at Aberdeen poorhouse in 1869 but there are no parents listed on the death certificate so I don't know if it is him or not but I do wonder why he would be in the poorhouse when he had six siblings still living. 

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