The Story of Ellen Power of Wyndham and Will Ryan of Kiah, NSW 
and their family 
and of Ellen’s brother, Charles Power

The other stories supplied by Bryan Power [bryanp2-at-bigpond.com]

   John Power Snr | Thomas Power  | Mary Ann Power | Jane Power | Honorah Power | Elizabeth Power | John Power Jnr | Edward Power | James Power | Henry Power | George Power | Ellen and Charles Power | Bridget Power |  Patrick Power |  

Foreword

This is the thirteenth story in stage two of a series to record something of the lives of the 15 children of John and Mary Power of Creewah and Wyndham N.S.W. The stage one story was the recording of John and Mary’s life which can be found on the Monaro Pioneers’ website.

This story also includes details of the life of one of Ellen’s younger brothers, Charles Power, who went to her aid after the death of her husband, Will Ryan.

The other twelve stories in stage two are also on the Monaro Pioneers’ website and they tell of the lives of Ellen and Charles’s brothers and sisters: William, Thomas, Mary Ann, Jane, Honorah, Elizabeth, John, Edward, James, Henry, George, Bridget, and Patrick.

Bryan Power
PO Box 610 Gisborne, Vic 3437   (03) 5428 2795   or bryanp2@bigpond.com 

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to many people for assistance in putting together this history: Pat and Kevin Haley of Brisbane, Margaret Bolch of Dandenong, Nardia Taylor of Lakes Entrance and Nonie Dennis of Brisbane

Ellen Power with her youngest son, Joe Ryan.

Ellen Power was born on 25 August 1849 according to the entry in the family bible. However, Fr R Walsh who baptised her on 2 November 1851 noted her birthday as 25 August 1850. Fr Walsh stated that the family’s abode was Bomballo (Bombala).

Fr Michael Kavanagh who had baptized the previous five Power children had given their abode as “Creewah”, the name of the squatter’s run managed by their father John Power. I’m not sure whether Ellen and the subsequent children baptised by Fr Walsh were actually living with the family in Bombala or whether the situation was that Fr Walsh preferred to use the name of the closest large town in his records rather than the names of properties when stating “Abode”.

Ellen was the twelfth child of an eventual 15 children of John and Mary Power. John was an Irishman and almost certainly an ex-convict who had arrived in the colony in about 1822 and obtained his ticket of leave before marrying Mary Donovan at Parramatta in 1837.

John was at that time a farmer at nearby Pennant Hills but in about 1840 he and Mary set off with two babies, Thomas and Mary Anne, into the unknown hinterland of the Monaro which was well outside the “limits of location” laid down by the Governor as areas that could be occupied by settlers.

Their family grew at the rate of almost one a year and when Ellen was born the eldest child, Thomas, was only aged eleven. (The first-born of the family, William, had died as an infant in 1838.) Life must have been very difficult for the parents of such a large brood, far removed as they were from neighbours let alone a town. Feeding, clothing and accommodating the children in their primitive squatter’s hut would have been a taxing daily task at the best of times but during the severe Monaro winters John and Mary must have been sorely pressed to keep the children fed, warm and free of illness.

Still, survive they did despite a severe drought that gripped the Monaro from 1846 to 1848.

The Family Moves to Wyndham

By the time Ellen was eight the family had moved down from the Monaro to farm at Lochiel near Pambula.

In 1859 the family moved to Wyndham where John and Mary were to finally settle on a small farm on the western edge of the village. They died there - Mary in 1862 (when Ellen was aged 13) and John in 1872 - and both parents are buried on their farm in graves on the south bank of the Mataganah Creek. 

Ellen did not have the opportunity to attend a school, and as both of her parents were illiterate, neither she nor her brothers and sisters were taught to read and write. Yet, in later life, Ellen became a successful businesswoman.

Ellen Power and William Ryan at Omeo

On 5 August 1867 Ellen married Will Ryan who was the tenth child of Daniel and Mary Ryan (nee Connor) of Kiah, N.S.W. They were married at the home of John Love at Honeysuckle near Wyndham in N.S.W.

Not long after the birth of their first child Sarah in 1867, Will and Ellen went to Omeo in the Victorian high country where they farmed at Hinnomunjie and their children attended Morass Creek State School.

When Ellen was pregnant with her ninth child Joe, Will contracted meningitis and died on 13 February 1882 aged 38. Ellen was only 32. To support her large, young family Ellen became the housekeeper at “Springvale”, the home of William Pendergast.

Charles Power

Charles Power, who was the only bachelor among all of Ellen’s nine brothers, came from Wyndham to Omeo to be with her and assist her in raising her family.

Charles Power

Charles had been born on 14 January 1854 and so was 28 when he left for Victoria.

Charles and his younger brother Patrick had been left their father’s properties in his will but somehow neither of them came into their inheritance as the properties were taken over by one of their older brothers, Edward. Thus, with no property and no wife, Charles would not have strong ties to Wyndham and after going to Victoria he did not return to live there ever again.

Many years later Ellen became the licensee of the Alexandra Hotel in association with her youngest son, Joseph. In the 1902 Electoral Roll Charles is recorded as living in Alexandra with his occupation given as prospector.

After some years in hotels in West Gippsland, Ellen eventually reached Melbourne where Joe and his sister Adelaide took over two hotels, The Greyhound in St Kilda and the other (which they renamed The Club) in Dandenong.

Ellen died at the Club Hotel on 16 June 1936. Her daughter Adelaide was the licensee of the hotel at that time. Ellen is buried in the Dandenong Cemetery in a grave beside that of her son, William. Her headstone records that she and her husband Will were “Pioneers of Omeo”.

Ellen’s obituary in the Dandenong Journal on 18 June 1936 notes that she was survived by six children, 35 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Her brother Charles did not marry and lived at Buln Buln in Gippsland in his later years. He died in 1924 aged 70 and his death was registered at Warragul.

The graves of Ellen Ryan and her eldest son, William, and his wife at Dandenong Cemetery. Note that Ellen’s husband Will, although his name appears on the headstone, is not buried at Dandenong. He was buried in Omeo on 15 February 1882.)

William and Ellen’s nine children were:

1. Sarah Ryan b 1867 Towamba, N.S.W.; m 1899 William White Brindley in Victoria; Sarah died in East Melbourne in 1937 aged 68. William died at Richmond in 1946 aged 81. They had four children:

1.       Francis Joseph Brindley died in 1926 at East Melbourne aged 18,  

2.       Gordon White Brindley died at East Melbourne in 1927 aged 26,  

3.       Thomas William Brindley died 1929 at Fitzroy aged 30 and  

4.       John Patrick (“Jack”) Brindley, who married Myra Isabel Swain in 1938, died in Fitzroy in 1981 aged 75. 

2. Mary Catherine Ryan b 1869 Omeo; m 1895 Charles Edmund Crisp; Mary died at Balwyn in 1927 aged 59. Charles died at Kew in 1935 aged 68. They had one son:     

1. Kevin Charles Crisp who was born in 1900. In 1926 Kevin married Hannah May Perryman. Kevin died at Deepdene in 1939 aged 39. 

3.  William Charles Ryan b 1871 at Mitta Mitta; d 7 Sept 1933  aged 63 at Clyde, Vic; m Ellen (“Nel”) O’Connor b at Goban near Omeo in 1899; Their two children were:     

1. Mary Eileen Ryan b 1901 at Cassilis, Vic and  

2. William Francis Ryan b 1906 at Tongio West Vic. He died in 1982 at Tera, Vic.  

Their mother Ellen died on 25 Sept 1953 at Berwick aged 83. William and Ellen are buried together at Dandenong Cemetery in a grave beside the grave of William’s mother. 

4.  Daniel Ryan b 1872 Omeo; did not marry; he died in New Zealand. 

5.  John Thomas (“Tom”) Ryan b on 20 Dec 1874 at Livingstone Creek, Vic; m1. Lucy Grace Taylor at Omeo, Vic on 9 April 1901. Their children were:

1. Adelaide Grace Ryan b Omeo 1902,  

2. Thomas William Ryan b Drouin 1904,  

3. George Alfred Ryan b Drouin 1905, and his twin  

4. Ethel Mavis Ryan and  

5. Albert Kevin Ryan b Drouin 1911.  

Lucy died at Fitzroy in 1911 aged 38. Nine years after Lucy’s death Tom remarried at Drouin in 1920. His second wife was Charlotte Louisa Wilson. Their two children were

1. Roy William Ryan b 1921 who became an undertaker in Warragul and  

2. Ken Walter Ryan b 1929.

Charlotte died in Camberwell in 1949. Tom died at Warragul on 20 Nov 1957 aged 83. 

6.  Martha Ellen Frances Ryan b 1876 at Omeo; m 1906 Giovannie Battista Pini in Harrietville. Their six  children were:

1.       John Pini b and d at Harrietvile 1908, then twins:  

2.       William Stefano Pini and  

3.       Ellen Pini who were born and died in 1909 aged only one day at Harrietville;  

4.       Lorna Florence Pini b Powlett River 1911 and d at Kew in 1929 aged 18; 

5.       Kathleen Mary Pini (Mrs Juradavitch) b 1915 at Wonthaggi, died in Korumburra in her late 70s;  

6.       John Joseph (“Jack”) Pini was born in May 1920. He was the head of Civil Aviation in New Guinea after WW2. He died in Nambour Queensland on 17 Nov 1992 .  

Their father Giovannie (“Jack”) Pini died at Fitzroy South in 1925 aged 58. Martha died at Korumburra in 1959 aged 82. 

7. Adelaide Margaret Ryan b 1878 Omeo; m 1899 Angus McKinnon at Omeo; Their one child was Doris McKinnon who married Robert Makeham. They had no children. Doris died in 1968 in Korumburra.

Angus died at Alexandra in 1920 and Adelaide survived him for many years before she died at Korumburra in 1968. 

8. Eva Honora Ryan b 1881 Omeo; m   Charles Ernest McKoy. Their two sons were

1.    William Kenneth McKoy who died at Wodonga aged 54 and  

2.    John Laurence McKoy who died at Glen ? aged 56.  

Eva died at Elsternwick in 1968 aged 86. 

9.  Joseph William Ryan b 1882 in Omeo; m 1911 Elizabeth Josephine Quinn who had been born in Benalla. Joe died in 1963, Elizabeth on 7 June 1944. They are buried at St Kilda Cemetery. The family believes that Elizabeth Quinn was a relative of the mother of Ned Kelly. 

Joe Ryan became the licensee of the Alexandra Hotel. Later he and his sister Adelaide bought the Loch Hotel where Adelaide became the licensee. Later again they bought the Korumburra Hotel and Adelaide’s daughter and son-in-law, Dorrie and Robert Makeham, ran it. 

Then Joe bought the Greyhound Hotel in St Kilda and a hotel in Dandenong which he renamed as the Club Hotel. 

Joe became the President of the Licensed Victuallers’ Association of Victoria. 

Joe and Elizabeth’s four sons were: 

1.    Kelvyn Donovan Ryan b 1912 Alexandra m Mary Margaret (“Molly”) Doyle in 1937. They had ten children:

1.    Margaret Mary Ryan,

2.    Catherine Elizabeth Ryan,

3.    John Joseph Ryan,

4.    Michael Donovan Ryan,

5.    Angela Helene Ryan,

6.    Kelvyn Donovan Ryan,

7.    Peter Joseph Ryan,

8.    Paul Laurence Ryan,

9.    Leo Patrick William Ryan and

10. Timothy Vincent Ryan. (See the following page for more details of this family.) 

Kelvyn bought out Adelaide and became the licensee of the Club Hotel.  

His wife’s mother, Catherine Elizabeth Doyle, was the matron at the City Watch House in Russell Street and dealt with many sad and desperate people including the US serviceman, Leopold Leonski, the WW2 serial killer. His rosary beads are in the possession of the Ryan family. Catherine was a very strong and capable woman who, despite the heavy demands of her job, regularly travelled to Dandenong to assist Molly with her large family. 

Kelvyn died in Dandenong in 1961 aged 49. His wife Mary died a few weeks later also aged 49.  

2.  Myles Joseph Ryan b 1913 Alexandra; m Roma Ione Tubbs in 1941. They had four children:

1.    Michael Myles Ryan,

2.    Anthony Ryan,

3.    Elizabeth Ryan and

4.    Susan Ryan.     

Myles died in Fitzroy in 1977 aged 64. 

3. Leo William Ryan b 1915 Alexandra. Leo was ordained a priest at St Patrick’s Cathedral on 27 July 1941. He was the first Parish Priest at Glen Waverley and after many years there served at Camberwell, Mansfield and St Kilda.  

Leo died on 8 December 1972.   

4. Bernard Brendon Ryan b 1919 at Prahran when the family was living at the Greyhound Hotel in St Kilda; m Zita Diana (“Tweet”) Godby in 1940. They had five children:

1. Russell Ryan who has two children and lives near Gympie in Queensland;

2. Diana Ryan (Mrs Stock) who has

1. Patrick Stock and

2. Kirsten Stock;

3. Christopher Ryan who died in Geelong in 2003 leaving his second wife Kay and three children;

4. Shane Ryan who has been missing for many years and

5.    Rosemary Ryan (Mrs Coombes) who has two children and lives near Noosa.  

Bernard died in Fitzroy in 1957 aged 37. 

Kelvyn Donovan Ryan and Mary Margaret (“Molly”) Doyle of Dandenong

Kelvyn was the eldest of the four brothers listed above and the following comprehensive information about his descendants has been provided by his eldest daughter Mrs Margaret Bolch who lives in Edward Street, Dandenong.

Kelvyn Donovan Ryan was born at Alexandra in 1912. He married Mary Margaret Doyle in 1937 and they had 10 children:

1.  Margaret Ryan b 1937; married Ronald Bolch on 29 May 1957. Their five children are:

1. Madeleine Bolch b 1958, married Ross Edwards and they have         

1. Caitlin Edwards,

2. Ryan Edwards and

3. Christopher Edwards.

2. Elizabeth Bolch b 1959, married Ross McGrath. They have no children.

3. Suzanne Bolch b 1961, married Terrence Hermon and have

1. Molly Hermon and

2. Erin Hermon.

4. Timothy Bolch b 1962 is unmarried.

5. Simon Bolch b 1964. was married to Jane Nasser. They had no children and are divorced.

2.  Catherine Ryan b 1939; married Allen Clelland on 27 October 1963. Their seven children include two sets of twins:

1. Fiona Clelland b 1964

2. Angela Clelland b 1966

3. Stephanie Clelland b 1966

4. Felicity Clelland b 1968

5. Angus Clelland b 1972 married Claire Sullivan in 2001. Their children are:

            1. Zara Clelland b 2006

            2. Oscar Clelland b 2008

6. Timothy Clelland b 1974

7. Allen Clelland  b 1974

Catherine and Allen were divorced and Catherine married Derek Norman in 1994.

3. John  Ryan b 1940; married Kaye Woodhead on 9 September 1961. Their three children are:

1. Ashley Ryan            

2. Jacqueline Ryan      

3. Nadine Ryan                                    

4. Michael Ryan b 1942; married Cecilia R’Aguilar on 23 October 1976. Children:

1. Rebecca Ryan b 1977

2. Veronica Ryan b 1981

3. Kelvyn Ryan

5. Angela Ryan b 18 August 1943; married Adrian Nyssen.                    Children:

                        1. Sean Nyssen          

2. Simone Nyssen

6. Kelvyn Ryan b 1945; married Jan Aitkenhead on 20 March  1970. Children: Twins?

1. Sean Ryan    b 1973 at Port Morseby

2. Susan Ryan b 1973 at Port Morseby

7. Peter Ryan b 1946; married Susan Pawsey.

Their only child is Charles Ryan b 1987.

8.  Paul Laurence Ryan b 1946; Paul did not marry. He died in 2010.

9. Leo Ryan b 1947; married Johanna Brock on 6 February 1971. Children:

1. Patrick Ryan b 1976

2. Georgia Ryan b 1979

3. Alexander Ryan b 1986.

10. Timothy Ryan b 8 June 1948; married Margaret Todd           Children:

1. Damien Ryan b 1981

2. Nicholas Ryan

3. Lucy Ryan

4. Jacob Ryan

 There has been a tradition in this family of perpetuating the name “Donovan” which was the maiden name of Ellen Ryan’s mother, Mary Power.

Will Ryan

Will Ryan was the tenth child of Daniel and Mary Ryan and he may have been born at sea as the family made their way aboard the “Glenswilly” from Tipperary to Australia. The following is the story of the family.

Daniel Ryan and Mary Connor of Tipperary and Kiah, N.S.W.

Daniel Ryan was born in 1793. He married Mary Connor in Tipperary in 1822. (Mary’s surname is also recorded as O’Connor and Connors.) Daniel and Mary arrived in Australia on 11 March 1841 aboard the “Glenswilly”. The ship’s records show that they were from Bansha or Bunchurn in Co Tipperary and were respectively aged 37 and 36. They were accompanied by their children Michael (aged 10), Margaret 7, Catherine 5 and Honora 3.

They settled at Kiah, south of Eden on the NSW south coast. Kiah was inhabited by several Irish families from the 1840s some of whom some had gone there originally to work for Ben Boyd at nearby Boyd Town.

Both Daniel and Mary are buried in the tiny Corcorans Flat Cemetery at Kiah near the south bank of the Towamba River. Their impressive sandstone headstones are inscribed:                         

     IHS                                                           Sacred to the Memory of

          Erected by Mary in Memory                                              Mary Ryan

                              of                                                   Native of Co Tipperary

                      her beloved                                                       Ireland

                        Husband                                             Who died 9^th June 1889

                     Daniel Ryan                                                  Aged 85 years

              Native of Tipperary                                                Sweet Jesus have mercy

                         Ireland                                                                       on her soul

Died 20^th Sept 1861                                            Erected by her loving sons

Aged 68 years                                                 Thos and J. Ryan

Here rest in peace thy earthly race is run

May God receive thy soul though Christ his son.

A loving wife this humble stone has reared

In whose breast thy memory is revered.

The headstones on Daniel and Mary’s adjoining graves.

Their eleven children were:

1. Thomas Ryan b 1824 Tipperary; m Mary Hogan 1857 at Inglewood, Vic.

They had no children.

Thomas died in 1897 aged 72 and was buried at Kiah. 

2. Johanna Ryan b 1826 Tipperary; m Patrick Pendergast 1846 at Delegate; d 1913 Kiah; Their 13 children were:

1. Catherine Pendergast,

2. Mary Pendergast,

3. Margaret Pendergast

4. Johanna Pendergast

5. Hanora Pendergast

6. Ellen Pendergast ,

7. John Pendergast,

8. Daniel Pendergast,

9. Patrick Pendergast,

10. Michael Pendergast,

11. Patrick Pendergast ,

12. Thomas Pendergast and

13. Michael Pendergast.  

(For a full account of this family see “The Story of Patrick and Ellen Power”.) 

3. Mary Ryan b 1828 Tipperary; m Patrick Whelan at Delegate on 6 April1846; Their 12 children were:

1. Roger (“Rody”) Whelan b.1847   d.1908 in Eden  m. Anne Jane Grealey in 1870 at Eden. Chn:

1. Mary Whelan b. 1871 in Bega,

2. Elizabeth Whelan b. 1872 at Bega,

3. Ann Jane Whelan b. 1873 at Bega,

4. Dorothy S. Whelan b. 1877 at Bombala,

5. John Patrick Whelan b. 1879 at Eden and

6. Roger Bede Whelan b. 1881 at Eden. 

2. Mary Whelan b. 1848 m James A. (“Jim”) Donnelly in 1874 at Eden. Jim died on 23 Feb 1904 aged 64. Their six children were all born at Eden:  

1. Elizabeth Donnelly b 1875,

2. Patrick E. Donnelly b. 1877,

3. Mary Donnelly b. 1879,

4. James Joseph Donnelly b 1881,

5. George Donnelly b. 1883 and

6. David F. Donnelly b. 1887. 

3.  Daniel (“Dan”) Whelan b.1853 m 1. Sarah McDonough at Eden in 1883. Their children were

1. Julia G. Whelan b. 1886 at Eden,

2. Albert J. Whelan b. 1889 at Eden and

3.  William B. Whelan b. 1891 at Eden.

Their mother Sarah died in 1891.

Five years later, in 1896, Dan remarried to Catherine E (“Katy”) Ivill at Eden. Dan and Katy had

1. Daniel C. Whelan b. 1897 at Bega,

2. Martin C. Whelan b. 1901 at Eden and

3. Dorothy A. Whelan b. 1908 at Eden. 

Dan Whelan senior achieved fame for his heroic rescue of several survivors of the wreck of the coastal steamer the Ly-ee-moon at the Green Cape lighthouse on the night of 29^th May 1886. (See The Story of James and Kate Power for a full account of this incident.) 

4. Bridget (“Bea”) Whelan did not marry. She raised Edie Whittaker, one of her sister Hannah’s daughters.  

5. Thomas (“Tom”) Whelan b.  ??   m. Margaret (“Maggie”) Berkery in 1886 at Cooma. Their six children were born at Eden:

1. James P. Whelan 1887,

2. Bridget L Whelan 1888,

3. Mary W. Whelan 1891,

4. Catherine P. Whelan 1893,

5. Edward J. Whelan 1895 and

6. Sarah V Whelan 1897. 

6. Johanna Whelan b.1854 did not marry. 

7.Hannah (also sometimes recorded as Anna) Whelan b. 1859 in Eden m. Arthur B Whittaker in 1886 at Eden. Children were:     

1. Adella J. (“Addie”) Whittaker b. 1886 in Eden,

2. William P (“Billy”) Whittaker 1888 Eden,

3. Edith A (“Edie”) Whittaker 1890 Eden (who was raised by her Aunt Bridget),

4. Charles (“Charlie”) Whittaker 1891 Eden,

5. Arthur A (“Artie”) Whittaker 1892 Eden.  Other reported children whose records I have not been able to locate are

6.  Mach,

7. Roger,

8. Dave,

9. Dolly and

10. Monny 

8. John (“Jack”) Whelan b. 1857 Eden  m. Mary Slattery at Eden in 1891. Their chn:                                                                                                         

1.    John P. Whelan b. 1892 and

2.    Bernard J. Whelan b. 1895, both at Eden. 

9. Patrick (“Patsy”) Whelan b. 1862 in Eden, did not marry. Patsy died in Eden in 1916. 

10. James (“Denis” and “Jim”) Whelan b 7 May 1866 in Eden, did not marry.  

11. William Whelan b. 14 Aug 1870 in Eden d. 5 Dec 1932  m.1901 in Eden to Clara Havard b. 8 Jan 1874 d. 23 Oct 1960. Their seven children were born in Eden:

1. Mary Whelan 1902,

2. James L. Whelan 1904,

3. George Havard Whelan 1906,

4. Johanna I Whelan 1908,

5. Patrick F Whelan 1911,

6. Claire D Whelan 1913 and

7. William G Whelan 1918. 

12. Dorothy (“Dolly”) Whelan m Roger Thomas Doyle in 1881 at Eden.  Chn:

1. Bertha Theresa Doyle 1884 Eden,

2. Thomas J Doyle b1887 Eden. (There was a death of a Thomas Doyle in 1885 so the Thomas born in 1887 was the second of that name in the family.)

3. Esther E. Doyle 1889, Roger Doyle 1891 Eden and another child referred to as

4. “Birdie” for whom I could not find a birth record. 

The parents, Mary died 16 Dec 1892 aged 64 at Kiah and Patrick died 3 June 1878 aged 74 at Kiah. 

4.  Michael Ryan b 1830 Tipperary; 

5.  Margaret Ryan b 1833 Tipperary;  

6. Catherine (“Kitty”) Ryan b 1835 Tipperary; Catherine did not marry. 

7. Honora Ryan b 1837 Tipperary; m John (“Black Johnny”) Power 1863 at Kiah; d 1908 Kiah. Their eight children were:

            1. Mary Jane Power b. Eden1863 d. Eden1906;  

2. Annie Power b. Eden 1865 m. Charles Timothy Jess;  

3. Norah Power b. Eden 1868 m. James Jess;  

4. Michael Power b. Little Plain near Bombala1869 m. Hariette Henriette Quinn;  

5. Daniel Power b. Kiah 1872 d.1957 m. Matilda Newlyn; 

6. Catherine Power b. Kiah 1874 d. Eden1888; 

7. Johanna Power b. Kiah 1877 d. 1971 m. Paul Wolfe and  

8. Ellen Power b. Kiah 1879 m. Albert Wolfe. 

For fuller details of this family see The Story of Michael and Jane Power on this website.

8. John Ryan b 1838 Tipperary; died as an infant in Tipperary.  

9. Daniel Ryan b 1838 Tipperary; Daniel did not marry. 

10.  William Ryan b 1841, (during the voyage to Australia according to his grand niece, Nonie Dennis); m Ellen Power 1867 at Wyndham; d 1882 Omeo, Vic; 9 children. (See page 2 for their story).

11. John Ryan b 1850 Kiah; m Martha Underhill on 22 January 1877; d 1933 at Tumbulgum near Murwillumbah; Their 12 children were:

1. Mary Ryan b. 1878 in Towamba m. Joe Keevers,  

2. Francis James (“Jim”) Ryan b. September 1879, drowned off Eden during a fishing trip,  

3. Alice Jane (“Allie”) Ryan b. 10 October 1881 m. Jack Dickie. They had five girls:

1. Lena Dickie,

2. Eileen Dickie,

3. Mercia Dickie,

4. Josie Dickie, and

5. Regina Dickie.  

4. Johanna Maria Ryan b. 13 October 1883 m. Hercules Arthur Farrell Chn:  

1. Mary Farrell,

2. Kevin Farrell and

3. Joan Farrell. 

5. Martha Gertrude (“Mattie”) Ryan b. 22 December 1885 at Towamba m. Stanley Colin Farrell, Chn:

1. Kathleen Farrell,

2. Clare Farrell,

3. Leo Farrell,

4. Brian Farrell and

5. Cyril Farrell 

6. Eleanor Catherine (“Lena”) Ryan b. 14 February 1888 at

Towamba m. Herbert Lawrence Ward. Chn:

1. Zeita Ward and

2. Zona Mary (“Nonie”) Ward. (Mrs Dennis) 

7. Joseph William Ryan b. 19 March 1890 at Towamba. Did not marry. Died 23 September 1977 and is buried at the Hemmant Cemetery, Brisbane  

8. John Thomas Ryan b. 13 May 1892. Did not marry. Died in the Royal Hospital, Brisbane. 

9. Leo Ryan b. 2 June 1894 at Riverview, Towamba m. Cassie Smith. Two chn:

1. Marie Ryan and

2. Pattie Ryan.  

Leo was badly gassed during WW1. He is buried in the Rockhampton Cemetery 

10. Daniel Bede Ryan b. 16 February 1897 at Log Farm, Towamba. Did not marry. He died at Tweed Heads and is buried at Murwillumbah. 

11. Brefni Owen Ryan b. 29 November 1900 at Dignans Creek, Cobargo. Did not marry. He died of lung cancer at Brisbane and is buried at Hemmant Cemetery with his brother Joseph William. 

Grave of John and Martha Ryan at Murwillumbah, NSW 

For a more comprehensive listing (provided by Nardia Taylor) of the descendants of Daniel and Mary Ryan go to ‘Daniel Ryan of Delegate’ in the Pioneers Index of www.monaropioneers.com

The Ryans of Ballycohey, Tipperary 

As you can see I already knew a great deal about Daniel and Mary Ryan and their descendants, but I have since learned that Daniel wasn’t the only member of his family to come to our shores.

Through the tireless research of Pat and Kevin Haley of Brisbane, I now know that not one but three Ryan brothers migrated to Australia to commence the very extensive collection of this family’s Australian Ryan descendants.  

Daniel’s brothers, William and Michael, as well as two of his nephews, Thomas (Michael’s son), and Thomas (John’s son), and two nieces, Mary and Honora (John’s daughters) also left Tipperary for our shores.

So, who were the parents of Daniel, William and Michael?  

Pat and Kevin Haley have traced the Ryan ancestry back into the 18^th century to Thomas Ryan who married Mary Buckley in about 1787. 

Home of Thomas and Mary Ryan on Ballycohey, Parish of Shronell, Co Tipperary. 

Thomas and Mary Ryan (nee Buckley) of Ballycohey, Tipperary, Ireland 

Their five children so far traced are John who married Catherine Hannon, Daniel who married Mary Connor, Michael who married Alice Quinn, William who married Bridget Hogan and Mary about whom nothing has yet been discovered. 

1. John Ryan was born in 1788. John married Catherine Hannon in about 1823 and they had at least seven children:
   1. William Ryan married Mary Diggin,
   2. Mary Ryan, (who migrated to Melbourne where she married William Lyons)
   3. Honora Ryan, (who also came to Melbourne after marrying Patrick Baragry)
   4. James Ryan,
   5. Thomas Ryan (who was the one who came to Australia, settling in Queensland),
   6. Kitty Ryan and
   7. John Ryan.

John (senior) remained at Ballycohey and in a letter dated November 12, 1866 to his son Thomas tells how his youngest son John had eloped with Ellen Heffernan to America where he subsequently died. Another son, William, had been killed at the races leaving him (John senior) as an invalid in the care of William’s widow, Mary Diggin. 

2. Daniel Ryan was born in 1793. Daniel married Mary Connor. See his story from page 8 above.

3. Michael Ryan was born about 1792-1793 in Tipperary

Michael married Alice Quinn in Tipperary in about 1820. The only child who is so far known is Thomas who was born in 1824 in Tipperary.  

Thomas migrated to Australia and, his father Michael, after the death of his wife, Alice, also came to Australia in about 1854. Michael spent a year in Sydney before coming to Victoria where he was reunited with Thomas at Irishtown, Vic.  

Thomas was also a widower and he remarried in Australia. His second wife was Margaret Looby (nee Power), a widow with six children.  

Michael died in1874 and is buried at Campbells Creek near Castlemaine, Victoria.  

In a letter to me in May 2008 Pat Haley wrote: 

“Michael had a son Thomas, born about 1823 to 1826, who came to Australia.  

On 2 Jul 1870 he married Margaret Power, a widow, who was the daughter of Patrick Power and Ellen O’Brien. She had married Michael Looby in 1853 in Victoria. He died in Nov 1866. They had six children, the eldest of whom was Mary who was born on 8 Aug 1854. It is this Mary Looby who married Walter Joseph Ryan. 

On the marriage certificate of Thomas Ryan and Margaret Power on 2 Jul 1870 at St Patrick’s Daylesford, Victoria it is said he was a widower Dec 1857 with a daughter deceased. He was born Tipperary, Ireland, a labourer and aged 44 years. His parents were given as Michael Ryan and Alice Quinn and his father’s rank as farmer.  

The certificate also records Margaret’s birth place as Tipperary, Ireland and that she was living at Glen Lyon. Thomas Ryan was living at Fryers Creek. 

Thomas Ryan and Margaret nee Power had one son, Michael Patrick Ryan, born in 1873 at Holcombe via Glenlyon and who died in 1874. (Birth Reg. No. 1873/9603 and Death Reg. No. 1874/7802) So there are no living descendants of this Thomas Ryan. 

Michael Ryan was born about 1792 or 1793 in Tipperary, Ireland. He married Alice Quinn about 1819 or 1820 in Tipperary, Ireland. We have no idea how many children this couple had but we do know of the one son, Thomas. The father Michael Ryan died 14 Jun 1874 at Irish Town aged 81 years. He was buried 16 Jun 1874 at Campbells Creek Cemetery. His death certificate says he lived one year in Sydney and 19 years in Victoria. So he came to Australia about 1854. In the column in which the names and ages of issue were to be listed is “Thomas 50 years” then “Required information of other issue is not known”. This clearly implies that there were other issue but that Thomas who was the informant had difficulty in coming up with the complete information. The registrar may have thought that no information was better than incorrect information. Even Thomas’s own age may not be accurate. When he married on 2 Jul 1870 his age is recorded as 44 years, then at his father’s death just under four years later he gives his age as 50 years. 

Margaret Ryan died 26 Jan 1913 at Loddon and was buried in Kynton Cemetery on 28 Jan. Very complete information is given on the death certificate. However the information was given through a third party and it is his name as an “authorised person” whose name is recorded rather than a family member. We don’t know if Thomas was still alive at this time. It seems Thomas may have predeceased Margaret, as Margaret is on the 1903 & 1909 electoral rolls as a farmer at Holcomb but not Thomas. Margaret’s daughter Bridget Looby is also listed as living at Holcombe on both rolls.” 

4. William Ryan and Bridget Hogan of Tipperary and Windeyer, N.S.W.

William Ryan was born in 1797 in Tipperary. He married Bridget

Hogan (b 1803) at Cullen in Tipperary about 1816 and they had nine children:

1. Maria Ryan

2. Thomas Ryan

3. Honora Ryan

4. William Ryan

5. Margaret Ryan

6. Johanna Ryan

7. John Ryan

8. Walter Joseph Ryan

9. Catherine Ryan.

(For full details of these children, their marriages and children, see Pat Haley’s letter below.) 

The whole family arrived in Australia aboard the ‘China’ in 1839 and settled at Windeyer in N.S.W., south of Mudgee.  

Bridget died on 28 August 1868, William on 16 May 1872. They are both buried at Windeyer.

In the May 2008 letter Pat Haley wrote: 

“I can tell you a lot about William Ryan and his wife Bridget Hogan. They arrived in Australia on a ship called the “China” on 20 Dec 1839. They had nine children with them. All lived to adulthood. Until a little over a year ago, I had three daughters that I did not know anything about. The oldest child was Maria on the shipping records, but was listed as Mary on her mother’s death certificate. Maria is Latin for Mary. 

Child No. 1

Maria (Mary) was born about 1816 in Ireland and married Thomas William Elmes at Parramatta on 29 Sep 1844. I have this Marriage Certificate. Her Death Certificate shows her parents as William Ryan and Bridget Hogan. She died in Brisbane on 29 Nov 1888. They had four children.

1.    Annie Elizabeth Elmes, born 7 Nov 1845; baptised 23 Nov 1845 at Concord NSW. Annie Elizabeth married 10 Apr 1863 James Lennon (born on Norfolk Island the son of a soldier). They had one daughter Mary Jane Lennon born 12 sep 1865 (registered at Glebe, NSW). James Lennon died 15 Aug 1865 at Glebe just before his daughter’s birth. Annie Elizabeth Lennon (nee Elmes) married a second time to James Hogan on 29 Mar 1882 at St Stephen’s Catholic Cathedral Brisbane. They had one son named James Francis Hogan, born 5 Aug 1887. He was unmarried when he drowned 9 Mar 1915, and he was buried 10 Mar 1915 at Nudgee Catholic Cemetery, Brisbane.
Annie’s only daughter Mary Jane Lennon married Charles Francis Hughes on 2 Jun 1886. They had six children. I am still recording and researching on this line with considerable help from Jan Hunter a great-grand-daughter of Mary Jane Lennon and Charles Francis Hughes.

2.    Thomas William Elmes, born 20 May 1847 and baptised 17 Oct 1847 at Capertee NSW. He married a widow Eliza Drysdale nee Bradley in Brisbane on 29 Nov 1879. He died in Brisbane on14 Dec 1882 without any issue.

3.    Bridget Sarah Elmes, born 29 Jul 1849 and baptised 11 Nov 1849 at Wellington NSW. She died in Rockhampton, Qld on 9 Apr 1879.

4.    John Robert Elmes, born about 1858. He was alive when his mother died but we have found no subsequent reference to him. 

Child No. 2

Thomas Ryan born about 1819 in Ireland, married Dinah Lavinia Buckingham at Bathurst NSW on 13 May 1848. He died 25 Jul 1906 and is buried behind the Catholic Church at Windeyer NSW. I have this marriage and death certificate. They had eleven children. I have information on lots of the descendants of this couple. 

Child No. 3

Honora Ryan was born about 1821 in Ireland. I don’t know who she married so no further information on her. However, she was alive in 1868 when her mother died. 

Child No. 4

William Ryan was born about 1823 in Ireland. He married Annie Siddall. He died 7 Jul 1907. Mary Grant and Nina Ryan’s husband Ian are descendants of this couple. They had 11 children. I have lots of information on these people. 

Child No. 5

Margaret Ryan was born about 1825 in Ireland. I don’t know whom she married so no further information on her. However, she was alive in 1868 when her mother died. 

Child No. 6

Johanna Ryan was born about 1827 at Shronell, Tipperary Ireland. She married John Adams in 1869, and died 12 Dec 1909. They had no children. I have her death certificate. 

Child No. 7

John Ryan was born about 1829 in Ireland. He did not marry and died 2 Nov 1908. 

Child No. 8

Walter Joseph Ryan was born about 1834 in Ireland. He married Mary Ann Looby on 4 Feb 1875. They had a large family. He died in Victoria on 8 Jul 1911. They had a big family. 

Child No. 9

Catherine was born about 1836 in Tipperary, Ireland. She married James Butler and died in 1918. I bought her death certificate but have not made contact with any descendants. 

I have six four-ring binders of descendants of William Ryan and Bridget Hogan. There are quite a lot of people researching their own lines. When I contacted people I explained that I was not a descendant of William Ryan and Bridget, yet people got involved and some started research so they could help me.” 

 5.  Mary Ryan So far as is known she was the fifth and final child of Thomas Ryan and Mary Buckley but nothing more is yet known about Mary.

Mary Ryan, Native of Shronell, Tipperary

The following is an account prepared by Pat and Kevin Haley. It tells of the life of Mary, the eldest daughter of John and Catherine Ryan, (and granddaughter of Thomas Ryan and Mary Buckley) (NOT the 5. Mary Ryan noted immediately above) and also includes information about her brother Thomas and sister Honora.

Mary Ryan was born about 1834 to John Ryan and his wife Catherine Hannon of the townland of Ballycohey in the civil parish of Shronell in County Tipperary; about four miles west of Tipperary Town.  The parish of Shronell lies in the very fertile valley known as the Golden Vale. 

Mary was the eldest daughter of the family and would have experienced the hardship of the “Great Famine” in her early teenage years.  John Ryan and his family survived the worst of the famine by working a quarry on their rented property.  It is reasonable to expect the experiences of the famine coupled with good reports from family in Australia influenced her eldest brother Thomas to immigrate to Queensland in 1850. 

A new home in Melbourne

We are yet to ascertain when Mary immigrated to Victoria; perhaps it was not long before she married in 1858.  She married William Lyons, son of Michael Lyons and Catherine Bourke, at Brighton on Monday 8 November 1858.[1]  Neither bride nor groom was resident in Brighton.  William Lyons, a labourer, gave Brunswick as his present abode, whilst Mary’s was Prahran; both nominated Prahran as their normal abode.  William was aged 26 at marriage and had been born in the Catholic parish of Solohead in County Tipperary just a little to the north of Shronell.   

William’s sister Catherine Lyons had also migrated to Victoria  

William and Mary Lyons had five children:

1.    Michael Lyons, born 1859 at Prahran, died 1859.[2]

2.    Catherine Lyons, born 30 April 1860 at Prahran, died 28 January 1942 at Kensington.[3]

3.    John Lyons, born 9 June 1862 at Prahran, died  September 1946 at Caritas Christi, Kew.[4]

4.    Michael Lyons, born 8 May 1864 at Prahran, died 1950 Perth, Western Australia.[5]

5.    Mary Ann Lyons, born 8 May 1867 at Hawthorn, died 1 October 1944 at Malvern.[6]

It would seem William and Mary continued to live at Prahran until at least 1864.  When living at Hawthorn, William was a railway worker.

On 24 January 1860 Mary’s younger sister, Honora Ryan, married Patrick Baragry in the Ryan home Catholic Parish of Lattin in Tipperary. 

Within days of their marriage the newly-weds packed to emigrate.  They boarded the Gipsy Bride and departed Liverpool on 8 February 1860, bound for Victoria, and arrived at Port Philip on 29 April 1860; perhaps to be welcomed within days by Mary with her newly born daughter, Catherine. 

Honora and Patrick initially settled in Prahran and it was here that their first child Mary was born in 1861.[7] For two years Mary and Honora shared experiences in Prahran.[8]  During this period they may have spent joyful times together with their daughters.  Tragically Mary Baragry died aged 13 months in early 1862[9] before Honora moved to Kyneton.  Their next born children were born only nine days apart in June 1862.  Most likely the two sisters had few opportunities to meet from this time.

Visit from her brother, Thomas Ryan

Emigrants, before leaving Ireland, could have had little concept of the immense distances in Australia.  Perhaps Mary and Honora had visions of meeting up with their brother Thomas in Queensland.  Then again, we know that Thomas did not write home for nearly 16 years.  We can only speculate on the reasons for Thomas’s neglect in this regard.  Perhaps he left home without his father’s blessing, and then each passing year made it harder not knowing if his father was still alive.

Some time during 1865 Thomas learnt that his sister Mary was in Melbourne.  Many years later Thomas’s daughter Mary, in a letter to her cousin John Lyons, recounts events in this way: “Father heard from some old hands in Melbourne that his sister Mary was married in Melbourne and he went to see her.”[10]  Mary Ryan must have heard her father tell stories of his journey to Melbourne many times to accurately recount details in her letter of February 1894.  She recounted that Thomas had left when the twins, her brother William and sister Eliza, were only a week old.[11] His departure from the Swan Creek area, east of Warwick, was in fact slightly longer after the birth of the twins, as Thomas registered their births in Warwick on 17^th January 1866.  Mary Ryan records that her father with her brother Tom “travelled overland with a mob of sheep”.  In addressing her cousin John Lyons she writes that when her father visited “Your father (William Lyons) was on the lents[12] at Hawthorn.  Then they were doing well and had three children.  Father stayed a few days with his sister.”

Thomas would have caught up with much family news.  Most importantly he learnt that his father was still alive, though a widower.  Mary Ryan records that “(Mary Lyons’) father had sent her some money and that he had sent some money to their brother John’s wife in America.  Their brother John was dead at the time, and Aunt Mary told father he should write home, that his father said he had money for him when he would write.”  Mary’s letter continues on, “but Father did not write.”  This is not correct, as Thomas did write and the subsequent three letters he received were treasured by Thomas and also very much so by his descendents.  Mary Ryan would have known of the letters from her grandfather, so perhaps she was intending to explain that her father had not just written for the money.  Thomas wrote to his father a letter dated 17^th August 1866.  This letter may well have been written and sent from Melbourne, as it was sent just on eight months after leaving Warwick.  Thomas was most likely delighted to know his father was still alive, aged 77, and to have an opportunity to make peace with him.

John Ryan’s reply is dated from Ballycohey on 12^th November 1866.  That is only 88 days after Thomas’s letter.  Interestingly, Thomas’s letter must have benefited from the newly established mail route to Britain.  The Supplement to The Age (Melbourne) of Saturday 4^th August 1866 announced: “The Panama Mail.  English News to 2^nd June.  By the Panama and New Zealand Company’s steamship Tararua, which has brought from Wellington the Melbourne portion of the English mail via Panama, we have letters and papers to 2^nd June from which we make the following extracts.”  Mail would have gone by land across the Isthmus of Panama, and steamships could make use of a short route that was not favourable for sail.

John was obviously delighted to hear from his son but sought assurance that it was genuinely he.  John wrote: “...your letter....gives me the greatest pleasure in my old days, to find you were alive and well. (If I could rely on your identity.)”, and later “Now I expect, on receipt of this, you will first make sure to me that it is no other but yourself that addresses me and I may have something else to say to you before I die.”

Thomas had arrived home from Melbourne before 10 February 1867, as this is the date of his second letter home to his father.  Mary Ryan’s letter[13] provides corroboration; she recounts that her father “...was not long home when the little girl twin Eliza took ill and died.”  Eliza died on 26 March 1867.[14]  The return trip was completed inside six months.

Thomas was overjoyed in receiving his father’s letter and replied immediately; just 91 days after the letter was written from Ballycohey.  The mail from Warwick to Tipperary took less than 74 days, with John Ryan replying on 24 April 1867.  “I received your note of February 10^th which gave me infinite satisfaction.  Knowing by your expressions you were my son and now the only one alive.  I like to hear from you often while I live.”

At the time of Thomas’s journey south, Honora and Patrick Baragry, with infant daughters Kate and Mary, were living at Major Plains, about 25 km north of Benalla.  No doubt Thomas made a slight diversion to meet up with Honora, though Mary’s letter is not specific on this.

Tragedy and aftermath

Let’s return to the story of William and Mary Lyons.  Their family was completed with the birth of their second daughter, Mary Ann, on 8^th May 1867.  This would have been a happy time for the young family.  However, before long their situation became more difficult as William’s health deteriorated due to cancer of the ankle joint.  After two years the disease claimed him on the 12^th November 1869.[15] William’s sister Catherine provided what help she could, nevertheless Mary was unable to cope in her new situation following the loss of the breadwinner.[16]  She turned to drink for some solace.

Just six months after their father’s death the four children, as a consequence of being neglected, were committed as State Wards by the Kew Bench[17].  The initial term was for one year.  On the expiration of this term their case came before the Melbourne Bench[18] and Catherine was committed for six years and the three younger children for seven years.  It would seem that the Melbourne Bench had no updated evidence relating to their mother, as exactly the same comment is made as a year earlier.  The six years of Catherine’s term was intended to take her up till she turned 16 years.  However, erroneously Catherine’s birth year is recorded as 1861 so she was not discharged until she was in fact 17.  Initially the four children went to the same institution, but this did not last long.

Her inability to care for her children and then her separation from the children she loved must have devastated Mary.  Under the legislation of the time officials were forbidden to allow contact between the parent and the child.[19] Even after a child was discharged and was a young adult, officials could refuse to supply details of the parent’s address where known.  She seems to have lost contact with the family.  We have some confirmation of circumstances when Mary Ryan’s letter to John Lyons relates that “When he (Thomas) wrote again he could get no tidings of your Father or Mother so he thought they had left the place.  He heard from Aunt Baragry afterwards that your father was dead but she had no tidings of your Mother, he wrote and asked Aunt Baragry if she could find any trace of their sister Mary, and the answer was that she could find no trace.  That she thought Mary must be dead.[20]  So my father did not write to Aunt Baragry.  He mourned for Aunt Mary as dead.  She was always his favourite sister.”

This passage conveys a feeling that Thomas may have expected Honora to have made a greater effort, and also that she knew more than she was conveying. The Baragrys regarded the circumstances of Mary’s misfortune as something not to be spoken of.  This is evident from the fact that Father Celsus Kelly’s manuscript,[21] of his extensive family research, records that Mary married a Lyons but misleadingly that “Mary died in child birth – no issue”.  Conceivably the Baragry family did lose track of the Lyons family for a period, but thankfully the cousins were in touch with each other later on, as Mary Ryan indicates that she received the address of John Lyons from Bridgee Baragry.[22]  Bridget was the fourth of six daughters of Patrick and Honora and was a maiden aunt of Father Celsus Kelly.  The contacts extended beyond correspondence.  Mary Ann, the younger daughter of William and Mary Lyons, and her two daughters, Haidee and Edna, used to house caretake for Bridget when she was away from her home “Roma” at North Brunswick.  Helen Moloney née O’Brien daughter of Edna Jeffrey recounts that her mother “...used to like staying there - more like a holiday for them as they couldn’t afford the like in those days and minding the house for Bridgie helped supplement the income for (widow) Mary Ann.”[23]

Catherine Lyons

Perhaps of significance for Catherine is that on 13^th July 1874 she was licensed out, for the remainder of her term, to Miss Ellen Maher of “Hawdon”, Heidelberg.  Or, is it only a coincidence that Catherine married Michael Maher?  They married at St. John’s Catholic Church Heidelberg on 2^nd April 1888.[24]  Michael, a labourer then living in Hotham, was the only son of Thomas Maher and Bridget née Murray, and was born in Tarneit.[25]  At the time of their marriage, Catherine was still working as a domestic servant at Heidelberg.

Michael and Catherine Maher had a family of seven children:

1.    Thomas born 1889 at Flemington-Kensington, died 1889 aged 5 months.

2.    Michael Ernest born 1890 at Flemington-Kensington, died 24^th May 1962 at Ballarat, married Eliza Davis in 1913.  They had 5 sons and 3 daughters.

3.    Ruby Ursula born 1892 at Kensington Hill, died 1958 at Kensington, married Vincent John Serong in 1919.  They had 2 sons and a daughter.

4.    Thomas Percy (known as Percy) born 1894 at Kensington Hill, died August 1966 at Pascoe Vale.

5.    John Joseph born 1896 at Kensington Hill, died 2^nd June 1957 at Flemington.  Enlisted in 3^rd Pioneers Battalion AIF 1^st May 1917, returned to Australia 21^st June 1919.

6.    Norman Joseph born 1899 at Kensington Hill, died 1943 at Kensington.

7.    Doris Mary born 1903 at Kensington Hill, died 1956 at Fern.? married __ Quirk.

Michael Maher died at Ascot Vale in 1927 aged 64.[26]  Catherine Maher died on 28^th January 1942, at 71 Parsons Street, Kensington though her usual place of residence was 31 Chelmsford Street, Kensington.[27]  Michael and Catherine are buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton. The grave is marked with a headstone.[28]

John Lyons

John was just short of his eighth birthday when he was committed as a State Ward.  He was stationed at a number if institutions, and then on 7^th December 1876, aged 14½, he was licensed out to a Moonee Ponds farmer, John Kermon.  However, he did not pursue a life on the land.

It would seem, from the various locations in which the four Lyons children lived, that they would have had little contact with each other.  However, the close family ties were maintained, probably through the efforts of the older children Catherine and John.  During 1881 and 1882 John’s address was c/o Mr. Munday, Perth Street, Prahran.  It is this address which is recorded as a family contact for Mary Ann.

The close relationship within his family was conveyed by John to Mary Ryan.  In response to the news Mary wrote, “I am very glad to know that you are so happy with your brother and sisters.  Ma is quite pleased to think you are all living near each other and I assure you it would have been a great pleasure too if my poor dear Father had known you in his life time.”[29]  At this time (early 1894) John was living at 14 Leeney Street, Richmond; Catherine and Michael Maher were living at Kensington Hill; and Mary Ann was living at Prahran.

In the twilight of his life John lived in Caritas Christi Hospice at Kew.  It was here that he died on 7^th September 1946, aged 82[30] [31].  His niece Doris Maher bought the plot at Fawkner Cemetery in which he was buried.

Michael Lyons

Michael and his younger sister Mary Ann shared the same birthday, 8^th May, but in their childhood years they would have had few opportunities to celebrate together.  They were committed as State Wards just days after their sixth and third birthdays respectively.  After their two terms (first of one year and then seven) had expired, the Melbourne Bench committed them until they turned 16 years.[32]

In December 1878 Michael was licensed out, for the remaining 18 months of his term, to Mr. William Crokley of “Norwood” Boroondara.

In 1946 Michael was living in Perth.  When he moved west is unknown.  He could be the Michael Lyons who died in 1951 in Perth.[33]

Mary Ann Lyons

Most of pre-teenage memories of Mary Ann Lyons were of a series of institutions.  When Mary Ann was aged 13 years, Mrs Boyce of Camperdown fostered her for a period of 10 months.  Following this in August 1881 Mary Ann was licensed out in Hawthorn.  She continued in domestic employment until her marriage to Edmund Jeffrey on 25^th April 1894.  Edmund was of the Church of England faith, so consequently they were married in the Presbytery of St Mary’s Catholic Church, St Kilda.[34]  Edmund, the son of Robert Jeffrey and Mary Ann née Rawling, was born in London.  He followed his father in the painting trade, becoming a master painter and decorator.

Edmund and Mary Ann lived at 35 Moore Street, South Yarra, and it was there that daughter Blanche Haidee was born on 6^th February 1895[35].  Their family was completed with the birth of Edna Mary at South Yarra in 1900[36].  A happy marriage ended prematurely when Edmund died at Malvern in June 1905[37].  He was buried at Brighton Cemetery on 15th June 1905.

Mary Ann’s only grandchild, Helen Moloney, writes[38] of her grandmother: “Mary Anne was a great manager, battled on and tried to give the two girls a good education.  They attended Sacre Cœur, Malvern, and later Scotts Business College.  Mary brought them up well with a love of the arts, especially in literature and music.”  She also notes:  “I remember Mary Anne as a frail woman, who wore mostly black.  She had very bad eyesight – wore very thick glasses and walked with a limp.  She wore black boots made to order, as one was very much built up.”  Mary Ann died, aged 77 years, at her home 19 Howson Street, Malvern on 1^st October 1944[39] [40], and was buried at Brighton Cemetery.

Blanche Haidee did not marry.  She died, aged 74 years, at Warrnambool, where her sister was living, on 28^th July 1969[41] [42].  She too is buried at Brighton Cemetery.

Edna Mary Jeffrey married Francis Philip O’Brien, a grazier of “Glenwood” Hawkesdale in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Malvern on 21^st April 1925.[43]  They had one daughter, Helen Mary, born in 1926.  Edna Mary O’Brien died in Warrnambool on 14^th July 1994, aged 94 years.

Edna Mary passed onto her daughter her love of music, with Helen excelling at the piano as an accompanist.  On one occasion Sir Bernard Heinze was visiting Warrnambool with the Victorian Symphony Orchestra and after inspecting the first piano brought to Victoria (in the late 1830s by the Henty brothers), he arranged for the A.B.C. to make a recording of Helen O’Brien playing the piano.  Helen Mary O’Brien married Leonard Thomas Moloney, of Crossley, in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Warrnambool on 30^th May 1950.  For a number of years Leonard was Mayor of Warrnambool.  Leonard and Helen Moloney had a family of five sons and two daughters.

As you can see from all of the above, a great deal of research has been carried out on the various branches of the descendants of Thomas and Mary Ryan (nee Buckley) of Ballycohey, Tipperary, Ireland but there is still much for future researchers to discover about this very extensive family.