John Geraghty Junior

John Geraghty, junior or the younger, was born County Galway, Ireland, about 1811. On the 29th March 1930, was tried and convicted in Galway for house robbery. He was sentenced to transportation to New South Wales for life.

To date no records of his trial have been found because they were lost in the Dublin fire of 1922. A search is now under way for newspaper reports of the trial.

Up-date 2000

The trial of John Geraghty Snr and John Geraghty Jr is mentioned in two of the newspapers published in Galway at that time. Both give similar accounts. They were tried and convicted of breaking into the house (home?) of John Martin (Martyn). As they were tried in the District court, the crime occurred in the County of Galway but outside the township of Galway. The report says the evidence was very clear but no facts or evidence is mentioned. They were sentenced to death. See below

Up-date 2005
Rescent research from Galway County Library supports the fact that the Galway Assizes tried cases from all over Galway County including the Township of Galway NOT outside the Township as first stated. It is my belief that the township of Galway was the home place of John Geraghty. The main reason for this assumption is that in all the records of bdm's that John was informant for he always only gave the name "Galway" for his native place.
Thus I'll start my research in that place, the township of Galway in the County of Galway.
 

The Galway Weekly Advertiser, 3 April 1830, 
                    GALWAY ASSIZES - WEDNESDAY - THIRD DAY

The Hon. Sir William Cusack Smith entered the Crown Court at a quarter before 11 o'clock. He then disposed of the following cases John Geraghty, sen.,and John Geraghty, jun., were capitally indicted for burglary and house robbery in the house of Patrick Martin. The jury retired for a short time, and returned with a verdict of Guilty. The evidence was
very clear.

                 
The Connacht Journal, 5 April 1830, reads:-

                    COUNTY COMMITTALS.
The following is a list of the prisoners who have been tried and found guilty at our late Assizes, for the County of Galway, with their sentences respectively annexed:-
John Geraghty, sen and John Geraghty, jun, burglary and robbery, judgement of Death recorded.

These copies were sent to me by Kieran Shaughnessy of the Galway County Library.

He arrived in Sydney on 18/12/1830, on the convict ship, Andromeda, mastered by Parkin. On the same transport ship was another convict named John Geraghty, Senior, who was his father. They were transported for the same offence but no details are given.

On his arrival John Geraghty, the younger was 5 feet 9 inches tall, with ruddy and freckled complexion, dark brown hair and dark hazel coloured eyes. He was 19 years of age and had no education. This meant that he could not read and write in English, perhaps he could not even speak it. He may have been able to read and write in Gaelic, his native tongue. His trade or calling was listed a labourer, trap & jows, his religion, catholic and native place, Galway.

Update 19.09.04
On the convict indent the writing for his trade or calling is very hard to read. Originally I thought it was "Traps & Jaws" which did not make sense but may have meant something in Galway in 1830. I have found his
trade/calling is given as "Reaps & Sows" in the Colonial Secretary's Papers. It is now easy to decipher the convict indent as "Reaps & sows".

General remarks gave these details; Angular scar over inner part of left eyebrow. Small scar in right eyebrow. Scar across left hand outside top of thumb.

The ship surgeon's reports showed that both John Geraghty's were ill during the voyage. The ship's surgeon wrote in his report that John Geraghty was ''very stupid" as he could not answer the simplest of questions. This would indicate that John was not fluent with English.

He was assigned to Major Rhode at the stone quarry. This would probably be the chain gang. This type of assignment was reserved for the 'worst' convicts, those who could not be trusted or were unruly. So why was John Geraghty put there? What happened to his father? To date no trace of his convict life has been found on record until 1840.

Up-date 2004

13^th April 1831 from the Colonial Secretary’s Papers:- John Geraghty Jr was transferred from the service of Major Rhodes in the chain gang to James Booth who must have been a farmer as John was now classified as a labourer who can reap and sow.

28^th January 1833 . One of the John Geraghty's, probably the father, was listed with a group of 68 convicts who were invalids from the gang stationed near Parramatta . They were to be sent to the Hyde Park Barracks to be placed on the Hulk for shipment on the "Isabella" to Port Macquarie.

 UPDATE: Friday, March 18, 2005 From: "John Law"
New research has revealed that Major Rhode was not a military person.  "Major" is a first name not a military title. STONEQUARRY is a place name.  It was the early name for PICTON. When I first researched this and
 discovered that John Geraghty was assigned to Major Rhode at Stonequarry, I  wrongly assumed that this was the chain gang. It would now seem that he was  assigned to Major Rhode as an Agriculture Labourer.
The Picton & District Historical & Family History Society sent the following  report:-
 I am afraid we don't have much on Major Rohde/Rhode.  He is mentioned on the Picton Bench Books as giving evidence in court cases between 1829-1832.  We checked the 1828 Census and found that Major Rohde
 was at Wellington Farm,Stonequarry, age 50 who arrived on the "Mary" in 1829. There were 9 other people living in the household at he time. Your ancestor is not one of them. Wellington Park/Farm was taken up by DR William
 Elyard in 1824, although official grant not until 183?, and sold in 1844. Major Rohde may have rented/leased the place as the house had been burnt down in 1826 and the Elyard's probably not prepared to live there. We did
 check and the "Mary" landed in Sydney 20 Jan 1829 via London and Hobart Town which is why they are in the 1828 Census.
NOTE: Convict indents have Rhode spelt RHODE but the Colonial Secretary Papers have spelt it as ROHDE although it is the same person.
 

One family story tells that he worked on the building of the Darlinghurst Jail. This must have been in his convict years.

In June 1840, John Geraghty was granted a ticket of leave in the Queanbeyan District. Some of the notation on his Ticket of Leave butt, D16-2000 NO. 40/2211, needs clarification. They are:

Prisoner’s No 30/248.

Oct. 8th 1840.

PP 25 Ap 45/392.

Obtained a Cond Pardon Ap 48/1344 dated 10th July 1848.

PP April 1823.

J l Ho…up JLH. CP Apl 1847.

Update 16 May 2006:- with thanks to Jan Cherrie and Pattrick Buckley

John Geraghty was granted two Ticket of Leave Passports. A Ticket of Leave Passport was needed for a convict to live or work outside the district in which the Ticket of Leave was granted. John's T of L was granted in the District of Queanbeyan. On 20 Apr 1843 (dated by the Bench on 22 Feb 1843) he was granted a Passport, No 458 to "remain in the service of Thomas Gray of Maneroo for 12 Months". On 14 Apr 1845 (dated 14 Apr 1945) he received a second Passport, No 45/392 to "proceed to the Moneroo in the service of Mr Daniel Driscoll for 12 Months"

It could appear that the Ticket of Leave Butt was used to record by notation any official applications or privileges granted. Thus this information would suggest that the notation on John's T of L Butt for "PP April 1823" should read "PP April 1843". Perhaps poor penmanship or photocopying makes the "4" look like "2".

The Daniel Driscoll named in the 1845 Passport may have been Daniel Driscoll who arrived in Australia in 1815 as a political convict, after release, married, and had property at Minto, Appin, Braidwood, Eucumbene and Nimmitabel, according to records he was the first to operate what was probably the first Inn on the Monaro at Chakola called the “Governor Bourke”. The property at Nimmitabel was at that time called “Summer Hill”, later called “Bobingah”.

Or it may have been his Nephew, Daniel, son of his brother Timothy, born 1822 and arrived in NSW in 1841. He also settled on the Monero, around Nimitybelle. It was most certainly one or the other.

To date no record of Thomas Gray on the Monaro has come to light. According to Colonial Secretary Papers a Thomas Gray received a land grant in 1825.

On the 1st October 1848, he was granted a Conditional Pardon. The condition was, of course, that he was not to return to Ireland or Great Britain.

On 17th July 1856 at the age of 45 he married Margaret Venables, a 14-year-old lass at Cooma on the Monaro. His place of residence was given as Eucumbene, Monaro.

Update - October 2007
Because of his inability to read and write there are many variations of his surname Geraghty. This makes research about him much more difficult. However there are also problems with his Christian or forename. In all his convict and trial documents he is named John Geraghty. On all his children's births certificates he is named John Geraghty (or some spelling variation of Geraghty).

On many other documents after his death, such as the family bible and marriage or death certificates of his children he is named John Thomas Geraghty.

One theory about this is that the family knew that his eldest surviving son John Thomas Geraghty (later spelled Garratty) was named after him. They wrongly assumed that he also held the second name Thomas.. However John Thomas was given the name John after his father and Thomas after his Mother's father Thomas Venables.

Recently two documents have surfaced that show that he was also known as Garrett Geraghty.

Below are copies of Marriage Documents of Margaret Venables and John Geraghty.

The first is a Permission To Marry by Thomas Venables for his daughter Margaret Venables to marry Garrett Giraghty.

The original of this document is held by a descendant of Thomas Venables.

The second is the Marriage Certificate of the marriage of John Giraghty and Margaret Venables. This document would have been issued to the married couple by the Priest or Church Official on their wedding day.

The original of this document is held by a descendant of Florence Alice Law. the youngest daughter of Margaret Venables.

It appears that John Geraghty was known by the Venables family, the Catholic Priest and the local community as Garrett Garretty. This is evidenced by the name Garrett Giraghty on the "Permission to Marry" and "Garrett" being erased and replaced by "John" on the Marriage Document.

John and Margaret had 10 or 11 children. Patrick was some nine months old when John died. His will is dated 19th January 1878 and in the probate correspondence the date of his death is given as about the 20th January 1878. Because of the uncertainty of the date of the death and no one registered it, one has to assume that he died away from his family. The two witnesses to his will were Charles Delaney and Lawrence Harnett. The latter was an educated and wealth property owner. One wonders why this death was not registered.

At the registration of Patrick's birth, the spelling of the name was changed from Geraghty to Garretty. Family stories say this was done because mail deliveries and accounts were being confused with another Geraghty family in the district.

SUMMARY

NAME: GERAGHTY, JOHN

PARENTS: JOHN GERAGHTY & …………….

BORN: c 1811 GALWAY IRELAND

DIED: 20/01/1878 ALUM CREEK?

BURIED: NOT KNOWN

ARRIVED: 18/12/1830 ANDROMEDA SYDNEY

OCCUPATION: CONVICT, T of L,LABOURER, LANDOWNER.

RESIDENCE: GALWAY, MANARO, ALUM CREEK.

RELIGION: ROMAN CATHOLIC

MARRIED: 17/07/1856. COOMA DRY PLAINS

WITNESS: JAMES & MARY VENABLES, MARTIN BRYAN

SPOUSE NAME: MARGARET VENABLES

PARENTS: THOMAS VENABLES & ELLEN THOMPSON

BORN: 08/05/1842 MANLY SYDNEY

DIED: 03/12/1935 MRS ANDREW LAW ADAMINABY

CHILDREN: MARY [1858-1858]

MARY [1859-1845]

JOHN [1862-1864]

JOHN THOMAS [1864- ]

ELLEN [1866- ]

GEORGE [1869-1887]

MICHAEL [1871-]

MARIA [1874-1875]

CHRISTOPHER [1875- ]

PATRICK [1877-

DOCUMENTS CITED BIRTH CERTIFICATE:N MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE: DEATH CERTIFICATE: N WILL: Y.

John Geraghty

John Geraghty Snr

John Geraghty, Senior or the elder, was transported from Ireland, on the same ship as his son, also named John Geraghty. The ship, Andromeda, arrived in Sydney on 18/12/1830. No details of him are recorded. Why? On page 9 of Index of death of convicts, the second last entry reads "Geraghty, Jno. Sen. Andromeda, age not stated, 28th May 1848, invalid Estab. Parramatta."

The records of St Patrick's Catholic Church, Parramatta show that John Geraghty was buried in the church’s cemetery on 28th May 1948. The records state that he was 100 years old and that until his death he lived at the ''Factory".

Irish convict records have no information on both John Geraghty's. Why?

Sad to say the trial record of his offence was lost in the fire of 1822. Perhaps there may be newspaper reports of the trial or crime.

NAME: GERAGHTY, JOHN

PARENTS:

BORN: BEFORE 1790 (c 1748) GALWAY IRELAND

DIED: 28/5/1848 ESTAB PARRAMATTA

BURIED: ST PATRICK'S CATHOLIC CHURCH CEMETERY, PARRAMATTA ARRIVED: 18/12/1830 ANDROMEDA SYDNEY

OCCUPATION: CONVICT

RESIDENCE: GALWAY

RELIGION: ROMAN CATHOLIC

MARRIED: ?

WITNESS: ?

SPOUSE NAME: ?

PARENTS: ?

BORN: ?

DIED: ?

CHILDREN: JOHN [1811-1878]

!992. Up-dated 2002 and 2004.

Margaret Venables

Margaret Venables was born to Thomas and Ellen Venables (nee Thomson) on 8th May 1842 at Surrey Hills in Sydney. She was later christened on 19th June 1842. The family lived for a time at Manly.

On 17th July 1B5d, at the age of 14 years, Margaret married John Geraghty, an ex-convict of 46 years of age, at Cooma on the Monaro. At that time Margaret’s family were living at Dry Plain, Monaro. The newly married couple went to live at Eucumbene, where their first child, Mary, was born on 20^th June 1858. This child died in infancy and their second child, also called Mary, was born on 11th August 1859. Both of these children were taken to Queanbeyan to be baptised. At this time John Geraghty worked at Eucumbene as a labourer.

On 10th May 1864, Margaret and John’s first son, John, died tragically. He was 1 year 10 months old when his clothes accidentally caught fire whilst he was warming his hands by the fire. His elder sister, Mary, was not yet five at the time. In later years, she talked of the "beating" she got from her father, for not taking care of her little brother.

The next child was a boy and he was born in that year 1864. He was also called John, but was given the second name Thomas. At this time John and Margaret had moved to the Adaminaby (called Seymour in those days) Area and had take up land, possibly along the Alum Creek, near Shannon Flats. John and Margaret had 10 or 11 children before John Geraghty died on or about 20^th January 1878. Some mystery surrounds his death because it was not registered. Margaret, with the help of her brothers, John and James, was able to become administrator of John Geraghty’s estate.

Some time in the 1878-9 years Margaret became involved with Andrew Law. On 19th March 1880, Margaret gave birth to Arthur Andrew Charles. Because she was not yet married to Andrew Law, he was given the family name of Garretty. The spelling had been changed in 1877.

Although no record has been found, Margaret and Andrew were married sometime after 1880. They had four (4) children. The mixed family grew up together in the Alum Creek area.

Margaret died on 3rd December 1935 at Adaminaby at the age of 94 years. She and Andrew were buried in Church of England section of the Adaminaby cemetery.

NAME: VENABLES, MARGARET

PARENTS: THOMAS VENABLES & ELLEN THOMPSON

BORN: 08/05/1842 MANLY SYDNEY

DIED: 26/10/1938

BURIED: C OF E CEMETERY ADAMINABY

ARRIVED: NATIVE

OCCUPATION:

RESIDENCE: MANLY EUCUMBENE ALUM CR

RELIGION: C OF E

MARRIED: 17/07/1856

WITNESS: JAMES VENABLES MARY ANNE VENABLES MARTIN BRYAN

SPOUSE NAME: JOHN GERAGHTY

PARENTS: JOHN GERAGHTY

BORN: ABOUT 1708

DIED: 20/01/1877-8

CHILDREN: MARY [1858-1858]

MARY [1859-1945]

JOHN [1862-1864]

JOHN THOMAS [1864-]

ELLEN [1886- ]

GEORGE [1869-1887]

MICHAEL [1873-1928]

MARIA [1874-1875]

CHRISTOPHER [1B75-]

PATRICK [1877-]

MARRIED: ? (10/05/1882 CANDELO)

WITNESS:

SPOUSE NAME: ANDREW LAW

PARENTS: WILLIAM LAW & ANN WESTWATER

BORN: 12/07/1840 LUDDENHAM PENRITH

DIED: 11/07/1927 ADAMINABY

CHILDREN: ARTHUR ANDREW CHARLES [1880-1938]

CHARLOTTE A [1882-1884]

FLORENCE ALICE [LUTON 1883- ]

WILLIAM FRANCIS [1886- ]

DOCUMENTS CITED BIRTH Certificate: Y MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE: 1Y 2N DEATH CERTIFICATE: Y WILL:N.

1992

Margaret Venables

Ellen (Nell) born 6/9/1866 may have married twice. A Ellen Garretty married a Michael McMahon in 1882 (index no 5325). Two children were born to a Ellen Garretty with no father named, in 1882 Ambrose Albert (06277) and in 1886 Edith B (5445). An Ellen Garretty married Joseph Jones in ? (55445). Olive Garretty nee Quinn said that she lived at Orange and had two children, Joy and Jennifer. There seems to be some confusion with this Ellen (Nell) and Patrick's wife, Nell.

George born 29/12/1869 was drowned on 17/8/1887 while floating timber logs down a river. The Catholic Priest was not able to brave the flooded river crossing on horseback to bury him. A minister of another church did. This is the reason given for a turn away from the Catholic Church by Margaret Geraghty (Law) nee Venables.

Maria born 30/11/1871 died 1875.

Michael Richard born 17/8/1873 is somewhat of a mystery. Parish maps of Flinders on the Manaro show he owned land at the turn of the century. He married and had at least two children, a boy and a girl. He left for New Zealand under strange circumstances. Whether he was wanted by the police or he was running away because of family or money troubles is not known. His children came looking for him once and Mary Cherry (Geraghty) sent them off to see Eliza, Bill Law’s wife. Glad Davis (Luton) says that Michael was never mentioned by name in their family and the grown-ups only spoke about him in whispers. He died in NZ from cancer of the throat. The woman he was living with wrote to Mary Cherry, his eldest sister, when he died. He was a very tall man. Nina Quinn (Cherry) did not like him when they met at Surry St, Sydney, in 1932(?). He was very sarcastic and smart.

The NSW Index show a Michael Garretty married- Nita Bloth 1893 (no 273) -

Ann E Betts (no 6418)

Sarah Cavanagh (no 6773)

Christopher born 25/12/1875, married a Maud, possibly Edith M Bell (no 1863) in 1902. Maud was ill when Olive Quinn visited them in the 1920's before she started work. They lived in Orange and had children. They may have been one Garretty family that stayed catholic.

Patrick born 15/9/1877 was possibly the first Geraghty to have his name changed to Garretty. This is shown on his birth certificate. He married a Nell, probably Ellen Connell in 1902. Patrick worked in coal mines (?). He and his family lived in Portland at one time. They had a daughter, born about 1906 and a son later. The daughter, Mary, played with Olive Quinn when they were young. Apparently one day they were in danger near a quarry near the Quinn's house but were rescued by neighbours. On another occasion Mary Jumped on Olive's hand, causing a life long scar. Patrick could not read or write well. When Mary, his sister found him throwing a letter from his wife, Nell, into the fire, she scolded him saying, "I could have read it for you." He replied that was only "full of bloody o's and s’s." There seems to be some confusion between Patrick's wife, Nell and his sister, also called Nell.

Patrick Geraghty

Mary Geraghty was born at Eucumbene in 1859. She was living with her mother and family in the Adaminaby area when she married Patrick Cherry in 1878. They had six children. The story is told that she looked after Arthur, he stepbrother, when he was new born. The two families, the Cherry's and the Law-Garretty's, lived fairly close to each other at Alum Creek. The children attended the Alum Creek School. Mary was not happy with her life with Patrick and about 1901 she left him, taking with her the youngest, daughter, Nina. Apparently they loaded their belongs on dray, waved good-bye to the two boys on the veranda and set off. It is not known where they intended to go or even the route they took. Mary worked at various hotels as a cook

Nina spent some time in a boarding school of the Brown Sisters of St. Joseph’s of Pursville. Both were working in a Hotel in Cowra when Nina Married Charles Quinn in 1905. Mary may have worked in more than one hotel in Cowra before leaving for Sydney but she was still working in the same one as before even after 1910 because Olive visited her there from Portland. She did have a man-friend, but when he arrived on the scene is not known. It is assumed that he did not exist at the time of the marriage break-up. One of the places she worked in Sydney was "The 21 Club" and a "posh" hotel at 52 Victoria St, Vaucluse. Towards the end of her life she lived with her daughter, Nina, and also her grand-daughter, Mim. Mim says her boys, who were quite young at that time, did not make life easy for her. In the latter stages of her life she lived with her daughter, Winifred, at Hay where she died at the age of 86 years.

Summary

NAME: GERAGHTY, MARY

PARENTS: JOHN GERAGHTY & MARGARET VENABLES

BORN: 12/08/1859 EUCUMBENE COOMA

DIED: 21/06/1945 HAY NSW

BURIED: RC CEMETERY HAY NSW

ARRIVED: NATIVE

OCCUPATION: COOK

RESIDENCE: EUCUMBENE ALUM CREEK HAY

RELIGION: RC

MARRIED: 29/07/1878 COOMA

WITNESS: WILLIAM MANNING & ELLA MANNING

SPOUSE NAME: PATRICK CHERRY

PARENTS: MARTIN CHERRY & MARY BURN(S)

BORN: 1855 BAPT 21/01/1856

DIED: 26/10/1935

CHILDREN: JOHN MARTIN [1878 - ]

MARIATTA [1880-]

WINFREDM [1883-]

WAEN A [1886-]

CLARENCE H [1889-]

NINA [QUINN 1891-1972

1992

Mary Geraghty

Other Geraghty Families on the Monaro

Re John Geraghty buried 28 Aug 1925. He was the son of Thomas and Mary Anne
Geraghty (nee Power) and born 25 August 1864. They had at least four
children John, Patrick, Mary and Bridget. They lived at "Nimmity Belle".
They were not directly related to our Geraghty Family.

There was a Christopher Geraghty who married Aiice Feeney at Cooma on 8 Feb
1865. They had at least 7 children, James, Catherine (twins), Thomas, Jane,
Patrick, Christopher and Alice. They lived at "Summer Hill". Christopher,
Alice and Catherine (O'Reilly) are buried at Nimmatbel Cemetery. NDR to our
JG but may be related to the above.

There was a a Henry Geraghty who married Ellen Winslow. They lived at
Bombala. A son Laurence was born on 12 Aug 1864. The sponsors were Michael
Geraghty and Ellen Geraghty.

Finally, a Michael and Emily Geraghty (nee Gilbert) lived at Cathcart. They
had at least 2 children, Cecilia b 26 Jun 1863 and Thomas 14 Oct 1866.

This information come from the St Patrick's RC Church, Cooma. 13 Oct 1986.

Regards John
<pam.john.law-at-bigpond-com>

Descendants of John Geraghty
 
John Law
John and Patti Garrity <halliford-at-bigpond.com.au>  27.08.06
John Law <pam.john.law-at-bigpond.com>  22.11.06
 Recompiled from the new Monaro Pioneers database by Ian Harvey 12.06.07
with additional material supplied by:
John Law <pam.john.law-at-bigpond.com>  03.09.07

Descendants report

 

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