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Holmes and Triggell Family Connections

John Holmes  |  Robert Holmes  |  Thomas Triggell  |  Mary Ann Murphy

Submitted by Colleen Levett <cailinluibheid-at-hotmail.com> 28.07.06

The common denominator of these families was one Mary Murphy, born 1806, County Cork, Ireland and who was transported for seven years in the year 1826. She arrived on board "The Lady Rowena".

Mary had an illigitimate daughter whom she named Mary Ann, sometimes known as Ann, to a fellow convict William Morton in 1827. William had promised to marry Mary if she raised the child in the protestant faith, however, this did not eventuate and Mary was to later marry a Samuel Niblett, also a convict, in 1828. Samuel gave Mary Ann his surname, and he and Mary went on to have a number of children together which they reared in the Gundaroo/Yass district. Mary was to later marry a local schoolteacher by the name of Richard Howell and was also implicated in the murder of one George Moore Brownlow, supposedly having been his mistress at the time of his death.

Mary Ann married firstly a George Fox, a convict who arrived from England on board "The Hercules" in 1831. They had two sons, Robert born 1846 and John was soon to follow. George died in Goulburn in 1847, the year that John was born.

Thus enters the Holmes family....................

John Holmes senior was born about 1799 at Woolwich near London, a shoemaker by trade. He was given a seven year sentence for stealing a watch and a pair of shoes and arrived in the Colony in 1815 on board "The Baring". In 1820 he married Eleanor Cooney at St Phillip's Church, Sydney.

It was their first son born in 1821 who was to marry Mary Ann Niblett in 1848.

John Holmes "adopted" Robert and John as his own and their descendants today are known by the name of Holmes, not Fox as was their birth name.

Mary Ann and John Holmes had four children together making a total of six children to rear. Their first born, Ellen, was to later marry her step-brother John Triggell in 1864, Mary Ann giving permission for the marriage as Ellen was underage.

By the time Daniel Holmes was born in 1851 the family was residing at Dangelong near Cooma and John was noted as being a shepherd by occupation, formerly a labourer. By the time their twins William and Mary were born, they were residing at Greenland, also near Cooma.

John died about 1855 and so enters the Triggell family.

Mary Ann late Holmes, married Thomas Triggell, a widower in 1857 at Greenland near Cooma. He was a native of Wiltshire, UK.

Thomas Triggell arrived in Australia with his first wife Henrietta and a daughter Ellen and settled near to Queanbeyan where Thomas was a Carrier by occupation.

Soon after 1839 Henrietta disappeared, presumed to have died as Thomas stated on his marriage to Mary Ann that he was a widower.

When Thomas Triggell married Mary Ann late Holmes his place of residence was Doolondondoo, which was situated between Nimmitabel and Numeralla, about the Tuross area. Robert Higgins, the son of Robert and Ann nee Owens, was a witness to the marriage of Thomas and Mary Ann, along with Arthur Alcock. Robert Higgins was to later marry Ellen, Thomas' daughter with Henrietta.

When Mary Ann and Thomas' first child, Thomas F. was born in 1859 they were residing at the Big Badger near Numeralla, Thomas now being a labourer. They were still there when the twins James and Sarah were born in 1861. (These being the second set of twins born to Mary Ann each to separate husbands) When George was born in 1863 they were residing at Lumps Farm near Cooma and Thomas was now a dairyman.

Mary Ann and Thomas had a further six children together, making twelve children in all given birth by Mary. Many of the Monaro families are intertwined through marriages with both the Holmes' and Triggell's (not to mention also the Myers')

Thomas died in 1887 in the Cooma Hospital, cause being old age and general weakness.

Mary Ann outlived Thomas by nineteen years, dying in 1906 at Countagany, cause of death was asthma. She is buried at Numeralla.