The Kelly's of Bendenine
The mystery of Mary Ann Kelly continues but little by little pieces start to come together.
Today I came across this. I may have stumbled across it before as I have some notes saying John Kelly's name might actually be James. But I don't rememeber reading before "amongst the very earliest employes [sic] on Bendenine".
The Bendenine Pastoral estate was established in the 1840s and after the death of Cornelius O'Brien in 1869 Henry Brown became the new owner. In 1881 Brown died unexpectedly and the ownership of Bendenine passed to the Bros. Friends.
This information is useful when looking at old maps and placing them in time order.
If we assume James Kelly to be the father of Mary Ann then we assume a few other things. Going by her guestimated birth range James would have arrived at Bendenine to work for O'Brien or may even have come with Henry Brown. It would be interesting to see if either had a connection to the Campbelltown area in the 1840-1865 period. [UPDATE: Australian Dictionary of Biography shows Cornelius (known as Neal) was an overseer of his uncle's Appin property and that he married Rebecca Broughton at Campbelltown. He opened the route to the Illawarra. He also purchased land in Appin for raising sheep]
James and Michael Cotter Senior would have lived in the Bendenine area during Henry Brown's time. A search of Trove shows both families taking up Conditional Purchases for farming in the 1870s after land was freed up from Cornelius O'Brien's estate. James, we could assume was employed by O'Brien as Brown was taking up neighbouring properties at the same time.
We can see from this map that the time is after 1881 as Henry O'Brien's estate is noted as the owner of one land parcel. The W & O Friend have also began acquiring property in the early 1880s.
This area is more Tangmangaroo and is confirmed by this newspaper announcement:
A check of BDM records do not list parents for James so for the moment the journey stops.
But from this we can take James was "a blow in" having arrived around the age of 35 and close to 1855 which fits in nicely with Mary Ann being born in Campbelltown district around that time and coming to Bendenine as an infant.
So we can blend some timelines for James & Mary Ann and use a bit of imagination to create the following (REMEMBER researchers this is fantasy and til we have more cannot be given as definitive proof of the father/daughter relationship).
1821 James Kelly born
1842 Married Mary Kerason and set up home in Campbelltown district
1855 Mary Ann born
1860 Kelly family move to Bango Creek where James Jnr is born (more about this soon)
1873 James purchases land near Bendenine homestead
1876 Mary Ann marries local boy Edward Cotter who's family live on a farm close by
1890 James and Mary move to Limestone (Bowning)
1906 James dies
CONT/...
*UPDATE*
I have made some other discoveries and in my search kept coming across a tree owned by Donna. I have looked at her tree many times as it has one JOHN KELLY on it living in the right area but I always could find no connection to JOHN but with fresh eyes looking at JAMES it all seems to make a bit more sense.
So taking the above I will add in my new facts and reference as best I can .. I am also going to receive a copy of some certificates pertaining to James from Donna and hope it opens up some more connections.
1821 James Kelly born Galway, Ireland *the DOB is 1829 but this makes sense he changed it as he was over the age of 30 which was the limit for most immigrants. [Immigration deposit records]
1852 (approx) MarriedMary Kerason Eleanor (sponsor Stephen Phillips)
1853 Son John born
1854 Immigrated (via Cripplegate London) to Australia as a laborer [Immigration deposit records]
1854-1860 Family settled in Campbelltown district
1860 Mary Ann born (From family bible which was sadly lost in fire) [Donna]
1860 Kelly family move to Bango Creek where James Jnr is born [Newspaper report of James Jnr's death]
1873 James purchases land near Bendenine homestead [Cotter Marriage Certificate, Old Maps, James Snr Obituary in newspaper]
1876 Mary Ann marries local boy Edward Cotter who's family live on a farm close by [Marriage Certificate]
1881 Eleanor dies at Cavan, registered at Yass *Possible match only* [BDM]
1882 James & daughter Catherine living at Carvan
1890 Jamesand Mary move to Limestone (Bowning) [James Snr Obituary in newspaper]
1906 James dies [BDM Transcript, James Snr Obituary in newspaper]
Today I came across this. I may have stumbled across it before as I have some notes saying John Kelly's name might actually be James. But I don't rememeber reading before "amongst the very earliest employes [sic] on Bendenine".
C |
| Yass Evening Tribune (NSW 1899 - 1928), Thursday 19 July 1906, page 2 |
The Bendenine Pastoral estate was established in the 1840s and after the death of Cornelius O'Brien in 1869 Henry Brown became the new owner. In 1881 Brown died unexpectedly and the ownership of Bendenine passed to the Bros. Friends.
This information is useful when looking at old maps and placing them in time order.
If we assume James Kelly to be the father of Mary Ann then we assume a few other things. Going by her guestimated birth range James would have arrived at Bendenine to work for O'Brien or may even have come with Henry Brown. It would be interesting to see if either had a connection to the Campbelltown area in the 1840-1865 period. [UPDATE: Australian Dictionary of Biography shows Cornelius (known as Neal) was an overseer of his uncle's Appin property and that he married Rebecca Broughton at Campbelltown. He opened the route to the Illawarra. He also purchased land in Appin for raising sheep]
James and Michael Cotter Senior would have lived in the Bendenine area during Henry Brown's time. A search of Trove shows both families taking up Conditional Purchases for farming in the 1870s after land was freed up from Cornelius O'Brien's estate. James, we could assume was employed by O'Brien as Brown was taking up neighbouring properties at the same time.
We can see from this map that the time is after 1881 as Henry O'Brien's estate is noted as the owner of one land parcel. The W & O Friend have also began acquiring property in the early 1880s.
This area is more Tangmangaroo and is confirmed by this newspaper announcement:
A check of BDM records do not list parents for James so for the moment the journey stops.
But from this we can take James was "a blow in" having arrived around the age of 35 and close to 1855 which fits in nicely with Mary Ann being born in Campbelltown district around that time and coming to Bendenine as an infant.
So we can blend some timelines for James & Mary Ann and use a bit of imagination to create the following (REMEMBER researchers this is fantasy and til we have more cannot be given as definitive proof of the father/daughter relationship).
1821 James Kelly born
1842 Married Mary Kerason and set up home in Campbelltown district
1855 Mary Ann born
1860 Kelly family move to Bango Creek where James Jnr is born (more about this soon)
1873 James purchases land near Bendenine homestead
1876 Mary Ann marries local boy Edward Cotter who's family live on a farm close by
1890 James and Mary move to Limestone (Bowning)
1906 James dies
CONT/...
*UPDATE*
I have made some other discoveries and in my search kept coming across a tree owned by Donna. I have looked at her tree many times as it has one JOHN KELLY on it living in the right area but I always could find no connection to JOHN but with fresh eyes looking at JAMES it all seems to make a bit more sense.
So taking the above I will add in my new facts and reference as best I can .. I am also going to receive a copy of some certificates pertaining to James from Donna and hope it opens up some more connections.
1821 James Kelly born Galway, Ireland *the DOB is 1829 but this makes sense he changed it as he was over the age of 30 which was the limit for most immigrants. [Immigration deposit records]
1852 (approx) Married
1853 Son John born
1854 Immigrated (via Cripplegate London) to Australia as a laborer [Immigration deposit records]
1854-1860 Family settled in Campbelltown district
1860 Mary Ann born (From family bible which was sadly lost in fire) [Donna]
1860 Kelly family move to Bango Creek where James Jnr is born [Newspaper report of James Jnr's death]
1873 James purchases land near Bendenine homestead [Cotter Marriage Certificate, Old Maps, James Snr Obituary in newspaper]
1876 Mary Ann marries local boy Edward Cotter who's family live on a farm close by [Marriage Certificate]
1890 James
1906 James dies [BDM Transcript, James Snr Obituary in newspaper]
Here are some things to explore:
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| Death (Unless James married a second time this English born Eleanor was the widow Johnston and had married James about 4 years prior. Catherine, see below, was born 2 years prior the marriage) |
| Birth (This Mary's mother's maiden name was Condry (from County Clare). John Kelly was born in Tipperary. |
I came across your blog and read with interest your search for James Kelly. I too have spent the last 30 years trying to locate the correct James Kelly. Recently I narrowed down a timeline to one year and successfully found the death of our James. Now from information from the DC I have the task of locating a second marriage to an unnamed woman between 1873 and 1883.
ReplyDeleteThe marriage of James Kelly to Eleanor Johnson is of distinct interest as she dies in 1881 in time for James to marry for the third time in 1883.
The above excerpt about the public school application in 1881 prompted me to comment. The James Kelly's Catherine aged 8 I believe belongs to our James Kelly whose youngest daughter was born just before his first wife Bridget Catherine died in 1873. So would have been 8 and just might be the link to Eleanor Johnson.
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I didn't spot your comment before (probably because I started uni about the same time and family research blogging taken a bit of a side line). Did you find your Eleanor Johnson? I ordered her death certificate so happy to share if you haven't seen it.