On Thursday 6th October I had the pleasure of meeting up with Noni Rush in Tralee. Noni Rush, is a great great granddaughter of Margaret O’Sulivan (Cooper) one of the twenty five Kenmare girls who left Kenmare Workhouse in early December 1849 for a new life in Australia, as part of the Earl Grey Orphan Scheme. Sailing on the John Knox they arrived in Port Jackson (Sydney) on 29th April 1850.
I chronicled Margaret’s life in Australia in The Kerry Girls: Emigration & the Earl Grey Scheme (p.102-108). I found that Margaret was in fact not an orphan, her father Cornelius had died, but we are unsure if her mother was dead at the time of her departure. Margaret had an eventful life in Australia, marrying initially an ex-convict also called Sullivan, within six months of arrival. Edward Sullivan and Margaret parted company sometime after their children Edward and Eileen were born in the 1850s and from 1860 onwards she lived with James Cosgrove, also an ex-convict. This was a happy marriage, James seems to have been a decent man and treated her well. James’ ‘crime’ that warranted transportation is another story but you will have to read about that in the book. Margaret’s children and grandchildren let happy and success lives in her adopted country so overall it was a ‘good story’.
Kay & Noni Rush in Tralee Local History Library
I met Noni in the Local History Archives of Kerry County Library in Tralee and Michael Lynch, County Archivist was good enough to make available the Minute Books of the Board of Guardians of Kenmare Workhouse so that Noni was able to get a true flavour of the life and times of the unfortunate people who were forced to seek shelter there during Ireland and Kerry’s greatest catastrophe..
Noni is home in New South Wales now and she sent me her photos and some of the impressions of her visit:
I really loved my visit to Ireland and most of all the Irish people who are so delightfully warm and friendly with a great sense of humour.
Staying in Kenmare for the week was fantastic – it’s such a beautiful town, very busy with lots to do – my walk up to the old Fever Hospital which stood to the east of the workhouse was memorable as this must have been the very road taken by Margaret, and possibly other members of her family, to reach the workhouse – it was very quiet and drizzly – a very old wall with waist high holes in it stood just over the road from the fever hospital building which is now a private residence – a wall such as this was described in the book “All Roads Lead to Kenmare”, by Stanley Goddard, but he said it was on the other side of town – it was a wall where people lined up to be fed in the famine years, the food being passed through the holes in the wall – this wall looked eerily like the description in the book – maybe it was used for the same purpose
Over the bridge on the other side of town was the cemetery which had a memorial famine plot and a plaque with a description of how the famine affected the Kenmare region – the last square is about Mary Anne Connor who sailed on the John Knox with Margaret
Kenmare Famine Cemetery
Kay, I so enjoy these wondrous tales of ancestors and their descendants who have the opportunity to seek and find such information about them. You do such good work enabling descendants such as me and so many others in guiding us along through these ancient records and cemeteries. I downloaded “They Walk Beside The River Shannon” by C.E. Gourley to my Kindle reader that spoke of the Stacks, a most enjoyable read! I have yet to locate more info as regards my Ellen Stacks parentage, but accept that I may never know.
Again, I thank you for all you do for other families searches and just wanted to touch base with you and thank you again.
Sheila
Sheila, the ‘Stacks’ are some of the most difficult families to trace and sort. I am currently involved in trying to track down a Stack family from Listowel, three of whom ’emigrated’ to Cork. You would imagine that would be easy but not so. Many of the Stacks had similar christian names right through the succeeding generations. Not even Damien Stack who I regard as the ‘Chief of the Clan’ in North Kerry could place them.
As you know, even though the Stack surname is common in Munster, the strongest concentration is in north Kerry. It is a Norman name and originally had a ‘de’ prefix – ‘de Stac’, ‘de Stak’, etc. The Norman Stacks settled in the Abbeydorney / Kilflynn area, building a residence nearby in Crotta in 1320 and giving the name Stackstown to Kilflynn. The mountains between Tralee and Lyrecrompane became the Stack Mountains, and the whole area was named Pobal Stack (Stacks’ Country). One member of the clan, Maurice Stack, born in 1499, became bishop of Kerry and carried out major improvements to Ardfert Cathedral where he is buried. By the 16th century, the Stacks were adversaries of the English, and fought on the Irish side at Kinsale in 1601
From the early 1800s’s we find a concentration of Stack families in the Barony of Iraghticonnor or the northern half of the county, north of Listowel with particular concentrations in the Rathea and Moyvane/Newtown Sandes area
Hi just to note that the book is ”They walked beside the Shannow’ by CE Gourley, https://www.amazon.com/They-Walked-Beside-River-Shannow-ebook/dp/B00C5TULD0 All welcome to join Facebook group for Stack history and chat link below
Today’s story is fascinating. Wasn’t it great that you could help Noni connect with her ancestor. She certainly came to a more hospitable Kerry than Margaret left behind in 1849.
Mary, I also just saw Julie’s birthday photo today on FB with the record of her visit here, when she was trying to solve the mysteries surrounding her Bridget. I must get out the photos and recall that visit also.
That’s a lovely story Kay. You are doing wonderful work in building a link with our Australian “cousins”.
After 5 generations the bonds are still emotional and strong.
Yes Maurice, these descendants are very proud of their Irish heritage and its great when they visit and Kerry and its people live up to their expectations.
Kay, I really enjoyed reading your story about Noni and her impressions of her visit to Kenmare. I was delighted when I reached the end of the article and saw mention of the cemetery with the memorial famine plot and the plaque. The Mary Anne Connor referred to on the plaque is my Great Grandmother. Whilst we have followed her on her journey in Australia there are still many unanswered questions re her parents Edmund Fitzgerald and Mary Connor who had her baptised on 21 March 1832 in Kenmare.
Carol, yes I had the same problem when I was trying to follow up all the Earl Grey girls for my book. I took at face value the names of the parents that they to Immigration and then tried to trace them from the Baptismal registers in the four different Workhouse districts of Kerry. In some cases baptismal records were not available and in others, where they were available, the baptisms did not match the parents’ names. In the case of Kenmare, the records are available on IrishGenealogy.ie but even more importantly, the images of the original registers are available on Registers.Nli.ie. I didn’t have access to these when I was originally doing my research. Unfortunately it is not possible for me to copy the original directly here but I will send to you separately. It would appear to me that there is a possibility that her parents were not married, thus she had the name of her monther – Connor which would be O’Connor now. I have looked for a marriage certificate between a Mary Connor and Edmund Fitzgerald with negative result. However they may well have been married, as usually there would be a note on the baptismal regiter (in Latin) saying ‘illigitimus’. This would not have been carried over to the transcription. However you will see that there is no such note on this baptism.
Kay thank you so much for your quick reply and for sending a copy of the original Baptismal record. I really appreciate it. I must admit that I have seen this record in the images of the original registers on the nli site earlier this year. I have wondered about the possibility that her mother’s name was not Mary Ann as it seems strange that the child’s name and the sppnsor’s names were both Mary Ann and both were written in full (as was the father’s name) but not the mother’s name. It is difficult to decipher the mother’s initial but it appears to me to be an “E”. Mary Ann’s first daughter was called Ellen Elizabeth and as I have read that it was often the Irish custom to name the first born daughter after the mother’s mother then perhaps Mary Ann’s mother was Ellen Connor or Elizabeth Connor. Mary Ann had 9 children (7 girls and 2 boys) and I am descended from her youngest child, Eliza Jane who was born when Mary Ann was 38 years old. My father, Charles, was born when his mother Eliza was 42 years of age and I was born when Dad was 34 years old so I am the youngest child of the youngest child of Mary Ann Connor and, at 70 years, I am proud to be a great granddaughter of one of the Irish Orphan Girls. Most people my age would usually be great great grandchildren. I live in Brisbane, Australia and whenever I go to Sydney I always visit Hyde Park Barracks to pay my respects to my great grandmother whose name is etched on to the glass wall which forms part of the Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine.
Hello Carol, I am also a descendent of Mary Ann Connors although I am not sure which of the nine children. I wondered if you have a copy of the book that was written about Mary Ann and her descendents that was written by Dorothy Chambers around 2004? I have been trying to find out how I could obtain a copy.
Hi again Kay. I was writing my previous comment late at night here in Australia on my iPhone in Melbourne as I am down here visiting one of Mary Ann’s latest great great great granddaughters who is 7 weeks old today and the first child for my daughter. On reading my comment again this morning, I have seen an error: I am actually the youngest child of the youngest child of the youngest child of Mary Ann Conor!! LOL!! Obviously it was much too complicated a sentence to be composing after midnight!!!
Carol, thank you for this. I should have said also that Radio Kerry will have an hour long documentary on their radio on Christmas Day on The Kerry Girls. J.J. O’Shea, the producer spent a month in Australia in April and recorded a number of descendants as well as Trevor McLaughlin, Richard Reid and other historians. Also some background information from here. I know that you can’t access it but when I get the link to the Podcast, I will send it to everyone on my list.
Kay
Kay,
My wife, Dale, is a great great granddaughter of one of the Kenmare Girls. Her ancestor was Mary Shea (daughter of Patrick and Margaret). Mary married Roderick Manning in 1856 in the town of Armidale in New South Wales. Roderick was originally from Borrisokane in County Tipperary. He was a former soldier and joined the New South Wales police force and was stationed at Walcha in northern New South Wales. Roderick and Mary had eleven children, including Bridget Manning, my wife’s great grandmother. Unfortunately Mary died in 1883 at the age of 49 as the result of an accident.
Regards,
Chris Dee, Perth – Western Australia
Chris, thank you for updating me on this. I will file it for future talks on The Kerry Girls.