In June last year I found that my 4th Great Grandmother Ellen Pierse had died in Australia and not in Ireland as we thought (see more here). This discovery meant of course I had a lot more new questions about her! When did she arrive in Australia? When did she remarry? Where was she buried? Did she have more children than the two we know about (which we can link to her through DNA) ? Today I got some answers to a few of those questions as I finally received a copy of her death certificate that my husband ordered for me as a late Christmas present.
According to her death certificate Ellen Shaughrws died on the 16th April 1881 at Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia. She was a female aged seventy years old and had died of disease of the heart, according to the verdict of the Coroners Inquiry. The name of her Father, his occupation and the Maiden surname of her Mother were unknown; so no luck finding out more information in this area here. The informant was the Coroner for the District of Gundagai Charles Weekes. However given that two of her children, Winifred Carigg/Carrigg née Pierse and John Pierse were at this time living in Gundagai and surrounds it is highly likely many of these answer were provided by close family members. Ellen was buried on the 17th April 1881 at the Gundagai Cemetery; not at Wagragobilly Cemetery where John and many of his family were buried. She was born in Kerry, Ireland and had been in New South Wales for twenty four years. This places her arrival sometime around 1857 if she came straight to New South Wales from Ireland?. The certificate states that she was married twice, first to David Pierse in Kerry and the second to Daniel Shaughrws in Gundagai, her age at the time of each marriage was unknown. With regards to her children it is stated that she had four children from her first marriage, one male and female living and one male and female deceased and no children from her second marriage. So there are at least two children of hers unaccounted for at this time. This does leave the door open for Dr William Pierse/Pierce who died in New South Wales in 1861 (see more here) to be her son as rumored still, but who is the other daughter?
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| Death certificate for Ellen Shaughrws formerly Pierse. Received from New South Wales Births, Deaths and Marriages https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au |
The information on this certificate was better than I had hoped for and has given me lots of new leads! There are now of course a couple more certificates I need to order to try and unravel more of Ellen’s story.
I believe that Ellen’s second marriage to Daniel was in 1860 as a marriage is registered for a Daniel Sugrue and an Ellen Pierce in New South Wales for that year. A death is registered in New South Wales for a Daniel Shoughron who died in Gundagai in 1876 at the age of seventy five. A will for a Daniel Shoughran from Murphy’s Swamp in 1876 leaves his estate to his widow Ellen Shoughran. Daniel Shoughran died on the 1st October 1876 and after probate his estate was valued at £500.00; obviously Ellen and her husband were doing very well for themselves. I have a lot more research to do about these people and will do updates on any new discoveries I make about them as they happen!
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| Will for Daniel Shoughran. Obtained from another researcher. |
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