Tracing Family Branches

My son Matthew has recently come over to the dark side and is currently studying for his Diploma of Family History, which of course has made me very happy! While researching for a recent assignment he uncovered new information on my Grandfathers first wife Marie Rose Thomson who was known as Rose or Rosie to her loved ones. I have previously posted mentioning her  here ,  here ,  here  and  here . Matt wanted to find out what happened to Rose after her marriage to his Great Grandfather Mervyn James Donnelly and he has allowed me to share some of his findings.  He found that the information that I had been given on Rose's fate by her extended family members some years ago was incorrect.  I had been told she died in the 1940's, but her parents death certificates and Family Notices in the newspapers do not reflect this as being fact.  In fact she is not listed on either parents death certificate as being deceased prior to their deaths and they died i...

 The second death registration transcription that I received this week from NSW Family History Transcriptions was one for my great grand Aunt Bridget Donnelly.  Bridget was the daughter of James Donnelly and his wife Mary nee Gallagher and the twin sister of Mary Donnelly.  According to her death registration transcription (see below) Bridget was born at Cooyal in New South Wales in about March 1870. Source: Death registration transcription for Bridget Donnolly.  NSW BDM Death Index No.1872/5011. Received from NSW Family History Transcriptions  https://nswtranscriptions.com.au/ Bridget's death was registered as Bridget Donnolly in Mudgee on the 2nd February 1872 with the informant being her father James Donnolly who was a farmer from Cooyal, near Mudgee.  It is stated that she died on the 31st January 1872, aged one year and ten months at Cooyal from a cold that she had since birth and that her mother was Mary Gallagher.  She was unsurprisingly unmarr...

Today’s photograph is of my Mother and my Father’s sister taken in 1967.  Mum would of been twenty years old and Aunty Nita thirty at the time.  Aunty Nita, who was the last surviving sibling of my Father’s family sadly passed away last month. From left: Judy Donnelly née Stevens and Nita Longstaff née Donnelly

My Father would have turned 77th this month and so I thought I would post this photograph of him from his birthday party ten years ago.  With him is our beautiful dog Toby who is also no longer with us. Forever loved and greatly missed. Mick Donnelly and Toby

Today's family photograph is of my parents on their Wedding day in 1966.  Dad is no longer with us but love remains 💕

It has been very busy around here lately and so my blog has sadly taken a back seat for a couple of weeks!  Life has settled down again now and so I should be back researching and posting more often from now on! While researching on Friday I discovered that Sandgate Cemetery in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia now has virtual online records with photographs.  As I have quite a few relatives buried in this cemetery and little chance of getting to it anytime soon this is a very much appreciated improvement. 😊 Among my family buried there are the following: My Great Grandfather John Joseph Donnelly who sadly does not have a headstone yet!  is here .  More posts concerning him can be found here , here , here , here , here , here  and here . My Great Grandmother Bridget Donnelly nee Lambert is here . She was once engaged to Henry Lawson and a number of his works were inspired by her including 'The Free-Selector's Daughter'. More posts involving her...

Today's post involves my Grandmother Cluna Irene Donnelly nee O'Connor. I have put a list together of all of the addresses for her that I can verify through Electoral Rolls.   Previous posts mentioning her can be found here , here , here , here , here , here , here  and here . 1933 Griffith Street, Stockton, NSW - Home Duties 1943 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW - Home Duties 1949 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW - Home Duties 1958 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW - Home Duties 1963 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW - Home Duties 1968 23 May Street, Cardiff, NSW, 2285 - Home Duties 1972 23 May Street, Cardiff, NSW, 2285 -Home Duties 1977 18/1 Cohen Street, Speers Point, NSW, 2284 - Home Duties 1980 18/1 Cohen Street, Speers Point, NSW, 2284 - Home Duties Source: Ancestry.com. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Retrieved from  https://search.an...

Today’s post involves a Trove newspaper article that mentions my Great Grandmother Bridget Anastasia Lambert, who was a schoolteacher in various locations in New South Wales from 1891 until her resignation in 1900.  More posts on Bridget can be found here , here ,  here , here , here , here  and here . BUDGONG. (1900, December 22).  The Shoalhaven News and South Coast Districts Advertiser (NSW : 1891 - 1937) , p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13573115 Transcript: BUDGONG The annual picnic and presentation of prizes in connection with the Budgong public school took place on the 14th inst.  Some 200 persons attended, amongst them being many visitors from Kangaroo Valley, - one party, of 14, earning the distinction of travelling in the first coach (in charge of “Jim” Hetherington) that had ever been driven to Budgong. Under the ample shade of trees in Mr. C. T. Randall’s grounds, lunch, consisting of sandwiches and confectionery...

 Today's post involves my Grandfather Mervyn James Phillip Donnelly (known as James).  I have put a list together of all of the addresses for him that I can verify through the Electoral Rolls.   He rarely appears on the Electoral Rolls as he was a bigamist, hiding from his first wife and the law.  His bigamy was finally uncovered in 1938, when his first wife and the law caught up with him.  My grandmother stayed with him and they had two more children together.  Sadly he died in 1943. More of my posts mentioning him can be found here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here  and here . 1943 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW  - Clerk Source: Ancestry.com. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Retrieved from https://search.ancestry.com.au

Today’s post involves my paternal grandparents Mervyn James Phillip Donnelly and his wife Cluna Irene nee O’Connor.  There was one big problem with this marriage in that my grandfather was not legally free to marry her, as he was still married to his first wife Marie Rose Thomson who he had married in Sydney in 1926.  More posts about this can be found here  and  here . Source:  WEDDING BELLS (1928, November 28).  The Labor Daily (Sydney, NSW : 1924 - 1938) , p. 7. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237790171 Transcript The marriage of Cluna Irene, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. O’Connor, late of Cobar, with Mr. James Donnelly, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Donnelly, of Mullumbimby, was celebrated by Rev. Father Carlton at the Catholic Church Newcastle on Saturday last.  The wedding breakfast took place at the home of the bride’s parents Roxburgh Street Stockton.

Today’s post involves my Great Grandfather Michael O’Connor.  Michael was the son of Patrick Connor/O'Connor and his wife Winifred nee Mooney.  Born in Bendigo, Victoria in 1864 he married Elizabeth Phoebe Walker at Cobar in 1891.  He died in Newcastle on the 3rd July 1935 and was buried at Sandgate Cemetery. Source:  Family Notices (1935, July 4). Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138142685 Transcript: O'CONNOR.- The relatives and friends of Mrs. ELIZABETH PHOEBE O'CONNOR, Mr. and Mrs. D. O'CONNOR (Cardiff), Mr. and Mrs. J. DONNELLY, Mr. and Mrs. W.J. O'CONNOR (Lithgow), and FAMILIES, Mr. H. O'CONNOR, and Misses E. and M. O'CONNOR are kindly invited to attend the funeral of their dearly beloved Husband, Father, Father-in-law, and Grandfather, MICHAEL O'CONNOR (late of Cardiff and Broken Hill), to move from St. Kevin's Roman Catholic Church, Main-r...

Today's photograph is of my father and his eldest sister on my parents Wedding Day in 1966.  Unfortunately both my father and Aunt have passed away, Dad five years ago and Aunt Eve in 1988.

I came across the following newspaper article on Trove and believe that it may involve my second great aunt Mary Donnelly.  Mary was twelve years old in 1882 and lived in Cooyal.  One of twin girls born to James Donnelly and his wife Mary nee Gallagher in 1870, she never married.  Mary lived in Cooyal on the family property for many years with her parents, then she moved with her mother to a house in Lewis Street, Mudgee.  She died on the 3rd March 1937 at the Mudgee District Hospital and was buried at the Mudgee General Cemetery, in the Roman Catholic section on the 4th March 1937 (see here ).  I have previously mentioned her in blog posts  here , here , here , and  here . Returns of criminal cases heard at the Quarter Sessions at Mudgee on 2nd of August 1882 show that James Garbutt plead guilty to Indecent Assault and was sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour in Mudgee Gaol for eighteen months.  NSW State Records have a gaol photograph an...

Today's snippet involves my first cousins twice removed Sylvester Gervase Donnelly and Frances Eulalie McGuiness nee Donnelly and their partners. Source: MENDOORAN (1946, January 17). Gilgandra Weekly (NSW : 1942 - 1955), p. 4. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100317846 Transcript: Police Sergeant McGuinness and Mrs. McGuiness are at present the guests of Mr. S. G. Donnelly (brother of Mrs. McGuiness) and Mrs. Donnelly, and will also spent a short holiday at 'Bone Bone,' the home of Mr. and Miss Buckley.

Margaret Annie Ferguson formerly Donnelly nee Buckley was the wife of my second great uncle Edward Donnelly.  Born in Denby in 1874 to John and Mary Buckley.  She married Edward Donnelly in 1896 and together they had two children Sylvester Gervase Donnelly and Frances Eulalie Donnelly.  In 1908 at the age of thirty four Edward died and she was left a widow with two young children to raise.  In 1929 aged fifty five she married Joseph Samuel Ferguson.  Joseph died in 1949. Margaret died on the 17th of February 1955 and was buried at Coonabarabran.  Her burial details and photograph of her grave site can be found here . Source: OBITUARY (1955, February 2). Gilgandra Weekly (NSW : 1942 - 1955), p. 8. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100346420 Transcript: OBITUARY. The death occurred at a private hospital in Tamworth of Mrs. Margaret Ann Ferguson 80.  Mrs. Ferguson was born at Denby in the Teridgerie district, and was the...

I was very excited to find today's Trove newspaper article, not only because it helped me to fill in more of my relatives life story but because it actually has photographs of the relative in question. Sylvester Gervase Donnelly is my first cousin twice removed and I have mentioned him in previous posts here , here , here , here  and here .  I wondered how he became a farmer as the electoral roll of 1936 has him as a labourer, then in 1943 his occupation changed to farmer and he remained that for the rest of his life in the electoral rolls I have found.  This article helps to explain how he transitioned between the two.  It was very interesting to find out that the son of a man, whose ill health denied him the chance to follow his father into farming went on to become a farmer. Source: Sharefarmer Son of School Master Scores at Mendooran (1937, November 19). The Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), p. 9. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10418...

Today's marriage involves Sylvester Gervase Donnelly who is my first cousin twice removed.  Sylvester was born in 1897 the son of Edward Donnelly and his wife Margaret Annie nee Buckley. On the 11th April 1938 Sylvester Gervase Donnelly married Kathleen Mary McInerney at St Lawrence's Catholic Church in Coonabarabran, New South Wales. Source: WEDDING (1938, April 28). Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative (NSW : 1890 - 1954), p. 16. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162495153 Transcript: WEDDING McInerney-Donnelly MISS Kathleen McInerney, of New Mollyan, and Mr. Sylvester Gervase Donnelly, also New Mollyan, were married at St. Lawrence's Catholic Church, Coonabarabran.  The bride, who was given away by her brother-in-law Mr. J.L. Opferkuch, was frocked in a beautiful gown of magnolia satin, wearing an embroidered veil which was held in place by a coronet of orange blossoms.  She carried a gorgeous bouquet of pink and cr...

My great great uncle Edward Donnelly was born in 1868 the son of James Donnelly and his wife Mary nee Gallagher.  He was destined to follow his father into farming until he suffered a life altering bout of rheumatic fever when he was sixteen.  With hard manual labour ruled out for him, a change in career direction was needed so he returned to school and eventually passed the examinations to become a teacher. In 1885 he was appointed as a House To House teacher at Bourbah and Merri Merri. Source: Government Gazette Appointments and Employment (1885, September 4). New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), p. 5774. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219876834 In 1886 he was instructed to act as teacher at Bundemar Provisional.  According to his teachers records in 1887 he was severally reprimanded for ill-treatment of a female pupil and was to be removed to another school without delay.  Then on the 23rd February 1887 he w...