Tracing Family Branches

 Back in 2013 I discovered that my 3rd Great Grandfather Henry O'Brien committed suicide and so I wrote a post about it here .  Henry's death certificate was one of the ones on my wish list, so when I had the opportunity to order a transcription off my wish list this month his was the one I decided to get. Thanks once again to NSW Family History Transcriptions I am now in a position to update my post on Henry's suicide with information from his death registration transcription (see below). Source: Death registration transcription for Henry O'Brien.  NSW BDM Death Index No. 1863/4696.  Received from  https://nswtranscriptions.com.au/ The informant for Henry's death registration was his son John Thomas O'Brien, who was only sixteen years old at the time.  According to newspaper accounts I found on Trove John, who was a resident of Kains Flat near Mudgee at the time, had discovered his father had taken poison and immediately he went into action.  First ...

 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...

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 mentions my Great Great Aunt Mary Donnelly and her purchase of a dwelling and shop in Lewis Street, Mudgee in 1909. Source: PROPERTY SALE. (1909, September 2). Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative (NSW : 1890 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved February 7, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157680658 Transcript: PROPERTY SALE. Messrs. H. F. A. Wells and Co. report having sold on account of Mr. John Welby, 120 acres of conditionally purchased land at Stoney Creek Post Office and buildings, to Mr. John Ellis, of Redbank.  Also shop and dwelling in Lewis Street to Miss Mary Donnelly for £200.  Allotment fronting goods station, Mudgee, to Mr. Alexander Nealy, for £31 ; allotment fronting goods station, for £15, to Mr. Tubbenhaur ; farm at Stoney Creek, 160 acres freehold c.p., to Mrs. Maria Ellis, for £350 ; land and buildings at West End, Mudgee, to Miss Norberry, at a satisfactory price, and several farms and...

Well you could definitely say that this year has got away to a flying start ahead of me, with me playing a poor game of catch up! My first post for 2015 involves my Great Great Grandmother Mary Donnelly.  This advertisement from 1912 has her putting the family farm up for lease as her husband had died and she and her daughter had moved into Mudgee. Source: Advertising. (1912, April 11). Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative (NSW : 1890 - 1954), p. 18. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157640288

The will of Mary Donnelly (my great great Aunt) is the subject of today's post.  Mary Donnelly was born c.1870, one of twin daughters to James Donnelly and his wife Mary (nee Gallagher).  Mary's twin sister Bridget died in 1872.  Mary lived with her parents until their deaths, she never married or had any recorded children.  In her will Mary appointed Reverend Father Flanagan, Priest in Charge of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Mudgee (or his successor) and a Mr. John Downes to be her Executors and Trustees. No mention of her living siblings, nephews and nieces was made in her will. She desired that the proceeds of her Estate were to be converted into money and this money was to be used in connection with St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Mudgee.  Mary died on 3rd March 1937 and was buried at Mudgee General Cemetery (see here ).  Reverend Father Edward Joseph Flanagan was granted Probate in April 1937, as John Downes renounced Probate, with Mary's Estate ...

This is a very recent find for me about my first cousins two times removed Sylvester Gervase and Frances Eulalie Donnelly.  A day at the beach quickly turned into a traumatic experience for them all.   Source:  DANGERS OF THE SURF. (1910, March 1). Singleton Argus (NSW : 1880 - 1954) , p. 3. Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article76911473 Transcript: DANGERS OF THE SURF. Two Ladies in Difficulties. Shortly after five o'clock on Sunday afternoon a sudden commotion amongst the frequenters of the Newcastle beach drew attention to the fact that two lady bathers were placed in a dangerous position. Miss G. Buckley was bathing with her niece, Miss Frances Donnelly, in the breakers at the ladies' reserve.  The tide was almost to its ebb limit, and the girls were disporting themselves in the line of breakers close to the northern boundary of the reserve.  Suddenly Miss Buckley was startled by cries from her companion, and realis...