4 March is a big birth date for the Killion, Quinn and Hand families...


We've tracked five births and one death to this date so far....let us know if we've missed any or if you have photos!

Hastings (Austie) Killion was born in 1895 at Smithtown, Macleay River, NSW - 123 years ago today - the sixth child and third son of Thomas Killion and Mary Jane Wood.  Austie died in 1950.  He is the father of Ann, a cousin in our Facebook group.


John Henry (Jack) Austin was born in 1916 at Glebe, NSW - 102 years ago today - the second child and only son of Mary Jane (Dattie) Porter and John Alexander Austin.  Jack died in 1985.

Cecil Joseph Quinn was born in 1932 at Kempsey, NSW - 86 years ago today - the fifth child and fourth son of Henry James (Harry) Quinn and Ivy Olga Husdon.  Cecil died in 1997.  He is the father of Jo, our "Facebook cousin".



Maureen Anne Matilda Hand was born in 1936 - 82 years ago today - the second child of Bernard James Hand and Alice Roseanne Clarke.  Maureen died in 2010.

Mark Anthony Quinn was born in 1960 at Kempsey, NSW - 58 years ago today - son of Cecil Joseph Quinn (above) and Cynthia Eliza Coleman and Jo's brother.   Mark died in 2016.



Finally, Arthur Feeney died in 1955 at St Peters, NSW - 63 years ago today - the eight child of Thomas Feeney and Julia Cooke.   Arthur was the nephew of our matriarch, Jane Feeney-Killion-Seward-Moran.  Arthur is the 2nd great grandfather of Liz, another "Facebook cousin".



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Our Family Blog

The central person in this blog is our 2nd great-grandmother, Jane Feeney.  When we commenced in early 2017, we were focussing on Jane, her husbands - John Killion, Thomas Seward and Charles Moran - and their children and descendants.  After a DNA breakthrough later in the year, we reunited Jane with her mother, Jane, and four siblings - Eliza, Ann, Edward and Thomas - and the scope of the blog expanded. Are you a Killion, Seward or Feeney descendant?  If so, why not join our blog to share information and find out more about our families. John Killion arrived in Sydney on 19 January 1834 .  He was transported from County Westmeath, Ireland.  John received his ticket of leave on 10 July 1848.  On 29 September 1851, he married Jane Feeney in what is now the Port Macquarie Historic Museum. John and Jane had five children before John's death on 21 July 1864.   Jane arrived in Sydney on 4 April 1849.  She left the South Dublin Work House for her new life as part of the Earl Grey Famine
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"An Irish Famine Orphan in Australia" - Jane Feeney, "My woman of importance"

Today I again "virtually" joined other members of the Society of Australian Genealogists.  With Mothers' Day on Sunday, the topic was "Women of Importance".  You might the interested in reading about Jane Feeney, our many times great-grandmother and great aunt. Jane Feeney came to Sydney in 1849 on board The Digby.  She was part of Earl Grey’s Famine Orphan Scheme.  So many of us are descendants of these young women that I consider they are truely women of importance. We owe a lot to Trevor McClaughlan and Perry McIntyre for the work they’ve done to bring the stories of these young women to us.  Over 4000 “famine orphans” came to the Australian colonies during 1848, 49 and 50.  Most were teenagers.  They were from workhouses in all 32 counties throughout Ireland. All were destitute and many had lost their parents and families. Others were simply unable to support themselves within the family. In a male-dominated society, these young women
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From Feeny to Feeney - Our DNA discoveries!

You may have noticed that we've changed the spelling of Jane's family name from Feeny to Feeney and welcomed descendants of Edward and Thomas Feeney in a recent post..... Genetic genealogy, commonly referred to as DNA testing, is one of the new tools being used by family historians.  Quite a few of the Killion cousins have tested and we're looking forward to Quinn and Hand cousins testing!  So it's been a busy few months on the DNA front following matches between Killion cousins and descendants of two brothers, Edward and Thomas Feeney.  We've been working hard to piece together the story.  With all the evidence that we've gathered, we're confident that Edward and Thomas were Jane's brothers!!  We also appear to have found Jane's mother, also named Jane, and two sisters, Eliza and Ann.   The search continues and the DNA matches keep coming.  However, it seems a good time to share an overview of the Feeney family.... Jane Feeney snr arr
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