The Killion, Quinn and Hand Families of Port Macquarie and Kempsey and their Feeney Family

Traditional "sleuthing" has come up trumps again!  Margaret, a grandchild of Margaret Mary (Cissie) and Charles Wright, and her daughter, Megan, are the latest "Killion cousins" to join our Facebook group . Cissie is the oldest child of Henry Porter and Rose Killion. Margaret and Megan were able to give us the first photo that we've seen of Cissie (second from the left). The photo was taken at the 1950 marriage of her son Walter (left) to Ethel Hook at St Aidens Church of England, Annandale, NSW.  Ethel's second from the right with her mother, Ellen Hook.   From left - Walter Wright, Cissie Wright (nee Porter), Ethel Wright (nee Hook), Ellen Hook Kindly provided by Margaret and Megan We're delighted to have this photos as we've located a photo of three women simply named "Porter women" at the Kempsey Museum. We're working to establish if the photo shows Rose Porter (nee Killion) and her two daughters, Cissie and Dattie (Mary Ja

Family historians' interest in genetic genealogy is growing exponentially with over 10 million people testing at AncestryDNA, the largest of the testing companies.  Here in Sydney, the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) has a very active DNA Research Group.    Here's the article about our recent Feeney DNA discoveries that appears in the Society's journal,  Descent , this month.  We're looking forward to more discoveries about our family as more people take DNA tests!  Will we reunite John Killion with his birth family in County Wesmeath, Ireland?

Edward Feeney died on 03 June 1893 It's 125 years since Edward Feeney died at 64 Cooper Street, Surry Hills, NSW.  Edward was "our" Jane's older brother.  He was born about 1829 in Granard, County Longford, Ireland and came to Australia in August 1843 with his younger brother, Thomas.  Here they joined their mother, Jane snr, and sisters, Eliza and Ann.  Edward and Thomas worked as boot makers in the inner city - a trade that many of their male descendants followed. In 1853, Edward married Margaret McCabe at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.  In 1849, Margaret arrived with "our" Jane on the Digby.  She was also an "Irish Famine Orphan".  Edward and Margaret had 8 children.  Their first, Edward James, died as an infant.  The other children were still living at the time of Edward's death and are shown in his funeral notice - William, Edmund, Matilda, Isabella (wife of Thomas Wilson), Alfred, Amelia (wife of Robert Walton) and Selina.  Edward i