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

Well I couldn't let the day pass without remembering Ann who died 170 years ago at just 24 years of age.  She's the second child we know of our many times great-grandparents, Edward Feeney and his wife, Jane. Ann's only been mentioned before when we reunited "our" Jane (Feeney/Killion/Seward/Moran) with her birth family.  You can read the earlier post HERE . It seems that Edward Feeney senior had died before his wife, Jane, set out from Dublin in 1841 with her daughters, Eliza and Ann.  They arrived in Sydney on 3 December 1841 on board the Columbine.  Ann was 15.   It seems that Ann settled with her mother and sister in Sydney.  They were joined by brothers, Edward and Thomas, two years later leaving "our" Jane back in Ireland until her arrival in 1849.  The family settled around the Kent and Clarence Street area in Sydney. On 18 December 1848, Ann married Richard Wilkinson at the York Street Chapel.  In this precious document, you can see the signature

Charles was born on 29 June 1890 in Kempsey, NSW.  He was the oldest of the twelve children of Annie Quinn (nee Seward) and her husband, Thomas was the grandson of Jane Feeney and Thomas Seward.  You can read more about Annie and her family HERE .  Charles followed in his father's footsteps and became a tailor.   In 1924, Charles married Elizabeth Bella Sanders.  They had four children.  This photo is from the collection of their daughter, Betty, who still lives in Kempsey.   Their three sons were Charles (1925 to 1994), Bede (1926 to 1991) and Thomas (1934 to 2015). Elizabeth died in 1940 when their youngest child, Thomas, was just 6.  Charles died on 21 October 1960 and is buried with Elizabeth at West Kempsey Cemetery. There must have been a special connection between Charles and my grandmother, Essie, and her brother and sister, Frank and Rene, who lived in Sydney.  Here's his signature from a card sent to Rene at the start of World War 1. W

Last October, we were approached to write an article on our many times great-grandmother and great-aunt, Jane Feeney.  Jane's story is the ninth in a Famine Orphan Series to be published.  Click  HERE  to read the article.

The Society of Australian Genealogists' "Hang Outs" are giving me the opportunity to systematically record my research and then turn it into blog posts!      Yesterday was the opportunity to tie together the stories of the past two weeks with my favourite topic - genetic genealogy.  If you've done a DNA test and would like any assistance, please contact me at the above email.  You can read the story of Jane Feeney, my second great-grandmother,  HERE.   You can read the story of Anton and Margaretha Gersbach, my second great-grandparents,  HERE .  I'll show  how DNA is helping me find my genetic make up from Essie Woodlands, my paternal grandmother.   Genetic evidence is necessary to “prove” our pedigree.   Louise Coakley is an Australian genetic genealogist, member of SAG and publisher of Genie1 .  DNA does indeed have amazing power and I hope the information in this post demonstrates that. Here’s my paternal grandmother’s pedigree.  Two weeks

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