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

Today's one hundred and eighty years since the arrival in Sydney of our many times great-grandmother, Jane Feeney (nee Baker or Bourke), and her older daughters, Eliza and Ann, on board the Columbine.   They where three of the two hundred and sixty three "bounty immigrant" who'd left Liverpool, England on 20 August 1841.  The bounty reward scheme ran from 1835 to 1841. Immigrants were selected by colonists who paid their passage. When the immigrant arrived, the same or another colonist would employ them. Colonist were then reimbursed by the government for all or part of the cost of the passage.  Jane and her girls were bought out by Messrs Aspinall, Brown and Company who it appear were heavily involved in bringing immigrants to New South Wales. Their immigration records are attached but the task remains to transcribe their details and find out more about their lives and employment in Sydney. The three are shown as "unmarried female immigrants" but Jane was a

Absalom Lyons (1912 to 1921) This old, crumpled photo is one that stays with you when the story's attached. While I've seen a number of copies, this copy comes from  MyHeritage . It's been shared by a member of the Lyons family. Absolom is the great-grandson of John Killion and Jane Feeney. He was born on 27 June 1912. He's the second child and only son of Absolom Lyons and Annie Killion. Annie was the daughter of John and Jane's son, Thomas. Absolom Lyons, 28, and Annie Killion, 23,  married in 1910 in Sydney.  Their first child's birth was registered in Sydney and the other three in Kempsey- Doris Marion - 6 November 1910 to 27 June 1996, Absolom - 27 June 1912 to 26 October 1921, Monica Mary - 14 February 1914 to 23 December 1977 and Kathleen Clare - 13 November 1918 to 20 October 2009. Young Absolom looks so angelic. He's about two years of age. The family had settled back on the Macleay by this time. The 1913 NSW Electoral Roll shows them living on the

John Hand was born on 14 July 1871 at Deepwater Creek on the Macleay River.  He was the oldest child of John Hand and Ann Kenny, two Irish migrants.   Father John had arrived in 1863 on the Sir John Moore as a 20 year old single man.  He records a cousin, Margaret McGough, was already in the colony.  Ann was on the same ship with her widowed mother, Catherine,  and three younger siblings.  Ann was 18.  Catherine's two orders children, Bridget and Margaret were already in New South Wales.   Both John and Ann settled on the Macleay.  On 26 April 1865, Ann married Frederick Honholz (or Hohnholy) who had migrated from Germany.  Their son Henry Frederick was born on 17 April 1866 at Deepwater Creek.  On 5 September in the same year, Frederick died in Sussex Street, Sydney.   On 29 March 1869, John and Ann married at the Catholic Church in West Kempsey.  After John was born in 1871, 7 other children were born to the couple.   John married Annie Seward on 1 March 1905 at the same church.

It's just over 171 years since the death of our many time grandaunt, Ann Wilkinson (nee Feeney). You can read about Ann  HERE.   Ann died on 4 August 1850 at her mother's home in Clarence Street Sydney.  That was just nineteen months after her marriage to Richard Wilkinson. Last year, we didn't know anything about Richard or his fate after Ann's death. The only detail was in the Camperdown Cemetery Internment Register which records Ann as "wife of a Mariner". Could we have a lead on Richard Wilkinson? While it's early days, we might have a breakthrough thanks to Olivia, a young New Zealander, who's been busily researching her 3rd great-grandfather, Richard Wilkinson. Richard married Susannah Craib on 11 October 1860 in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. As his marital status was shown as widower, Olivia has been searching from his previous marriage in New Zealand. However, after finding Ann Feeney's marriage to Richard Wilkinson on my  ancestry.com.a

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