Update on Ann Feeney's husband, Richard Wilkinson

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.au tree and the link back to this blog, the reference to Ann's husband as a mariner is the only lead Olivia has to a possible previous marriage for her 3rd great-grandfather.

It appears that Richard was born in England about 1820. While Richard's occupation is listed as "sawyer" at the time of his marriage, he was a seaman for most of his life and captained whalers prior to his death on 19 July 1886 at Point Chevalier, Auckland. 

Richard Wilkinson and Susannah Craib's 1860 marriage certificate

As Richard and Ann don't have any descendants, we can't use genetic genealogy to see if we can add evidence that they are the same man. So it's going to be down to the hard slog of paper based research with limited documents available.

John Gay Wilkinson is another English mariner who was living in Sydney from about 1844 until his death in 1870. He was living in Millers Point in the late 1840s. Our grandaunt, Ann Wilkinson (nee Feeney) was buried at Camperdown Cemetery on 6 August 1850. The coincidences continue. John and Jane Wilkinson's second child, two year old Richard Reeve Wilkinson was buried there 15 days later. John was buried at Camperdown Cemetery in 1870. Ann was buried there in 1889. Their infant children, Louisa, Lewis and Saradine were also buried there in 1866, 1853 and 1855, respectively. 

Y-DNA testing male descendants of Richard and John on the patrilineal lines would be the best approach to see if they were in the same Wilkinson line.





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