Navigating our blog

Three ways to find information in our blog-

  • You can use the looking glass on the top right of the home page to search the blog.
  • You can go to a selected post by using the link below.  
  • You can use the labels in the drop down menu on the left hand side to connect to posts on Jane, her husbands and children and Jane's Feeney family.

Blog posts-

  1. Our family blog - first published 07 May 2017, republished 31 March 2021
  2. Edward John (Jack) Killion - 1854 to 1923 - first published 15 May 2017
  3. Rosanna Porter (nee Killion) - 1855 to 1919 - first published 16 May 2017
  4. Thomas Killion - 1857 to 1917 - first published 23 May 2017
  5. Mary Jane Newton (nee Killion) - 1859 to 1919 - first published 28 May 2017
  6. Margaret Gersbach (nee Killion) - 1862 to 1919 - first published 1 June 2017
  7. Is this a photo of Francis Gersbach and Margaret Killion? - first published 05 June 2017
  8. William Thomas Seward - 1865 to 1929 - first published 07 June 2017
  9. Annie Quinn (nee Seward) - 1867 to 1937 - first published 08 June 2017
  10. Is this a photo of Thomas Killion? - first published 8 June 2017
  11. Matilda Hand (nee Seward) - 1869 to 1941 - first published 17 June 2017
  12. James and Richard Seward - The last of Jane Feeney's children - 21 June 2017
  13. By 05 July 1919, all of John and Jane's daughters had died within 10 weeks - first published 04 July 2017
  14. Jane Feeney from Ireland to Port Macquarie - first published 23 July 2017
  15. John Killion died on 21 July 1864 - 153 years ago today! - first published 24 July 2017
  16. Jane Feeney and the Irish orphan girls - first published 08 August 2017
  17. 11 August 1907 - this day 110 years ago Jane Feeney died - first published 12 August 2017
  18. Our "Australian Royalty" - John Killion - From Athlone to Port Jackson - first published 12 August 2017
  19. John Killion starts his new life in Port Macquarie - first published 21 August 2017
  20. John Killion and Jane Feeney marry in Port Macquarie - first published 03 September 2017
  21. John and Jane Killion's marriage - 1851 to 1864 - first published 11 September 2017
  22. Henry Jospeh (Harry) Porter - 1887 to 1919 - first published 04 November 2017
  23. On the centenary of Thomas Killion's death - first published 18 December 2017
  24. A field trip to Port Macquarie and Kempsey - first published 18 January 2018
  25. From Feeny to Feeney - Our DNA Discoveries - first published 30 January 2018
  26. More "Australian Royalty" - Thomas Seward - From England to Australia via India - first published 16 February 2018
  27. 4 March is a big birth date for the Killion, Quinn and Hand families... - first published 03 March 2018
  28. The Killion's go to Congress 2018 - first published16 March 2018
  29. Remembering Jack Porter (1919 to 2013) - first published 24 April 2018
  30. Private Thomas Arthur Feeney - Killed in action 5 May 1917 - 2 days short of his 22nd birthday - first published 24 April 2018
  31. Private William Leslie Feeney - brother of Thomas Arthur Feeney - first published 30 April 2018
  32. The Golden State Killer and DNA - first published 05 May 2018
  33. The Killion, Quinn and Hand Family Blog a year on.... - first published 12 May 2018
  34. 3 June is another day full of anniversaries in the Killion, Quinn and Hand family - first published 02 June 2018
  35. SAG article on our Feeney DNA discoveries - first published 14 June 2018
  36. Great finds - our first photo of Cissie Porter and Harry Porter's First World War Medals - first published 19 June 2018
  37. Ida Weir (nee Killion) - 16 July 1893 to 02 July 1968 - first published 01 July 2018
  38. Another "field trip" to Port Macquarie and Kempsey - first published 02 October 2018
  39. Mervyn Reginald Killion - born 100 years ago today! - first published 02 October 2018
  40. Treasured photos for our family archives! - first published 24 October 2018
  41. Elsie May Sheppard (1897 to 1969) - Francis Thomas Quinn's wife - first published 01 November 2018
  42. Jane Feeney arrived in Sydney on this day 170 years ago... - first published 03 April 2019
  43. Francis Joseph Macleay Gersbach died on this day 100 years ago - first published 17 April 2019
  44. Anzac Day 2019 - 100 years since the end of The First World War - first published 24 April 2019
  45. Walter Leo Wright (1925 to 1998) and the Second World War - first published 24 April 2019 
  46. 100 years since the death of the first Killion sister - Rose Porter (nee Killion) - first published 28 April 2019
  47. Mary Jane, the second of the Killion girls, died 100 years ago today... - first published 14 June 2019
  48. Margaret, the third of the Killion girls, died 100 years ago today... - first published 04 July 2019
  49. Matilda Hand (nee Seward) was born on this day 150 years ago! - first published 26 December 2019
  50. Look what's happened to the Killion and Seward girls! - first published 13 February 2020
  51. A tale of war, pandemic and manslaughter - two men who returned from World War 1 only to die in 1919! - first published 24 April 2020
  52. "An Irish Famine Orphan" - Jane Feeney, "My woman of importance" - first published 07 May 2020
  53. How DNA is helping my uncover my genetic makeup! - first published 22 May 2020
  54. Our Jane's story has been retold in Tintean - A magazine for Irish-Australians - first published 09 June 2020
  55. Charles Francis (Charlie) Quinn was born 150 years ago today! - first published 29 June 2020
  56. Remembering Ann Wilkinson (nee Feeney) our many times great aunt - sister of Edward, Thomas and Jane - first published 4 August 2020
  57. John Hand (Matilda Seward's husband) was born 150 years ago today! - first published 14 July 2021
  58. 3 December 1841: Jane Feeney arrives in New South Wales with her daughters, Eliza and Ann - first published 3 December 2021
  59. 2 January 1921: Ida Killion marries Russell Weir
  60. Amy Halliday (nee Killion) born 125 years ago today

Most popular posts

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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