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

While we're all staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Society of Australian Genealogists have a webinar each Friday afternoon.  Today's theme was Anzacs.  I'm sharing a short presentation I made on our family to recognise a very different Anzac Day 2020. I t was only four years ago that I became immersed in the stories of my family but I’d always known the story of my great uncle Francis Joseph Macleay Gersbach.  I didn’t know the story of Frank’s cousin, Henry Joseph Porter. So four years ago I asked my cousin to give me access to the family bible.  To my amazement, the bible contained photos of Frank and his parents, my great-grandparents, Francis Gersbach and Margaret Killion, along with Frank’s birth certificate.  Frank was born in Glen Innes just over 130 years ago.  The family moved to the inner west of Sydney when Frank was a young child.   As I’ve come to know more, I wonder if these were the photos that Fra...

MyHeritage has introduced a new feature for subscribers....colouring your black and white photos in seconds!   Here are a few photos that we've seen before... Likely to be Rose Porter (nee Killion) with Cissy and Dattie Possibly Mary Jane Newton (nee Killion) Margaret Gersbach (nee Killion) Annie Quinn (nee Seward) Annie's husband and sons outside their business in Kempsey

Possibly Rosanna Porter (nee Killion) Rose Porter (nee Killion) died on 29 April 1919, aged 64, at her home in Telfourd Street Glebe.  Her cause of death is shown as "pneumonic influenza" which she had for 7 days. Rose was buried the following day in the Catholic  Cemetery at Rookwood.   Rosanna (Rose) was the oldest of the three daughters of John Killion and Jane Feeney. She was born in Port Macquarie about 1855.  We've never found a birth or baptismal registration for Rose. On 6 September 1882, Rose married Henry Porter in West Kempsey and their five  children were born there over the next 15 years. The family had moved to their home in Glebe by 1911. Their oldest son, Clement,  married Effie Wright in Glebe on 15 March 1911.   You can read more about Rose here. Rose was the first of the three daughters of John and Jane to succumb to the 1919 Spanish Flu Pandemic. The next daughter, Mary Jane Newton, died at her home...

Kokoda Track during the Second World War - Wal Wright at the back with the hat Walter Leo Wright was the grandson of Rose Porter (nee Killion) and the great-grandson of John Killion and Jane Feeney. Wal was born on 25 September 1925 - the second child of Charles Wright and Margaret (Cissie) Porter.  He was only 15 when he enrolled for service in the Second World War but showed his birth date as 16 September 1923.   Wal served in Papua and New Guinea including on the Kakoda Track.  Here's an undated newspaper clipping that Cissie kept until her death in 1972. Wal is numbered 10 in this photo Wal went on to marry Ethel May Hook on 2 September 1950 at St Aidens Church of England, Annandale.  He showed his correct age in his marriage registration! Wal, Cissie, Ethel and her mother In the late 1950s, Wal, Ethel and their two children, Margaret and Jim, moved to the Newcastle area.  Wal died on 27 November 1998 and Ethe...

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...