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

Edward Feeney died on 03 June 1893 It's 125 years since Edward Feeney died at 64 Cooper Street, Surry Hills, NSW.  Edward was "our" Jane's older brother.  He was born about 1829 in Granard, County Longford, Ireland and came to Australia in August 1843 with his younger brother, Thomas.  Here they joined their mother, Jane snr, and sisters, Eliza and Ann.  Edward and Thomas worked as boot makers in the inner city - a trade that many of their male descendants followed. In 1853, Edward married Margaret McCabe at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.  In 1849, Margaret arrived with "our" Jane on the Digby.  She was also an "Irish Famine Orphan".  Edward and Margaret had 8 children.  Their first, Edward James, died as an infant.  The other children were still living at the time of Edward's death and are shown in his funeral notice - William, Edmund, Matilda, Isabella (wife of Thomas Wilson), Alfred, Amelia (wife of Robert Walton) and Selina.  Edwar...

The story of Private Thomas Arthur Feeney was published on Anzac Day 2018.  You can read it  here.   After reading this, his great niece, Christine, told me about the First World War experience of Thomas's younger brother, William Leslie Feeney. Thomas Arthur and William Leslie are the two oldest sons of William Feeney (our Jane's nephew and son of her brother, Thomas) and Elizabeth Marion Faulds who had 12 children.   William was born on 14 June 1897 at Marrickville.  He enlisted on 6 March 1916, eight months after his older brother Thomas, and joined the 13th Infantry Battalion, 19th to 23rd Reinforcement of the Australian Imperial Force.  The unit left Sydney on 22 August 1916 on the HMAT Wiltshire A18 bound for England and further training.  William arrived in France in mid February 1917 and was reported missing on 11 April 1917.  Less than a month later, on 5 May 1917, Thomas was killed in France. William was taken pris...

With the opening of the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneaux today, I'll be remembering Thomas Arthur Feeney whose story seems to be barely recorded from my research in our Feeney family.   He was the grandson of Thomas Feeney ("our Jane's" brother) and Julia Cooke.  So "our Jane" was Thomas's great-aunt. Thomas was born on 7 May 1895 at Marrickville, NSW.  He was the oldest son and third of the twelve children of William Feeney (1868 to 1935) and Elizabeth Marion Faunds (1869 to 1955).   Thomas enlisted for the First World War on 14 August 1915 when he was 20.  He served in the 2nd Battalion, 12 Reinforcement of the Australian Imperial Force.  His unit embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A7 Medic on 31 December 1915.  They was briefly in Egypt before they sailed for France, arriving in Marseilles on 28 March 1916.   On 9 July 1916, Thomas received a gun shot wound to his left foot and was hospitalised for a period.  He ...

We've tracked five births and one death to this date so far....let us know if we've missed any or if you have photos! Hastings (Austie) Killion was born in 1895 at Smithtown, Macleay River, NSW - 123 years ago today - the sixth child and third son of Thomas Killion and Mary Jane Wood.  Austie died in 1950.  He is the father of Ann, a cousin in our Facebook group. John Henry (Jack) Austin was born in 1916 at Glebe, NSW - 102 years ago today - the second child and only son of Mary Jane (Dattie) Porter and John Alexander Austin.  Jack died in 1985. Cecil Joseph Quinn was born in 1932 at Kempsey, NSW - 86 years ago today - the fifth child and fourth son of Henry James (Harry) Quinn and Ivy Olga Husdon.  Cecil died in 1997.  He is the father of Jo, our "Facebook cousin". Maureen Anne Matilda Hand was born in 1936 - 82 years ago today - the second child of Bernard James Hand and Alice Roseanne Clarke.  Maureen died in 2010. Mark Anthony Quinn wa...