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

It appears that John Killion was living in Port Macquarie and working for John Dillon by 1837.  Eleven years later, in 1848, John obtained his conditional pardon. Just over a year later, Jane Feeney arrived in Port Macquarie.     On Monday 29 September 1851, the 45 year old John married the 18 year old Jane at the home of William and Elizabeth Killion.  William McKee, a minister of the "Scots Church", performed the ceremony and William and Elizabeth were the witnesses.  John and Jane's marriage registration shows that she's a member of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and he's a Roman Catholic. Martyn Killion's research has uncovered references to John and Jane in the diary of Robert Heath Hall which is held at the Port Macquarie Historical Society.   Hall was transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1827 and transferred to Parramatta in 1838 with a ticket of leave.  He was subsequently twice imprisoned at Port Macquarie, and finally pardoned i...

In our last post, we left John Killion in 1834 when he was assigned to John Dillon of Sydney after his arrival.  From the attached newspaper article, it seems that between 1834 and 1837, John Dillion relocated from Sydney to Port Macquarie. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. (1837, November 9).  The Sydney Herald (NSW : 1831 - 1842) , p. 2. Retrieved August 2, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12856337 As there's no record of John Killion's reassignment, we're assuming that he moved with John Dillon to Port Macquarie between 1834 and 1837.  The area was expanding during the 1830s with free settlers permitted to move to the region.  The 1841 New South Wales Census shows John Dillon of Port Macquarie has 3 male bonded males who are "in private assignment".  We're confident that John Killion was one of these men. https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/searchhits_nocopy?id=18&surname=dillon&firstname=john&residence=macquar...

John Killion is the patriarch of the Killion branch of the family - the descendants of Edward John (Jack) Killion, Rose Porter (nee Killion), Thomas Killion, Mary Jane Newton (nee Killion) and Margaret Gersbach (nee Killion). Few details remain about John's life. We're looking for more information to enrich John's story including his birth family and early life in Ireland. What follows is based on the research of Martyn Killion, our family historian.   John was born about 1806 in Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland. Athlone is in central Ireland on the River Shannon about 120 kms west of Dublin.  Athlone between Dublin and Galway Althone Castle and River Shannon The only things familiar to John when he left Althone in 1883 On 01 March 1833 in the Assize (County Court) at Mullingar, Westmeath, John was found guilty of "assault on the habitation of Jas. (James) Scanlon" and convicted to transportation for life. Mullingar Courthou...