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

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 le...

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 y...

Matilda was the eight child of our many times great grandmother Jane Feeney and the third child of Jane's marriage to Thomas Seward.  Matilda was born at Port Macquarie and moved with her mother and 7 siblings to Kempsey when she was about 10.  In 1905, Matilda married John Hand and they had three sons - John, William and Bernard. We haven't found a photo of Matilda to date but here's a photo of her sons. You can read more about Matilda  HERE.

Jane entered the South Dublin workhouse on 14 July 1848 and left  on 02 December 1848 bound for her new life in Australia.   We don't know how Jane was "transported" from Dublin to Plymouth, England.   On 16 December 1848, Jane boarded the 787 tons Digby in Plymouth for Port Jackson.  On board, there were 22 married immigrant couples and 234 "orphan" immigrant girls.   After a voyage of 107 days, the Digby arrived in Sydney on 04 April 1849 with a 16 year old Jane Feeney aboard.  Two girls died on the voyage. Another orphan on the ship was Margaret McCabe who went on to marry Jane's brother, Edward, in 1853.  We now know that Jane's arrival in Sydney saw her reunited with her mother, two brother and two sisters.  The girls were housed at the Female Immigration Depot at Hyde Park Barracks just a few streets from Kent Street where the Feeney family lived. We're unsure how long Jane spent in Sydney before she tra...

Thank you to "chinagirl828" for sharing this photo of Mervyn on ancestry.com.au on 19 February 2011 Mervyn Reginald Killion was born on 02 October 1918 in Lismore, NSW.  He was the older son of George Killion and Ethel May Kay.  Mervyn is the great-grandson of John Killion and Jane Feeney.   When he was 21, Mervyn join the AIF and served in the Second World War.  In 1944, Mervyn married Bernice Ellen Peace Benson in Kingsford.  Bernice was also from the Lismore area.  They divorced in 1947.   In 1949, Mervyn married Marie Josephine Petra Hoban.  The marriage was registered at Canterbury.  Mervyn and Marie lived in Sydney where he worked as a dogman, fireman and storeman.  In the early 1980s, Mervyn and Marie moved to Port Macquarie.  Marie died on 08 July 1986. Mervyn died on 2 August 1994 at Port Macquarie.

Francis Joseph Macleay Gersbach (1890 to 1919) Home from another successful "field trip" to Port Macquarie and Kempsey! Thanks to  John  and  Ann  for their hospitality - including our visit to the Killion land  on the North Shore. Wonderful to meet Quinn and Hand cousins in Kempsey and receive some priceless photos - all over 100 years old. Here's one that my great uncle, Frank Gersbach, sent to his cousin, Charlie Quinn. Frank departed from Sydney on 12 May 1915 on HMAT Themistocles A32 (pictured) bound for Gallipoli. Part of the second landing, Frank was wounded at Lone Pine and evacuated to Malta. He rejoined his battalion in France and was wounded twice more.   Frank was invalided back to Australia in 1918 and died on 18 April 1919 - 4 months after discharge - aged 29.     ❤️

On 21 July 1864, John Killion died at the family farm on the North Shore, Port Macquarie. Less than six months later, on 12 January 1865, Jane married Thomas Seward at the Office of the District Registrar in Port Macquarie. Imagine the difficulty that Jane faced in 1864 with a farm to manage and 5 young children between 2 and 10 years. As was often the case, marriage followed fairly quickly after the death of a partner in the 1800s.  Thomas Seward was born on 3 August 1814 at Moats Hole, Sandwich, Kent to Thomas (a mariner) and Ann Seward. He was baptised on 16 October 1814 at St Mary's Church in Sandwich. Prior to his marriage to Jane, the spelling of Thomas's name is either Seaward or Seeward. "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database,  FamilySearch  (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J7GY-8XJ : 11 February 2018, Thomas Seeward, 16 Oct 1814); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; ...

Late last year, we took a "field trip" to Port Macquarie and Kempsey. We visited sites of significance to our Killion, Quinn and Hand family. Port  Macquarie  Historical Museum, pictured  above, is thought to be the location of the 1851 marriage of our many times great grandparents, John Killion and Jane Feeney. Making our way to the North Shore of Port Macquarie where John and Jane Killion had their home and farm on 53 acres. John purchased the land in 1859. It's to the right of the ferry. Jane lived there with her second husband, Thomas Seward, until the late 1860s. Edward, Rose, Thomas, Mary Jane and Margaret Killion and William and Annie Seward lived on the land. We're pretty sure that the family had moved back to Port Macquarie prior to the birth of Matilda and the twins, James and Richard. The land as it is today! There was a water frontage to the river when the family lived there. It hardly seems like ideal farming land to my city eyes! It's difficult t...

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...