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...

My great-grandmother, Margaret Gersbach (nee Killion) died at her home, 19 Northumberland Street Stanmore...the fourth victim of the Spanish Flu Pandemic in our Killion family.  Margaret was 57.  Her cause of death is shown as "chronic bronchitis, pneumonic influenza and heart failure".  She's suffered from influenza for 10 days.  Margaret is buried at Rookwood Catholic Cemetery. Margaret Gersbach (nee Killion) about 1915 What a sad time it was for the family with the death of the three daughters and a grandson of John Killion and Jane Feeney in under three months.  John was 59 when he died in 1864 leaving Jane with their five young children.  He died at the family's home on the North Shore, Port Macquarie from "asthma" and all the children suffered from bronchial issues. My grandmother, Essie, was just short of her twenty eight  birthday when her mother died.  In April, she'd seen her brother, Fran...

Mary Jane Newton (nee Killion) died at her home, 574 Crown Street Surry Hills, six weeks after the death of her older sister, Rose Porter.  Mary Jane was 59.  Her cause of death is also shown as  "pneumonic influenza" which she had for 6 days... another victim of the Spanish Flu Pandemic.  Mary Jane is buried at the Church of England Cemetery, Waverley. During the week, I caught up with Sue, Mary Jane's great grand-daughter.  We chatted about what a sad time it was for our family.  Sue's family still have Mary Jane's prayer book.   I'd not realised that it was Sue's father, Francis Percival Thomas (Frank) Newton, who was the informant on Mary Jane's death certificate.  After the breakdown of his parents' marriage, Frank lived with his grandparents.  He was 5 weeks short of his fifteenth birthday at the time of his grandmother's death.  Frank never talked with his children about this period of his life.   We're s...

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...

Listening to the ABC News last night and I was back with the Killion's.  The 1919 Anzac Day March was called off in Sydney because of the Spanish Flu Pandemic!  The first commemoration of Anzac Day in Sydney was in 1916.  Four thousand returned service men took part.  It was followed by lunch and entertainment at the Sydney Town Hall. You can read more here.   NRS 12060 [9/4857] B20/2475, State Archives and Records NSW Today, I'm wondering if Great Uncle Frank (Francis Joseph Macleay Gersbach) and his cousin, Harry (Henry Joseph Porter) were part of an Anzac Day March in Sydney.  Their only opportunity would have been 1918.......and I think not! Frank saw very little active service but was injured three times - the first in the second landing at Gallipoli and twice in France.  He returned to Australia on 7 March 1918.  He was found medically unfit and discharged from the AIF on 10 July 1918.  Frank died a week before An...

Francis was the son of Francis Gersbach and Margaret Killion...the grandson of John Killion and Jane Feeney.  He was born on 25 January 1890 at Grey Street,  Glen Innes - the only son of Francis and Margaret and my great uncle. Francis returned from the First World War an invalid and succumbed to the Spanish Flu Pandemic.  He died at the family's home, 19 Northumberland Avenue Stanmore, after an illness of 7 days.  His cause of death is recorded as "Pneumonic influenza; general debility due to gas 9 months on active service".  Here's the letter Margaret, his mother, wrote on 22 April 1919 to the "Minister of Defence" advising of Francis's death.   On 5 July 1919, Margaret, died at the family home.  Her oldest sister, Rosanna Porter (nee Killion), had died on 29 April 1919 at her home in Glebe and her other sister, Mary Jane Newton (nee Killion), had died on 15 June 1919 at her home in Surry Hills.  All three daughters ...

The worldwide influenza pandemic which occurred in 1918 and 1919 is believed to have claimed 40 million people.  The disease arrived in Australia through Victoria in early 1919 and spread to New South Wales by 27 January.  By the time it ended in September, more than 6000 people had died in the State.   The three daughters and one grandson of John Killion and Jane Feeney were amongst those who lost their lives.   On 05 July 1919 - 98 years ago today, Margaret Gersbach (nee Killion) was the last of the daughters of John and Jane to died from influenza.  Margaret was 57 years old.  Frank Gersbach jnr, Margaret's son, had died 11 weeks earlier from influenza.  He died on 18 April 1919, aged 29.  Both died at the family home, "Cronulla" 19 Northumberland Street Stanmore. So, it seemed timely to visit the homes where my great-grandmother, great uncle and my two 2nd great-aunts had died all those years ago. Clockwise from top left - Mar...

Margaret Killion is the fifth and last child of John and Jane Killion. I'm interested in our Killion, Quinn and Hand family history because Margaret is my great-grandmother and, until 18 months ago, I knew very little about her life. Slowly I'm gathering fragments of information.... With only six descendants of Margaret surviving , we're the smallest branch of the family. On 10 February 1862, Margaret was born on "North Shore, Port Macquarie" - the site of the Killion land. On Margaret's birth registration, John shows his occupation as "Settler", aged 54 from Athlone, Ireland. While Jane is aged 30 from Wicklow, Ireland.  Margaret Killion - 11 May 1915 On 21 July 1864, John Killion died at their North Shore, Port Macquarie home  leaving Jane with 5 young children-   Edward John (Jack) - 9 years, 9 months, Rosanna (Rose) - about 8 years, Thomas - 7 years, 3 months, Mary Jane - 4 years, 9 months and  Margaret - 2 years, 3 months. Jane was about ...

Mary Jane Killion is the fourth child and second daughter of John and Jane Killion.  She was born on 25 October 1859 at Port Macquarie, NSW.  On 28 October 1878, Mary Jane married Thomas Newton at the Church of England Parsonage, West Kempsey.  Born on 23 March 1850 in Sydney, Thomas was the son of Thomas Newton and Mary Ryan who had married in Ireland prior to immigrating to New South Wales in 1848.  Mary Jane had just celebrated her nineteenth birthday and Thomas was 28 when they married.  Their marriage registration shows that Thomas was a bootmaker in West Kempsey and Mary Jane had no occupation and lived in Kempsey.  It bears the signatures of Mary Jane and Thomas.   Copy of 1878 marriage certificate Mary Jane Killion and Thomas Newton William and Sarah Hefren were the witnesses to the marriage.  Sarah, the older sister of Thomas Newtown, was born at sea on their parents' voyage to Australia.  In 1871, William Hefren and Sarah Newton...