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

There was only one place for Australasian family history enthusiasts to be for four days from 9 March - the 15th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry at the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour. Congress was hosted by the Australian Society of Genealogists. As president of SAG, Martyn Killion, our family historian, was Congress convenor. Martyn addressing delegates I was one of the lucky 620 delegates to attend. Local and international speakers covered a huge variety of topics with four sessions running concurrently for most of the day!  Often wanting to be in two or three sessions at once, I chose ones that aligned with my family history interests, using  technology  and genetic genealogy. I'm there amongst all the "geneabloggers" at Congress So after four days of excellent speakers talking on interesting subject and with lots of laughs and fun along the way, I've pencilled the date in my diary for 2021! My Congr...

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...

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; ...

You may have noticed that we've changed the spelling of Jane's family name from Feeny to Feeney and welcomed descendants of Edward and Thomas Feeney in a recent post..... Genetic genealogy, commonly referred to as DNA testing, is one of the new tools being used by family historians.  Quite a few of the Killion cousins have tested and we're looking forward to Quinn and Hand cousins testing!  So it's been a busy few months on the DNA front following matches between Killion cousins and descendants of two brothers, Edward and Thomas Feeney.  We've been working hard to piece together the story.  With all the evidence that we've gathered, we're confident that Edward and Thomas were Jane's brothers!!  We also appear to have found Jane's mother, also named Jane, and two sisters, Eliza and Ann.   The search continues and the DNA matches keep coming.  However, it seems a good time to share an overview of the Feeney family.... Jane Feeney snr arr...

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...

Jane Feeney, our many times great-grandmother, had five children with John Killion and five children with Thomas Seward.  James and Richard, the last two children, were twins and died shortly after birth.  The other eight children lived to be adults and seven had children. Thomas, the third chid, was the first of the Killion children to succumb to bronchial illness and the first of the adult children to die.  So on 19 December 1917, 100 years ago, Thomas died at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney with the cause of death recorded as "broncho pneumonia".    Thomas was buried the following day in the Catholic section of Waverley Cemetery.  Mary Jane, his wife, and Annie Lyons, their daughter, where also buried there in 1940 and 1975, respectively.  Sadly, the cemetery is not well maintained which is interesting as you pay $10.25 for sheet showing the burial site - included to save others the cost!  Many descendan...

We're back with more information about the Killion, Quinn and Hand families.  We're also welcoming members of the families of Edward and Thomas Feeney but more on that in the next post..... Henry Joseph (Harry) Porter died 98 years ago today.  He was the victim of "an unprovoked one punch attack" in George Street Sydney a few days short of his 32nd birthday. Harry Porter was the second son and fourth of the five children of Henry and Rose (nee Killion).  He was born on 30 November 1887 in Kempsey.  The family had moved to Sydney in the early 1900s and lived in Glebe.  Harry enlisted for the First World War on 8 September 1914 but these papers are marked as "deserted" on 23 November 1914.  He re-enlisted on 27 July 1915 and joined the 4th Infantry Division of the 20th Battalion.  He is described as 5 feet 5 3/4 inches, 136 lbs, ruddy complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair with tattoos on both forearms.   Harry served...