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

These three beautiful photos of T. F. Quinn's Tailor shop are from the collection of Betty, the granddaughter of Annie Seward and Thomas Quinn.  The shop was in Belgrave Street, Kempsey and operated between 1897 and 1937.  Thomas retired at the age of 74!  Annie died just prior to Thomas selling his business.   In the first photo, we see Thomas (in the middle) with 3 of his sons - Charles (second from the left), Francis (second from the right) and Henry (on the right).  Thomas is clearly visible in the other photos.  We're now working to identify the men in the other two photos. Charles, Francis and Henry were also tailors.  Jan, another granddaughter of Annie and Thomas, has this button from Charles Quinn's business.

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.     ❤️

Ida Killion was the 5th of the 9 children of Thomas Killion and Mary Jane Wood.  She's the granddaughter of John Killion and Jane Feeney.  Ida was born on 16 July 1893 at Smithtown on the Macleay River, NSW. The family moved from the Macleay to Bellingen Heads.  Between 1913 and 1917, they moved to Sydney where Ida's father, Thomas, died on 17 December 1917.   Photo of Ida Killion kindly shared by "chinagirl828" on ancestry.com.au Ida was 38 when she married Russell Weir on 02 January 1932 at St Barnabas, Waverley, NSW.  Russell was born in Armidale, NSW in 1895 - the son of David McMillan Weir and Jane Maria Bowers.  At the time of her marriage, Ida records her occupation as a postal assistant.  The witnesses at the marriage were- Clarice Daphne Benson, Ida's niece, who was 21 at the time.  Clarice was the daughter of Ida's older sister, Maud, from her marriage to Edward George Benson.   William Henderson who was Maud's partner...

Traditional "sleuthing" has come up trumps again!  Margaret, a grandchild of Margaret Mary (Cissie) and Charles Wright, and her daughter, Megan, are the latest "Killion cousins" to join our Facebook group . Cissie is the oldest child of Henry Porter and Rose Killion. Margaret and Megan were able to give us the first photo that we've seen of Cissie (second from the left). The photo was taken at the 1950 marriage of her son Walter (left) to Ethel Hook at St Aidens Church of England, Annandale, NSW.  Ethel's second from the right with her mother, Ellen Hook.   From left - Walter Wright, Cissie Wright (nee Porter), Ethel Wright (nee Hook), Ellen Hook Kindly provided by Margaret and Megan We're delighted to have this photos as we've located a photo of three women simply named "Porter women" at the Kempsey Museum. We're working to establish if the photo shows Rose Porter (nee Killion) and her two daughters, Cissie and Dattie (Mary Ja...

Family historians' interest in genetic genealogy is growing exponentially with over 10 million people testing at AncestryDNA, the largest of the testing companies.  Here in Sydney, the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) has a very active DNA Research Group.    Here's the article about our recent Feeney DNA discoveries that appears in the Society's journal,  Descent , this month.  We're looking forward to more discoveries about our family as more people take DNA tests!  Will we reunite John Killion with his birth family in County Wesmeath, Ireland?

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...