Remembering the story of Agnes Dries on the centenary of the birth of her son, Robert Henry Curry - 11 March 1919
Last year I pieced together the very sad story of Agnes Curry (nee Dries), my grandfather's first cousin, and her family. Agnes was the niece of my great-grandmother, Agnes Cahill, and her namesake.
While I'm sure that members of the Dries family know the full story, this wasn't shown on any publicly available family trees. Over some weeks, I worked on the story of Agnes and her family which you can read here.
Until recently, I'd though that Agnes had two children, Claude and Edna, prior to her 1917 marriage to Robert Curry who became the superintendent of Palm Island in 1919. Their son, Robbie, was born 100 years ago today.
Agnes died on 10 November 1929 in hospital at Townsville with pregnancy complications. Her husband was grief stricken and under investigation by the Queensland Government into a range of allegations which were subsequently found to be unsubstantiated.
On the morning of 3 February 1930, he shot his son Robbie and step-daughter Edna and set fire to their home. He ran amok during the day and was shot at 6pm that evening and died. Little Robbie was just short of his 11th birthday and Edna was 20.
Claude Dries was 23 and living in Wyong at the time. He died in 1956 when he was struck by a car on Burns Bay Road at Lane Cove in Sydney.
There the story remained until a DNA match came along a couple of months ago which made me look at Agnes and her children again....
On 19 July 1914, Agnes had another child, Margaret Mary Mathers, in Warwick, Queensland. Agnes older brother, Henry, was living in Warwick at the time of Margaret's birth. It seems that Margaret was living with Henry and his family before moving to the Maitland area where she lived with an aunt.
Recently, this was verified with Agnes's death certificate.
While I'm sure that members of the Dries family know the full story, this wasn't shown on any publicly available family trees. Over some weeks, I worked on the story of Agnes and her family which you can read here.
Until recently, I'd though that Agnes had two children, Claude and Edna, prior to her 1917 marriage to Robert Curry who became the superintendent of Palm Island in 1919. Their son, Robbie, was born 100 years ago today.
Agnes died on 10 November 1929 in hospital at Townsville with pregnancy complications. Her husband was grief stricken and under investigation by the Queensland Government into a range of allegations which were subsequently found to be unsubstantiated.
On the morning of 3 February 1930, he shot his son Robbie and step-daughter Edna and set fire to their home. He ran amok during the day and was shot at 6pm that evening and died. Little Robbie was just short of his 11th birthday and Edna was 20.
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| https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226033864?searchTerm=%22curry%27s%20son%20and%20daughter%22# |
Claude Dries was 23 and living in Wyong at the time. He died in 1956 when he was struck by a car on Burns Bay Road at Lane Cove in Sydney.
There the story remained until a DNA match came along a couple of months ago which made me look at Agnes and her children again....
On 19 July 1914, Agnes had another child, Margaret Mary Mathers, in Warwick, Queensland. Agnes older brother, Henry, was living in Warwick at the time of Margaret's birth. It seems that Margaret was living with Henry and his family before moving to the Maitland area where she lived with an aunt.
Recently, this was verified with Agnes's death certificate.
