Stories of Agnes Cahill

This post has been years in the making. It all began when cousin Gail kindly took an AncestryDNA test. The results revealed exactly what I’d hoped for—and so much more. To tell the full story, I need to go back to her maternal grandfather, James Woodland, and then further still, to his mother and her family. None of this history had been passed down—until now. I’m thrilled to have documented it so it can be shared and preserved for future generations. A surprising start to my family history journey When I began researching my family history in 2016, I never expected to uncover that "Woodlands" wasn’t actually my family name. I’d carried it for more than 60 years—long enough to find its place at the tail end of the alphabet a mild annoyance, and its length a bit of a mouthful alongside "Christine Margaret." Over the following five years, I slowly peeled back the layers of the past. While some questions still remain unanswered, one truth emerged: my grandfather wasn’t...

I couldn't let today pass without letting my Cahill/Carroll cousins know that it was a significant day for the family of James and Eliza Cahill being the 150th anniversary of the birth of their daughter-in-law Emily Jane Hookeywin.  Emily was born on 29 April 1871 near Narrandera to Thomas and Ann (NSW birth registration 18540/1871) .   Emily first entered my family history when I was researching my AncestryDNA match with "ER" as part of my search for what happened to the siblings of Agnes Cahill, my great-grandmother.  You can read about how I unravelled my match with "ER"  HERE.    Agnes's brother Thomas had changed his family name (or it had been changed for him).  He and his family were known as Carroll.   After researching a photo on ancestry.com, I found the article about Emily published in the Koori Mail on 24 October 2007.  Emily and Thomas had married in 1907 in South Grafton (NSW marriage registration 7676/1907) .   I've had a ...