Stories of Johanna Cahill: Daughter of James Cahill and Eliza Dunn

Over the last five years, we've used traditional and DNA research to find out more about the eleven children of James Cahill and his wife, Eliza Dunn. The search continues for the birth and baptismal records of Johanna and Agnes, my great-grandmother. Was Johanna a twin to Mary or Alice? Was Agnes a twin to Thomas or Michael?

We've followed the lives of Bridget, Thomas, Michael and Mary in that time. We've lost trace of Johanna after 1899. If you are a descendant of any of the Cahill siblings, please use the blog's contact form to see if you can assist in the search for Johanna.

Johanna (also known as Hannah) was born about 1863 in the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Newspaper reports show that in 1878 she was working for Walter Alexander McDougall (1854 to 1905) who was a grazier. His property was "The Pinnacle" situated near Singleton. Hannah was probably working as a domestic servant as Walter and his wife, Emily Alcorn (1858 to 1939), married in 1876 and their first child, Edith Bowen McDougall, was born in 1877.[1]

DNA evidence that Hannah is a child of James and Eliza Cahill

Johanna's great-granddaughter, Marjorie, has tested at AncestryDNA. She has matches with many descendants of James Cahill and Eliza Dunn through their other children including the three shown below. Margaret, Dellie and Gail are great-grandchildren of James and Eliza through their children, James, Thomas and Agnes, respectively. She shares 131cM of DNA with Margaret, 54cM with Dellie and 186cM with Gail. This supports their relationship to Marjorie as second cousins once removed. Marjorie doesn't share any other common ancestors with Margaret, Dellie and Gail.

1879 birth of Roseanna

On 15 July 1879, Hannah gave birth to her daughter Rosannah (known as Roseanna) Cahill.[2] Hannah was about seventeen. A father wasn't named on the birth registration but, on 12 August 1879, Henry Hill Grainger (1859 to 1951) was sued by Hannah for "neglecting to support his illegitimate child of which she was the mother".[3] Hannah claimed that she was "keeping company" with Henry from February 1878. Evidence was provided by Hannah, her mother and brother, James, aimed at showing that she'd been "seduced" by Henry on the "promise of marriage". Four week old Roseanna was shown to the court. Henry was ordered to pay 6 shillings a week for twelve months and costs.

1880 Hannah returns to court

On 6 September 1880, Hannah returned to court seeking maintenance for Roseanna.[4] Henry made the payments as required but ceased after twelve months. Hannah had returned to work in January 1880 and her mother, Eliza, cared for Roseanna. There's talk of them marrying and of Henry's parents taking on the care of Roseanna. It's also reported that Hannah had incurred additional expenses "in consequence of a deformity in the child's foot". Henry was ordered to pay 5 shillings a week for twelve months and costs. There's no further reports of Hannah pursuing Henry for maintenance of their child.

Henry Hill Grainger

Henry was nineteen when Roseanna was born. When he was twenty six, he married Matilda Ball.They had a large family. Henry was sentenced to six months imprisonment for horse stealing and entered Maitland Goal in 1896. Henry died in 1951 in Sydney.

NSW Goal Description and Entrance Books

DNA evidence that Roseanna is the child of Henry

Roseanna's granddaughter, Marjorie, has tested at AncestryDNA. She has matches with Henry's great-grandchildren, Anne and Susan, of 175cM and 113cM. This supports their relationship as half second cousins. Marjorie doesn't share any other common ancestors with Anne and Susan.

1883 Hannah married Charles Montague

On 21 February 1883, Hannah married Charles Montague at the Registry Office in Singleton.[5] Hannah's age is recorded as twenty one. Charles, a bachelor, is recored as a twenty five year old musician who was born in Sydney. Charles' parents' names aren't recorded on the marriage certificate. A NSW birth registration can't be located for Charles.

The article below is the only reference to "Charles Montague" in the 1880s in Trove for NSW newspapers. Interestingly in April 1881, Charles is performing in Maitland and is reported as the "eminent Violinist and Dance Music Performer". Is it the same Charles?

What we do know is that Hannah and Charles didn't remain in the Hunter Region. In 2 February 1884, their son, Reginald Montague, was born in Exeter Place Sydney.[6] Reginald's birth certificate records that Charles was a 28 year old musician from Plymouth England and the previous issue as "1 female living". On the balance of probabilities, Charles was the musician mentioned in the article.

Hannah's first child, Roseanna, remained with her grandmother, Eliza, and extended family. Roseanna was eleven when her grandmother died in 1890. She lived with her grandmother and then uncle, James, and his wife, Isabella Hogan, until she married John O'Connell in 1904.

1885 Hannah marries Dominic Ceci

On 16 June 1885, Hannah, a widow, married Dominico (Dominic) Ceci (Sese) at the Registry Office in Elizabeth Street, Sydney.[7] Hannah's age is recoded as twenty four and Dominico as a twenty six year old mariner born in Italy. They're both shown as living at Robinson Lane, Sydney which was near Goulburn Street.

There's no evidence of the death of either Charles Montague or his son Reginald. In fact, there was no trace of either after Reginald's birth seventeen months earlier.

All the evidence points to Hannah and Dominic having a short, turbulent relationship. On 26 March 1886, Dominic entered Darlinghurst Gaol for seven days for "filthy premises".[8] Here's an entry from the NSW Police Gazette of 10 November 1886 where he's been "charged with using threatening language to Hannah Ceci". He entered Darlinghurst Goal on 7 November 1886 to serve fourteen days.[9]

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/251899365/27954322

On 14 March 1887, Dominic enters Darlinghurst Goal for "desert wife". He's transferred to Parramatta Goal on the same day. It appears that he'd not paid the sum required to Hannah.[10, 11]

On 14 June 1887, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that "Dominic Ceci, 27, a New Caledonian expiree was charged by Senior-constable Lewis with being an idle and disorderly person having no visible lawful means of support. He was sentenced to three months hard labour".[12]

The final trace of Dominic Ceci is on 7 December 1887. Again Dominic is charged with deserting Hannah. Did he leave Australia? Did he assume one of his other identities and move on from his troubled life with Hannah?

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/108226825?searchTerm=%22Dominic%20ceci%22

An unexpectedly, sad twist

Hannah's first recorded brush with the law was on 29 December 1887 when she enters Darlinghurst Goal charged with indecent language. The fine's paid and she's released on New Years Eve.[13] Below is an entry from the Bathurst Goal's Entrance Book from 1887 to 1897 which shows Hannah was also using the name of Minnie.

https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1783/images/41491_330349-00548?pId=791755

In the Police Court on 20 August 1888, we see "Language - Minnie Ceci, married, 10s or three days".[14] The report of 21 December 1888 Court appearances sees Hannah charged with "behaving riotously".

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/108117063?searchTerm=%22minnie%20ceci%22

Finding the next entry in the Evening News of 14 January 1889 was unexpected and added a sad twist to the story of Johanna Cahill. Were there two more, previously unknown children, Annie Florrie Montague and Charles Montague?

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/108788349?searchTerm=%22minnie%20ceci%22

There's no record of the births of Annie Montague and Charles Montague in NSW birth registrations. However, the Indexes of Admissions and Discharges of the Sydney Benevolent Asylum shows both children entered on 12 January 1889 and were discharged on 14 February 1889.[15] Annie's age is recored as six at entry and four at discharge and Charles is four.

Sydney Benevolent Asylum Journal

"The mother Minnie Montague is reported by the police to be immoral and of drunken habits. The children were found asleep in a gutter. The mother, Minnie Montague, is in goal and the father cannot be found."

The Journal shows that Annie and Charles were discharged to the "boarding out officers". There's no evidence that Hannah saw her two children again.

To this point, the only birth we had from Hannah's marriage to Charles Montague was Reginald in January 1884. However, as it was possible that Charles was in the Hunter region from April 1881, a search of the NSW Birth Registrations revealed Florry Cahill was born to Hannah on 15 June 1882 in Singleton.[16] This ties in with admission of a six year old Annie Florrie Montague to the Sydney Benevolent Society in January 1889 and the female chid recorded on Reginald's birth certificate. It seems likely that Charles and Reginald are one and the same child who celebrated his fifth birthday while at the Asylum.

Setting the record straight?

During 1882, Hannah left her home in the Hunter region with her husband Charles Montague and her one year old daughter Florry leaving her three year old daughter Roseanna with her mother. Florry was then known as Annie. Reginald was born in Sydney in 1883 and was later known as Charles. Hannah's first husband Charles likely died during 1884 but his death registration can't be located. She married Dominic Ceci in 1885 in Sydney and her troubles quickly escalated.

Too many court appearances for Minnie Ceci and then nothing!

Below are extract from trove.nla.gov.au where Hannah, Minnie Ceci, is mentioned in court appearances. From reading these, it's apparent that Hannah had more time in goal in the ten years from 1889. Hannah was clearly leading a trouble life on the streets of Sydney. It's unclear if there was any contact with her family back in the Hunter region although she's recorded as living on her mother's 1890 death certificate.

The last record of Hannah is in February 1899 when she's imprisoned for three months. There's no trace of her in any records in Australia after that date. Did she die in prison? After her release, did she commence a new life with a new identity? That's the hope.

"SPIKED!" The Bird O' Freedom (Sydney, NSW : 1891 - 1896) 6 January 1894: 4. Web. 5 Jun 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207809174>.

A match at AncestryDNA leads to Annie Montague!

What had happened to Annie and Charles Montague after they left the Sydney Benevolent Asylum in February 1889? This was developing into a "needle in a haystack" search until I had a match with Vanessa at AncestryDNA. Our shared matches were all on the Cahill/Dunn line. We shared 132cM of DNA. The next step was to examine the small tree she had attached to her AncestryDNA test.

A search of the NSW Marriage Registrations showed Harry Element married Annie Montague in 1911 in Glebe![17] Bingo....