Stories of Agnes Cahill

Thomas John Cahill was born on 26 August 1866 at Black Creek (near Singleton), NSW. He's the eight of the eleven children of James Cahill and his wife, Eliza Dunn. Agnes was the next child born. Cahill family historians have been searching for Thomas for years. In May 2018, twelve trees on ancestry.com.au showed Thomas but none included any details of Thomas's life after his birth. We did think that Thomas was alive at the time of his mother's death in 1890 as he's recorded on Eliza's death certificate as "living" and aged 25.   Genetic genealogy is a tool that I'm using more and more in my family history research. In August 2017, "ER" reported as a match to me and other "Cahill/Dunn cousins" at AncestryDNA. ER's predicted relationship to me was 4th cousin ie predicted that we shared 3rd great-grandparents. I messaged "ER" a number of times but, as is too often the case, no response. "ER" did have a small t...

The last weekend of February was my first opportunity to visit Newcastle since I've become interested in my family history.  In planning and executing my "field trips", I'm looking for places that were significant to my family many years ago and getting a sense of the current "vibe" - great accommodation and eateries add a lot to the experience. To recap... Agnes Cahill is my "Woodlands great-grandmother".  She was born in about 1868 in Patricks Plain near Singleton, NSW - thought to be the tenth of the eleven children of James Cahill (abt 1822 to 1877) and Eliza Dunn (abt 1830 to 1890). Here's a photo of Agnes taken  in about 1937 in Sydney with her daughter, Lorna, and grandson, Ron. You can read more about Agnes and her family in these previous blog posts- The Children of Agnes Woodlands (nee Cahill) James Cahill and Eliza Dunn's children including Agnes  and Agnes Cahill - My Woodlands great-grandmother Agnes h...

To set the scene...Margaret Ryan is the mother of James Woodland who married Agnes Cahill in 1901... On 18 August 1887, Margaret Ryan married George Austin Woodland at St Mary's Catholic Church, Newcastle.  So this was the day that the Woodland/s name came into our family but I very much doubt that any of us are descendants from George! It's also seven years today since my dear dad, Frank Woodlands, died.  My interest in our family history stems from Mum and Dad but I'm not sure they could have foreseen the journey I'm on.... So, what better day for a post! By now, we know that the story of Agnes Cahill is a complicated one.  James Oswald Woodlands' father was Cornelius Bray but James Woodland snr was in James Oswald's life from about the age of 8.  James Woodland snr was the father of Lorna Mae Bisgrove (nee Woodlands).   When I went to look for the birth registration of James Woodland snr, the next twist in the story unfolded. ...

On 18 July 1824, Laurence Dunn married Judith Ryan at St John's Parish, County Kilkenny, Ireland.  That's 187 years ago today!  Laurence was known as Larry and Judith as Judy or Johanna.  The alternative spelling for the family name is Dunne.  Larry and Judy were Agnes Cahill's grandparents. There were 10 children from the marriage born between about 1825 and 1846.  Elizabeth (Eliza) was the third child and oldest daughter of Larry and Judy and she was Agnes's mother.  Eliza was born about 1830 in Kilkenny.  On 20 November 1854, Eliza married James Cahill at the Clara Parish, County Kilkenny.  James was born in about 1822 in Kilkenny.  His parents were Richard Cahill and Catherine Hogan. Ruins of old church and graveyard, Clara, County Kilkenny James and Eliza left Ireland aboard the Simonds and arrived in Port Jackson on 12 April 1855 - less than 6 months after their marriage.  They settled in Patricks Plain which is close...

In the last post, I covered my search for the birth details of James Oswald (Jim) Woodlands, my paternal grandfather. In brief, Jim was born, Oswald Cahill on 20 September 1891 at Dawson Street, Newcastle. His mother was Agnes Cahill but his birth registration didn't give any details of his father. Was I going to find Jim's biological father?   As I look at the photograph of Jim on the left, I see that strong resemblance with his son, my father - Frank! Back to my search, technology has completely revolutionised family history research! You can sit at home tapping away at your computer and you're presented with information that you'd have been hard pressed to find a few years ago. "Trove", the National Library of Australia's digital service, provides access to most Australian newspapers up to the mid 1950s.   So a search under "Agnes Cahill" and I have the answer! In a case reported on 7 November 1891, Charles Bray, a sto...

I admit to being a family history tragic and getting hooked very quickly.  Much of this is down to my picking the right relative to research first up! My choice was James Oswald (Jim) Woodlands, my paterna l grandfather.  He was the only grandparent that I didn't know and it seemed like an opportunity to get closer to him.  Even for a novice, it was easy to find Jim's 1946 death details but, after many weeks and knowing that he was born about 1891 in Newcastle, I couldn't locate his birth registration!   I only have four group photos including Jim and this is the best - circa 1944, two years before his death. Much searching and purchasing of transcripts of birth, death and marriage registrations, led me to the conclusion that, while Agnes Woodland (nee Cahill) was James Oswald's mother, it was improbable that James Woodland was his father - he was too young - and Agnes and James snr were not married until 1901 in West Maitland.  A brick wall..... I'...

Since early in 2016, I've been looking at my paternal grandfather's family - researching, questioning and sharing with a few of "the cousins" along the way.  There've been a few surprises!  The biggest being that Cornelius Bray was my grandfather's biological father and James Woodland (Snr) was his step-father.  We knew my grandfather as James Oswald Woodlands but his birth name was Oswald Cahill. So it's probably time that I started to record some of what I've uncovered...  After all, there's a lot more to research - my grandfather's biological Bray family and his known (or social) Woodlands family! My grandfather's biological pedigree My grandfather's "social" pedigree Agnes Cahill is at the centre of the story.  Agnes's descendants are a small groups these days - one granddaughter, great-grandchild (including me) and great-great-grandchildren.  Maybe we'll find out how many as more join our Facebook group! Here...