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...

Monday 4 October 2020 was the 150th anniversary of the birth of the last child of James Cahill and his wife, Eliza Dunn.  Mary Ann Cahill was born on 4 October 1870 at Belford, near Singleton in NSW.  She was the eleventh child - although her birth certificate shows that she was the tenth of James and Eliza's children with 3 boys and 3 girls living and a son and two daughters deceased!    As many will recall, I've not been able to find a birth or baptismal registration for my great-grandmother Agnes, the ninth child, who was born about 1867.  I've not been able to locate birth and death registrations for the fifth child, Johanna (know also as Hannah and Minnie).   However, James and Eliza's death certificates both record there were eleven children with three dying as infants.  So here's the information that's been gathered on the children- Catherine was born on 15 April 1856 in East Maitland.  She died in Murrurundi on 21 January 1913.  She ...

Michael was born on 23 March 1868 at Belford in the Singleton district of NSW.  He was the tenth of the eleventh children of James and Eliza Cahill.  Agnes was the ninth child. Choose this link to read more about James and Eliza Cahill and their children. Michael was our 1st, 2nd or 3rd great-uncle.  He was probably named after Eliza's older brother who was born about 1828 in Johns Well, County Kilkenny, Ireland.  James and Eliza had left there family behind in 1855 to live in Australia.  Michael's older brother, James, married Isabella Hogan, and their first son was called Micheal.  He was born in 1885 also at Belford. There are only fragments of Michael's life that survive after his birth in 1868.   On 9 November 1891, when he was 25, Michael appears in Maitland Goal's Entrance Book.  His conviction was for being drunk.  He was sentenced to 24 hours in goal or a 10 shilling fine.  Michael chose the 24 hours!  So th...

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...

Too many months have passed since my last post but today is the day to share the story of Agnes Cahill's niece and her family.   Catherine Cahill (1856 to 1913) was the oldest child of James and Eliza Cahill. She was about 12 when her younger sister, Agnes, was born - the 10th of 11 children. Catherine married William Dries in 1873 in Branxton. More about the Dries family in another post. William and Catherine had 10 children. Agnes Dries (1887 to 1929) was the eight born. I was interested in Agnes Dries' life as she was most likely named after Agnes, my great-grandmother, and, at the time, no-one had complete details of her life or death on public trees. I spent many long hours researching to arrive at the point that I could share the details of Agnes Dries and her family. Agnes Teresa Dries was born on 28 October 1887 in Glen Innes, NSW. She died in a private hospital in Charters Towers Road, Townsville, Queensland on 10 November 1929. She was 42. Agnes Teresa ha...

Today I'm writing about James Cahill - someone that we are related to! James was Agnes's father - cousin Gail's great-grandfather and my 2nd great-grandfather. James was born about 1822 at Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. His parents were Richard Cahill and Catherine Hogan. On 20 November 1854, James married Elizabeth (Eliza) Dunn at the Catholic Church, Clara Parish, County Kilkenny. Eliza was born about 1830 at Johns Well, County Kilkenny. Her parents were Laurence Dunn and Judith Ryan. We've covered some of the details of Laurence and Judith and James and Eliza's life in an earlier blog. 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 to Singleton. James went to work as a labourer for the railways.   They went on to have 11 children. There are issues with birth registrations which was often the case in those early d...

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...