Stories of Agnes Cahill

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...