Mary and Margaret (Twins) Meade

Mary and Margaret, twin sisters were born, c.1835 to parents Patrick Meade and his wife Catherine.

Patrick’s occupation was that of Tailor. Catherine and Patrick’s other children were, Catherine, Patrick and Francis born c1843. There could well have been more children after Francis, but so far I haven’t found them. In the year 1851 Mary and Margaret’s family were living in Coolooney Street Limerick.

According to Passenger Lists Mary and her twin sister Margaret boarded the ship New Zealander in Liverpool in September 1853 and arrived in Portland Victoria Australia on the 30 November 1853. They were 19 years old. Both girls were assigned as Domestic Servants to different families in Portland, for 3 months. They finished their three months in February. To have come from Ireland where the temperatures would have been at least 15o cooler must have been quite a shock.

Mary met and married John Forde at Williamstown Victoria. Mary and John had 4 children; Martha, Charles John, Henry James and Mary Catherine. Williamstown is on the edge of Hobsons Bay several miles from Melbourne proper, where the busy port had many ships arriving with people hoping to find their fortune on the Goldfields. In Williamstown there were many hotels in 1860 reportedly 29. There was also a Railway station where passengers could travel to Melbourne; a brass band; many bazaars were held, and a Mechanics Institute was well supported, as were the Presbyterian Church and St, Mary’s Chapel. Mary survived her husband by 12 years and died at Williamstown in 1899. Margaret on the other hand had quite a different life.

Margaret met and married John Bennett and their first child Mary Ann was born in 1855 in Melbourne. This was in the time of the Gold Rush and no doubt like thousands of others, John wanted to find his fortune, as there were rumours that you could just pick up gold anywhere, so this little family set off for the Gold Fields. Their second child was born in 1857 near Beechworth, and she was named Rebecca. Rebecca died from alcoholic poisoning in 1862. At this time the family were living in a tent. The family moved on and in 1864 Alfred was born. He died shortly thereafter from convulsions. Margaret was born in 1867 and Peter three years later. Life on the goldfields was harsh, Many shortages of water, freezing cold in the Winter and boiling hot in the Summer. Yes there were schools, and hotels, and churches, but unless you were lucky enough to pick up a good sized nugget, life was hard. John and Margaret and their family seemed to have stayed in and around the gold fields. I can find them in Maryborough in 1873 when Mary Ann their first born is married. In 1878 I find them in Emerald Hill a suburb of Melbourne, and then I believe they returned to the Gold Fields, returning to Melbourne prior to 1890.

I have found a Margaret Bennett in a Benevolent Asylum in 1881 suffering from Dementia. She died in 1899. I am not sure that this is my Margaret. She is said to have had a facial disfigurement, still researching that, perhaps this is a way to find her Limerick family as she stated on admission that she had had these problems since childhood. As both girls could read but not write, I have always wondered if their family back in Ireland knew of their very different lives in Australia.