Kathleen Kivlehan

Good morning,

I’m Lisa Terry, writing from Perth, Western Australia.

My father’s researching our family tree and is stuck on his grandmother, Kathleen Kivlehan and her life prior to her 1880 emigration from Ireland to Sydney, Australia.

Can anyone provide information or leads about Kathleen’s childhood and teenage years in the Presbyterian church and orphanage on Charles Street (now Walsh Street) in Ballina, County Mayo?

We have limited information:

- Kathleen Kivlehan was likely born around 1860 (possibly June 8) in Sligo, Ireland.

- Her mother passed away, and she was placed in care at the Presbyterian Church/Orphanage on Charles Street (now Walsh Street) in Ballina, county Mayo. We have a death certificate for a Jane Kivlehan, possibly Kathleen’s sister, who died from consumption at age 18 in 1871 at the same address of the church/orphanage. Jane’s death notice lists her father’s occupation as something other than a farmer, but we’re unable to decipher exactly what. We don’t know how long Kathleen lived at Charles/Walsh Street or where she went before sailing on the “Northampton” from Plymouth, UK, to Sydney Australia in 1880.

- The ships manifest shows Kathleen arrived in Sydney, Australia in January 1880 as a  single woman who paid full fare. 

 - She married Scotsman James Burnett in Sydney in 1884 and had seven children. She later moved and died in Perth at age 100 in 1960.

Thanks for reading. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards

Lisa Terry