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Patrick Gahan

I am seeking information regarding my great great grandfather Patrick Gahan. He was sent to Australia as a convict on the ship King William which arrived in New South Wales in 1840. He was transported from Dublin where he was an errand boy. The information given on the ship's records is that he was 15 and a Roman Catholic. He had one prior conviction for stealing for which he was given a sentence of 3 months. He was illiterate - this is obvious from his marriage record on which he made 'his mark'. I have attempted to locate a baptismal record and have come across some that could be him. I have also tried to locate possible siblings in the records but without much success.

In Australia he was granted a ticket of leave after 5 years (which meant he was paid for his work). He worked as a farm labourer and it seems he stayed on at the same property after he had gained his freedon. He married an Irish born woman and had nine children. So he did OK.

NanArana

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Hello Nan, I am looking over old posts for unanswered questions, Gahon appears to be a more common name than I thought and while found in various parts including Dublin appears to be mainly in the South East of the country, Wexford / Waterford, you can check names here for free but it is a subscription site, https://www.johngrenham.com/surnames/ ;

On the free site Irish Genealogy under church records which are limited but include Dublin there are 3 Patrick Gahan's born 1820 to 1830 or baptised I should say, all are RC but born from 1821 to 1823 so a bit older than your man, only one mother is records and she is Farrell, I assume he was a Catholic, important as we only use church records at this remove.

The reality is without at least one parents name it is impossible to be sure to any extent, the christian names of the parents may recur in his family but Irish Christian names can occur in all families, the saints you know.

DNA may help but at that remove any matches would be small and difficult to pin down and the test requires some thought as it can throw up unexpected results.

Regards

Pat

newohalloran.p…IrelandXO Volunteer

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