Patrick Leo

The parish of Bruff (or:  Bruff, Grange, and Gilnogra) has baptismal and marriage records available online back to 1808, so you should be bale to find more info there, at this link:    https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0870

You'll see an interactive map at that site which allows you to move on to neighboring parishes as well.  Weddings usually took place in the bride's parish, so If you can't find a marriage where you expected, you might trying a nearby parish.

Other info about the parish of Bruff can be found at this link:  https://www.townlands.ie/limerick/bruff1/

Baptismal records often state the townland in which the family lived within the parish.  If you find that indicated for your ancestors, you can see more information about the townland at the above link, including a link to records from Griffith's Valuation, which took pace before your ancestors arrived in Australia.

In case you're interested, the surname Leo is an Anglo-Irish surname peculiar to Limerick.  Scholars disagree as to its origins, some saying that it derives from the Latin leo, or "lion"; and others that it derives from the Irish word lea, or "meadow"; with  MacLysaght saying in his Surnames of Ireland (which is considered pretty authoritative), that there is good authority that in Limerick it comes from the Norman-French de l'eau ("of the water"), though he doesn't explain the origin further than that.

Hi Graham,
You say....
We believe that Patrick, his wife Ellen and children arrived in Queensland on the 29th January 1862. As yet I have not been able to confirm this date as I cannot find a passenger list for the ship "Saldanha" that they arrived on.
Do you know anyone who has membership to Ancestry "World Wide"
I have only the UK and Ireland access, but, it does show a link to the record.
I searched with just
Surname    LEO
Keyword Box     "Saldanha"
It is a copy of the ship document, that's why I can't see it without the WW access.
Your TROVE site should have the list.
 Cheers
Margot

 

My Great Grandfather was John Leo, middle name perhaps Daniel. I believe his  father was Patrick. John Leo married my great grandmother, Julia Hastings. I believe they were from Bruff. They emigrated to the US and my grandfather, Patrick Daniel Leo was born around 1883 in Natick, Mass, around the Boston area. At one point, John left the US and went to Australia where it appears most of his family emigrated. Julia Hastings Leo died around 1898 in Worcester, Mass. I know Leo is an unusual Irish name. I am trying to research the family and wondered why John left the US and left his wife and 3 children to go to Australia. I just visited Ireland on a tour 2 weeks ago so I didn't have the opportunity to visit Limerick.