Dear Roger
I may have confused you with my attachments. The only accurate one was John Byrnes' marriage certificate. The age 50 was the age he married. Not accurate either, as I think he changed his age so that it did not look bad when he married an older woman. (Probably not the done thing at the time.) I will attach his death certificate, but it was completed by his illegitimate/adopted son and says he was 74. the age does not jell with his marriage certificate. So you can see my dilemma. I know he was in Molong NSW, where he lived, in 1861. I have a land sale at that date. He was illiterate so signed with an X. His obituary said he came to Australia at age 18, but with his death age incorrect,and dates not matching, I cannot find where he came to Australia. He settled with his brother in Molong. I have hunted for both of them coming together and also separately, but without correct ages, it is impossible. I also do not know what port they left from. The Australian records work on where they landed in Australia. Is there any way you can find the port that they left from?
The marriage between Thomas & Ansty Byrnes seemed to fit the dates and it is an unusual combination of names. I could not find ages for them, so took a guess, not always a good move. The death certificates for both of them were based on my guesses. As they did not bother to register or baptise the 2 boys, John and Patrick, I do not know if any of this is true. So perhaps we start with Thomas and Ansty's births. I can't locate them. If Anastasia was a Wexford name, I will shift my search towards there, but her family name has many variations. There was a witness at their wedding - Hugh Neil - but I can't track him either.
Sorry this seems hard to follow. Everything seems to be guesswork.
Thank you for your help. I hope this further information helps a little.
Kind regards
Anne Lockwood
