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Seeking Information Mary and Bridget Davin transported to Australia 1849

GalwayOmey (Galway)

My great great grandmother Mary and her sister Bridget Davin were transported to Australia in 1849. I have been able to trace Marys history from her conviction in Ireland to her death in Australia on 26 July 1906, the only difficulty I encountered there was trying to determine who her 2nd husband was (his name was James Connors but there were 4 or 5 by that name transported at about the same time!! And by choosing the James transported on the Hyderabad in May 1849 I am hoping I have the right one now) but without having more details I have not been able to find anything about the sisters in Ireland.

The convict records indicate that on arrival in Australia, Mary was 17, a former nursemaid, and Bridget was 19, a former housemaid. Their father is listed as Thomas, but Marys death certificate shows his name as James and that he was a stonemason.

I have found information on the Ireland-Australia transportation database and also the Family Search site but it only relates to conviction and transportation.

It is possible that Marys middle name is Catherine but I have not been able to confirm that.

In one set of records I have found that they were transported for stealing 10 shillings from Cornely with no previous offenses, but then I found that they previously stole 4 sheep for which they were jailed for 11 weeks (that seems a bit back to front!).

Following their trial on 4 Jan 1849 they were both received at Grangegorman Depot on 3 March 1849 and on 26 June 1849 departed Kingstown Dublin on the 'Australasia', arriving in Australia on 29 September 1849.

I have been trying to find actual records of their arrest and trial in the hope that this will provide me with more information to base my search on.

Any assistance you are able to give me would be greatly appreciated.

As an update, I believe Mary and Bridget Davin were from Sky Road, Bayleek near Clifden in the Parish of Omey and the Barony of Ballynahinch. Although I have still not found any Irish records for Mary or Bridget, I do have very strong DNA connections to descendents of Michael Davin who was living in Salem, Harrison Country WVa and placed an advertisement in 1859 seeking his brother Patrick who was believed to have gone to Dubuque. I have yet to confirm a DNA match with Patrick's line.

Robyn Booth

5 replies

Good Afternoon

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and apologies for the delay in replying to your message. 

Firstly, have you tried searching Ancestry.com for any mention of your ancestor?s name in member family trees or messages? 

You could, if you haven't already, have a look at the National Archives, Dublin, database: 

http://findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/index.php?category=18&subcategor…;

Please update us on how the search is progressing

Best wishes

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support

 

IrelandXO member

Hello Clare

Thank you for your welcome.  Yes I have been a member of ancestry.com since December 2013 and have been able to follow Mary's life from the time of her conviction through to her death in Western Australia.  I have also tried the National Archives and have very brief details of her conviction.  The transportation records show that Mary and Bridget's father was Thomas, but Mary's death certificate shows her father as a Stonemason named James Davin.  Unfortunately I have not been able to find any record of the girls prior to their conviction nor to see further information on their trial.  Any assistance you can provide would be so greatly appreciated.

Best wishes, Robyn Booth

Robyn Booth

Dear Robyn

Unfortunately, if you have been unsuccessful in a search for the girls? baptisms on sites like ancestry.com familysearch.org or rootsireland.ie it may be that they came from a parish where records do not exist. One website that is very useful for keeping up to date with new sources, especially online is the Irish Genealogical Research Society. The only way to forge ahead with this, is I think, to try to continue gathering as much information as much in the hope that at some stage in the future, sources become available to help you link names and places.

Best wishes

Clare

IrelandXO member

Hello, 

I have uploaded a document I have from my research, relating to Mary, with many mentions of her sister Bridget.

I'm not sure if it will be of help, however we can never really have too much information.

Warm regards,

 

Larissa 

 

larissacaterer

Thank you Larissa.  I do have the book this came from and I'm so grateful for all the research Trudy did.

Are you also from the Davin line?

Robyn 

Robyn Booth

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