If a job's worth doing...

 ... you know the answer!

Moons ago I chatted with a fellow descendant about my 2xGreat-grandfather, Patrick Curry, and his lack of a baptismal record. I said that a task on my to do list was to go through all the digitised images of early St Mary's Cathedral Baptisms to see if I could find one for Patrick that had missed being indexed. The cousin said it had been done and there was no record for Patrick in the indexes.

As a green (and much younger) genealogist I believed this person. I thought it funny that there was no record for Patrick as his siblings had all been baptised but left it at that.

A while ago it hit me that I should really check the films for myself; they are only available in a few locations one of which is at the library of The Society of Australian Genealogists. These registers were filmed as part of the Joint Copying Project (JCP) between the Society of Australian Genealogists, National Library of Australia and the Mitchell Library.

I recently had a chance to visit Sydney so I booked into the library for a research session. The lovely librarian, Lorraine, got me set up at a reader with the correct film:

Church register of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney and St John's, Campbelltown Roman Catholic. [microform] :)

and off I went. My winding arm and eyes got plenty of exercise as I wound through the pages checking each baptism record from 1832 (when the first child of the marriage was baptised) onwards. 

Winding and looking at SAG

After about 45 minutes I found the record at the top of a page.

I knew it was my Patrick from the date and mother's name.

I was so excited that I didn't realise, until I got home and took a good look at the record that Patrick's surname wasn't listed on the register. He was recorded as "Patrick of Patrick ? by his wife Ellen Moore". 

A visit to the NSW Birth Index and a few searches returned this record:

It was interesting to note that the baptism was not a family affair as it appears that Ellen was not accompanied to the baptism by Patrick Curry Senior. I am wondering if the sponsors John Leary and Elizabeth Lucas were known to Ellen or just some random people who happened to be nearby at the time.

Fellow genealogists will appreciate how excited I was to find this one simple record that adds more detail to an ancestor's story. 

If it's worth doing - do it yourself.

C is for...Camden: Farm and Village Life in Early New South Wales

 I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

Of the resources I have read about Camden NSW, the home of my convict ancestors Patrick Curry and Ellen Moore, the best is Camden: Farm and Village Life in Early New South Wales by historian, Alan Atkinson. It is a treasured tome on my bookshelf.

In the days before Trove I purchased my copy of this book which I read and enjoyed. I found several mentions of my Curry family and their connections plus a reference to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald in which Patrick was interviewed by Caroline Chisholm. From this article I was able to find further information in Jerrold's Papers. 

With nearly 70 pages of notes, a bibliography and index this work provides a great springboard to research in the Camden area.

You can find this book on the shelves of many libraries here, https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18852594. I found that copies of the second edition of this work are available here https://scholarly.info/book/camden-farm-and-village-life-in-early-nsw/

Hunting in Ireland

Mixed success with ancestor hunting today. 

I found nothing at the Clare County Library but at Limerick City Library I found newspaper articles mentioning the sentencings of my 3rd Great-Grandparents Patrick Corry/Curry and Ellen Moore.

Local Studies Library - Ennis, County Clare, Ireland

Mr GeniAus checking out the newspaper collection in Ennis, County Clare

This way to the Local Studies Library in Limerick City

GeniAus at work in Limerick Library

SUCCESS

Return to the Cow Pastures

I finally registered for the N.S.W. & A.C.T. Association of Family History Societies Inc. Annual Conference 2016 in Camden, Cow Pastures and Beyond. I missed the earlybird registration as I was having too much fun flitting around Iceland to bother about such things as geneaconferences at home. If you haven't registered yet you had better follow my lead as registrations close on August 21.

I am particularly excited about this event as it is taking me back to the home of my convict ancestors in the Camden area, Patrick Curry and Ellen Moore. Patrick was assigned as a shepherd to James and William Macarthur in Camden and, when he gained his freedom, he continued to farm in the area. I was alerted to one of my most precious family history documents that is about Patrick by Alan Atkinson in his book, Camden: farm and village life in early NSW. I'm excited that Alan will be delivering the John Vincent Crowe Memorial Address at the conference.

It's always difficult to prepare a program for such a conference and provide something for all comers. I am also looking forward to hearing Nick Brodie author of Kin (read a review here https://residentjudge.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/kin-by-nick-brodie/)  which I must read before the conference. I always enjoy hearing from Heather Garnsey as she has so much knowledge and many good ideas to impart. As for the other speakers, I'll just have to wait and see.

Curry Reserve - I need a better pic

As one of the organisers of The Hornsby Shire Family History Group I will be part of the trade exhibition at the conference. Our Group doesn't have anything to sell but we are grateful to the organisers for giving us an opportunity to promote our group and meet people with links to The Hornsby Shire.

Another job I have while in Camden is to take some better photos of Curry Reserve that was named for members of my family. Those I took last century aren't tog good.

Most of all I love events like this because they give me an opportunity to reconnect with my genimates in the flesh  and put faces to names I've heard over the years.

Will I see you in the Cow Pastures?

Parramatta Female Factory

One of my convict ancestors, Ellen/Eleanor Moore, spent time in the Parramatta Female Factory. She was sent  for punishment at least seven times for various indiscretions. OnMay 27, 1828 she was sent for "two years in the Third class in the factory to be kept to hard labour for countenancing Mr. McGuire in exposing himself indecently and using unnatural habits before Mr. Dunn's children."

As it was the 'home' of one of my ancestors I am most interested in fate of the Female Factory.

In an email today on aus-nsw-hills-hawkesbury-hunter-valley rootsweb list Michelle Nicholls posted this message:

"For those of you interested in checking out the blog and petition to support the Female Factory Precinct Action Group, with the aim to have the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct returned to the people of Australia. This Precinct includes the Parramatta Female  Factory, Catholic Orphan School and Girls Industrial School see http://femalefactoryprecinctactiongroup.wordpress.com/ and http://petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savethefemalefactory "

I encourage all with an interest in Australian heritage sites (not just people like me with errant 3rd great-grandmothers) to sign the petition to save the female factory.

Hot Stuff

My blogging is presently taking second place to research. My Geniaus website brings me a number of emails from people with shared interests. Some people just want to say hello, some offer corrections and snippets of information that are gratefully received, some just want to pick my brains and some generous souls want to offer lots of additional information. This week I was contacted by Lindylou who shares my convict ancestors Patrick Curry and Ellen Moore .

Lindylou has given me some 'hot' information on a Curry descendant on whom I had little. This bloke's tale of drunkeness, adultery etc.makes great reading. My attention has therefore been diverted by this generous sharing of information as I am concentrating for a day or two on entering this new Curry information  and uploading it to my website.



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