A Picnic with Patrick

Yesterday on a sensational spring day husband and I stopped for a picnic lunch at Curry Reserve near Camden, NSW. This park, which is on the edge of the historic town was gazetted as a reserve in 1976, is special to me. On the recommendation of the local Council it was named after my 3xGreat-Grandfather, Patrick Curry, an Irish convict who had been assigned to the Macarthur family of Merino fame. Patrick is one of my favourite ancestors.

It had been several years since our last visit; we were surprised to find a lovely updated park. As we sat and watched local children playing in the beautiful water park I reflected on Patrick's life 200 years ago. I wonder what Patrick would think of this lovely facility for local families close to the area where he farmed on the banks of the Nepean River. I recalled Paddy's words to Caroline Chisholm "I have reared a large family in comfort, want for nothing." 

I am sure Patrick would not have been able to imagine the 21st century facilities at Curry Reserve but he would have been honoured to be associated with the site. 

Lots of opportunities for cool fun

Barbeque area

Modern facilities building

Proud to visit this important family site 

Surprize, Surprise

 Last month I attended a free webinar, Floating Prisons: Irish Convict Hulks and Voyages to NSW,  hosted by the RAHS. 

During the webinar Anne McMahon, the author of the book Floating Prisons: Irish Convict Hulks and Voyages to New South Wales 1823-1837, discussed the history of the Irish hulks and gave details on the lives and conditions of the convicts incarcerated on them. I learnt that one of the hulks, the Surprize, was in Cork Harbour around the time my 3xGreat-Grandfather, Patrick Curry/Corry, was transported from there. Did Patrick spend time on the Surptize?

I realised that I needed to purchase the book which was published in 2017, I'm surprised that I didn't learn about it when it was published. I was hoping to purchase an eBook copy of the work but, when I asked during the webinar, if the book was available in that format the author was quite surprised, said she didn't know about those things and it would not appear in an electronic format!!

The book was available from several online sites but I opted to buy it from Amazon because it was 9.95 cheaper there than the recommended retail on other sites. 

I received a surprise when the parcel containing the book arrived. I had expected a paperback but the book is a heavy hardcover. It has all the features of a well documented work - bibliography, contents, indexes and references and contains a few illustrations and maps.I have yet to read the book, I don't think it will identify many individual convicts but I hope it provides a valuable insight into the lives of Irish Convicts in the early 19th century. Dr Perry McIntyre wrote an honest  review of the work in 2017 for Tintean Magazine, https://tintean.org.au/2017/08/06/floating-prisons/.

Playing around on Google I found this article, https://gsq-blog.gsq.org.au/irish-prison-hulks/, by Meg Carney who, after reading McMahon's book, thinks that her ancestor spent time in Cork on the Surprize. I wonder if I will come to the same conclusion for Patrick after reading the book. 

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/

A Reference from Macarthur

Read to the end of this article and you will know why I felt like dancing.

My ancestor Patrick "Paddy" Curry has been the subject of a number of my blog posts. The last time I told Paddy's story was here in 2016.

In a recent weekly members' Hang Out with SAG  on Zoom the theme was emigration so I decided to share Paddy's interview on "The Advantages of Emigration" with Caroline Chisholm. Prior to the Hangout I set up my browser with several websites so that I could share my screen and show the interview during the hangout. 

After I reread the interview in the Sydney Morning Herald I gave some thought to the original source of the article "Douglas Jerrold's Paper" and realised that I had never followed that up.

1848 'Advertising', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 8 June, p. 3. , viewed 17 Mar 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12902254

After a little bit of googling I discovered an article about Jerrold on the Victorian Web. He was "a boy with minimal schooling from a lower middle-class family raised in a dockyard town in Kent goes up to London, where, after an apprenticeship as a journalist, he emerges in the 1830s as one of the country's most popular writers."

Listed on the page of Jerrold's works on the site I found that Jerrold edited "Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper, 1846-1848" and that fitted the timeframe for the original article. I popped that title into Google and, hey presto, found a link to a record in the catalogue of the National Library of Australia.

NLA Catalogue Record

I was on a roll. I found my NLA Library Card and logged into their site from the link on the catalogue record which took me straight to the digitised paper in the Gale collection. I did a search for Caroline Chisholm and found three articles. One of these was the one I was seeking. In addition to the article that was published in the Sydney Morning Herald the original contained the following introduction written by Caroline Chisholm. 

Gale Document Number  

GALE|FRNYPS256237397

"I have a great respect for him, have always found him most trustworthy, honest and punctual."

Any tenant would love to hear a reference like that from his landlord! 

On reading that sentence from one of the McArthurs I was elated. This was my best geneafind of the year. Being able to share it with my genimates from SAG on the day I found it was a bonus.

Paddy was a convict but like so many fellow convicts he was a victim of his times. My great (x3) grandfather, Paddy,  was a good man

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?

I want for nothing

On the 17th March, St Patrick's Day, each year I think of my Irish ancestors who made the perilous trip to Australia. Seven years ago I wrote about my ancestor Patrick Curry/Corry.

I have edited and am reposting that article today.

I wonder what our ancestors thought as they left their homes in England, Ireland and Scotland to sail to this distant and strange land. A dozen of my ancestors were convicts transported to Australia for petty crimes, some were young Irish lads and lasses, bounty (assisted) immigrants, who left home during the time of The Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840’s. A couple were free settlers, people who travelled to Australia of their own free will in the hope of a better life.Recently I spoke to a distant cousin, a 75 year old Scottish lady, who emigrated with her family in 1953. When they left Scotland food rationing was still in place; on arrival in Australia they could not believe the quality and quantity of food they were served at their first family lunch, she thought she was in heaven. She said that her parents never regretted leaving Scotland as they wanted a "better life" for their children and she felt that this goal had been achieved.

My 3rd great grandfather, Patrick (Paddy) Curry from Limerick in Ireland , arrived as a convict on the Hooghley in 1825. He was assigned to work at Camden Park a property of the pioneering Macarthur family. On 8th June 1848 The Sydney Morning Herald published an interview from 1846 from Caroline Chisholm with Patrick on the advantages of emigration. Patrick felt that he was most fortunate to be in New South Wales.

1848 'Advertising', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 8 June, p. 3. , viewed 17 Mar 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12902254

I and Paddy's descendants can now access this interview via Trove but when I first went in search of it after following a reference in Alan Atkinson's book, Camden: Farm and village life in early New South Wales, it took me ages to locate the interview on microfilm. The copy I retrieved from the film was very hard to read whereas the image from Trove is quite clear in comparison.

Trove Tuesday

I have found numerous references in Trove that indicate that many of my ancestors had an affinity for hard liquor. I was therefore delighted to read of his sober state in a report of an accident my 2x Great Grandfather, Patrick Curry, had along the road near Berrima in 1859.

1859 'BERRIMA.', Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), 13 September, p. 10, viewed 12 January, 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60399233

Transcript:

BERRIMA.            

The Goulburn Herald of Saturday supplies the fol-   lowing:--      

A report, was prevalent here, which I, regret to say     turns out to be too true, that a young man, named Patrick Curry, junior, of Camden, son to Patrick Curry,

senior, an old and very much respected colonist of the same place, met with a very, serious accident on his way from Sydney, where he had been for loading, by the wheel of his dray passing over his body. The medical man in attendance has but very little hopes of his recov- ery. This is one of the instances in which accidents of this nature cannot be attributed to intoxication, for I have been informed the young man was perfectly sober.

I am pleased to report that Patrick must have recovered as he lived until 1896 when his cause of death was Liver Disease!

Trove Tuesday - A Close Call

I fear that this gentleman was my Great-Great, Grandfather, Patrick Curry, who was living in the Cowra vicinity at the time of this incident.

1895 'Miraculous Escape.', Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), 22 June, p. 4, viewed 3 September, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108090003

1895 'Cowra.', Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal (NSW : 1851 - 1904), 22 June, p. 2, viewed 3 September, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62743163

We can't hide from our family history with Trove on the job.

Trove Tuesday - Can't share this one

As many new resources have been added to Trove since I did some serious searching on my maiden name, Curry, I thought I would see if I could dredge up anything new on my ancestors this week.

As my first Curry ancestor, Patrick the convict, settled in the Camden area I started with a simple search for Curry Camden. I was rewarded with a couple of photographs. One that interested me was a photo of a distant Curry relation's home in Elderslie near Camden.

Sadly I can look at the image of Trevor Curry's abode but I cannot copy and share it because the copyright statement says "This photo may be copied for personal use. For all other purposes permission of the holder of copyright must be obtained." . As I'm not sure if  adding a photo to a blog post  is considered personal use I will refrain from posting it.

What I can tell you is that it belongs to a set of photos from The Camden Images Past and Present Collection at the Camden Library that can be searched via Trove.

If you replicate my search on Trove you will be able to view the image too.

Was this my Great-Great-Grandfather?

Found this on Trove today:

The article from Page 2 of The Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal on 22 June 1895 could be about my Great-Great-Grandfather, Patrick Curry (1834-1896),  who was resident in Cowra at the time. I wonder how I can verify this?

The corrected text follows:

Cowra.

[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT. |

Friday.  

Railway Accident. — At midnight anaccident occurred in a sharp, curved cuttinga short distance from the goods shed, which  might have resulted in loss of life. . It appearsan old man Patrick Curry, in the employ ofMr. J. E. Taylor, bee-farmer, of Holmwood,was returning home, it is believed the worse

for liquor, when he is supposed to have goton the railway line at Kendall-street gates ,and either ridden or led his horse down themain line, passing the platform, locomotive,and goods sheds, a distance of nearly a mile,until met by the in-coming train from Blayneyat 12.35 a m. The curve being very sharpand in a deep cutting neither driver norCurry had any warning. The horse seems tohave struggled to get away from the man,but was unable to do so and the engine cutoff one leg. Curry was thrown clear andescaped with a scratch or two. His pipe andmatches were picked up on the other side ofthe rails. The horse was valued at £20 byMr. Taylor.

Caroline Chisholm

I turned green with envy when, earlier this week, I saw a photo on Facebook of my GeniMate, Sharon Brennan, posing beside Caroline Chisholm's grave in Billing Road Cemetery outside London.

http://image1.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2008/247/27034110_122057179528.jpg

Sharon's subsequent blog post told of why Caroline Chisholm was important to her and why she made the journey to Billing Road. I made a comment that  Caroline Chisholm  was important to me because her interview with my convict ancestor, Patrick Curry, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1848. Having access to this interview gives me an insight into Paddy's life on Camden Park Estate that I would not otherwise have had.

As my blog has a few more readers than it had when I posted the following to a Carnival of Genealogy in August 2010; I will repost it here for new readers to see.

The Gift of the Gab

My ancestor Patrick "Paddy" Curry as an Irishman from Limerick probably had the gift of the gab but, as he died 130 years ago, I never had the chance to meet him.

Fortunately some of Patrick's words were preserved in a Sydney Morning Herald article from Thursday 8 June 1848. This and many other great stories can be found at The National Library Of Australia's Trove website.

For this 21st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy I am posting a copy of that article in which Paddy demonstrates that he had The Gift of the Gab.

Sydney Morning Herald 8 June 1848

 This post has been prepared for  the 21st edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture

The Gift of the Gab

My ancestor Patrick "Paddy" Curry as an Irishman from Limerick probably had the gift of the gab but, as he died 130 years ago, I never had the chance to meet him.

Fortunately some of Patrick's words were preserved in a Sydney Morning Herald article from  Thursday 8 June 1848. This and many other great stories can be found at The National Library Of Australia's Trove website.

For this 21st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy I am posting a copy of that article in which Paddy demonstrates that he had The Gift of the Gab.

Sydney Morning Herald 8 June 1848

 This post has been prepared for  the 21st edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture

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.



.

A renovation with conviction

Adrian Nesbitt revisits his former family home to trace and connect with a dark past. I wonder if Adrian's ancestors knew my convict ancestor, Patrick Curry, who lived in the same area at the same time.

A renovation with conviction

Posted using ShareThis

Australia Day - 26th January

Our annual national day, Australia Day, is a public holiday that encourages us to reflect on what it is to be an Australian and about life in our beautiful land downunder and to rejoice in living in The Lucky Country.


The First Fleet of 11 ships that carried about 1500 people, half of whom were convicts, arrived in Sydney Harbour on 26 January 1788, and it is on this day every year that Australia Day is celebrated.

I wonder what our ancestors thought as they left their homes in England, Ireland and Scotland to sail to this distant and strange land. A dozen of my ancestors were convicts transported to Australia for petty crimes, some were young Irish lads and lasses, bounty (assisted) immigrants, who left home during the time of The Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840’s. A couple were free settlers, people who traveled to Australia of their own free will in the hope of a better life.

Yesterday I spoke to a distant cousin, a 75 year old Scottish lady, who emigrated with her family in 1953. When they left Scotland food rationing was still in place; on arrival in Australia they could not believe the quality and quantity of food they were served at their first family lunch, she thought she was in heaven. She said that her parents never regretted leaving Scotland as they wanted a "better life" for their children and she felt that this goal had been achieved.

My 3rd great grandfather, Patrick Curry from Limerick in Ireland , arrived as a convict on the Hooghley in 1825. On 8th June 1848 The Sydney Morning Herald published an interview by Caroline Chisholm with Patrick on the advantages of emigration. Patrick felt that he was most fortunate to be in New South Wales.

1848 'Advertising', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 8 June, p. 3. , viewed 17 Mar 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12902254