Still Chasing Rev. Ryan

The highlight of our Norfolk Island visit has been finding sites related to our GGGU ncle, Michael Harrington Ryan, Catholic Chaplain from 1848-1852 in the second convict settlement.

The Catholic Clergyman's Residence where Michael would have lived can be found at 10 Quality Row in the World Heritage Area. 

I was also fortunate to find some more biographical information on Michael in the Island's Research Centre. I am fascinated by this man and am always on the hunt for more stories of his life.

The Catholic Clergyman's Residence is being restored

If only I could travel back in time and visit Michael here

View from the lookout

The Catholic Chapel (now demolished) where Michael would have worked and worshipped 

Site of the Catholic Chapel near the gaol

This could be a scene from 1850

An Irish Jig

 When genealogists find some new amazing fact relating to a family member they often break into a "Genealogy Happy Dance".

This morning I had cause to perform, as my version of a Happy Dance, an Irish Jig.

While cataloguing the books for my local Family History Group and uploading them to the Group's Librarything account I came across this title : With hearts and hands and voices : the centenary history of the Sacred Heart Parish, Hamilton 1884-1984

I knew that my Irish 3x Great-Uncle Michael Harrington Ryan had been involved with that parish in Australia but not in the years mentioned in the book's title. I still had a browse and found that there was a section on the early history of the Catholic Church in Newcastle so I consulted the index and then found mentions of Michael in the text.

With hearts and hands and voices

I have been researching this chap for quite a number of years and built up a collection of data but the only image I had of him was a fuzzy one I found on Trove in a large group of reverend gentlemen.

When I reached page 67 I realised that I needed to grab my dancing shoes for there on the page was a  photo of Michael. While the photo is fuzzy it's a close up that gives me a good idea of Michael's appearance, I'm delighted to have this at last.

The author of this book that includes many photos, has acknowledged the collections from which he gathered the photos but he does not indicate to which collection the individual images belong. I'm now inspired to search for a clearer copy of the image.

Saving Reverend Ryan

 On Saturday I shared the story of Michael Harrington Ryan, my GGGUncle who was a pioneer priest in Australia, at The Society of Australian Genealogists event : In search of ... My Irish Ancestor.

My Presentation - Slide 1

Although I have been researching my Ryan line since the 1980s it was not until 2012 that serendipity found Michael for me, I was immediately captivated by his story. In my presentation I talked about my discovery of Michael and the chase to find and verify his life story. I shared a few highlights of Michael's life, read excerpts from some of his letters and showed how and where I saved all of the information I have gathered on Michael.

When I volunteered to do this talk I said that I would do a 30 minute presentation, in retrospect I should have been brave and put my hand up for 60 minutes and given a more sedate and complete presentation. Having sat through so many boring presentations about other people's ancestors over the years I was concerned about spoiling the day with a lengthy, tedious talk.

While I tried to mention the many resources I have used in tracking Michael and his family and learning about his life and times I neglected to share a proper list for attendees. The following list details some of the places visited and resources used in my hunt for Michael.  Although incomplete it may be of use to other researchers. It clearly demonstrates that you can't do it all online. 

As for the future I will continue to chase Michael and try to get access to the Catholic Diocesan Archives in Sydney, Hobart, Maitland/Newcastle and Westminster (England) which I suspect have many letters to and from Michael and accurate details of his postings. As these repositories aren't too fond of family historians I will need to spin a good yarn to see their files.

Visits

• Athlone, Westmeath - County Westmeath Local Studies http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/ourservices/library/explorewestmeath/localstudies/ 
• Castletown Geoghegan, Westmeath - St Michael's Church and Cemetery
• Castletown Geoghegan, Westmeath  - Old Cemetery
• Dublin - EPIC Ireland https://epicchq.com/
• Dublin - National Library of Ireland https://www.nli.ie/
• Kilbeggan,Westmeath  - Cemetery
• Lagacurry, Ballyliffin,  Donegal - Doagh Famine Village http://www.doaghfaminevillage.com/
• Omagh, Tyrone - Ulster American Folk Park
  https://www.nmni.com/our-museums/ulster-american-folk-park/
• Canberra, ACT - National Library of Australia https://www.nla.gov.au/ 
• Kingswood, NSW - NSW State Archives and Records https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/ 
• Sydney, NSW - State Library of New South Wales https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/

Books and Journal Articles

• Abbott, Vincent  A Parish called Westmeath.  Mullingar,Westmeath :Vincent Abbott, n.d.
• All Hallows' College centenary celebrations at Sydney and Bathurst. [Australia : Catholic Church], 1942 
• Atkinson, Alan Camden : farm and village life in early New South Wales. Oxford University Press, 1988
• Birt, Henry Norbert Benedictine pioneers in Australia. London : Polding, 1911?
• Camden pioneer register : 1800-1920 3rd ed. Camden, N.S.W. : Camden Area Family History Society, 2008.
• Campbell, Harold The Diocese of Maitland, 1866-1966. Maitland, N.S.W. : Th. Dimmock Printers, 1966. 
  
• Clerke, Ron The churchyard cemetery of St John's Camden. Wollongong [N.S.W.] : Illawarra Family History Group, 1989.
• Condon, Kevin  The Missionary College of All Hallows, 1842-1891.  Dublin : All Hallows College, 1986. (Also available online: http://allhallows.ie/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/The-Missionary.pdf)
• Connell, Gretta  Tracing Your Westmeath Ancestors, Glenageary, Co. Dublin Flyleaf Press, 2012.
• Coyne, J. Stirling The Scenery and antiquities of Ireland. London : Mercury Books, 2003
• Crow, Vincent  A history of St Mary's Cathedral Schools. Sydney : Christian Brother's High School, St. Mary's Cathedral, 1984.
  
• Dunleavy, John All Hallows College, Dublin: The alma mater of the church in Victoria.   Footprints, Vol. 28, No. 1, Jun 2013: 20-25
• Grenham, John Tracing your Irish ancestors : the complete guide. 4th ed. Dublin : Gill & Macmillan, [2012]
• Gwynne, Aubrey Father John Joseph Therry : founder of the Church in Australia. Dublin : "Irish Messenger" Office for St. Joseph's Young Priests' Society, 1924
• McCormack, Stan Kilbeggan Past and Present. Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath?] : Stan McCormack, Jim Remembering All Hallows College. Maynooth:St Pauls Publishing, 2017
• McCullough, Joseph A Pocket History of Ireland. Dublin : Gill & Macmillan, 2010.
• McDevitt, John Father Hand: founder of All Hallows Catholic College for the foreign missions : the story of a great servant of God. Dublin : M.H. Gill & Son, 1885. 
• McIntyre Ireland townlands 1901. CDRom. [Spit Junction, N.S.W.?] : PR Ireland, c2009.
  
• Moore, Edmund With Dr Polding to Australia. Downside Review Volume: 32 issue: 1, page(s): 69-92, published: March 1, 1913
• Moran, Patrick Francis History of the Catholic Church in Australasia from authentic sources. Sydney : Oceanic Publishing Co., [189-?]. 
• O'Donoghue, Frances The Bishop of Botany Bay : the life of John Bede Polding, Australia's first Catholic Archbishop. London ; Sydney : Angus & Robertson, 1982.
• O'Donnell, Thomas Centenary of All Hallows College. Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review , Dec., 1942, Vol. 31, No. 124 (Dec., 1942), pp 429-437.
• O'Farrell, Patrick St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, 1821-1971. [Surry Hills, N.S.W.] : Devonshire Press for St. Mary's Cathedral, 1971.
• Reid, Richard Not just Ned : a true history of the Irish in Australia. Canberra : National Museum of Australia Press, 2011.
  
• Records of All Hallows College, Dublin (as filmed by the AJCP) : [M871-874], 1842-1956. [Microform] Canberra : Australian Joint Copying Project, [19--].
• Reid, Richard Farewell My Children : Irish Assisted Emigration to Australia 1848-1870. Spit Junction, NSW : Anchor Books Australia, 2011.
  
• Sheehan, Jeremiah  South Westmeath : farm and folk. Dublin : Blackwater, c1978.
• Sheehan, Jeremiah  Westmeath, as others saw it :being excerpts from the writings of 35 authors, who recorded their observations on various aspects of Westmeath and its people, from 900 AD to the present day. Avila, Moate, Westmeath : J. Sheehan, 1982
• Sheehy, P J Archpriest Therry : the pioneer priest who founded the first Catholic Church in Australia, October 29, 1821. Melbourne : A.C.T.S., [1921]
• Waldersee, Catholic Society in Australia 1788-1860. Sydney : Sydney University Press, 1974.
• Woods, James  Annals of Westmeath, ancient and modern. Sealy, Bryers & Co.: Dublin, 1907.
• Wynne, Roger From Portland Bay to Moreton Bay. Australian Catholic Record, Vol 53 July 1976. pp275-284. 

Online

• All Hallows Missionary College http://www.allhallows.ie/missionary.php
  
• British Library  https://www.bl.uk/
• British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
• FindMyPast Irish and English newspapers https://www.findmypast.com.au/
• Geniaus' Family Site  http://www.geniaus.net/index.php
• Google Maps  https://www.google.com/maps/
• Immigration Place Australia https://immigrationplace.com.au/
• Irish Genealogy.ie  https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/
• Irish Ancestors https://www.johngrenham.com/
• Michael Ryan letters at AJCP  https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2703075310/view 
• The National Archives, Ireland  https://www.nationalarchives.ie/
• The National Archives, UK   https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
• NSW State Records and Archives https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/
• Patrick O'Farrell  1933-2003  http://www.patrickofarrell.com/
• Society of Australian Genealogists www.sag.org.au
• State Library of NSW https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/
• Tasmanian Archives and Heritage  https://www.libraries.tas.gov.au/archive-heritage/Pages/default.aspx
• Trove Australia (Nearly 200 items from all categories ie not limited to newspapers) trove.nla.gov.au
• Wikipedia  https://www.wikipedia.org/
• Worldcat  https://www.worldcat.org/

A Particularly Amiable Man

One day I hope to write the story of my 3xGreat-Uncle, Michael Harrington Ryan, elder brother of my Great-Great Grandmother, Bridget Ryan.  

In the interim, as well as references from books and journals found in archives, I have a Private List on Trove where I keep details of newspaper articles that mention Michael. This list currently has 161 references that provide a reasonable timeline of this pioneer priest's appointments and movements. However until today, when I decided to venture away from the Newspaper and Gazette Category on Trove, I didn't know much about Michael's character. 

With half an hour up my sleeve I decided to try my luck in the Magazines and Newsletters Category on Trove so I entered this term, "michael harrington ryan",in the search box and was rewarded with two hits.

My Search

The first of these articles (which are instantly available online) only confirmed that Michael had worked at Mayfield. 

The article from 1933, written by W.E.D. (an ex-pupil of St Mary's School), gives a insight into the character of Michael Harrington Ryan when he worked at St. Mary's Church, Newcastle. It is a nugget of Geneagold. 

2016, The Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel : the official organ of the diocese of Maitland National Library of Australia, Canberra viewed 20 August 2020 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-305925577

My next task is to search in this publication using variants of Michael's name in case there are more mentions of him. I was just so thrilled to find this article that I had to share it immediately.

Trove Tuesday - A lightbulb moment

This morning while listening to a webinar on Government Employees hosted by State Records NSW I had a lightbulb moment.

For several years I have been interested in my Great-Great Grandmother's brother, Rev. Michael Harrington Ryan. I have previously searched Trove and British and Irish newspapers for mention of this chap and have looked at resources in The National Library of Australia and the National Library in Dublin, Ireland. I have gathered quite a bit of information on his life but, as one day I want to tell his story, I want more.

When John Cann was talking about Government Records in the webinar I recalled that M H Ryan had some Government appointments to penal colonies under the jurisdiction of NSW and gaols in NSW. John mentioned that keyword searches in Trove will return results from the NSW Government Gazette. Now I haven't done any Trove searches on the good Reverend since the Gazettes became available. So what did I do? I ditched my task of editing and distributing minutes of a Family History Group and fired up Trove.

I have tagged several articles in Trove with M H Ryan's name but I prefer Lists because I find them easier to find through searches. As I didn't have a list I set up a new one for Michael Harrington Ryan which I have made Private for the moment. I was then ready to search.

Was the hunt successful?

It certainly was although I had to use a range of search terms to find articles. I had previously found reports of some of these events in Trove newspapers but many of the results I found today are news to me and will add more to the story of my great (x2) grand-uncle.

Below are just some of the snippets I found relating to Michael Harrington Ryan.

1872 'Index page', New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), 31 December, p. xxvi. , viewed 27 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225844670

1877 'Government Gazette Notices', New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), 30 January, p. 451. , viewed 27 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223127406

1877 'Government Gazette Appointments and Employment', New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), 27 July, p. 2869. , viewed 27 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223536564

1879 'Government Gazette Appointments and Employment', New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), 4 February, p. 473. , viewed 27 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223657987

1879 'Government Gazette Appointments and Employment', New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), 7 February, p. 528. , viewed 27 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223658141

Government Gazette Appointments and Employment (1883, July 20). New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), p. 3903. Retrieved August 27, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221655477

1887 'In the Supreme Court of New South Wales. ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION.', New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), 15 November, p. 7682. , viewed 27 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219929328

Speedy service

Last time I ordered some certificates from the NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages I aired my frustrations on social media because they took about seven weeks to arrive.

I am pleased to report that the death certificate for my ancestor, Michael Harrington Ryan, that I ordered on 14 March arrived as a .pdf file in my inbox just four days later on 18 March. What a quick turnaround! 

What is especially pleasing is that this document contains an image from the original register entry. The certificates I have received over the past few years have contained  typed transcriptions from the original registers. Reverting to images of the original entries removes the likelihood of entries being mistyped from the sometimes poor handwriting in the registers. It is, of course, up to us now to correctly decode the sometimes illegible writing.

Congratulations NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages on your speedy service and  new document format.

Trove Tuesday - In which the holy man is shelved

Having written about my wayward ancestors in previous Trove Tuesday posts I thought I should write something about an ancestor who was an upstanding member of the community. The Rev Michael Harrington Ryan, one of the first priests ordained in Australia, was a good candidate for such a post.

I entered the search term, Michael Harrington Ryan, into the Trove search box and was rewarded with some results that I had not previously seen. One of these was an obituary for a Mrs Mary Ellen Mallon who was unknown to me; I read through this long article with interest until I got to this sentence "At the suggestion of her uncle (Rev. Father Michael Harrington Ryan), then resident priest at Carcoar, she was sent as a boarder to Carcoar Convent...". This stopped me in my tracks, if the lady who was the subject of this obituary was Father Ryan's niece then she would have to be related to me. I did a quick check of my database and found no one by the name of Mallon there and only one person with Mary Ellen's maiden name of Rigney.

I had intended on having an early night but I just had to find out how Mary Ellen fitted in to my family. Using the resources I have on hand including the New South Wales BDM indexes, Trove (where I found a raft of obits for this upstanding Catholic family),Ancestry (The Carcoar Cemetery Index was especially useful) and Find My Past I started sleuthing. I will have to buy a couple of certificates to confirm this but I am fairly confident that Mary Ellen is a descendant of my Irish ancestors Thomas Ryan and Ellen Harrington from Westmeath whose daughter, Bridget Ryan, is my 2x Great-Grandmother. So Mary Ellen Mallon (nee Rigney) is the daughter of Bridget's sibling, Annie Ryan whose existence I was unaware of until last night. Mary Ellen RIGNEY is my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

I found so much information last night and so many potential cousins that, when I got to bed I just couldn't sleep. This Ryan mob, who I have been researching for 25 years, have been so hard to track down and just one small sentence in The Freeman's Journal on Trove opened a door for me.

And what of the Rev Michael Harrington Ryan? I have shelved his story for another day.

Mary Ellen's obituary can be found here: 1931 'Obituary.', Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), 19 November, p. 33, viewed 27 August, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118079942.

Fab Find in Forbes

For our homeward journey from Congress in Adelaide we took the long way round. We had never visited the outback City of Broken Hill but had been wanting to do so for a number of years. Taking this route through western New South Wales provided, in addition to some sightseeing, an opportunity to visit a few cemeteries.

In Broken Hill I looked for my grandmother's sister's grave but could not find her listed in the Broken Hill Cemetery database even though I have her funeral notice indicating that she was buried in the Catholic Section of that Cemetery. I did, however, locate a few graves of more distant relatives in that cemetery.

My Great-Grandparent's headstone in Cobar

Our next stop was Cobar where I wanted to get better quality images of my Duncan Great-Grandparents' grave. This we accomplished early in the morning after we had been repelled by the over 100f. temperatures on the afternoon we arrived. I also wanted to locate Elsinore, the property my grandparents, my  mother and the family lived on in the 1920s and 1930s. The staff at Great Cobar Heritage and Visitor Information Centre went out of their way to help us but we were unable to locate Elsinore on maps in the Centre. I was pleased to see that there was a huge photo of my Granddfather's catering truck in one of the displays and in another display a large photo of Gertrude Pusell, another of my grandmother's sisters.


About another 300 km down the road was Forbes. I knew that my Great-Great-Grandmother, Bridget Curry (Nee Ryan), was buried in the cemetery there and wanted to visit and take a photo. While we were travelling along I discovered on the internet that The Forbes Family History Group was open yesterday, Wednesday; we did not tarry as I was keen to visit the group to see if they could direct me to the grave and hopefully give me some other information on the family. I have never been able to locate any information about Bridget's family or her immigration as there are so many girls named Bridget Ryan in the NSW immigration records.

Volunteers at work - Forbes Family History Group

 As I gingerly opened the door of the centre I was greeted by laughter and happy chatter; tiptoeing into the room I found around ten people working away at tables and computers. They appeared to be engrossed in indexing tasks. I was greeted warmly and within ten minutes a volunteer, Jan, had found the grave location in their cemetery index. Another volunteer was concurrently looking in other files for me; she found an obituary for Bridget. At first I wasn't too impressed as I already had an obituary from the Sydney newspaper that didn't tell me much; then I stopped and read the proffered obituary; it was a more detailed one from the local, Forbes Times. I let out a squeal.

Bridget Curry (nee Ryan) Obituary

For twenty years I had been trying to find out more about Bridget and this scrap of paper gave me some wonderful leads. It listed Bridget's children confirming their places of residence in 1911. The best piece of information was that she had a brother who was a pioneer priest in New South Wales. From using the clues supplied in this article I have, in a couple of hours, found so much about the interesting life of Rev Michael Harrington Ryan and also that Bridget had a sister who had emigrated to the Colony with her husband Peter Birmingham in 1842. Once I can get to some libraries and use print resources I should be able to add more branches and leaves to my tree. I also need to go through the microfilm of The Forbes Times to see if I can get a clearer copy of the document.

Forbes Family History Group

I was so impressed with the collection at The Forbes Family History Group; it isn't a collection that is rich in published print resources, its strength is in the huge collection of locally prepared indexes and files that were stored around the walls in A4 folders. I am ever so grateful to the volunteers in that group who have devoted many hours to developing these local resources.

I cannot express how thankful I am for the work done by The Forbes Family History Group.