I’m Irish – properly, to be extra exact, I’m of Irish descent as a result of I’m one of many 30% of Australians who declare Irish heritage. My DNA outcomes affirm my paper analysis – over 60% Irish ethnicity on Ancestry and Residing DNA with 72% on MyHeritage and FamilyTree DNA.
The place does all of my Irishness come from? Properly, it comes primarily from my mom’s facet of the household with a mere sprinkling from my father’s facet.
My mom’s maiden surname was O’Neill, however was Neill in Eire. Her paternal grandfather James Neill and grandmother (Annie Lowry) got here from County Carlow and emigrated to Australia on the Wistow Corridor which left London on the 30 June 1885 and arrived in Mackay, Queensland on the 22 August, 1885. Annie’s mother and father, James Lowry and Annie Walsh married in Ballinkillin on 13 August, 1855. The couple had six daughters.
Two of Annie’s sisters had already emigrated. Alice, aged 16, was the primary to depart Eire, arriving in Mackay in 1882. She was adopted two weeks later by Bridget who arrived together with her husband John Aylward. The sisters’ mother and father remained in Eire the place they died. Two different sisters emigrated to America whereas Bridget and John Aylward returned to Eire. Their daughter Alice Aylward emigrated to Australia in 1911.
My mom’s maternal grandparents had been additionally Irish. Members of the Ruddell household dribbled into Queensland over a interval of greater than thirty years. They may not have been extra totally different to the Catholics from Carlow. The Ruddells had been staunchly Protestant, various between Presbyterian and Methodist at totally different instances of their lives. The O’Neills grew to become farmers settling in a farming district whereas the Ruddells established companies, additionally in a sugar cane space – Bundaberg.
The Ruddells initially got here from County Armagh and had been labourers and farmers on very small plots of land. My nice grandfather, Thomas Ruddell, and one in all his brothers, James, joined the British Military, serving within the East Indies (James), Mauritius, Gibraltar and the Cape of Good Hope (Thomas). James was the one member of the household to stay in Eire, dying in Belfast in 1918.
The intersection of Protestant with Catholic took place by way of the wedding of Thomas Ruddell to my nice grandmother, Honora. Honora’s mother and father, Stephen Hammill and Mary Ryan, got here from County Clare and County Tipperary respectively. Each arrived in Brisbane across the similar time – about 1852, settling in what’s now Fortitude Valley.
Certainly one of my father’s Irish hyperlinks comes by way of his grandmother Annie Phillips (nee Hanlon). All that’s identified about Annie is that she got here from County Kilkenny, arriving in Brisbane in 1864 on the Basic Caulfield. She married James William Phillips and the couple lived in Bundaberg and environs for many of their lives. James Phillips’ mom was Mary Ann Lyons (later Phillips and Paulovich) from County Dublin. She arrived in New South Wales about 1840.
On my father’s paternal line, I’ve a second cousin who lives in Belfast. Invoice’s mom was from a distinguished Northern Eire household and whereas I can’t declare that facet of the household, I can declare a relationship to Invoice’s spouse as we’re fifth cousins!
Different surnames in my Irish ancestry embrace:
Curry/Currie (Tipperary); Gorman (Clare); Walsh/Welsh (Carlow, Dublin) and Pillar (Down, Armagh, Tyrone).
If these names seem in your loved ones tree, I’d love to listen to from you.
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Featured picture: Creator’s assortment, County Tipperary, 2015.
#Celebrating #Irishness #Patricks #Day #Ancestor #Discovery
