Patrick Farrell b.1798

[cybertracker]

Hi,

I would like to know any information on the parents of Patrick Farrell b. 1798 County Meath and d.1861 Sydney, Australia. He was a convict who travelled to Sydney on the "Royal Admiral" in 1834, went 'ticket of leave' in 1837, and was 'free' in 1839. He married a Honora Nowlan in 1847 in Sydney. He was convicted in Dublin c1833. I believe his family was Roman Catholic as later generations were devout!

Any info of Patricks past would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

John

[shanew147]

Your Patrick was born a long time before civil records started and even before nearly all of the RC parish records for Co. Meath also. You would usually require a more detailed location to start a search for records as early as this - e.g the town, townland or parish.

Do you have marriage and death certs for Patrick ?
Australian versions of these sometimes mention parents names..

see : Introduction to Irish Records
         My Ancestor came from Ireland - where do I start?

 


Shane

[cybertracker]

Thanks Shane! You have confirmed my worst fears!! 1798 was also not a good year for peace and quite there either (not a good time to bear a child!)

With respect to the marriage and death certs, they do not contain parent info.

The only other info I have came from a random search of the web and found someone had attributed him to parents named Bryan Farrell and Catherine Flood but with no citation. A location was given as Athboy, Co. Meath. Can that be perhaps confirmed?? If so, then we have a location.

John

[shanew147]

The Farrell surname is quite common so even if that particular baptism could be confirmed, it could be impossible to prove if that's your Patrick or not purely on the basis of one early record. Because the date is very early in this case and so few parishes have records going back that far you need a location and/or family details before you start - otherwise you have no way to know if any possible matches are 'yours' or not - e.g. there could be 10 other Patrick Farrells baptised in Co. Meath around the same time in parishes that only have records back to the 1830 and 40s.. with no way to find them

Maybe try contacting the owner of that tree ?
It's possible they could have some additional documentation or clues that might help verify the details, maybe from a family bible or old letters etc


Shane

[shanew147]

Have you found Australian convict records for your Patrick ?

These can often give clues. There are a few possible matches on the following website, but no good match that I see for Patrick, although this one fits a few of the details :

  Irish Convicts to New South Wales - 1788-1849

  Name : Patrick Farrell, age  20
  Rebel : No
  Ship :  Royal Admiral in 1835 (arrival in NSW?)
  Year Tried :  1834    
  Location of Trial: Dublin
  Sentence :  7 years
  Est. Year of Birth : 1815
  Native Place : Co. Westmeath   
  Crime : Stealing trunk
  Marital Status : single
  Trade or Calling : Boatman        

note : Co. Westmeath is a separate county to Meath.

There are a couple of arrivals listed on that website for the Royal Admiral, but not sure how complete that database is.


Shane
    

[cybertracker]

The answer is yes and the convict records seem to add problems.

From the NSW BMD Registry, he definitely was born 1798 and died 1861. So the record you show does not agree on the age.

Another convict record gives the following.
Name: Farrell   Patrick   
Ship:   Royal Admiral   1837   
Place of Record: Patrick Plains   GRC
                        
 Note: Ticket of leave holder aged 38. Tried in Dublin. Employed by James Bowman

This agrees with the age.

Also the following is an excerpt from a book written in Aust titled "Bumper Farrell":

"Bumper’s Great Grandfather Patrick was transported to Australia from Ireland in 1837 for stealing a pig. Born in 1798 in County Meath, he sailed on the Royal Admiral out of Dublin. Patrick could read and write and was a wheelright. After 18 months he became a free man and married Honora ‘Norah’ Nowlan who was born in 1816 in Strokestown in County Roscommon. She had arrived in Australia at age 20 as an assisted immigrant girl from the poorhouse consigned to work as a housemaid. They married in 1847 in Sydney. In 1847, son Francis was born. "

Where the 'stealing a pig' comes from, I don't know. It is also interesting that his wife was born 1816 which would suit his age being 1815 as you suggest. But the death records give us 1798!

So.....any ideas? Could he have lied about his age all his life or were the ship records wrong?

John

[shanew147]

Yesterday I looked through for any Patrick Farrell arrivals on the Royal Admiral around the mid 1830s, and the one I posted was the only one I could see...  I dont think I looked as late as 1837 though

I had a quick at at the NSW convicts database for voyages arriving carrying convicts for the Royal Admiral - the first was one in 1830, then 1833 and 1835. Details are listed for later years including 1837, but no mention of an arrival for Royal Admiral in that year..

I thought maybe convict records could pad out some clues for your Patrick, but if anything they are complicating the search..

Looks like there might be mistakes in some of the records, or details of several different Patrick Farrells are getting 'crossed'


S.

[Faza123]

Hi cyber tracker my father has also been trying to research Patrick Farrell.
His notes also show that he married honora Nolan (Nolan).
He also shows his TOL and James Bowman as his employer.
He has records from Patrick's arrival to present day but hit a wall trying to find any trace of him in Ireland.
Did you have any success.

Regards

John Farrell