Hello everyone. I seem to have hit a bit of a wall with my search for my ancestor, a sea captain named John Ryan who was born in Kilkenny, Ireland in 1808-ish. He left Ireland but unfortunately I don't know when exactly. He went to Sydney, Australia.
In Sydney in 1841, Captain Ryan married Catherine Hennessey. He married Catherine on the same day that his younger daughter, Esther, was baptised. Catherine & John had two surviving children, Honora (born 1834) and Esther (born 1841). When Esther was only 6 weeks old they sailed from Sydney to New Zealand on the 'Sophia Pate'. Catherine apparently died in NZ though I have been unable to find any record of her death which would have been between 1841 and 1848. In NZ in 1848 Captain Ryan married Rose Ann Lennan (nee Conway) who was a widow and they went on to have at least 4 children. Captain Ryan, who at various times owned the ships 'Esther', 'Bridget' and 'Ariel' died in Auckland NZ in May 1892.
Does anyone have any suggestions of where to head next? Can I confirm where and when John Ryan was born? And what happened to Catherine? Its all a mystery, not helped of course by "John Ryan" being such a frequent name. All tips are much appreciated.
Thanks.