John Ryan born Ireland 1808ish-died in NZ in 1892

[Carolynn]

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.

[Johnf04]

Have you bought John Ryan's death printout?

[Carolynn]

Hi John
I have his death certificate and the printout.  His place of birth is given as Kilkenny Ireland and his time in NZ as 50 years, he was 84 years old.  His mother is Catherine Ryan (nee Coleman) and his father is John Ryan who was a gardener.

[Johnf04]

Do you know his religion?

[Carolynn]

He was Catholic.

[Johnf04]

Unfortunately, the Irish National Library site's Catholic records for Kilkenny only go back to the 1820s. Have you searched on Trove, to see if he is mentioned in Australian newspapers?

[Sinann]

Is he from Kilkenny town/city or County Kilkenny?
http://registers.nli.ie/

Start dates are different for each parish so depending on which he is from his Baptisim may or may not survive.
For example.
St.Canice's in Kilkenny city start 1768 but the parish of Tullaroan in County Kilkenny doesn't start until 1843.

[Carolynn]

No luck on Trove though I had a terrific evening trawling through many of the Ryan's listed. There's some interesting reading there even though it appears the people involved are not related.

 

Unfortunately, the Irish National Library site's Catholic records for Kilkenny only go back to the 1820s. Have you searched on Trove, to see if he is mentioned in Australian newspapers?

[Carolynn]

Unfortunately this is something I don't know. I only have his death certificate with 'Kilkenny, Ireland' on it. Even his death certificate is proving to be a mystery as it lists John Ryan as having 10 children. He had two daughters by Catherine, he raised his second wife's sons (both Irish born and they sometimes used his surname) and he had four children by his second wife but there still seem to be two children unaccounted for.

Is he from Kilkenny town/city or County Kilkenny?
http://registers.nli.ie/

Start dates are different for each parish so depending on which he is from his Baptisim may or may not survive.
For example.
St.Canice's in Kilkenny city start 1768 but the parish of Tullaroan in County Kilkenny doesn't start until 1843.