Hi Peter, lots of questions to answer here and I am very interested in carrying on this thread so I can fill out more of our family tree, and we can help each other fill in the missing pieces.
I don’t know the exact location of the farmhouse where Thomas Maher Jnr lived in Takapu Porirua but I have photos of it and Thomas and his Buick, from when my great grandfather visited him in 1932.
I have made a circular tree of all the members of the Maher/Meagher family that I have found so far including birth and death dates etc. Patrick and Mary are at the centre of the tree, it is in PDF format so will I see if I can send it to you via a PM.
I have found local members of John Maher and Avis Dunstan’s family near where I live, so I will finish their section of the tree as I get time. John Maher was the policeman for Taumarunui starting 16th Dec 1903.
Of course this is from Thomas Meagher Senior’s side the tree, Catherine’s (his sister) part of the tree is still completely blank at this stage.
I also have four photos mentioning Ngaio and Khandallah and photos of a place called “The Moorings” (taken in 1924 and 1926), where my great grandfather (James) and grandmother (Emily) used to visit regularly. I would really like to know who they were visiting there.
I have been away for six months doing a bicycle tour of England, Ireland and Western Europe. I cycled up to Graystown – Co Tippery from Fethard where I was staying in Ireland, which is where Patrick and Mary lived when Michael and Thomas were born . I also spent a couple of hours in Killenaule with an historian who emailed me the following:
(Start of email from Killenaule historian)
Marriage of Patrick Meagher and Mary Dwyer
Two possible entries for this
1st December 1838 between Pat Maher and Mary Dwyer (Boreheen) and
24th February 1840 between Patt Maher (Tullarone) and Mary Dwyer (Boreheen).
I would guess the first is the correct one as the second takes place after the birth of Tom Maher but I'll give you both just in case.
See photo's pat_mary_marriage_1838_or_1840, pat_mary_marriage_1838_orig and pat_mary_marriage_1840_orig.
Children of Patrick Meagher and Mary Dwyer.
There was no sign of any children called either Richard or Mary with Patrick/Mary as parents so I can't shed any light on the identity of the couple. The following are the baptism dates for the other children.
Tom - 8th February 1840
Michael - 29th Sept 1841
Catherine - 3rd March 1844
James - 5th May 1846
John - 22nd Jan 1849
Judith - 14th March 1852.
Photo's from the Index and the original entry for all the above are on the drive.
Possible Parents of Patrick Meagher
I checked the records for any Patrick Meagher or Maher born in 1814 and found one
Patt Maher bapt 24th Feb 1814. Father William Maher, Mother Julia Manning (see photos patt_maher_bapt1 and patt_maher_bapt1_orig)
No other children with seemingly the same parents however there was a Judith Maher born in 1816 to a William Maher and a Judith Hannin (see judith_maher_bapt_1816_orig), I wouldn't be surprised if Manning and Hannin are the same woman.
There's a couple of other Patrick Mahers born in the surrounding years in 1801 (see patt_maher_bapt1) and 1816 (see pat_maher_bapt2 and pat_maher_bapt2_original).
Of course your Pat Maher may only have come to the Parish later on in life so wasn't baptised here.
Parents of Mary Dwyer
A bit more luck with Mary's parents. From her death cert we get the names Maurice Dwyer and Johanna Dee and there are a number of entries for these two in the Baptism records.
There's no sign of Mary's baptism in 1807 (or any other year) but we do have some possible siblings.
James born 1815 (mother listed as Jude Dea)
Bridget born 1816 (mother listed as Joanna Dea)
John born 1819 (mother listed as Joanna Dee)
Catherine born 1834 (mother listed as Jude Dee)
The names James, John and Catherine are of course repeated in the next generation.
The family's location (Boreheen) for the baptism of Catherine is the same as listed for Mary in (both of) the Marriage listings mentioned above.
I forgot to check if there was a marriage entry for Maurice and Johanna listed but given there's no baptism record for Mary It's possible they were already married and had at least one child before moving to the Parish. I will check the Marriage listings next time I'm looking.
(End of email from Killenaule historian)
