Searching for origins of: MCNALLY, Catharine Christiana

[Wiggy]

 Old Thread    Please help? RANSOM Thomas 1820: MCNALLY Catharine; AMOS T: STIEGLITZ
« on: Tuesday 26 May 09 00:32 BST (UK) »    Reply with quote Modify message

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,383665.375.html
    
This thread links directly and follows on from  RANSOM, Thomas: MCNALLY,Catharine Christian thread.  here is a summary of what has gone before in our search for her.

So - looking for Catharine Christina McNally - common-law wife of Thomas Ransom - approx 1819-1829.

Suspected to be with John McNally in Sydney as mother of John born 1811
Assumed to arrive in VDL with John, as un-named wife, coming under contract with John Cummings 1816 - to PD.

1817-19?? Catharine is mother of Ann 'Ransom', fathered by Thomas Amos - no proof of this other than family history as per Leo Von Stieglitz - and we haven't found the time frame to back this up yet.  (However you don't get this family story without some historic reason - you don't just 'make this up' specially when we have evidence of a Thomas Amos being in the colonies at the time.)

Catharine is presumed to have left John in about 1818.  He seems to disappear from VDL, but John Jnr shows up in Sydney 1822 muster with another woman Ann Clemens.   (Has John gone off sealing again - he is listed somewhere as seaman.)

1st definite appearance in 1819 as un-named 'wife' - no children in evidence at this muster.
2nd definite record - birth record for Thomas McNally 1820 - Catharine listed as unmarried.
3rd definite record - Mrs Ransom donating to the Wesleyan mission 1823.
             1825 per papers - Thomas and Catharine move to Green Ponds due to 'not being married'!
4th recorded as being at Green Ponds - Royal Oak Inn during court case - 1829 - refers to her presence in 1828.
       Recorded as beneficiary and executrix of Thomas's Will 1829
5th Marriage to Frederick Stieglitz Feb 1830 hereafter known as Christina.
6th in paper receiving probate for Thomas's property - Nov 1829
         1837 Present in Martin Cash's book  as being chatelaine of Killymoon
7th named as sending exhibits to London and Paris Exhibitions  1850s.
8th named in paper at her death - (Christina Stieglitz).  On grave stone and in another paper as Catharine Stieglitz.  Aug 1857

As previously commented:
Lack of paper trail suggests she was a free woman.   
Lack of evidence of McNally marriage suggests she was common-law wife of John McNally - but, she and John both named as McNally in birth of John McNally junior - so does that make her a McNally by birth? - probably not on this evidence.   
Odd though that she signs that she is McNally, unmarried, at Thomas's birth in 1820 - (or is that just to show that the child is not John McNally's.)

Catharine does not appear in 1822 muster and we can't see evidence of children at this time either - yet!  In fact Catharine seems to be very good at 'flying under the radar' - so she is giving us some trouble.

Any help is valued

Cheers,            Wiggy

[alison2763]

Hi Wiggy Hobbs,
This is a long shot. I see you are researching the Ransom family.
My GG Grandmother was Mary Ann Angel RANSON/RANSOM/RANSOME b 22.5.1825 don't know where. She married Thomas CHANDLER { b 3.3.1816 Hastings Sussex d 10.4.1890 Sydney} on 28.2.1841 at St Lawrences Church Of England Sydney.
I can't find: birth or death or parents. Have you ever come across these people in your research?
I think Thomas may be buried at Waverley Cemetery in Sydney but have not been able to confirm this yet.
Regards
Alison

[Wiggy]

Hello Alison,

Sorry but wrong Ransom, I think.  Our interest is in Tasmania in 1814-1829. As far as we know Thomas had no other relatives in Australia - he arrived as a convict in 1791.  There was only one son and he was born in Tasmania and died there.

Good luck with your search.

Wiggy

[alison2763]

Thanks Wiggy.
Like  I said it was a long shot. She is ONE of my brick walls !
Thanks again.
Alison

[majm]

Hi Alison,

On this link http://www.nla.gov.au/ferg/ you will find digitised newspapers including ones for NSW from 1840-1845...  I found newspaper cuttings for several of my NSW forebears 1840's marriages by finding the newspaper editions for the weeks around the dates on their various certificates, and you have the date of that 1841 marriage.  I hope that's a good starting point for a search through the newspapers    ... I found all sorts of bits and pieces about the weather, the wages, the accomodation available etc... and of course the marriage announcement, which included the names of the parents of the bride.....   

Also, I think that in 1841 that "MF" church was perhaps a temporary building, on land donated by the Terry family...  I think Christ Church St Lawrence was not completed until around 1845...  my G G Gran married there in 1845...

There's lots of good NSW resources on this RChat thread too...  http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,369703.0.html

Hope this helps....

Cheers,  JM

[Wiggy]

Also Alison,

Been thinking - there was another Thomas Ransom around at the same time as ours - he was much younger and was in NSW - he appears in Index of Colonial Secretary's papers with one entry -leasing an Inn on the Hawkesbury I think  - don't know if that helps but it may give you a link.   

Wiggy

[majm]

Hi Wiggy and the Catharine team,

If you ever need to find newspapers for Tasmania in 1840-1845, here's the link for the Launceston Courier
http://www.nla.gov.au/ferg/bfull/14401436_bfull.html and
there's this for The Teetotal Advocate  http://www.nla.gov.au/ferg/bfull/14403625_bfull.html

Cheers,  JM

[majm]

Hi all

Some bits and pieces of the jigsaw puzzle...

Remember Adam AMOS, District Constable at Great Swan Port ... well apparently he had a Diary.... I have not found the Diary, but found the following mention of it "The Diary of District Constable Adam Amos shows the following information from a Muster Roll at October 19, 1823" at http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/con387.htm  The Diary - perhaps entered up daily for the Police Notes... would perhaps have information including names and events and dates .... perhaps hotel licence disputes, court appearances...

Also on the index at http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au/menu.aspx?search=2 Thomas RansomE listed as a passenger, and a Crown Servant to Mr KENT, on a voyage to PJ from Hobart departing 5 June 1819, on the "Hibernia"..

And to add to the collective knowledge of Catharine, Mrs Ransom :
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2184372?searchTerm=%22ransom%22
Sydney Gazette, 25 Aug 1825, Mrs Ransom, in VDL  showing compassion for her short-term employee, a Mrs Jane Spencer.. former wife of a Francis Spencer of Black Horse, Sydney....

EDIT TO ADD, 1825 Mr and Mrs Ransom moved to Green Pond because someone dobbed that they were not married...  Perhaps the dobber was in the know (so to write) from a base in Sydney... Jane Spencer returned to Sydney from PD early Aug 1825... her former husband won't take her back, but has set up with their children and her forner servant...    So umm, oh well, probably not advance the puzzle for Catharine..

Still searching 

JM

[Wiggy]

JM - you are an addict!

Gotta go to a meeting - but will follow up soon!

Wiggy