Hi All
Thank you all for the advice re Census and Griffiths Valuation and Townland info.
Yes the 1901 Census may shed some additional light but I suspect the mother and certainly the father were deceased by around that time. I have no knowledge of any other family members who may have still been in Ireland.
I am not too sure about a 'James Nixon' though, but maybe the name John could be corrupted in written form to 'James'. Just a thought. Otherwise he may well be a distant relative of interest.
I have tried to track Henry's brother John through US records but without information concerning timing of arrival in USA and vessel name plus port of arrival its a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. US records appear to be quite fragmentary.
John's military record with the Royal Artillery (if it has survived) may be the key to tracing the family further in the historical record.
I have found a wealth of information on Henry once he is in NSW - railway salary history card, Supreme court records for a divorce in 1889, newspaper clippings in 1889 and 1900, letters to a local council and to the editor of a major newspaper. His life here in NSW is covered for virtually every decade from 1875 until his death in 1932. Enough detail for a major article with a local historical society in fact.
Our National Library has recently digitised major newspapers in all Australian capital cities until the 1950s so tracing family details from 19th to 20th Centuries using that resource has become very easy. There are often articles published on Ireland obtained from Irish and English newspapers of the day.
Cheers
