REUNION 2017 - DESCENDANTS OF JOHN O'BRIEN AND DEBORAH CAHILL

[glove]

Hi Fellow Researchers,
I am looking for the descendants of John O'Brien and Deborah Mary Cahill who were married in Tralee, County Kerry in 1882. The registry indicates that both fathers were named John.

According to John's death certificate he was born in Killarney (not able to establish a John O'Brien born Killarney, Kerry Ireland) whilst Deborah was born in Aldershot England (no records for Deborah's birth due to the bombings of England during WW11). They arrived in Queensland about 1883. From the birth certificates of their children, John, appears to have worked for the Central Railway for a time. John died in Rockhampton Queensland in 1934 whilst Deborah died in Mount Morgan Queensland in 1914.

Children born to the marriage were: John Joseph 1884 - never married - d 1885: Edward 1885 - m 1913 Mary Ann Ahern - d 1963; Joseph 1887 - m 1918 Lillian Jane Allen - d 1950: Mary 1889 - m 1908 David Black Parsons - d 1959: John Patrick 1890 - m 1917 Maud Fleming - d 1981: William James 1891 - never married - d 1968: Deborah Isabella 1893 - never married - d 1893: Alexander Norman 1894 - m 1920 Lillian May Allenby - d 1989: Sydney Smith 1899 - m 1923 Amy Beatrice Bell - d 1970.

If anyone has any information on the above people, it would be much appreciated as the family of Edward is trying to organise a reunion in 2017.

Cheers from Jenny

[aghadowey]

Deborah was born in Aldershot England (no records for Deborah's birth due to the bombings of England during WW11).
I think you'll find that vital records (birth, marriage, death) were NOT destroyed during WWII bombings 

Have you checked here yet?
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Link to previous topic-
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=501762.0

[glove]

Hi aghadowey
According to the researcher I hired, the records were destroyed during the bombing raids: a lot of money for no results. As for the freebdm search I had already tried that quite so time ago hence the procurement of a researcher. In response to the rootschat you listed, I had posted them. With this last post I was hoping to find descendants in Australia.

I have searched ancestry but to no avail and unfortunately John and Julia would have come to England after the 1851 census and left before the 1861 census as Deborah's sister was born and baptised in County Kerry in 1860.

Thanks for the reply. It was much appreciated.

Jenny

Cheers from Jenny

[aghadowey]

Some records such as military ones were destroyed- perhaps that is where you've gotten confused?

"A document held at the National Archives (reference WO32/21769) lists the various collections of documents that were destroyed in the fire. This document has been digitised and can be downloaded (small fee) from the Discovery part of the National Archives’ website."

[glove]

Hi aghadowey
John and Julia, Deborah's parents were not military as far as I am aware. On the baptism certificates I have found in Kerry Ireland, John was listed as a farmer, on some but not all. The only reason I can think of why they were in England is due to the potato famine and they would have arrived after the birth of their son Maurice who was born in 1854. I did however come across a newspaper article about a John Cahill resident of Aldershot being fined for a dung pile that he had in his front yard. However proving that it was my John Cahill is next to impossible.

As for Deborah, I did find a Deborah but she died in Islington (I think that was where it was). As I said before, I paid a researcher in England and the report was useless. With regards to purchasing another document from England, if the docs were destroyed in a fire (probably the Arnside Warehouse) I can't see what the value of purchasing it would be if no records can be backed up to the files.

I have already decided to search for churches in the area during the time frame that she was born to see if she was baptised in England. They were Roman Catholic so that is my next port of call for Deborah. But at this stage I am more interested in finding the descendants of John and Deborah's children in Queensland as all family units have family folklore: some are stories and some turn out to be fact that can be backed up with documents.

Cheers from Jenny

[Maggsie]

Hi, picking up on the Julia I saw this record, as you didn't name the sister I got this records.
Also JohnO'Brien in Killarney.
These records are in Ancestry if you have WorldWide membership.
Kerry records are slowly being input into rootsireland and other sites.
let me know if this is the sister.
Thanks
Maggsie

Name:   Johannes O'Brien
[John O'Brien]
Baptism Age:   0
Event Type:   Baptism
Birth Date:   25 Aug 1860
Baptism Date:   26 Aug 1860
Baptism Place:   Killarney, Kerry, Ireland
Diocese:   Kerry
Father:   Newlaus O'Brien

Mother:   Catherina Hegarty



Name:   Ellen Cahill
Baptism Age:   0
Event Type:   Baptism
Birth Date:   25 Nov 1860
Baptism Date:   8 Dec 1860
Baptism Place:   Tralee, Kerry, Ireland
Diocese:   Kerry
Father:   Jeannie Cahill

Mother:   Julia Brosnan

[Maggsie]

Hi,
As well as the sister, was there a brother born 1866 Daniel?
Maggsie

[aghadowey]

I didn't say that there was a military connection- just that some military records were amongst those destroyed during WWII. However, the fact remains that all civil birth records do survive. If Deborah was born Aldershot (or anywhere else in England) it could be that her birth was registered without first name chosen or registrar got the name wrong (a Kerry accent could have been difficult for English official to understand and the parents were likely illiterate going by Deborah's marriage.
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/af1c3f7828258

I know that at the moment what you are really trying to do is organise a reunion for living descendants and have a bit of information so far. We can't post details of anyone who might still be alive but have you used resources like Trove and Google to find obiuraries, etc. that may lead to descendants of the family?

[glove]

Hi Maggsie
Yes, there was a Daniel. The known children were Maurice, Deborah, Margaret, Ellen and Daniel. Deborah and Ellen came to Australia while Margaret went to America. I actually laughed when I saw Jeannie and Julia. Although I go onto the Irish genealogy website, Ancestry has the actual documents. As for Daniel and Maurice: there is Daniel recorded as dying young and of Maurice, there a few Maurice Cahill's married in Tralee that fit his time frame. John Cahill and Julia Broshinan (different spellings), the parents, were married in Tralee in 1852. John and Deborah were living in Boherbee at the time of their marriage in 1882.

As for John, no that is not him. His parents were John O'Brien and Mary unknown. The closest I got was a John born about 4 miles from Killarney itself. Folklore says he had a sister Bridget and another sister called Mary but I can find no trace of them. As an off shoot, I purchased all of John and Deborah's children's birth certificates and found that he was employed as a labourer for the Central Railways in Queensland. Now that I have them all I will contact Qld Rail for any records of John and hopefully his birthday will be listed. Not all Qld Rail records from the time period have a birthday recorded. Previous to my purchasing all the birth certs, I couldn't contact them as I had no idea where the were stationed and the amount of John O'Brien's hired during the period is quite large so I needed the camps of where they lived to indicate that this is the John that I am searching for.

Thankyou for your interest.

Cheers from Jenny