Can you please support each of these details...where have you found this information -
"....Mary Ann (Molly) left Ireland for Australia in 1841 either aboard the Mary Nixon or Portland..."
How have you identified the arrival details of the Mary BUCKLEY who married James WATSON, 1842?
Not sure what you mean by verified the details, other than just by passenger mainfests? If there is another step I should be taking I'd be keen to find out so I can double check.
"... I know he (James WATSON) was born in Montrose, Scotland...."
Where does this birthplace come from?
James' burial paperwork says that he was born in Montrose, Scotland
Can you please list the children born to James WATSON and Mary BUCKLEY.
Catherine 1845-1875, Alexander 1847-1847, David1848-1848, Isabella 1850-1902, James 1852-1935 (my ancestor), Ellen 1854-1984, Kilner 1856-1940 and Henry 1860-1921
If James died, 1861, and wife Mary died 1864, any small children would have been brought up by.....who?
That I don't know. I hadn't considered that before. I'll see what I can find.
The answers for below questions come from oral history from family.
"..Mary Ann Buckleys born in Cork in 1821."
Where does this birthplace come from?
".... I know that she came over with her brother James...."
How do you know this?
".......and (I know) that she apparently met her husband James Watson on the ship over".
"....He (James WATSON) was crew "
Oral history (from my second cousins father-in-law who is a direct decendant of Mary Ann and James), we know that Mary Ann was actually called 'Molly', which was a common nickname for Mary at the time. She met James Watson on the ship (the Mary Nixon) over from Ireland; she travelled to Australia with her brother, James Buckley. Her death certificate in Hobart (from tuberculosis) just lists her birth place as Ireland, but the passenger lists say she and her brother were from Cork.
Family history also says that James worked first as a ship hand and sailed to the East Indies several times before becoming a shipwright in Tasmania. I know his sister Charlotte came over at some time and married Henry William Wigmore, port master of Port Sorell.