Finns of Tipperary - Bridget, John and Honora (Stuck!)

[Kate-Birchtree]

I've reached a point where I need to ask for some help, and I'm hoping someone might be able to help me break down this wall a little...

I'm trying to track down the FINN family, who emigrated from Tipperary at either county level, or possibly town level. They were quite possibly born there, though Ancestry online family tree lore has suggested a possible (unsourced) birthplace of Cork for Bridget...

So far, we know that John & Honora FINN and daughter Bridget FINN emigrated to South Australia aboard the Stamboul in 1858 (see publicly available passenger list: https://www.archives.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/831671/GRG35_48_1_58-1_Stamboul.pdf).

I've tried tracing the family in Ireland, and have so far turned up almost nothing useful or convincing enough to keep following. (I'm pretty new to Irish research, so I realise I may be making errors or missing something obvious...) Unfortunately, Bridget was born (and parents were married) pre-civil registration.

1) I've tried searching the different name/nickname variants for each person, including wildcards and first initials, and Latinised name variants: e.g. Bedelia, Biddy, Brigit, Delia, etc for Bridget; Honora(h), Hanora(h), Nora(h), Norry, Hanna(h), Joanna(h), Jane, etc for Honora. I've also searched under known Finn surname variants. I've also tried searching within Cork, with similarly uncompelling results.

2) The closest match I turned up was for a family from Tipperary (John Finn & Mary Gorman, marr. 1847; daughter Bridget born 1848). I wondered if Honora was a middle name, or an outlier alternative name variant, for Mary. But this family emigrated to Victoria by about 1850 (+/-) and continued living in/having children in Victoria until the late 1800s.

Is there anybody who can help nudge me in the right direction with this one?


See further details about the family below:

Bridget FINN

• The passenger list gives Bridget an age of 5 at the time of emigration (therefore a year of birth of about 1853). Per later records, it's likely she was born in 1850/1851 at emigration.
• Australian records have Bridget with a middle name of Ann(e), but there's nothing about this on the passenger list.
• Bridget was married in 1866 to Joseph Robertson BAMPTON (FindMyPast record for those with a subscription: https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=ANZ%2FAU%2FSA%2FBMD%2FM%2F0000083401%2F1) and her age was recorded as 16 years, with a birth year of 1850. FindAGrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99793835/bridget-ann-bampton) has her birth year as 1851. It does seem unlikely she was married at 13, so the c. 1850 year of birth seems far more plausible!
• Bridget died in 1883, with an age estimate of 32 (i.e. year of birth 1851), and was buried at Cheltenham Cemetery (likely in the old "Woodville Catholic Cemetery" section. Site now redeveloped.
• There are only scant references to Bridget (re: her passing) on Trove, and nothing with further details about her life.

John Finn

• Per the passenger list, John was a labourer, and 43 years old at the time of emigration (giving him a birth year of about 1815). Not sure how accurate this is - there are some strange dates going on with this family!
• John died by 1898 (Honora was a widow at her death in October 1898).
• John seems to have fallen off the face of the earth between arriving in SA in 1858 and his wife's death - no death records for SA, including surname variations like FINNIS. I'm currently searching interstate records, in case he went to find work and died there, but nothing definitive has been narrowed down so far.

Honora (Nora[h]) FINN

• Honora (per passenger list) was about 32 at emigration (birth year of approx. 1826), but her death record from SA Births, Deaths and Marriages (https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=ANZ%2FAU%2FSA%2FBMD%2FD%2F0000541345) has her age at death as 88 years, and her year of birth as 1810! I'd imagine therefore that she and John were married much earlier than Bridget's birth in 1850 (though not necessarily, and of course unless it was a second marriage for one or both parents) and that perhaps they had other children before her.
• Honora seems to have been known as "Nora(h)". She died in 1898 as a widow (spouse: John Finn) in Queenstown, and was also buried at "Woodville Catholic Cemetery" (site since redeveloped).