Week 4: Invitation to Dinner

How difficult the times for the peasants of Western Ireland in the 1880s.

Changes in the term of most Irish land tenancies had dropped from a typical 31 year lease to annual tenancies after 1850... families were frequently  forcefully evicted by (often absentee) landowners.
With stronger farm produce prices and earnings of  the 1850s and 1860s, Irish tenant farmers  agreed to pay higher rents.   Changes to world economics due to follow-on years of low world prices, bad local weather, and poor harvests after 1874 however  led to wheat being sourced from new countries, such as the United States, and with the introduction of refrigeration ships,  meat was imported into Europe from Australia, keeping  prices low for producers.

The final famine of the 1880s was largely localised to the West of Ireland.  Although it was of a far smaller scale to Great Famine, its appearance  no doubt caused widespread panic and brought refreshed memories of death and misery  to many who had witnessed the great  famine of 1845-1849.  

                       Pictures from:  1880 Famine and Distress in the West of Ireland. http://www.maggieblanck.com/Mayopages/1880s

Born to John FLANAGAN and Mary BURKE of Kilfenora, County Clare about 1826, Margaret  Flanagan was in her early 20s, she well remembered...

Margaret FLANAGAN and Michael O’MALLEY/MEALY married 23 Jan 1856 in the parish of Kilfenora, Barony of Corcomroe, Co Clare, Ireland.  Witnesses: Michael & Margaret McNamara. The priest was shown to charged $2 (pounds) to perform the ceremony. Unfortunately from a research point of veiw Church Marriage Registers did not commence until 1864. Parents and place of birth were not a requirement for documentation, however it was customary in Ireland at that time for the bride to be married in her native parish. It is reasonable then to assume Margaret was born in the Kilfenora parish (The Clare Heritage Centre).

Michael’s untimely death in December 1878, left her a widow with eight children.

 Yes, memories were painful and times were again really difficult.

Then it arrived... an invitation from her brother now living in South Canterbury, New Zealand, and a paid fare for her and four of her children. Records show the arrival of the "Ionic" which sailed from Southampton 23 April 1883, arriving Lyttleton 16 June 1883 with passengers O’MALLEY: Margaret aged 40, general servant, from Clare.

                                                                      Patrick aged 24, labourer, from Clare.

                                                                      Mary aged 23, general servant, from Clare.

                                                                      Bridget aged 22, general servant, from Clare.

                                                                      Charles aged 21, general servant, from Clare.

It is our experience from doing research that information the emigrants  gave with regard to their dates of birth were rarely accurate with discrepancies of up to 4-5 years being commonplace. This was done for a variety of reasons ie: to obtain cheaper passage, better employment opportunities, marriage prospects etc  (Clare Heritage Centre).

Margaret lived her remaining years in Christchurch, New Zealand, passing aged 86 at Nazareth House.

      
                                             Such a long, long, long way to travel to meet a dinner invitation...

 for more about Margaret http://corrinne-kiwicolleen.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/margaret-flanagan-1825-1912.html

week 3: Longivity

I had always believed longevity was not an attribute I possessed as all my close rellies ‘popped off’ by fifty.
This week’s challenge has prompted me to take a deeper and closer look at my familial life spans and  the outcome has been somewhat surprising. Using basic statistics to analyse the life-span of 46 direct line ancestors, I conclude it’s not as bad as I had first thought, but I would like to see the longer bars at the end of the scale...     

 

Closer analysis of my closest direct ancestors included parents through to great-grandparents however brings both good and not so good results; with analysis of the past 4 generations only, the mean average of life span dropped to  55.5 yrs (-6.5 yrs) on my father’s side and rose to 68 yrs (+2 years) on my mothers.

George Edward KING- father- 48yrs-heart disease
Edna Rose O’MALLEY – mother- 73yrs- chronic lung disease (emphysema-smoker)
George Henry KING- paternal grandfather- 55yrs- heart disease
Phyllis Olive GREENFIELD- paternal grandmother-57 yrs- breast cancer
Thomas Augustine O’MALLEY- maternal grandfather- 69yrs –myocardial degeneration and broncho-pneumonia
Beatrice BIRD-maternal grandmother-58yrs-heart disease and emphysemia (non-smoker)

Paternal  great-grandparents:
                        Thomas KING-79yrs- heart disease
                        Isabella MILES- 45yrs –deciduoma malignoma  (due to post-partum issues)
                        Henry GREENFIELD- 69yrs- unknown
                        Frances MOFFETT- 37 yrs –uterine cancer

Maternal great-grandparents:
                      Patrick O’MALLEY- 68yrs- carcinoma of larynx (smoker) and heart failure
                      Eileen Marianne SHERIDAN- 66 yrs- cerebral thrombosis and myocardial degeneration
                      George BIRD- 65yrs- Carcinoma of the rectum
                      Sarah TIPTON-78yrs –Myocardial degeneration

Once bringing the information together  I see heart disease is prevalent in the paternal side, whilst making itself known on the maternal side it would appear to be mostly degeneration probably due to other issues.
Lung weakness in one form or another prevails on my maternal side, and cancer in various forms from both lines.

An online test by My longevity considers 5 areas that effect longevity; surroundings, health, attitude, parental relevance, and eating...   http://www.mylongevity.com.au/Analyser.aspx?PageSection=IntroPage&Questions=9&Pool=n/a

It predicts I will live to 81ys..... that will mean I’m beaten by only  3 of my direct ancestors.

Week 2: Favourite Photo

How can one have a single favourite photo? Photographs are like children, all special in their own right, associated memories and feelings.
For this reason I have chosen my most precious photograph. It is not old; but the people, related sentiment, and reminiscences are priceless.

                                            Ray and Edna photo taken photo early 2005          
 

The first photo is my precious gem... Both depict my mother Edna Rose O’MALLEY and my step-father Raymond Henry BRETT, but when I relocated to Australia in October 2004 I purchased a voucher from ‘pixie photo’ and asked mum to get a decent photo taken of her and Ray for me.
This is the resulting photo. Never ever did I realise that within four years both would be gone.

Raymond Henry BRETT, son of Wilfred Henry BRETT and May Victoria STOW, was born 27 April 1937 in Dagenham, England. He was the second youngest of eight children. Ray set to sea quite young where he jumped ship in New Zealand early 1950s. He married Betty WEHI, and had six children; Christopher (adopted, died as a baby), Christina, Maria, Raewyn (died aged 19 due to car accident), Stephen, and Vicky, before divorcing and subsequently meeting my mother about 1975. Ray was the most significant male in my life, I considered him the closest to a father I would ever have and I loved him as such. I called him Da. Ray was a car/metal spray-painter by trade back in the days of little legislation or monitoring of occupational health and safety. Ray died unexpectedly on 11 April 2006 in Christchurch, New Zealand due to complications from a prescribed medication interacting with a occupationally compromised lung condition.

Edna Rose O’MALLEY, daughter and only live issue of Thomas Augustine O’MALLEY and Beatrice BIRD, was born 21 June 1935 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Edna had a checked life having married three times to produce four children; Corinne, John, Steven, and Ricky, before meeting Ray. I often say mum was a woman before her time; her own life experiences ensured  compassion, tolerance, and understanding of people from all walks and she was loved and respected by many in return. Always a smoker, Edna died from Chronic Respiratory Disease (emphysema) on 13 October 2008.

Mum and Da were introduced by my paternal uncle and, until ill health made it impossible, they often enjoyed  rock and roll dancing, it was always wonderful to watch them and see mum so happy.

  
Edna and Ray photo taken early 1985
       
RIP Mum and Da



Week 1: Start

A three word blog for this prompt could well be ‘where to start?’ fullstop.
Where is the start? Is it how one started? Who got one started?
Is start a person? A time? A place? A memory? A reason? The first amazing discovery?
Is it the first ancestor? The farthest away ancestor? Myself? My newest great-grandchild?
Each in itself could also be a complete blog.

   

I started my family history about 45 years ago. My best friend introduced me to her ‘hobby’, and I was hooked! By that time my four grandparents had all passed, my parents divorced when I was young, and my mother was an only child. My mother knew very little about either her father’s (Catholic) family history, or her mother’s (Church of England) upbringing. There was not a lot of extended family interaction. When I asked her why she hadn’t enquired about her own parents’ family history she replied ‘you just didn’t’. Not conducive for beginners or oral family history.

                            Paternal grandparents                                                               Maternal grandparents  

   

        George Henry KING          Phyllis Olive GREENFIELD     Thomas Augustine O’MALLEY         Beatrice BIRD
                1893-1949                             1904-1962                                       1903-1973                            1902-1960

Research was very different back then. Personal use computers were still about ten years away, very complicated, and expensive. Research consisted mainly of physically visiting the library, Church of the Latter Day Saints, or by snail mail. One would write away for information and if that was overseas the process could take MONTHS... take for example my two year ongoing correspondence to find if my 2x great grandfather was indeed a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary... no conclusion after much to-and-froing, but confirmed serendipitously online decades later.

My research habits were different too... very lacking in documenting resources -sadly. There are things I definitely remember hearing or seeing but can’t recall from where, other things I think I remember, and no doubt some things I have totally forgotten L.
The habit of gathering information and ‘filing’ them in a box to sort later is one I have unfortunately found hard to break, and as numbers of family tree members and availability of information has increase exponentially... so has my disarray of priceless facts, figures and photographs. My two filing cabinets, two bookcases, and numerous boxes would surely rival any hoarders stash.
...and PLEASE don’t get me started on DNA genealogy!!!!!

Finally, there is the start of new friend and cousinships discovered and developed along the way, time and distance presenting no barrier. Some will only ever be cyber family, but the blood and history of those who started our lineages flow through our collective veins.

For more about Phyllis http://corrinne-kiwicolleen.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/phyllis-olive-greenfield-1904-1962.html