Descendants of Eliza O'Hara
Eliza O'Hara, b. ca. 1828 1
in County Cavan, Ireland. Likely the Eliza Wilkinson whose death
was registered at Waterloo in 1895 7 with
parent names given as Samuel and Eliza. She married 22 Mar
1859 2
in the Presbyterian Church in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia,
Thomas Wilkinson, b. ca. 1828 1 in
Lincoln, England - perhaps the Thomas Wilkinson whose death
was registered at Petersham in 1900 10 with
no parent names given. Eliza O'Hara arrived in Sydney on 28 July 1855 with six other cousins on the Mangerton 3. Their emigration was sponsored by her brother-in-law Hugh Wauhop, who from at least 1848 was a landowner in the Surry Hills locality of Strawberry Hills 6. It is not known when Eliza's husband Thomas Wilkinson arrived in Australia. When they married in 1859 the newspaper notice gave his birthplace as Lincoln, England, as did the Nov. 1859 birth registration record for his first child Samuel that listed his then occupation as milkman. When they married earlier that same year the registration record gave it as farmer. He was listed as a milkman in the 1860 compiled Sydney Sands Directory for 1861. It is possible in his early years in Sydney he worked for his brother-in-law to be Hugh Wauhop who arrived in Sydney from Co. Cavan in 1841 and was listed in the 1844 compiled The City of Sydney Directory for 1844-45 as a cow keeper residing in Sussex Street and same in the 1850 compiled Ford's Sydney Commercial Directory for 1851 when he lived in no longer existing Sarah Ann Street in Strawberry Hills 6. Perhaps relevant to the family history is that among the 49 residents of the Strawberry Hill locality listed in the latter directory was a Mrs. Wilkinson - a grocer. When the birth of his second child was registered in Aug. 1861 the occupation of Thomas was given as tanner. In the Sands directories from 1864 to 1867 he was listed with the same occupation at an address in Albert Street, Redfern and was likely the Thomas Wilkinson listed in the Sands from 1870 to 1880 at Kellick Street as either a woolwasher or a fellmonger.
SECOND GENERATION
1. Samuel Wilkinson,
b. 12 Dec 1859 4 at Strawberry
Hills, reg. Redfern, NSW. Perhaps he was the Samuel Wilkinson who married
Elizabeth Grantham in Sydney in 1883 9. They
were perhaps the same Samuel and Elizabeth Wilkinson who had
five children births registered at Newtown and Ryde between
1884 and 1890 11.
1
Not surprisingly with Eliza & her husband Thomas, as was common
in the 19th century when Irish immigrants and particularly so those
who could neither read or write often only knew their approximate age,
their ages varied considerably in records. Calculated from records
sighted by the compiler Eliza's birth year varied by 10 years from ca.
1826 to ca. 1836. It was 26 yrs. (so. b. ca. 1828) in her Jul 1855
immigration arrival record, 22 yrs. when she married in March 1859
(so b. ca. 1836), 24 yrs. (so b. ca. 1835) in Nov 1859 when the birth of
first child Samuel was registered, "about 35" in Aug. 1861
(so b. ca. 1826) when the birth of second child Thomas was registered.
As Eliza was the informant in 1855 and 1861, when it was respectively
ca. 1828 and ca. 1826, for this compilation the 1855 immmigration
date of ca. 1828 has been adopted as most likely.
In the same sequence of records the birth year of husband Thomas varied by 7 years from ca. 1828 to ca. 1835. He gave age 30 when he married (b. ca. 1828), age 24 (b. ca. 1835) when the first child was registered, and age 30 (b. ca. 1831) when second was registered. He was the informant for the birth of the first child with the age he gave then calculating to a ca. 1835 birth. However he was also likely the informant at the time of the marriage, so ca. 1828 being the earliest record has been adopted resulting in both perhaps having the same birth year of ca. 1828. 2 Sydney Morning Herald, 13 Apr 1859, p. 8, col. 6. - Marriages - Eliza O'Hara to Thomas Wilkinson - the notice stated she was formerly of Lisnagerril (NOTE: correctly spelt as Lismagiril - it adjoined her parents townland of Greaghadossan and was the same townland where her brother John O'Hara was listed in the 1857 Griffith Valuation of Ireland as occupying a farm). NSW marriage registration #1859-00230 (NOTE: the sighted birth registrations of the two children erroneously had their parents marriage date one year out as 22 Mar 1858). Witnesses to the marriage were Joshua Wauhop (most likely the brother of Hugh Wauhop but possibly Hugh's then 18 yr. old son who was also named Josuha) and the bride's brother Samuel O'Hara. Both bride & groom signed the register with their marks. No parents were listed for either party and the birthplace of Thomas was given only as England. 3 Mangerton immigration records - NSW State Archives - NSW Immigration, Persons on Bounty Ships, reels #2137 & #2471. 4 NSW birth registration #1859-03335. 5 Ibid #1861-03292. 6 Hugh Wauhop Sydney directory listings from 1844 and land ownership researched in 2007 by Sherie McEvoy of Hunter River, NSW at the Sydney Council Archives - copies of records obtained courtesy of same. 7 NSW BDM Indexes #1895-7841. 8 Ibid #1876-3921. 9 Ibid #1883-1794. 10 Ibid #1900-3072. 11 NSW BDM indexed Samuel and Elizabeth Wilkinson children, of whom some may have been the children of the Samuel and Elizabeth who married in 1883, were - Francis S. (#1884-8615) reg. Newtown, Mary L. V. (#1887-9387) reg. Newtown, Samuel (#1888-20175) reg. Ryde, Hillary J. (#1890-25367) reg. Newtown & Fred (#1890-30901) reg. Ryde. compiled
by John Raymond, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
first posted 30 Aug 2007  |