Highlighting my Mulholland ancestors from County Antrim, Ireland and those that immigrated to Los Angeles and Long Beach California, United States; and Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Monday 11 November 2013

... 1901 & 1911 Census of Ireland


Joseph Cecil, John, Eliza Ann & William Geoffrey Mulholland, circa 1921

In October 1997, I obtained a copy of my Great Grandfather's death certificate, it revealed that John Mulholland died on 1 December, 1951 at the age of 79. His parents were Robert Mulholland and Nancy Pertey (this was a name that was going to give me trouble for quite some time)...he was born and married to Elizabeth McWilliam, in Randlestoun, Northern Ireland (Randlestoun turned out to be Randalstown). It also revealed that John was a widower, which confirmed what I had understood from the stories my father told me, Dad had never mentioned his grandmother, and had always referred to his Grandfather as Puppy Mul. He would remember Puppy Mul and Uncle Geoff visiting when he was a child in Fairfield. Dad would say that he and his brother Paddy, would walk up to meet their grandfather and uncle when the train was due from the city. Puppy Mul and Uncle Geoff would bring a big bag of oranges for Dad's family when they would visit. The death certificate also revealed that William G 53 living and one male deceased (Dad's  father) were his only issue. Some years later I would find that there was also an infant female that had died young.

I don't recall exactly when I found this, but some time between December 2007 and June 2009 the Census of Ireland for 1901 & 1911 was made available online.

The 1901 Census of Ireland, household Form A


Residents of a house 57 in Beech Street (Cromac, Antrim)

SurnameForenameAgeSexRelation to headReligionBirthplaceOccupationLiteracyIrish LanguageMarital StatusSpecified Illnesses
MulhollandJohn28MaleHead of FamilyChurch of IrilandAntrimBootmakerRead and write-Married-
MulhollandJoseph Cecil3MaleSonChurch of IrilandBelfast---Not Married-
MulhollandWilliam Geoffery1MaleSonChurch of IrilandBelfast---Not Married-
MulhollandLizzie29FemaleWifeChurch of IrilandAntrimHousewifeRead and write-Married-
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000331294/

The 1911 Census of Ireland, household Form A

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Down/Ormeau/Rosebury_Road/217042/

Residents of a house 43 in Rosebury Road (Ormeau, Down)

SurnameForenameAgeSexRelation to headReligionBirthplaceOccupationLiteracyIrish LanguageMarital StatusSpecified IllnessesYears MarriedChildren BornChildren Living
MulhollandJohn38MaleHead of FamilyChurch of IrelandCo AntrimBoot MakerRead and write-Married-1532
MulhollandEliza Ann40FemaleWifeChurch of IrelandCo Antrim-Read and write-Married-1532
MulhollandJoseph Cecil13MaleSonChurch of IrelandCo AntrimScholarRead and write-Single----
MulhollandWilliam Geoffrey11MaleSonChurch of IrelandCo AntrimScholarRead and write-Single----
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002172531/


It turned out that John was one of  fourteen children. According to the 1911 Census of Ireland, household Form A, my Great Great Grandparents Robert and Nancy Mulholland, had been married 46 years; nine of their fourteen children were still alive, and one of their daughters Julia was also recorded on the census form with them.

The 1911 Census of Ireland, household Form A

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Down/Ormeau/Glendower_Street/227229/

Residents of a house 6 in Glendower Street (Ormeau, Down)

SurnameForenameAgeSexRelation to headReligionBirthplaceOccupationLiteracyIrish LanguageMarital StatusSpecified IllnessesYears MarriedChildren BornChildren Living
MulhollandRobert68MaleHead of FamilyChurch of IrelandCo Antrim-Read and write-Married----
MulhollandNancy64FemaleWifeChurch of IrelandCo Antrim-Read-Married-46149
MulhollandJulia28FemaleDaughterChurch of IrelandCo Antrim-Read and write-Single----
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002197386/

The marriage clue in the census enabled me to find an entry in the Irish marriage index on the Familysearch website, and some time later I located a marriage entry on the Rootsireland website, and I also managed to obtain a transcribed copy of the marriage certificate -

On 18 May, 1864, Robert Mulholland, aged 21 years, a labourer, of Aughaboy, Drummaul, son of John Mulholland, a labourer, married Nancy O'Neill, aged 18 years, of Ballytresna, Drummaul, daughter of James O'Neill, a shoemaker, in the Ballymena Registry Office. The marriage was witnessed by Eliza Macartney and Andrew Lamont.

Aughaboy and Ballytresna were Townlands, located in close proximity to Ballymena and Randalstown.

I have managed to find the names of ten of Robert and Nancy's children, the other four are out there somewhere, but locating their children's birth records was not as easy as one would expect. It seems that Nancy was known under various different names, and as I would find later, when each of her children passed on, the record of their mother's name would also vary. Six of the children were found in the 1901 Census living with Robert and Nancy -

The 1901 Census of Ireland, household Form A

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Shankhill/Snugville/949868/

Residents of a house 48 in Snugville (Shankhill, Antrim)

SurnameForenameAgeSexRelation to headReligionBirthplaceOccupationLiteracyIrish LanguageMarital StatusSpecified Illnesses
MulhollandMaria25FemaleDaughterChurch of IrelandCo AntrimLinen Yarn WinderRead and write-Not Married-
MulhollandJoannah12FemaleDaughterChurch of IrelandCo AntrimScholarRead and write-Not Married-
MulhollandMary Agnes21FemaleDaughterChurch of IrelandCo AntrimLinen Yarn WinderRead and write-Not Married-
MulhollandEllen30FemaleDaughterChurch of IrelandCo AntrimLinen Yarn WinderRead and write-Not Married-
MulhollandJulia14FemaleDaughterChurch of IrelandCo AntrimLinen Yarn WinderRead and write-Not Married-
MulhollandRobert58MaleHead of FamilyChurch of IrelandCo AntrimRetired Linen LapperRead and write-Married-
MulhollandJames17MaleSonChurch of IrelandCo AntrimCropping Machine WorkerRead and write-Not Married-
MulhollandNancy54FemaleWifeChurch of IrelandCo Antrim-Read-Married-


Sunday 7 April 2013

Joseph Cecil Mulholland

As I mentioned in my previous post, my Grandmother, Margaret Mary Mulholland nee White, had told me that my Great Grandfather John Mulholland was from a large family. However, it would be several years into my research before I would manage to find John's parents in the Irish Census records. I had to work through  several clues along the way. With each piece of evidence, whether it be a certificate of Birth, Marriage, or Death; an immigration or naturalis(z)ation record; or even a newspaper clipping, I have managed to come to appreciate in some small way, the lives of some of my ancestors, and collected the clues to piece this family puzzle together.

I am not going to present this story in a neat package, there is no tidy date order of the events. Instead, I will reveal things pretty much in the rather haphazard disorder that I have remembered of the stories told to me and the discoveries I have made along the way.

My Father and Grandmother had told me that my Grandfather, Joseph Cecil Mulholland, was a Meat Scalder. 


The scalder would regulate the temperature of the water in the scalding vats or tubs ; keep the water at the required temperature ; and test the scalding of the meat while in the vats, using a pole with a small scraper or hook on one end to determine whether the scalding was sufficient. This operation was very important, as time and work necessary to do the scraping or shaving are increased or decreased by poor or good scalding. This occupation required close and careful attention, and a willingness to work in a meat-packing house. 


Source: Internet Archive 
http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924054144393/cu31924054144393_djvu.txt

Descriptions of Occupations (1918)
Language: English
Digitizing sponsor: MSN
Book contributor: Cornell University Library
Contributor usage rights: See terms
Collection: cornellamericana
Full catalog record: MARCXML

On Friday 11th December, 1942, whilst cleaning up at the end of the day's work, my Grandfather Joseph Cecil Mulholland, died suddenly. The following day, his employers had arranged for his burial, at the Church of England Cemetery, Rookwood Necropolis, Rookwood, New South Wales, Australia. At the funeral, my Grandmother was approached by two of her husband's work mates, claiming that he had been electrocuted. It certainly is curious how his funeral was rushed through the day after his death...

In October, 1997, I obtained a copy of Joseph Cecil Mulholland's death certificate, which revealed that he died of "Heart disease", "inquest unecessary", he was 45 years of age, born in Belfast, Ireland and had been living in New South Wales for 20 years. Joseph was the son of John and Elizabeth Mulholland nee McWilliams. He was survived by his wife and four children - Elizabeth Ada, Patrick Joseph, John Terence and Margaret Ann. The informant was my Grandmother.

At about the same time in 1997, I was shown my Grandfather's funeral booklet "Memories" , which revealed that Joseph Cecil Mulholland,  was -

Born Belfast EIRE 4 September 1897
Died Sydney NSW 11 December 1942
Age 45yrs 3 mths 7 days
Buried Rookwood Church of England Section 13 No 1772 12 December 1942
Married 20 October 1928, St Mary's Cathedral, by Father W O'Donnell
Children -
Elizabeth Ada Alice
Margaret Ann      
Patrick Joseph      
John Terence      

(NB. I have removed the ages of the children)

These two documents revealed information, that I had not known before. I now had an estimated arrival date in Australia of 1921, for my Grandfather...so then my focus was to find him on the passenger lists.

A search of the Passenger Lists at the State Archives, eventually revealed that Joseph, had arrived in Sydney on 11 August, 1921, on board the Ship "HORORATA" . He was listed as Mr C.J. Mulholland, (I am not sure why his initials were transposed), also included in the list of male passengers were  his father Mr J. Mulholland, and his brother Mr W.G. Mulholland. Within the list of female passengers, his mother, Mrs E. Mulholland was listed.

Source: Shipping Masters Office Passengers arriving Microfilm 2117.
Archives Office of New South Wales, O'Connell Street, Kingswood NSW (now known as State Archives, New South Wales).

My Grandfather's passport which included his photo, was issued by:
Foreign Office Branch Passport Office Liverpool 5 October 1920
For travel to Australia direct or via United States of America
It revealed that he had been seen by Customs 1, on 25 July, 1921, at Fremantle Western Australia
Age 23, and his occupation was Iron Moulder.

Joseph Cecil Mulholland
circa. 1921

My Grandfather's Birth Certificate, which confirmed his date of birth as 4 September 1897,  his father's occupation as Shoemaker, also revealed that he was born at 7 Abingdon St, Belfast, and his mother's maiden name was McWilliams. The informant was his mother Elizabeth Mulholland.
I now had an address to search for the family...

© Geoff Mulholland 2013-2016

Thursday 28 March 2013

My introduction to Family History, the early days

I am happy to finally take this step and start to write this blog to share my findings from several years of research of my Mulholland family. My research so far has determined that my Mulholland family was from an area in County Antrim, Ireland and has surfaced in records from various Townlands, e.g. Ballymena, Ballytresna, and others in and around Randalstown, near Belfast. I should go back a little to describe how I determined these locations.

I remember as a child, my grandmother, Margaret Mary Mulholland (nee White) would tell me that my Grandfather, who had passed away when my Dad was only 8 years old, was from County Antrim, Ireland. She also told me that his father, my Great Grandfather was one of many children, my memory of this is vague, but I am pretty sure it was something like 12 or more children. She would also tell me that most of the family migrated to the United States, but my Great Grandfather and his own immediate family had migrated to Australia and settled in Sydney, New South Wales.....Many years later after my mother passed away suddenly, and of course my Grandmother had passed several years before that,  I was kicking myself that I had not made any detailed notes, of my Grandmother's stories and also the stories told to me by my Mum about her side of the family. I decided then that it was time to start documenting my family history. Lucky for me that my Grandmother's sister was still alive at that time and was able to bring to life some of what I knew about my Grandfather Joseph Cecil Mulholland; also her grandson had started researching his family history some time before me, so he and I shared what we had by then each already recorded in a software program from Broderbund called Family Tree Maker, from my recollection it was Version 3.  so of course quite a different product to the current Family Tree Maker 2012. Of course my Dad was able to fill in some details with his account of what he remembered of his Dad, his Grandfather and also his uncle, who I had not even heard of until I started asking him of his memories. I should also add that within two months of my mother's death, my father's elder brother also passed away, so it was a very difficult time for the family, and I realised that if I wanted to find out more about my family history, I could not put it off any longer. I needed to try to get as much information as I could from living relatives...you just never know what could happen when you least expect it.

Joseph Cecil Mulholland
circa. 1920. 

It was 1997, and I had found out that there were places you could go to do family history research. As I worked in the City of Sydney,  it was convenient for me to go to the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney www.sl.nsw.gov.au/ during my lunch breaks and try to find as much information as I could about my family history on both sides of my family. I was totally amazed that I could search for records in - Births, Deaths and Marriages indexes that had been released on microfiche by the various Australian states; the IGI (the International Genealogical Index) https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/igi, although I was not really sure whether I was finding the right people in the right places, and also newspaper microfilms, (now available online at the Trove website http://trove.nla.gov.au/ ) for any death or funeral notices for family members. There were other records like AGCI, the Australasian Genealogical Computer Index   http://www.sag.org.au/helping-you/research-guides.html?task=view&id=80 and also various Cemetery transcriptions which had been released by the Society of Australian Genealogists, Sydney http://www.sag.org.au/.  However, for this particular blog, I will concentrate on my paternal side, the Mulholland family.

Some months later, I started contacting other relatives after I had put together some basic family charts, I was new to this, so of course I made some mistakes, and I certainly wasn't quoting my sources as described in Elizabeth Shown Mills book Evidence Explained. https://www.evidenceexplained.com/. In fact at that time I had not even heard of Elizabeth Shown Mills and it would be some years later that her book would be published. However, I was recording basic details in my notes, which would help me later enhance and expand my source citations to today's acceptable Genealogical standards.

Well that's the introduction to my story, and I will try to come back regularly and fill in the detail and my findings along the way. I hope anyone reading this blog will find it interesting, and that it will also provide some detail for anyone related to my Mulholland family. If anyone has comments, snippets of information or questions, please feel free to contact me, or leave a comment here on the blog...I should also add, that in more recent years I have managed to find significant links to the rest of my Great Grandfather's Mulholland family that migrated to the United States and Canada, but that will become apparent in later posts.

© Geoff Mulholland 2013-2016