Margaret's personal research interests are in the following families, their ancestors and descendants, and related families. Please contact her if you think you may have a family connection.
Scroll down or click on the links below
Dr William Weymouth immigrated to VDL in 1835 with his wife and entire family. He was descended from the Joshua of Snapes line of Weymouth, from the Malborough/ Salcombe area of Devon, although he had been a surgeon in Portsea before the family emigrated. TASMANIA BOUND: Weymouth, Hubbard, Harris & McPhail family stories tells his story. See the link to the published family history and the surname index for more information on descendants.
Back to the topGeorge Hubbard from Deal, Kent – See the summary on this website for TASMANIA BOUND: Weymouth, Hubbard, Harris & McPhail family stories, which provides his background. See the link to the published family history and the surname index for more information on descendants.
Back to the topRobert Harris and his brother, Samuel Harris (a surgeon), London - See the summary on this website for TASMANIA BOUND: Weymouth, Hubbard, Harris & McPhail family stories, which provides their background. See the link to the published family history and the surname index for more information on descendants.
Back to the topJoseph Jones, born in Holborn, London in 1801, was a convict to NSW in 1818 on the ship Hadlow (1) – See the link to the published family history CONVICT BEGINNINGS: The Jones Family Story and the surname index for more information on descendants.
Back to the topHenry Francis Hans HARRISON, born in Co Kildare, Ireland, and his wife, Marrion WOOD, born in Dundalk, Co Louth, Ireland immigrated to New South Wales, Australia in 1851, bringing with them at least one child, Henrietta Georgeiana. Shipping records indicate that other family members immigrated with the family but no information has been found to identify them.
Henry was a draper - he set up business in Sydney and 6 more children were born to the marriage in NSW.
However, in 1863, Henry was drowned with the wreck of the ship “Regent Bird” as it sailed back from the Macleay River (Port Macquarie), leaving his widow with a young family, and penniless.
Their known children are: Henrietta Georgeiana (dates unknown - married William Henry Garnet BURGESS and then disappeared); Francis James (1855-1930 – married - 10 children); Robert J. (1857-1909 – married - 7 children); Marrion Grace Elizabeth (1861-1944 – married Benjamin JONES - 10 children); Rebecca Mary Jane (1861-c.1950 – married Henry James SHERRINGHAM - 9 children); Ann Alexandra (Annie) (1863-1938 – married Francis William HEATON - 5 children).
Some information and portraits of this family are included in CONVICT BEGINNINGS: The Jones Family Story
Back to the topJohn Martin KEARNEY was a stone mason from the Abington area of Co Limerick, Ireland. In the 1860s, he and his wife, Honorah LYONS immigrated to Rockhampton, Queensland, with most of their adult family, where they settled and prospered. The reason for their immigration appears to have been the health of their children, as many of their sons died of consumption, either after arriving in Queensland or as young adults before or during the voyage to join the rest of their family. The Kearneys were active in road building and hotel management in Central Queensland. Descendants in Australia are from these children of the marriage, predominantly from their daughters:
The first generation of KEARNEY daughters married into the following family names: CRANLEY and SHEEHY.
The later generations of female descendants married into these family names: DOONER, ALLINGHAM, BRIDSON, AUSTIN, MURPHY, MARTIN, YOUNG, ALLEN, MURRAY, SCHMIDT, GARDNER, SZALAY, MURPHY, SEARLE, RANDALL, PESCOTT, GRAHAM.
The family history for the KEARNEY family was published in 2006. - see the Link for LIMERICK TO QUEENSLAND: The Kearney Family Story.
Back to the topLillian Cecilia McGUIRK was born in Cavan, Co Cavan, Ireland and was sent out to Queensland in 1880 to take up a teaching position in the expectation that the Australian climate would cure her consumption. She had been educated by her uncle, Major McGuirk, a staunch Catholic, thought to have been a local Squire in the area around the city of Cavan. Other members of the McGuirk family moved to England, to the Newcastle-upon-Tyne & Durham area. Lillian married John Francis KEARNEY in Queensland in 1882 and bore him 4 children. She died of consumption in Cairns, North Queensland in 1904. Lillian's story is told in LIMERICK TO QUEENSLAND.
Back to the topCarl Freidrich SCHMIDT immigrated to southern Queensland in 1863 with a large group of his family. His other children and their families followed over the next 5 years. The family came from the Uckermark region of Prussia NE of Berlin, as part of a systemic immigration program conducted by the Queensland colonial authorities. Commissioners were sent to Germany to bring large groups of German families from rural areas under contract to work on remote properties in western Queensland – in many cases 4 generations of the one family immigrated together. At the conclusion of their contracts, the extended Schmidt family joined the community of German immigrants who had settled in the Bethania/Logan River area SE of Brisbane, near Beenleigh.
Margaret’s great-grandfather, Christian Schmidt, later moved his family to Beaudesert, south of Brisbane, where he operated a wheelwright/ coach building business.
Main family names related to this family, listed alphabetically, include:
BERNDT, BEUTEL, BRUMM, BUHK, BUROW, EICHMANN, GIEGOLD, HOLTHORF, KOP LICK, KRATZMANN, LAHRS, LOTZ, MARKS, MUCHOW, RADUNZ, ROSE, SCHLIEMANN.
Back to the top