Ann CULLEN was baptised in Ballinakill on 11 June 1830, the daughter of Michael CULLENand Ellen HANLON. She emigrated to South Africa from Ballymacward in late 1849. On 21 November 1849, she married Laurence BLADE, also of Ballymacward, in Tongaat, near Natal (Durban). They had one daughter, Margaret Julia BLADE born in Natal/Durban in 1851 who is my great grandmother.
Two years later, Laurence left for Australia and Ann came to Australia looking for him - without her daughter. Family legend says that Ann's daughtetr, Margaret Julia BLADE, was brought up by a foster family in South Africa (possibly the RATHBONE family). Margaret emigrated to New Zealand in her late teens and there married my great grandfather, Alexander Colin McKENZIE.
Ann CULLEN seems to have disappeared after she arrived in Melbourne looking for her husband in 1853. I believe her husband, Laurence BLADE may have gone to San Francisco and died there in 1863.
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| Date of Birth | 11th Jun 1830 | VIEW SOURCE |