Bridget Fitzgerald (née King) : Short Biography

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Bridget Fitzgerald (née King) 1835

County Galway Tuam (Galway)

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Bridget King at the age of 16 years, was one of many 'Potato Famine Orphans' who were sent to Australia 'where they could lead a better life'. Bridget and her Mother, Margaret King were inmates of the Tuam Workhouse when she was selected to travel to Sydney, Australia on board the "Panama" in 1849. She along with all the other girls sent to Australia are listed on the memorial wall at Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie Street, Sydney. http://www.irishfaminememorial.org/en/

Love to find out more about her life in Galway before being sent to Australia. Her father was given as Edward King and dead at that time.

There were two brothers, Denis and John King who were sentenced to 7 years and transported to Tasmania c 1848 along with the Keane brothers because they had been caught sheep stealing in Co. Mayo. They settled in the Richmond area in Tasmania and can be considered a successful relocation.

Surname : King
First Name : Bridget
Age on arrival : 16
Native Place : Hedford [Headford], Galway
Parents : Edward & Margaret (mother living at Hedford)
Religion : Roman Catholic
Ship name : Panama (Sydney 12 Jan 1850)
Workhouse : Galway, Tuam
Other : shipping: nursemaid, reads & writes, no relatives in colony.Empl. T Lucas, Phillip St., Sydney, £6-8, 3 years. Im. Cor. 51/350, 2 Sep 1851 Moreton Bay; married William Fitzgerald 1853, Ipswich; husband a general dealer; lived Toowoomba, Warwick, Jimbour, Drayton, Dalby, Daandine, Blackall & finally Winton; 11 children; she died 1893, buried Winton.

Additional Information
Date of Birth	1st Jan 1835

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Bridget was born in the same year and same place as my great great grandfather John Gavin. They had to have known one another, I'd presume. If only they were alive and could tell us. John Gavin didn't talk much about his childhood apparently. He had changed his surname to Carey (his mother's maiden name) and was hiding from the British, Living in Newfoundland Canada. Apparently, although not confirmed, he jumped ship to escape the British (reason unknown) as they were approaching Fortune Harbor Newfoundland. I'd love to learn more about his life in Tuam as a child.