Eliza Burns : Short Biography

References

Eliza Burns 1830

County Donegal Donegal (Donegal)

Orphan Girls

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Place of migration

Migrated to/Born in Australia

Eliza was sent to Australia aboard the 'Eliza Caroline' under the Earl Grey Scheme for Irish famine orphans. According to the ship list she was 19, from Donegal and RC. She could neither read nor write. No further information about her parents or the workhouse where she came from was given. I have DNA matches with people named Burns and Boyle in Donegal. I have not been able to contact them directly as they are part of a Donegal DNA study and the only contact is the group admin, so I have no idea how we may be related.

The ship left Portsmouth on 31st December 1849 and arrived in Port Phillip at the end of March, 1850. She was assigned to work as a housemaid for a Geelong hotel owner and his wife. By the end of the year she had married William Matthews, a 40 year old English carpenter from Leicester who arrived in Geelong via Van Diemans Land. (Not known if it was his idea to emigrate to VDL or a court's.) The marriage was celebrated at St Mary's RC Church in Geelong The witnesses to her marriage were the sub matron from the Eliza Caroline, and an Irish immigrant who arrived in Geelong at the same time as she did. She had a daughter in 1852 who was baptised at St Mary's and named Caroline. They moved to Colac and had a son there in October 1854 who was named William after his father. On his birth certificate her place of birth was listed as Lanark - it was probably given so others would not know she was one of the Irish orphan girls. Her husband died in January 1855. I can't find a remarriage or death certificte for her so sadly I have no idea what became of her.

Additional Information
Date of Birth	1st Jan 1830 (circa)
Place & Date of Marriage	Husband William Matthews, married 10th November 1850 at St Mary of the Angels RC Church in Geelong. Two children - Caroline born 1852 in Geelong, and William, born October 1854 in Colac.

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Comments

Hi there, I am trying to trace Burns ancestors from Donegal. Happy to compare DNA if you would like to?

RegardS

Eimear

Kearnse99

Saturday 24th February 2024 11:23PM

Hi, By DNA matches Eliza was related (1st or 2nd cousin) to Patrick Burns b.c.1836 in the Lifford area. Are you on GEDmatch?

Cheers.

Pam

Sunday 25th February 2024 06:37PM

Thanks to the Colac Family History Group I know what happened to Eliza after husband William died. The following year she married in Geelong (just fibbing about her country of origin and marital status). She went on to have four more children (two died very young) and died of heart failure in Colac in 1874. Now to find out exactly where she came from.