Eliza Hogan was born around 1834 in County Clare, the daughter of Michael Hogan and Eliza Whelan. On her youngest child William Patrick Coffey’s birth certificate (1880), Eliza’s birthplace is recorded as “Lulloch”, or something to that effect. On all other records it is recorded as County Clare. (Could "Lulloch" be Tulla (“An Tulach” in Gaeilge)? On an old map of Clare, it is spelt “Tullagh” (https://irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/timeline/county-clare-1830s))
Eliza married James Bouchier Coffey in Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USA on 11th April 1858. We are fairly sure that Eliza and James sailed from New York on 3rd May 1858 on board the clipper ship “Mary Bangs”, and arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 7th August 1858.
By August 1859, Eliza and James had settled in Amphitheatre in the Pyrenees area of central Victoria. They lived in and around Amphitheatre for nearly 20 years, and then in Melbourne, primarily Richmond.
As is usually the case for women, there is little mention of Eliza in newspapers of her time, even in very local newspapers. Her husband James set up a store in Amphitheatre, catering primarily to the needs of gold miners: Victoria was in the grip of major goldrushes from 1851 onwards. Eliza worked in the store as well as attending to the household and her children. James also established a farm at Amphitheatre, which was sold in the late 1870s, when the family moved to Melbourne.
Eliza had eleven children between 1859 and 1880, the last of them in Melbourne. Two died in infancy.
Eliza died on 2nd May 1920 at 218 Lennox Street Richmond, aged 86 according to her death certificate. She was buried on 3rd May 1920 in St Kilda Cemetery in Melbourne, in the same grave as her husband James.
