John Ryan : Short Biography

John Ryan was born at Monassa, Ballytobin, near Calan in Co Kilkenny, around June 1841. His parents Denis Ryan and Catherine (nee) Farrell were farmers I found that the marriage of John's parents at the Dunamaggin parish church near Ballytobin occurred 13th February, 1831, and the christenings of several of his siblings, Michael, 9th November 1833, Ellen, 25th February 1836,  Mary, 3rd October 1838,  Thomas, 15th June 1847 and Kitty, 1st September 1850 were recorded, but the church records are missing for the period around John's birth which was approximately June 1841.

John arrived in Brisbane with his sister, Mary on November 2, 1862 aboard the Prince Consort. My proof of this is the period of time living in Queensland given on their death certificates and their names listed on the ship's passenger list as well as on the list of assisted immigrants to Queensland. Two more of John's sisters subsequently came to Australia, Ellen before 1878, and the widowed Annastasia Devereaux and her children in 1885.

John was certainly in Mackay by 1866, as he is noted in the Mercury in that year as donating £5  to the Catholic Church building fund.  He first came to the notice of Queensland officialdom by marrying Mary-Anne Martin on Jan 17th, 1867 in the Catholic Church, Mackay, Queensland.  Father Thomas Lonergan officiated, and Michael Hickey and Elizabeth McCall witnessed the marriage.  Both John & Mary-Anne were literate, which presupposes an education.  Mary-Anne came from Loughrea in Galway, where her father, James Martin, had an ironmongery in Church Lane.  Her mother died in the Ryan home in Mackay at the early age of 48, and on her mother's death certificate it states that she still had other living children, presumably in Australia, and probably in Mackay. Nor have I yet succeeded in finding any of these Martins on any of the ships' passenger lists at the archives.  John's occupation at the time of their marriage is listed as settler, and Mary-Anne's as domestic servant.

By the time the electoral roll of 1869/70 was completed John had become a freeholder, and on his children's birth certificates he is listed as contractor or carpenter. 

In 1873/74 John was the licencee of the Bushman's Hotel on the bank of the Pioneer River.  The inevitable next flood sent the hotel down the river.

By 1901 John was living in MacAlister Street according to the Post Office Directory of that year.

Mary-Anne and John wasted no time in starting their family and between November 1867 and May 1883 produced nine children.  Sadly, only five were to reach maturity, and only two of these lived past middle age.  Mary-Anne herself died in 1884, according to her death certificate, from phthisis (tuberculosis to us today).  However her certificate also stated that she had been ill only for three weeks.  TB does not usually kill people so fast, but kidney failure can, and many members of the Ryan family of two generations are known to have died from an hereditary form of kidney failure.  My guess, un-provable, is that Mary-Anne died from it too, and some of her children and grandchildren inherited it from her.  

The children who reached adulthood were Mary Catherine, Edwin James (my grandfather), Anastasia Veronica, Thomas Denis & Annie Cecilia Frances.  Mary Catherine did not marry, and died at 54 from kidney failure.  Anastasia Veronica married Robert Anderson, had four children and died at the age of 38 from the same cause (all four of her children also died, as far as I know, from kidney failure, only one leaving any offspring.  They are both fortunately free of the disease).  Thomas Denis was a saddler. He traded in Walkerston, near Mackay, around 1890-1899 and later in Mackay as Ryan & Rosier Sadlery in Sydney Street (Post Office directory, 1911).  My great-uncle Tom lived till he was about eighty-five, spending his last few years retired in Brisbane.  He never married and I remember him as a tall, very softly-spoken old gentleman, always impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit, but possessed of an amiable twinkle in his still bright blue eyes.

Annie Cecilia Frances was reputed to have been beautiful in her youth (I met her only once, and my memory is of a "little old white-haired lady"), and was engaged to a wealthy man from Sydney when her sister Anastasia died.  She cancelled her wedding plans and took charge of the four children, devoting her life to them and to her father in his old age (sounds too saintly for words, doesn't it, but I've been told it is true - she was really a lovely person).  She is still remembered with great affection by Anastasia's grandchildren.  Annie died in Mackay in 1962.

Edwin James was an engine driver at Mount Morgan when he met my grandmother, Nellie Manuel.  Nellie was visiting her mother's family in Rockhampton, the McEvoys (from co Offaly) having settled there.  They married in December 1901, at St Joseph's Cathedral, but returned to Mackay almost immediately, living with Edwin's father John in MacAlister Street for the first few years.   My mother, Edna Kathleen, was born there in September 1902.  Her sister, Thelma Mary, followed a few years later.  I don't know how long Edwin (always called Teddy) remained with the railways, but by 1905 they had moved to Albert Street, and by 1913 Teddy was the licensee of "The School of Arts Hotel" (Qld Gov. Gazette).  They were making a success of the business, judging by their lifestyle (the girls were at All Hallows boarding school in Brisbane, and lacked nothing), and by 1916 he and Nellie were running Ryan's Australian Hotel.  However, by March 1917 Teddy had died at the age of 45.  His death certificate states he died from "gastritis and exhaustion".

Nellie continued to run the hotel for a few years, but was no businesswoman, (too lenient with debtors, by all accounts).  The hotel was badly damaged by the 1918 cyclone and eventually she lost it to the bank, leaving Mackay for the south soon afterwards.

John himself lived till 1926 in the home he built in Shakespeare Street in Mackay.

Berenice Wright, an expert on early Mackay history, says that John was the chainman for Thomas Henry Fitzgerald, the surveyer of Mackay.  He commenced in early 1863 completing the work by the end of May of that year.  She also says that John planted the first half-acre of cane for T H Fitzgerald in 1866.  The cane was used for plant cane to start Alexandra Plantation and mill and distillery.  The mill had it's first crushing in 1868.  

John Ryan's Obit, Daily Mercury 23 March 1926.

An old and highly respected resident of Mackay, Mr John Ryan, passed away last Monday week after a short illness.  The deceased was one of the foremost pioneers in the district, having arrived in Mackay in 1863.  Shortly after that time he planted the first sugar-cane in the district on an allotment which is now occupied by Messers Wilson and Hart's timber yards.  He also acted as chainman with Mr T Fitzgerald in the first survey of town allotments in Mackay, and was closely associated with other phases of early development of the city.  For many years he was engaged with the Pioneer Shire Council, but latterly had not taken any active part in business.  The funeral took place at the Mackay Cemetery on Tuesday, Rev. Father Byrne officiating at the graveside.  The deceased's wife pre-deceased him some years ago and a grown-up daughter and son are left to mourn their loss. 

In recent years I have been delighted to locate my cousins in Monassa.  They are descended from John's brother, Thomas and to our joy have visited us in Australia. We now stay in touch.